planetf1.com

For me,

Bottas, Vettel

Perez

Only one man today, great win Valtteri Bottas

Bottas.

Really pleased for him, excellent race.

So Hamilton gets a vote.

Has to be Bottas. Any first win gets you a vote and his performance today relative to his 3 time WDC teammate stamps home the award. Flawless performance!

Bottas for the great start and Vettel for providing the only piece of action.

UnlikeUday wrote:So Hamilton gets a vote.

Hamilton fans are a bit special

Has to be Bottas for me. Kept his cool under immense pressure from Vettel to win his first race. Well done! Honourable mention to Vettel for keeping up the pressure. Did Ferrari leave him out too long?

Don't really understand the votes for Kimi. He had the pace, as demonstrated by the fact that at times he was faster that the front two, but he was puzzlingly inconsistent. He should have been there at the front with Vettel attacking Bottas. Didn't get the max from his car and doesn't deserve DotD IMO

I'm even more puzzled by the vote for Hamilton. What did he do today that was evenly remotely impressive?

Bottas and Vettel for me.

Hamilton has a vote?

Superb weekend from Bottas .. solid in qualifying and super solid in the race. great stuff

Yep Bottas can be the one and only winner. He's bossed the weekend, crushed his team mate, jumped Vettel at the start and then held his nerve beautifully to gain a deserved first victory. If he keeps driving like this, Mercedes might be telling Hamilton to get out the way later in the season.

Bottas, Valtteri and Valtteri Bottas.

MasterRacer wrote:Yep Bottas can be the one and only winner. He's bossed the weekend, crushed his team mate, jumped Vettel at the start and then held his nerve beautifully to gain a deserved first victory. If he keeps driving like this, Mercedes might be telling Hamilton to get out the way later in the season.

Stop embarassing yourself.. this is your 2nd ridiculous post in the thread.. Enjoy your beer and quit posting cr*p

MasterRacer wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:So Hamilton gets a vote.

Hamilton fans are a bit special

Some drivers always get votes. Alonso has a vote too and he didn't even participate...

sandman1347 wrote:

MasterRacer wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:So Hamilton gets a vote.

Hamilton fans are a bit special

Some drivers always get votes. Alonso has a vote too and he didn't even participate...

Don't waste your time.. all they see and talk about is Hamilton..

Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

Bottas, Perez, Ocon. Vettel drove good, but should have stopped by lap 26-27 when he got 2.5sec behind Bottas

Bottas, this was his moment to show he's got race pace and well for sure he has! good first move and was clean all through the race, a sweet run for the lad, enjoy! ho and Seb nice little push in last few laps shame nothing came of it but his bid for champ this year is none to shabby for it.

Pullrod wrote:

sandman1347 wrote:

MasterRacer wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:So Hamilton gets a vote.

Hamilton fans are a bit special

Some drivers always get votes. Alonso has a vote too and he didn't even participate...

Don't waste your time.. all they see and talk about is Hamilton..

And Kimi has twice as many....

Easily Bottas. Beat an elite driver in a direct fight without a car advantage.

mikeyg123 wrote:

Pullrod wrote:

sandman1347 wrote:

MasterRacer wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:So Hamilton gets a vote.

Hamilton fans are a bit special

Some drivers always get votes. Alonso has a vote too and he didn't even participate...

Don't waste your time.. all they see and talk about is Hamilton..

And Kimi has twice as many....

yeah, both votes are pretty inexplicable

Easily Bottas, had the beating of Hamilton all weekend and won from third on the grid, plus he had the pace to win the race.

Bottas and Vettel obviously, going to go with Hulkenberg for my 3rd vote, honourable mention to Perez.

I'm going with Bottas and Vettel this time, with honorable mention to both Force India drivers -- I couldn't pick between them for a third vote, so I just left it with the first two.

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

The gap that Bottas opened up was just great driving by him and the fact he was in clean air. Towards the end of the stint Vettel started to reel him in; which probably forced Merc to pit Bottas. The Ferrari consistently outlasts Merc on a stint. To me that shows it is the better race car.

Bottas, got the job done early and had it from there.

Perez got my second vote. He deserves a better car.

kleefton wrote:

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

The gap that Bottas opened up was just great driving by him and the fact he was in clean air. Towards the end of the stint Vettel started to reel him in; which probably forced Merc to pit Bottas. The Ferrari consistently outlasts Merc on a stint. To me that shows it is the better race car.

Only with Vettel, though. Kimi pitted right after Bottas. Hard to say if it's car or driver

Race won with a great start and handling the pressure at the end. Congrats, Valterri!

Useless bit of trivia - the three immediately behind him have 8 WDCs between them. Not a bad way to win your first GP.

Bottas.

What an utterly boring race ....

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

I was thinking about Hamilton's pace relative to Raikkonen as well, he was faster on the ultra softs and probably had the pace to pass him on a better track layout and without his overheating problems. Once on the super softs though he made no impression at all and turned the engine down and settled for 4th. If they'd had the same relative pace in the second stint then I reckon Hamilton could have made up the time difference (was it 10sec or so?) in the remaining laps and at least put some pressure on for a podium. It's not in his nature to back off if there's any chance of gaining a position.

tootsie323 wrote:Race won with a great start and handling the pressure at the end. Congrats, Valterri!

Useless bit of trivia - the three immediately behind him have 8 WDCs between them. Not a bad way to win your first GP.

kleefton wrote:

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

The gap that Bottas opened up was just great driving by him and the fact he was in clean air. Towards the end of the stint Vettel started to reel him in; which probably forced Merc to pit Bottas. The Ferrari consistently outlasts Merc on a stint. To me that shows it is the better race car.

My thoughts exactly. It really was a great race victory

tootsie323 wrote:Race won with a great start and handling the pressure at the end. Congrats, Valterri!

Useless bit of trivia - the three immediately behind him have 8 WDCs between them. Not a bad way to win your first GP.

Good shout!

kleefton wrote:

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

The gap that Bottas opened up was just great driving by him and the fact he was in clean air. Towards the end of the stint Vettel started to reel him in; which probably forced Merc to pit Bottas. The Ferrari consistently outlasts Merc on a stint. To me that shows it is the better race car.

The gap that Bottas opened up was well done, but the Merc gave him the possibility to drive at that pace.
What good was it that the Ferrari outlasted the Merc on US tyres when it went slower during the stint, and then was no use because the SS tyres lasted vastly long enough for it not to be a problem to run 7 laps older tyres?

No, car advantage was Mercs. It had the pace to open up a gap big enough to be protected against an undercut, and it went well enough on the SS tyres (at least until Bottas flatspotted them, then it became a little bit more exciting than it could/should have been).

mds wrote:

kleefton wrote:

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

The gap that Bottas opened up was just great driving by him and the fact he was in clean air. Towards the end of the stint Vettel started to reel him in; which probably forced Merc to pit Bottas. The Ferrari consistently outlasts Merc on a stint. To me that shows it is the better race car.

The gap that Bottas opened up was well done, but the Merc gave him the possibility to drive at that pace.
What good was it that the Ferrari outlasted the Merc on US tyres when it went slower during the stint, and then was no use because the SS tyres lasted vastly long enough for it not to be a problem to run 7 laps older tyres?

No, car advantage was Mercs. It had the pace to open up a gap big enough to be protected against an undercut, and it went well enough on the SS tyres (at least until Bottas flatspotted them, then it became a little bit more exciting than it could/should have been).

Vettel was catching Bottas anyway....

mds wrote:

kleefton wrote:

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

The gap that Bottas opened up was just great driving by him and the fact he was in clean air. Towards the end of the stint Vettel started to reel him in; which probably forced Merc to pit Bottas. The Ferrari consistently outlasts Merc on a stint. To me that shows it is the better race car.

The gap that Bottas opened up was well done, but the Merc gave him the possibility to drive at that pace.
What good was it that the Ferrari outlasted the Merc on US tyres when it went slower during the stint, and then was no use because the SS tyres lasted vastly long enough for it not to be a problem to run 7 laps older tyres?

No, car advantage was Mercs. It had the pace to open up a gap big enough to be protected against an undercut, and it went well enough on the SS tyres (at least until Bottas flatspotted them, then it became a little bit more exciting than it could/should have been).

It's hard to say how the race would have unfolded had Bottas not been able to jump the Ferraris at the start. Maybe Vettel would have opened an equivalent gap had the roles been reversed.

Covalent wrote:

mds wrote:

kleefton wrote:

lamo wrote:

j man wrote:Has to Bottas for that superb start and keeping it together under pressure. The Ferrari seemed the faster race car today, they were far superior on the super softs.

Sadly it's hard to nominate anyone else when nothing noteworthy happened after the first lap. This race track is abysmal.

The Ferrari didn't seem the better race car to me, it seemed to be the Mercedes. Bottas opened up a 5 second lead in that opening stint half of which was lost in traffic. True to form though, the Ferrari was very kind on its tyres allowing it to run a shorter stint on the SS. I haven't run the numbers but you can't compare Bottas' pace to Vettels on the SS, his tyres were 7 laps older and I know degradation is minimal in Russia but it isn't none existent. Initially Vettel was only 0.3 a lap quicker too until Bottas had his double flat spot lap where he lost 1.5 seconds.

The gap that Bottas opened up was just great driving by him and the fact he was in clean air. Towards the end of the stint Vettel started to reel him in; which probably forced Merc to pit Bottas. The Ferrari consistently outlasts Merc on a stint. To me that shows it is the better race car.

The gap that Bottas opened up was well done, but the Merc gave him the possibility to drive at that pace.
What good was it that the Ferrari outlasted the Merc on US tyres when it went slower during the stint, and then was no use because the SS tyres lasted vastly long enough for it not to be a problem to run 7 laps older tyres?

No, car advantage was Mercs. It had the pace to open up a gap big enough to be protected against an undercut, and it went well enough on the SS tyres (at least until Bottas flatspotted them, then it became a little bit more exciting than it could/should have been).

It's hard to say how the race would have unfolded had Bottas not been able to jump the Ferraris at the start. Maybe Vettel would have opened an equivalent gap had the roles been reversed.

True. Driving in clean air on a track such as Russia has even a bigger significance.

Covalent wrote: It's hard to say how the race would have unfolded had Bottas not been able to jump the Ferraris at the start. Maybe Vettel would have opened an equivalent gap had the roles been reversed.

I don't believe that, to be honest. The gap Vettel left grew to over 5s, which is way more than one would expect for a car that has equal pace and way more than the gap within which there would be overheating issues - if any, as the Ferrari seems to handle following another car closely pretty well.

The Ferrari just couldn't live with the Merc pace on the US, and by the time the second stints began for both the race was a done deal barring any errors by the leader.

mds wrote:

Covalent wrote: It's hard to say how the race would have unfolded had Bottas not been able to jump the Ferraris at the start. Maybe Vettel would have opened an equivalent gap had the roles been reversed.

I don't believe that, to be honest. The gap Vettel left grew to over 5s, which is way more than one would expect for a car that has equal pace and way more than the gap within which there would be overheating issues - if any, as the Ferrari seems to handle following another car closely pretty well.

The Ferrari just couldn't live with the Merc pace on the US, and by the time the second stints began for both the race was a done deal barring any errors by the leader.

Vettel admitted that in the first part the car didn't feel as good as he wanted, the later stages it got better but he couldn't have made it. The car performance changes during a race, it is not a constant. So yeah, maybe in the first stint the Mercs were better while the Ferrari got up to speed later on.