Hamilton just won we over- what a gesture in Hungary

Also true. M-B doesn't want to bet on one horse* (yet). They want to keep all options open as long as possible.




*Pun not intended...

 

This car of theirs offer inconsistent performance and in fact when its most apparent Bottas is the better driver.

 

To me, the whole thing was just a race strategy Mercedes employed on the trot, to try and get their faster car into a better position, maybe with more of a chance to achieve a victory or better result. When it became clear that would not be possible, they reversed places as previously agreed upon, to keep harmony and moral in the team and btw the drivers intact.

It's a very delicate balancing act for Mercedes, one that I think they managed the best they could. However, I get the feeling that Lewis is not that happy with it all. He knows it was the fair and corporate thing to do but in the post race interviews it was obvious he was not happy with his result or race overall. I'm sure he would have preferred to keep those 3 extra points but felt his hands were tied by the team and a prearranged agreement.

He did what he was supposed to do, but still played it up somewhat after words. Factor in the additional hype from his fans and the spin the press like to add to the storyline and you have the spectacle that F1 has become. I just hope Ferrari can find enough additional pace on the high speed circuits to keep the pressure up and the title fight going....

 

+1

 

Exactly.

 

Because he qualified before Hamilton once or twice and had a couple of wins?

You are clutching a straw here ...

 

You didn't read the statement correctly. He didn't say Bottas is the better driver - period.
He said when the car isn't easy, Bottas comes out as the better driver. I think this is something we did witness so far this season.

 

Mercedes lost the Hungary GP in qualifications.

They were never able to dial their cars in practice, and were slower than the Ferraris.

They were not able to raise their pace to challenge the Ferraris and the result confirm that.

Ferrari deserves that win; they did a better job there.

 

No the press has a done a good job of pointing out how close they are. Bottas is a capable driver and has adapted rather quickly to a new team and car and won. What part of that is not so clear. He is better than most people thought he was.

 

Once or twice? Whose clutching at straws exactly...

 

Well, maybe I didn't.

 

Kimi was never the target. Hamilton was put in the position to either a) pressure Seb into a mistake or failure or b) pressure Ferrari into letting Kimi past Seb. I'm convinced that Kimi would have rolled to a large victory as the performance difference at the track was significant. Not applying any pressure to Ferrari from a WDC would have been unwise as either of those scenarios would have been beneficial. As it turned out, Seb's car was still good enough to withstand LH's challenge.

Regarding the switch, it only became an issue because VB fell back by 7 secs. It made things trickier in terms of re-switching positions (especially with Mad Max in the picture). It was the proper thing to do though.

I love how Horner attempts to sow the seeds of discord...

 

+1 Kimi was massively fast here. If it wasn't for ''the Journalist'' he'd have won, and I think Elton would've had a good chance of passing Vettel. Kimi wasn't going to do anything stupid on Vettel (a daring move). The speed he had yesterday, even for plenty of laps within 1.2 seconds and less, constantly in the dirty air and working the tires harder. It's a very tough to overtake on, even more with 2 equal cars and then taking into consideration of being extra careful. Had he gotten passed Vettel at the stop I'm sure he'd have a lead of well over 20 seconds.

 

Equal compliments must be given to Mercedes team management and Val Terry Badass for attempting this strategy. But, for sure, kudos to Hamilton for keeping his end of the bargain.

 

Yaddi, yaddi, yaddi. Can we get back to racing rather than the BS?

 

he agreed to do it beforehand. good that he held up his end but this really isnt that big of a deal

 

Except when Nico moved over for Hamilton at Malaysia 2013.

 

Niki and Toto are like the laurel and hardy of racing, always fun to hear their story change to suit the race weekend..... no team orders, no favouritism, yeah yeah yeah, pull the other one, it's got bells on and makes a noise like a fairy dancing the nutcracker suite. They hate to see their little boy blue get beaten, and I bet Valteri is laughing into his vodka shot knowing they expect him to be some kind of whipping boy later on, trouble is, he'll be confirmed by then, and team orders will be less likely to be obeyed

 

Look at how pissed Toto is after Hamilton gives the place up to Bottas at the end. Does his signature table bang. Meanwhile Hamilton's dad nods in approval that he held up his end of the deal.

Reminds me of last year of how mad Toto would look when the wrong Mercedes (Rosberg) would win. Toto was CRUSHED when Hamilton blew up in Malaysia because it meant Rosberg would likely win the WDC. It didn't matter that it was still a Mercedes driver. It wasn't Hamilton and they hated it. Clear, clear favoritism.

https://i.redd.it/ms6vu6flvqcz.gif

 

Sorry, that does not look pissed to me, more a sort of relief as obviously he was not sure Lewis would do so...and this saved him from deciding how to deal with it afterwards

It is more interesting what Lauda is looking like: he looks at Toto like "what the hell is he doing"

 

It looks like Toto is saying, "Yes!" Then goes to slam his hand on the chair at Niki, like an "I told you so". Niki probably told Toto that Ham wouldn't follow up on giving up the position.

 

+1...people can complain about his lack of results, but he's taken quite a few bullets "for the team" including this past race. He should have 2-3 wins this season had all things been equal. Of course, those would come at the expense of Vettel and he would find himself in second place (or worse) in the WDC. Ferrari is doing what it must to win the title, but Marchionne needs to be a little more forthright about Kimi's performance. Yes, there have been mistakes, but he also should have wins under his belt were the team not protecting Seb.

 

Although you are right about his performance the race yesterday would have been won easily by Vettel without having the issues with the car...so in case "things would have been equal" meaning both no issues it would not be a Kimi victory either...
What Ferrari actually did: they made Vettels problem the one of Kimi...

 

Vettel only had a wheel alignment "problem" , hardly life threatening or race ending ............... oh look mum, the steering wheel is of centre, OMG I'm in for a tough race

I thought you were a Kimi fan ?

 

Vettel was even faster, he was pulling away from Kimi until his steering went wobbly. In qualifying, Kimi was up .2 through the first two sectors on his final lap, but Vettel was another tenth quicker than even Kimi through the first two sectors on his final lap. Kimi never had the upper hand pace wise until Vettel's car broke. The Ferraris were almost .7 a lap quicker than the rest of the field, the only reason this was close was due to Vettel's car issue. Ferrari didn't swap them because they knew if Kimi couldn't get close enough to Vettel to attempt a move, there was no way Hamilton would be able to in an even slower car.