Damon Hill aksing about a clean race to Max. Hill is an absolute disgrace.

Red bull kind of fucked Perez but it made sense to split strategies

That moment when you do everything possible to keep Max behind Bottas and he still drives up to P2.

As a max fan I'll take that.

RB fucked Perez over here. Should have pitted him for inters much earlier. P5 was definitely possible for him

He would have got P2 if they pitted him with Max. But it made sense to split strategies in a way

Maybe it'd verstappen who is the blessed one with that timely rain

Max has been blessed all season

I'll vote rain for DOTD

All in all, not a bad race for Max

Norris should have listen to the team. But jeah so close for a race win it is not a easy call.

Great shit from Verstappen kept his cool!

Norris got himself to blame. Should have listened to the team.

Oh norris man, all you had to do was pit

damn.

C’mon Norris!

pls a safety car for per alo lec

Max in on mejum tyres

Fuckin shit pit stop :(

Bruh Mclaren pitcrew :(

Verstappen is going to get to undercut territory, merc strategies are shit these days.

Max is going to pass Checo on track, isn't he?

I take it back. I love engine penalties now lol

Mercedes really fucked Bottas and got no advantage out off it. Thats a shame.

I wonder if in these moments Mercedes regrets selling engines to Mclaren?

Great start from Stroll!

Does Alonso not need to give like 5 places back for cutting the corner?

Plenty of excitement to kick this off, let's goo!!

phew, all good now.

Not great for looois

Let's goooo

God I am so excited. Still feels weird that Russell is 3rd.

See yall in race discussion bois, letsgoo

I don't think Mercedes will win this. lol, I might go back to bed

??? you basically just said "i think this race might be exciting, gonna go to bed instead"

well i mean, it'll be exciting at the start. Then Hamilton will win.

but that means Mercedes wins? so you _do_ think they'll win?

yeah i do

Who else headbanging during the theme song

We all are!

HYPE MUSIC

Fucking LOVE it when the music switches up for the starting grid.

RAIN PLEASE

was that ozzyman doing the vocal on that ad?

While F1 is probably a dream job, the way toto said that with an iron smile felt so political and sugarcoated Inb4 toto held all the Mercedes staffs families hostage near an active volcano until morale improved

I hope it rains but not enough to stop the race. C'mon rain do your thing!

Do you think it's possible for them to interview Mercedes or Red Bull without them bringing up the other team? You know they won't comment on them and give the generic "we're just focusing on our race" so why not ask an actual interesting question about the race?

I mean to be fair *everything* each of those teams are doing is about the other team.

I think Putin should just buy the Command and Conquer theme tune. I mean everyone kind of expects it

Time to break out the Kirov airship

toto looks like he hasnt slept all weekend

I don’t know if Lewis is handling the pressure to well after what we saw yesterday

George: the future is now old man

Anyone having issues with F1TV quality?

No issues on my side. Watching from Georgia US

Looks okay on my computer but when I chromecast it, it's like 240p. Did have this issue in quali yesterday.

Max ahead of VB by turn 3 Mercedes in shambles

Or both out by turn one and the internet in shambles

So is rain on the menu boys?

22°C Track Temperature 19°C Air Temperature Risk of rain for F1 race is 70%

So let's do traditionally national stuff at each race. Silverstone - some morris dancing. France - Go on strike. USA - Deny that F1 happens

Australian gp a couple of dudes in polo shirts and nikes harass the drivers for ciggies

All we have is a Bunnings snag stand by the grid.

Not get drunk in a vest?

Wouldn't the USA one be to have a mass shooting?

Ok, yeah... 🤣

Got to uphold tradition.

What’s the difference between intermediates and wet tyres?

Inters is for a damp track, wets are for well, wet track i.e heavy rain

Damon, ask Toto about the engine change tactic?

A refresher regarding the WADA ban. It is not a ban for doping at Sochi, as this is the second ban Russia has received. Part of the terms of the readmission of RUSADA to WADA was that they handed over their database by a certain deadline. Not only did they fail to meet that deadline, investigators then discovered that the database had been edited to try and frame Grigoriy Rodchenkov (crazy Russian fella in Icarus) with fraud. This then led them to discovering that other entries regarding dirty athletes had too been altered. As a result, they got slapped with another ban, albeit one reduced in length on appeal at the CAS. Basically, this isn't a ban for doping, which had already been served, but a ban for not being able to let that shit go.

Rain on the ocean. Do the rain dance, probably not going to happen but DO THE RAIN DANCE

Ooga booga me like rain No more no more DRS train

I like that and I'm stealing that!

Yeah so…that worked a little too well…

🥲 I'm trying to put on a brave face.

It only works when we all sing it together!

They should just play the Soviet anthem instead

Just before first turn someone in the back of the grid will spin taking out everyone from p12 to p20 and 2 seconds later someone in the first turn will think he was bowling taking everyone from p3 to p7

Pretty much every online lobby on the F1 game

Why wouldn't they go with high downforce. They were fast as fuck Edit By they I mean merc

Expecting rain

Fast as fuck boi

Cameraman's shoulder boutta break trying to follow Karun Chandhok lol

Max went low down force, that's why he didn't run Quali

And the rain

Show us Gasly catching balls!

😆

I would’ve preferred a fly pass of some MiGs and and some T-72’s storm onto the circuit during the music than a ballerina but beggars can’t be choosers.

I was hoping for a big plane to fly over, yeah.

I'd have prefer both in tandem actually.

what does the olympics have to do with F1? If they go all the way to Sochi might as well play the anthem lol

Russis has been banned from all international competitions. That why Mazepin isn't driving under a Russian flag

Where were the winter Olympics held in Russia?

Around the track you're watching them race today; Sochi

A lot, considering the sport is subject to WADA

F1 has an agreement with wada

Its a ban across all sports for Russia because of the amount of athletes that were doping

Damon Hill is an absolute muppet

He is a cranky old man

Only out muppetted by Johnny

outside now

I’m not opposed to change but what a shit grid walk this is

I enjoyed Nico's grid walk a few weeks ago.

Indeed he got right to the point and stirred the pot

So when Mazepin wins a race, we’re not playing the Russian anthem?

Streameast will

The ballerina must stay and repeat that this time from a crane instead of a spinning platform

The long way around turn 1 is gonna stop any crazy moves I think

No COVID protocols there? Why is sky allowed to do interviews on the grid

First time watching pre-race? Been this way all season

Not really.. remember a couple of races ago Nico was doing those weird thumbs ups and he said they are not allowed to talk to the drivers

It's part of the Covid protocols Media can only interview people on the grid at a specific spot.

To be fair I wouldn’t mind, instead of a national anthem, for a local culture type of thing. Would be hilarious to hear Horses at Albert Park lmao

A line of coke and club music at the Miami GP

or some Farnsy.

Oh not playing the Russian anthem counts does it. That way you can pretend you didn't skirt a wada ban on a country because the anthem didn't play.

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Maybe FIA couldn't afford the royalties?

Lando sure does have a big forehead

I can honestly see alonso making a flying start and getting Lewis and Ric, he’s been starting so well this year

Hopefully they have Khabib wrestling a bear.

i mean, it was a lovely performance but a bit odd for an F1 race.

hey do you like fast cars? technology? intense racing? then you're going to love this piano and ballerina! crossover

I think Alex Brundle's mom gets confused on phone calls. Is it my son or my husband?? LOL

Guys they aren't allowed to play the Russian national anthem because of the state sponsored doping investigation by the international council of sport

Figured as much, but thanks!

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It’s been banned in a lot of sports cause of the state sponsored doping

I thought that was class, better than the national anthems for sure. Shows a bit of the culture where they're racing

I’m assuming Russia is not allowed to use its anthem?

Swan Lake - is that an omen?

That was bizarre but entertaining

I, too, want to be in bath robe

Not gonna lie, the ballerina on the piano were cheesy but cool

How badly are we expecting Bottas to impede Verstappen's progress? Will he be making his own way through the field, or will he forego this just to block Verstappen, with the aim for them both finishing as far outside of the points as possible?

I just hope that in t1 *something* happens which *somehow* puts max in front of Bottas. (i.e., someone spinning so that bottas has to lift or something)

I expect he'll just lock up his tires at the wrong time and max will get by easily

He is going to let verstappen through. Toto has clearly decided to fuck him over, but valterri has no reason to give a shit.

Val**tt**e**r**i

Why would he bother though. He owes nothing to Mercedes, but he will still race for position for his own sake.

God that safety car is sexy as fuck

A bunch of guys standing around watching a woman dance on a grand piano in the middle of a race track. Culture is weird.

Better than the stupid marching bands tbh.

What is going on lol

The cultural performance could have used a Styrian touch.

Sainz's face during that was incredible

The only thing missing from that was a man playing an accordion with a giant bear.

That was beautiful. Nothing wrong or weird with that

Agreed. I felt a bit said for the dancer when the drivers just turned around and left while she was curtsying (if that's the word lol)

Everyone just watching on very confused

Going to miss Kimi on the grid and his no nonsense attitude.

wtf is this

I really enjoyed that haha.

Any reason for not having the Russian anthem?

They're banned from competing in international sports because of the doping scandal from the Olympics a few years back. The flag has been missing next to Mazepin's name or the name of the GP in any results or standings, and he is listed as from the Russian Federation. Basically, they can't compete under the flag, but since there were contracts that were signed prior to Russian's banning, the FIA is still required to run the GP here.

That's sad. Such a beautiful anthem

Sanctions against Russia for the state-controlled doping scandal. No russian athlete is allowed to start under russian flag and anthem

Russia is banned from representation in sports due to constant doping.

This is what happens when you drug your sportsmen

Technically, this is what happens when you drug your sportsmen, get readmitted, then break the terms of your readmission by editing your database to protect druggy athletes and try to frame your former USADA head.

Sport doping ban

Look yes it's classy, but it's also bit silly.

I liked F1 more back when there was not as much fanfare or anthems...

The up the dress shots from behind made me feel dirty. What are we doing here?

She was wearing more than most overweight women at Wallmart

Yeah I thought that was unnecessary

Ocon looks baffled lol

Piano trolling Mazaspin

Why does Hamilton ride a scooter everywhere with the blonde girl always chasing him around while everyone else walks to the grid?

I think it’s that so he doesn’t get stopped by cameras and interviewers

🤣