Go up, go down in F1: 2021 Emilia-Romanga Grand Prix

Russell stomped lightly away from Bottas (having likely caused the accident himself) before deciding to turn around, approach the Finn (still in the car), and give him a patronizing pat on the head. Presumably he said “Thanks for a fun, good accident”. .

Bottas responded by telling Russell how many points the Williams driver had earned from that race.

After Bottas had given the Mercedes junior this analog telemetry, he tore Russell apart in an interview after the race and said something incredibly that was actually quite funny about a “theory” and an “aluminum tin foil hat”. Well done Valtteri, we didn’t know you had it in you.

Get rid of harassment

Big load up to the first corner = big green arrow from us

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Some may look back on the now-destroyed Bassa chicane with Ferrari scarlet lenses, but its removal (plus the expansion of the DRS zone) resulted in some tense fighting on the first corner at Imola. If only they could remove a few more famous harassment from the calendar …

McLaren’s young gun revolution

McLaren’s young driver program has started

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Lando Norris continued to show why Zak Brown’s McLaren appears to be based on his young talent. His incredible third-fastest qualifying lap was deleted from Ctrl-Alt for exceeding track restrictions, but from the seventh the young Brit came back even harder on Sunday. ‘Old man Ricciardo’ was asked to retire in the race for Norris, who immediately dropped his teammate and ran to second place before bravely losing in a fight against Lewis Hamilton and eventually taking the final podium.

Across the pond, Zak Brown has promised Mexican meteorite Pato O’Ward an F1 McLaren test in Abu Dhabi if he can win an IndyCar race this season …

Besieged Bottas

Bottas seems to have found his quick mind out of the car, just not in it …

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Bottas may have gotten some improved performance out of the car, but it only seems to get worse. ‘Mr. Friday ‘looked decent in practice but qualified eighth and, as mentioned above, crashed while defending 9th place. The jury is undecided which big name will be announced next for the Renault Clio Cup.

Curse of the second Red Bull seat

The second Red Bull seems to be where it belongs – forever on the brink of disaster

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What kind of magic did Ricciardo cast on the second Red Bull car? First Gasly, then Albon and now Checo. After two disaster periods, the year 2021 will result in the self-shutdown of Bahrain and the complete disaster in Imola.

In the past, the reliable Perez in Italy just couldn’t get it right because he’d done it wrong. He crashed in practice against Esteban Ocon, had his usual cleared lap in qualifying and then drove under the security car in the race. Then, just to make sure his race was really full, did it again under the green flag. Surely there must be something …

Formula farm workers

Seb may be dreaming of new pastures – in the truest sense of the word

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There’s been a lot of Seb / Aston bashing in this column so far – but it wasn’t great, was it? Perhaps it is time for Seb to become a full time farm worker after trying this internship at an organic organic farm.

Another desperate performance booked by Aston who wanted to top their cake pans on the grill (sorry, I mean grilles) and eventually retired.

Otmar has also suggested that Aston could take over the FIA ​​because of the new aero rules – good luck with these guys!

Tired toreador?

Alonso is finally out of gas?

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Fernando Alonso really had a miserable Imola GP: he was eliminated in the second quarter, started on the formation lap, rolled backwards for most of the race and only scored a point after his old colleague Kimi Raikkonen was punished. He could of course easily prove us wrong in Portugal …

Blue flags

Oops

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One of the best parts of the Imola GP was watching leading cars snake through backmarkers, which ultimately resulted in Hamilton slipping and then bouncing deliciously off his front wing at 2 mph. If there hadn’t been blue flags, things could have been even more interesting.