erwin greven wrote: ↑1 year ago
Never will Charles get world champion with Ferrari. Alonso couldn't, Vettel couldn't...
15 years since Kimi did it.... a long time between drinks. To think thee races in we were looking at a Ferrari walkover.... we thought it was all over in Ferrari's favour, already 34 points clear in the WDC and almost a 1-2 ahead in the constructors.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
I am happy to see a 112 point gap between Lewis and Max. Mercedes are too good, and too well connected politically not to be winning races after the break. It's becoming clear that if Max has an off day, Merc will win, because Ferrari will ensure they give it to Merc.
Wouldn't surprise me if the floor changes for Spa onwards and for 2023 meant that the Merc is the clear best car in the second half of this year, and clear next season.
Gavle Yule Goat Predictor 2018, 2019 and 2021 Champion
MonteCristo wrote: ↑2 years agoVettel: Not a fan at all on track. But off track, good guy.
• It is the second year in a row that the Hungaroring winner has come from outside the top four, but only the fourth time it has happened in the circuit's history.
• Max had never previously won from outside the top four on the grid.
• Verstappen led the 50th race of his career today.
• Prior to today Red Bull had only won one race in their F1 history from outside the top six on the grid, ( Danny Ric won the 2017 Azerbaijan GP from P10.
• Verstappen and Hamilton have now finished one-two in a Grand Prix (in any order) an amazing 31 times.
• Mercedes led more laps today than they had done in all the other races combined this season.
• The podium was identical last wekend in France.
• With P5 todayl, Sergio Perez took his first career top-five finish at the Hungaroring in his 12th start at the circuit.
• Charles Leclerc’s P6 for Ferrari means he has still never finished on the podium at the Hungaroring in either F1 or F2.
• Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished in P8 for his eighth consecutive points finish in 2022, and his 11th consecutive points finish at the Hungaroring.
• With Alonso’s team mate Esteban Ocon in P9, both Alpines scored points for a third consecutive race.
• Valtteri Bottas was the only driver not to reach the chequered flag, but all 20 drivers were classified finishers for the 13th time in championship’s history (it happened at the French, Belgian and Turkish Grands Prix in 2021).
• Lewis , P2, broke the record for the most laps led at a single venue in championship history today. The old record was held by Bill Vukovich at the Indianapolis 500, ( a championship round in the 1950s.)
• Today was Hamilton’s 11th podium finish at the Hungaroring and his fifth consecutive podium finish in 2022 – the longest active streak in F1.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
I feel sorry for Leclerc, he drove very well but the pit wall managed to screw his race despite a very fast car, he was almost all the time on the wrong tyres and his strategy was at best suicidal. I'm sure their car is excellent but if they can't hire someone good enough to manage their strategy then they deserve to lose.
And at Spa there will be the new set of pro Mercedes rules that will probably change the pecking order in F1 (ie Mercedes will be dominant again)
P. Cornelius Scipio wrote: ↑1 year ago
I feel sorry for Leclerc, he drove very well but the pit wall managed to screw his race despite a very fast car, he was almost all the time on the wrong tyres and his strategy was at best suicidal. I'm sure their car is excellent but if they can't hire someone good enough to manage their strategy then they deserve to lose.
And at Spa there will be the new set of pro Mercedes rules that will probably change the pecking order in F1 (ie Mercedes will be dominant again)
now it's time to go on holyday
I don't feel sorry for him in the least. He should be throwing his weight around by now. He should know what tyres he's about to be put on and should be asking what anyone else is doing on them.
Letting them mess him around sometimes in favour of the inferior sainz too . Time for him to kick ass and develop a nasty streak
The board equivalent of the Jody scheckter chicane. Fast but pointless
P. Cornelius Scipio wrote: ↑1 year ago
I feel sorry for Leclerc, he drove very well but the pit wall managed to screw his race despite a very fast car, he was almost all the time on the wrong tyres and his strategy was at best suicidal. I'm sure their car is excellent but if they can't hire someone good enough to manage their strategy then they deserve to lose.
And at Spa there will be the new set of pro Mercedes rules that will probably change the pecking order in F1 (ie Mercedes will be dominant again)
now it's time to go on holyday
I don't feel sorry for him in the least. He should be throwing his weight around by now. He should know what tyres he's about to be put on and should be asking what anyone else is doing on them.
Letting them mess him around sometimes in favour of the inferior sainz too . Time for him to kick ass and develop a nasty streak
I don't think that it's that simple, on the one hand we don't know what information he gets on what is going on during a race, on the other hand what is his alternative? when Max had a few issues he had the chance to move to Mercedes, what is Leclerc's plan b? Mercedes? unlikely. RBR? almost impossible. So Leclerc has no leverage whatsoever on Ferrari, both parties know that at the moment Ferrari is his only (credible) option
Add to that that when Max was developing as a driver and as a human being he was given space to make mistakes and learn from them, Leclerc doesn't seem in that position, he obviously still needs to develop but from the outside it doesn't look as if he has anyone on his side teaching him how to approach complex situations and certainly it doesn't feel as if he's got the full backing of the team (you just have to bear in mind that today Binotto said that the problem was with the car and not with the strategy, a few minutes after Leclerc had gone on record to say that the car was fine and the problem was with the strategy). In a sense Ferrari lacks a real leader, I'm sure that Binotto is a fantastic engineer and a nice bloke but he doesn't come across as a leader of men. The only backing that Leclerc seems to get is from Dr. Ceccarelli but that doesn't really seem much in such a situation
Having said that may your holidays sparkle with joy and laughter, as for me tomorrow I'm off to the Alps...
Picci wrote: ↑1 year ago
Watching from the States so finding it odd that this was at 10am!
Used to be lot odder when I was watching from California.
They are all night races (except for Japan, and Albert Park)..... even Singapore is dark in Aus when it starts. And the American races are a nightmare (literally) in Aus so no sympathy here im afraid.
Yea, used to have to wake up a 6 AM on Sunday mornings after a night out... roll over, turn on the TV, watch the race, then roll back over and go back to sleep.
Leclerc's comments about the car performance wasn't always at diplomatic level. Rumor has it, that Binotto didn't take it well. The man is hard to read from the distance, but I am not sure if he actually likes either of his current drivers. It's a weird situation there. It might be the truth that his drivers have no better place to shuffle over, but at the same time there aren't too many drivers right now who can take that red seat and beat Verstappen. Simply put, love it or not, they need each other, and they better set their differences aside.
What they have done to Sainz today was really for the books. Let him sit on the jack, and then use him as a brake to slow down Max who was behind him. There was time when Irwine at Suzuka was holding off JV as Michael was speeding into distance. I was very pleased with that trick. It was funny, but this time for some reason I didn't like it.
Great race actually. We saw top performances from the top three finishers. Max was near perfect except for his spin, but he clearly had the best car (not that this was apparent with Perez behind the wheel). The two Mercedes drivers got the best out of their cars, even though for a significant part of the race the Ferrari's looked faster. Great drives by both Hamilton and Russell. Hamilton was certainly driver of the day (after all Vestappen did spin it) and Russell is clearly a future #1 driver (unlike Sainz and Perez). Russell has very good race craft although it does appear that when motivated, Hamilton is a tenth or more faster.
Anyhow, I was disappointed in Sainz with 4th. He does not seem to make things happen when he needs to make things happen. Pretty hard to understand why he was not on the podium. Leclerc was doing fine until the team screwed up. Would have had a podium.
In the end mystified by Perez's slow speed and somewhat baffled by Ocon's continued blocking of Alonso.
In the bigger picture, this was the race that Ferrari could have and probably should have placed 1-2. This was their one chance to stick it to Red Bull, and they blew it. Red Bull was surprisingly fast on race day, but neither Ferrari didn't really give him a fight. Now, we know for Spa that Ferrari will have to modify their cars (because they were doing another one of their clever "cheats'). Do not know how much of a difference that will make, but with Mercedes getting better and Ferrari perhaps on their back foot starting with Spa, then this championship fight could be over. Ferrari seems to never but up to fighting for a championship for the entire season.
Red Bull is claiming that it will not have to make any modifications to their car. We shall see in a month. If that is the case, then we could be looking at a lot of podiums like today for the second half of the season.
Ruslan wrote: ↑1 year ago
Great race actually. We saw top performances from the top three finishers. Max was near perfect except for his spin, but he clearly had the best car (not that this was apparent with Perez behind the wheel). The two Mercedes drivers got the best out of their cars, even though for a significant part of the race the Ferrari's looked faster. Great drives by both Hamilton and Russell. Hamilton was certainly driver of the day (after all Vestappen did spin it) and Russell is clearly a future #1 driver (unlike Sainz and Perez). Russell has very good race craft although it does appear that when motivated, Hamilton is a tenth or more faster.
Anyhow, I was disappointed in Sainz with 4th. He does not seem to make things happen when he needs to make things happen. Pretty hard to understand why he was not on the podium. Leclerc was doing fine until the team screwed up. Would have had a podium.
In the end mystified by Perez's slow speed and somewhat baffled by Ocon's continued blocking of Alonso.
In the bigger picture, this was the race that Ferrari could have and probably should have placed 1-2. This was their one chance to stick it to Red Bull, and they blew it. Red Bull was surprisingly fast on race day, but neither Ferrari didn't really give him a fight. Now, we know for Spa that Ferrari will have to modify their cars (because they were doing another one of their clever "cheats'). Do not know how much of a difference that will make, but with Mercedes getting better and Ferrari perhaps on their back foot starting with Spa, then this championship fight could be over. Ferrari seems to never but up to fighting for a championship for the entire season.
Red Bull is claiming that it will not have to make any modifications to their car. We shall see in a month. If that is the case, then we could be looking at a lot of podiums like today for the second half of the season.
It's a fair point that Ferrari continually go backwards during a season. Remember vettel's big chance to take the title for them
The board equivalent of the Jody scheckter chicane. Fast but pointless
