Verstappen emphatically fastest in final practice

29 comments on “Verstappen emphatically fastest in final practice”

1. 

   David BR (@david-br)
   19th June 2021, 12:11

   Mercedes and particularly Hamilton seem to have got themselves in a bit of a downward spin.
   1. 

      DeanR
      19th June 2021, 12:39

      Yes. Interesting isnt it.
      I was thinking, up until this session, that it’s just Merc keeping something up their sleeve. This FP3 has made me question that for the first time.
      Lewis had made a couple of big errors this year but those luckily haven’t impacted too much on the overall standings. Has been nip and tuck between Max & Lewis and I think Max is so far worth hao point lead. Think the standings are a good, fair reflection on how the WDC has gone so far but Max could easily be further ahead and there could be no complaints.
      So odd that Merc were so quick at Spain but have seemingly lost all that pace.
      For the first time though I do feel this is a genuine title title for Max & RB. How that turns out will be exciting to watch.
      1. 

         DeanR
         19th June 2021, 12:41

         “…genuine title TILT…”
      2. 

         David BR (@david-br)
         19th June 2021, 12:54

         I’ve had the feeling this is a real title fight since Monaco and Hamilton’s bad weekend. Basically Hamilton behind Bottas on pace/car confidence is ominous for Mercedes: in that situation, Max is going to win the championship and Red Bull have an excellent chance of the WCC. Hamilton ‘bounced back’ at Baku, albeit with some help in qualifying from a Bottas tow, and then we had that second of the big mistakes you mention. Maybe this weekend is down to the chassis change and Ham/Merc can sort it. Or at least by the next race. But meanwhile Max’s superb consistency shines through. Unlike Ferrari in recent years, the current Red Bull team still knows how to win championships and I can’t see them or Max falling by the wayside now.
   2. 

      iCarbs (@icarby)
      19th June 2021, 12:49

      @david-br I think this years changes that hit the car concept is the biggest difference, they may have some of the performance back but if it impacts balance ( which seems to be impacting Ham, more than Bottas) then there are still challenges ahead for Merc, where as Max and Rbr are going from strength to strength, this could be the year…
      1. 

         David BR (@david-br)
         19th June 2021, 12:56

         @icarby Yes, that’s what I mentioned below too. I think it’s still an even-ish fight, but Mercedes need Hamilton battling at the front with Max (or Max/Checo) as at Baku to have any chance. Hamilton having car issues and/or being off form is a real problem.
         1. 

            Esploratore (@esploratore1)
            19th June 2021, 23:41

            Yes, it’s pretty obvious that if something were to happen to hamilton, bottas would lose the championship, no question, he’s just not threatening, you can always count on hamilton giving a challenge if he’s 2nd behind verstappen, not bottas.
   3. 

      Mayrton
      19th June 2021, 13:03

      Its just FP, nothing to conclude from this. Besides, Mercedes is by far the team that often sandbags or is otherwise folling around to create a different picture from reality
      1. 

         James Bond (@jamesbond)
         19th June 2021, 13:17

         Spot On!
      2. 

         David BR (@david-br)
         19th June 2021, 13:17

         Obviously such a big gap isn’t likely in qualifying. But the Bottas-Hamilton gap is real. If maintained, can you really see Bottas leading the fight to stop Max getting poll and winning the race? The answer I’m sure is no.
2. 

   Joe
   19th June 2021, 12:11

   Mercedes’ wings clipped with the new Pirelli rules…
3. 

   Sumedh
   19th June 2021, 12:15

   An absolute blinder by Max there. Can’t wait for qualifying.
4. 

   bosyber (@bosyber)
   19th June 2021, 12:16

   It is interesting that Verstappen is about 2 tenths off his time of 2019 in FP3, while the Mercedes cars are close to two seconds off. I get different circumstances, perhaps fuel etc and maybe tyre difference and the rule change, but that much seems too much to not partly be about engine mode from them, so I would expect to see them (all; FP3->Q3 was almost 2s faster in 2019) closer to the 1:28.3 Hamilton set pole with in 2019, but not convinced they will get close enough to make it an interesting fight (so I suppose then all there is to do is wonder how close Verstappen gets to that laptime? I predicted a low 1:29, ie. Verstappen still going about 2s faster than FP3).
   1. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      19th June 2021, 12:29

      The rule changes clearly affected low rake cars much worse @bosyber. I don’t think the expectation that Mercedes could find a simple solution was that realistic. Sure they’re tweaking away to bring back rear downforce but Red Bull aren’t going to be sitting still either. On top of that, Hamilton would normally be 2-3 tenths up on Bottas on a Saturday morning at this kind of track, instead the opposite.
   2. 

      Kribana (@krichelle)
      19th June 2021, 12:32

      Last time we had Verstappen going 7 tenths in FP3, was at the season opener in Bahrain. He then qualified on pole by almost 4 tenths of a second. It’s clear that Red Bull have the advantage in qualifying. But will that be the same for the race?
      1. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore1)
         19th June 2021, 23:45

         Well, generally (I’m saying this post qualifying, but it’s also true it’s been the same this year and would’ve said it even before qualifying if I had been awake) this year mercedes performed better in the race and red bull in qualifying, there’s not a single regular track (non street) where I can say red bull was faster in the race, at best even (bahrain), normally slower, but most of the time they had that little something in qualifying.
5. 

   papaya
   19th June 2021, 13:10

   Is it Red Bull running on new PU? Few days back saw there’s speculation the new PU would fixed the vibration issue which causes them to turn-down engine mode since Bahrain…
   1. 

      Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
      19th June 2021, 13:13

      Yes, RB have got a new PU for this weekend.
   2. 

      Bram (@br444m)
      19th June 2021, 13:16

      Surely seems there’s a good chunk of performance in that, looking at the speeds in sector 2
6. 

   Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
   19th June 2021, 13:19

   I still wouldn’t count out Mercedes for qualifying. They had pretty average top speeds and lost almost all of their time in S3 (0.5-0.6). This suggests they ran more fuel than Verstappen on their 2nd run in FP3.
   But it doesn’t look as comfortable for Mercedes as they might have hoped for, that’s for sure. They might be missing about 0.2 to beat Verstappen to pole. Let’s see what happens.

   My predictions for quali: VER-BOT-HAM-PER-LEC
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      19th June 2021, 23:47

      Wow, you were almost right with the prediction, think only a few hundreths off with the gap from verstappen to 2nd place mercedes.
7. 

   Carl Burger
   19th June 2021, 13:38

   Where are all the clowns still claiming that Mercedes is the fastest car.
   1. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      19th June 2021, 13:44

      Imagine if Mercedes didn’t exist. They’d be claiming McLaren actually have the faster car…
   2. 

      sebsronnie (@sebsronnie)
      19th June 2021, 15:09

      There’s one called Mayrton who – if anything – is now beating that drum even louder.
      1. 

         Dave
         19th June 2021, 15:22

         But at least he thinks Ferrari are noobs right now.
         (but should I stop bragging that up?)
   3. 

      Plossl (@)
      19th June 2021, 15:22

      Don’t worry, if HAM wins the WDC there still say He had the fastest car…and if He losses there still say He had the…you get the picture.
   4. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      19th June 2021, 23:48

      We’re not clowns, we examine the facts: mercedes so far imo was faster in the following cases:

      1) Bahrain race: not faster, nor slower
      2) Imola race: faster
      3) Portugal race: faster
      4) Spain race: faster

      With potential for being even also in some other qualifying session, at least spain, possibly portugal.
8. 

   MacLeod (@macleod)
   19th June 2021, 16:44

   Verstappen emphatically fastest in final practice

   Come on what the hell means that in that contest could you use Divine, fantastic, Super something a normal mortal could understand!
   1. 

      erikje
      19th June 2021, 20:32

      But Duncan, you are immortal.
      Probably hard to remember after all these years..

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