caesar1 wrote: ↑02 Aug 2020, 20:08
godlameroso wrote: ↑02 Aug 2020, 20:00
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑02 Aug 2020, 17:12
Horner saying that Max's tyres were cut and there was no guarantee that Max wouldn't have had a puncture if he'd stayed out.
I agree with that assessment, sure a win was possible, however no guarantee Verstappen's tires would have faired better, but fastest lap and 2nd place when the best we could have hoped for was 3rd is better than expected. The Mercs were able to pull away and manage the gap but they couldn't steam roll away. Either fuel or tires won't let them, which is good since next week it'll be even worse.
It reminds me of 2013 when the only thing slowing Redbull was the tires, and when they were made harder midseason (because of failures at Silverstone) Vettel won 9 races in a row. If the tires were harder and Merc could push them we would see their real pace.
According to Hamilton he wasn't cruising at all because Bottas was still chasing him and Red Bull was close enough to make an extra pitstop impossible without losing track position. I do agree the tires and fuel supply kept the race closer than it could have been had we not had such variables(as the 1 second quali gap shows.)
Next week will be quite a bit warmer all weekend and with softer tires it'll be interesting to see how much the tires limit the performance over a race.