Formula 1 2019 - Round 5 - Spain

Safety car sort of neutralised things at the front

Pity Ferrari are so far away from challenging

Bah, no idea what the prancing horse is at and neither do they . Hamilton and co will keep pulling away with easy till they get there heads sorted...the result is meaningless really now.

Shout out to Dani Kyvatt , has to be driver of the day . Even if sky and their comments kept missing what he was doing. Toro Rosso didnt look half bad as a car either today .

Inviere wrote: »

What was there to neutralise?

Well it took away any variation in pit stops but yes probably wouldn't have mattered

I just watched it there, actually fell asleep

I couldn't watch it properly today.
Saw a glimpse of Hamiltons tyres being fecked at one stage.
Did bottas tyre go the same way?

mickdw wrote: »

I couldn't watch it properly today.
Saw a glimpse of Hamiltons tyres being fecked at one stage.
Did bottas tyre go the same way?

Hamilton got lucky with the safety car timing, and Bottas had just pitted before the incident. As soon as the safety car was deployed Hamilton came in. Hamilton lead the race lights-to-flag.

Just watched the race. Did not think it was that bad. Maybe if I had been watching it live ok maybe but the highlights are great and C4 too at just showing whats needed. We got a good first lap battle between three drivers and it did get a little bring then maybe but after the safety car I thought there was plenty of racing in the midfield and the two Ferrari drivers battling it out too. Yes I agree Mercedes winning all the time and dominating is boring and Ferrari seem to be lost but otherwise it was an ok race.

I think Bottas will win in Monaco.

Complete joke of a season so far, the top 5 in todays race has been the same at every other race so far, just in different positions.

I used to love F1, but I really am now struggling to justify watching it. Merc are on a different planet right now, five 1-2 finishes in the first 5 races. Ferrari are almost like they were pre-Schumacher. RB are impressive with the performances so far but are nowhere near the front. Then its the fight for the rest.

Failing to see the point really, I don't hold anything against Crofty or Brundle (or Sky etc), they have to try and sell this. If they said at the end of lap 1 "We'll, that looks like that then, put the kettle on" everyone would turn off.

To me as well, there is no interest in any of these drivers for me either, Hamiltons social media feed is like a war crime of clothing, and the rest are a tad boring, Ricciardo perhaps but he is struggling for points lower down now. You will also see articles like "Mercedes made it look easy, but not everything was as it seems" as the title after weekends to try and hold on to people thinking there is a chance of a battle. It's pretty much clickbait now.

It used to be that you needed to be in a Mercedes or a Ferrari to be in with a shout, now its just the Mercedes

astrofluff wrote: »

Hamilton got lucky with the safety car timing

Did he? He had 25/30 seconds on Bottas, plenty in reserve, and there was what, 15 laps to go?

Stallingrad wrote: »

Has F1 ever been more boring? Someone will surely say yes, but what's the point of watching any more races this season?

At least when it was boring before, the cars sounded great.

Inviere wrote: »

Did he? He had 25/30 seconds on Bottas, plenty in reserve, and there was what, 15 laps to go?

Was that not because Bottas had pitted the lap or two before the SC came out?

the only highlight of the weekend

https://streamable.com/47nxa

That was a great over take

Inviere wrote:

Yes he did, but Lewis had more than enough in the tires to offset/manage Bottas on fresh tires for 12 laps or so. Plus it's not as if Merc would have allowed them to fight anyway, not at that late stage in the race. The race was won at the first corner of the first lap, as depressing as that is.

Bottas should be doing a lot more with the car he has at his disposal. Rosberg, who was a mediocre driver lacking in many basic skills, still had enough about him to win a world title. It would be great to see two "big beasts" like Hamilton and Verstappen or Vettel driving for the same team.

chicorytip wrote: »

Bottas should be doing a lot more with the car he has at his disposal. Rosberg, who was a mediocre driver lacking in many basic skills, still had enough about him to win a world title. It would be great to see two "big beasts" like Hamilton and Verstappen or Vettel driving for the same team.

I disagree. Rosberg beat Hamilton in the same car. It takes more than a mediocre driver to do that and I think he could have done it again had he stayed another year.
I don't think Hamilton and Vettel will ever be on the same team and think Hamilton would do better if they were. As for Verstappen he is fast and good but I would not call him a big beast yet whatever that means. He could possibly be on the same team as Hamilton but highly unlikely. If Red vBull Honda keep improving do he will not need to and maybe next year or the year after might be a challenge to Mercedes and Hamilton if he is still around.

chicorytip wrote: »

Rosberg, who was a mediocre driver lacking in many basic skills

If that's not ignore list fodder I don't know what is :rolleyes: Do you seriously believe the tripe you're writing, or are you taking the peter?

Hamilton has had Alonso, Button, & Rosberg as teammates, all proven & capable winners and world champions given half a chance. Bottas has had a fairly poor showing at Merc up until now, where he seems to have found a gear. He has capitalised where Lewis hasn't (especially in quali), but I'd be surprised if Merc allow the two to actively squabble as they did with Lewis & Nico. At some point in the season, Bottas will be put back into place over the radio.

AMKC wrote: »

I really hope that does not happen and if so that Bottas just ignores it and goes for it anyway. Hope Bottas goes for it in Monaco and wins. Lets face it no point in hoping one of the Ferrari's will as Ferrari will probably screw it up again anyway.

I know, it's a double edged sword ignoring team orders though. While on one hand it's nice to show everyone what you can really do, but look at what happened to Alonso's career by arguably not playing the team game. Teams want drivers who'll do what they're told, just as much as they want drivers who can win.

Inviere wrote: »

I know, it's a double edged sword ignoring team orders though. While on one hand it's nice to show everyone what you can really do, but look at what happened to Alonso's career by arguably not playing the team game. Teams want drivers who'll do what they're told, just as much as they want drivers who can win.

And you are entirely correct, most people tend to forget that Alonso basically peed on his own plate through his behavior towards the teams he raced for - and that would be happening to most drivers coming up with such attitude.



Bottas however...my take is that he's in a Catch 22 at the moment, he's fully aware of it and will try to make the most of the situation. He knows he'll likely be replaced by Ocon next season and that he won't have an option to join any of the other frontrunners (can't see Ferrari changing again next year, Red Bull would promote Albon or...Kvyat if Gasly didn't perform), so this might very well be his opportunity for a shot at a WDC.



The hallmarks are all there - he clearly spent the off season training, trying to adapt the best to the high-speed cornering and the new rule that imposes a minimum of 80kg weight in the cockpit; Valterri's always been a bit bigger built than most drivers, but he showed up in Melbourne looking like a brick house. In this regards, I would expect him not being too happy and maybe even defying team orders further down the season.



That said, Mercedes IS Hamilton, as show without doubt by Toto Wolff's reactions in the pits (looking utterly disappointed in Baku until he realized he was on camera is just the latest of these little "hints"), yet they have a "fair company" image to maintain...it might be the one interesting thing in the season.

AMKC wrote: »

I am surprised that no came up with a conspiracy theory about Botta's clutch in the race. Ill admit it has crossed my mind. You have to admit it would have been one way for Mercedes to insure that Hamilton got ahead of Botta's in the race and take the lead in the championship.

Well, it doesn't make a lot of sense, really - a team like Mercedes, whose image as a manufacturer of high performance luxury cars is THE reason why they're in F1, wouldn't risk messing about with the tech side of their car. Any sort of mechanical or electronic issue might be seen as a bad mark against Mercedes as a the brand. For the same reason, all the "conspiracy theories" about Hamilton's technical issues in 2016 were the exact same type of rubbish. Sabotage, in that specific environment, in basically unthinkable.



Deep down inside, Mercedes are very much a British team based in Brackley with mostly British personnel, regardless of where the money comes from; The vast majority of the team prefer Hamilton to be the one taking the honours - and likely the upper management (as in, Mercedes themselves) prefer it as well for the "star factor" Lewis brings around "World Champion Lewis Hamilton" is a bigger marketing hit than "World Champion Valterri Bottas"; Yet, personal preference doesn't enter the business picture - If they are far away ahead of the competition, they will "risk" the "wrong driver" winning, like in 2016; The only interference that is possible, comes in the form of team orders, which as I said before, Bottas might be less than willing to accept in this phase of his career...