Kimi Raikkonen has announced his retirement from F1 at the end of the season.
Not only that, but Russell is expected to go to Mercedes, bottas to sauber, albon back in the game at Williams, and giovinazzi getting shit canned from f1 altogether…
Giovinazzi is likely to stay in F1 as Ferrari’s reserve/test driver.
Not a fan of Circuit Zandvoort. Seems too narrow, cramped and short. I predict a disaster of a race this Sunday. Does not seem fit for modern F1 cars. I think there is a reason they shit-canned it in the 80’s.
Practice was a waste of time today.
I like the circuit because it looks fun as hell to drive around. But yeah, as far as actually racing, I too predict either lots of carnage from failed overtakes. Which can be its own fun, assuming nobody gets hurt.
Oh, Hell Yeah! In a shifter kart or maybe that Pace Car.
Surprisingly no carnage at all! Not super exciting, but there was definitely several interesting chess matches going on. A fun looking track though. Almost like a skate park. Especially turn 3. I won’t mind if they come back next year.
At the end of the race, when they were talking about Max Verstappen’s nationality, how could they resist making a “My Old Man’s a Dutchman” joke?
I’m disappointed Bottas did just say fuck it and take fastest lap. If you don’t want him taking fastest lap, don’t give him the tires to do so.
This has all so far come to pass, aside from Giovinazzi. Though there is some news that Zhou’s sponsor is offering 30mil Euros for Gio’s seat.
I’m sure they had Bottas stop for tires so that Hamilton could stop for tires without falling behind him.
That crash was on Lewis. Again. Max was alongside and Lewis tried to pinch him in the first chicane.
Thank God for the halo. Lewis would be in a lot of trouble without it.
Great race! I love seeing Riccardio win again!
I’m voting “racing incident”
Best line from Riccardio during the post race interview…“I hafta go…”
It seemed to me that Bottas did just about everything you’d want a number two driver to do during his time at Mercedes. Was it the team’s choice to let him go, or did Bottas want to go to another team where he could be the lead driver?
Yeah, agree. I don’t think Mercedes has done right by Bottas, ever. I suspect they hired Russel and pushed out Bottas hoping they can have a “Rosberg/Hamilton” dynamic, but you gotta wonder if Russel realizes he’s just been hired as a Doormat. Because when it comes down to it, he’ll be #2. But Lewis can’t drive forever, so there’s that, too. Oh well. None of them drive Ferraris, so I don’t give a crap. 
As far as The Crash, Hamilton in the Gravel = As Good as a Win!
But that shoe thing is pretty repulsive.
Lewis had the line and Max was never in front. There was no requirement on Lewis to yield but Max was betting he would (and his comments after the race suggested as much). I suspect the stewards will decide “racing incident” but if any blame gets attached it’ll be more for Max than Lewis.
Incidentally, extremely poor form by Max not to even check that Lewis was OK.
Mercedes have never had a #2 driver. Any review of previous seasons would tell you that. Plenty of Lewis’s partners have had to play a #2 role at the tail end of the seasons but that’s not the same thing.