Verstappen flies to top time as Sainz crashes heavily in final practice

27 comments on “Verstappen flies to top time as Sainz crashes heavily in final practice”

1. 

   KaIIe (@kaiie)
   4th September 2021, 12:14

   F1 is so boring with one driver dominating. /s

   Seriously fast pace from Verstappen. Going to take something special from the Mercedes to catch him in qualifying.
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      4th September 2021, 12:29

      Yes, I know it’s sarcasm but it can’t be called domination until the 2nd driver starts beating the mercedes ofc.
      1. 

         someone or something
         4th September 2021, 13:24

         One driver cannot be dominating if his team mate doesn’t beat everyone else as well? I’m not sure if I agree … ;-)
2. 

   amian
   4th September 2021, 12:16

   It’s interesting to see a progression of times from practice to practice. Kubica, with his 1:12.1s was 0.2s faster than Giovanazzi and 0.7s faster than Raikonnen in their first practice.

   Cool to see Alonso in top-5, we’ll see if that’s a representation of Alpine’s actual pace in quali.
   1. 

      dot_com (@dot_com)
      4th September 2021, 12:41

      The even bigger progression here is that Kimi improved 8/10s between P1 and P2, and between P2 and P3 he actually become Robert Kubica.
      1. 

         Jon Snow
         4th September 2021, 12:57

         well that’s normal in practice session, considering setup progression, condition of track.. let alone fuel cons, tyre freshness, sandbagging if it’s happen…

         and usually quali time will drop a second or two further
      2. 

         amian
         4th September 2021, 13:15

         I’ve made an error: Kubica was 0.9s faster than Kimi, and after Kimi improved by 0.8s in FP2, Kubica’s first practice was still faster.
3. 

   Ivan B (@njoydesign)
   4th September 2021, 12:16

   two biggest takeaways for me – Ferrari dropping ball compared to yesterday, and Tsunoda’s invisibility. Although Leclerc was .4 behind after the 1st sector on his final attempt, maybe he could’ve improved, but would still end up at least 0.9 behind.
   1. 

      bosyber (@bosyber)
      4th September 2021, 12:20

      @njoydesign seems pretty clear Ferrari was already turned up higher yesterday, while Merc.,Honda turned up their PU for today, putting them down a notch (or two). Interesting to not see Alpine drop (yet?) like they often do from Friday to quali.
4. 

   papaya
   4th September 2021, 12:22

   Red Bull Best Car + Verstappen Best Driver of the season confirmed.
   1. 

      amian
      4th September 2021, 12:24

      How do you know RB is the best car, huh?
   2. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      4th September 2021, 12:31

      Best driver ok, although norris has been super too, hard to separate them given the car differences, best car I don’t think so, they’ve been pretty similar so far and perez still isn’t beating any mercedes.
      1. 

         Swifty (@theswift)
         4th September 2021, 12:32

         Imagine not thinking the RB is the best car… why is everyone too scared to admit the obvious?
         1. 

            David (@nvherman)
            4th September 2021, 12:58

            @theswift Bottas and Perez are about the same level as drivers, let me know when Perez’ Red Bull regularly goes quicker than Bottas’ Mercedes. At that point, you may have a point about the Red Bull being the faster car, but until then, it’s still Mercedes, and a Red Bull that is only quicker because Verstappen is the best driver currently in F1
            1. 

               Swifty (@theswift)
               4th September 2021, 13:23

               So let me confirm – we can’t state the RB is quicker, but we can state that VER is the best driver in F1 at the moment? Okay.
   3. 

      mystic one (@mysticus)
      4th September 2021, 13:43

      Redbull the most hypocrite team in the paddock by a large margin, and Max is the most protected who gets away with every consievable bad behaviour on or off track… That’s also confirmed by stewards today. People keep playing down ifs buts yes no if it was Lewis situation. They know very well that Lewis in the same shoes would be receiving a grid penalty thanx to utmost safety efforts by Redbull Gods… There is no ifs or buts that is 100%
      1. 

         Nofanboysplease
         4th September 2021, 13:53

         First half of the season I only heard Lewis and Toto complaining about everything on the RB car, Max’s aggressive style, bending wings, pitstops etc….. so which team is the most sore loser? I imagine you are a MB fan,… and that’s fine you have your opinion
      2. 

         erikje
         4th September 2021, 13:53

         And the sore loser again.
         It’s clear you are unable to enjoy a race.
5. 

   Illusive (@illusive)
   4th September 2021, 12:27

   Quali is going to have Red flags too.
6. 

   Shimks (@shimks)
   4th September 2021, 12:33

   First time in the car this weekend and on a new track and Kubica is less than a second slower than Giovinazzi. Giovinazzi really isn’t a big deal, is he.

   I am happy for Kubica that he has another chance to race in F1. I was always a big fan. The magic that he was is far behind him thanks to that terrible rallying incident, so I’m just happy for him to have another go.
   1. 

      someone or something
      4th September 2021, 13:48

      That’s a bit of a far-fetched conclusion.
      Firstly, the fact that it’s a new track evens the playing field. Both Giovinazzi and Kubica have raced there in the past (Giovinazzi as recently as 2015, Kubica goes back to 2004), but as far as modern F1 cars are concerned, the bulk of their preparation will have been in the sim.

      Secondly, this is an extremely short track. Relatively speaking, Kubica was 1.2% slower than Giovinazzi. If you apply that to a qualifying lap at wet Spa, the same percentage is almost worth 1.5 seconds per lap.
      The entire midfield from Alonso in 5th to Giovinazzi in 15th is separated by 0.629 seconds. If there were more cars in in the midfield, with the same kind of gaps between them (on average 0.057 seconds, if you include Sainz). Kubica would find himself in 30th place.

      My takeaway is that Kubica’s effort has been commendable, given his lack of preparation. However, the conclusion that Giovinazzi must be very average because Kubica’s deficit doesn’t look that big, sounds like a big stretch to me. It may well be the case, but it’s nowhere in the available data.
      1. 

         someone or something
         4th September 2021, 15:38

         … aaaand the gap is up to 1.25 in Q1.
         No disrespect to Kubica, it would be just as wrong to criticize him based on that gap.
         The only sensible comparisons that can be made in such cases is when the replacement driver immediately performs on the same level or better than the resident driver (e.g. when Hülkenberg replaced Pérez or Russell replaced Hamilton), or when the replacement driver is seconds off his team mate’s pace and doesn’t really improve (e.g. when Badoer replaced Massa).
         Anything in between is just baseless speculation.
         1. 

            someone or something
            4th September 2021, 15:40

            1.25 = 1,8% => over 2 seconds in Wet Spa Qualifying Time Equivalent (WSQTE).
   2. 

      Emma (@emma)
      4th September 2021, 17:23

      This didn’t age too well…
      1. 

         someone or something
         4th September 2021, 18:20

         Shocker ^^
7. 

   dot_com (@dot_com)
   4th September 2021, 12:43

   Good to see Williams improving from yesterday. Latifi seems to have the edge over Russell so far this weekend, but Russell normally pulls something out of the bag in quali.
8. 

   Tommy C (@tommy-c)
   4th September 2021, 13:22

   Has F1 set a record for the most consecutively red flagged sessions? Off the top of my head, we’re currently on 5 right? These 3 practice sessions, the race and qualy in Belgium. It seems like we’re having a lot lately.

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