2018 Italian Grand Prix - Monza, 31 Aug - 2 Sep

[Sieper]

So, a few other points that I noticed today. I wouldn’t call the actual moment Vettel slid into Ham a penalty, but, much more importantly imho, Vettel also admitted this in the ziggo NL post race interview, he wanted to overtake Kimi there already. I think Hamilton saw it comming and is just one step ahead of Vettel in the think game. That is what allowed Hamilton to squeeze in there. He knows what Vettel will be thinking, and this allowed him to anticpate and move in there for the overtake. This whilst Vettel always seems more thinking About himself alone.

Also, hard to say as the race was so affected by the Vettel spin, but it seemed Mercedes was just a tad quicker on race day to me. Can it be that as on Monza you have very little harvest opportunities, that the energy recovery system plays a comperatively smaller role and is that maybe where Ferrari is really ahead on and merc still ahead on the pure ICE power itself? All within small Margins of eachother Ofcourse but just something that I was thinking after the race.

[flynfrog]

Has anyone heard what exactly Renault protested on the Haas?

[holeindalip]

Has anyone heard what exactly Renault protested on the Haas?

Something on the leading edge of the floor

[TAG]

Has anyone heard what exactly Renault protested on the Haas?

Something with the leading edge of the floor. Not much more so far.

[MtthsMlw]

Has anyone heard what exactly Renault protested on the Haas?

Something on the leading edge of the floor

Haas probably don't have enough legality slots. Same with Ferrari earlier this season.

[JonoNic]

So, a few other points that I noticed today. I wouldn’t call the actual moment Vettel slid into Ham a penalty, but, much more importantly imho, Vettel also admitted this in the ziggo NL post race interview, he wanted to overtake Kimi there already. I think Hamilton saw it comming and is just one step ahead of Vettel in the think game. That is what allowed Hamilton to squeeze in there. He knows what Vettel will be thinking, and this allowed him to anticpate and move in there for the overtake. This whilst Vettel always seems more thinking About himself alone.

Also, hard to say as the race was so affected by the Vettel spin, but it seemed Mercedes was just a tad quicker on race day to me. Can it be that as on Monza you have very little harvest opportunities, that the energy recovery system plays a comperatively smaller role and is that maybe where Ferrari is really ahead on and merc still ahead on the pure ICE power itself? All within small Margins of eachother Ofcourse but just something that I was thinking after the race.

Good assessment there

[Phil]

Has anyone heard what exactly Renault protested on the Haas?

I think the same thing Mercedes protested on the Ferrari earlier. If you view the car from the bottom, you are not allowed to see any other bodywork through the slots...

[Sieper]

Has anyone heard what exactly Renault protested on the Haas?

I think the same thing Mercedes protested on the Ferrari earlier. If you view the car from the bottom, you are not allowed to see any other bodywork through the slots...

Yes, and If You do so it apparently is the front of the mirror that you see. So the mirror has to be moved back a bit. Don’t know If this will be deemed illegal.

[NathanOlder]

Yes, I agree fully. Ferrari found a way to literally screw Kimi over, yet again. Once the gap was below 22 seconds to Hamilton, it was a lost cause for him to pit and jump Kimi. Yet Ferrari had Kimi push push push for many laps after that. When in reality the only thing they needed to do was cool it off a bit and try look after the tires, especially the rears. They managed Raikkonen's race horribly and gave the win away to Hamilton on a silver platter.

I honestly think Ferrari had the faster car (albeit not by much), but their no 1 driver, and race management from the pits were not on par during the race.

The other thing I simply don't understand concerning the way Ferrari handled Kimi's race: Sebastian was already running the Soft tyre in the first stint. They would have seen the way it degraded when pushed hard. Seb had to pit much earlier than anticipated as a result of bad blistering, and yet they went and pitted Raikkonen early anyway. Did they think he was going to manage the tyres better?

It just seems like Ferrari went for the desperate move and stopped thinking clearly in the heat of the moment. Pressure and stress leading to poor decision-making.

They were afraid of Hamilton's undercut. There is no way they could defend against that unless they pit earlier or at the same time. When mercedes crew went out they simply had to pit Kimi.

This. The merc boys were in the pitlane. Ferrari had to pit to protect the lead. Once they pitted Lewis was told Hammertime so Kimi had to push flat out while Lewis was doing the same. Kimi may have backed off a little for 2 or 3 laps before Lewis came in. In hindsight it wouldn't have made a difference if Kimi backed off a little earlier, The damage to the tyres was done in the opening 2/3 laps of Kimis stint where it was essential that Kimi pushed hard to maintain the lead.
There was nothing wrong with Ferrari's strategy.

As for Bottas, yes he slowed Kimi but like Brundle said, Bottas was setting his fastest laps when Kimi was just behind him. So he wasnt holding Kimi back purposely. Bottas' strategy was the same as Lewis'. Stay out longer so you can attack towards the end and have much fresher tyres to do so.
Both Merc strategies worked and a 1-3 was a great result.
Ferrari didn't fall into the Merc trap, they were thrown into it by Mercedes themself

[Restomaniac]

But it is not grass, it in fact just is tarmac, but painted green, they used it all the time in the qualy laps.

Bottas also wasn’t even passed yet, he has Merc Power, DRS, fresher tires, why not overtake like Hamilton did on Raikonnen. Such a shame. Max raced so well, great start, great restart at the safety car release, fantastic pace on this power track and then by this also not too great attempt (round the outside?!) by Bottas to loose 2 positions in the end.

He doesn’t need to be past he needs to be alongside. He was and then Verstappen decided he wanted to be on the 1 car width of track that Bottas was on.

Like Sieper said, the green area is used on other parts of the track as well. Why is it now not a valid part of the track? Of course it is controversial, but the move of VES was with an idea, I think it is too easy to state it is just a dumb move.

Can you point me to these others parts of the track where it’s ok to force another car onto them?

[MtthsMlw]

Here is a picture of the unsafe(?) release. Ericsson locking up in order to not crash into Vettel. Also you can see the damage on Vettel's car.

[DVB]

Is it me, or did the Ferrari looked to have problem's accelerating out of slow corners?

Btw, good theory Sieper!

[foxmulder_ms]

Here is a picture of the unsafe(?) release. Ericsson locking up in order to not crash into Vettel. Also you can see the damage on Vettel's car.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmF4RKNXgAA4DDz.jpg

They are lucky it is sauber, a non-ferrari team would have protested and probably got a 5sec penalty.

[Juzh]

Vettel's car during the race



Given vettel's laptimes troughout the race, this would have been a slam dunk win for Vettel had ferrari been in possesion of some brain cells on saturday, or even sunday. Kimi would have to let vettel trough into 2nd chicane by staying right and block hamilton, and then cover for vettel, as merc did with bottas. Taking the "moral high ground" will probably come and bite them at the end.

[MtthsMlw]