2018 United States Grand Prix - Austin, 19-21 October

[turbof1]

Hamilton needs to take a lesson from Senna and Schumacher.

Punch Max in the face

That would imply Max deserves a punch. He doesn't in this instance; he drove fair 'n square in the USGP.

Maybe he does deserve a rodeo though for the attrocious outfit he had.

A wise man will carefully calculate the chances of him being beaten to a bloody pulp before punching someone in the face.

Sadly, Ricciardo's wall did not have that luxury:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ricc ... r/3199872/

[NathanOlder]

Fun fact: since he was informed at Monza he wouldn’t be racing for Ferrari next season, Raikkonen has outscored Vettel, 75 to 62.

fun fact bonus, If the championship started 5 races ago in Monza, Vettel is only 5th in the standings.

[Juzh]

I’m surprised that Force India would breach the fuel flow rate but even more confused as to why would Haas even fill their car with more fuel than they are legally allowed to use? What possible benefit would they garner from running heavier fuel?

They either:

- Breach the maximum fuel allowance, carry more weight for the whole race distance and still get disqualified.
- Run into the reserve for the 2kg fuel sample, fail to supply a sample to the FIA at the end of the race and still get disqualified.
- Run the car out of fuel, retire the car, blame a gearbox issue and get a free one for the next race.

Why even go through the ignominy of a disqualification?!

You can put 1000kg of fuel in the car if you want, you just cant use more than 105 kg during the race. Cars carry more than that for the laps to the grid and inlap after the race and also for the fia fuel sample. Maybe they thought they'd get lapped which they didn't, so they had to use an extra lap of fuel, bringing them over the limit ever so slightly. There's a bunch of plausible reasons why this would happen, but most of all, it tells us an extra 5kg of fuel was not at all enough since 2017 onwards.

[iotar__]

Hamilton needs to take a lesson from Senna and Schumacher.

Punch Max in the face

No, he should call his friend Charlie Whiting again and ask for "clarification" of every swept under the carpet penalty .

Let's not pretend, Hamilton was afraid that Verstappen (not any driver in front) would crash into hm so he was avoiding him like a plague . That's the kind of trust his previous displays of wheel-to-wheel talent earned him.

[LM10]

Ferrari lost a win for Kimi AGAIN!

Are you sure?

[iotar__]

Anyone else find it strange that we have 2 fuel irregularities in 1 weekend when we have had nothing before this.

Yeah, it is as strange as some teams getting away with breaching the technical rules many times, reaping the benefits and then getting told to modify the hardware without consequences and some getting penalised without warning.

I"m still waiting for FIA's comments on benefits of Haas' floor thingy in milliseconds . You knew they can calculate these things when they announced that extra sensor did not affect Ferrari's engine performance. Statement that may be TECHNICALLY correct, meaning: sensors didn't other parts including software did.

[Restomaniac]

Hamilton needs to take a lesson from Senna and Schumacher.

Punch Max in the face

That would imply Max deserves a punch. He doesn't in this instance; he drove fair 'n square in the USGP.

Maybe he does deserve a rodeo though for the attrocious outfit he had.

Indeed. It’s different to Vettel Vs Verstappen who seem to have issues. Now wether that be the inherent Dutch/German tensions or on a personal level is open for debate.

I personally think it stems back to when Vettel pretty much talked Verstappen into a penalty and the following creation of the now defunked ‘Verstappen rule’ about moving under braking. I don’t think Vettel liked Verstappen laughing at him whilst talking about ‘bumper cars’ either.

[LM10]

I can't agree with you more that Newey is the reason why those 4 championships were won. But Newey is not the driver and Vettel was, so he does deserve the title in that sense. Again, I completely agree with you, Vettel's skill level is seriously lacking lately. I always felt like a bit of a Vettel hater (and Alonzo fanb0i) during his time at Redbull because I didn't think he was that great of a driver. However, every season since his last championship has made his deficiency in wheel to wheel racing, at least when compared to some of his current competitors, more obvious.

Going by these messages Hamilton does not deserve '14 and '15 when a bad race day after a first lap spin or such was second place. Dominant car so he is undeserved? Plus, those Merc's were way, way more dominant than the Red Bull newey cars...

MAMBA

Hamilton's championships 8n the turbo hybrid era will surely have an asterisk by them given how dominant the car was. Of course it is mitigated by the no holds barred competition with Rosberg the first three years. Blah blah blah.

In the race today Vettel made another relatively unforced error, as he has multiple times this year. What about last year? Or vs Ricciardo? Today's race is not just one bad day at the office, but thia isn't the proper thread for that.

In the race today Vettel no doubt had to be aggressive, but I think he was trying to force something in the first few laps that would have inevitability occurred in another few laps.

How you can tell that Vettel’s championships are just a product of Newey’s car and at the same time pretend Hamilton won all by himself is beyond me.

Vettel drove some exceptional races back then. Why does this need to be ignored now? The problem now is that he seems to be too motivated to win in his dream team and the motivation even increases every season. He just needs to put his head down. Maybe a mental coach would not be bad.
But to doubt his driving skills and even go to such lengths to tell that he even might not be good enough to drive in a top team is utterly.. utterly ridiculous.

[Godius]

Verstappen did well to manage his supersoft tires, I think that the initial plan was to do a 2 stop.

[Vasconia]

How you can tell that Vettel’s championships are just a product of Newey’s car and at the same time pretend Hamilton won all by himself is beyond me.

Vettel drove some exceptional races back then. Why does this need to be ignored now? The problem now is that he seems to be too motivated to win in his dream team and the motivation even increases every season. He just needs to put his head down. Maybe a mental coach would not be bad.
But to doubt his driving skills and even go to such lengths to tell that he even might not be good enough to drive in a top team is utterly.. utterly ridiculous.

100% agree.

Now its seems that he is bad in wheel to wheel which is not true. I think mental games and anxiety are playing a major role here, he wants too hard to win and he looses his patience too easily. A few months he refused the idea of receiving some metal coach but I sincerely he should do something before next season begins.

His mental meltdown this season is like a present for the haters.

[Vasconia]

Verstappen did well to manage his supersoft tires, I think that the initial plan was to do a 2 stop.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqGHyqiXcAA5E_7.jpg:large

Hulkenberg was also impressive in the first stint, keeping alive his tyre many laps. I thought Carlos was going to overtake him but the 5 seconds penalty+teams strategy ruined his chances. Ayway a great race for Renault.

[Vasconia]

Another race Vettel could have won.

Well done to Kimi though. He could have won 3 races this year (Austria and Monza being the others). Glad to see he gets at least 1 before he leaves the team.

Indeed, after some mediocre races Ferrari was back in form. Did the new floor change the situation? Mercedes was half a second faster in the last races and yesterday Ferrari looked very strong. Its difficult to understand these changes.

Vettel´s pace was great, its a pity that he ruined his chances on Friday, and then again on Sunday.

[Vasconia]

Hamilton needs to take a lesson from Senna and Schumacher.

Punch Max in the face

It is behond me the reason why he should do this. Max sometimes goes too far or is not aware where the other driver is but yesterday was a great and clean battle.

[Vasconia]

Renault escaped this race with a bunch of points for Sainz and Hulk. They clearly are a worst car than Haas and Force India but a striking lucky recently to keep a gap in the WCC.
I want to see them finish fourth this season, i believe Renault will release for funds for spending if the F1 team comes fourth this year; which means a more competitive Renault for 2019.

Against FI is luck because the team lost all the points but with Haas it´s not. Renault has two great drivers who bring constantly points while Haas has two drivers very busing colliding and having incidents.

Anyway, Renault´s progression during the season has been underwhelming. I do hope they can make a better job in 2019.

[F1NAC]

Another race Vettel could have won.

Well done to Kimi though. He could have won 3 races this year (Austria and Monza being the others). Glad to see he gets at least 1 before he leaves the team.

Indeed, after some mediocre races Ferrari was back in form. Did the new floor change the situation? Mercedes was half a second faster in the last races and yesterday Ferrari looked very strong. Its difficult to understand these changes.

Vettel´s pace was great, its a pity that he ruined his chances on Friday, and then again on Sunday.

They didn't use new floor (for rest of the stuff I don't know). I read that they reverted to Belgium spec and abandoned Singapore update (RW). They will re-evaluate them all in Mexico (because of rain on Friday)