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For me,

Leclerc, Norris & Hulk

I'd echo that. I'm tempted to give a vote to Max given how he made the car look so much better that Gasly did, but I'm not sure whether he was at fault for Sainz getting his puncture. In any event, I think Leclerc, Norris and Hulk were very impressive.

Vettel was very poor today. If not for his brain fade he'd have had a chance for the win.

Leclerc!

Leclerc sound the obvious choice, but then he didn't make a good start.

UnlikeUday wrote:For me,

Leclerc, Norris & Hulk

likewise

Asphalt_World wrote:Leclerc sound the obvious choice, but then he didn't make a good start.

I have been a bit harsh on Leclerc recently, but no matter what his start was like, he was easily the best out there this weekend. He is my top choice for this. Noris and Hulkenberg were also really good

Norris and Leclerk.

Leclerc. Didn't really think Norris was that special to be honest. The car was quick and I think Sainz would have finished well ahead of him had he not had that collision.

TheGiantHogweed wrote:

Asphalt_World wrote:Leclerc sound the obvious choice, but then he didn't make a good start.

I have been a bit harsh on Leclerc recently, but no matter what his start was like, he was easily the best out there this weekend. He is my top choice for this. Noris and Hulkenberg were also really good

I voted for Leclerc, but feel obliged to point out that even though he was easily the quickest out there, that doesn't automatically make him the best. There were some comparable performances from drivers who didn't have the best equipment

Dominant Leclerc will end Vettel's career, we won't know how good he is until he races a better team mate

Norris is the real deal, for a guy in his second F1 race both his attack (the overtakes) and his defence (keeping Raikonnen behind) mark him out

Battle Far wrote:Dominant Leclerc will end Vettel's career, we won't know how good he is until he races a better team mate

Norris is the real deal, for a guy in his second F1 race both his attack (the overtakes) and his defence (keeping Raikonnen behind) mark him out

If he can consistently beat his 4 time WDC teammate he's frankly guaranteed to go down as an all time great. It wont take long for us to know if Leclerc is the real deal.

i went for noris, Hulkenberg and Leclerc. Leclerc being the main standout. Incredibly unlucky. It was so impressive how he coped on the podium. I do almost wonder if drivers would prefer not to even celebrate after something like that.

There was a lack of penalties this race. This may suit some people. But Giovinassi on Kvyat was Giovinassi 100% and it somewhat ruined Kvyat's race.

Stroll certainly should have got a penalty for punting Grosjean out of the race. Penalties were too strict at one point. Like when Bottas got a drive through and 2 penalty points for spinning Hamilton at the first corner here in 2016. But Stroll gets nothing for doing far more damage.

Then with Verstappen and Sainz. I would blame Verstappen for this easily. No penalty at all isn't harsh enough. The punishment should be somewhere inbetween last year and now.

Vettel had a good start and a reasonable first part of the race. I don't know what caused that spin, but it didn't exactly look to be that clumsy to me.. Although it seems to happen with him more than anyone else. But what I don't understand is how his wing broke off. That was unlucky and he did reasonably well after that too. But certainly now what I would call a good weekend from him.

Leclerc was in charge the whole weekend. He made up for his start really fast indeed. That problem was just so unlucky after the performance he put in. He coped so well on the podium.

Bottas was really inconsistent today. But Hamilton really needs to work on his starts or he's in trouble at tracks that are hard to overtake. But Bottas soon made a mistake and was up and down from then on. I just don't think he coped with the windy conditions anywhere near as well as Hamilton. I still have got this feeling he's better than last year. He was very strong in qualifying and when he was fighting for position, he looks to have far more aggression than before. Hope he will be better in China.

Battle Far wrote:Dominant Leclerc will end Vettel's career, we won't know how good he is until he races a better team mate

Norris is the real deal, for a guy in his second F1 race both his attack (the overtakes) and his defence (keeping Raikonnen behind) mark him out

???

We won't know how good Leclerc is until he races someone better than a 4x WDC?

Yet we already know that Norris is the "real deal"? Hmmmmmmmm.

Leclerc and Hamilton were good. So were Norris and Hulk and Max. The difference in race pace between Lec and Ham probably reflects the Ferrari advantage, with both drivers roughly equal. They had comparable performances.

Went for Leclerc and Hamilton, Hamilton had to pass Bottas and Vettel to benefit from Leclerc's misfortune otherwise the win should really have been a gift for Vettel.

Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen. Leclerc showed remarkable maturity to come back after a dodgy start to coolly take his position back and was clearly the fastest driver. Hamilton showed his pitbull tenacity when he eventually had the car underneath him on mediums to harass Vettel into a mistake. The Red Bull is not sorted yet but still Bottas had to work to get past Max in a slower car.

Yeah, Max is showing consistently excellent race pace and has been doing so for ages now. Gasly has been rubbish though so he's probably going to make Max look especially good, and Max will make Gasly look especially bad.

Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris.

Leclerc the obvious candidate, absolutely gutted for the lad. His time will come though, and probably come sooner rather than later.

Hamilton did exactly what he had to do in the slower car and was there to pick up the pieces when it all turned to custard for Ferrari. Won the battle at the right time with Vettel (and looked quicker on the mediums at that point) thus ensuring even without Vettel's mishap that he would be in the right place when Leclerc's H failed.

Norris looked the part today, though with Sainz's own adventures we probably dont know exactly just how much of it might have been the car. Keeping a DRS driven Kimi at bay at the end for 6th was good though.

Thought about Hulk, but I think he was somewhat flattered by starting so far back compared to where he should have been, and then had that compounded with the strategy choice for his team mate.... 1 stop never looked remotely on, no idea why they went down that road with Ricciardo.

Leclerc and Hamilton for me

Invade wrote:Yeah, Max is showing consistently excellent race pace and has been doing so for ages now. Gasly has been rubbish though so he's probably going to make Max look especially good, and Max will make Gasly look especially bad.

And ultimately we won't learn much about either. The Ricciardo vs Hulk clash might teach us more about Verstappen.

A number of standout drives today

Leclerc, obviously
Hamilton for mixing it with the Ferraris when I didn't think the car was up to it
Verstappen for mixing it with the top four in what looks like a midfield car in his team mate's hands
Hulkenberg for a brilliant recovery drive from 17th
Norris for a superb 6th place finish

Tough to choose, but I'll go for Leclerc

Leclerc, Hamilton and Kimi.

Leclerc, superb race and never got flustered at the start when losing 2 places which he gained them back and was the fastest driver out there, had everything under control until the issue. Hamilton had a good race, Vettel has carried on from last season and Bottas has gone back to normal with bad race pace and could have been used as a road block again.

TheGiantHogweed wrote: But what I don't understand is how his wing broke off. That was unlucky and he did reasonably well after that too.

His wing broke off because the spin flat spotted his tyres leading to excessive vibration. There is a front shot showing the moment it broke off and both front and rear wings are vibrating heavily.

TheGiantHogweed wrote:i went for noris, Hulkenberg and Leclerc. Leclerc being the main standout. Incredibly unlucky. It was so impressive how he coped on the podium. I do almost wonder if drivers would prefer not to even celebrate after something like that.

There was a lack of penalties this race. This may suit some people. But Giovinassi on Kvyat was Giovinassi 100% and it somewhat ruined Kvyat's race.

Stroll certainly should have got a penalty for punting Grosjean out of the race. Penalties were too strict at one point. Like when Bottas got a drive through and 2 penalty points for spinning Hamilton at the first corner here in 2016. But Stroll gets nothing for doing far more damage.

Then with Verstappen and Sainz. I would blame Verstappen for this easily. No penalty at all isn't harsh enough. The punishment should be somewhere inbetween last year and now.

Vettel had a good start and a reasonable first part of the race. I don't know what caused that spin, but it didn't exactly look to be that clumsy to me.. Although it seems to happen with him more than anyone else. But what I don't understand is how his wing broke off. That was unlucky and he did reasonably well after that too. But certainly now what I would call a good weekend from him.

Leclerc was in charge the whole weekend. He made up for his start really fast indeed. That problem was just so unlucky after the performance he put in. He coped so well on the podium.

Bottas was really inconsistent today. But Hamilton really needs to work on his starts or he's in trouble at tracks that are hard to overtake. But Bottas soon made a mistake and was up and down from then on. I just don't think he coped with the windy conditions anywhere near as well as Hamilton. I still have got this feeling he's better than last year. He was very strong in qualifying and when he was fighting for position, he looks to have far more aggression than before. Hope he will be better in China.

What a shock

Drivers of the day were Leclerc, Verstappen and Hulk.

TedStriker wrote:

TheGiantHogweed wrote: But what I don't understand is how his wing broke off. That was unlucky and he did reasonably well after that too.

His wing broke off because the spin flat spotted his tyres leading to excessive vibration. There is a front shot showing the moment it broke off and both front and rear wings are vibrating heavily.

Yeah, the car was vibrating like mad, was a bit reckless going that fast down the straight to be honest because there is no way Vettel wasn't getting rattled to within an inch of his life doing it. As ever with these things though, he has the devils luck when it could end his race but doesnt.... you see front wings coming off like that and wedging under the front wheels more often than not, usually sending you straight to the barriers.... not so today, could have been so much worse for him.

Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris for me.

Leclerc, I mean what can you say, he looked flawless and untouchable from basically q1 and all the way up to the time his engine failed. I can't wait to see how that intrateam battle will develop in China. If he beats Vettel again, then Ferrari may have a problem on their hands in terms of team harmony.

Lewis's main weakness as a driver has to be his starts. But he managed to regain the position with Bottas, and then passed Vettel. Pace was strong and once he got by Seb he started to make inroads on Leclerc, though he was never catching him without the failure. But Lewis is on quite a roll now with picking up the pieces when others fail. It's incredible how many races he has won recently that he really shouldn't have.

Norris and Mclaren looked very strong in the midfield. But I would have loved to see what Sainz could have done if his race wasn't ruined by his incident with Verstappen. He actually looked very racey and quick before that.

I was also impressed with the drive from Hulkenberg, who cannot catch a break ever it seems. I thought Ricciardo defended him too hard and damaged his front wing in the process. Hulkenberg is making Ricciardo look a little bit weak right now. That is so unexpected.

I gave Sainz his vote because of how much crap he got last race - not to mention all the praise Norris is getting for his race when sainz was a long way ahead of him before the incident which lets face it was clearly a classic verstappen move

FormulaFun wrote:I gave Sainz his vote because of how much crap he got last race - not to mention all the praise Norris is getting for his race when sainz was a long way ahead of him before the incident which lets face it was clearly a classic verstappen move

Eh, I think DiResta called it well when he said that Sainz didn't leave quite enough room.... Verstappen certainly had to take to the kerb, and the second you bounce off of those at that close proximity there is only ever going to be one outcome. Nothing more than a racing incident (even with the last few years standard of stewarding compared to the more laid back approach weve seen this year) though it certainly sucked big time for Sainz.

FormulaFun wrote:I gave Sainz his vote because of how much crap he got last race - not to mention all the praise Norris is getting for his race when sainz was a long way ahead of him before the incident which lets face it was clearly a classic verstappen move

I don't really understand what you expect Verstappen to do differently. He was squeezed onto the curb and that bounced him into Sainz. It's not like he wanted to be up there.

Flash2k11 wrote:

FormulaFun wrote:I gave Sainz his vote because of how much crap he got last race - not to mention all the praise Norris is getting for his race when sainz was a long way ahead of him before the incident which lets face it was clearly a classic verstappen move

Eh, I think DiResta called it well when he said that Sainz didn't leave quite enough room.... Verstappen certainly had to take to the kerb, and the second you bounce off of those at that close proximity there is only ever going to be one outcome. Nothing more than a racing incident (even with the last few years standard of stewarding compared to the more laid back approach weve seen this year) though it certainly sucked big time for Sainz.

It's just the way Max drives though isn't it? That could have easily ended in tears for Max as well. He's still not past the stage where every battle is life or death for him. If he finds himself in a title fight, his current mentality will hurt his chances severely.

I've also plumped for Leclerc. He made up for his tardy start in some style and had the race pretty much under control until his engine issue. Kudos to Hamilton for his efforts to keep the Ferraris honest and a nod to Norris for his recovery from a poor start (though it's a shame that Sainz was denied the opportunity to show whether his Macca could genuinely contend with Verstappen's RB over a race distance).

sandman1347 wrote:

Flash2k11 wrote:

FormulaFun wrote:I gave Sainz his vote because of how much crap he got last race - not to mention all the praise Norris is getting for his race when sainz was a long way ahead of him before the incident which lets face it was clearly a classic verstappen move

Eh, I think DiResta called it well when he said that Sainz didn't leave quite enough room.... Verstappen certainly had to take to the kerb, and the second you bounce off of those at that close proximity there is only ever going to be one outcome. Nothing more than a racing incident (even with the last few years standard of stewarding compared to the more laid back approach weve seen this year) though it certainly sucked big time for Sainz.

It's just the way Max drives though isn't it? That could have easily ended in tears for Max as well. He's still not past the stage where every battle is life or death for him. If he finds himself in a title fight, his current mentality will hurt his chances severely.

Yeah it's quite curious how Sainz shoulders all the blame, maybe in part because it was his car that got damaged, but if it had been Verstappen's car that got damaged would we be saying it's all Sainz's fault?

pokerman wrote:

sandman1347 wrote:

Flash2k11 wrote:

FormulaFun wrote:I gave Sainz his vote because of how much crap he got last race - not to mention all the praise Norris is getting for his race when sainz was a long way ahead of him before the incident which lets face it was clearly a classic verstappen move

Eh, I think DiResta called it well when he said that Sainz didn't leave quite enough room.... Verstappen certainly had to take to the kerb, and the second you bounce off of those at that close proximity there is only ever going to be one outcome. Nothing more than a racing incident (even with the last few years standard of stewarding compared to the more laid back approach weve seen this year) though it certainly sucked big time for Sainz.

It's just the way Max drives though isn't it? That could have easily ended in tears for Max as well. He's still not past the stage where every battle is life or death for him. If he finds himself in a title fight, his current mentality will hurt his chances severely.

Yeah it's quite curious how Sainz shoulders all the blame, maybe in part because it was his car that got damaged, but if it had been Verstappen's car that got damaged would we be saying it's all Sainz's fault?

Well it was so....

Leclerc, Norris, Raikkonen, and special shout out to Magnussen. He was brilliant all weekend until gremlins reared their heads.

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

sandman1347 wrote:

Flash2k11 wrote:

FormulaFun wrote:I gave Sainz his vote because of how much crap he got last race - not to mention all the praise Norris is getting for his race when sainz was a long way ahead of him before the incident which lets face it was clearly a classic verstappen move

Eh, I think DiResta called it well when he said that Sainz didn't leave quite enough room.... Verstappen certainly had to take to the kerb, and the second you bounce off of those at that close proximity there is only ever going to be one outcome. Nothing more than a racing incident (even with the last few years standard of stewarding compared to the more laid back approach weve seen this year) though it certainly sucked big time for Sainz.

It's just the way Max drives though isn't it? That could have easily ended in tears for Max as well. He's still not past the stage where every battle is life or death for him. If he finds himself in a title fight, his current mentality will hurt his chances severely.

Yeah it's quite curious how Sainz shoulders all the blame, maybe in part because it was his car that got damaged, but if it had been Verstappen's car that got damaged would we be saying it's all Sainz's fault?

Well it was so....

Well I think like Brazil last year we would be questioning his decision making?

pokerman wrote: Well I think like Brazil last year we would be questioning his decision making?

They're two completely separate incidents? I don't get the link? Verstappen was squeezed onto the curb which bounced him into Sainz. Not much he can do about that one.

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote: Well I think like Brazil last year we would be questioning his decision making?

They're two completely separate incidents? I don't get the link? Verstappen was squeezed onto the curb which bounced him into Sainz. Not much he can do about that one.

Still caused by being aggressive in defence and trying to out brake Sainz, if you are prepared to risk contact then it will not always end well.

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote: Well I think like Brazil last year we would be questioning his decision making?

They're two completely separate incidents? I don't get the link? Verstappen was squeezed onto the curb which bounced him into Sainz. Not much he can do about that one.

Still caused by being aggressive in defence and trying to out brake Sainz, if you are prepared to risk contact then it will not always end well.

He did what so many others did yesterday and wasn't particularly aggressive. I don't think Verstappen should be criticised because he fought for his position.

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote: Well I think like Brazil last year we would be questioning his decision making?

They're two completely separate incidents? I don't get the link? Verstappen was squeezed onto the curb which bounced him into Sainz. Not much he can do about that one.

Still caused by being aggressive in defence and trying to out brake Sainz, if you are prepared to risk contact then it will not always end well.

He did what so many others did yesterday and wasn't particularly aggressive. I don't think Verstappen should be criticised because he fought for his position.

I don't think you can really judge that which relates to high late he chose to brake?