The stewards have made a lot of bullshit calls this season, or failed to make them when they should have been made. I don’t believe that they are on the level. I suspect corruption of some sort.
I have to agree that it was from a very lenient school of stewarding but hey ho. It was nice that Hamilton wouldn’t be goaded into having a go a Leclerc. It is clear he likes the cut of his jib.
The interesting thing for me is that, even on these last two races which are Ferrari nirvana, we’ve had close races. Hamilton has been all over the back of them when he probably shouldn’t be and it has made for a great spectacle.
All change for the next few tracks though. The Ferarri is brutally quick but limited in the size of its comfort zone and I don’t think there are any quick fixes for that.
Vettel? I don’t know what the heck he is playing at, the lad needs to take a long hard bath with himself.
I’ve been consistently disappointed by Vettel. I’m not placing any more money on him this season. It was funny to hear Lance Stroll call him an idiot on the radio though.
I was a little more annoyed with the Albon call–yes, he did eventually get a 5 second penalty, but the decision came way late when it didn’t matter at all, that should be a trivial “give that spot back now” call.
Last night I was thinking through my betting strategy for this race and I took a look at the track layout - it had Ferrari written all over it. And I thought long and hard. The odds on Vettel were 9/1. LeClerc was coming off 2 consecutive wins. And he could get cocky. I know I told myself I wouldn’t bet on Vettel anymore, but this time I couldn’t resist it. Made 2 wagers on Vettel on 2 different sites and placed an additional bet on Ferrari for winning team.
I’ve never been happier to eat my words.
Happy it worked out for you, Lamoral.
Probably in the minority here, but George Russell when Grosjean is side by side with you just before the apex of the turn, he’s likely to somewhere near you at the exit. Almost having a car length on him is just that - almost. You have nothing to complain about. Kimi, on the other hand…
Nice move - 9/1 odds is indeed tempting. Much as I dislike him, Vettel proved this weekend that he’s too good to write him off just yet.
What are the odds on someone other than Hamilton taking the title? Momentum is all with Ferrari at the moment. It won’t take too many more biased stewarding decisions to make the difference.
ETA: that last sentence is in reference to Monza, I’m not aware of anything untoward happening in Singapore. Hamilton was screwed by poor strategy yesterday, I’m not blaming anyone other than Mercedes for that.
Thing is, Ferrari are only back to where they were at the start of the year. Even in the last three races they’ve won they are only just staying ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull. I don’t expect all tracks to suit them and even if they did Hamilton could potter home, off the podium for all the last 6 races and still win. I don’t see that happening.
Congrats Mercedes!
They done did it. 6 doubles. I understand ppl being sick of the same ppl winning all the time, and I agree. But I also like seeing records being threatened and broken. Same issue for the WDC, I’m sick of seeing Hamilton win every weekend, but I love seeing him close in on the records. But seeing Bottas win again ameliorates the ham/Mer monotony, such that it is.
Agreed. As a Hamilton fan I’m happy seeing hi cruise home in the championship. Clearly he is benefitting from driving for the best team out there. But I believe he has also demonstrated he is the most talented driver of his generation, surpassing Vettel and Alonso. And many of his wins have been achieved in a car less dominant than Schumacher enjoyed most of his success in, so I think his achievements compare favourably there, too (plus Schumacher infamously put winning at all costs ahead of safety and reason on at least two occasions - it ‘worked’ in 1994, not so in 1997).
I think we’ve done this fairly recently, but I don’t think many would find much to argue with if I said the all time great top five is Clark, Fangio, Senna, Hamilton, and Schumacher, probably in that order.
ETA: it will be interesting to see if Mercedes will now let Bottas and Hamilton properly fight it out for the driver’s title, and indeed whether Bottas has the pace and consistency to make it a contest. My feeling is not, unless Hamilton has reliability issues, and even then he could probably contain those by virtue of not needing to go at 100% all the time.
Was anyone else watching that?
Hamilton demonstrated that he’s still the best tire-conserver on the track. Ferrari really never had a chance.
In other news, Racing Point did surprisingly well, Albon cracked the top 5, and Raikkonen had to retire 
(Only a matter of time before he retires for real.)
Yep, I watched. Hamilton was immense yet again. In probably the 3rd quickest car he qualifies as well as he can, managed his tyres as well as anyone and pumps in metronomic quick laps when he needs to.
Since the summer break it has been accepted that both Ferrari and Red Bull have upped their package and are very rapid indeed. However. what is remarkable is that in the 6 races since that break:
-Mercedes have occupied a front row slot only 3 times of out 12 opportunities (Ferrari 9)
-They have won 3 of those 6 races (Ferrari 3 as well)
-They have outscored Ferrari by 36 points
So even when Merc don’t have the fastest car they seem to be able to maximise what they can extract from it and when others stumble through strategic errors (Ferrari) or driver errors (Verstappen) you are likely to find Mercedes and Hamilton in particular right up your chuff ready to take the spoils.
I’m an unashamed Hamilton fan (but that doesn’t mean I have any real antipathy to any other driver) and I think he is, over the course of a season, pretty much untouchable if he is in a car that is anywhere near competitive. He can be guaranteed to get 99% out of the car no matter what, manage his tyres, make very few mistakes but turn on the aggression when needed.
One stat that jumped out at me was that, of the 10 wins this season so far only 2 of those were from pole and that is whilst driving alongside a driver that is racing you for the championship (i.e. not a Schumacher situation). Looking back at the stats for similar numbers of seasonal wins it seems to be a pretty singular achievement. To put it in context, Vettel won 9/11 from pole in 2011 and 8/13 in 2013.
I know all the trophies were already decided, but I thought I’d resurrect this thread to laugh at Vettel taking out his team-mate. Give it up, old man - your time has passed.
It’s been a couple races since he did something stupid. It was due.
A 2 1/2 mile oval track makes for a lot of what we Americans love and Formula I people have all but forgotten, SPEED and RISK.
The last Formula I race I remember watching was on a course where it was almost impossible to pass. The most exciting things that happened were actually the pit stops because a quicker stop allowed you to get out faster and thus “pass” another car. Oooh, whoopee! 
Yeah, there’s no SPEED or RISK in F1 :rolleyes:
If I want to watch excitement on an oval track, I’ll watch sprint cars. Or harness racing. Sorry, NASCAR never did anything for me - though I respect the cojones of the drivers, no question. That was the most ridiculous race of the season by far, I think we can all agree. Old Man Enzo must be redlining in his grave. The results made me think I had slipped through a wormhole to an alternate universe. Gasly, #2? Raikkonen, #4…bwooooaaahhhhh???
All of that was because of the late safety cars. I believe about a dozen drivers were allowed to unlap themselves during the first SC. RB, Mercedes and Ferrari had the first 6 places easily covered until then… with big gaps to the next best.
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And while it was nice that McLaren finally got it’s first podium since 2014, that was only because both Ferrari’s and a Mercedes dropped out, and the remaining Mercedes was penalized.