The F1 thread

TimmyO

That was properly entertaining. DRS was maybe a bit powerful but it certainly made for an exciting final stint 

markr76

TimmyO said:

That was properly entertaining. DRS was maybe a bit powerful but it certainly made for an exciting final stint 

I’m not a fan of drs. Never have been. Seems a bit false to me. It is good for passing back markers effectively though. 

menamestom

goldtop said:

Did race control tell RB to tell MV to give the place back to LH?

Bit ironic if the reason race control were being so rigid is because of the earlier complaint by RB about LH and the track limits.

No but they must have thought they had enough opportunity to take the position back.  Race control would have been after the race or very late so they made a quick decision whilst hey had time to go for it again.  Ironically possibly the wrong one but it was interesting the way it panned out.    I was hoping MV got the win, just to add interest to the season.  Credit to Hamilton winning in a car that wasn’t necessarily the fastest though.

fretmeister

menamestom said:

goldtop said:

Did race control tell RB to tell MV to give the place back to LH?

Bit ironic if the reason race control were being so rigid is because of the earlier complaint by RB about LH and the track limits.

No but they must have thought they had enough opportunity to take the position back.  Race control would have been after the race or very late so they made a quick decision whilst hey had time to go for it again.  Ironically possibly the wrong one but it was interesting the way it panned out.    I was hoping MV got the win, just to add interest to the season.  Credit to Hamilton winning in a car that wasn’t necessarily the fastest though.

They played the message when they told Max race control had ordered it.

skullfunkerry

I think Max is a great driver and he’s always pretty good value when I’ve seen him interviewed and stuff, but I thought his message at the end of “you should have left me out there, I could have got far enough in front to neutralise the time penalty” was a shame. It felt a bit like “fuck the rules, I can bend them”

Teetonetal

I think we will really get to see what MV is made of this year...

Comments last year that anyone could win the WC in the Mercedes... Now he has the fastest car at the moment, is clear No1 in the team. All the pressure on him after losing this one... 

Will also be interesting to see if this circuit type specific and who does the best upgrades...

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Cracking race. Exactly what I was hoping for. I want Lewis to win his 8th title this year, but I want him to have to fight tooth and nail for it.

Disappointed for Alonso to have a mechanical failure. I was enjoying seeing him back in the mix again looking as racy as ever, even though the Alpine didn't live up to the preseason pace.

skullfunkerry said:

I think Max is a great driver and he’s always pretty good value when I’ve seen him interviewed and stuff, but I thought his message at the end of “you should have left me out there, I could have got far enough in front to neutralise the time penalty” was a shame. It felt a bit like “fuck the rules, I can bend them”

The best drivers (and designers) always push everything to the limit, including the rules. Hamilton, Schumacher, Alonso, Senna etc. Once you're wrung every last tenth out of the car, you wring every last tenth out if the letter of the law.

Fretwired

fretmeister said:

Mercs and Aston colours too close.

I agree. I was confused at times but that could be my age.

Fretwired

This should silence those who claim Hamilton only wins as he has the best car. Today he didn't. He gave a masterclass in how to drive defensively and not for the first time Verstappen cracked under the pressure and made mistakes. Had it been the other way round Hamilton would have won. Hamilton is clinical when it comes to overtaking and he reeled in Verstappen in similar circumstances to win a gripping Hungarian Grand Prix in 2019.

Verstappen is not as good as he thinks he is and there are a number of young drivers in F1 who could eclipse him. And had Verstappen driven off into the distance after leaving the track and not let Hamilton past he'd have been disqualified. The rules are clear. Max needs to calm down and think logically - that was a race he lost.

And you'd have thought that Red Bull would have wised up to Hamilton's radio messages .. "this is as fast as I can go" .. a red rag to Max who sped up and took the life out of his tyres. Hamilton has become a master at preserving his tyres. If Red Bull want to win they should ignore Hamilton's radio messages .. :-)

Bottas was out of sorts and was filmed having words with Toto who basically told him to shut up by waving his hand over his throat. Perez did well today - I could see him regularly beating Bottas and if he can out-qualify Bottas it would give Red Bull options strategy wise. A smart move by Red Bull.

stickyfiddle

Fretwired said:

This should silence those who claim Hamilton only wins as he has the best car. Today he didn't. He gave a masterclass in how to drive defensively and not for the first time Verstappen cracked under the pressure and made mistakes. Had it been the other way round Hamilton would have won. Hamilton is clinical when it comes to overtaking and he reeled in Verstappen in similar circumstances to win a gripping Hungarian Grand Prix in 2019.

Verstappen is not as good as he thinks he is and there are a number of young drivers in F1 who could eclipse him. And had Verstappen driven off into the distance after leaving the track and not let Hamilton past he'd have been disqualified. The rules are clear. Max needs to calm down and think logically - that was a race he lost.

And you'd have thought that Red Bull would have wised up to Hamilton's radio messages .. "this is as fast as I can go" .. a red rag to Max who sped up and took the life out of his tyres. Hamilton has become a master at preserving his tyres. If Red Bull want to win they should ignore Hamilton's radio messages .. :-)

Bottas was out of sorts and was filmed having words with Toto who basically told him to shut up by waving his hand over his throat. Perez did well today - I could see him regularly beating Bottas and if he can out-qualify Bottas it would give Red Bull options strategy wise. A smart move by Red Bull.

Fully agree with all that.  Max is undoubtedly really quick but it takes a calm & clinical head to win titles in modern F1. 

I'm well convinced Ham talks in code with his tyre messages e.g. "My rears are gone" = "I can do another 5 laps flat-out", "This is as fast as I can go" = "I can give it another 3 tenths if needed" etc etc 

Cols

There’s a certain delicious irony in Verstappen complaining about both Mercedes running wide at Turn 4, prompting a “clarification” to Merc from the race director, only to have to hand a place back for... overtaking off the track at Turn 4.

Speaking of which, when did they stop giving corners proper names like Blanchimont, Beau Rivage, Druids and Dingle Dell, and just lazily number them instead?

prowla

I do wish they'd sort out the track limits thing; if they want to allow drivers to go wide, then shift the white line to suit, so everybody knows.

The fact is that Verstappen did overtake by going off track and so he had to hand the place back. However, the "not a lasting advantage" cop-out used to explain allowing it before is flawed, as the driver(s) were using it to put in faster laps and thereby clearly for a lasting advantage.

Bottas got stuffed by the pit-stop; without that, he would've been pressuring Verstappen and making Red Bull think about their strategy.

There was a lot of action throughout the field, which was fun; maybe they have succeeded in equalising the cars a bit.

Vettel was onto a loser in that overtake - he would've had to brake before Ocon completed the overtake in order to avoid that; once Ocon was in front, he really had nowhere to go.

stickyfiddle

Honestly I'd like them to just put 2m of gravel or grass before the "car park" on all the modern tracks - just make it that there is no advantage, then there's no issue and nothing to police.

TimmyO

Cols said:

There’s a certain delicious irony in Verstappen complaining about both Mercedes running wide at Turn 4, prompting a “clarification” to Merc from the race director, only to have to hand a place back for... overtaking off the track at Turn 4.

Speaking of which, when did they stop giving corners proper names like Blanchimont, Beau Rivage, Druids and Dingle Dell, and just lazily number them instead?

Not really - the race to race rules.on track limits and the 'cant take/defend position off the track' are different rules. It just happens that in this case they happened at the same corner. 

prowla

TimmyO said:

Cols said:

There’s a certain delicious irony in Verstappen complaining about both Mercedes running wide at Turn 4, prompting a “clarification” to Merc from the race director, only to have to hand a place back for... overtaking off the track at Turn 4.

Speaking of which, when did they stop giving corners proper names like Blanchimont, Beau Rivage, Druids and Dingle Dell, and just lazily number them instead?

Not really - the race to race rules.on track limits and the 'cant take/defend position off the track' are different rules. It just happens that in this case they happened at the same corner. 

Isn't the terminology "a lasting advantage"?

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

Honestly I'd like them to just put 2m of gravel or grass before the "car park" on all the modern tracks - just make it that there is no advantage, then there's no issue and nothing to police.

Pit full of snakes on the outside of each corner.  Job done.

fretmeister

Fretwired said:

This should silence those who claim Hamilton only wins as he has the best car. Today he didn't. He gave a masterclass in how to drive defensively and not for the first time Verstappen cracked under the pressure and made mistakes. Had it been the other way round Hamilton would have won. Hamilton is clinical when it comes to overtaking and he reeled in Verstappen in similar circumstances to win a gripping Hungarian Grand Prix in 2019.

Verstappen is not as good as he thinks he is and there are a number of young drivers in F1 who could eclipse him. And had Verstappen driven off into the distance after leaving the track and not let Hamilton past he'd have been disqualified. The rules are clear. Max needs to calm down and think logically - that was a race he lost.

And you'd have thought that Red Bull would have wised up to Hamilton's radio messages .. "this is as fast as I can go" .. a red rag to Max who sped up and took the life out of his tyres. Hamilton has become a master at preserving his tyres. If Red Bull want to win they should ignore Hamilton's radio messages .. :-)

Bottas was out of sorts and was filmed having words with Toto who basically told him to shut up by waving his hand over his throat. Perez did well today - I could see him regularly beating Bottas and if he can out-qualify Bottas it would give Red Bull options strategy wise. A smart move by Red Bull.

Twitter is now full of accusations against the FIA for ensuring "that woke BLM twat won"...

I wish I could identify a single thing that was different about LH that makes him the subject of so much abuse....

TimmyO

prowla said:

TimmyO said:

Cols said:

There’s a certain delicious irony in Verstappen complaining about both Mercedes running wide at Turn 4, prompting a “clarification” to Merc from the race director, only to have to hand a place back for... overtaking off the track at Turn 4.

Speaking of which, when did they stop giving corners proper names like Blanchimont, Beau Rivage, Druids and Dingle Dell, and just lazily number them instead?

Not really - the race to race rules.on track limits and the 'cant take/defend position off the track' are different rules. It just happens that in this case they happened at the same corner. 

Isn't the terminology "a lasting advantage"?

It is - but I didn't want to be in a to and fro over what does that even mean if someone less nerdy than me/us chipped in. 

Point being, there's no way on any circuit at any corner whatever the prevailing track limits guidance of the weekend where that place didn't need to be given back 

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I don't see anyone complaining about Mick or Seb

boogieman

prowla said:

Bottas got stuffed by the pit-stop; without that, he would've been pressuring Verstappen and making Red Bull think about their strategy.

I don’t think Bottas would’ve got past Max even if he’d got close enough, Max is good at defending and Bottas is far too cautious on overtakes. How many times last year did Bottas take lap after lap to get past slower cars when drivers like Norris, LeClerc and Perez would just shoot around with seemingly very little effort. Bottas is a steady driver but I hope Mercedes take a chance on a more ambitious one next season. I really hope the rumours about Russell going there next year are true.