Meanwhile, at the Death Star... Bottas: Mercedes "sleeping" when Verstappen got ahead https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151237/bottas-mercedes-sleeping-when-verstappen-got-ahead
Must think he’s still driving the blown diffuser RBR-Renault! Thinking “now where did that rear downforce go to?”
And involved toto ( Mercedes) I am not sure the Daimler-Benz board is fully aware of what Wolff has done ..
Binotto: Vettel spin hurt race more than strategy calls "I honestly think there is little to say about strategies. We [were early] perhaps by a few laps with the call that made him lose the position to [Kimi] Raikkonen. However, we knew he would recover without losing time. "It allowed Charles [Leclerc] to continue his comeback. Overall, it was the right choice for the team and we don't think we penalised Sebastian. "He regained [the position] immediately on Kimi, he wouldn't have been able to do an overcut on [Daniil] Kvyat, because he was going as fast as he was at that time, and then he undercut [Carlos] Sainz. "His race was compromised at the start, and I think that was the key, not the strategy chosen." Vettel said after last weekend's British Grand Prix that he was struggling with a lack of confidence in the Ferrari SF1000 car. He could only qualify 12th on Saturday for the second Silverstone race, and failed to score points for the second time in four races. It leaves Vettel 13th in the drivers' standings after five rounds with 10 points, marking his worst start to a season since his first full year in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2008. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151248/binotto-vettel-spin-hurt-race-more-than-strategy-calls
while I’m certain the karma of driving the Ferrari “Webber Car” is unsettling to Seb, he is still committing self-inflicted injuries almost every race.
[QUOTE="ricksb, post: 147378991, member: 17956"Seb, he is still committing self-inflicted injuries almost every race.[/QUOTE] This above is as much of his legacy as 4 titles. His mistakes. Glaring in their consistency. I do not feel bad for him. He has control of what he decides in maneuvering the car from the cockpit. Seb has never in any forum 'owned' his mistakes in general. Not of the last 3 years to me. It is a bit surprising how badly things are standing now for him.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151252/mercedes-judged-bottasEURTM-tyres-to-extend-hamilton-stint Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says information gleaned from the tyres of Valtteri Bottas encouraged it to let Lewis Hamilton run a longer middle stint in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Ultimately the strategy ensured that Hamilton got ahead of Bottas to claim second place in a late race battle, although both Mercedes drivers lost out to Max Verstappen who used the alternative strategy to charge to victory for Red Bull. As the leading W11 on the road, Bottas was given priority at the stops and after a stint on the hard tyre he made his second stop on lap 32. Instead of coming in a lap later - as was the case at the first round of stops - Hamilton took his hard tyres all the way to lap 41, and at one stage the reigning Formula 1 world champion was hoping that he could reach the chequered flag without a second stop. Wolff says the team was able to examine the tyres that came off the car of Bottas, and having decided that there was still some life in them made the call to leave Hamilton out for as long as possible. After the race Bottas said that his team was "sleeping" on strategy, a suggestion that Wolff refuted. "I just spoke to Valtteri," Wolff said when asked about his driver's comments. "I don't think we were sleeping, but I accept his perspective. I think we just had the slower car today, and we just admit that.
Did I miss the verdict on Hamilton speeding into the pit lane... it is just being ignored... well... because. i also think it’s funny that the minute anyone challenges Merc... it’s questioned if they’re cheating. No one seems to have any issue with absolutely dominating for years and years. No seems interested in how or why or if any questions should be asked. The minute Ferrari step up last year... everyone loses their minds. It’s just odd to me.
Because majority of the F1 media is British, they would never throw Merc under the bus. The thing that annoyed me the most about the whole Ferrari engine debacle last year, was that it was a literal witch hunt with NO EVIDENCE. All I heard every weekend was assumptions and guesses by Red Bull and Mercedes how Ferrari did what they did. The only way FIA was able find anything on the Ferrari car was most likely by some shady means, that is the reason why that settlement was made. Compare this to the Racing Point situation where the evidence is evident, and yet they can still run their cars (at least for now). Toto crying about the other teams now ganging up on RP is the epitome of hypocrisy, when his team was one of the leading parties on the Ferrari witch hunt in 2019. Ferrari's engine was apparently so OP last season according to Merc supporters, yet now Merc has an even better one. Having a better engine than one that was "cheating" is just great British engineering apparently, nothing odd about it at all. It's like 100m runner beating a record set by a known drug cheater and claiming he did it totally clean.
Seb spun again, what else is new. His last season in F1 can’t come soon enough. Meanwhile Leclerc drove an impossible 1-stop...
Well that was an interesting race. Congrats to Vers for taking control of RBs strategy and pushing the mercs hard enough to trash their tyres. Masterful. Good to know that the Merc Achilles heel is high heat and soft tyres. Let’s hope for more of that combination in the coming weeks. Leclerc - great race today. Outperformed his car and for that he deserves a lot of credit. 2 weeks in a row as well... Albon - great race also. Some of the best over takes off the race and real commitment to get on it. Hulk - first race in the Pink Mercs, and schooled stroll all race. Nice job. Back to retirement with a smile. Vettel and Ric - oh dear. Enough said.
QUOTE: I also think it’s funny that the minute anyone challenges Merc... it’s questioned if they’re cheating. No one seems to have any issue with absolutely dominating for years and years. No seems interested in how or why or if any questions should be asked. The minute Ferrari step up last year... everyone loses their minds. It’s just odd to me.[/QUOTE] I completely understand your comment but sadly it's not odd at all. During the telecast David Croft makes a crack that Alfa Romeo started the first GP 70 years ago occupying the first four slots on the grid. Today they are on the back row. What grid positions are the British cars on? (not counting the ones running German or French engines). Perhaps I'm overly sensative on the subject but I'm not impressed how Sky Sports UK doesn't pass on the opportunity to throw jabs at the struggling Italians. Vettel: va via adesso per l'amore di dio.
Absolutely. I've lost count how many times Lewis was being beaten then he comes on the radio accusing others of cheating, or saying his car is broken (today as a special treat, he did both!). All he needs to do is plant the thought in his fans' heads, and they'll take it as gospel.
Nuts. Surely the stewards had this info available to them when it occurred. What is the historical precedent for this violation? Bottas was 8 seconds behind at the finish, so a 5 second penalty would be meaningless.
depends on the speed...if it's 1kph over then 5 seconds is added. A significant overspeed is met with a higher penalty, 10 seconds to a stop and go...
Yep. As someone quoted earlier(not verbatim) Rules. Paragraph 14 Article 6 sub-title C: Any British driver exceeding pit lane entry speed will NOT be penalized or investigated (this is of course a joke)