2018 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 13-15

[i70q7m7ghw]

Indeed, he went on the marbles and went off. Nevertheless i do also stand by that i do see Hamilton making a 'cheeky' move.
It was less intense of a move than i thought i saw during the race itself, and Sky Sports F1 also mentioned it seems Hamilton
made a move that seems like some form of 'payback' after last race. Even then still indeed, Verstappen couldn't keep on that
side of the track without side-effects so that move too was just a tad too greedy. Braindead? no. Greedy? yes.

Any "move" Hamilton may have made was perfectly legitimate considering he was ahead and on the racing line. No contact, no rules broken, no incident. NEXT!

[ESPImperium]

What struck me about the race today is that if Fernando, Hulk and had done a Red Bull and taken a change in tyre, they could have taken Hamilton and gotten into P5/6.

It was a good race, 3rd good one this year (i did like AUS as it was a strategy race with plenty of Imola 05/06 MSC v ALO could pass but can't pass moments) and i think this season is a vintage one, Red Bull are in the mix, as they may be able to do things on strategy that Mercedes and Ferrari may not have the balls to do.

Baku next, and probable chaos.

[NathanOlder]

What struck me about the race today is that if Fernando, Hulk and had done a Red Bull and taken a change in tyre, they could have taken Hamilton and gotten into P5/6.

.

I haven't checked, but if those guys did stop for new Rubber they would have probably given uptrack position to 4-8 cars. So would/could have taken 10 laps to clear that lot. Then be faced with a gap to the front guys. And the added risk of contact with someone.
I'd imagine that's the reason they didnt change tyres.

[komninosm]

Mercedes are so stupid... one of driver had to go to the PIT...

Exactly. Hamilton should have been pitted during SC, he'd only lose like 1 place.

[Bisonas]

What struck me about the race today is that if Fernando, Hulk and had done a Red Bull and taken a change in tyre, they could have taken Hamilton and gotten into P5/6.

It was a good race, 3rd good one this year (i did like AUS as it was a strategy race with plenty of Imola 05/06 MSC v ALO could pass but can't pass moments) and i think this season is a vintage one, Red Bull are in the mix, as they may be able to do things on strategy that Mercedes and Ferrari may not have the balls to do.

Baku next, and probable chaos.

HUL did pit for fresh Soft under SC. He was on a 2 stop strategy. SC helped him.
The question you should be asking is what if ALO didn't pit one lap earlier than SC. Then he could have a free stop for fresh Mediums and mixed it with Hamilton at the end yes.
Its quite possibly that he would have taken the position from him.

[ESPImperium]

What struck me about the race today is that if Fernando, Hulk and had done a Red Bull and taken a change in tyre, they could have taken Hamilton and gotten into P5/6.

It was a good race, 3rd good one this year (i did like AUS as it was a strategy race with plenty of Imola 05/06 MSC v ALO could pass but can't pass moments) and i think this season is a vintage one, Red Bull are in the mix, as they may be able to do things on strategy that Mercedes and Ferrari may not have the balls to do.

Baku next, and probable chaos.

HUL did pit for fresh Soft under SC. He was on a 2 stop strategy. SC helped him.
The question you should be asking is what if ALO didn't pit one lap earlier than SC. Then he could have a free stop for fresh Mediums and mixed it with Hamilton at the end yes.
Its quite possibly that he would have taken the position from him.

Damn, i forgot HUL did pit for new softs. And thats the question i am thinking of, if ALO had extended another lap or two, a free pit stop would have been had, and i think P5 would have been achievable for him.

[zoroastar]

What struck me about the race today is that if Fernando, Hulk and had done a Red Bull and taken a change in tyre, they could have taken Hamilton and gotten into P5/6.

It was a good race, 3rd good one this year (i did like AUS as it was a strategy race with plenty of Imola 05/06 MSC v ALO could pass but can't pass moments) and i think this season is a vintage one, Red Bull are in the mix, as they may be able to do things on strategy that Mercedes and Ferrari may not have the balls to do.

Baku next, and probable chaos.

HUL did pit for fresh Soft under SC. He was on a 2 stop strategy. SC helped him.
The question you should be asking is what if ALO didn't pit one lap earlier than SC. Then he could have a free stop for fresh Mediums and mixed it with Hamilton at the end yes.
Its quite possibly that he would have taken the position from him.

Damn, i forgot HUL did pit for new softs. And thats the question i am thinking of, if ALO had extended another lap or two, a free pit stop would have been had, and i think P5 would have been achievable for him.

yea alonso looked incredibly good compared to qualifying. he ran away from sainz on softs after the safety car, and after he got into some clean air. im still stumped about their quali pace.

[komninosm]

I don't think Alonso could have come ahead of HAM even if he pitted during SC, nor could he pass him afterwards only cause of better tires (Vettel had damage).

BTW why didn't they go with a Virtual Safety Car? What would that have changed in the race results you think?

[komninosm]

Apart from that Verstappen was too 'greedy' today, you're blowing things out of proportion.

Verstappens move on Ham was far from brain-dead, it was a phenomenal move but Lewis i'd say actually pulled a really d*ck move on Max which was left completely unattended and quite frankly set a stage.

If you actually have the b*lls to objectively and calmly look at that move of verstappen on Hamilton, then you would have noticed that verstappen was alongside hamilton, when all of a sudden, Hamilton's car made a sudden frisky move to the right, which Max had to evade and sent him off track which then saw Ricciardo pass him.

Hamilton had the line completely under control, and in my opinion, pushed him off track deliberately. there was no braking problems for Lewis, there was no loss of grip, it was a clear signal to Max that he wasn't making it easy on him, in my opinion, a rather ***hole move, especially since Max' front wheels far passed Lewis rear wheels in the corner so Lewis was actually oblidged to leave him space - which he actually totally did not. Apart from all of that,
the outside line was dirty too so there was no grip for Max to respond to Lewis suddenly moving towards him.
even if it wasn't delibarate at all, that doesn't make it a brain-dead move. the only braindead move i saw today
was that of Gasly on Hartley.

.

To me it looked like Max just lost the rear and after saving the car had no choice but to run wide. I will need to see it again, but i thought Lewis left room. Going to the outside of the track at that point was madness with the marbles.

Indeed, he even said so himself too many marbles and lost traction:
https://www.ziggosport.nl/fragment/5957 ... a-mp4.html

(Dutch interview )


I know I'm impatience, but **** Verstappen's performance today truly hurt. Been a fan of him since he started F1, but his actions today (incl. the remark to Hamilton) were just painful to watch and unneeded
The Dutch reporter asked him why he's so impatient... he didn't know yet, better find out this year.

Manoah2u you seem to have it out for Hamilton and can't reduce your bias to the point of conspiracy theory almost. Why is that?
And really, only braindead move was Gasly? Not Max on Vettel? And given Gasly bad move was based on a miscommunication it wasn't even that braindead either. Are you a Max fan? Also don't take what a poster here says (vengeance) as what a driver actually thinks. Posters make self-serving posts. You can't use that as argument against a driver.

[komninosm]

What struck me about the race today is that if Fernando, Hulk and had done a Red Bull and taken a change in tyre, they could have taken Hamilton and gotten into P5/6.

.

I haven't checked, but if those guys did stop for new Rubber they would have probably given uptrack position to 4-8 cars. So would/could have taken 10 laps to clear that lot. Then be faced with a gap to the front guys. And the added risk of contact with someone.
I'd imagine that's the reason they didnt change tyres.

Didn't Alonso get new tires 1 lap before SC and Hulk actually pitted during SC? I seriously doubt they could have overtaken Hamilton anyway. Only a damaged top car like Vettel's.

[spin1/2]

Has Ricciardo ever won with pace? I feel all his wins have come from lucky situations, such as safety cars, front-runner screw-ups, rain, etc.
Max, on the other hand, has won with pace on a couple occasions.

[JPBD1990]

Has Ricciardo ever won with pace? I feel all his wins have come from lucky situations, such as safety cars, front-runner screw-ups, rain, etc.
Max, on the other hand, has won with pace on a couple occasions.

What takes more skill? Having the fastest car (“pace”), or capitalising on opportunities as they become available? Max proved today that he’s not able to do that in every situation... he almost crashed out twice, for the third consecutive race.

Im a Ferrari fan so I’m not saying this as a Daniel fanboy... but your points seem moot.

[zeph]

watching the ceremony, I lol’d. Bottas and Raikkonen both look like they swallowed a bug.

But RBR pulled off two double pitstops, my mind was positively blown. I dislike the team, but there’s no doubt they are the best on the grid.
If they had a Mercedes engine, they’d win everything.

[Fulcrum]

I guess that you are overlooking the fact that until the SC came out, Vettel was lining up to pass Bottas, on newer tyres.
So even if Ferrari were tardy in calling Vettel in, there was a reason for it, and frankly it was actually working.

2 laps fresher? Describing that strategy as 'working' is a bit of a stretch.

The differential in performance between the two vehicles was low, and the differential in tyres was also low. Vettel's best chance to pass was the Raikkonen roadblock. He was already beginning to fall out of DRS range at parts of the track when the SC was triggered.

[Sevach]

I guess that you are overlooking the fact that until the SC came out, Vettel was lining up to pass Bottas, on newer tyres.
So even if Ferrari were tardy in calling Vettel in, there was a reason for it, and frankly it was actually working.

2 laps fresher? Describing that strategy as 'working' is a bit of a stretch.

The differential in performance between the two vehicles was low, and the differential in tyres was also low. Vettel's best chance to pass was the Raikkonen roadblock. He was already beginning to fall out of DRS range at parts of the track when the SC was triggered.

1 lap actually, no concept of strategy, they thought they could cover but couldn't.

Mercedes outlaps are really good looking at the timesheets, do they have a semi qualifying mode?