2020 Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, 3-5 July

[Just_a_fan]

There will be war at Mercedes now, I get the distinct feeling Bottas was intentionally trying to slow Lews down the last 2 or 3 laps.

Yep. They could and should have driven away from the Ferrari.

[Wynters]

There will be war at Mercedes now, I get the distinct feeling Bottas was intentionally trying to slow Lews down the last 2 or 3 laps.

Which was exactly the smart move.

For a team that’s been pleading for the drivers to protect the cars for an easy 1-2. Are you sure????

For the team? No, it was terrible and easily avoidable through a whole series of 'obvious at the time' decisions they could've made.

For Bottas? Absolutely. This is his best chance for a WDC and he's just gained two Grand Prix's worth of relative points on Hamilton. That's, what, a quarter of the season already in his back pocket?

[NathanOlder]

There will be war at Mercedes now, I get the distinct feeling Bottas was intentionally trying to slow Lews down the last 2 or 3 laps.

Would Bottas have even known ?

[NathanOlder]

There will be war at Mercedes now, I get the distinct feeling Bottas was intentionally trying to slow Lews down the last 2 or 3 laps.

Yep. They could and should have driven away from the Ferrari.

How? Ferrari had fresh mediums, Merc had old old Hards.

[hudnut]

It's such a rubbish penalty it's not even funny. They could have at least thought about how that corner is entirely downhill and would force cars to go to the outside naturally.

A driver of Hamiltons level should have anticipated that and leave Albon space.

He had lock applied all the way, never unwound the lock. So how is he supposed to give space? If you go around the outside, you put yourself in danger at the exit.

Brakes.

[214270]

There will be war at Mercedes now, I get the distinct feeling Bottas was intentionally trying to slow Lews down the last 2 or 3 laps.

Yep. They could and should have driven away from the Ferrari.

I think all the stay-off-the-kerbs talk was to manage a real problem.

[Just_a_fan]

A driver of Hamiltons level should have anticipated that and leave Albon space.

He had lock applied all the way, never unwound the lock. So how is he supposed to give space? If you go around the outside, you put yourself in danger at the exit.

Brakes.

Albon's rear tyre was overlapping with Hamilton's If Hamilton had braked, the exact same result would have ensued.

[Wynters]

Would Bottas have even known ?

Yes. All the drivers regularly watch teh TV screens and his engineer would've informed him as Hamilton's race situations is relevant to Bottas.

How? Ferrari had fresh mediums, Merc had old old Hards.

By being in cars that didn't struggle to qualify in the top 10?

[RZS10]

An absolute joke of a strategy by Mercedes, same goes for the penalty.

[Unf]

Nice handicap for Ham. Is he no more untouchable? Now we are going to see how strong his mentality is...

[f1316]

That was an Alonso 2012 style race from Charles

[Restomaniac]

There will be war at Mercedes now, I get the distinct feeling Bottas was intentionally trying to slow Lews down the last 2 or 3 laps.

Would Bottas have even known ?

I’d be amazed if Bottas wasn’t informed. It would mean that he has 5 seconds in his pocket and that if Hamilton came hard he could take no risks.

[214270]

Now we are going to see how strong his mentality is...

Same for VER

[f1316]

Question: different tyre construction next weekend? I thought I read that

Edit: compound, I should say

[Wynters]

An absolute joke of a strategy by Mercedes, same goes for the penalty.

Safety Car strategy has probably been their one consistent weak point over the last few seasons. It's interesting that they haven't managed to address it.