2020 Turkish Grand Prix - Instanbul Park, Nov 13 - 15

[Schuttelberg]

If I had to summarise it- The worst driver on the grid is driving the best car and perhaps the greatest F1 car of all time for one of the greatest brands in the world and for a team that is rewriting the history books in a scary manner.

A bit harsh though? I do not think he is that bad. When he was at Williams, he certainly did well enough. I'd still put him around the middle of the current field at worst. But that's only because I think the field is pretty competitive during this era.

Apart from Latifi who is only in his first year on the grid, every other current driver would have more points, wins, poles etc than him. At the same time, I don't think anyone would be ahead of Lewis. May be Max.

[Racer X]

Bottas broke his own front wing and wrecked his own steering by dive bombing Ocon during lap 1 after they initially spun, how is that bad luck? Other drivers had pretty good recovery drives from the back, look at Leclerc, he almost got 2nd.

I don't get it, I honestly don't, Bottas made all the mistakes today, there was no bad luck involved

Bottas Alboned pretty hard this weekend usually its Max who laps Alex this time Hamilton lapped Bottas.

[El Scorchio]

If I had to summarise it- The worst driver on the grid is driving the best car and perhaps the greatest F1 car of all time for one of the greatest brands in the world and for a team that is rewriting the history books in a scary manner.

A bit harsh though? I do not think he is that bad. When he was at Williams, he certainly did well enough. I'd still put him around the middle of the current field at worst. But that's only because I think the field is pretty competitive during this era.

Apart from Latifi who is only in his first year on the grid, every other current driver would have more points, wins, poles etc than him. At the same time, I don't think anyone would be ahead of Lewis. May be Max.

What on earth is your rationale for saying every driver except for Latifi would have more points than him? There's absolutely nothing to base that wild claim on.

I'm assuming, to clarify, you mean anyone other than Latifi in the other Merc would be doing better than Bottas in the WDC this season? So for example you think even the likes of Giovanazzi, Grosjean, Kyviat etc. would all be doing better?

If so, I 100% disagree. I think you're way off with that. I could definitely be on board with saying a handful of them definitely would, but nowhere near all the other drivers except Latifi.

[Wouter]

Milan, 16 November 2020 16:03

STATEMENT ON COVID-19 TEST RESULT FOR PIRELLI HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING MARIO ISOLA

The FIA, Formula 1 and Pirelli can confirm that Pirelli Head of F1 and Car Racing Mario Isola has tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday 15 November at the Turkish Grand Prix. Mario returned a positive result during the regular Sunday COVID testing schedule. He is now isolating, and is asymptomatic and will adhere to the local medical guidelines. All close contacts have been declared, retested, and no further positive cases have been returned. Mario Isola will be repatriated to Italy following all the relevant stringent health protocols.

[Wouter]

"Everything went wrong basically," he [Max] said. "It turned out that the adjustment of my front wing was completely wrong.

"On one side we were seven degrees short of what should have been our front wing set-up. That is quite a lot really.

"Normally you adjust one degree here or there, or something like that. But seven degrees, that is a lot. So what can you do as a driver? Almost nothing works as a result of that."

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15359 ... -in-turkey

[NathanOlder]

Bottas' race was terrible, he just got unlucky with the damage that apparently bent his steering and wedged a piece of endplate in the bargeboard area again.

Just to be clear, Im not defending Bottas, he was terrible, but dont forget Nico was lapped by Lewis in the wet at Monaco. Doesnt mean Nico was poor.

He didn't get unlucky with that damage though, he dive bombed Ocon and damaged the car himself. This was AFTER the spin in T1, later in the lap he tried to take Ocon and fluffed it.

Come on, be serious. Theres no way he tried to overtake Ocon!

He tried to overtake Leclerc who was 50m behind Ocon

[NathanOlder]

A bit harsh though? I do not think he is that bad. When he was at Williams, he certainly did well enough. I'd still put him around the middle of the current field at worst. But that's only because I think the field is pretty competitive during this era.

Apart from Latifi who is only in his first year on the grid, every other current driver would have more points, wins, poles etc than him. At the same time, I don't think anyone would be ahead of Lewis. May be Max.

What on earth is your rationale for saying every driver except for Latifi would have more points than him? There's absolutely nothing to base that wild claim on.

I'm assuming, to clarify, you mean anyone other than Latifi in the other Merc would be doing better than Bottas in the WDC this season? So for example you think even the likes of Giovanazzi, Grosjean, Kyviat etc. would all be doing better?

If so, I 100% disagree. I think you're way off with that. I could definitely be on board with saying a handful of them definitely would, but nowhere near all the other drivers except Latifi.

Yeah I agree with you 100%

Looking at this season, I put Bottas ahead of

Grosjean, Kmag, Giovinazzi, Kimi, Kvyat, Ocon, Vettel, Albon, Latifi, Stroll

That puts him inside the top 10 and right now I feel he would hold his own against Norris, Gasly, Russell and Sainz.
So Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Perez are the only drivers I would say are stronger than Bottas.

[PlatinumZealot]

"Everything went wrong basically," he [Max] said. "It turned out that the adjustment of my front wing was completely wrong.

"On one side we were seven degrees short of what should have been our front wing set-up. That is quite a lot really.

"Normally you adjust one degree here or there, or something like that. But seven degrees, that is a lot. So what can you do as a driver? Almost nothing works as a result of that."

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15359 ... -in-turkey

Even with that, his car was still the fastest over the course of the race and he should have won if he was more patient. He gave the race away with all his spins.

[63l8qrrfy6]

What on earth is your rationale for saying every driver except for Latifi would have more points than him? There's absolutely nothing to base that wild claim on.

I'm assuming, to clarify, you mean anyone other than Latifi in the other Merc would be doing better than Bottas in the WDC this season? So for example you think even the likes of Giovanazzi, Grosjean, Kyviat etc. would all be doing better?

If so, I 100% disagree. I think you're way off with that. I could definitely be on board with saying a handful of them definitely would, but nowhere near all the other drivers except Latifi.

Yeah I agree with you 100%

Looking at this season, I put Bottas ahead of

Grosjean, Kmag, Giovinazzi, Kimi, Kvyat, Ocon, Vettel, Albon, Latifi, Stroll

That puts him inside the top 10 and right now I feel he would hold his own against Norris, Gasly, Russell and Sainz.
So Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Perez are the only drivers I would say are stronger than Bottas.

That's more or less where I'd place him too - easily inside top 6 on the grid.
Plus he is a known quantity - a good team player, keeps his composure in different situations and doesn't kick off on the radio at the slightest perceived error from the team or other drivers. He has bad races but he never does anything truly stupid.

There is absolutely reason at all for Merc to keep him if he was such a bad driver. Just like Perez this year he is a points scoring machine necessary to win WCCs. I understand people are frustrated and would like to see someone really challenging Hamilton in the other seat but unfortunately for them the team's first priority is to win championships. Viewer entertainment doesn't even come close.

[SiLo]

Everyone has bad races. Bottas just happened to have a stinker yesterday. Either that, or the Mercedes car really was THAT difficult to drive in those conditions with so little heat getting into the tyres (which we know is a characteristic of the car) that it just makes the other guy's performance in the sister car all the more remarkable.

That is because Hamilton is in a different league. But to be honoust, his own drive on the full wets resulting in him unnecessarily losing 3 places with an off and a misjudged overtake attempt as well. Only on the inters on a less wet track he was able to pull great times and make the tires last enough. Yesterday was also about what car was good on what tires. Merc was better on inters, RB on the fullwets. RP was good on both.

Absolutely.
I was a bit surprised when the media echo was 100% GOAT...we saw a rather mediocre performance in the first stint, which was certainly based to some extend on the tires not warming up. On the other hand this helped on the inters A LOT. In the end Merc gambled into the win with the sidestory of the 4 fastest cars in Q disassembling their tires in different fashions. So surprise, surprise...a Merc won a race this season. Who would have expected this?
I do not want to talk down the GOAT status, but this race as a proof?

I think the race behind was as usual more interesting.
- Both Bulls throwing it away.
- Vettel faultless and extremely good in the first sting, but surprisingly slow after the change to inters....it is nice to see his result, but loosing a 37sec lead to Lec tells a bit the usual reality of this season. In the end he still showed his experience and I suspect a similar issue like with Stroll, that he switched on the tires quite well, but this lead to graining after the second stop.

I mean, apart from the first lap which looked almost impossible for most of the drivers, he made 0 mistakes whilst everyone around him was falling off the track. He then made the strategy calls for staying out and also looked after his tyres better than everyone else, then proceeded to demolish everyone on pace. He went from 30 seconds behind the leader to 31 in front. He pulled 31 seconds on Perez in 21 laps. It was an incredible drive.

[Mchamilton]

I think Bottas is very good. Anyone that can steal poles and occasional race wins from Hamilton, the greatest in the history of F1 in both of those metrics, while in the same machinery, is good.

Bottas was ahead of Massa in wins and points when head-to-head. Bottas out-qualified him 39-16.

Bottas has 2 problems: When he has a bad day, it’s usually on the day the points are handed out, and when he has a bad day, it’s usually very bad, which draws out all the instant reaction Bottas criticisms.

Another thing is Bottas is unlucky. Whether it was the tire blowouts in Baku or Silverstone, Seb’s FW getting stuck in his car a few weeks ago, or losing his own end plate today, completely destroying his front end balance, those are pretty unlucky incidents.

If Mercedes let Bottas go, RBR would sign him in a heartbeat.

All that said, he’s nowhere near Hamilton on race day. But he’s one of the top 4 qualifiers on the grid.

The other way to put around Bottas' qualifying competitiveness is to look at Lewis' reduced single lap pace. At 35, no driver would have the same single lap pace like when he was in his prime at 20s. Put Bottas and Max or Bottas and Leclerc in the same machine and they would destroy him, like Lewis would have in his prime. Lewis is still top notch, but not the guy in his 20s. Race craft is a completely different skill altogether and more maturity makes them better drivers. Lewis was certainly error prone in his hey days, but he is almost a complete racer with smart brain with all those years of experience. Age takes away a bit of pace, but gives a driver precious skills of smart racing.

And Lewis and Sebastian have said a plethora of times in underlying tones that they almost always set up for the race and not qualifying.

In Lewis' case this was magnified even more because Rosberg believed that he was extremely strong if he led after lap 1 while with Hamilton it was not that way. He always could come back in the race even if Saturday didn't go to his liking.

I think there is no doubt about Lewis' achievements. I am a huge Schumacher fan and Michael never had half as accomplished team mates as Lewis. Nico, Jenson, Fernando are all top drawer and world champions for a reason. But I see a strange desperation in some fans to make Bottas out as one of the top drivers. He is nowhere near any of these top dogs and comparisons to a Felipe who was never the same after his accident are really funny. Felipe himself was not exceptional like Lewis but Felipe pre accident could smoke the field in a season when he was on it. Bottas can have a day or two when the stars, planets and the sun align but anyone that gets to F1 can do that.

If I had to summarise it- The worst driver on the grid is driving the best car and perhaps the greatest F1 car of all time for one of the greatest brands in the world and for a team that is rewriting the history books in a scary manner.

What is worse is that there is always a reason he hasn't done well and it's never himself in his head. I don't think you can improve yourself without honesty and he is living in a fantasy world where only him and Mika Hakkinen believe he is the reincarnation of Senna.

I don't think anyone hit him in turn 1. Everyone spins. These conditions are like that. But to continuously blame others shows what a loser he is and good luck to him with that attitude because Lewis is going to go back and look for the times he's messed up this year and try to come back even stronger next year.

Bottas isn't the loser in all of this though. He is already a wealthy man. He will trundle around in some team after Mercedes fire him for 2022. The loser in this whole situation is only Mercedes.

bottas the worst driver on the grid? are you real? that is ridiculous

[Wouter]

Someone here yesterday asked for Leclerc's board radio after the finishline when he pulled up on the side.
I don't remember who it was and I don't know if it has already been posted, but here are the images.

[Racer X]

Someone here yesterday asked for Leclerc's board radio after the finishline when he pulled up on the side.
I don't remember who it was and I don't know if it has already been posted, but here are the images.

I kept watching that last 2 minutes of the race and essentially Perez almost lost the car earlier so he had to go into the curv. Thats when Leclerc overtook Perez with ease and with the whole track to himself. He had everything he engaged the battery and then started breaking too late. Which allowed Perez the exact same situation to re-take his position. The only difference is that Perez went slightly off to keep the car from spinning so he still had good enough speed to stay close to Leclerc. On the other hand Charles was breaking hard so he did not have control of the car.
Which is why he got overtaken by Vettel and Sergio.
So i can understand his frustration he was there he was ready and when he saw Perez lose it for an instant he pulled the trigger and then made an eager rookie mistake of driving with too much speed into the final corner.

So i can totally understand why he was frustrated.

Lucky the car behind him was anther Ferrari but from the teams perspective he took a gamble and shot for 2nd. They did not lose 3rd and kept 4th so taking that shot was definitely worth the risk.

So he did do a good job it was the right move to make.
if he wasnt a good racing driver he wouldnt have taken that shot.
It just didnt work so good job Charles!

Both Ferraris definitely had an amazing race. This will just add to his experience making him better because you know hes going to sit down obsessed and think about this moment a lot and hes going to learn and comeback stronger.

[zibby43]

It was all his own doing, thats for sure. I think the only bit you could say was bad luck was over half the field made mistakes yesterday, going off track ect, yet it appeared Bottas was the only guy who suffered damage ?

But who else had six spins? Plus that damage was most likely after the collision with Ocon, which didn't happen because of the conditions, but because of his own clumsiness.

Bottas’ steering rack was damaged to the point he didn’t have full lock, which prevented him from being able to correct slides.

Did you actually take a moment to research what damage actually occurred before making your grand couch proclamations?

[Schuttelberg]

I just realised something.

Rosberg has beaten two 7 time world champions over a season. I rate Rosberg highly, but that's a disturbing little stat.