Chinese 2018: Pre-Race news

May I ask why you KNOW that these are facts? This is the official version but is it also the truth? I guess only a few know but looking at the current state of F1 it is hard to believe that Mercedes said so to benefit the whole F1 rather than getting an advantage...Not that other teams would not do the same but it is fact that there is a lot of snitching and bending of the rules going on where every team tries to get the smallest advantage.
So it might have affected every team, but did it affect every team in the same way?
When the track is eating tyres then Pirelli can bring their harder compounds, was there not even an extra hard compound introduced this season?

 

Course they weren’t, that’s why they went for the medium tyres in the last race, while ferrari were clearly going for the softs and supers.......... no, they just did that to give everyone a chance didn’t they

 

Q: When did they select their tire allocation? A: Well before any pre-season testing.

Plain and simple Mercedes thought they could be clever and run a one stop race strategy. THAT is why they were on mediums. Lewis started on softs so he could go farther before that one stop. The failure was...it turned out that Seb did the same thing one step softer. I do believe that it took Mercedes too long to realize what was happening... otherwise Bottas would have pushed harder sooner.

 

Yeah yeah, you can believe what you want, and I’ll believe what I want too. You are trying to tell sensible people that Mercedes don’t cheat, don’t try to get an advantage over other teams, and do things for the benefit of the sport only. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Maybe I’ll buy those magic beans later I was offered.


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Do I know 100% that I am reading facts? No. But... I read, I observe, I analyze the combinations... and I go where the evidence takes me. On the other hand, SO MANY people read one cryptic Twitter post and have jumped to all sorts of conclusions with no basis but assumption.

Occam's Razor applies.

 

Ha! Of course they cheat. I'm talking about one single subject... not the entirety of the history of Mercedes Motorsports. Don't change the subject ;-)

 

So you are just guessing just as we are...why are you talking of facts then???
Is it to elevate your opinion over others?

 

Change the subject? From talking about the tyres tooo........... talking about the tyres? I’m just saying your opinion is yours, mine is mine, and I’m comfortable I’m right. It seems your over-zealousness shows me you aren’t sure you believe your own opinion is though


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In the US we have criminal court cases where the case must be proven without a shadow of a doubt. A civil case is based on preponderance or what most likely happened based on the available evidence.

I have observed the Mercedes for two race weekends. I have read what Mercedes said and what Pirelli said. My observations suggest that Mercedes is not ripping their tires to shreds...does anyone disagree? Even after applying some skepticism, I have no reason to doubt the press stories.

On the other hand, we have a Twitter picture and post that was subsequently revised for clarity... essentially telling the same story as Mercedes and Pirelli. But... before it was clarified, the internet had latched onto the misinformation.

All other things aside... because right now we are only talking about the suggestion that the tires are going to be changed at the request of and to suit Mercedes...my OPINION is based on a lot more information than a corrected Twitter post.

Okay...as to other things. Yeah, I think Mercedes grabs any advantage they can. I think Toto is duplicitous. I think they bend any rules they can.

That describes half of the grid. The other half is "nice" because they benefit more from not rocking the boat.

Unfortunately, F1 is mostly politics.

 

What does this have to do with F1 and your statement of "facts"??? Do you think there are no courts outside of the US that you have to explain this to us?

I still do not see facts and why are you assume that other opinons than yours are purely based on a twitter post???
I guess you do not know anybody at Mercedes or Pirelli who is in charge (neither do I), so your opinion is only based on what was written somewhere and I do not see how this proves anything. As said: you believe in the official story of Pirelli and Mercedes and I doubt that we know the entire truth and most likely those who wrote the articles your opinion is based on do not know either. That said I do not say that your opinion has to be wrong but I disagree that it is a proven one

 

Definitely not proven... absolutely.

I'm a pragmatist. Every team pushes every advantage.

If someone presented some actual data that suggested shenanigans, I'd be willing to change my thinking.

If not the Twitter post...then what is the suggestion supported by...?

I'm perfectly willing to hate Mercedes...it just needs to be substantiated.

The criminal versus civil reference was only to point out that this is not a black and white issue because none of us know the absolutes. It's about how does the actual evidence support a purported opinion. Iow, is there substance or not.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/135323/mercedes-too-slow-to-spot-vettel-strategy

 

Just a quick point, Mercedes did NOT chose the medium at the weekend because they had no softs left..... they chose them as a strategy because the softs would have caused them to pit twice, as they could not trust them to get the distance on them without severe issues, whereas the mediums would enable a one stop strategy, and consistent performance. They figured, wrongly, that bottas and elton would catch Seb, undercut him and get in the lead, and then the nature of their tyres would have meant they could simply stay ahead, at least with bottas, and win the race

 

Reading some of the stuff coming out of Mercedes at the moment, there’s a lot of embarrassed ‘face saving’ going on. Similar to Australia, where after the race, during which and prior to it, they couldn’t wax lyrical enough about ‘party modes’ and wiping the smile off people faces, and then afterwards it’s all ‘what party mode, we don’t have those, no we never said a special mode, we meant an Ecu flash that went wrong...doh’

Now, from the paddock alive with discussion about Mercedes both in aus, and in Bahrain, that their car struggles on the softer compounds, were already preparing for an alternative strategy on Friday night, and had lobbied (and received) for help from Pirelli to solve these woes by changing compounds for upcoming races, after the race has ended and journalists are asking about this arrangement, suddenly their rhetoric has ‘and our car is so good on the tyres’ thrown in at the end of every quote, clearly trying to deflect the latest bit of cheating that has slipped out. It’s a bit like someone getting caught chatting your wife up, but as yo7 get close enough to actually hear, the conversation becomes ‘yeah, and of course, I always thought you two would end up having kids, you’re just so right together, oh hey Sid!’

 

Exactly, and at this point its laughable. They've been caught with their pants down in regards to Bottas not being able to pass Seb. If they didn't catch what Ferrari was doing with Seb within 5 laps of Kimis pit fiasco then they are woefully arrogant in their approach. It was painfully obvious Seb had to make it to the end of the race, especially once Ham was within the pit window, and when that gap fell below -15 seconds, there was NO WAY Ferrari was pulling him into the pits. They blew it. I hope they continue on this path of self destruction for the rest of the year

 

Interesting talking points to read/consider prior to this weekend's event - http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/23100280/is-max-verstappen-too-rash-win-f1-title

 

Hahaha....Kimis face
"Don´t bother me..."

 

yes, they were gunning for 1-2. With hindsight, they should have sent Bottas straight in to harrass Vettel at the risk of having to make a second stop himself. Therewith victory would have fallen to Hamilton and 2 or 3 to Bottas. Now they ended up 2 and 3, instead, with their lead driver on 3.

 

Kimi is like

"Who are you and why do you want to take my picture?"

 

+1 For those that actively followed testing, only Mercedes suffered extensive tyre issues with severe blistering. Red Bull had a little bit of it but only after running their tyre for a very long time. Merc got theirs on a normal run.