2018 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, 5-7 October

[timbo]

Hamitlon touches the curbs in a smarter way: when car is going straight and unloaded and with two wheels at a time. (degner two outside). And he obviously avoided the curbs in the high speed (spoon).

vettel clipped degner two inside curb and spoon outside curb. Not so smart.

Vettel himself said he made a mistake. That said, it's easier to avoid mistakes if you are with an obviously better car and are on track in the right place at the right time.
But to be fair the Hamilton's form now is top-notch.

[Jolle]

A spin in the Q1 before the * up by Ferrari from Vettel. After his sloppy laps trying to stay in front of Hamilton in Russia and his sloppy defending at Monza, it looks like he's not in the right state of mind. The mistakes are small, but lots of small ones makes a big one.... Almost like the crash in Germany broke his spirit.

[ringo]

Vettel is just at the limit of his capabilities. His driving is reminding me of when went up against Danny Ric in 2014.
He will break in 2 races time..

[Edax]

No one has posted the onboard pole lap ? Blasphemy !


A. Davidson says touching the kerbs were Ferrari's bane, but Hamilton does touch them plenty on his fastest lap as well. He shies away from them at spoon tho. Maaaybe another difference is, couple of times when he gets on the exit kerbs (most notably out of Degner 2), he is a little less aggressive on the throttle compared to Vettel. So it's hard to say I agree with Davidson there.

That is one advantage of the hybrid noise levels. You can really hear the car bottoming out through 130R.

[TAG]

I hope he stays ahead of Bottas. I dont want to see another team order.

I hope Hamilton repays Bottas for last week. With Vettel starting so far back, I think they'd be able to execute a very easy switch of position. Bottas deserves the win he was denied. It doesn't have to come from the team and I wouldn't put it past Hamilton to do it.

[timbo]

I hope he stays ahead of Bottas. I dont want to see another team order.

I hope Hamilton repays Bottas for last week. With Vettel starting so far back, I think they'd be able to execute a very easy switch of position. Bottas deserves the win he was denied. It doesn't have to come from the team and I wouldn't put it past Hamilton to do it.

Do you think it's fair for Bottas? In Russia he could have won on merit, and if he is simply given a win it would undermine him as a sportsman. I don't think there is a good way out of it, it would be hard to instill trust in a team back.

[Moose]

I hope he stays ahead of Bottas. I dont want to see another team order.

I hope Hamilton repays Bottas for last week. With Vettel starting so far back, I think they'd be able to execute a very easy switch of position. Bottas deserves the win he was denied. It doesn't have to come from the team and I wouldn't put it past Hamilton to do it.

I'm sure they won't this weekend. That said, if Hamilton gets another 10 or 13 points this weekend, then winning the championship will be a possibility in the USA. Once it's all wrapped up, I agree - I hope he pays Bottas back with a win.

[PlatinumZealot]

Bottas works for Mercedes the last time i checked. In a team sport if the coach says pass the ball to the goal scorer, doesn't matter if you in front open goal.. You just have to do it if you still wnat to be on the team.

[TAG]

I hope he stays ahead of Bottas. I dont want to see another team order.

I hope Hamilton repays Bottas for last week. With Vettel starting so far back, I think they'd be able to execute a very easy switch of position. Bottas deserves the win he was denied. It doesn't have to come from the team and I wouldn't put it past Hamilton to do it.

Do you think it's fair for Bottas? In Russia he could have won on merit, and if he is simply given a win it would undermine him as a sportsman. I don't think there is a good way out of it, it would be hard to instill trust in a team back.

What are the options at this point? I'm sure Bottas has in his contract a hefty bonus "per race win". If he was more competetive, those types of feeling could creep and break the bond of trust but Bottas knows he's got to challenge from the beginning of the season on and not just mathematically in it. If the switch were to happen, ultimately I think it could wind up being more demoralizing for Vettel than it would be for Bottas.

[Shrieker]

Didn't Bottas say after the Russian GP that he basically didn't want to be given a win he didn't earn ?

[hollus]

Wrong year and wrong pair of drivers. Several posts have been deleted.
Back to Suzuka 2018, please.
Thank you.

[Roxi]

A spin in the Q1 before the * up by Ferrari from Vettel. After his sloppy laps trying to stay in front of Hamilton in Russia and his sloppy defending at Monza, it looks like he's not in the right state of mind. The mistakes are small, but lots of small ones makes a big one.... Almost like the crash in Germany broke his spirit.

That's what I was thinking. I think the Germany "throw-away" basically put him in a toxic battle against himself that he believes he can't win. Nothing worse than a battle against yourself.

[Restomaniac]

Didn't Bottas say after the Russian GP that he basically didn't want to be given a win he didn't earn ?

That’s not how he should view it. If Mercedes are in that position then it’s a thankyou and sorry from them and Hamilton.

Simply put he should have another win and it was stolen off him if he then gets that back then what has he lost/gained?

[Andres125sx]

I think what we’re seeing this year - and tbh the previous two - is that Ferrari’s revamped structure under Marchionne unlocked some great engineering talent in Maranello that had previously been overlooked by the influx of ‘name’ talent (Pat Fry, James Allison etc.) but that their track operations is still quite poor. Since 2016 - in which they should have won a couple of races - they’ve squandered countless chances

Since 2010 at least actually

[Sieper]

I wouldn’t want a win given back. Then you loose the win you deserved and then again in another race where I could have won on my own merit If left to battle I get told, here, have this win on me. No Thanks.