2019 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 25-27 October

[Jolle]

That was a nice bit of racing!!!

I like these drivers to be on and over the edge a bit, much better then 22 robots on track.

[Raleigh]

Max is looking like a flawed genius. How many points has Albon scored over Max since they have been teammates?

58 to 39, I think.

I'm not sure how many 'Driver of the Day' polls they've each won though.

Albon is doing a solid job but there hasn't been any moment where he really impressed me, he has still yet to beat Max in qualifying and in 3 out of 4 qualis where both had a clean session Max beat him by 0.5-0.6. Hasn't made it to the podium yet either or really threatened Ferrari or Mercedes in the race.

The best I can say for him is that he races clean/consistent and does not get stuck behind slower cars, but speed wise he is about where Gasly was just with better racecraft.

[foxmulder_ms]

When I looked at Kvyat versus Ricciardo (2015)... Kvyat is the one deserves that 2nd seat at RedBull. I've never understand 2016 decision of RedBull anyway. Vesteppen did a lot of "torpedo'ing" of his own and still doing it but they tolerate him. Gasly couln't handle the pressure and feel like Albon is not fast enough. Hopefully Albon at least beat Ves once or twice before the season is over.

[Hammerfist]

I suppose you haven't been watching F1 since Monza and this is your first race....

Mexico: Hamilton wins with a badly damaged car and a slower strategy.
Japan: Bottas wins. Hamilton is put on a slower strategy.
Russia: Hamilton wins.
Singapore: Hamilton beats Bottas.
Monza: Hamilton burns up his tyres repeatedly attacking Leclerc who has to break the rules to keep him behind. Bottas takes over. Does nothing.

Yeah, it's clear that Bottas is all over Hamilton. Let me just check the title odds for next season...Oh. I guess all the Bookies must be new to F1 too.

Anyway, you were explaining why Hamilton was 'poor' today?

[bill shoe]

Ham translator:

"There is no way these tires are going to last until the end of the race...we pitted too early!"

...actually means...

"our delta to Vet will be easily manageable...we have this guys."

Master strategy play by Merc today. Ham is a terrible actor, but Ferrari bought it.

I'm not clear how much of Hamilton's answers are genuine stress/concern and how much is play-acting for the competition. Would be fascinating to find out. Wonder if they actually have code words and phrases with specific meanings that are different/opposite from the surface meaning.

Or can Hamilton simply press a button (let's call it the "I'm hamming it up" button) on his steering wheel so if he wants to say misleading info on his radio for the sake of competitor consumption then he do that while clearly signally his crew not to read anything into it. The FIA can force teams to share radio communication, but the FIA can't force teams to share the status of all car buttons/settings. Now that I think about it, teams would be crazy to not have that type of button.

And would it be outlandish for a top team to have vocal/acting coaches to guide drivers how to ham it up with maximum realism? As the differences between cars become smaller (continuing trend over last 30 years) then F1 goes more in the direction of pit strategy and poker bluffs.

[Sevach]

https://i.imgur.com/akUWpZ5.gif

Verstappen just goes wide into Hamilton, first contact is against his front
Verstappen then loses his rear hits Hamilton, pushes him even wider and damages his floor
Hamilton is then busy trying not to hit Vettel whilst sliding
There's another contact Max' front left/Lewis' rear right.
They both leave the track as a result of Max hitting Lewis between those corners.

At first i thought the "Hamilton-Verstappen" looked a lot like "Leclerc-Verstappen" from Japan, but this image completely exonerates Hamilton, racing incident and Max brought it on himself.

[GPR-A]

Max is looking like a flawed genius. How many points has Albon scored over Max since they have been teammates?

58 to 39, I think.

I'm not sure how many 'Driver of the Day' polls they've each won though.

I guess thai brits aren't as crazy to be spamming F1 website.

[Restomaniac]

Can I thank @dans79 , @izzy , @wynters and @ zibby43 for taking over whilst I slept

[Restomaniac]

Ham translator:

"There is no way these tires are going to last until the end of the race...we pitted too early!"

...actually means...

"our delta to Vet will be easily manageable...we have this guys."

Master strategy play by Merc today. Ham is a terrible actor, but Ferrari bought it.

I'm not clear how much of Hamilton's answers are genuine stress/concern and how much is play-acting for the competition. Would be fascinating to find out. Wonder if they actually have code words and phrases with specific meanings that are different/opposite from the surface meaning.

Or can Hamilton simply press a button (let's call it the "I'm hamming it up" button) on his steering wheel so if he wants to say misleading info on his radio for the sake of competitor consumption then he do that while clearly signally his crew not to read anything into it. The FIA can force teams to share radio communication, but the FIA can't force teams to share the status of all car buttons/settings. Now that I think about it, teams would be crazy to not have that type of button.

And would it be outlandish for a top team to have vocal/acting coaches to guide drivers how to ham it up with maximum realism? As the differences between cars become smaller (continuing trend over last 30 years) then F1 goes more in the direction of pit strategy and poker bluffs.

Yep I wouldn’t want to play poker against him unlike some on here!

[Wass85]

I suppose you haven't been watching F1 since Monza and this is your first race....

Mexico: Hamilton wins with a badly damaged car and a slower strategy.
Japan: Bottas wins. Hamilton is put on a slower strategy.
Russia: Hamilton wins.
Singapore: Hamilton beats Bottas.
Monza: Hamilton burns up his tyres repeatedly attacking Leclerc who has to break the rules to keep him behind. Bottas takes over. Does nothing.

Yeah, it's clear that Bottas is all over Hamilton. Let me just check the title odds for next season...Oh. I guess all the Bookies must be new to F1 too.

Anyway, you were explaining why Hamilton was 'poor' today?

I see you don't explain to us the outcome of those races, Bottas basically matched the pace of Hamilton in all those races above. Again you are getting carried away, Bottas is clearly faster in the races than he was at the beginning of the season.

[Restomaniac]

I suppose you haven't been watching F1 since Monza and this is your first race....

Mexico: Hamilton wins with a badly damaged car and a slower strategy.
Japan: Bottas wins. Hamilton is put on a slower strategy.
Russia: Hamilton wins.
Singapore: Hamilton beats Bottas.
Monza: Hamilton burns up his tyres repeatedly attacking Leclerc who has to break the rules to keep him behind. Bottas takes over. Does nothing.

Yeah, it's clear that Bottas is all over Hamilton. Let me just check the title odds for next season...Oh. I guess all the Bookies must be new to F1 too.

Anyway, you were explaining why Hamilton was 'poor' today?

I see you don't explain to us the outcome of those races, Bottas basically matched the pace of Hamilton in all those races above. Again you are getting carried away, Bottas is clearly faster in the races than he was at the beginning of the season.

Wait so hold the phone it’s not even Bottas 2.0 it’s now Bottas 3.0 and yet Hamilton still won with a slower strategy and a badly damaged car.
Well that’s not awkward

[Wass85]

Ham translator:

"There is no way these tires are going to last until the end of the race...we pitted too early!"

...actually means...

"our delta to Vet will be easily manageable...we have this guys."

Master strategy play by Merc today. Ham is a terrible actor, but Ferrari bought it.

So what will he say when he really means the tyres won't last?

"These tyres are amazing and I could drive around the world on them."

[Wass85]

Mexico: Hamilton wins with a badly damaged car and a slower strategy.
Japan: Bottas wins. Hamilton is put on a slower strategy.
Russia: Hamilton wins.
Singapore: Hamilton beats Bottas.
Monza: Hamilton burns up his tyres repeatedly attacking Leclerc who has to break the rules to keep him behind. Bottas takes over. Does nothing.

Yeah, it's clear that Bottas is all over Hamilton. Let me just check the title odds for next season...Oh. I guess all the Bookies must be new to F1 too.

Anyway, you were explaining why Hamilton was 'poor' today?

I see you don't explain to us the outcome of those races, Bottas basically matched the pace of Hamilton in all those races above. Again you are getting carried away, Bottas is clearly faster in the races than he was at the beginning of the season.

Wait so hold the phone it’s not even Bottas 2.0 it’s now Bottas 3.0 and yet Hamilton still won with a slower strategy.
Well that’s not awkward

What race are you talking about? Yes Hamilton won yesterday but Bottas was obviously quicker towards the end but was stuck in dirty air. It is clear that Bottas has massively improved his race pace at the back end of the season.

[Restomaniac]

I see you don't explain to us the outcome of those races, Bottas basically matched the pace of Hamilton in all those races above. Again you are getting carried away, Bottas is clearly faster in the races than he was at the beginning of the season.

Wait so hold the phone it’s not even Bottas 2.0 it’s now Bottas 3.0 and yet Hamilton still won with a slower strategy.
Well that’s not awkward

What race are you talking about? Yes Hamilton won yesterday but Bottas was obviously quicker towards the end but was stuck in dirty air. It is clear that Bottas has massively improved his race pace at the back end of the season.

The Mexico 2019 GP. You know the thread you are currently posting in.

Just a shame he hasn’t got the quality to do it for a full season though. You see that’s what drivers who earn WDCs manage to do. Like Hamilton who has 6.

[Wass85]

Wait so hold the phone it’s not even Bottas 2.0 it’s now Bottas 3.0 and yet Hamilton still won with a slower strategy.
Well that’s not awkward

What race are you talking about? Yes Hamilton won yesterday but Bottas was obviously quicker towards the end but was stuck in dirty air. It is clear that Bottas has massively improved his race pace at the back end of the season.

Just a shame he hasn’t got the quality to do it for a full season though. You see that’s what drivers who earn WDCs manage to do. Like Hamilton who has 6.

Yes it is a shame but next year is a new season.

He's already just about as fast as Hamilton in qualifying and now has improved his race pace and tyre management, he still lags behind Hamilton in overtaking and aggression but he's ticking all the boxes slowly and surely.

I think we could be in for an epic season next year and if form continues Mercedes will do well to win either titles.