I think Grosjean is a lot like Jari Mari Latvala in WRC. Their level of performance in based almost entirely on their confidence in the car and it's setup/handling. Leading to some brilliants drives but also some that are just utterly awful.
I think the real problem for Stroll is that he lost the PR battle over "spoiled rich kid bought his way into F1" so hard that he's only just beginning to recover
I think a lot of people out there in the more casual F1 fan scene see Lawrence Stroll buying one team after another to get his son a free seat and assume it's because his son sucks, when in actual fact pretty much everybody in F1 comes from wealthy backgrounds. It's inherently a rich boy sport and Stroll is not unique in having money open doors for him, but the way the Netflix documentary was presented, you'd think he was the only silver spoon in the whole grid.
I was at the Canadian GP his debut year. There is a Lance Stroll Grandstand. Stroll hats being given away everywhere. In the main tent where they had all the teams merch, there was a separate Stroll section that was larger than most the teams. It was almost Lonzo Ball levels of fake hype nonsense.
I mean, he's the first Canadian driver since Villenueve I think. I'd be surprised if they weren't going hard on merchandising.
Just a minor heads up. Checked the times for the race and it starts an hour earlier than normal (13:10 BST) this week. Quali still starts at the "normal" time.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Honestly, though, to be fair to Stroll, he's pretty unremarkable, but he's not a bad driver. He's definitely not the worst on the field.
From Racing Point's perspective, he's an easy choice because his dad brings in massive funding, and he's not wrecking your car.
If he was better at qualifying he would be decent.
One lap pace is one of the hardest things to do in an F1 car, driving it constantly at the edge for a full lap. A lot of middle tier drivers have decent race pace but aren't good qualifiers.
I think the real problem for Stroll is that he lost the PR battle over "spoiled rich kid bought his way into F1" so hard that he's only just beginning to recover
I think a lot of people out there in the more casual F1 fan scene see Lawrence Stroll buying one team after another to get his son a free seat and assume it's because his son sucks, when in actual fact pretty much everybody in F1 comes from wealthy backgrounds. It's inherently a rich boy sport and Stroll is not unique in having money open doors for him, but the way the Netflix documentary was presented, you'd think he was the only silver spoon in the whole grid.
Even Lewis Hamilton, who probably comes from the least wealth of almost anyone on the grid, comes from a pretty decent upper middle class upbringing. His dad having to work multiple jobs to cover his early racing career says a lot more about the cost of the sport than it does about the Hamilton's general economic situation when he was young.
Hell of a lap from Leclerc, Ferrari seem to have improved all round though. I was probably most impressed with Vettel's first lap. He may have lost out in the end but he nailed that one. A pity he messed up the second.
Disappointed with Merc. Hamilton just about got onto the first row, Bottas was nowhere.
McLaren still putting in good performances as best of the rest.
Ricciardo starts from the back. If how what happened is the way the team explains it is true, that is some weird nit picky rules lawyering. I wonder what happened though from the steward’s perspective. So weird.
Honestly found the sky coverage really annoying immediately after quali. Like ffs, dude got got a bit loose second time around and couldn't improve on an already very good first lap. Happens all the god damn time.
The pre race isnt much better "Is it important to be in the lead after the first corner?" It has been entertaining listening to how everyone reply by basically asking "Are you an idiot?", but it is also more than a bit annoying.
Hamilton doesn’t currently have the pace on the hards. Didn’t have the pace to keep with Verstappen before the SC either. Strategy screwups are going to cost them dearly today.
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think Ferrari did anything wrong by Leclerc. Yes, pitting Vettel first probably cost Leclerc the win, but it is also probably what gave Ferrari the 1-2 instead of the 1-3.
I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think Ferrari did anything wrong by Leclerc. Yes, pitting Vettel first probably cost Leclerc the win, but it is also probably what gave Ferrari the 1-2 instead of the 1-3.
I agree. This is racing. And it also shows a little how young Charles really is. The constant complaining didnt make him look good to be honest.
So yeah, as a Hamilton fan I'm a bit pissed with Merc's strategy today. Singapore is known to be a track where track position is king. It's almost as bad as Monaco for it. The undercut was known to be powerful. The guy behind you and within the window to undercut you just pitted a lap earlier. The guy in front of you pits the lap after. Why the hell do you stay out for several laps after that?! Should have been in the lap after Vettel no matter what happened. The only possibilities were: 1. A safety car giving you a 'cheap' pit stop, which is essentially just gambling or 2. Everyone else is two stopping, which if it were a possibility was compeltely nullified by the safety cars later on. The worst case scenario for pitting with Leclerc is that you come out in third with the same tyres as everyone else, instead Hamilton ended up 4th and probably would have been 5th if they didn't hold Bottas off.
Glad Vettel got a win though. Solid race from him really. I know it'll mostly be attributed to strategy but he still drove a stong outlap to put himself in that position.
+1
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
I assume Mercedes expected Ferrari to be two stopping and knew their tyre degradation is better than Ferrari's. The second pair of safety cars ruined that, but if it had been a correct guess they'd have looked like geniuses.
I think this race was helped a lot for me by just being able to watch the highlights on C4. Because there was at least plenty going on in the midfield, more than I can really comment on. Glad Giovinazzi managed to scrape a points finish eventually, it was cool to see him leading briefly, even if it was because of others stopping.
Raps on the knuckles for Ricciardo and doubly so for Grosjean.
Up front, strategy calls and lack of on-track overtakes notwithstanding, it looks like Ferrari's upgrades have paid dividends. That car looked very, very strong today on a track where it should have been unfancied.
The standings post-race made for interesting reading too. Give Hamilton the championship trophy now, that's damn near done; but Leclerc and Verstappen on exactly the same points tally with Vettel only slightly behind, and all three within shouting distance of Bottas (right on top of him if he has a DNF). And a cluster of drivers further down on similar scores to each other too. There's still a bunch to play for.
Merc's position on Bottas was interesting really. When he'd undercut Hamilton, he was told to back off and 'conserve tyres'. It's possible that Merc genuinely thought tyre wear would be an issue in the race, and Bottas is known to be bad for it, but the impression was very much that he was told to go slow so as to not pass Hamilton after the pitstops. It very much suggests that Merc see the threat to the championship coming from the Ferraris rather than Bottas, despite his current second place in the championship. Then again it might just have been covering their weak strategy with Hamilton, and there's no point having fresher tyres if you're stuck behind your teammate.
At any rate, it looks more and more like Merc are limping to this title. What was worrying here is that Ferrari (and possibly RB) had better race pace as well as quali pace.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
They wanted him to slow down to prevent Albon from getting the undercut on Hamilton. Bottas was doing 1:45s at the time, and he was asked to slow down by more than 3 seconds a lap. During all this, Albon is clinging to the back of Bottas' gearbox. If Bottas continued to push there was a very real risk Hamilton ends up behind Albon. It was Mercedes trying to bandaid their bad strategy call. If they'd allowed Bottas to continue to push, that would have allowed Albon to push too.
And didn't they explicitly tell him to slow down, so that Hamilton could stay in front of him, because "this is good for the team" or something? Like, they didn't try to mask it with "conserve tyres", but just plain told him to stay back for the good of the team.
Anyways. Great to see Ferrari up top again, even if it won't matter for the drivers championship and probably not even for the constructors championship this year.
And didn't they explicitly tell him to slow down, so that Hamilton could stay in front of him, because "this is good for the team" or something? Like, they didn't try to mask it with "conserve tyres", but just plain told him to stay back for the good of the team.
Anyways. Great to see Ferrari up top again, even if it won't matter for the drivers championship and probably not even for the constructors championship this year.
The radio quality seems to be getting worse and worse to be honest, so I didn't catch exactly the wording.
This is the radio message in question, if you want to listen to it again to try to hear. But yeah, they definitely didn't super-disguise it, especially since James specifically delivered the request himself.
Is it just me or does this still read as whiny? If I am Mattia Binotto, I sit the kid down and tell him in no uncertain terms to quit the whining and get back to racing. Besides, there was no point after the pitstops where he seriously challenged Vettel.
Besides, there was no point after the pitstops where he seriously challenged Vettel.
I mean, obviously. They are in the same car on a circuit that needs a two second pace advantage to pass. That doesn't discredit Leclerc or mean Vettel earned the win on merit.
Vettel was handed the win by Ferrari, there's no ignoring that.
Dhalphir on
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
Ferrari definitely engineered that win for Seb. If the rumors are to be believed Seb and Ferrari had a performance clause where they could release Seb/he could leave if he didn't win a race. That said, Charles should enjoy his second and know that his last two wins were greatly aided by Seb being a team player. The radio after the race was telling. Binotto basically told him to go enjoy the podium with his team and when he started to complain Binotto cut him off and told him "Punto", basically "That's enough, go do it now".
Now Merc...what the hell was that. Hamilton had every right to call them out after that race. For all their brilliance as a team, in every area (including strategy) every so often they lay a strategic egg. I think it is so much more pronounced when they do because they so rarely fumble the ball. That said, they are still so far clear in both championships I can understand the conservative thinking. I expect them to bounce back at Sochi, and definitely at Suzuka where Hamilton is a maestro.
My dream scenario is that at least one of the championships will go to Austin so I can see it won in person
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
The green knob the driver twisted a couple of times? Likely front-rear brake balance.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
It's brake bias, yes. By the labels left is rearward bias, right is forward. Brake bias is one of the most quintessential tools in a race car. Nearly every car, at every level of competition, amateur or pro, will have it. It's one of the few nearly ubiquitous adjustments.
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I mean, he's the first Canadian driver since Villenueve I think. I'd be surprised if they weren't going hard on merchandising.
One lap pace is one of the hardest things to do in an F1 car, driving it constantly at the edge for a full lap. A lot of middle tier drivers have decent race pace but aren't good qualifiers.
Even Lewis Hamilton, who probably comes from the least wealth of almost anyone on the grid, comes from a pretty decent upper middle class upbringing. His dad having to work multiple jobs to cover his early racing career says a lot more about the cost of the sport than it does about the Hamilton's general economic situation when he was young.
Disappointed with Merc. Hamilton just about got onto the first row, Bottas was nowhere.
McLaren still putting in good performances as best of the rest.
Ricciardo starts from the back. If how what happened is the way the team explains it is true, that is some weird nit picky rules lawyering. I wonder what happened though from the steward’s perspective. So weird.
The strategy has to break it open.
edit: Let's see if Ferarri fucks up strategy again or manages it properly. Leclerc deserves every effort.
Edit: ok that’s overly cynical, but it should have been an instant call there.
Safety Car!
Glad Vettel got a win though. Solid race from him really. I know it'll mostly be attributed to strategy but he still drove a stong outlap to put himself in that position.
Raps on the knuckles for Ricciardo and doubly so for Grosjean.
Up front, strategy calls and lack of on-track overtakes notwithstanding, it looks like Ferrari's upgrades have paid dividends. That car looked very, very strong today on a track where it should have been unfancied.
The standings post-race made for interesting reading too. Give Hamilton the championship trophy now, that's damn near done; but Leclerc and Verstappen on exactly the same points tally with Vettel only slightly behind, and all three within shouting distance of Bottas (right on top of him if he has a DNF). And a cluster of drivers further down on similar scores to each other too. There's still a bunch to play for.
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At any rate, it looks more and more like Merc are limping to this title. What was worrying here is that Ferrari (and possibly RB) had better race pace as well as quali pace.
Anyways. Great to see Ferrari up top again, even if it won't matter for the drivers championship and probably not even for the constructors championship this year.
The radio quality seems to be getting worse and worse to be honest, so I didn't catch exactly the wording.
This is the radio message in question, if you want to listen to it again to try to hear. But yeah, they definitely didn't super-disguise it, especially since James specifically delivered the request himself.
https://streamable.com/osb4e
I’d say Sochi should be interesting, but I can’t remember any good races there. Bottas is usually quicker around that track though.
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Is it just me or does this still read as whiny? If I am Mattia Binotto, I sit the kid down and tell him in no uncertain terms to quit the whining and get back to racing. Besides, there was no point after the pitstops where he seriously challenged Vettel.
I mean, obviously. They are in the same car on a circuit that needs a two second pace advantage to pass. That doesn't discredit Leclerc or mean Vettel earned the win on merit.
Vettel was handed the win by Ferrari, there's no ignoring that.
Now Merc...what the hell was that. Hamilton had every right to call them out after that race. For all their brilliance as a team, in every area (including strategy) every so often they lay a strategic egg. I think it is so much more pronounced when they do because they so rarely fumble the ball. That said, they are still so far clear in both championships I can understand the conservative thinking. I expect them to bounce back at Sochi, and definitely at Suzuka where Hamilton is a maestro.
My dream scenario is that at least one of the championships will go to Austin so I can see it won in person
Well, now I want to know what the knob and switches are for.
NOS, so you get the cool lightspeed jump effect
whatd'ya mean F&F is unrealistic?
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