Nithyanandam Ramasamy
Max Verstappen’s masterclass has won him the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP comfortably. It has made the championship battle fascinating with 21 rounds to go. Now, let’s move away from his masterpiece, which is fairly obvious, and delve into Lewis Hamilton’s pace and how Norris ended up on the podium.
Lewis Hamilton’s performance compared with Max Verstappen after the Safety Car restart on Lap 7 until the first pit stop:
The race start from Max Verstappen was stunning as he blistered past Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton. During the battle, he has clipped the front wing of Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton had lost 0.3s per lap, which was caused by the front wing damage, before the red flag.
By looking at the numbers, Lewis Hamilton has posted an average lap time of 1:29.030s from the SC restart to the first pit stop of Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, at the same period, Max Verstappen’s average lap time was 1:28.946s, which was only 0.084s ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s average lap time.
Could Lewis Hamilton have passed Max Verstappen without the 0.3s deficit per lap?
At the time of Max Verstappen’s pit stop on Lap 27, he led the race from Lewis Hamilton by only 2.065s. If Lewis Hamilton hasn’t had that 0.3s deficit per lap due to the front wing anomaly, he might have even led the race by 1 sec. Or maybe even Max Verstappen might have defended and kept him at bay. We know it’s hypothetical to talk about it now. But it’s fairly believable that we were robbed of an intriguing battle for the top step of the podium at Imola because of the damage to Hamilton’s front wing, slow pit stop from Mercedes, and not to forget his uncharacteristic mistake. However, it has given us a chance to witness his overtaking masterclass after the red flag restart.
Lewis Hamilton’s recuperation:
After the restart, Lewis Hamilton put on a sensational comeback to finish the race in 2nd place. He passed 5-cars in 29-laps. By doing so, he has also posted the fastest lap of the race. From lap 36 to the chequered flag, he has averaged 1:18.971s per lap, which was 0.3s faster than Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc but 0.5s slower than the leader Max Verstappen who was on clean air.
We have to remember that Lewis Hamilton’s average lap time was only 0.5s behind Max Verstappen’s average lap time despite overtaking and driving on dirty air. One more interesting point to be noted is the fact that he was the fastest man on the lap whenever he overtook drivers except while passing Charles Leclerc. However, the question remains, what would have happened if Lewis and Max restarted from the front row?
Now let’s ask ourselves whether we were robbed of a Bahrain GP part 2 at Imola because of a few anomalies?
Now let’s look into the battle behind Lewis Hamilton:
How did Lando Norris end up on the podium?
Charles Leclerc moved up to second place when Lewis Hamilton made his uncharacteristic mistake. He’s had an impeccable first half of the race where he held a 36s gap over Lando Norris, on lap 31. However, that gap was evaporated when the second SC was called upon and the race was red-flagged eventually.
Here’s how Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc performed after the restart. It answers the decisiveness of the restart from Lando Norris.
Lando Norris, on soft tyres, passed Charles Leclerc during the restart and posted an average lap time of 1:19.263s, and Charles Leclerc’s average lap time after the restart was 1:19.278s. They were separated by only 0.014s, which was absolutely nothing. Commendable tyre management from the Brit to set identical lap times of Charles Leclerc, who was on durable medium compounds.
Lando Norris has driven 32-laps on softer compounds, and Charles Leclerc did 35-laps on medium compounds. Mclaren’s decision to start on softer compounds and Lando Norris’s overtake on Charles Leclerc during the restart played a predominant role in his much-deserved podium.
Have Ferrari made a mistake by not sending Charles Leclerc on soft tyres during the restart?
We can’t really say it’s a mistake because medium tyres were durable on Friday practice sessions. So it’s not a surprise that Ferrari went with medium tyres when there were 29 laps left in the race. Surprisingly, even softer tyres have given similar durability in the second half of the race. Now a question might pop up ‘What would have happened if Charles Leclerc restarted on soft tyres?’.
He might have finished 4th with soft tyres or even kept Norris at bay for the 3rd place. Since Ferrari were losing on straights because of their set-up, there were possibilities like Lando Norris would have easily passed him on the main straight. Also, he could have had tyre degradation and dropped down the order. It’s still unknown and early days to determine how kind is SF21 for tyre durability. Ferrari might be happy with their 4th and 5th position. However, they will feel a missed podium opportunity.
🔥 Hot off the press: “Longest race name in F1 history? & other stats – 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix” https://t.co/F9jQ2WGncJ (via @revue)
— Pits To Podium (@pitstopodium) April 21, 2021
Emilia Romagna GP was dramatic except for the fight for the top spot. It isn’t as anti-climatic as the Bahrain GP. But the race has set a tone for the driver’s championship battle and the potential fight between Ferrari and McLaren for the 3rd spot in Contructors’ battle. Imola has served us an Italian Margharita Pizza.
