2 dull races in a row, SingaSnore and SoSleepy. Hoping Suzaka is better, but Mercedes is definitely the dominant team again this year. I think we all were fooled into thinking Ferrari had the best car, no chance, the Mercs have owned the crappy turbo hybrid era.
We where lucky the Red Bulls started last and we got some enjoyment out of that early on, and then wonder just how Verstappens tyre's where holding on. Sadly after his pitstop all the excitement left in the race was soon gone and it was a massive anti-climax.
Mercedes played the long con this season to perfection. They had the best car all along but they waited until the correct time to attack. Unfortunately the will now go faster in the remaining races.
Yes, he came into the realization he is and will always be "the number 2" driver at Mercedes.........
Because Prost was a better driver than them and drove with his head, not reacting to what the other drivers did.
I wonder if he could've ended up higher if they had just kept him out? His laptimes after the pit were slower than when he was on those old supersofts!!!
The tragedy is for the rest of the season if Merc are running 1 -2, we will all be wondering if it's all being arranged. If Hamilton wins, is it because Mercedes would never let Bottas win until he gets the WDC If Bottas wins, was it Mercedes making it up to Bottas. It seems phony now. We are left guessing are they really racing or are they just going through the motions in a preconceived plan.
I like how Hamilton started complaining to his team at lap 15 when he came out behind Vettel. The guy has the best car the best team a great pit crew everything handed to him on a silver platter which coupled with his good driving and good luck always seals the deal but his team makes one error in umpteen races and he’s immediately on the radio chastising them.
Team orders suck. What is absolutely disgusting is the hypocrisy of Toto Wolff. I just want to make sure the British media throws a fit because they were OUTRAGED after Austria 2002 and Germany 2010. Won't happen though. Hamilton has benefited more from team orders than any driver in F1 history. The SKy announcers trying their best to explain it away was amusing as well Pathetic.
I agree that Wolff didn’t need to make that statement...obviously the ONLY reason he made the statement at the time because he had the two fastest cars on the grid and that was the WDC title chase. To act above team orders was silly. Can’t agree about Ham benefitting more from team orders than anyone in history lol. It certainly killed off drama for the rest of this season today.
If nothing else, at least you’re consistent. I see striking similarities between your POV on display here and your various posts in the Politics & Religion section.
Like TheMayor said, when Ferrari does team orders, they're cheaters, when Brit teams do it, it's brilliant strategy. Same for tech innovations, Brit teams are clever and take the letter of the rules to the limit, Ferrari are cheaters. See the whole 2 battery thing of this year and subsequent FIA investigation. Similarly, when Ferrari are successful it is because of foreign talent on board, but when said foreign talent cheats (see Todt with team orders, Schumacher with dangerous driving, Brawn with dodgy barge boards, etc.) it's the Italian contingent that gets tarnished. Leading to idiots like Ecclestone making comments about Ferrari being "too Italian to win", and mindlessly reported by the press. Imagine making that comment about any other race or nationality.
At least for 2019! When it hits mid-season, and Honda has not gotten their act together, Max may be joining Mercedes.
Yes, I'm tired of it. I made a promise to myself: I will not watch even one more interview from the Little Diva Elton for the rest of this year. I might make an exception if he DNFs or is stomped for some reason, but otherwise, I'm not not going to look at his face, or listen to his voice, or listen to the Brit announcers nuzzling his feet again. I'm done with it. If he clinches the title in a couple of races, I probably won't even watch the remaining races. We should all do that and send a message.
Interesting assessment of this race and of course - 'team orders- via BBC F1 - https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/45701725
F1 today is just a very big business..sport? not so much. The days of transit vans and caravans are long gone ...together with most of the sporting aspect.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/139063/verstappen-backed-off-late-on-to-save-engine Red Bull's Max Verstappen abandoned the chance of a late-race surge on new tyres in Formula 1's Russian Grand Prix to save his engine for the remainder of 2018. Verstappen charged from 19th on the grid to lead the majority of the race at Sochi after running an extended stint on soft tyres, as the top 10 used ultrasofts and hypersofts. The Red Bull driver stayed on his soft tyres until the final 12 laps of the race and returned to the track with a margin to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in fourth that appeared in reach. But Verstappen's pace tailed as he ran to a lonely fifth place, and Red Bull boss Christian Horner revealed a decision was made to conserve his engine. "It was a shame he had to make the stop really, but of course it is mandatory," Horner told Sky about Verstappen's opening stint. "The other compounds were very fragile, so we stopped as late as we could, but we could see already they were starting to chunk up a little bit. "At that point you are too far behind Kimi to have a go at him, so it was a question of 'we took the penalty of the engines here, let's save these now for the races coming up'."
+1 and the team orders is just part of that and has been for a long time. None of the outrage here can be new lol. We have multiple examples of it recent and past. Time for Suzuka lol! Wet most likely it seems.
