FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2018: RACE *** SPOILERS ***

I agree Vettel was trying to play it safe BUT if you look at my attachments below, you'll see Bottas was NOT PLAYING IT SAFE. The crash was his fault but arguably it was a misjudgment, closer to a race incident than dangerous driving.

Bottas did not brake at 100 meters and according to the F1 course map, the cars would have been at max speed, around 330 kph, 8th gear at 100 meters from the apex. Actual apex speed would have been around 165 kph.

If you look at the video shots, Bottas was alongside Vettel just before 100 meters so he knew Vettel was there. Vettel actually gave Lewis even more space as they entered the corner at 50 meters while Bottas was going full bore. It would be interesting to find out Bottas's speed at 50 meters from apex. I bet he was going too fast to make it on the outside. By cutting in, he changed his line mid-corner and that is a no-no in racing because the drivers around you have already committed. Anyone who has raced knows that.

In the last picture, I show Vettel's lock up only started AFTER Bottas cut in front. As anyone who has been dragged into the wake of a fast-moving passing vehicle will attest to, your car will turn into its wake, not away from it. That's what happened to Vettel and he struggled to avoid drifting right and going wide, resulting in his left front wheel overloading as it helped to yaw the car to the left.

The SKY Sports comments were completely biased and wrong. The exception were those from Johnny Herbert, who felt Vettel did not deserve the penalty but he then appear to soften his earlier comment later in the coverage while his facial expression seemingly indicated reluctance. The SKY blokes are often petty biased in favour of British drivers and teams and against Ferrari - it's so obvious they do not make much effort to appear impartial about Ferrari. Aside from Lewis, the Mercedes Formula 1 Team is actually located in Brackley, UK.

Sorry SKY blokes, as a British citizen, it's really embarrassing for me to see such shoddy reporting standards.

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Yet in your last 3 pictures, Bottas was clearly ahead of Vettel.
I have always considered that ramming a car ahead is a fault.
In this case, Vettel simply refused to yield as it would have been sensible for him to do.

 

You don’t understand these cars and you’re not a professional driver.

 

And you are the expert, right ?

Strange that the stewards agreed with me and penalised Vettel, and not Bottas.

I suppose they also don't understand these cars, and aren't professional drivers.

 

But Sebastian is on the Racing Line.

 

F1 to consider axing Mistral chicane says Whiting

JUNE 26, 2018


Charlie Whiting says F1 will consider removing the unpopular chicane from the middle of Paul Ricard's iconic Mistral straight for 2019.

The topic was brought up by the drivers in the pre-race briefing, with others including Toto Wolff agreeing that the chicane spoiled the long straight and right-hand bend at the end of it.

"Everyone would talk about the straight and the corner at the end, just like everyone talks about other sections in the world," said Carlos Sainz.

"It would give it a touch of character that maybe it doesn't have at the moment."

Whiting, the FIA race director, said using the chicane for Paul Ricard's return to the F1 calendar was a decision made jointly by the circuit and the Federation.

"In my opinion everything worked well," he said.

"There are some who think we shouldn't have it, but the teams and drivers knew about it long before the grand prix. So I was surprised when on Friday it was suddenly an issue."

Whiting promised, however, that the issue of the Mistral chicane will be reviewed ahead of the 2019 race.

"We can do a simulation to check it but I would also like to hear the opinions of the drivers again, because we saw a lot of good overtaking during the race and we might not have seen it without that chicane," he said.

 

Hated it when they added it. Yes, get rid of it.

 

That would be a hoot, AJ uncensored.

 

Offer him free hot fudge sundaes throughout the race, and he'll probably take up your offer.

 

I think they introduced chicanes in the middle of long straights on many circuits when Ballestre was head of the FIA.
The FIA became afraid of increasing top speed.
They put chicanes at Le Mans, Hockenheim, Monza, and of course Paul Ricard.
I hate chicanes!

 

I found the whole race a bit boring. I actually fell asleep for much of it. Ham walzed off from the start and Max followed (after surviving t1 carnage). How dull.

Good recoverybdrive from Vettel but it just seemed too easy for him to slice through the field.

I suppose there was quite a bit going on around the track, but fundamentally the track is boring as hell. The stupid coloured run offs and endless tarmac zones off the racing line just made it look like a featureless spectacle. Dull dull dull.

 

That, I agree with 100%

 

Seb finished 5th. He could have finished 3rd or 2nd with less closure on LH in corner he could not take. Bottas left room. The Stewards saw this and penalised him. His pace after was superb and therefore was going to be swift enough to pass Bottas at some point, possibly in the box during a stop. Max was never a threat to anyone in the top 3.He never would be with the Renault engine.

It is a given he could not afford an accident yet drove into one no matter. Thats a problem Vettel needs to solve.

 

I see it different....He normally would have finished 3rd and he tried to get into second. Sure, he could have played it safe and do nothing at all, but as mentioned before people would have complaint then as well. And Kimi showed that it is not trivial to get by one of the cars from the "big three", he managed to get past Ricciardo only because Riccis car was damaged, so what makes you think that Seb would have been able to pass a Mercedes?

 

So you'd recommend Vettel should take the same course of action again?

Every man and his dog knew Vettel was going to go for the jump at the start, including Mercedes, so don't you think they would have discussed that scenario, with a view to thwart it.

IMO Vettel having been beaten to pole, should have played the long game and tried to go for the under cut in the pit stops, his car was fast, however whatever the case it can still be a close WDC.

Does a wise man confess when he is wrong.

 

I don´t get it...he tried to overtake when the opportunity was there and he backed up when he saw it does not work out. Max was already close and he needed to cover his place. If not left (where he started) next to the Mercedes of Bottas, where do you think he should have driven down the straight to turn one? He obviously had a better start than Bottas because he was already next to him, should he have waited until Bottas was pass to drive behind him???
He did absolutely nothing wrong until he locked the brake, but this was already AFTER he backed up so I do not see the point....

 

Exactly. He backed out, Bottas did an aggressive (but legit) move, and Vettel locked his brakes....**** happens.

You're absolutely right that if he backed out even more people would accuse him of losing hte title because he's driving soft.

Can't win.

 

It wouldn't be the first time they got it wrong... they didn't want to lose face by doing a 180°. They are not robots and mistakes, bias do happen. Vettel plainly just followed Lewis into the corner. Bottas went in on the outside too fast, braked too late and then changed his line just before the apex. Examining Bottas's speed will be the ultimate proof.

The first race rule I learned from coaches when I started racing bikes was that you simply cannot change your line in the middle of a corner - doing so will cause a crash (BTW, I never crashed in a race ). It's a safety issue. This was also a 165 kph corner after a 330 kph approach at 100 meters. Vettel did it right. Bottas did not.

 

The point is, he was leading the title fight, and now because he decided to go aggressive at the start he suffered, in almost a rookie like error, (one that Max has been labelled with of late), result he trails 14 points behind, whereas a damage limitation drive would have been a better option IMO.

Had he taken it more cautiously, he certainly wouldn't have been criticized by me, for not racing or having a go.

Still there is a long way to go, so all is not lost.

 

Your comments are not supported by the videos. Vettel simply followed Lewis into the corner, Bottas was compromised by taking an outside line and he over-reacted because everyone knew the Ferraris put all their cards into the first lap because they were chose Utrasofts. THERE IS NO LONG GAME WHEN YOU CHOOSE ULTRASOFTS. You have to use that advantage immediately. Bottas tried to defend Lewis by thwarting Vettel and he overdid it.

Bottas made a mistake, he almost pulled it off but he didn't realize that by destroying Vettel's air Vettel would lose braking and the space then became too small for Vettel to correct for the loss of downforce.

You simply DO NOT jump in front of someone in the middle of a corner. In a slow corner, you might get away with it but if downforce is paramount in a fast corner, doing so will cause a crash. Remember what happened when Max zagged in front of Ricci right at 100 meters before the left turn in Baku???

Some people conveniently have short memories.

 

Where did he go aggressive at the start?


He is accelerating down the straight in a straight line...he was not blocking are driving to either side, just straight ahead.
He is gaining ground both on Lewis and on Bottas as he had a better start. Once behind Lewis he needs to lift because there is neither way on the left, nore on the right and he is still faster than both Mercedes....I do not see what he does wrong here! Are you blaming him for actually having a better start than the Mercedes guys???
And then he misjudges the line of Bottas and locks the brake but this is not because being over aggressive but only because of making a normal mistake. I do not see why he "did not see the bigger picture at that moment" because I doubt that this was his intention...
And it is easy to say afterwards he should have started from the pit lane to play it safe and do his recovery drive without changing a nose

 

Well if you want to play it that way, Ferrari picked the wrong tyre strategy to try and jump 2 Mercs in a quick dash for the first corner.

You think Bottas made a mistake, I believe Vettel went too aggressive for no reason, but who had more to lose, Vettel or Bottas. Regards short memory, it isnt the first time Vettel has had red mist moments is it.

 

He should of actually been more aggressive ,ala Maxie,and just stayed glued to Lewis' tail ,yes he might still have collided with Bottas but he would at least have the inside line ,about level with Bottas.

Bottas left a big gap on the left .

Easy to say in hindsight of course

 

The thing is, folks opinions will vary on who's to blame, Vettel had a quick car no doubt, however the end result was, he didn't make the most of it..

Put it this way, had Max or Hamilton pulled that stunt ....these boards would have lit up good style ..

 

I just have one correction on your comments.

All 3 cars were braking for the same corner, Vettel was the slowest because held back, partly to preserve his air behind Lewis. If he were to get too close to Lewis under braking, he could cause a rear-end.

Bottas was going the fastest because he gained on Vettel AND Lewis going into the corner from the ou. How does he do that? He took a dangerous risk by late-braking.

Again, all 3 cars were braking by 50 meters, Bottas was the fastest. WHICH CAR'S BRAKES LOCKED UP? ANSWER: the slowest car, Vettel's.

WHY? Because he lost his air. Bottas made a driving error. He cut Vettel off, destroyed Vettel's distance from the next car in front. While these guys can easily hang a few feet behind each other in a straight line if they want to but if both cars had to brake for the same corner, the car behind will have no downforce and rear-end the car in front... like in Baku with Max causing Ricci to rear-end him before a left corner.

Bottas caused the crash.