I hope checo gets canned. Nobody seems to like him. Except maybe his sponsers.
The Force India fuckery showed that Haas may still have work to do with brakes, though it was Magnussen with the issue and not Grosjean for once. Too bad, I would have liked to have seen Haas with both cars in the points.
Finally got around to watching Spa (I know! I know!). Kinda boring, actually. I’m amazed Seb couldn’t catch Lewis after the restart.
What up, Seb?
You’re right… not much to discuss this week. I thought the camera work and direction was great, though. I really appreciated the full lap in-car with SV along with the various helicopter shots that highlighted the beauty and spectacle of that track.
Force India, ha! I’m glad I can laugh about it now b/c I was scared watching them running downhill into Eau Rouge. Nice save from Perez. That car was trying to swap ends for a second there.
There was plenty going behind though, and to be honest I liked the nip and tuck of Seb and Lewis. Seb was on the faster tyre which equalised the cars but just couldn’t get past. Great defensive and controlled driving from Lewis.
It bodes well for the remaining races as it won’t take much more than a slight set-up miscalculation or driver feeling slightly “off” to put either team in front.
Monza:
I watched it and it was fun. Hamilton was untouchable but it was a cracking drive by Ricciardo. Verstappen was again the author of his own misfortune.
I missed the post race stuff, how was it Verstappen’s fault? Seemed from the replay that Massa didn’t leave him any room.
I was a bit surprised that PM didn’t get a penalty for that. There were acres of track to his right… he didn’t have to pinch Verstappen off like that.
Sure, Monza may have been a bit boring at the front, but that was expected with Ferrari starting so far back. For me, the race was entertaining and fascinating because of the battle between Stroll and Ocon. Stroll was - amazingly - clearly the quicker of the two and would have beaten Ocon if Lewis hadn’t blocked him (not unfairly, mind) at the start and Williams hadn’t picked the worst possible race to forget how to do a pit stop.
The more I see of Stroll, the more impressed I get. I’ve been absolutely in the tank for Ocon for some time, and when you think about Verstappen, Sainz and Vandoorne the future of F1 is very exciting (at least it will be once Kimi clears off and leaves room for drivers to move around at the top).
How so? Verstappen was all the way on the edge of the track and Massa just ran into him. It was one of Verstappen’s cleanest passing moves yet, or at least it would have been had Massa not fucked up.
I know everyone loves Felipe because he seems like such a nice guy, but he’s one of the dirtiest drivers in the field when it comes to defending a position.
Massa just held his line. Verstappen was not clearly ahead and was off the racing line so Massa was under no obligation to make room for him. Verstappen tried to balls it out over the kerb but that loses you grip and he ended up running wide into Massa.
It was a racing incident with no real blame on either side, the stewards, Red Bull and pretty much every commentator I heard thought the same.
The smart move from Max would be to bail out over the chicane and conserve momentum for another try but he is still learning.
I watched it again last night. Verstappen was very clearly ahead and Massa forced him into the kerb on corner entry. He couldn’t have bailed out anywhere even if he wanted to.
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No, he clearly wasn’t ahead. At the very most he was level. It certainly wasn’t clearly “his” corner and that’s precisely why the stewards didn’t penalise Massa. Watch Massa after the right-hander section, he simply follows the line of the cars ahead. No deviation. At the apex of the left-hander Verstappen is already behind and off the track. Verstappen steers back onto the track and into Massa.
There is a point, at 3 seconds intothis video that Verstappen can see he isn’t making that pass stick and has a clear opportunity to go straight on and avoid the contact should he wish. (and there is a run-off area directly in front of him for exactly that purpose) He knows that by trying to hold his line he is risking Massa not allowing him room (which he was perfectly entitled to do) and himself losing grip and running wide over the kerb (which is just what happened). Massa on the other hand knew he had clear priority on the left-hander but by keeping the racing line he was risking collision as well.
It was a gamble by both of them, just a test of nerve and bluff, it could have easily gone Verstappen’s way and there was no real blame on either side. Hence the decision of “racing incident”.
No doubt that we will see many such incidents as Verstappen tries to assert himself which I think is a good thing.
Raikkonen moving outside Verstappen going into the turn? Perfectly acceptable move.
Vettel drifting left to cut off Verstappen into the corner? Acceptable move.
Vettel drifting left on Verstappen while Raikkonen is passing on the outside? Oops.
Yeah, but I highly doubt Vettel could see that Raikkonen was there. It is, as you say, a combination of two legal moves that together made a mess.
You’re right… hard for Vettel to see what Kimi was doing way over there.
First thing I noticed and appreciated was… Bob Varsha! I’ve really missed you, man. He was a little rusty but still quick on the mind and the tongue.
It was great to see Alonzo on the 3rd row and I sure wish he’d had a chance to do something with it. Well, in a sense, he did. He got a lightening start right into the melee.
Hard to find clear fault in that deliciously humorous start. Singapore in the rain and no safety car? I mean, I didn’t -necessarily- want to see a safety car, but surely thte participants knew this was going to happen. Maybe not on turn one, but the track was ripe for a bumpy race. I understand MV’s statement, given his in-car perspective but from overhead it did appear to be 3 *ok *decisions adding up to a negative number… ouch!
Verstappen was the only one who wasn’t at fault at all. He had Kimi on his left and Vettel moving right, and nowhere to go (especially since Kimi’s tires were already in the space between his own).
It was really harsh on Verstappen, he is sometimes the author of his own misfortune but sod-all he could do about that. He kept his line and at the point of contact he tried drop out of the way but, too late.
Vettel was mostly to blame, the thinking was that he didn’t know that Raikkonen was there on the far side but…I’m not so sure.
Lewis pointed out in the post-race press conference that if the pole man and the second-place guy make similar starts, the second-place guy will invariably be in the other driver’s blind spot. My problem with Vettel’s move is that Verstappen was next to him and had a right to be there regardless of whether Kimi was squeezing him on the other side. When Lewis moved over on Stroll at Monza, there was no problem with that because he was well ahead. But Vettel wasn’t well ahead of Verstappen.
Put me down for 100% Vettel’s fault. He didn’t need to come across at that point but did anyway. Neither Verstappen nor Raikonnen had anywhere to go.