2017 Brazilian Grand Prix - Interlagos, 10-12 November

[Schuttelberg]

Mercedes should have put Ocon alongside Hamilton next year. He's absolutely ready for the big time.

[NathanOlder]

Ocon will be ready after he beats Perez over a season. So not quite there.

Ocon or Ricciardo in 2019.

[Shrieker]

https://twitter.com/ScarbsTech/status/9 ... 5596221440

Pretty much everything, then.

Indeed.
Like I said this morning. Does a new F1 car still have that new car smell?

Gotta change the tub for that

[Restomaniac]

Pretty much everything, then.

Indeed.
Like I said this morning. Does a new F1 car still have that new car smell?

Gotta change the tub for that

[Phil]

I feel Bottas is too nice. Personality wise. Nothing wrong with his race today though - he lost the position with a bad start and was left to dry on the outside. Really nothing much he could have done, or achieved by being more aggressive. And as Hamilton / Kimi showed - it aint easy passing another similar paced car on the track, not even on different tires which Bottas didnt.

He lost the race at the start abnd the second battle during the pits was lost on the team when Ferrari did a 2.1s pit stop vs Mercedes that did Bottas in 2.6s.

Give him some slack. Hamilton is driving extraordinary, so IMO no matter who would be placed alongside him would probably risk to a rude awakening, bar some very few drivers.

Rosberg was far better than many still give him credit.

[Sieper]

Superb drive from Hamilton, just wow!
A shame he didn’t get a podium.

But what about Bottas, in the same car.. he really s#cks.

No. im no Bottas fan, but he did the best he could chasing that ferrari. I don't think he could have got within 2 seconds.
He wasn't great but he didn't suck. Hamilton would have at leasted pressured vettel into an error or pass vettel in the pits. Bottas is a good rear gunner, just not a star driver.
I was disapointed in his lack of bite, but mehh.. can't expect more.

Max looked ordinary today. Almost like a rookie.
I guess when he is on the leader's pace and doesn't have chassis advantage he gets miserable and kills his tyres.
Ricciardo seemed like the more mature and effective driver today.

Hamilton was passing cars left and right- he even made Verstappen look ordinary today..

Bottas is under performing, the car is capable of so much more- as Hamilton did proof today; at one point Hamilton was 19 places up.. just wow.

Hamilton was great today. In my eyes he is also one of the true great. Him moving up to fourth was not that fantastic imho, he was just that much faster, even then the redbull's with their turbo turned down. What was most impressive by Hamilton (to me) was him having a real go at Kimi in an almost equally fast Ferrari and with Hamilton being on almost totally gone rubber still really trying. On the other hand he did go in to the wall yesterday when it counted.

Also, for everybody honoustly watching, Ferr and Merc were much faster then RBR, especially so as due to the Renault mgu-h problems they also had to turn the turbo down. Verstappen still tried to hang on all race, he even defended on the straight, outbreaking Hamilton who was having a 25km/h speed advantage and still making the corner. I feel it was a good effort to hold on (to the front runners) as long as he did. The overtake on Perez was also a very Nice one.

Also, when verstappen tries to go round the outside at the start in spain, on a wide track, and he gets taken out by Bottas hitting Kimi into him then Verstappen is the idiot to take such risks, but If Ricci does the same here on a much less wide corner in midfield traffic and by pure luck not only survives the hit but also spins over the track without getting hit we hear nobody about that. Instead we hear people say how lacklustre verstappen was today. Now, I don't think Ricci was an idiot to try that move, he had to go for it imho, but Some of you seem to think Verstappen is always in the wrong. RBR was just chanceless this race and they will be next race as well, also power intensive track and they will still be running a turned down turbo.

[oT v1]

I think it’s a little unfair to say Bottas did nothing. HAM arrived behind Kimi doing 0.6/0.7 better lap time and struggled in the wake. Subjectively, I was also extremely peeved about the lack of fight between the top 3, but we don’t know what Vettel was holding back, I think Bottas would have struggled to pass and make it stick.

Shocked to hear Toto saying on Sky the undertake was a desperation move, no way, surely that the only positive move to do?!? It forced Vet to pit, maybe even setting Ham up later when he would be on slightly older tyres than planned

[toraabe]

This one was basically one big *ss qualifying session for Hamilton. Full power and some traffic to navigate for 70+ laps.
Great job by Vettel in the second phase of the start, cruise mode after that.

Bottas needs to up his game otherwise Ricciardo may get it.

Edit: also worth pointing out how much better the starts are these days, way tougher for the drivers to get that perfect start.

Cowell cranked up the engine himself, you bet it was running q3 mode the whole race... It just proves the potential I that enginè..

[Jolle]

No. im no Bottas fan, but he did the best he could chasing that ferrari. I don't think he could have got within 2 seconds.
He wasn't great but he didn't suck. Hamilton would have at leasted pressured vettel into an error or pass vettel in the pits. Bottas is a good rear gunner, just not a star driver.
I was disapointed in his lack of bite, but mehh.. can't expect more.

Max looked ordinary today. Almost like a rookie.
I guess when he is on the leader's pace and doesn't have chassis advantage he gets miserable and kills his tyres.
Ricciardo seemed like the more mature and effective driver today.

Hamilton was passing cars left and right- he even made Verstappen look ordinary today..

Bottas is under performing, the car is capable of so much more- as Hamilton did proof today; at one point Hamilton was 19 places up.. just wow.

Hamilton was great today. In my eyes he is also one of the true great. Him moving up to fourth was not that fantastic imho, he was just that much faster, even then the redbull's with their turbo turned down. What was most impressive by Hamilton (to me) was him having a real go at Kimi in an almost equally fast Ferrari and with Hamilton being on almost totally gone rubber still really trying. On the other hand he did go in to the wall yesterday when it counted.

Also, for everybody honoustly watching, Ferr and Merc were much faster then RBR, especially so as due to the Renault mgu-h problems they also had to turn the turbo down. Verstappen still tried to hang on all race, he even defended on the straight, outbreaking Hamilton who was having a 25km/h speed advantage and still making the corner. I feel it was a good effort to hold on (to the front runners) as long as he did. The overtake on Perez was also a very Nice one.

Also, when verstappen tries to go round the outside at the start in spain, on a wide track, and he gets taken out by Bottas hitting Kimi into him then Verstappen is the idiot to take such risks, but If Ricci does the same here on a much less wide corner in midfield traffic and by pure luck not only survives the hit but also spins over the track without getting hit we hear nobody about that. Instead we hear people say how lacklustre verstappen was today. Now, I don't think Ricci was an idiot to try that move, he had to go for it imho, but Some of you seem to think Verstappen is always in the wrong. RBR was just chanceless this race and they will be next race as well, also power intensive track and they will still be running a turned down turbo.

Even worse, RIC was four wheels off the track when VAN was pushed into him... let's say, he took a lot of risk and he was lucky he didn't DNF

[giantfan10]

4-

That is one of the best races Seb has driven! Lewis' pace was scary and it just shows the class of driver he is. He finished 4-5 seconds behind Bottas having started plum last with no help. I think Lewis would have finished 10+ seconds ahead of Vettel if he had qualified. Class drive from Seb to finish ahead of a Merc that was much faster.

I'm also one of Kimi's harshest critics and he did a great job today.

Seb and Valtteri were not managing anything at the front today by the way. They confessed that they were flat out.

I disagree on a few points.
There was nothing scary about Hamiltons pace with a setup optimized for the race only, fresh unused tires a safety car , a brand new PU and nothing to lose in the drivers championship.
he finished right where he was projected to finish at race start and i see nothing impressive about the drive.
The second point that i disagree with is "he started plumb last with no help" The safety car was of no help?

[Jolle]

4-

That is one of the best races Seb has driven! Lewis' pace was scary and it just shows the class of driver he is. He finished 4-5 seconds behind Bottas having started plum last with no help. I think Lewis would have finished 10+ seconds ahead of Vettel if he had qualified. Class drive from Seb to finish ahead of a Merc that was much faster.

I'm also one of Kimi's harshest critics and he did a great job today.

Seb and Valtteri were not managing anything at the front today by the way. They confessed that they were flat out.

I disagree on a few points.
There was nothing scary about Hamiltons pace with a setup optimized for the race only, fresh unused tires a safety car , a brand new PU and nothing to lose in the drivers championship.
he finished right where he was projected to finish at race start and i see nothing impressive about the drive.
The second point that i disagree with is "he started plumb last with no help" The safety car was of no help?

Because the SC was after the first lap, I don't think it helped him too much. The further on in the race, the more it helps to shorten the gap. Now it was still within the range of the start itself.

[Sieper]

Ferr and Merc were too quick for the rest, RBR to quick for the rest of the rest. Hamilton crashed yesterday so Vettel was always going to win this, Bottas can't match him and indeed in turn 1 the deal was done. Too bad Hamilton was just, but only just, not able too fully attack Kimi. That was impressive, that he got there and did that, on his old tires.

[Edax]

I think it’s a little unfair to say Bottas did nothing. HAM arrived behind Kimi doing 0.6/0.7 better lap time and struggled in the wake. Subjectively, I was also extremely peeved about the lack of fight between the top 3, but we don’t know what Vettel was holding back, I think Bottas would have struggled to pass and make it stick.

Shocked to hear Toto saying on Sky the undertake was a desperation move, no way, surely that the only positive move to do?!? It forced Vet to pit, maybe even setting Ham up later when he would be on slightly older tyres than planned

I think the most important thing Ham showed is that he could follow the Ferrari within 1 second. That somewhat surprising because th Merc generally is highly affected by wake turbulence.

But when Bottas would have been within DRS range when he attempted the undercut he would have succeeded, from 2.5 sec back it would always be a long shot. I think that and the start cost him the race.

[digitalrurouni]

I think the most important thing Ham showed is that he could follow the Ferrari within 1 second. That somewhat surprising because th Merc generally is highly affected by wake turbulence.

This. I noticed that this year's cars don't seem to have AS MUCH difficulty following in the dirty air. I wonder if that has to also do with the tires being more durable this year thus allowing the drivers to push that bit or hold station in the dirty air?

[dans79]

Because the SC was after the first lap, I don't think it helped him too much. The further on in the race, the more it helps to shorten the gap. Now it was still within the range of the start itself.

I agree, if anything it was a hindrance, because he had to hold station, instead of easily picking off the back markers. It also stretched out the gap between him and the leaders.