Lets face it. Vettel & Ferrari are plain faster. Pretty much every race.
In China he was 5th and got within 5 seconds of Hamilton. The other two races Seb has been miles ahead.
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Lets face it. Vettel & Ferrari are plain faster. Pretty much every race.
In China he was 5th and got within 5 seconds of Hamilton. The other two races Seb has been miles ahead.
bottas better move out the way quick...for good of the show ( snickering smile and wink lol)
Bottas one of the most silly places to let Hamilton through :p
Well Mercedes done the right thing in terms of putting Vettel under pressure. Thats all they can do and hope Seb makes a mistake. It is very unlikely.
at the end of the day. hamilton did cost himself the 5 seconds. and that might be the difference.
Lewis backed off at the end so it doesn't look like his penalty is to blame :)Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Congrat's Vet, well done!
There were some pretty exciting scraps over nothing behind Ocon in the final points position.
I think Vettel had the pace at the key moment early in the race to take advantage of Merecedes poor strategy.
Yes you have to give Ferrari credit for going for an attacking strategy and making it work.Quote:
Originally Posted by steveaki13
Someone pitted the lap before Vettel (Ocon?) and immediately did a purple middle sector on new soft tyres. At that point it was clear the undercut would be powerful, and I think Ferrari reacted decisively to that.
Bottas sucked in this race. Reunite Fred, and The Boss in 2018!
Why is Hamilton being booed?
Hell yer:monkeedanQuote:
Originally Posted by Tazio
Isn't Hamilton always booed? I think most races I have heard that. Anyone know?Quote:
Originally Posted by Koz
Well done Vettel and Ferrari. Seasons getting exciting now :D
the Mercedes in hamiton's hands, was clearly the faster car today but hampered by piss poor strategy and a self inflicted wound by hamilton's rash thinking. Although the first issue of not splitting the strategy caused the latter poor thinking.
There really needs to be better race management from mercedes. this has gone on for 3 years now. It is one thing to win races when you are miles ahead of the others in terms of pace and you can make up poor pit stops and shoddy strategy. But not in 2017. This one cost them the race, pure and simple. I don't care if they pitted Bottas first (he was the lead car and had the right to come in). In fact, the moment vettel pitted, bottas should have come in the next lap. He was already complaining about his tyres and would have covered vettel. Verstappen and RBR did it. but not arrogant mercedes. It was obvious for everyone to see what needs to be done but not toto and his gang of fools.
Speaking of Bottas. he was shambolic today IMO. If there was ever a race for him to win, challenge vettel and announce himself part of the WDC fight, this was it. He accomplished none of the three and firmly placed himself as a #2 driver. couldn't manage his tyres and let vettel sprint away on identical tyres after the safety car. He simply wilted like a frail flower and opens the door to that 2018 seat.
Kudos to vettel for driving a solid race. As well as for kimi to clawing back from Ferrari Vettel myopia . But missed opportunities are what i take from this race.
Force india bounced back well
Sainz was completely at fault
Mclaren are just an embarrassment
yupQuote:
Originally Posted by steveaki13
Much better race again, Aus was such a low point.
As for Lewis he cost himself the chance with the 5 second penalty, but not sure why the team didn't send him out on super softs for the last stint?
Because Bottas was struggling with them. Based on the times he was doing, it was probably the right call.Quote:
Originally Posted by yodasarmpit
Why he was left out for so long on his middle stint, considering he was going on softs anyway, seems pointless - two or three or more laps earlier could have won him the race.
What do you think about the Stroll-Sainz crash? I'm not so convinced that it was 100% Sainz's fault - it didn't really look like he overshot the corner, it's just that Lance wasn't expecting him there. IMHO it was an overoptimistic attempt by the Spaniard, but a wiser driver than Stroll would have given a bit room there, especially considering that they would be fighting for position and thus a dive was not out of the question.
(Aside: Hey everybody! It seems like forever since I've posted here. Been checking in now and again, but have had an extended period of being super busy...)
Anyway, seems like this season is shaping up to be a great one. It's about time we had some real racing, and it looks like we're going to see much more of it.
Really interesting race today. Mercedes still seem to have the pace, but are being let down mostly by terrible strategic calls, whereas Ferrari seem to have mostly got their act together on that front. Hamilton's driving in slowly was not that smart, but the penalty seemed harsh in the circumstances; he was behind the safety car for one, and no advantage was gained thanks to a slow stop in any event. Nonetheless, that situation should really never have arisen in the first place. What was Mercedes thinking stacking the pit stops like that?
It's almost like they have been able to get away with much on the strategic front up until now by virtue of overwhelming on-track pace, and now they can't do that any more their strategic deficiencies are being highlighted. They have been able to try to treat both drivers equally and finish 1/2 many times in the past few seasons. Kind of thinking that they need to choose at this point. Ferrari wouldn't have stacked Vettel behind Raikkonen if they were in the same situation. Bottas is good, but I really don't think he's in Hamilton's league.
Also: McLaren. Oy vey.
Anyway, not exactly much to complain about from a fan's viewpoint today. On to Sochi!
When I first saw it, I thought that maybe Stroll had turned in too sharply, but then you look at where Sainz was coming from at turn in and I really don't think he should have been there. The whole thing looks eerily reminiscent of the Maldonado-Gutierrez incident at the same corner.Quote:
Originally Posted by N4D13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o9TYzGy_q0
Yup, I guess that sounds about fair. The FIA seems to have the same viewpoint, as Sainz has been handed a 3-place grid penalty for Sochi.
This is an interesting comment in hindsight ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by A FONDO
Slow man Bottas?Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
You mean pole man Bottas?
You should get a job as their strategist, as opposed to whining on here.Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Confirmation of fanboyism and a theatergoer.Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Its the advantage of not having the best car. You can be more aggressive with pit strategies.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyL
Instead of being butt hurt over MB strategy and taking a dump on Bottas (who'll take half the season to get up speed being good in a good car). Why don't you get butt hurt over Hamilton not getting pole, therefore denying himself the best opportunity to win the race?Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
How does Stroll know he is there though?Quote:
Originally Posted by N4D13
He was not in his mirrors down the straight because he excited the pits. Then he came from a fair distance back. Unless the team tells him which he can not control then he had no way of knowing a car had appeared there and so can not be blamed really. Dont forget cars exiting the pits also have blue flags waved at them leaving the pits instructing to give way to cars at racing speeds on the track. It must be the driver coming of of the pits job to slot in safely.
Shame cos Sainz has been good this season.
+1 This.Quote:
Originally Posted by steveaki13
If this was in the real world and on a motorway in NSW, Sainz would be charged with:
- Failing to give way while merging
- Failure to Reduce Speed to Avoid an Colision
Fault from an insurance perspective almost always goes to the car behind; that was Sainz.
I think that the McLaren is fine, it's the Honda engines which are rubbish. Honda has reverted to being Honda. They are a company of tinkerers. We saw this when Button last drove for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollo
In the opinion of many automotive journalists, Honda is not just a company run by the tinkering engineers, but it's also the company composed of the most stubborn ones. These people religiously believe that their way is the right way, and they keep on doing things their way, always. Another problem is that according to many, Honda lost its way some time in the early 00s. They really should have moved their F1 engine building business into UK. At this point, Honda's involvement in F1 is looking just very bad. Their current return into F1 is looking worse than Porsche's in 1991. How could such great automotive companies go so wrong..
Here is the question for the experts: which drivers did not screw up something and run a great race from beginning to the end?
Felipe baby?
Sent from my GT-I9301I using Tapatalk
My understanding is that the only super-softs he had remaining was a used set.Quote:
Originally Posted by Koz
From what I read, Sky is reporting that Alonso didn't retire the car due to a genuine reliability problem, but that it was a protest against the team for giving him a dog unable to finish in the points.
As much as I am aware that he is a prima donna, this sounds a bit too hard to be real. But then again, I wonder why Sky would report this without some kind of evidence.
I can't say I could blame him if he did something like that, but it didn't look to me like that's what happened. He was in 12th, and then appeared to suddenly lose ground dramatically, dropping to 14th in the space of a few corners. Of course, he could have just decided "screw it, I'm done" and backed off, but I wouldn't have thought he would do that so close to the end while in 12th, with the possibility of other retirements ahead of him.Quote:
Originally Posted by N4D13
He didn't have a *total* engine failure; rather there was a sudden and non-catastrophic drop in power, and maybe he could have limped to the end rather than pulling in to the garage. Maybe somebody is reporting on that?
Racing tends to be static. A lot of the drivers performance is dictated by their cars and whatever problems they have. Also by taking advantage of others misfortune. There's not many opportunities for the driver to influence the result.
So with that in mind. For someone unproven like Bottas. I thought his start and entry into the first corner, and first few laps, was of sufficient authority that it gives an indication he could've done more without any tyre issues. The start and first corner entry was a moment where he could falter if he wasn't up to it.
During the broadcast , they mentioned that they had heard reports that some Spanish friends of Zo had said that he would retire on the last lap as a protest if there was no way to get points .Quote:
Originally Posted by N4D13
I understand he has denied doing so .
Of course , given that they are so far behind , and were set to test at the track the next day , it would have been a good decision to have retired because having it in the garage for the trophy ceremonies instead of out there for the duration , giving the mechanics far more time to work .
Smart move , really , even if the only "problem" he encountered was being under-powered .
The un-edited radio transcript reveals all:
Alonso: Engine problem, I am retiring the car
McLaren: What's the engine problem Fernando?
Alonso: The problem is it has a big H on the top