2018 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 13-15

[Restomaniac]

hamilton must be really upset although he is saying little
his team messed up in race 1which he should have won
gearbox penalty in race 2
his team messed up in race 3 as well , the safety car light was on before he got to the pit entry , fresh tyres and he would have won race 3 as well !

He didn't have any new fresh softs

Plus he was behind Verstappen already. People miss this badly. Even with equal fresh softs, he would not have overtaken him. Don't overlook the butterfly effect, had Hamilton pitted right behind Verstappen, then his contact with Vettel not occurring was a near certainty. And we would be discussing how it was a dumb move to pit him under the SC Hindsight is 20/20.

However. If Verstappen, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Raikkonen take softs in that order then they all probably go past Bottas and Vettel as Ricciardo did. We probably end up with the final places of Verstappen-Hamilton-Ricciardo-Raikkonen-Bottas-Vettel.

Vettel gains 2 places but so does Hamilton and the points difference ends up being even smaller. That would be a net win for Hamilton.

[Vasconia]

hamilton must be really upset although he is saying little
his team messed up in race 1which he should have won
gearbox penalty in race 2
his team messed up in race 3 as well , the safety car light was on before he got to the pit entry , fresh tyres and he would have won race 3 as well !

I think Hamilton should be happy about the outcome. He wasn’t in synch with his car. Maybe pit stop strategy could have yielded him more. But he could just as easily ended up behind VET and VES. “If then..” works both ways.

In the end he had an off day and got more points than his opponent. That is not a bad result by any standards.

Absolutely, he had a bad weekend, and a second "not so good" weekend in a row, but he has reduced the gap to Vettel when it was pretty cleary that he was going to end behind.

[LM10]

... It boggles the mind why they didnt.

Simple- because they thought track position was King and that overtaking would be more difficult.

It's the same reason Ferrari kept Vettel out too long. Vettel may have used up his year's worth of luck after race two.

I don't think Vettel was lucky at all in Bahrain.

[zibby43]

Simple- because they thought track position was King and that overtaking would be more difficult.

It's the same reason Ferrari kept Vettel out too long. Vettel may have used up his year's worth of luck after race two.

I don't think Vettel was lucky at all in Bahrain.

Have to agree there. That was a masterclass in tire management. Hell of a drive; have to tip my hat there.

Maybe he was lucky that it was Bottas behind him and not Hamilton, though. Although Bottas impressed me with his drive in China. He outperformed Hamilton when it counted this past weekend.

[Andres125sx]

I couldn´t watch the race till yesterday...... and what a race!!!

First of all, like Tony Cuquerella said (I think it was him, or De La Rossa maybe) at the spanish TV, Ricciardo is the best driver overtaking by a good margin. It´s true that with a car with tons of DF it´s easier to brake half meter after your opponent, but even so his determination, his accuracy, his strategy not showing he´ll try until last moment.... he´s a master!


OTOH Verstappen.... someone in the team should calm him down, or his abundant talent may get lost when RBR get tired of broken cars and points lost due to his excessive aggresiveness

Bottas, great race for the fin, his only problem was RBR great strategy and Ricciardo dettermination

Hamilton...... I´ve always supported Alonso, and will always be, but Hamilton was my second favourite. Today that finished, he was tame, he´s lost ambition, determination, aggresiveness.... This is not the Lewis Hamiton I rooted for since 2006 in GP2.

Kimi.... OMG thanks god he got some luck finally, after another disastreous strategy for him from his team. He deserved that podium, specially after watching his Q3 lap when MovistarF1 analysed it toghether with Vettel lap, they were perfectly matched laps, with less than half a tenth different for the whole lap, except the straight, where wind quicked in in favour of Vettel

And Hulkenberg is giving a hard time to Sainz, he´s always there, what a racer man

Alonso as always collecting the highest points he can dream with, points wich will probably taste sweeter than usual after passing Vettel in the last laps




What a race, anyone saying F1 is boring should shut up for some months now

[Restomaniac]

Simple- because they thought track position was King and that overtaking would be more difficult.

It's the same reason Ferrari kept Vettel out too long. Vettel may have used up his year's worth of luck after race two.

I don't think Vettel was lucky at all in Bahrain.

Apart from his main title rival have a totally unexpected gearbox fault after 1 race obviously.

[NathanOlder]

And Hulkenberg is giving a hard time to Sainz, he´s always there, what a racer man

I remember before the season started that their was a prediction on this site, I'm not sure if it was by a member or just a link to a motorsport website.
They had all the team mates and their predicted performance against each other. They had the biggest gap on the grid between team mates being between the Renault team mates, In Sainz favour.

Glad to see Hulk doing the business. Sainz faired very well against Max, so this shows maybe how good Hulk actually is.

[ferkan]

It's the same reason Ferrari kept Vettel out too long. Vettel may have used up his year's worth of luck after race two.

I don't think Vettel was lucky at all in Bahrain.

Apart from his main title rival have a totally unexpected gearbox fault after 1 race obviously.

He was outqualified anyway. In race, Ric and Kimi had DNF'd so in a sense, Lewis was actually lucky one

[JonoNic]

Everyone still in the title race, bar Bottas had at least one bad race so far...

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Godius]

I agree with most of the assessments made in this thread. Verstappen got schooled by a brilliant Ricciardo. Max really needs to go in therapy with a psychiatrist soon before he becomes a lost cause. He has thrown away a lot of championship points in his career and reputation, the talent is there but he needs to let go of the inner Jos Verstappen.

[Restomaniac]

I don't think Vettel was lucky at all in Bahrain.

Apart from his main title rival have a totally unexpected gearbox fault after 1 race obviously.

He was outqualified anyway. In race, Ric and Kimi had DNF'd so in a sense, Lewis was actually lucky one

Yes because a driver who knows he is starting at least 6th sets his car up for qualifying obviously. Yet the said driver who got the gearbox failure is the lucky one. Oh my days

[ferkan]

Apart from his main title rival have a totally unexpected gearbox fault after 1 race obviously.

He was outqualified anyway. In race, Ric and Kimi had DNF'd so in a sense, Lewis was actually lucky one

Yes because a driver who knows he is starting at least 6th sets his car up for qualifying obviously. Yet the said driver who got the gearbox failure is the lucky one. Oh my days

Look, Vettel certainly wasn't lucky. He got pole, yet his teammate got mugged in T1, after that he was out of the race duo to pitstop disaster and had to drive soft tires for 40 laps duo to inability to make a stop while Merc outfoxed them with pitting on correct tire and made Bottas pressure him to very end.

Hamilton started with 5 place grid penalty, but had he qualified in top 3, by lap 3 he would be 4th (given that Ric was out on lap 2) and probably would have chance for a win when Kimi DNF'd.

[Restomaniac]

He was outqualified anyway. In race, Ric and Kimi had DNF'd so in a sense, Lewis was actually lucky one

Yes because a driver who knows he is starting at least 6th sets his car up for qualifying obviously. Yet the said driver who got the gearbox failure is the lucky one. Oh my days

Look, Vettel certainly wasn't lucky. He got pole, yet his teammate got mugged in T1, after that he was out of the race duo to pitstop disaster and had to drive soft tires for 40 laps duo to inability to make a stop while Merc outfoxed them with pitting on correct tire and made Bottas pressure him to very end.

Hamilton started with 5 place grid penalty, but had he qualified in top 3, by lap 3 he would be 4th (given that Ric was out on lap 2) and probably would have chance for a win when Kimi DNF'd.

You keep telling yourself that.

[Wouter]

Max really needs to go in therapy with a psychiatrist soon before he becomes a lost cause. He has thrown away a lot of championship points in his career and reputation, the talent is there but he needs to let go of the inner Jos Verstappen.

Max is a very different person than Jos.

Max really needs to go in therapy with a psychiatrist soon before he becomes a lost cause.

Did Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso also use a psychiatrist in there first years?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FrJdDAhyU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncJffcT9Avk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgsdT5ZEs_k

He has thrown away a lot of championship points in his career and reputation

Could you give me the races in 2015, 2016 and 2017 where he "He has thrown away a lot of championship points"?

I think you're very much exaggerating here.

This is how I think about it: https://twitter.com/ZiggoSportF1/status ... 8978532353

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

Did Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso also use a psychiatrist in there first years?

Who knows but they have had much longer careers in the lower ranks before rising up to F1. Vettel and Alonso spent time in the lower tiers of F1 gaining experience before stepping up. Hamilton went straight into a championship-contending seat but had a wealth of experience competing at the sharp end of junior championships.

Genuine question: has Max gained the same experience in the lower tiers?