Слава Родине, товарищ GP of Sochi

[XcraigX]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Best race at Sochi ever. I would be one for adding sprinklers to this track to make it more exciting every year. Of course with random sprinkling intervals.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Best race at Sochi ever. I would be one for adding sprinklers to this track to make it more exciting every year. Of course with random sprinkling intervals.

Go the whole hog and add random sector sprinklers.... 2 wet, 1 dry, even 1 damp, one dry, one flooded!

[Ruslan]

Well, that was entertaining.

1. Hamilton: Tried everything he could this weekend to not win and still got it. He apparently did say in the most race interview that he would not have caught Norris if it did not rain.

7. Norris: It was his win. Both drivers (Hamilton and Norris) wanted to stay out. Mercedes ordered Hamilton in. In this case, the team made the right call (and the safe call) and Hamilton won. If Norris had pitted the lap after Hamilton, would it had been a Norris win? I guess so.

2. Verstappen: Great drive in the first half of the race moving up the field with some great passes. Then he seem to loose momentum, go repassed by Ricciardo and looked like he was going to have to settle for 6th or 7th (which would have validated my questioning of Red Bull's pit strategy). Then the rain came.

I do consider him the driver of the day, because the other two obvious candidate (Hamilton and Norris) clearly made mistakes. I did not see any mistakes in Verstappen's drive. There were some very nice clean, aggressive and smooth passes in the first half of the race.

3. Sainz: Got passed on track after his pit stop by his teammate, who had started on the last row. Is that the difference in drivers or the difference between the new and the old Ferrari engines?

4. Ricciardo: Still not qualifying as well as he should, but the racing looked pretty good.

5. Bottas: He was invisible all race.

6. Alonso: The man continues to be "The Man."

11/12: Vettel/Stroll: Just out of the points. I saw them bump wheels twice. There is something fundamentally wrong at the team or with the drivers. Could one (or two) of them gotten into the points with a little cooperation? Beaten on track by an Alfa and a Williams. How sad is that?

17. Tsunoda: What has happened to the second half of his season? In the first half he looked fast but inconsistent. Now he does not look fast. He kind of looks completely lost. Is Helmut Marko mismanaging yet another young driver?

[Everso Biggyballies]

Kimi in the points . I think Lando might get a penalty for a dodgy entry to the pits though

That would be hypocrite!



Where was the FIA then?

Lewis got a 5 second time penalty then I thought.

LANDO CLEARED..... 7th place confirmed as he gets only a reprimand....

I really dont understand that decision. Absolute inconsistency. Not penalised because in effect "he didnt meant to, and it was very slippery". Tell others that who have been penalised for things they didnt mean to do, even this year. (Tsunoda at Austria)

“The stewards took into account that on the previous lap the driver of Car 4 had passed through Turn 17 (adjacent to the Pit Entry) at a relatively high speed, without loss of control,” the stewards’ bulletin reads.

“During the ensuing lap, the conditions deteriorated rapidly and were varied in different parts of the circuit."

"The driver slowed considerably on entering the Pit Entry, with his speed approximately half of his normal pit entry speed, but still lost control and slid across the painted area between the Pit Entry and the track."

“Although obviously the driver chose to remain out on the track on hard compound slick tyres when others chose to change to Intermediates, and therefore sought to gain an advantage in retaining his race position, we do not consider that the crossing of the painted area was intentional or predictable in the circumstances.”

Simlple question.... Did he break the rule? Answer, Yes. Even Lando himself said it was a penalty he expected to get because he was guilty.

It just shows alarming inconsistency and makes the stewards look fools. Does that mean any infringement in the wet from now on can just plead, I didnt mean too, and it was very slippery. Im sure Max last race didnt mean to crash into Lewis..... where does it end.
Look I am pleased for Lando, as he had a bad day with the way things played out, but I am very sad for the precedent this now sets for future steward decisions. A 5 second penalty that everyone else would get normally would not have dropped him out of the points. He might lose a couple of points. He still would have kept his F/L point. All that has gone down is a precedent has been set and inconsistency roolz.

Even lucky Lewis got a penalty in similar conditions at Germany 2019 for an identical incident.... moreso actually because Lewis's car was damaged and he would have shed bits around the track had he not cut into pitlane.)

[/rant]

[Ruslan]

In general, I would rather the stewards be too lenient than too strict.

[DoubleFart]

At the end of the day, it's keeping the championship alive.

We know the Mercedes is now the fastest car, and has been for the majority of the last 5 races.
We know that Lewis will have Bottas with him more often that Verstappen will have Perez.
We know that Lewis will have to take an engine penalty at some point, because the Merc engines have reliability issues.

Lewis has lucked into the best part of a 100 point swing against Verstappen. Today wasn't a swing back because there was nothing lucky about Verstappen driving so well, and making the right strategy call, but it's definitely been a positive - he's gotten rid of the 3 place Grid penalty, and the engine penalty, and only lost 7 points.

Now it's just a case of hoping that Max can get a few wins and maybe we see a Lewis retirement or two.

[Picci]

For the first time in a really long while, I felt emotionally involved in the race. I REALLY wanted Lando to win and I was monitoring him after the first pitstop and looking at the screens and seeing what gap he has to Lewis all the time. I did think it would always eventually come down to just those two (see my post from yesterday) and I genuinely believed Lando had the pace to win (which he sort of did).

When the rain did fall I instantly remembered Spa 2008 where Lewis was catching Kimi at a similar rate and both ended up slipping and sliding. Unfortunately Lando’s immaturity came through there. You should never go for broke when you know you have 45 secs to third place. No scenario existed that would see him come better off from not stopping and the team should have gone harder on him.

So that for me sucked. Because Lewis didn’t deserve to win his 100th in that way. This championship is really odd. Russell holding P3 for twenty laps or so. McLaren and Ferrari having good pace all of a sudden. My mind is very confused this season.

[Cheeveer]

grats Lewis on his 99th win

[John]

Good race, enjoyed that.

[Ruslan]

My sense of the championship at this point is:

1. Turkish GP could be anyone's.
2. US and Mexico favor Mercedes.
3. Sao Paulo could be anyone's
4. TBA probably favors Mercedes (as I think it is Imola).
5. Who knows who Saudi Arabia favors.
6. Abu Dhabi could be anyone's.
7. Lewis has to do an engine change at some point.
8. Max has to run eight races on his latest engine... might be an issue (meaning he might have to do another engine change).

So three races favoring Mercedes and four that could go either way (or we don't know).

I think Lewis has the edge, but there is no guarantee.

[MonteCristo]

Can we please get some w00p w00ps for DAAANNN after a dominating performance? After starting four positions behind Norris, he finishes three positions and 22 seconds ahead.

[The Ghost Who Walks]

Can we please get some w00p w00ps for DAAANNN after a dominating performance? After starting four positions behind Norris, he finishes three positions and 22 seconds ahead.

Even after the team sabotaged him with a dodgy stop

[The Ghost Who Walks]

Question. Where do you think Perez finishes without his botched pitstop?

[MonteCristo]

Can we please get some w00p w00ps for DAAANNN after a dominating performance? After starting four positions behind Norris, he finishes three positions and 22 seconds ahead.

Even after the team sabotaged him with a dodgy stop

Sooooo... Drive of the season?

[The Ghost Who Walks]

Can we please get some w00p w00ps for DAAANNN after a dominating performance? After starting four positions behind Norris, he finishes three positions and 22 seconds ahead.

Even after the team sabotaged him with a dodgy stop

Sooooo... Drive of the season?

Hard to say if it was better than Monza, but they are the clear top 2 I'd say.

[MonteCristo]

Can we please get some w00p w00ps for DAAANNN after a dominating performance? After starting four positions behind Norris, he finishes three positions and 22 seconds ahead.

Even after the team sabotaged him with a dodgy stop

Sooooo... Drive of the season?

Hard to say if it was better than Monza, but they are the clear top 2 I'd say.

A true Silver Sovereign effort.