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2021 Russia Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: You get this feeling with the way the year has been playing out, that an oddball occurrence or two will ultimately decide this championship.

EVENT: A huge letdown in atmosphere after Spa, Zandvoort, and Monza.

TRACK: That was a surprise. Plenty of passing in the dry before the rains came.

QUALIFYING: Norris ups the ante for McLaren, Sainz saves Ferrari's qualifying, Russell is again impressive in the wet, and Hamilton suffers a self inflicted wound.

RACE: Weirdly, this is a race that actually was spoiled by rain. There was plenty of intrigue, strategy, passing, and nail biting tension that the race didn't need to be "saved" by the weather.

START: Sainz gets a poor start but because of that he gets the slipstream to pass Norris for the lead, ditto for Hamilton but he gets boxed in and falls back, and Ricciardo is all over Alonso's ass before finally passing him.

HAMILTON: Trusted and listened to his team, allowed Lewis to pull this one out of the bag.

NORRIS: Look at his time for lap 50. And, just watching Lando in the tricky conditions, it was obvious he was the fastest one on the track at that moment, so one can understand his reluctance to pit. However, the rain picked up, and ... yes, we'll say it ... his chances washed away on the slicks.

VERSTAPPEN: Luck was definitely on Max's side, as without the rain, he probably had a seventh place finish and a larger points gap to Hamilton.

SAINZ: Another driver who made out with the rain.

BOTTAS: A lucky fifth considering he was quite lackluster on a track which is usually one of his best.

MERCEDES: The German army may have failed in Russia, but Mercedes is undefeated there.

MCLAREN: They need to be more emphatic, especially with a young driver, and made the decision for him.

RED BULL: They played the long game this race. It paid off handsomely.

ALONSO: A fine weekend overall for the ageless wonder.

RUSSELL: Not too long ago, wild celebrations would have broken out if George got a point. Now, it almost seems disappointing when he scores "only" one point.

STROLL: We understand when conditions go to hell, you are so busy trying to keep it on the track, you lose your sense of situational awareness. But Lance, that's still a bad look to run right into your teammate.

LECLERC: Got most of the weekend wrong.

ALPATAURI: Out to lunch.

HAAS: So, you are indeed keeping both your drivers. Oh whoopie-doo.

F2: Championship leader Oscar Piastri extended his lead with a pole and victory in the feature race combined with Guanyu Zhou spinning and stalling in Saturday's first sprint race formation lap with the second sprint race cancelled. The Aussie now has a 36 point lead.

F3: Norway's Dennis Hauger only needed the rescheduled Friday race to clinch the championship with a second place finish. Good thing, as Hauger got knocked into a spin in Sunday's race (after Saturday's race was cancelled) and out of the points. Defending champion, American Logan Sargeant, won on Friday, his first of the season. Aussie Jack Doohan took the Sunday win.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Drama.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 100.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Lewis Hamilton's first victory was in the 2007 Canadian GP, the sixth race of his career. He also took his first pole position. This was the race where Robert Kubica had his massive crash. There were four safety car periods. Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella were disqualified. Following the McLaren-Mercedes was Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) and Alexander Wurz (Williams-Toyota) who started 19th. Super Aguri scored their first points when Takuma Sato finished sixth with a daring outside pass over reigning world champion, Fernando Alonso.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: Formula 1's official twitter account: "HISTORY!!! 💯 @LewisHamilton becomes the first F1 driver ever to reach 100 wins 👏👏👏"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: About halfway through the race, when Mercedes realized their strategy could work, even without considering the possibility of rain, Toto Wolff said to Lewis Hamilton, "We can win this race."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Lando Norris fatefully answers the final time McLaren asks him if he wants to put for intermediates, "No!"

SCHEDULE: We're giving up trying to predict what will happen next. So, we'll just say, off to Turkey in two weeks.

Copyright © 2021 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Hamilton 53
2. Verstappen 53
3. Sainz 53
4. Ricciardo 53
5. Bottas 53
6. Alonso 53
7. Norris 53
8. Raikkonen 53
9. Perez 53
10. Russell 53
11. Stroll 53
12. Vettel 52
13. Gasly 52
14. Ocon 52
15. Leclerc 52
16. Giovinazzi 52
17. Tsunoda(R) 52
18. Mazepin(R) 51
19. Latifi 47
NC Schumacher(R) 32

Time of Race
1:30:41.001

Margin of Victory
53.271 secs.

Safety Car
None

Lead Changes
5 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders
Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton

Fastest Race Lap
Lando Norris

Pole Position
Lando Norris

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Hamilton 246.5
2. Verstappen 244.5
3. Bottas 151
4. Norris 139
5. Perez 120
6. Sainz 112.5
7. Leclerc 104
8. Ricciardo 95
9. Gasly 66
10. Alonso 58
11. Ocon 45
12. Vettel 35
13. Stroll 24
14. Tsunoda(R) 18
15. Russell 16
16. Latifi 7
17. Raikkonen 6
18. Giovinazzi 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 397.5
2. Red Bull 364.5
3. McLaren 234
4. Ferrari 216.5
5. Alpine 103
6. AlphaTauri 84
7. Aston Martin 59
8. Williams 23
9. Alfa Romeo 7
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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