2019 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrom, 27 - 29 September

[GPR-A]

Close the pitlane during VSC.. Amen

Driver: "i think I have a puncture, picked up some of Romain's debris"

Engineer: "well, yeah, sorry, we can't pit you while the safety car is out. Hang on for a few laps!"

There is an obvious issue with this idea, I'd say.

Red light at the end of the pitlane. Till whole pack passes

I hope it works like a charm for you when a Ferrari gets a puncture and has to sit at pit, especially when someone screws them and no fault of their own.

[Hammerfist]

Hamilton must be laughing so hard inside at what is going on at Ferrari. When Ferrari decided to leave VEttel out they effectively gave away time to Hamilton. Vettel was the lead car and the furthest away from Lewis so now they just made him more vulnerable to Hamilton. Had the vsc not happen it would have been a very interesting finish.

This does not bode well for next year for Ferrari as well. They do have the strongest driver lineup but they are fighting each other too much and are going to be unwilling to help each other out at times so Hamilton and Verstappen (if the redbull finally comes good) again are going to reap the rewards of that. Vettel needs to find a new team.

[dominaze]

I'm a merc fan but I'm really puzzled at how Ferrari is handling things. What's the point of such a pre-race agreement? I mean, they were both on softer tyres and a better starting line plus a much better ERS. Seb was going anyways to pass Lewis before being towed; which what actually happened. I won't blame him for taking the opportunity. We all know Charles setup his car for mostly qualifying performance and Seb is rather going the other way around. The scenario happened quite several times during the first half of the season where the faster ferrari car was held up behind the slower one with potential undercut from rival teams. If they want to maximize points, this is clearly the way to go imo

[digitalrurouni]

I don't understand why people are saying that Ferrari had better race pace. Seemed to me that even with mediums Lewis was hanging on to the tails of the Ferrari and Valterri wasn't doing bad either. Not to mention a lap record towards the end of the race.

[Phil]

When's the last time you've seen someone pick a puncture right before sc/vsc that would've prevented them from pitting if the pits had to be closed was what I meant, as that was what you were alluding to.

Try Hockenheim this year. Not a puncture, but surely massive damage counts?

[selvam_e2002]

Currently there is no point in this internal fight as the WCC and WDC are gone.
Ferrari are just building up problems for next season by not lancing this boil. Vettel is playing the same rule book as he did against Webber the key difference is that his car isn’t massively clear of everything else as it was back then.

I do't agree. When Lecrec did samething to Vettel in Beharin no one complained it. every one praised him. IN Beharin race ferrari told him to hold the position but he overtaken vettel. Now Lecrec facing same thing from Vettel but Lecrec could not digest it.

so, if lecrect did it then it is right. If Vettel did it then it is wrong.

Even this race, it is not mandatory to swap the position immediately. They can do it later stage once position 1 and 2 confirmed. Why they screwed Vettel race by calling him to pit lately? It reminds me 2007 Alonso Vs Hamilton.

very bad politics at Ferrari. It is because of Binotto. He should take a right call but he is not doing it.

Please don’t mistake me for a massive fan of either of them. What I’m trying to say is that now is the point for Ferrari to bash their heads together. If they let this continue then next season when it actually matters they may just gift Hamilton and Mercedes the titles again by their own internal squabbles.

Indeed. Ferrari should not do this again and again. They have to concentrate on getting most point instead of favoring a specific driver. They can take strategy call based on each race and situation. For Soci race, they lost one car and one place with Bottas.

[Restomaniac]

I'm a merc fan but I'm really puzzled at how Ferrari is handling things. What's the point of such a pre-race agreement? I mean, they were both on softer tyres and a better starting line plus a much better ERS. Seb was going anyways to pass Lewis before being towed; which what actually happened. I won't blame him for taking the opportunity. We all know Charles setup his car for mostly qualifying performance and Seb is rather going the other way around. The scenario happened quite several times during the first half of the season where the faster ferrari car was held up behind the slower one with potential undercut from rival teams. If they want to maximize points, this is clearly the way to go imo

I guess they were trying to get LeClerc back on side.
Vettel has a habit of not holding his end of the bargain up in such events though. A hard lesson that LeClerc has now had to learn and I doubt he will fall foul of trusting Vettel again.

Tell ya what though if I’m Hamilton then I’m taking LeClerc to a side and telling the story of ‘Multi 21’ and others. This situation suits him and Mercedes down to the ground and thinking back that could be why he made such a point of congratulating Vettel in Singapore.

[F1NAC]

I'm a merc fan but I'm really puzzled at how Ferrari is handling things. What's the point of such a pre-race agreement? I mean, they were both on softer tyres and a better starting line plus a much better ERS. Seb was going anyways to pass Lewis before being towed; which what actually happened. I won't blame him for taking the opportunity. We all know Charles setup his car for mostly qualifying performance and Seb is rather going the other way around. The scenario happened quite several times during the first half of the season where the faster ferrari car was held up behind the slower one with potential undercut from rival teams. If they want to maximize points, this is clearly the way to go imo

I guess they were trying to get LeClerc back on side.
Vettel has a habit of not holding his end of the bargain up in such events though. A hard lesson that LeClerc has now had to learn and I doubt he will fall foul of trusting Vettel again.

What is the point slowing down when Hamilton was barely 2 seconds of Leclerc? Where is the gap for Vettel? And after that limping behind slower Ferrari and runing his tyres after all. It's not dirty play. It's logical one. Common sense. We could say same for Leclerc. Deal was in their last Q3 run in monza to tow Vettel, Leclerc was hesitating and in the end Vettel lost the lap and tow (well that sh*tshow also played its hand)

[DChemTech]

Close the pitlane during VSC.. Amen

Driver: "i think I have a puncture, picked up some of Romain's debris"

Engineer: "well, yeah, sorry, we can't pit you while the safety car is out. Hang on for a few laps!"

There is an obvious issue with this idea, I'd say.

Red light at the end of the pitlane. Till whole pack passes

That sounds absolutely horrible. Instate a mandatory pitstop duration during safety situation then. But still I'd rather just keep the current situation.

[Unc1eM0nty]

I don't understand why people are saying that Ferrari had better race pace. Seemed to me that even with mediums Lewis was hanging on to the tails of the Ferrari and Valterri wasn't doing bad either. Not to mention a lap record towards the end of the race.

Yeah I thought the same, when Leclerc pitted the gap was about 3 seconds, and about 4 seconds when Vettel pitted. That's on a tyre that is .6 a lap slower that the soft, and he was managing his pace - they planned to go a long way on that trye, on the radio the team said target +15

Ferrari were a lot faster in race trim than they have been, but on different tryes it's hard to say. For the last stint on softs Leclerc was stuck behind Bottas, Lewis built a 4 second gap but then just held station.

[evered7]

I don't understand why people are saying that Ferrari had better race pace. Seemed to me that even with mediums Lewis was hanging on to the tails of the Ferrari and Valterri wasn't doing bad either. Not to mention a lap record towards the end of the race.

People were telling how the softs were a bad choice and how Mercedes were having an advantage starting on mediums.

Ferrari matched or bettered Mercedes for almost all of the first stint. Bottas was 18 seconds adrift at one point. He was not bad, he was doing worse.

Leclerc shouldn't have pitted again. New mediums vs old softs in fresh air would have been a fair battle. Never got to see it unfortunately.

Guess Ferrari used all their brain cells in Singapore or they put too much pressure on themselves by arranging a deal with a Betrayer.

[Bill_Kar]

I don't understand why people are saying that Ferrari had better race pace. Seemed to me that even with mediums Lewis was hanging on to the tails of the Ferrari and Valterri wasn't doing bad either. Not to mention a lap record towards the end of the race.

People were telling how the softs were a bad choice and how Mercedes were having an advantage starting on mediums.

Ferrari matched or bettered Mercedes for almost all of the first stint. Bottas was 18 seconds adrift at one point. He was not bad, he was doing worse.

Leclerc shouldn't have pitted again. New mediums vs old softs in fresh air would have been a fair battle. Never got to see it unfortunately.

Guess Ferrari used all their brain cells in Singapore or they put too much pressure on themselves by arranging a deal with a Betrayer.

What are you referring to with the new mediums vs old softs?

[evered7]

I don't understand why people are saying that Ferrari had better race pace. Seemed to me that even with mediums Lewis was hanging on to the tails of the Ferrari and Valterri wasn't doing bad either. Not to mention a lap record towards the end of the race.

People were telling how the softs were a bad choice and how Mercedes were having an advantage starting on mediums.

Ferrari matched or bettered Mercedes for almost all of the first stint. Bottas was 18 seconds adrift at one point. He was not bad, he was doing worse.

Leclerc shouldn't have pitted again. New mediums vs old softs in fresh air would have been a fair battle. Never got to see it unfortunately.

Guess Ferrari used all their brain cells in Singapore or they put too much pressure on themselves by arranging a deal with a Betrayer.

What are you referring to with the new mediums vs old softs?

Mercedes and Ferrari had new mediums with them. Leclerc would have had to use that after he pitted. He was ahead of Bottas at that point. Should have left him at that and asked to go after Hamilton who was running used softs.

They pitted him the very next lap to put him on the same old tires as Mercedes and gave him additional task of passing two Mercedes

[izzy]

F1NAC makes a great point, that Charles started it, with not giving Seb his tow in Monza

[dans79]

F1NAC makes a great point, that Charles started it, with not giving Seb his tow in Monza

Oh, so what you're saying is that they act like five year olds, lovely.

Ferraris biggest issue, is that their managing staff is inept. Instead of focusing on improving their team, its main objective seems to be trying to embarrass Mercedes.