George / Merc F1šŸŽ

Poor George, the racing gods were not looking down on him ( as D.C. would say ) yesterday. If there was a time a Mercedes driver or two were let down by their team, it was yesterday. Even poor Botas was sabotaged by those in the pits. George had that race sewn up on his debut in the Mercedes. That young man definitely has the makings of a champion.
I wonder if Racing point are wondering if they should have stuck with Perez for next year. Long time coming but weā€™ll done Checo on your victory.

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Yep! Totally agree!!! :+1:

Georgeā€™s performance should take Ā£10 million off Hamiltonā€™s wage negotiations !!!

F1 being dog eat dog, there are a lot of potential ingredients for 2021 never mind 2022.
Petronas can dump VB if they really feel they have to, and ā€œbuyā€ GR out of Williams. Heā€™s only on a contract loan anyhow. Itā€™s not likely though.
Hamilton if he can bury his Ā£45 million ego and sign a decent deal for 2021, will probably take No8 with Mr Nice Guy VB being the finest wingman ever in F1 but never destined for a championship. Petronas could get George for 10% of thatā€¦and I think he is every bit as good as LH. Young, hungry, a mix of Senna, The Professor, and Red 5 rolled into one.
GR drove circles around VB even though he was a a severe disadvantage of being a size 12 guy in a size 8 cockpit. He was stellar.
So, itā€™s likely to be 2021 bore as usual from Petronas, GR steering a potential milk float again, but under the ever watching mentor Toto who, donā€™t forget, wants outā€¦heā€™s had a bellyful and itā€™s affecting health.
Had to laugh at Crashie yesterday crying for Mum when he got punted by a flying donkey.
Delighted for Perez but gutted for GRā€¦and a wee bit left over for VB. Was not their faults the pits made the biggest Box errors I can recall. Heā€™s just a kid thoughā€¦but a Champion gā€™teed with a winning package within 4 years Iā€™d wager.
One thing for sure, itā€™s going to be Panto in the Pinkies with Seb imposing Alpha Male recognition over Daddyā€™s Boyā€¦who was decidedly unsporting and petulant yesterday with his team mateā€™s win.
Bet LH was sniggering.

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I did laugh when Stroll says he could have won the raceā€¦ :grinning:

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Yeahā€¦the over privileged nipple.

Looks like we may have some more over privilege drivers coming in next season, apart from young Schumacher the second Haas driverā€™s dad is worth millions and rumour has it that he may be buying the team. Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£s secure seats.

Sooo many conspiracy theories that could play out here :stuck_out_tongue:

Bottas loses confidence in P1 & P2 so they persuade George to try a ā€˜different setupā€™ in P3 to re-boost Bottas.

George drives away at the start of the Race, then he has a ā€˜Sensor Issueā€™ and Bottas starts catching up 0.5 sec a lap hmmm what would have happened without the SC I wonder?

Then the botched pit stops

The heā€™s just about wrapped it up and thereā€™s a ā€˜slow punctureā€™ :stuck_out_tongue:

Itā€™ll keep twitter going for months :crazy_face:

I do feel sorry for George, but it was very good to see Perez win. I think that Red Bull should put him in the second car along with Verstappen as Albon has not done enough. He is probably a great racer, but F1 is dog eat dog and Perez would do better IMO, but do Red Bull want to develop a young driver? Perez is not that young anymore, but he has a few seasons left in him.

George needs a better car than the Williams, but what would a couple of the other young ones done in the Merc (Le Clerc, Norris, Verstappen, Gasly)? not that any will go to Merc though. Also I thought that VB had a contract now?

I agree that Hamiltons contract negotiations have just got harder (or potentially cheaper for Merc).

I really do not understand some of the childish sniping at drivers - judge by what they do on track , rather than what you imagine are their personality traits ? In my book, Hamilton is very much the real deal, GR could be too , Stroll is a much better driver than many are prepared to give him credit (his main sin, it seems, is having a rich dad - just like Stirling Moss, Mike Hailwood and Lando Norris then ) and Perez thoroughly deserved his win . I saw him win at Croft in F3 (and he still holds the outright record there ) and did wonder - is this lad going to make it all the way ?

Shockingly , I remembered today that I was present at the last F1 race won by a Mexican , the wonderful Pedro Rodriguez, 49 damn years ago ā€¦

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Apropos Mexicans, have you read Jo Ramirezā€™s autobiography? He was close to the Rodriguez brothers (who also had rather wealthy parents), and for that matter I know he took a personal interest in Perez getting into F1. I suspect youā€™re familiar with it but for anyone who isnā€™t itā€™s a nice insight into a simpler world of F1. When Jo went to Tyrell the team probably employed two or three dozen making cars in sheds.

I felt, momentarily, for Bottas who was really on a hiding to nothing, but there seems little doubt that Russell has first rate potential, possibly in the Hamilton class.

Iā€™m probably going to get shouted down, but I think that Vlateri Bottas is in the wrong sort of motor sport. He seems to do well racing against the clock, but not in direct competition with other drivers. Maybe his genre should really have been WRC, the same as those other great Finnish drivers, Tommi Makinen and Marcus Gronholm. Just a thought.

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I think Countryboy has a very good point there about Botas W.R.C would probably be best for him.

Thing is, even if it was allowed now, I cannot imagine Stroll or any of them today relinquishing to a situation which could lose points ,win a podium, or risk a Championship by taking on Stewards in favour of competitor (Hawthorn) who, as a result of Sir Stirlingā€™s intervention on his behalf, pipped the Championship by 1 point.
The Sport simply has no room for that kind of behaviour for obvious reasons, nor has it had for decades.
Instead, we see far too much dummy spitting and self absorbed narcissismā€¦but thenā€¦I guess the days of gentleman racers with honour are simply long gone. Reason? Moneyā€¦sponsorsā€¦places in seasonsā€™ pointsā€¦more money.
Moss was silver spooned right enough, but he had integrity in bucket loads despite being a fearsome competitor, as did Jim Clark. Class acts. Good home breeding.
All gone. Never to be repeatedā€¦perhaps GR can restore a little. He seems to be well principled. For now.
At least some of them could try and be more gracious in defeat and recognise their competitors in a more mature fashion.

Of course - but that world is very long gone. And the body count is so much lower now , which can only be a good thing. But I think we still see dignity and decency if we look for it - think of Massaā€™s grace on his 2008 defeat , and ā€¦errā€¦there must be some other examples :upside_down_face: ?

And thereā€™s plenty of really decent people in the lower echelons of the sport - I have rarely seen an unfriendly face in 50 years of speed hillclimbs and drag racing especially . But Grand Prix racing has always been a deadly serious business - I read Luca Dal Monteā€™s (900 page ! )Enzo Ferrari biography this year and its depiction of the infighting , Machiavellian plots, betrayals and grudges of racing in the Thirties rings true now .

I havenā€™t read the Ramirez biog yet but I will- Iā€™ve hear him on several podcasts and he is a delight.

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Yes a very nice chap, lives in Spain now. The bookā€™s called ā€œMemoirs of a Racing Manā€ and out of print, but can be found on Abe Books etc. or you could try Hortonā€™s Books. Ron Dennis (Jo worked at McLaren for nearly 20 years) told him not to bother writing it as nobody would be interested!

To be fair, Le Clerc did own up to the crash at the start of Sundays race. This would have been against the advice of his team, as it made it easier for the stewards and he could have received a grid penalty. A small point, but it shows that he was trying to be fairā€¦

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Agreed, there is no doubt George is talented, at the end of the day he didnā€™t even fit in the car, but I too would be interested to see how the others would fair in that car.

I suspect a few of the Q3 survivors would have done very well indeed given, I believe, there was less than a knife edge second between them all anyhow.
At least some of them would have fitted a bit better!

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The only thing that I feel is important is that thereā€™s ANOTHER BRIT showing the promise of being ANOTHER WORLD CHAMP! Get in there my son!!!

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