Formula1

[westham,eggyandchips]

Well this aged well....

Shows what a drop of rain can do. Had it been dry, it would have been the inevitable Mercedes win.

I'm well pleased with the race result!

[wolf359]

Lewis promoted to 9th and 2 points, due to the Alfa's being given a 30 second penalty each. So after the weekend from hell he extends his lead.

[White Goodman]

Hamilton lacking his usual composure in the wet this weekend.

Everyone allowed a bad day I suppose but that Red Bull is starting to look mightily competitive with MV at the wheel although Gasly is driving himself beautifully out of a seat in it for next season

Clearly the Merc is the better car on most tracks and Hamilton still wins the WC but Bottas is definitely ripe to be picked off.

[Bend it like Repka]

Merc had a disaster.

As Hamilton asked, why did they put him on slicks when Leclerc was sliding off and the rain was increasing? Not what he wanted and as he was in the lead they should have been conservative.

In addition they should have pitted him same time as Max for new inters and taken penalty then. They did it 2 laps later with no VSC and cost him more time.

Considering how ill he was he was still on for a big points haul if Merc didn't screw up.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

You know it's your championship when both you and your team play keystone Cops and you still increase your lead.

He was originally 11th but thanks to (Ferrari engined ) Alfa Romeo having illegal clutch operation was promoted to 9th and got 2 championship points.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

Usually the Maestro in the wet, Lewis making uncharacteristic errors yesterday but I think poor tyre strategy and that calamitous pit stop was more damaging for him. Conditions were so changeable and even Verstappen spun himself but got away with it. Lewis should not have been put in a position where he had to chase in the wet. However, as has been said, if you have a poor race and still end up increasing your lead, you know that Lady Luck is with you!

I did enjoy DC's comment on Hamilton's 5 second penalty bring a load of bollards!!

[westham,eggyandchips]

So after the weekend from hell he extends his lead.

Not from Max he hasn't.

[k-r-c]

The FIA really dont do themselves favours though do they.

Leclerc was not given no penalty for his unsafe release in the pits yet was quite clearly a dangerous release which Gosjean basically did have to stop his car then trudle into his pit box - at the time i thought they didnt peanalise him as he was so far off the leaders and they didn't want to upset everyone by giving Ferrari a penalty.

Yet Hamilton who clearly damaged his car and rejoined the track and drove into the pits at a very reasonable speed couldn't go round the bollard without driving the wrong way round the track so in turn was a penalty - yet would they have preferred he carried on and done another lap potentially having damaged parts flying off his car?

Just seems they really are showing a lack of consistency again with rule breaking and penalties.

The Mercs pace was strange as Hamilton was dominating before the poor call onto slicks, but then later in the race neither Hamilton nor Bottas had any pace (he couldn't get past Stroll after multiple laps) and basically binned it overpushing. But Bottas was basically cutting into Hamiltons lead in the championship and overdone it and actually ended up futher behind - that could be a difining moment mentally for Bottas.

[view from the shires]

I think Lewis had pretty much given up and turned down the engine by the end.

I really enjoyed the race though. There was more action than Sochi will have in a hundred years. It also highlighted the benefit of being on the right tyre, and the team making the correct calls.

With regards the penalty for Lewis the rule is set so I can see why he got it regardless of the potential safety aspect. He would probably have lost more time than the 5 seconds trying to complete a lap with only half a wing. The crew turned into headless chickens when trying to find him a set of tyres to put on, which did more damage than the crash and penalty.

Ferrari got a monetary team fine, but I think they should get a points fine instead. They spent more on designing their mirrors than Williams did on the whole car. I don't think the driver should be penalised for an unsafe release as they are entirely at the mercy of the team, but a team points penalty will have more effect than money. They have so much money that they will probably do this every time it is advantageous now the precedent has been set.

[k-r-c]

I don't think the driver should be penalised for an unsafe release as they are entirely at the mercy of the team, but a team points penalty will have more effect than money. They have so much money that they will probably do this every time it is advantageous now the precedent has been set.

Thats the crux of it. If unsafe release was turned into a fine then those with bottomless pits wouldn't care. Also deducting constructor points is a dangerous game as imagine they lose the constructors by one point yet the team they were battling against also did a very similar unsafe release throughout the season but didnt get penalised i could see court cases.

They can only keep it the way that it is which is a penalty for the driver - they are all one team so the team need to make sure they dont release the driver so he gets a penalty.
It was actually one of the most unsafe releases ive seen in years, it was only Grosjeans quick reactions (cant believe i said that) that basically stopped there being alot of carbon fibre in the pit lane. In the end Leclerc crashed out so it become irrelevant but as i said the FIA need to have a long hard look at thier rules and make clear what is acceptable and whats not and be consistent in penalties.

[White Goodman]

I'm revising my opinion uttered over the last few pages , Max is not just the better driver now, he's the better driver in an inferior car to Hamilton.

Hamilton relying on his team's strategy and the fact he has a much faster car

[-DL-]

I'm revising my opinion uttered over the last few pages , Max is not just the better driver now, he's the better driver in an inferior car to Hamilton.

Hamilton relying on his team's strategy and the fact he has a much faster car

No chance. That charge by Hamilton still needed to be done. He's got a much faster car simply because of how he drives it. That was a phenomenal drive. It was flawless, and on the limit for almost 20 laps and able to close a 20 second gap whilst also having to coast at times because of fading brakes. The man's a machine.

I've said before, I don't like him as a person, but by Christ, he's still on another level as a racing driver.

[wolf359]

Really important win for Lewis this weekend. All this talk of Max being the best and the 'changing of the guard' will likely annoy him. Lewis is not done yet. To pull in that 20 seconds was very impressive, yes he had a good car, yes his team made the right call but he had to put in 20 laps at full blast with out making a mistake, which is exactly what he did.

[White Goodman]

It is much more pertinent to see what happened when they went head to head with Lewis trying his b*llocks off (he even said, I can't go any faster) on 6 laps fresher same compound tyres.

He couldn't pass Verstappen in a clearly faster car. That Merc whatever anyone says is still on balance a much better car.

Passing him on much newer mediums when Max was on hards that were down to the rim isn't really saying much.

[wolf359]

It is much more pertinent to see what happened when they went head to head with Lewis trying his b*llocks off (he even said, I can't go any faster) on 6 laps fresher same compound tyres.

On a track where passing is very, very hard. Max has a big future but don't write of Lewis yet, he is still hungry and if he gets 6 this year, I wouldn't be against him equalling the cheating German next time. Though it is nice to have some competition (Bottas is not competition, Rosberg wasn't really either, he just got bloody lucky)

[westham,eggyandchips]

That was some race, and some win for Hamilton. Tactics and strategy were spot-on from Mercedes too.

[-DL-]

It is much more pertinent to see what happened when they went head to head with Lewis trying his b*llocks off (he even said, I can't go any faster) on 6 laps fresher same compound tyres.

He couldn't pass Verstappen in a clearly faster car. That Merc whatever anyone says is still on balance a much better car.

Passing him on much newer mediums when Max was on hards that were down to the rim isn't really saying much.

Nah. Still got to disagree. That's not to take away from Max, because he's still a superb driver - but right now, in the same car, he would not be as good as Lewis.

And as Wolfie said, at that track, it's notoriously hard to pass. It's narrow, short straights and short lap in general. There's really only 1 place, maybe 2 to pass.

He made up over 6 seconds on Max before he attacked him first time round then had to back off because of cooling issues due to running so close. 6 seconds. That's phenomenal. It's not like he came out on fresh rubber right behind him.

I think people are understating what Hamilton did today. He was on another level. But that's Hamilton all over. He is on another level, period. We've just become used to him. Probably the best there's ever been in the modern era.

Difference between Hamilton and Max? One can't control his car after 40 laps on the hardest compound, one, two races before on the hardest compound, set a lap record with 32 lap old tyres - a lap that is much longer than Hungary.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

Great race today and hopefully more to come.

Verstappen is a future World Champion, without a doubt, but Lewis Hamilton remains the Master for now. Relentlessly, Lewis chased Max down after his team's masterstroke second pit stop, breaking the lap record with almost every lap.
Victory today was hugely important on two levels: firstly, to atone for the Keystone Cops performance of Hockenheim and secondly, to apply the brakes on the burgeoning threat from the young pretender Verstappen, who will have his day soon enough but not while Hamilton and Mercedes remain at the top of their game.
Another shocker from Bottas who needs to start looking for another team.

[White Goodman]

I should say that it's easy to still make the counter argument from my own ( as you all seem to be doing to one extent or the the other

Hamilton still had to get it done and was a clever strategic move but that Merc is still clearly the class of the field and those tyres were completely dead.

It was obvious after one lap of the mediums that Hamilton put on that he would catch and pass him.

I doubt we will ever see them as team mates , would be good to watch though.

[White Goodman]

Another shocker from Bottas who needs to start looking for another team.

Would agree but he wasn't exactly helped by Leclerc yesterday was he