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Lewis has been complaining quite a bit about "de-rates" which suggests he isn't getting full performance.
I don't think letting vettel rag the **** out of it in that heat was perhaps the best play.
Vettel needs every point he can get at this stage of the championship so they need to take risks while Merc can afford to play it safe. Merc were struggling for pace and it looked possible that Vettel could catch and pass Hamilton for second, so I guess they decided it was best to just go for it.
Merc were struggling for pace
quali and fastest laps say different.....
Vettel 41 1:34.080 super soft(27)
lewis 48 1:34.452 soft(26)
Ricciardo 55 1:34.770 soft(29)
Max 50 1:34.467 soft(27)
Lewis also banged in a couple mid 34s straight after his pit stop but then stepped off the gas by about a second.
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Klunk - Member
quali and fastest laps say different.....Vettel 41 1:34.080 super soft(27)
lewis 48 1:34.452 soft(26)
Ricciardo 55 1:34.770 soft(29)
Max 50 1:34.467 soft(27)Lewis also banged in a couple mid 34s straight after his pit stop but then stepped off the gas by about a second.
Merc were struggling with tyre temps on race day.
James Allen:
Mercedes were down after the race and the debrief went on an hour longer than scheduled, as they sought to understand why the car did the same thing as in Bahrain in April. On a hot track with certain types of corner the car slides, overheats the surface of the tyre (especially the supersoft) and that destroys the grip. It wasn’t a problem in qualifying because that took place at 1700 local time, when it was cooler. The race was 1500 and heat was a problem.
https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017/10/why-mercedes-f1-team-struggled-how-max-verstappen-won-and-why-bottas-is-down/
Great race though, really enjoyed it.
Mercedes were down after the race and the debrief went on an hour longer than scheduled,
I wouldn't be surprised if both drivers take a 5th complete pu for suzuka. Bottas through the speed trap might as well been a honda from last year.
Head to head for Kubica and di Resta for Williams seat then...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/41483083
Williams seem determined to have fairly 'unproven talent' as their main drivers.... which seems an odd approach given that they used to be a front running team and could be again one day.
The decent proven talent is already signed up to other teams though (at least till end of 2018).
I can't think of anyone really good who doesn't have a race seat at the minute. They could nick Sébastien Buemi from Formula E as he has been driving really well the last couple of years.
And Martini need an older driver for promotional purposes.
They could approach Jenson or Nico to see if they fancy a crack at F1 again! 😀
the-muffin-man - MemberThey could approach Jenson or Nico
Nico is Kubica's manager.
Buemi could be tricky. Alain Prost has admitted that even though he believes him to be one of the fastest drivers around at the moment he won't release him to F1 as he needs him in his Formula E team...
Source (in French, sorry..)
[url= http://www.20min.ch/ro/sports/automoto/story/Prost---Buemi-est-l-un-des-plus-rapides-du-monde--21791888 ]20 Minutes[/url]
Williams seem determined to have fairly 'unproven talent' as their main drivers.... which seems an odd approach given that they used to be a front running team and could be again one day.
Yep. Nineteen year old Lance Stroll has a very rich father, who will be largely bankrolling the team. Being nineteen, Lance cannot be endorsed by the main sponsor, especially not in the US so it's very logical to go for an experienced second driver over twenty-five.
Kubica would make one heck of a comeback story, he's apparently very good at setting up a car and eloquent with his technical feedback - essential when the other car has a young rookie.
Di Resta is pretty good too, he's British (a major plus for Williams) and is also supposedly very good at the technical side of things.
Massa had resigned himself to retirement until Claire Williams called him back after Bottas' departure. He's popular, good with sponsors and is still pretty handy but equally he cannot be long for his career, especially when you consider that his most recent win was Brazil, 2008.
Kimi must be gutted. First, he has to lend Seb his car for the race, then the ungrateful little twerp breaks it on the cool-down lap.
Did Kimi lend Seb his car? I must have missed that!
So conspiracy time- did Vettel intentionally crash because he had less than the regulation 1l of fuel left in his tank? Apparently he was running into low fuel issues during the race..
Maybe the fuel was a super high spec so he purposefully used it all up then crashed the car.
There's also the theory that they'd run the car under weight and so crashing gets them out of that too. But really I think it was him making an assumption about what Stroll was doing and Stroll not checking his mirrors properly.
Also Flav was nowhere near the team so deliberate crashing is less likely.
Whilst I do enjoy a good conspiracy theory, I presume a crashed car is still subject to scrutinising, perhaps even more than a non-crashed one?
But presumably you can argue that fluids have leaked out and bits are missing, so of course it's underweight. Still seems a bit of a stretch - Stroll would have had to be in on it.
Head to head for Kubica and di Resta for Williams seat then...
Not if you read the article.
Di Resta, 31, also has an outside chance of being promoted to a race seat next season, but unless something changes, the decision over 2018 at this stage is fundamentally between Massa and Kubica.
And Di Resta didn't get a seat in an F1 car renewed a few years back, so he can't be [i]that [/i]good. Indeed Sutil consistently out performed him didn't he?
Williams' options are pretty limited tho. It would be amazing to see Kubica in the seat next year but I suspect it will be Massa again
New footage of that post race crash shows Stroll wasn't to blame!...
Was anybody blaming Stroll before (apart from the bloke who never thinks he does anything wrong)? Interesting footage, but I'm not surprised by it.
the-muffin-man - Member
New footage of that post race crash shows Stroll wasn't to blame!...
You can see Stroll is taking quite a wide line, but that's to be expected on a cooldown lap. Not sure why Seb would be taking a racing line at that point and it was a bit careless not to anticipate Strolls line but there we go. I think no further action was the right call.
What's unacceptable is Seb once again acting like billy big bollocks who can do nothing wrong. Just like his crash with Max/Kimi, his brake test thing with Lewis and the multi-21 debacle, his attitude stinks.
Stroll seems to be maturing quickly. He'll never shake off his pay driver tag, but he's proving himself to be no Pastor Maldonado.
I do miss Pastor though.
Never quite got the Maldonado hate....yeah he crashed a bit, but he wasn't exactly slow! .....and let's not forget, he won a race. Now I'm not saying he was an all time great, but you do not win an F1 race if you're shit!
Tom B - Member
Never quite got the Maldonado hate...
Again, like Vettel he never accepts the blame for anything. The difference though is that he consistently was to blame and the incidents happened like clockwork.
..Also probably something to do with having his 'ban for life' at Monaco overturned with an alleged large pile of wonga.
But he was a sponsor's dream. If you had your stickers all over Maldonado's car then you'd guarantee that they'd be seen by millions of people.
Even if they would be upside down on a wrecked car left broken next to a trackside portaloo.
Verstappen almost signed for Merc according to reports
Verstappen almost signed for Merc according to reports
As in almost signed for 2019 or almost signed in the past?
Why on earth was the on-board from Stroll's car not available to the stewards in the post race evaluation of the incident?! Something not quite right there - the stewards should have access to anything and everything immediately.
I'm not normally one for conspiracies but Vettel has been racing cars for long enough not to do something like that by accident. I think that may have been intentional.. and also taking his steering wheel with him was odd.
Verstappen almost signed for Merc according to [s]reports[/s] wild speculation.
There’s onboard footage from the car behind Stroll (and Vettel) which shows Stroll suddenly heading right relative to the car behind.
It’s on here.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/10/vettel-stroll-clash-malaysia-no-action.html
Now you can only see the relative positions really but that’s two cars following roughly the same line and Stroll following a different line.
Am I allowed to be suspicious that the Sky footage is behind a paywall when I try and view it?
Am I allowed to be suspicious that the Sky footage is behind a paywall when I try and view it?
No paywall. And available here too...
https://www.grandprix247.com/2017/10/05/new-video-exonerates-stroll-in-vettel-collision/
and also taking his steering wheel with him was odd.
Not really. Those steering wheels cost £250k + don't they. Quite a souvenir for a spectator when they flood the track post race.
(He's been quoted as saying he couldn't re-attach to the steering column due to the wheel angle and didn't want to leave it in his seat).
There was a paywall for me. Seen it on YouTube now.
Being charitable to Lance, that’s a slack line.
Check the one I linked to from the car behind though.
In relative terms he suddenly veers over - in absolute terms it’s harder to tell.
Hmmm... and looking at the video which exonerates Lance, he does slacken the steering - watch his hands. Edit : admittedly not be much.
Also the words about him remaining a constant distance from the kerb don’t tie in with the pictures.
Also the words about him remaining a constant distance from the kerb don’t tie in with the pictures.
He barely moved and was hardly lurching across the track as suggested by Seb.
Obviously Seb needs a wider track than Malaysia! 😀
Have you seen the footage from the Haas (I think it was a Haas)?
That makes it look almost deliberate by Stroll (I’m sure it wasn’t)
nickewen - Member
Why on earth was the on-board from Stroll's car not available to the stewards in the post race evaluation of the incident?! Something not quite right there - the stewards should have access to anything and everything immediately.
I think possibly because it's from the other camera (high above the driver), not the usual one they use for broadcasts (over their left shoulder).
Palmer to quit Renault after tomorrows race...
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/10/07/palmer-to-quit-renault-after-japanese-grand-prix/
They must have finally offered him enough to go
Nice to see an old track this weekend and people get bitten for making mistakes.
Soo...I'm guessing Sainz to Renault and Kvyet alongside Gasly for the rest of the season?
Nice to see an old track this weekend and people get bitten for making mistakes
Quite!
Soo...I'm guessing Sainz to Renault and Kvyet alongside Gasly for the rest of the season?
Yup:
Looking forward to seeing how sainz performs against the hulk over the next few races. Renault are being pretty aggressive with their behaviour what with this and hiring bud from the fia, hope they get some benefit from it all. (on the bud thing I'm amazed they're even considering anything more than his contractual gardening leave)
Feel sorry for Saints, not the best way to end his Toro Rosso days.
Ferrari seem to have thrown away the chance of any championship with their lack of reliability. Looks like in pushing the engine to the level of Mercedes they've gone a bit too far.
All on Verstappen to make a race of it now!
Lewis would be sensible to let them have this one if they get close. Nothing to be gained by taking the bulls on