2019 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 25-27 October

[Wass85]

The Hamilton army is out in full force here

It was a class drive from him but saying he was on the slower strategy is a bit of bull. If he didn't have track position that he gained from boxing early he would not have won the race. The effect of dirty air is really big in Mexico or to put it in other words, the track layout is quite dull . Only if the tires go off completely ( or graining like in 2018) overtaking is possible.

But my favourite of all: saying Hamilton whining about the wrong strategy is a masterplay mind game Haha, that always cracks me up.

Yep, when he complains about the tyres it really means they are good and when he says they are good it really means they are bad.

[marvin78]

Some say it's all about the legend building (not my words, by the way, I personally don't care). It's his right to do so. They made it with other drivers in other ways. It's all a big show.

[izzy]

The teams, Liberty, and the media all have one common goal:

Grow the number of viewers, attract new people to the sport. When one team is utterly dominant, you need to find or create other ways to add some excitement and tension. That’s why they change the narrative. It’s in everybody’s best interest to portray Ferrari and RBR as up there with Mercedes.

well the Ferrari and Red Bull cars ARE up there with Mercedes aren't they? it's just been another race that was won and lost with the driving and strategy. It's a perfect demonstration how F1 is so awesomely multi-layered and demanding, that having a fast car and a fast driver isn't enough, it needs more than that. Late stop + massive sprint (Hungary) or early stop + tyre whispering, they can do it all, calling it right, executing it right. It does go wrong sometimes obviously, but not often, and less often than the others

[GPR-A]

The Hamilton army is out in full force here

It was a class drive from him but saying he was on the slower strategy is a bit of bull. If he didn't have track position that he gained from boxing early he would not have won the race. The effect of dirty air is really big in Mexico or to put it in other words, the track layout is quite dull . Only if the tires go off completely ( or graining like in 2018) overtaking is possible.

But my favourite of all: saying Hamilton whining about the wrong strategy is a masterplay mind game Haha, that always cracks me up.

A Few wrong things here. Some basics. Aerodynamic downforce induces wake and the more the downforce being produced by aero elements, the more the wake is. Due to the nature of thin air in Mexico City, despite bolting Monaco level downforce, cars were only producing the Monza level downforce. That means, the wake is not as strong as it would be elsewhere if the same amount of downforce producing elements are bolted. That quashes your theory of "effect of dirty air is really big in Mexico".

In the hindsight, you can always be a genius when you say "saying he was on the slower strategy is a bit of bull" as if you knew all along that a one stopper is going to be faster due to track position. Guess what, the experts didn't think so before the race.

http://scuderiafans.com/pirelli-unsure- ... exican-gp/
Pirelli had suggested on Saturday that a two stopper is the fastest strategy (two alternative strategies) and one stopper wasn't even considered by teams on Saturday.

According to the Milan-based tyre manufacturer, the two-stopper appears to be the optimum approach to the difficult race. Of the various two-stop strategies, the best one should be to start on the Yellow medium for 20 to 23 laps, then do an identical medium stint for another 20 to 23 laps, before finishing on the hard.

The second-fastest way is another two-stopper, but this time starting on the Red soft for nine to 13 laps, before going onto the medium for 22 to 26 laps and then a final hard stint to the end. No driver outside the top ten positions is expected to start the race on the soft compound, so this strategy appears to be the ideal one for the two McLaren and Toro Rosso drivers.

A three-stopper could also turn out to be just as quick as a two-stopper, using any of the three compounds available, although there’s always the certainty of dealing with traffic.

[RZS10]

Here's the press conference transcript
https://www.fia.com/news/f1-2019-mexica ... conference

The part where he calls Max the opposite of smart:

Lewis, you touched on this earlier. Do you treat Max differently to other drivers?

LH: Err… yep. I think every driver is slightly different. Some are smarter; some are like very smart, aggressive (*) and some are silly with it. And so, through those experiences of racing with people, you give some more space and others you don’t have to. They’re quite respectful. But yeah, Max, it’s very likely you’re going to come together with Max if you don’t give him extra space, so most of the time you do. But as I said, in my experience, I didn’t have a lot of space to give him extra space. But I don’t think it was intentional or anything like that. It was just… he’s a magnet for those kind of things but yeah, nonetheless, I managed to keep the car together and in a straight line, fortunately.

Sebastian. Max?

SV: Yes and yes.

Can you put a bit more flesh on the bone?

SV: No, just copy-paste. It’s true.

(*) seemed like he said that as one composite word "smart-aggressive"

Video (for as long as it stays up): it's gone

[NathanOlder]

Here's the press conference transcript
https://www.fia.com/news/f1-2019-mexica ... conference

The part where he calls Max the opposite of smart:

Lewis, you touched on this earlier. Do you treat Max differently to other drivers?

LH: Err… yep. I think every driver is slightly different. Some are smarter; some are like very smart, aggressive (*) and some are silly with it. And so, through those experiences of racing with people, you give some more space and others you don’t have to. They’re quite respectful. But yeah, Max, it’s very likely you’re going to come together with Max if you don’t give him extra space, so most of the time you do. But as I said, in my experience, I didn’t have a lot of space to give him extra space. But I don’t think it was intentional or anything like that. It was just… he’s a magnet for those kind of things but yeah, nonetheless, I managed to keep the car together and in a straight line, fortunately.

Sebastian. Max?

SV: Yes and yes.

Can you put a bit more flesh on the bone?

SV: No, just copy-paste. It’s true.

(*) seemed like he said that as one composite word "smart-aggressive"

Video (for as long as it stays up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyKo9kc1Z4E

Nice, thanks again.

[Wynters]

The fastest driver who earned pole get a shot at the win. Instead, the team whose driver binned it and caused the stupid yellow in the first place benefited the most not to mention have him podium even. Not to forget to mention have him compromised by both of MBs drivers when they've already sealed the championship. We all know that Max and Red Bull Honda were the superior package here. Hamilton was lucky to not be taken out by Max. Bottas was slow and left a gap. Bottas' life being in danger is a position he put himself in. What if Max lifted and that caused the car to unsettle mid corner? At the end of the day Max got pretty screwed over by Bottas' mistake.

The only person who made Verstappen keep his foot to the floor was Verstappen. A conscious choice, despite being aware of the yellows and that he was still top of the timing boards that were visible throughout the spectator section. You can blame Bottas or Massi or Mercedes as much as you want but Bottas didn't want to crash, Mercedes didn't want him to crash and the Stewards clearly didn't want to give Verstappen a penalty (regardless of the damage it did to their image as 'neutral' arbiters of the sport). Verstappen was solely responsible for his pointless decisions, first as he entered the last corner (with plenty of warning) and then afterwards in his comments to the press.

What if Max lifted and that caused the car to unsettle mid corner?

Good thing he had plenty of warning to lift earlier. That's why they have flags, so drivers don't have to get to the scene of the accident before needing to react to it.

As for the Bottas gap, how much of a gap did he leave? Enough for Verstappen to get through without damaging either of the cars involved?

No one is denying that Red Bull should've been on the top step of the podium, but the reasons they didn't make it are down to Verstappen. He reverted to 2018 Max for this weekend, which is disappointing because when he drives with a little wisdom he is blindingly fast. As a comparison, where do you think Red Bull would've finished if Vettel or Hamilton had been driving it all weekend?

[wesley123]

He wasn’t worried though. It’s a trick he has played plenty of times.

A trick for what exactly hahahaha, I think you're putting two and two together and making six.

To play others out of a strategy. Give others the idea they can gain on him. Give false tactical information that the other teams might use in strategy calls. The thing is; He had pace in hand and always kept pace in hand, knowing that both Bottas and Leclerc still had to stop. They put in a huge bluff by having Hamilton as the sole one on this strategy; and it worked out perfectly, just like it has done before.

[Wynters]

Why didn't RBR pit Albon for fastest lap? He had plenty of gap.

Also, great team-play by Kvyat. Torpedoing Hulk in the last corner gave TR 9th instead of 10th and cost Renault a point as they dropped form 9th to 10th, a net 2-point swing in TR's favour.

[Just_a_fan]

Well we have Michael Masi calling the race and taking away from the fans what we want to see most- The fastest driver who earned pole get a shot at the win. Instead, the team whose driver binned it and caused the stupid yellow in the first place benefited the most not to mention have him podium even. Not to forget to mention have him compromised by both of MBs drivers when they've already sealed the championship. We all know that Max and Red Bull Honda were the superior package here. Hamilton was lucky to not be taken out by Max. Bottas was slow and left a gap. Bottas' life being in danger is a position he put himself in. What if Max lifted and that caused the car to unsettle mid corner? At the end of the day Max got pretty screwed over by Bottas' mistake.

Max only has himself to blame - he should have kept his mouth shut instead of saying "yes, I saw the flag but I knew it was ok so kept my foot flat to the floor". That was just silly.

He then damaged Hamilton's car by being aggressive, again.
He then got himself a puncture by being aggressive, again.

Max missed out in Mexico but it wasn't the fault of Masi, Mercedes, Bottas or Hamilton. It was the fault of Max.

Max will continue to miss out unless and until he learns that he has to abide by the rules. He can't just do things his own way and expect everyone to accommodate him. If he carries on like he did in Mexico, he'll never win a world championship. He's fast enough to win several. It's down to him to make it work.

[search]

Why didn't RBR pit Albon for fastest lap? He had plenty of gap.

I guess because there's basically nothing to gain anymore from getting one point

[turbof1]

Verstappen would have been punished anyway regardless of his comments. Fact does remain he consciously ignored the yellow flag. I honestly do know what he was expecting differently from a penalty. Him lashing out that Hamilton should have gotten a penalty too, even though Hamilton did lift and was not shown a yellow flag, does show a mental weakness where he is carrying frustrations around longer than he should be. And I think that showed, where he first got too agressive with Hamilton, got even angrier which than culminated in a reckless divebomb on Bottas. Verstappen really went down a vicious circle.

He is kind of missing control. He is not stupid; he is actually a very intelligent driver when it comes to racecraft, but he is also an accute case of throwing intelligence away in favour of the red mist.

[marvin78]

He missed a few years in minor racing classes. I always said it's a problem because there are a few thing you don't learn later in life (in this case in F1). Red Bull always defending him for these kind of races and searching mistakes everywhere but with him is not helping at all. He is possibly the best racing driver we saw for a long time (not my opinion and not based on facts) but he lacks on other things. Maybe he does not learn these things anymore.

[turbof1]

He missed a few years in minor racing classes. I always said it's a problem because there are a few thing you don't learn later in life (in this case in F1). Red Bull always defending him for these kind of races and searching mistakes everywhere but with him is not helping at all. He is possibly the best racing driver we saw for a long time (not my opinion and not based on facts) but he lacks on other things. Maybe he does not learn these things anymore.

I hate to say this, but I think this more down to his character rather than experience. I do not believe those few years in minor classes would have shaped him differently. Rather, this is something for a mental coach to solve, just like Massa and Grosjean had one (although for different mental issues).

[PlatinumZealot]

Da BAWZZ!!

WOW!!! A MASTERCLASSE!!

A Prost-esque demonstration in subterfug-ical masterery of italian cheese elstomers!