RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX 2021

Lando had his first race win stolen from him by the rain at the last minute only to have Hamilton get his hundredth win, which would have been unbearable if Max hadn’t also gotten second.

This was the race where Lando led basically everything and should have won, but rain - and chaos - at the last minute caused everyone to need to make an unscheduled stop. It was absolutely dramatic, all of it.

I mostly feel stunned. A really riveting race. Just wish this day could have been Lando’s first win! But Max did great damage limitation.

Free Practice 1

• I saw something on social media before this race that was like F2 arriving and the whole Russian paddock was flooded so it looked like it wasn’t even gonna be raceable but now it looks sunny for today so false alarm

• Charles is gonna start the race on Sunday with penalties cause his car is basically rebuilt for improvements with whatever the heck Ferrari is trying to fix now. But Sainz won’t take the penalty until next race probably

• WHAT Haas confirms Mazepin and Schumacher for next year, that is a SHOCK to me. I thought for sure Mick would move up to Alfa or something

Free Practice 2

• there is already talk about the weather for tomorrow for qualifying and how they think it will have to be rescheduled from rain for Sunday morning. Crazy, this sounds like it’s going to be a spa weekend.

• CONFIRMED that Max will start from the back of the grid this race for taking a new power unit. So Max and Charles will both start from the back! And also we will see what happens with Max’s three place penalty for doing nothing wrong in last race but hopefully the back is the back and it doesn’t go on to the next race

• LEWIS just TOTALLY HIT his front jack man as he stopped in the pit cause he said the “magic” was still on. It was quite a huge hit and they just ignored it like nothing happened

• Charles has a scary spin and is really fortunate not to hit the wall or get hit by Perez who is right behind him and goes by really fast

• Gio hits the barrier and causes a red flag and gets a ton of debris on the track so they clean that up

• Gasly’s front wing came off when he went over the curb and it got eaten under his car

Free practice 3

• cancelled for rain!

Qualifying

• it is so wet but not actively raining so they’re going ahead

• GIO SPINS with CHARLES RIGHT BEHIND HIM and man it was close to Charles having nowhere to go and hitting him but thank God Charles got around him

• Max does a few laps and is done because he is starting from the back anyway

• Out in Q1: Kimi, Lil Schu, Gio, Mazepin and Max

• Out in Q2: Vettel, Gasly, Yuki, Latifi and Leclerc (because of the engine penalty)

• I think it’s shady that Williams didn’t declare that Latifi was going to take an engine penalty until after the end of the q2 session so that they would stay ahead of Charles

• Near the end of Q3, it got dry enough for slicks so a bunch of people are risking going in for slicks to be fastest

• HAMILTON HIT THE WALL ON THE WAY INTO THE PITSSSS YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Hahahahahah YES

• WOWWWWW LANDO ON POLE AHHHHHH WITH SAINZ IN SECOND GEORGE RUSSELL IN THIRD AHHHHH THE FUTURE IS NOW

• Hamilton hitting the wall hindered Bottas coming in behind him too so this is GREAT

• AND HAMILTON CRASHED ON HIS FINAL LAP AHAHAHAH

Race

• report rain coming five minutes in

• Max reports his battery draining on formation lap

• Oh no worries his battery is all good now he says thank God

• FIRST LAP CHAOS BUT NO CRASHES

• Sainz leads into turn 1!!!! And Lando in second and George in third and Hamilton has moved back into 7th!! Charles is up from the back to 13th!! Max made a good start and is up to 17th

• Somehow Mazepin is up to 13th right after Charles?

• Why is Bot in the back in 15th now by lap 4? Did he start from the back?

• 7/53 HA MAX JUST WENT RIGHT BACK BOTTAS and it was like Bottas just let him right by!!! HA! And they were like why didn’t he put up a defense? YES BOT, free now that he doesn’t have a contract for next year!

• Gasly let Max right by which is lovely from the sister team

• 12/53 AHH MAX getting past Charles was TERRIFYING and almost really bad because Charles was fighting with Vettel ahead and Max tried to get past during it and Max was afraid his front wing was damaged but it is fine and now Max is ahead of Charles

• LANDO is like right on Sainz for first and I think he can get him

• Sainz complains his retired are more difficult than expected

• Lando has to stay behind because his front left is gone

• Stroll pits first and the undercut is powerful and it’s going to really inhibit Hamilton later and they say it’s a nightmare for Mercedes in this situation!

• 13/53 LANDO GET AHEAD OF SAINZ FOR THE LEAD and made it look easy

• Stroll undercut George in the pit stops SHOOT

• Sainz pits first and has a slower stop but still has position over Stroll

• Hamilton is still stuck behind Ricciardo and no one knows why they didn’t pit Hamilton cause he didn’t even make up track position while he was out there! Hahaha!

• 16/53 AH Charles is super close behind Max and I’m terrified but I think he is just letting Max tow him along and isnt going to tangle with him I hope, he’s just so good and is such a natural racer

• 17/53 Max is a second faster than the cars around him!

• 18/53 Max does fastest lap and then acts like Lewis and says his tire is dead which is hilarious, go Max. Karun says he thinks Max went to the Hamilton school of acting

• Hamilton says undercut on the radio to try and make Max pit first and he doesn’t fall for it

• 23/53 Daniel pits and AHHH ITS SO LONG and what is happening?! Nooooo shoot. This means Hamilton is released. It was a mechanic who didn’t switch the button on his gun and the light wouldn’t go green!! UGHHH. These new pit stop regulations are so stupid, they are just making computer things get in the way and take longer

• 24/53 Max is really adamant that the tires are totally done

• 27/53 both Hamilton and Max pit and they both have okay pit stops, Red Bull is a little slower but it’s altogether not the worst

• When Lando is on the radio he is so calm and happy, it’s like he has no problem coping with the pressure of leading

• 28/53 LANDO pits from the lead and thank goodness, this stop goes smoothly

• 33/53 oh no Lil Schumacher has to retire, they can’t resolve the issue

• 36/53 Charles finally pits but ugh it’s slow!! Almost 5 seconds. After all that passing and is going to have to do it all again. What is wrong with them at Ferrari

• 37/53 SERGIO HAS A 9 SECOND PIT STOP UGHHHH what happened?! This pit thing is not working

• All the sudden Alonso flies past Max into sixth, what the heck

• Now Hamilton is on the charge trying to get Lando for the lead and he BETTER NOT GET IT. Come on Lando, you can do it

• 43/53 Charles gets by George for 9th

• There’s a huge threat of rain for the end of the race AHHH

• 47/53 ITS RAINING oh NOOO, LANDO KEEP THE LEAD, umbrellas are going up, WHAT A NIGHTMARE

• Lando keeps having to go wide on the wet

• Seb and Lance collide but keep going, Lance just in the way and wandering over

• They order Hamilton to come in and he stays out and the Eure just waiting for him

• MOST PEOPLE PITTING FOR INTERS BUT LANDO WONT

• HAMILTON PITS FOR INTERS WITH THREE LAPS TO GO

• LANDO STAYING OUT

• Stroll in barrier but keeps going and Gasly spins

• 51/53 LANDO SPINS OUT AND ITS FULL WETS AND HAMILTON TAKES THE LEAD BUT MAX IS IN SECOND WOAH WOAHHHHHHHHHHH

• MADNESS

• CHARLES HAS AN OFF ON TURN 5 BUT IS OK, he is still on slicks

• Lando pits and he almost missed the pit entrance and crossed the white line and now he might even get a penalty

• UGH now they are going on and on about Hamilton’s 100th win and they have been waiting to use this disgusting graphic for like 10 races and it’s great that it took so long and I am proud of Max for pushing it off as long as possible

• Ugh the whole thing celebrating Hamilton’s 100th won is absolutely disgusting and overdone times a million

• So it’s Hamilton wins, MAX IN SECOND WOOOOOO, and Sainz in third, this was just insanity

• Everyone is so sad for Lando and I am too, what on earth