2019 Russian GP - Sochi

[Zico]

I havent watched the race yet... only kept rough track of it on the 5 live feed.

In Vett ignoring the team orders... did that force Ferrari into a pit strategy to reverse the order which helped Mercedes... or would it have happened regardless?

[airshifter]

I havent watched the race yet... only kept rough track of it on the 5 live feed.

In Vett ignoring the team orders... did that force Ferrari into a pit strategy to reverse the order which helped Mercedes... or would it have happened regardless?

The Mercedes help came in the form of a VSC. They "made" Seb give the position back by giving Leclerc the undercut on him.

Without the VSC or Vettels car failure, it most likely would have remained a Ferrari 1-2 finish.

[Nitrodaze]

It depends on what the agreement was. If the agreement was that should Vettel get by LeClerc after LeClerc provides him the slipstream then of course he should let him by. LeClerc gave him a slipstream and played the team game, Vettel should hold up his end of the bargain too. Remember Hungary 17 when Hamilton held up his end of the bargain to let Bottas by after Bottas let him past to have a go at the Ferraris? Same applies here. Agreements must be honoured.

I don't see the point of the such agreement. Without the agreement, chances are Vettel would slipstream into the lead anyway. That is, if they did not crash into each other in the process. There was some sort of compensation going on. Maybe for the mistake the team made in misjudging the power of the undercut at Singapore. Whatever the case, it looked very ugly business. In the end they ended up third and one car out of the race. Karma !

[Nitrodaze]

That online FIA driver of the day poll is utter rubbish

There were better candidates obviously. Albon from last to fifth, Hamilton doing a great race making the Ferrari wary all the way and being there to punish Ferrari when they faltered. Sainz for such a fantastic drive. Bottas for soaking up all that pressure from Leclerc in a faster car. It was a great race in the end.

[Nitrodaze]

The fight between Bottas and Leclerc was a little bit more than just keeping Leclerc behind to allow Hamilton to win. It was a battle for the 2nd place in the driver title. Bottas has stretch it out to 34 points lead to Leclerc and Leclerc has taken 3rd place from Verstapenn.

[truefan72]

Strange race to say the least.

Whatever agreement was made before the start, they managed to piss off both drivers doing it. First Leclerc by not putting their foot down with Seb, then Seb by leaving him out to let Leclerc get out ahead again. Maybe something as simple as **gasp** let the drivers race as long as they don't destroy the cars would work better?

Exactly.
It was a completely unnecessary agreement to begin with as Hamilton was on the mediums and was never going to pass leclerc at the race start, And in all likelihood was going to get passed by Vettel at the start.
Then it would have been up to leclerc to decide where he wants to place his car or who to defend from. It was really ridiculous to try and dictate the race order from a race start. Maybe leclerc didn't get that good of a start while vettel got an incredible start. so should vettel be punished for that? Even worse, Leclerc could not close the gap to vettel at any point, even with drs but chose to moan about it over the radio. Vettel was correct in his assessment and even left the option open if leclerc got close to him, but he didn't.
Ferrari made things even worse by leaving vettel out too long and screwing things up for both completely. It was a farcical situation that could have been completely avoided. I'm with vettel on this one.

[Nitrodaze]

Exactly.
It was a completely unnecessary agreement to begin with as Hamilton was on the mediums and was never going to pass leclerc at the race start, And in all likelihood was going to get passed by Vettel at the start.
Then it would have been up to leclerc to decide where he wants to ihis car etc. It was really ridiculous to try and dictate the race order from a race start. Maybe leclerc didn't get that good of a start while vettel got an incredible start. so should vettel be punished for that? Even worse, Leclerc could not close the gap to vettel at any point, even with drs but chose to moan about it over the radio. Vettel was correct in his assessment and even left the option open if leclerc got close to him, but he didn't.
Ferrari made things even worse by leaving vettel out too long and screwing things up for both completely. It was a farcical situation that could have been completely avoided. I'm with vettel on this one.

I didn't enjoy Leclerc whining like a baby for what would have been the actual racing outcome and he knows it. He carried on as if he could have kept the tow to himself and prevent Vettel or Hamilton from using it. The agreement would seem that he should not give the tow to Hamilton but to Vettel to allow Vettel to leapfrog Hamilton into 2nd place. But Leclerc had such a poor start compared to Vettel such that it allowed Vettel to Pass him. That is racing and the team should not have interfered.

Somehow Leclerc and Ferrari expect Vettel to play the role of Kimi, which was never going to happen. I think Ferrari have a gunpowder keg with its wick lit at the moment. There is likely to be some inter-driver friction like Hamilton vs Rosberg brewing at Ferrari.

[The Black Knight]

I don't see the point of the such agreement. Without the agreement, chances are Vettel would slipstream into the lead anyway. That is, if they did not crash into each other in the process. There was some sort of compensation going on. Maybe for the mistake the team made in misjudging the power of the undercut at Singapore. Whatever the case, it looked very ugly business. In the end they ended up third and one car out of the race. Karma !

I agree. I don’t like these arrangements either. Regardless, The agreement still needs to be held ip by both sides if they do make one. This sort of nonsense is why I am not a Ferrari fan.

[Tazio]

I said it at the time, and I'll repeat it now; a position change at lap 10 would be shambolic! Then the undercut scenario was just plain retarded! That safety car was pure karma!

[Duncan]

Another interesting race...

Great drive from Albon - definitely should be driver of the day.

And another good showing from McLaren; good to see them continuing their road back to the front. Hopefully before long we can talk about the "top 4 teams" and not just the "top 3 teams". Will be good to see more driver fighting for the lead. Great performance from Norris again today, hanging on with ratty tires after getting screwed by the safety car.

Ferrari really need to sort themselves out. I don't think there's anything really wrong with their strategy calls; they've done pretty well over the last couple of races on just getting the best results for the team. But they really do need to communicate expectations to their drivers much better. What they did in Singapore was obviously the right thing for the team, getting them a 1-2 instead of a 1-3, and the same thing happened here with a clearly planned set-piece in the long drag to T1. But they really need to just tell their drivers what the score is: they're driving for the team, the objective is for both of them to secure the most points for the team, and any considerations about "fairness" between drivers are secondary. I feel for Charles in the last 2 races, but the upset and tension could have been avoided with some more candid communication up front as to what the deal is.