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F1_Ernie

It was clear Hamilton, barring a big error, had no chance of catching Vettel from about 17 laps to go. I found it deeply irritating that it formed the narrative (on Sky UK at least) for the whole last part of the race: He's 15 seconds behind with 10 laps to go and catching about a second on average...

F1_Ernie

Mercedes qualifying advantage may deliver Hamilton the title. Particularly if the Valterri train becomes a regular occurance. Starts will be critical to Vettel winning the title. Bottas had an issue in the first stint. His team admittes this. He also have some more over heating issues early on in t...

F1_Ernie

Mercedes qualifying advantage may deliver Hamilton the title. Particularly if the Valterri train becomes a regular occurance. Starts will be critical to Vettel winning the title. Bottas had an issue in the first stint. His team admittes this. He also have some more over heating issues early on in t...

F1_Ernie

F1Tyrant wrote:
sandman1347 wrote:Pitting first won Vettel this race.
Slow Bottas won Vettel this race IMO.

Just pit Bottas when Verstappen pitted a lap later than Vettel. Others react while Mercedes are still in the tea room.

F1_Ernie

Mercedes are going to have lost 2 out of 3 races they've had to compete with another team. I think we may see a #1/#2 strategy from now on. I don't expect the triple world champion to be the #2. I don't understand the start where Bottas was slow, he was ridiculously slow and surely Mercedes could s...

F1_Ernie

Vettels well happy with 2 number two drivers haha

F1_Ernie

Softs?

F1_Ernie

Surely pit Hamilton asap so he don't have as much time to make up?

F1_Ernie

At the start I don't understand why Mercedes didn't pit Bottas to softs a lap later than Vettel to react to him. Bottas is better on the softs and it would of let Hamilton have some fresh air.

F1_Ernie

Ocon wrote:Bottas has issues with tyres.

Then surely Mercedes should of made the decision soon then? It was obvious enough when there's 5 cars following including a couple of Redbulls.

F1_Ernie

mikeyg123 wrote:It's too late now. Gap's 6 seconds. The head honchos had a tough decision and bottled it.

Yep I agree, too late but you never know.

F1_Ernie

At last, Mercedes was costing their only slim chance of the win.

F1_Ernie

Bottas doesn't need to save the tyres, he has to pit. Your on SS so you can go as fast as you can.

F1_Ernie

neek wrote:Silly move HAM, what was he thinking :/

TBH Merc should of pitted one of their cars earlier anyway. They reacted to late.

F1_Ernie

Hamilton needs 2nd to stop Vettel pulling away too much.

F1_Ernie

Herb Tarlik wrote:
F1Tyrant wrote:Hamilton on a one stop?
Both Mercedes are.

Bottas can't be his on SS, he needs to put the softs on. Same as Vettel.

F1_Ernie

kleefton wrote:lewis doesn't have to stop again, does he?

Sitting on the train might make the difference though.

F1_Ernie

Herb Tarlik wrote:Bottas does not have to stop again, Vettel does. Different strategies at play.

Bottas on SS, Vettel on older tyres.

F1_Ernie

SDLRob wrote:Definitely a penalty coming for Lewis.... clearly slowed Riccardo down coming into the pits

Before the pits is fine, it's the pit lane which is the problem I think.

F1_Ernie

F1Tyrant wrote:
Andy2402 wrote:Let's see if bottas can stay with vettel here
Watch Bottas get left for dead...

F1_Ernie

Different tyres for Bottas and Hamilton.

F1_Ernie

Vettels got the race in the bag now.

F1_Ernie

Merc got lucky, Bottas was so slow he had a 6 car train. They should of let Hamilton go.

F1_Ernie

Merc should let Hamilton go, they can't afford to hold him up.

F1_Ernie

Well played Ferrari

F1_Ernie

Even the red bulls are keeping up at the end of the train.

F1_Ernie

The Bottas train is on.

F1_Ernie

Look at that Ferrari, very nice.

F1_Ernie

Coulthard says Bottas would rather have Vettel behind him than Hamilton, you sure mate? I would rather have Hamilton.

F1_Ernie

As Kimi said last year, these guys all have GPS traces and they can see how the Merc suddenly peps up in final qualifying. Pat may have left Williams this year but I'm fairly confident he still has more inside knowledge than anyone on these forums. Mercedes definitely do have a Q3 engine setting, I...

F1_Ernie

As long as if Hamilton isn't the leading Merc round turn 1 I reckon Vettel will be really confident for the win.
If Bottas is leading I can't see him pulling away from Hamilton and Vettel. Will make interesting viewing on Mercs strategy.

F1_Ernie

Do the teams turn down their engines for practice sessions, Q1 and Q2? Does this not influence the Q3 setting? What about the driver who is probably putting in his ultimate lap in Q3, I have heard many times how the drivers at the top hold something back, the top teams are guaranteed to get through...

F1_Ernie

Do the teams turn down their engines for practice sessions, Q1 and Q2? Does this not influence the Q3 setting? What about the driver who is probably putting in his ultimate lap in Q3, I have heard many times how the drivers at the top hold something back, the top teams are guaranteed to get through ...

F1_Ernie

As Kimi said last year, these guys all have GPS traces and they can see how the Merc suddenly peps up in final qualifying. Pat may have left Williams this year but I'm fairly confident he still has more inside knowledge than anyone on these forums. Mercedes definitely do have a Q3 engine setting, I...

F1_Ernie

Bahrain

01. Hamilton
02. Vettel
03. Bottas
04. Raikkonen
05. Ricciardo
06. Verstappen
07. Massa
08. Perez
09. Sainz
10. Grosjean

F1_Ernie

To Hamilton: “The important thing is to get to the transition point, the inter-to-dry-point. We suspect that will be lap 6.”

That was Mercedes thinking just before the race start.

F1_Ernie

Kimi losing 27 seconds I think was due to him having terrible pace on the in lap and on the new tyres. I'm not taking the lap splits, I'm taking pretty much the last data point before pitting and the first stabilized point after pitting. Looking at the stop you refer I get Verstappen 39 behind > 14...

F1_Ernie

It is still unknown whether the track was quicker for slicks, a good post previously noted that Hulkenbergs fastest lap on lap 3 with slicks was due to his position on track under the VSC and not tyre performance. Look at my previous reply - I'm not looking at anything else than Vettel vs Hamilton ...

F1_Ernie

That's just your opinion it was the right choice to pit under the VSC. There's no evidence to prove it either way. Vettel himself said it was a gamble I have Vettel faster than Hamilton in L3 S3, and tying Hamilton in L4 S1. Then SC came. Given the wettest part of the track was probably the S/F str...

F1_Ernie

I just watched the race again and after the VSC they would of been lucky to both even get a sector done because the SC came out straight away. There was nothing I saw in the race at that point to gamble for slicks for a driver fighting for the race win. As I said: drivers feel the track, they can d...

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