and once again williams completely botches the strategy.
How the heck don't they pit bottas with a free pit stop with 44 old laps????
SMH. this is just really stupid from Williams
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and once again williams completely botches the strategy.
How the heck don't they pit bottas with a free pit stop with 44 old laps????
SMH. this is just really stupid from Williams
Something bizzare about the 2nd Mercedes tyre stop.
with all these lapped cars, we won't get going until lap 60 probably
oh well
they really need to think of just having them fall to the back of the pack instead
With Vettel out of the Race, Rosberg can move into 2nd place in the championship from wining the race or finishing 2nd. This opens up the race from this point on for a duel between the Mercedes pair, l hope we get some proper racing at the front.
Great restart by Rosberg, l just wished he was driving like this earlier in the season.
The Ham is on the move. Could be a duel to the finish by all accounts
8 laps to go with a Williams in 3rd spot. The mad strategy seem to be working
The SC really lived this race up! :)
I really, really like this track - that's old school F1 for me; like a cross-breed between Montreal and Monza!
Good track indeed
How did Williams get Bottas on the podium???? :arrows:
Great race by Nico, my DOTR!
Wow that was one cold handshake.
and another cold handshake
Great place to have the podium..... what an excellent idea
Wor Nige
A well deserved win by Rosberg. Great to see a Williams on the podium. Bottas has really done well for Williams, though l had my doubts for most of the race. What happened to the Toro Rosso, they were going so well at one point.
Interesting race but a great atmosphere.
Mexico has been a very welcome return to the calendar
Actually, it was a great idea. The whole point of the stops was to get a free pitstop, as no one was sure about whether the tyres would last to the end of the race. Both cars had more than enough time to Kyvat to make a pitstop and come out at the front, so it was a no-brainer.
Incidentally, I'm surprised that no one said anything about Hamilton's initial refusal to pit. Had he not pitted and gone on to win the race that would have been a really dirty way to take a victory, I think. Good think he changed his mind.
That was really fun. I like too much the Lewis attitude. This time it would be a dirty move so good he changed mind, but he tried at least. After the pit started to make fastest laps
I think the Mercedes had the tyres to get to the end of the race. Rosberg and Hamilton thought so. But l think the Merc pitwall was being cautious. The end result was the right one, now the boys can race head to head to the end of the season now Rosberg is 21 points clear of Vettel in a more secure 2nd place in the driver championship.
I really enjoyed that race - not a classic but not a complete bore either. The high altitude coupleD with the twisty circuit was always going to provide us with a few safety cars given the low levels of downforce the drivers were working with.
Nico clearly had the pace on Lewis all weekend. I have a feeling that Lewis is after partying a little too much over the last week. Judging from his snapchats he was having Fajita's and Taco's on Saturday night before the race and playing with a baby Tiger. He deserves it though and no biggy of Roserg winning now that the championship is over. It's interesting to see that Rosberg has had the pace on him over the last two races. It shows how good Nico is when he gets it all together. Hamilton didn't seem to be driving his best this weekend, I feel. Possibly a championship hangover but he was making many mistakes on his qualifying and throughout the race. It wasn't a champions performance but you can't win every race. Still, an impressive result from Nico. It's about time he won a 4th.
I was a little disappointed to see Hamilton obey the team orders to come in for the pit stop. I think he could have gotten to the end of the race on the set he was using. He clearly felt so as well and, if that was the case, he should have stayed out and won the race that way, imo. It was good to see him questioning the decision of the team however. This is someting I really felt he was lacking before. I think were the championship still on the line he may have taken a different approach but we won't know for sure until he's in that situation again but it's a definite move in the right direction as usually he would just blindly accept the teams instructions. I can't remember him questioning a team order ever before.
Very poor and uncharacteristic of the season showing from Vettel. I think that Danny rattled him at the start of the race and he found it difficult to recover. Still, he has had a season he can be proud of which he can carry forward with him to next years.
Kimi - not much need to say anymore there.
There is one thing this race showed very clearly though and that is that no one is anywhere near close to catching the Mercedes. They had a significant advantage for the entire race on pace. Ferrari may have been able to challenge them somehow had the race gone their way but they would have been a significant distance back the road by the end of the race I'd say.
Why would it have been dirty? Because he would have taken the initiative and not blindly followed the team like he did in Monaco? I'm disappointed he didn't ignore the team orders. If he felt the tires were good enough to the end of the race then he should have continued on, imo. There was no safety concern with those tires either, that was just BS by the team.
I think Hamilton did the right thing conforming to the teams instruction to pit. This is a race he did not have to win and a bit of good will and team play is good for the future. But it was definitely a race that Rosberg had to win to take full advantage of Vettel's DNF. All in all, it was great how it turned out. And very good for Rosberg's confidence; that he could win races if he applied himself.
The BBC commentators found the call to Hamilton to pit abit suspect. If we look at how Bottas was able to do 50 laps on the same tyre and still had the pace to fight his way up to a podium position, then it gives some cause to question the Mercedes insistence to override Hamilton's decision to not pit when asked to. Especially when Hamilton is stating that his tyres are fine.
Which ever way you look at it, l think it was necessary that Rosberg win the Mexico Grand Prix to ensure his 2nd place in the championship was relatively more secure than it was at Austin. Hence, even if Hamilton could have won the race, l would have expected him to give it to Rosberg. Now this is a hard thing to ask a hardened racer like Hamilton or Vettel [if you remember his move on Webber in similar circumstances]. If anything, it shows that Hamilton is more compliant than Vettel, as Hamilton could have easily ignored the team and took the victory, which was very much on the cards. He had track position and the tyres to do so.
It would be great if this sort of thing do not happen in situations where the instructed party have something to lose from such a call in the future. Merc has been very fair and simply the most exemplary team in the history of F1, in my humble opinion. Very few front end teams operate an even handed policy that lets their drivers race themselves without hinderance or favouring one driver over the other. The old Nos 1 and Nos 2 setup is fading from F1 as a result of Mercedes. We see in other teams that typically operate the old model adopting the Mercedes style which has allowed Kyvat to take the fight to Ricciado and Bottas to emerge from the shadow of a more experienced Massa.
The Mercedes era is a beautiful one from this perspective in my opinion.
I usually criticized Williams for its race strategies in the past, l have to acknowledge that the strategy that allowed Bottas to seize the 3rd podium position at the Autodromo Hernandez Rodriquez was quite excellent. Most of us did not see it working out, but it was particularly brilliant. Bottas had a better pace than the Redbulls to the very end of the race. The Williams chassis seemed kinder to the tyres at this low grid track. Go Williams Go :-)
I don't really understand what they were suspicious about. The situation seems completely clear and unremarkable to me. There was some degree of doubt about whether the tyres would last, and Mercedes had a pit stop in hand, so they played it safe and put new tyres on both cars. Maybe they didn't need to, but they could afford to take the precaution, so why not? It wasn't going to affect the outcome of the race.
Of course if one guy had gone along with the plan and then the other guy had decided to ignore it, the first guy would be rightly aggrieved if he lost out as a result.
To be frank, if I were Hamilton and I felt that I could have gotten to the end of the race on that set of tires without pitting and having the pace right to the end, I'd have taken it with the attitude of "This is for Monaco". He has no reason to help Rosberg secure second in the championship as second doesn't matter jack shit anyway. As it stands, Hamilton has 10 wins that should be 11 and Rosberg has 4 which should be 3 and I don't think he should be doing Rosberg any favours given what Rosberg did at Spa and Monaco last year. Anyway, it is what it is, but I'd expect that were the championship still on the line he'd have refused to pit. I reckon he took the attitude that he'll not ruffle the teams feathers but he may in future.
As for Merceds, I do agree with you but I think they need a separate strategist. That way each driver can chose when to pit and the race is really in their own hands. The way it is now, with a track and the aerodynamic rules as they are nowadays, it's very hard for the guy that qualifies behind to actually get by if they don't get them at the start. I think both drivers should be allowed different strategies if they would prefer. It'd make the races more interesting.
Well, the two Finns can't help but crash into each other. Wonder, what the Finns themselves think of this.:D
Yeah I know it was a racing incident, but a perfect payback from Bottas, if I ever saw one. Räikkönen got a clear taste of 'karma' now!
Vettel had his worst race of the season, while I am impressed with Kvyat going well again.
It most certainly helps that rules are so that they don't really need to worry for a few years about other teams. In these circumstances it's easy not to favor one of the driver. If Ferrari or another will challenge them in the future more seriously we will see if they will stick to it.
The trouble is that leaves the team in an ungovernable situation. All trust between team and driver is lost. No strategy for the benefit of the team can be made because both drivers assume the other will ignore it.
Actually forget that. Here's hoping the Mercedes drivers do go out of control, allowing Kimi to steal the 2016 championship just like in '07 :D
Actually I agree this could help Mercedes' situation and make the drivers more manageable. When team orders need to be issued, the strategists won't question them because they know they can be more easily fired than the drivers, and the drivers will be less inclined to question them if they come from their own strategist.
I hear what you are saying, but you seem to forget that the reason Hamilton had track position of leading the grand prix at that point of the race, was because Rosberg was called in first for new tyres. It would have been ugly for Hamilton to take advantage of this situation by not coming in when asked to. Rosberg also had the tyres to get to the end of the race had he not pitted. To be fair, Hamilton had to pit too in order for it not to look like the teams bringing about a Hamilton win on a day Rosberg was clearly dominant. Fair is fair and it cuts both ways.
Yeah but at Monaco the only reason Rosberg won was because of the team making a pit stop blunder. Do you think for a second Rosberg would have given Hamilton the lead back if he had come out in second place? Not on your life. I think Hamilton should have gone tough luck Nico and continued on. It would have leveled things out at least win wise.
Cool track. For once I am happy with the change. May they stay here for a long time!
I am not sure why you chaps keep going on about Monaco 2014. Hamilton won the drivers title in the end, hence it is water under the bridge as far as he is concerned. You have to let it go. He has also won the 2015 title, hence it would have been childish for him to spoil Rosberg's chance of putting some gap between himself and Vettel for the 2nd place spot. It would have been quite damaging to Hamilton's image if he had done that. We would been talking about what a selfish guy he was on this forum.
The truth is Hamilton had more to lose than gain from stealing the win from Rosberg at Mexico. It is really pointless.