2016 United States Grand Prix - COTA, 21-23 October

[Fulcrum]

I predict this to be the dullest race of 2016. Almost all cars are in their correct pace-wise position.

+1 for that prediction.

Well, at least the first half was interesting. All was set up for a nice finish, Ros on S, Ves and Ric on M. Maybe Vet in the game and a fast Rai on 3-Stop.
Ves killed it by causing the VSC and Ferrari buried it by taking Rai out of the game.

True, although there was very little worth talking about at the front after that safety car.

Once again Ferrari screwed up someone's race with sub-optimal operational performance. They looked fairly uncompetitive though, 4th and 5th was the limit of their ability today.

[Konpattsh]

Ferrari is doing what williams was doing when they were. Able to fight mercedes in 2014... Screwing all

Not easy to be a ferrari driver these days and keep high motivation

[AMG.Tzan]

Grande Grande Alonso !!!

Wait for the penalty. Alonso-Massa = that was much worse than Rosberg - Verstappen (Ger), much worse than complete BS Rosb-Raikk (Mal). Should be a bigger penalty, let's see FIA in action again. Still not as bad as Hamilton Spain.

*Still not as bad as Rosberg Spain,Austria.

[PlatinumZealot]

Engine down on power for lewis confirmed. Might explain why Nico was catching in the end.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Seldom was there another championship contending driver who has been as lucky as Nico been this year. No law of averages has hit him yet on reliability front, while every single driver has suffered so far. Even when he had a poor start, he still gets helped by some event to get his place back.

Between, Nico has no clue how to use the clutch and had a poor start, while Lewis has mastered it.

Ferrari, what a joke of a team they are. Looks like the Ferrari fan boys are finally tired defending the team and have given up. I was always right on Ferrari though. They are just a below par team with loads of money and facilities.

[iotar__]

Grande Grande Alonso !!!

Wait for the penalty. Alonso-Massa = that was much worse than Rosberg - Verstappen (Ger), much worse than complete BS Rosb-Raikk (Mal). Should be a bigger penalty, let's see FIA in action again. Still not as bad as Hamilton Spain.

*Still not as bad as Rosberg Spain,Austria.

Nope, it was worse than Austria. Not 50/50 at any stage and of course Alonso was behind. In Spain in case you missed it it was Hamilton crashing and taking out himself and his leading team-mate.

Rosberg was in avoiding trouble mode, didn't want to be next to Hamilton (or anyone) at the first corner, then let Ricciardo, his pulse must have gone up when they put him on slower tyres in front of Verstappen. "not this one"

- So where was this Red Bull challenge? Press releases champions. My advice: get better drivers.
- Verstappen while wasting his tyres on nothing "I'm not here to be fourth" He thinks it's marketing slogans competition not motor racing.

[Jester Maroc]

Seldom was there another championship contending driver who has been as lucky as Nico been this year. No law of averages has hit him yet on reliability front, while every single driver has suffered so far. Even when he had a poor start, he still gets helped by some event to get his place back.

Between, Nico has no clue how to use the clutch and had a poor start, while Lewis has mastered it.

Ferrari, what a joke of a team they are.

Wow, I am also a Hamilton fan, but Lewis has not mastered the clutch at all. The start was very even between the two merc drivers, I think Ricciardo chose a great line and then had more traction out of the corner due in part to the supersofts.

This year Lewis has had a lot more bad starts than Nico.

I do agree that Nico has been incredibly lucky, especially when compared to the issues Lewis has had.

It will be a lucky championship win for him if he wins it, but it does not mean he does not deserve it. He worked hard and is leading a teammate who has more talent and speed than himself. That must mean something.

[basti313]

Rosberg was in avoiding trouble mode, didn't want to be next to Hamilton (or anyone) at the first corner, then let Ricciardo, his pulse must have gone up when they put him on slower tyres in front of Verstappen. "not this one"

True. First I was thinking "what is he doing" when he took the outside line and sacrificed any chance for P1 and even lost P2. But this is the place where you have the most space and can avoid any contact.

- Verstappen while wasting his tyres on nothing "I'm not here to be fourth" He thinks it's marketing slogans competition not motor racing.

True. And Marco confirmed, that he called the pitstop himself 10 to 15 sec before he was at the pits...

[Edax]

I predict this to be the dullest race of 2016. Almost all cars are in their correct pace-wise position.

+1 for that prediction.

Maybe not on front. It is getting quite boring to see how the Mercs are just crushing the competition. I mean I don't think rosberg had a good race. He lost the start, didn't have the best strategy, and made a few errors here and there. Result is the same, Merc 1:2. Its the only car where you can have an off day and still be second. And yes the safety car helped, but I think that if they needed to, ROS could have breezed past RIC on the straight. A later pit stop, somewhat fresher tires, would have done it.

But I still enjoyed the race. There where some pretty exciting scraps all the way down the field. Kudos for the organisation for sticking it to Tilke and producing a track where the driver still can make a difference. Even if most of the corners are copies of classic tracks, they are pretty good copies.

[a1b2i3r45]

Wait for the penalty. Alonso-Massa = that was much worse than Rosberg - Verstappen (Ger), much worse than complete BS Rosb-Raikk (Mal). Should be a bigger penalty, let's see FIA in action again. Still not as bad as Hamilton Spain.

*Still not as bad as Rosberg Spain,Austria.

Nope, it was worse than Austria. Not 50/50 at any stage and of course Alonso was behind. In Spain in case you missed it it was Hamilton crashing and taking out himself and his leading team-mate.

Rosberg was in avoiding trouble mode, didn't want to be next to Hamilton (or anyone) at the first corner, then let Ricciardo, his pulse must have gone up when they put him on slower tyres in front of Verstappen. "not this one"

- So where was this Red Bull challenge? Press releases champions. My advice: get better drivers.
- Verstappen while wasting his tyres on nothing "I'm not here to be fourth" He thinks it's marketing slogans competition not motor racing.

Not only Alo was side by side, he was actually ahead by a bit; before Massa shut the door and causing them to touch wheels and the impact resulted in Massa going off road.

[AMG.Tzan]

Wait for the penalty. Alonso-Massa = that was much worse than Rosberg - Verstappen (Ger), much worse than complete BS Rosb-Raikk (Mal). Should be a bigger penalty, let's see FIA in action again. Still not as bad as Hamilton Spain.

*Still not as bad as Rosberg Spain,Austria.

Nope, it was worse than Austria. Not 50/50 at any stage and of course Alonso was behind. In Spain in case you missed it it was Hamilton crashing and taking out himself and his leading team-mate.

Rosberg was in avoiding trouble mode, didn't want to be next to Hamilton (or anyone) at the first corner, then let Ricciardo, his pulse must have gone up when they put him on slower tyres in front of Verstappen. "not this one"

- So where was this Red Bull challenge? Press releases champions. My advice: get better drivers.
- Verstappen while wasting his tyres on nothing "I'm not here to be fourth" He thinks it's marketing slogans competition not motor racing.

Missing nothing...not giving any room while being 17 kph down because of your own mistake doesn't look so innocent!

VSC destroyed a nice battle between Ricciardo and Rosberg! Fernando enjoys a race at last! Shame for Raikkonen again, this man has no luck whatsoever throughout his career! Lewis shitting his pants over reliability the whole race!
Verstappen nice attitube...until tires give up and he starts crying for tires on the radio!

[basti313]

Not only Alo was side by side, he was actually ahead by a bit; before Massa shut the door and causing them to touch wheels and the impact resulted in Massa going off road.

Come on...I know it is difficult to talk about Alonso here. Let us talk about a black car and a white car.

I can see a black car that divebombed into a corner, where there is normally not any thought on overtaking. This car did not even make this divebomb fit to the track limits even though it was touched and pushed to the inside.
Sorry, but being side by side or being ahead does not give the corner solely to you if you do not use the brakes in the right moment.
We were discussing here about a red car in Malaysia not hitting the curb by one or two meters...it was given a penalty. Here we are talking about a car not making the corner by more than the width of the car.

[Jester Maroc]

Not only Alo was side by side, he was actually ahead by a bit; before Massa shut the door and causing them to touch wheels and the impact resulted in Massa going off road.

Come on...I know it is difficult to talk about Alonso here. Let us talk about a black car and a white car.

I can see a black car that divebombed into a corner, where there is normally not any thought on overtaking. This car did not even make this divebomb fit to the track limits even though it was touched and pushed to the inside.
Sorry, but being side by side or being ahead does not give the corner solely to you if you do not use the brakes in the right moment.
We were discussing here about a red car in Malaysia not hitting the curb by one or two meters...it was given a penalty. Here we are talking about a car not making the corner by more than the width of the car.

Agreed. The move was way optimistic by Alonso. I was actually very surprised to see it. I guess the frustration of a decade of slow cars is finally getting the the champ.

[RedNEO]

Not only Alo was side by side, he was actually ahead by a bit; before Massa shut the door and causing them to touch wheels and the impact resulted in Massa going off road.

Come on...I know it is difficult to talk about Alonso here. Let us talk about a black car and a white car.

I can see a black car that divebombed into a corner, where there is normally not any thought on overtaking. This car did not even make this divebomb fit to the track limits even though it was touched and pushed to the inside.
Sorry, but being side by side or being ahead does not give the corner solely to you if you do not use the brakes in the right moment.
We were discussing here about a red car in Malaysia not hitting the curb by one or two meters...it was given a penalty. Here we are talking about a car not making the corner by more than the width of the car.

We'll let the stewards be the judge of that not you

[RedNEO]

People complain when there is no wheel to wheel racing and then complain when there is wheel to wheel racing. ALO was driver of the race he gave us entertainment in what would have been a dull race. Good damage limitation by Rosberg hoping he wins next week to get this nearly wrapped up.