I think that is a good summary. What for me stands out is point 3. DRS was set up such that the closing speed was huge. If Russel would have stayed on track he would have cleared Bottas well before the corner. I guess for a driver it is hard to abandon a run like that.Hoffman900 wrote: ↑18 Apr 2021, 23:35What Bottas did was dirty, but not illegal. They're both at fault, but more George for going full send.
1) Toto has every right to be pissed. It cost points, caused millions of dollars in damages, Mercedes takes a cap hit, and apparently may effect what upgrades they can do - which has implications considering how close this season might be. If I made a decision to cost my boss millions of dollars and effected the company's ability to be competitive in the marketplace, he would be pissed at me, regardless if I wasn't completely at fault. "It takes two to tango" - Toto . In most workplaces outside of racing, George would be fired for that.
2) George made the argument that Valteri should be up front fighting. He's right, but George picked the wrong time to make that argument. It also gives credence to George seeing red in trying to prove a point in passing Valteri and maybe sending it more than he would otherwise. Again, if I tried to play my boss against his other employees in the press, you bet he's going to be pissed, and might backfire big time. F1 is as much politics as it is racing. You better figure that game out too if you want some staying power.
3) The DRS is part of the problem creating closing speeds that you only see in multi class racing. Without it, you would never see a car have that much more speed than a trailing car. NASCAR does on occasion, but only in multi-car bump drafts. It also causes huge wrecks.
4) Valteri's move was late and forced George into a tight spot. With the DRS open, George was already low on downforce. Combined with the pit out paint, mixed surfaces, and probably George all in on the engine mapping, created a situation ripe for this.It was dirty, it's an old trick, but he left just enough room to make it not his fault with the stewards.
5) George also needs to realize there are no guarantees in racing. He might be a Mercedes F1 driver in the waiting, but he can easily mess that up for himself. Until he has a contract to be in that car, Toto will always have leverage on him. Toto has leverage too in that other drivers certainly want that seat. He has the pick of the litter if he plays his cards right. George has more to lose than Toto, and Toto is much better at playing the political game as well.
But it also means that things can go wrong in a hurry. The overtake of Hamilton on Ricciardo could easily have gone the same way if Ricciardo had chosen to set up a similar defense. I guess that is the difference between what you are allowed to do and what is smart to do.
Hamilton lost the 2016 championship in large part due to reliability problems. But for the big end bearing failure in Malaysia when he was leading the race, he would've won the title just from being spared that gremlin alone. 
