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Post by Wß on Sept 25, 2018 23:37:20 GMT
First Grand Prix 2014 Number of Laps 53
Circuit Length 5.848km Race Distance 309.745 km
Lap Record 1:36.844 Kimi Räikkönen (2017)
Bottas' maiden victory was here, he's always been good at this circuit, if he's going to win a race this year it's going to be here.
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Post by Wß on Sept 26, 2018 12:59:54 GMT
Watched qualifying highlights again, Mercedes Hamilton on the ropes in qualifying here last year, he had nothing all weekend. Just could not get the tires where he wanted them. Interesting to see how things shape up this weekend, it' such a crap circuit and has given us such crap races. Can they get rid of this one next?
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Post by Wß on Sept 26, 2018 13:39:24 GMT
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Post by Wß on Sept 27, 2018 12:45:40 GMT
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Post by RyRy on Sept 30, 2018 13:11:36 GMT
Hamilton - A great race by him, very classy at the end of the race going straight over to Bottas, offering to swap trophies on the podium and being a lovely guy.
Bottas - Fantastic race by Bottas, he helped Hamilton at the start by moving perfectly to give Hamilton a tow and then dived to the inside to give Hamilton the best line through turn 1. Perfectly swapped places and heled Vettel up.
Vettel - Couldn't handle the pressure yet again, Hamilton was behind him and he locked up which allowed Hamilton to get close.
Raikkonen - Who?
Verstappen - Amazing first few laps, surprisingly he couldn't go much faster on the ultrasofts.
Ricciardo - Had front wing damage from lap 1 which dropped his performance massively, good job in still finishing 6th.
Leclerc - Amazing drive yet again, did a great job all race.
Toro Rosso - Shocking double DNF, something broke causing spins for both of them... doesn't look like it's Honda related.
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Post by racechick on Sept 30, 2018 13:31:29 GMT
Felt for Bottas but absolutely the right decision. Don’t think Lewis likes those wins, but it’s part of the championship and he realises that. Great overtake by Lewis on Vettel, if he hadn’t done that they wouldn’t have been able to execute the switch. Vettel moved twice in the breaking zone just before Lewis’ move.
Mention to the birthday boy. Stunning early laps. Not sure why he was slower when he switched to the hyper near the end. Great drive though.
edit: correction, ultras, thanks WB. And I knew in the race it was ultra. Just forgot 🙄 I thought it was weird at the time, why not hyperspace? But I Guess the slow pass after the stop answers that.
Edit 2 I definately did not write hyperspace! I wrote hyperspace
Edit 3 HYPERS!! ( computer doing this! )
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Post by Wß on Sept 30, 2018 15:10:28 GMT
I don't know what happened to me today but it's been symbolic of this season as a whole. I woke up at 7:30 ready to watch the race, enjoy my coffee a bit before the start and place my pool picks... The race was on lap 18 by that time. So onto the race itself, I gotta say, today felt a little dirty, and I'm of two minds on this. 1) Mercedes is treating Hamilton like the 5 time WDC he's likely to become, If we're going to compare champions, you can't deny that Schumacher was treated by Ferrari in this same fashion, always so it's nice to see Hamilton receiving treatment that he's never had previously in his career. If you're going to chase record numbers you can't do it unless you do it this way. It seems to me that Mercedes want the record numbers and they want the full association with Hamilton in those records and fair enough to them, they pay top dollar for it so it's their choice to make. 2) As a racer you simply can't feel good about it(it simply feels wrong, dirty) and if I feel this way after just one race, I can't imagine how I'd feel as a Ferrari fan for all those years. Rewatched some of the race now as I'd missed the first round of pit stops and wanted to see who things got to where they were when I joined, but knowing the outcome, well you know. I did however enjoy the reaction of the fans when Vettel was able to jump Hamilton in the pit stop was great, and then the reaction of Hamilton overtaking Vettel on track as a perfect juxtapose and perhaps even the definitive moment of what the season has been. Kudos to the race director. Other than that, I can't wait for Sochi to be out of the F1 calendar, It sucks in every way possible as an F1 venue.
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Post by Wß on Sept 30, 2018 17:08:46 GMT
Verstappen was nowhere after the pitstop, he looked better on the Softs. I believe Red Bull had that car perfectly set for starting from the back on the soft compound, going long being gentle on the rubber. As soon as they switched, he couldn't get enough temperature into the Ultras and that was that.
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Post by Hammer on Oct 1, 2018 2:45:38 GMT
I think Mercedes handled that badly. At least make it less painful on Bottas. Make him think he still has slight control over the situation. "Vettel is less than 3 seconds behind, if you can open the gap to minimum 4s, we can switch back safely." If Bottas managed to do that, then switch back.
This was a bit too cold hearted and reminded me of the ugly Ferrari team, wasn't very happy seeing a podium reminiscent of Austria 2002 in Russia. The only thing that was missing was all the booing thanks to Lewis not celebrating and fist pumping like a d!ckhead which Schumacher was.
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Post by dogued on Oct 1, 2018 4:12:38 GMT
The main thing that upset me about the Bottas / Hamilton switch was that Bottas WAS catching Max. The gap was under 1 second at turn 10, only for him to hand over the spot 2 corners later. I think it needed to be left 2 more laps. Lewis had Seb covered, and Max was due in at any time.
Was it the right call? Until Lewis is secured as WDC, it makes sense for the team to do what is needed to get the gap. I don't think this would have happened in, say, Brazil, if finishing 2nd would have clinched the title. Many are saying "Oh, but the WDC is individual not team!" however it is clearly better both financially and for prestige if the team can win both. Could Lewis have taken the spot anyway? I think he very well might have, if it was a Nico situation and the title was on the line.
End of the day, Mercedes pay these drivers to get maximum points for the team and win titles. How they choose to do it is up to them, no matter how bitter the taste is. Ferrari fans have ZERO right to complain, and neither do Vettel fans given how his teammates have been shafted in the past.
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Post by Wß on Oct 1, 2018 16:05:32 GMT
The highlight of the race here.
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