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It’s just four races into the 2021 Formula 1 season, but is there a sense of here we go again?
As F1 heads to the familiar streets of Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix, some familiar trends are developing. Lewis Hamilton won his second straight race, third of the season, two weeks ago in Spain and Mercedes looks to have the fastest car again. But, after Max Verstappen and Red Bull looked like serious contenders through the first two races, is Mercedes set to pull away for another comfortable Constructors’ Championship?
“We’re just too slow, so it’s impossible to keep him behind,” Verstappen said about Hamilton on his post-race radio in Spain.
Vettel focused ‘extra hard’ on qualifying pace
Date published:
May 19 2021
Sebastian Vettel says he is focusing “extra hard” on working on his one-lap pace, having only once made it into Q3 this season.
Moving over to Aston Martin, Vettel’s 2020 qualifying struggles with Ferrari followed him to his new team.
The German failed to make it out of Q1 at the season-opening race, has twice qualified P13 and has made just one Q3 showing, his P10 at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
The latter was also the only time this season that he has outqualified his team-mate, Lance Stroll.
Vettel, who has yet to score a single point this season, acknowledges both he and Aston Martin need to improve their one-lap pace, especially around Monaco this weekend.
Marko: Red Bull need Perez beating Bottas
Date published:
May 19 2021
Helmut Marko has dropped a not-so-subtle hint to Sergio Perez about his importance in this year’s World Championship battle.
Perez was signed by Red Bull over the winter as a vital second string to their bow in the fight with Mercedes, which has intensified for 2021.
For the past couple of seasons, Max Verstappen has had to take on Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas virtually single-handedly with Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon more often than not racing further back in the field.
What Red Bull needed was to make it a four-cornered tussle with their second driver, now Perez, trying to take points off Bottas while Verstappen vies with Hamilton for the individual crown.