2018 United Arab Emirates Grand Prix - Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi, 23-26 November

[Big Tea]

Hamilton will be glad to retain Bottas.

It probably helped him to be in that 'good place' that has had the best out of him. He did not get there with Nico breathing down his neck

[Sieper]

Exactly, it seems Vettel lost that privilege. Allthough Kimi was closer (and wasnt sacrificie that much) as Bottas was.

[dans79]

Exactly, it seems Vettel lost that privilege. Allthough Kimi was closer (and wasnt sacrificie that much) as Bottas was.

Given his qualifying deficit to Lewis, I think that's to be expected. If you exclude the 3 races where one of them had an issue AUS, GER, BEL, then on average Valtteri qualified 0.165 behind Lewis, and the most he ever out qualified Lewis by was 0.145 (RUS).

[Big Tea]

Exactly, it seems Vettel lost that privilege. Allthough Kimi was closer (and wasnt sacrificie that much) as Bottas was.

Given his qualifying deficit to Lewis, I think that's to be expected. If you exclude the 3 races where one of them had an issue AUS, GER, BEL, then on average Valtteri qualified 0.165 behind Lewis, and the most he ever out qualified Lewis by was 0.145 (RUS).

If presented that way it looks close, but in the race I don't think there was much doubt in the step up in class.
As I said though he did his job well with no distraction politics.
If I was the team leader, I see no reason to replace him.

[foxmulder_ms]

Exactly, it seems Vettel lost that privilege. Allthough Kimi was closer (and wasnt sacrificie that much) as Bottas was.

Yep, it will fascinating next year. I am really looking forward to teammate battles next year. Renault and Ferrari can be great. I dont see much potential with Gasly but I hope I am wrong

[dans79]

If presented that way it looks close, but in the race I don't think there was much doubt in the step up in class.

It wasn't close, here are the gaps per race.

AUS	0.000   BOT accident
BHR    -0.096	
CHN    -0.050	
AZE	0.160	
ESP	0.040	
MON	0.209	
CAN    -0.139	
FRA	0.118	
AUT    -0.019	
GBR	0.325	
GER	0.000   HAM brakes
HUN	0.260	
BEL	0.000   BOT pu
ITA	0.362	
SIN	0.687	
RUS    -0.145	
JPN	0.299	
USA	0.379	
MEX	0.266	
BRA	0.160	
ABU	0.162	

A lot of people including the press are blaming the team orders in Russia for Valtteri's downturn in performance, but in my opinion I think it started in the AZE, ESP timeframe.

[foxmulder_ms]

Man.. that Singapore lab!

[LM10]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkErT0wmB-w

Listening to the team radio of Gasly at 0:11 and 2:16, I have a feeling that him and Max are gonna torpedo each other out of every track next season. I guess RedBull already noticed that it most probably is going to be an explosive combination.

[dans79]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkErT0wmB-w

Listening to the team radio of Gasly at 0:11 and 2:16, I have a feeling that him and Max are gonna torpedo each other out of every track next season. I guess RedBull already noticed that it most probably is going to be an explosive combination.

I predict that next year the word petulance will be used to describe these two a lot.

[LM10]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkErT0wmB-w

Listening to the team radio of Gasly at 0:11 and 2:16, I have a feeling that him and Max are gonna torpedo each other out of every track next season. I guess RedBull already noticed that it most probably is going to be an explosive combination.

I predict that next year the word petulance will be used to describe these two a lot.

Let's remember this comment.

[TAG]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkErT0wmB-w

Listening to the team radio of Gasly at 0:11 and 2:16, I have a feeling that him and Max are gonna torpedo each other out of every track next season. I guess RedBull already noticed that it most probably is going to be an explosive combination.

I predict that next year the word petulance will be used to describe these two a lot.

Let's remember this comment.

Maybe Leclerc leaves them both behind. 2019 will be interesting. This race was a good way to wrap up the season, despite Will Smith.

[Sieper]

A lot of people here really hoping Max to fail. Even pre-emptive petulance strikes have been launched already I see. Nice. I get so sick of it, it is so utterly condescending and why must those kind of terms be used every time, even if they did not happen and are totally off topic in this Abu Dhabi 2018 GP topic. Please keep them to your chest. I am confident you will find more then enough opportunity to empty the them onto next years race topics.

[djos]

A lot of people here really hoping Max to fail. Even pre-emptive petulance strikes have been launched already I see. Nice. I get so sick of it, it is so utterly condescending and why must those kind of terms be used every time, even if they did not happen and are totally off topic in this Abu Dhabi 2018 GP topic. Please keep them to your chest. I am confident you will find more then enough opportunity to empty the them onto next years race topics.

I think it's a bit like Senna, when he matured and reduced his crash rate reduced some folk still found things to criticise.

The last 6 months have shown big improvement from Max and I'm now a fan.

TBH I'm a fan of talented drivers doing their thing - even in the senna era I was a fan of prost too.

[Wynters]

I'd have more faith that Max has learnt from his youthful mistakes if he hadn't had the unprecedented incident with Ocon in the previous race and then deliberately messed with him in this race.

To be clear, I think Max is very fast. Given his pace, he should've finished second in this year's WDC (which is saying something given how fast the Ferrari was for much of the season)...but he didn't because he's still not learning from his errors. This winter break will be crucial for him, I think. If he works out that 'not driving into people = more points' then he's going to win multiple WDC. If he doesn't reach that conclusion then he'll have to rely on Newey & Co winning his championships for him and that's not guaranteed given Mercedes' and Ferrari's recent performances.

[Just_a_fan]

Max is as fast as Hamilton but he is still like Hamilton was back in 2007 - trying to do it all NOW rather than playing the long game. Hamilton matured in to the complete racing driver. Max can do the same and, if/when he does, he will be every bit as imposing a force as Hamilton is now. Max in the current Ferrari / Mercedes would have been a total handful for any driver to deal with.

Max can be the future - if he just gets his head down and realises that titles aren't won in a single corner.