2020 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrom, September 25 - 27

[maxxer]

such a great track this Sochi , in F2 there was a huge crash and no marshals around at all to do anything :

[PlatinumZealot]

The orange car lost the back end out of nowhere.

[komninosm]

Seriously? They added rules for that? I'm pretty sure they all removed the gloves. Quick give them 2 penalty points each! /wink wink nudge nudge say no more

Lewis removed one gloves in the podium, he desreves 10 place grid drop and 2 penalty points for next race!

If he's really committed to the cause he should just tattoo BLM on his forehead.

That's a bit offensive to say. Are you trying to troll or doing it inadvertently.

[komninosm]

now this is funny, I don't hate him at all, I started to dislike his antics as of late regarding the politics outside F1, but I have absolutely no hatred at all for him

I seriously remember you always disliking Hamilton and being against him. There's a lot of people who agree on his politics of equality and justice for the victims of racism and police brutality, accountability for officials.

So what's your view on Verstappen overtaking a car inside the pits driving over mechanics spot?
How about Leclerc crashing Stroll?
Vettel crashing Grosjean?
How about Kvyat and others going too slow on Q2 after (red flag) restart in pit exit? That goes against 16 or 19 section I think.

[komninosm]

Just to call out something else in the race directors notes, after Lance Stroll crashed he immediately removed his helmet, gloves & top half of his overalls...

25.2 Should a car stop on the track during a session, the driver must keep all of their protective clothing (Helmet, Gloves, etc) on until they have returned to their garage.

Yep that had me raising my eyebrows too.

What's the penalty for that though? Is it specified?

[langedweil]

Confirmed by radio that Mercedes confirmed that Ham could do the practice start that far from the pits.. Again Lewis suffers for the team. This penalty points are bull....

They give him the best car on the grid by miles to put him in a position to fight for every single championship for the past 8 years since 2014, the longest period a driver has had the fastest car on the grid ever likely to be the same in 2021, preferential treatment over his team mate, 6 word championships and 69 wins.

A penalty and a 3rd placed podium in one race for a team mistake is nothing to what they have given him.

[siskue2005]

The difference is that everybody else had to practice from a rubbered in dedicated spot. That spot is not fully representative of your actual grid slot and thus the clutch cannot be totally accurately dialed in. Which was also the reason Hamilton got creative “too much rubber here”, he radioed to the team.

The difference is there non specific designated place have a practice start,..it just states after the pit light to the right side and not to impede others, nothing more.

And the cluth bite point is locked, same as part ferme and engine mode. They cannot change it after qualy

It is not just the clutch bite point (but thanks for that info, didn’t know) you also practice yourself with starting. The more realistic (Not rubbered in) the better.

But when is that illegal to get a practice start and get a good feel about the conditions?

[PlatinumZealot]

Confirmed by radio that Mercedes confirmed that Ham could do the practice start that far from the pits.. Again Lewis suffers for the team. This penalty points are bull....

They give him the best car on the grid by miles to put him in a position to fight for every single championship for the past 8 years since 2014, the longest period a driver has had the fastest car on the grid ever likely to be the same in 2021, preferential treatment over his team mate, 6 word championships and 69 wins.

A penalty and a 3rd placed podium in one race for a team mistake is nothing to what they have given him.

What do you mean by "they give him?" I didn't know Mercedes works for Lewis Hamilton!
Last time I checked Lewis is providing a service to Mercedes. He is a hired hand.
The team's objective is to make the fastest car and hire the fastest driver to pilot it. And the driver's goal is to win the championship with the car provided. They didn't make the fastest car only because it is Lewis driving it you know! The team sought the fastest driver available, who was and is Lewis Hamilton, and Lewis agreed to work with the them because he believed and still believes they will build the fastest car each year.
It works two ways, and always has.

Bottas is the same. The team hired him as a compliment to Lewis. Fast enough to win the championship if Lewis can't, and a manageable character. In fact both drivers are very manageable characters.

[Schippke]

Why don't the FIA just mandate or regulate that practice starts can only be carried out at the end of Free Practice Sessions at every race, like they do at some of the races already at the end of the session? They would then not need to worry about performing practice starts just right outside the pit-lane and this situation wouldn't have come about.

Anyway, the reasoning for the penalty for Lewis should've been investigated, but I don't think a penalty was warranted... especially if going by the rules. It wasn't clear cut (neither is the rule book in this instance) so it was a bit harsh.

I made some comments a few pages back about Charles' performance today; After seeing the onboards of what happened between him and Lance, I think it should've been investigated and a 5-second penalty applied. From his onboard, it didn't seem as if he was turning into Stroll deliberately, but it could've been avoided. You could put it down to a racing incident, but there's been penalties dished out for a lot less. It is especially more evident in Stroll's onboard that he had no clue of it coming.

So, in that case... Perez deserves driver of the day. Credit does go to Daniel as well; Copped a penalty, still finished 5th.

[Restomaniac]

Just to call out something else in the race directors notes, after Lance Stroll crashed he immediately removed his helmet, gloves & top half of his overalls...

Yep that had me raising my eyebrows too.

What's the penalty for that though? Is it specified?

Not sure but it was ignored anyway.

[jz11]

now this is funny, I don't hate him at all, I started to dislike his antics as of late regarding the politics outside F1, but I have absolutely no hatred at all for him

I seriously remember you always disliking Hamilton and being against him. There's a lot of people who agree on his politics of equality and justice for the victims of racism and police brutality, accountability for officials.

So what's your view on Verstappen overtaking a car inside the pits driving over mechanics spot?
How about Leclerc crashing Stroll?
Vettel crashing Grosjean?
How about Kvyat and others going too slow on Q2 after (red flag) restart in pit exit? That goes against 16 or 19 section I think.

I won't go into politics, it will just get deleted, except to say - I agree that there are issues, but they aren't limited to black people, so the way they are going about it is quite wrong - ALL lives matter, not just colored ones

selective memory... somehow you must have forgot me bashing Rosberg for his moves on Hamilton, Verstappen driving like there is no tomorrow and being ahead, staying ahead as a matter of life and death, and how that is NOT a sign of greatness, rather than recklessness of youth and not having to care for anything - btw do you see him doing those moves this season? apart from that once incident in the pits, which I was very surprised about they didn't investigate, was it Gasly who was released in front of him there? I'm sure AT didn't press the issue for they may have been penalized for unsafe release, still quite a dangerous manoeuvre

Leclerc/Stroll - and how it is not the same thing to what Lewis did to Albon, first one was on the opening lap, latter one near the end of the race, it was said numerous times how they will let more aggressive moves like that slide and be judged as racing incidents at the start of the race rather than penalize them like Hamilton was when he did it close to the end of the race, and I agree on that

Vettel/Gro I don't recall, maybe I didn't see it, thus can't say anything about it

that Q2 red flag - you make your own bed, stay within track limits (how many times this has to be repeated is quite ridiculous as of late) and this wouldn't even be an issue, I don't know who and why went slow there, they didn't show it as far as I remember, I only heard the brit commentators yet again huffing and puffing about it, if it was on purpose - completely unsportsmanlike move, similar shenanigans like Ham pulled himself by not following team orders when asked to let the other guy through, remember that?

and btw, if they (FIA, stewards) stomped on Verstappens moves when they should have, and made it a rule that you MUST leave cars width on the outside in such situations, guess what - Hamilton/Albon accident wouldn't have happened, and we'd see more close racing on the opening laps because there would be another option available for them to overtake (and not use it as a very high risk desperate surprise sort of move like it is now)

[Just_a_fan]

The difference is that everybody else had to practice from a rubbered in dedicated spot. That spot is not fully representative of your actual grid slot and thus the clutch cannot be totally accurately dialed in. Which was also the reason Hamilton got creative “too much rubber here”, he radioed to the team.

Perhaps that's one reason he's so successful - he tries to get the best every time rather than just doing the same old same old. He's always trying to maximise performance where others seem not to be thinking of how to do that. He understood that the place used by others would reduce performance so looked to improve. What he did was 100% legal but the race director and stewards don't seem to understand their own rules. Plus ca change...

[Just_a_fan]

such a great track this Sochi , in F2 there was a huge crash and no marshals around at all to do anything :

That's disgraceful. One of those cars caught fire and if the driver was unconscious or trapped could have been seriously injured or even killed.

[jz11]

is there a room for 20 practice start spots on the 'more representative' part of the pit exit lane before it becomes dangerous in the way I tried to explain before?

if you allow 1, you must allow everyone - or again there will be complaints about stewarding

if you don't want to allow any such behavior - you write a rule (as "vague" as some claim it to be) 19 other *competitors follow it, do not get a penalty, one decides not to understand what the rule is about, ignores it thinking they'll be fine because the wording isn't as clear as they think it should have been anyway, gets a penalty, and somehow it is not their fault?
* competitor = driver + team supporting him

and where did Bottas do his practice start? the same team advised him, didn't it?

[Phil]

After some time to reflect on the Sochi GP and hearing some other opinions, here are my thoughts:

• Nice job by Bottas. He probably would have won anyway, even without the penalty for Lewis due to him on the better tire in the first stint
• Hamilton shouldn't be that down. Given he likely wouldn't have won, his loss with the penalty only cost him another 3 points (15 instead of 18).
• Penalty slightly annoying. Apparently, he would have had 2+2 points on his license giving him a race ban, then that got changed to 1+1 to in the end zero after they reviewed information that they already had. Given they had plenty of time to review the incident before the race, they waited until during the race. Obviously, a grid penalty would have been very different than handing out a penalty during the race. It just feels a bit "orchestrated" IMO. Either way, not very professional. I expect more of F1.
• That crash of Sainz highlighted how dangerous the whole necessity was for driving close to the wall to join the track.
• Overall, I felt this race had far too much unnecessary "micro management" (penalty for Riccardo).
• Q2 was the best part of the weekend. I would have loved to see though how the different strategies would have worked out (Hamilton on pole on softs, Bottas/Verstappen on medium)
• Great performance by Perez, Riccardo, Ocon and Leclerc