2017 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, 6-8 October

[ringo]

Toto's words i always take with a pinch of pig droppings.
Hamilton was in trouble once the gap came down to 2 seconds, and this kind of gap persisted for some time over the race.
Had Vettel been in this race, based on how Kimi was slicing through the field, he would have blown the doors off that silver car from P-2. Well from what i think at least.

Yes it wasn't luck for Lewis when vettel shot himself in the foot a couple times, or when kimi made his errors.
Lewis has genuinely driven inch perfect all season, not a foot placed wrong, no offs during qualifying, no crashes during practice, no brain farts. He has been peerless all season.
Might as well he takes out out of our misery and win the championship before the season is through, and then go hog wild in the remaining races against max, and vettel.

[Steven]

Just like in Malaysia, I fail to understand why Ricciardo was pitted this much later than Verstappen. Before the stops, RIC was 3 seconds down on his team mate, but after the stops, the gap was 10s (albeit also partly due to a slower stop for the Australian).

Following some debate in the chat, I'd also like to add that I believe Alonso was a bit occupied with getting 10th, and as a result might now end up with a blue flag penalty. In the end, it didn't matter for the race win, even though Hamilton may have become a bit nervous seeing Verstappen closing in on him at that point.

But, as Bernie said: the championship will be decided on reliability

[Restomaniac]

The more Verstappen talks the more I like the kid.

[Frafer]

I've read on Twitter that some genius at sky UK made some harsh comments about vettel, and britta roeske bursted into tears.. Well done guys

[Phil]

Just like in Malaysia, I fail to understand why Ricciardo was pitted this much later than Verstappen. Before the stops, RIC was 3 seconds down on his team mate

Are you sure? I dont believe the gap was ever that small. Ricciardo lost too much time behind Ocon i believe...

[Spoutnik]

Toto's words i always take with a pinch of pig droppings.
Hamilton was in trouble once the gap came down to 2 seconds, and this kind of gap persisted for some time over the race.
Had Vettel been in this race, based on how Kimi was slicing through the field, he would have blown the doors off that silver car from P-2. Well from what i think at least.

Yes it wasn't luck for Lewis when vettel shot himself in the foot a couple times, or when kimi made his errors.
Lewis has genuinely driven inch perfect all season, not a foot placed wrong, no offs during qualifying, no crashes during practice, no brain farts. He has been peerless all season.
Might as well he takes out out of our misery and win the championship before the season is through, and then go hog wild in the remaining races against max, and vettel.

Kimi pace wasn't impressive like Vettel in Malaysia. I think today Mercedes and Ferrari was 50-50 and Merc had the upper hand as always with the qualy.
Toto said on french tv thaht Lewis started to manage really early in the race

[Bill_Kar]

Just like in Malaysia, I fail to understand why Ricciardo was pitted this much later than Verstappen. Before the stops, RIC was 3 seconds down on his team mate

Are you sure? I dont believe the gap was ever that small. Ricciardo lost too much time behind Ocon i believe...

I think it was 6 seconds maybe more.

[Phil]

Had Vettel been in this race, based on how Kimi was slicing through the field, he would have blown the doors off that silver car from P-2. Well from what i think at least.

I think that picture is exaggerated because S-SS was faster than SS-S. Pirelli had two possible strategies that would have been similar: S-SS and SS-S-S.

The front runners were compromized due to doing a one-stop and doing more managing than Kimi and Bottas. Are there any lap times between Bottas and Kimi? I think they were rather similar. Bottas had many “fastest laps” towards the end of the race...

[i70q7m7ghw]

Had Vettel been in this race, based on how Kimi was slicing through the field, he would have blown the doors off that silver car from P-2. Well from what i think at least.

Sliced his way all the way down to P14 on the first lap and then sliced his way back to P5 some 30 seconds off the lead and couldn't make an impression on a slow Bottas... Vettel would have been P2 at best.

[Steven]

Just like in Malaysia, I fail to understand why Ricciardo was pitted this much later than Verstappen. Before the stops, RIC was 3 seconds down on his team mate

Are you sure? I dont believe the gap was ever that small. Ricciardo lost too much time behind Ocon i believe...

I think it was 6 seconds maybe more.

I stand corrected.

Gaps lap 20: HAM-VER: 5.043. HAM-RIC: 13.043
Verstappen pitted the next lap.
RIC pitted on lap 25
Gaps lap 26: HAM-VER: 1.967. HAM-RIC: 15.964
So, a loss of 2 seconds

[ME4ME]

Well,
Three races in a row now Ferrari has the de-facto fastest car and somehow reliability has set them back big time.

The W08 doesn't deserve to be on the podium today. Had the two Ferraris had a clean weekend, it would be 1234 for ferrari and redbull.

Biggest BS ive read here all day. Mercedes had this in the pocket and were easily the quickest all weekend.

[garyjpaterson]

I've read on Twitter that some genius at sky UK made some harsh comments about vettel, and britta roeske bursted into tears.. Well done guys

Will Buxton says him and Tom Clarkson were the only British press in the pen at the time and it was not true - he even posted a pic of him with Britta a bit later.

https://twitter.com/thebuxtonblog/statu ... 1177624576



Don;t get me wrong, I'm no fan of Sky, but it does seem like someone is just spreading rumours for the sake of it.

[zeph]

Raikkonen was lit. Makes you wonder what he could do if the team rallied behind him.

[f1316]

Too easy?? They were pushed very hard. Its just they pushed Ferrari beyond the breaking limit

Mercedes just had a bad start to the season, which made everybody believe Ferrari had a chance. Look at the pole lap here, 0,5s faster and people are still believing in it...

It signifies how majestic that W08 really is. Best chassis, best aero, best reliability. Those traits wins you championships. Add to that the best driver behind the wheel. Ferrari being outdeveloped.

Absolutely ludicrous statements.

On pure pace, we can sure agree Vettel would have had around 60 additional points from the last three races (I personally estimate 2 wins and 1 second place - so 68 points) and therefore would have been right with if not ahead of Hamilton (who would have likely scored fewer points) .

Now, obviously I grant that part of developing a winning car is making it reliable - and Ferrari has fallen down there - but it’s through no skill of the Mercedes team or driver, who have been handed it on a plate.

[GrandAxe]

Mercedes just had a bad start to the season, which made everybody believe Ferrari had a chance. Look at the pole lap here, 0,5s faster and people are still believing in it...

It signifies how majestic that W08 really is. Best chassis, best aero, best reliability. Those traits wins you championships. Add to that the best driver behind the wheel. Ferrari being outdeveloped.

Absolutely ludicrous statements.

On pure pace, we can sure agree Vettel would have had around 60 additional points from the last three races (I personally estimate 2 wins and 1 second place - so 68 points) and therefore would have been right with if not ahead of Hamilton (who would have likely scored fewer points) .

Now, obviously I grant that part of developing a winning car is making it reliable - and Ferrari has fallen down there - but it’s through no skill of the Mercedes team or driver, who have been handed it on a plate.

What if there was no Lewis at Mercedes? Maybe just Bottas and Grosjean, then even with his DNF's, Vettel would still be ahead in the WDC. Driver skill matters a lot. Also, Mercedes has also caught up with Ferrari and outdeveloped them, thats just one aspect (among many) of how team does matter as well.