2019 British Grand Prix Race Thread

[pokerman]

So Hamilton gets fastest lap of the race on tyres that were close to death's door listening to Mercedes, one slow unnecessary pit stop could have lost him the race.

[Fiki]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

[Badgeronimous]

Bottas has had has pants pulled down in this one. Fastest lap taken away from him too, just to rub it in.

[Fiki]

I'm not sure what's more amazing, Vettel's lack of driving skill or both cars not retiring on the spot!

True!

I thought Max was done! That gearbox is made out of a 70's brick toilet

But they probably foresaw the need, since the Max Verstappen rule was rescinded. (Not that this was down to him this time, I don't think.)

[UnlikeUday]

One of the best races in a long time.

[Lt. Drebin]

Solid 7/10 for a race itself, but much damaged by the amazingly bad TV directing. Bottas again lacking luck, Hamilton taking all of it. Vettel, well, what to say, hope he does better next time. Max and Charles are the future of the sports. Gasly finally doing good. At the back, Mclaren showing Renault how good their engine can be in the right chassis. Kimi sneaking again to points.

[Invade]

Did Bottas just say he was the quickest on track? He must be referring to qualifying.

[Invade]

Solid 7/10 for a race itself, but much damaged by the amazingly bad TV directing. Bottas again lacking luck, Hamilton taking all of it. Vettel, well, what to say, hope he does better next time. Max and Charles are the future of the sports. Gasly finally doing good. At the back, Mclaren showing Renault how good their engine can be in the right chassis. Kimi sneaking again to points.

I reckon Lewis might also be the future of the sport battling both Max and Charles. And I wonder if Norris and Russell will have something to say about it in time.

[Lt. Drebin]

And someone should have shown that guy with the flag how to wave it correctly. He looked like he does not know what he is doing.

[mcdo]

One of the best races in a long time.

Austria was only 2 weeks ago. That was way better than this

[Lt. Drebin]

Solid 7/10 for a race itself, but much damaged by the amazingly bad TV directing. Bottas again lacking luck, Hamilton taking all of it. Vettel, well, what to say, hope he does better next time. Max and Charles are the future of the sports. Gasly finally doing good. At the back, Mclaren showing Renault how good their engine can be in the right chassis. Kimi sneaking again to points.

I reckon Lewis might also be the future of the sport battling both Max and Charles. And I wonder if Norris and Russell will have something to say about it in time.

When I say future, I mean 3-7 years. I don't think Lewis will stay more than 3 years. Specially when he takes all the records from Schumacher.

[Mercedes-Benz]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Bottas has had has pants pulled down in this one. Fastest lap taken away too rub it in.

I think Bottas just set fastest lap when he pitted, then just coasted back. There was no point at all trying to catch Hamilton and take any risks. But Hamilton will have just caught him out by surprise with that one. Has to be said, that was very impressive from Hamilton. But Bottas put the best fight against Hamilton on race day I have ever seen near the start of the race. His stratagy was certainly worse though and man Hamilton is the god of good luck sometimes. Bottas even managed to reduce the gap when he had pitted - enough to come out ahead of him. If They had both been on hards, I really don't know if Hamilton will have found a way by. Bottas kept him behind in Baku. Given Bottas's early defending, I think he could very likely have won this one. A real shame for him.

Will be tricky to decide team mate wars for them if i'm honest. Bottas outqualified him. Hamilton managed to get by, but didn't keep the position. Then Bottas was set to stay ahead until luck went towards Hamilton. Hamilton perfected his race from then on though, especially with fastest lap.

[pokerman]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

[Lt. Drebin]

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

How on earth was Bottas in front of Hamilton, then? Because he is slow?

[mikeyg123]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

Today the cars were raceable. For once the balance was about right. Possible to overtake and battle but difficult and if the defending driver drives perfectly he has a chance of staying ahead.

[UnlikeUday]

One of the best races in a long time.

Austria was only 2 weeks ago. That was way better than this

The intrigue in this race was far higher as after a long time, we witnessed 2 pit stops across all the drivers. There was pure racing throughout the field.

[Mercedes-Benz]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

Hamilton overcut was definitely not working. I think Bottas would have been 4-5secs ahead of him had Hamilton pit ?

[Blinky McSquinty]

So Hamilton gets fastest lap of the race on tyres that were close to death's door listening to Mercedes, one slow unnecessary pit stop could have lost him the race.

Which also hammers home the fact that the Mercedes had a lot in reserve. They went only as fast as they had to.

[kleefton]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

I don't think Bottas had him covered at all. With no safety car Lewis would have had a tire life advantage as well as his normal pace advantage. It's likely he would have passed him on track with those factors combined. And let's not forget that Bottas was always going to pit twice and Lewis showed he made the one stopper easily. Either way, Bottas wasn't winning this.

[Covalent]

Hollow victory for Lewis, Bottas should have won if not for bad luck and inferior strategy.

[pokerman]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

Hamilton overcut was definitely not working. I think Bottas would have been 4-5secs ahead of him had Hamilton pit ?

It was working to the point of putting him on a 1 stop, I really don't understand why Mercedes committed Bottas so early to the two stop by putting him on the mediums?

[j man]

I'd be interested to know how Bottas ended up on an inferior tyre strategy to Hamilton. Did he request the early stop? Did Hamilton refuse an early stop and then request the hard tyres? Either way that was the deciding factor today, not the Safety Car.

[pokerman]

So Hamilton gets fastest lap of the race on tyres that were close to death's door listening to Mercedes, one slow unnecessary pit stop could have lost him the race.

Which also hammers home the fact that the Mercedes had a lot in reserve. They went only as fast as they had to.

Sorry that's ridiculous in the first stint Hamilton was obviously driving as fast as he could to try and get the overcut on Bottas.

[Blinky McSquinty]

One of the best races in a long time.

Definitely. Austria was good, but that basically involved one car (Verstappen) going like stink and eventually taking the lead for the win. Silverstone had constant and intense battling between different cars.

No doubt Liberty will perform a detailed autopsy to learn what allowed those cars to battle for multiple laps, and incorporate the lessons learned into future car regulations. One slight difference is that the front wheel hubs could no longer blow air out sideways, as well as the front wing endplates also minimized airflow around the sides of the tires. Slight changes, but a marked improvement from previous Silverstone races.

This is good stuff, we the fans actually get to experience close and intense battling for multiple laps. The only downside is that it is almost inevitable that we will see collisions, as witnessed between Vettel and Verstappen. Yes, Vettel messed up, he guessed wrong. He thought Verstappen would swing to the right to take an arcing turn, it didn't happen (Verstappen covered the inside), and Vettel's lunge down the inside morphed into a collision. It was the simplest of mistakes, anyone could have made it.

[lucifers]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

I don't think Bottas had him covered at all. With no safety car Lewis would have had a tire life advantage as well as his normal pace advantage. It's likely he would have passed him on track with those factors combined. And let's not forget that Bottas was always going to pit twice and Lewis showed he made the one stopper easily. Either way, Bottas wasn't winning this.

bottas race pace has been a question mark for me for a while now. i also believe lewis would have overtaken bottas one way or another

[Dollarman]

Solid 7/10 for a race itself, but much damaged by the amazingly bad TV directing. Bottas again lacking luck, Hamilton taking all of it. Vettel, well, what to say, hope he does better next time. Max and Charles are the future of the sports. Gasly finally doing good. At the back, Mclaren showing Renault how good their engine can be in the right chassis. Kimi sneaking again to points.

I reckon Lewis might also be the future of the sport battling both Max and Charles. And I wonder if Norris and Russell will have something to say about it in time.

I hope so. I like Norris

[Laz_T800]

I'd be interested to know how Bottas ended up on an inferior tyre strategy to Hamilton. Did he request the early stop? Did Hamilton refuse an early stop and then request the hard tyres? Either way that was the deciding factor today, not the Safety Car.

Because Seb was also capable of a 1 stop they had to have 1 driver also capable. Usually this is the driver 2nd on the road who gets the covering strategy. Really nothing to see here. Imagine if they'd given Lewis the optimal strategy and there wasn't a safety car?

[pokerman]

I'd be interested to know how Bottas ended up on an inferior tyre strategy to Hamilton. Did he request the early stop? Did Hamilton refuse an early stop and then request the hard tyres? Either way that was the deciding factor today, not the Safety Car.

Generally speaking the Mercedes strategy for Bottas was quite baffling, they pitted him first we assume to protect him from the undercut from rival teams but was that really necessary as Hamilton stayed out and was lapping faster than the pitted cars, unless Bottas didn't really have the pace, it was noticeable how much quicker Hamilton was able to lap as soon as he had clean air, there was no reason for Bottas to lap slower than he could, you look to create a safe undercut gap.

[F1_Ernie]

Bottas has had has pants pulled down in this one. Fastest lap taken away too rub it in.

I think Bottas just set fastest lap when he pitted, then just coasted back. There was no point at all trying to catch Hamilton and take any risks. But Hamilton will have just caught him out by surprise with that one. Has to be said, that was very impressive from Hamilton. But Bottas put the best fight against Hamilton on race day I have ever seen near the start of the race. His stratagy was certainly worse though and man Hamilton is the god of good luck sometimes. Bottas even managed to reduce the gap when he had pitted - enough to come out ahead of him. If They had both been on hards, I really don't know if Hamilton will have found a way by. Bottas kept him behind in Baku. Given Bottas's early defending, I think he could very likely have won this one. A real shame for him.

Will be tricky to decide team mate wars for them if i'm honest. Bottas outqualified him. Hamilton managed to get by, but didn't keep the position. Then Bottas was set to stay ahead until luck went towards Hamilton. Hamilton perfected his race from then on though, especially with fastest lap.

Was it 16 laps Hamilton spent within 1 second of Bottas on the same tyres, to be able to do that you have a big pace advantage. I have feeling this was maybe a plan by Hamilton knowing Bottas tyre usage and race pace, be interesting to see what comes out in the next couple of days. After Bottas pit Hamiltons pace was still very good on old mediums, the gap stayed around 17.5 for a little bit and the longer Hamtilon stayed out he could either stay on the same strategy and have newer tyres at the end of each stint or 1 stop. After the SC Bottas had new Mediums to Hamiltons hards, how offen did Bottas really put any pressure on Hamilton?

IMO there was a big difference in race pace today but it still needs to be too much to be able to pass in identical cars on same strategies.

[P-F1 Mod]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

Had they left it, either Max or Seb would have hit it. So no, it was safer to remove the car. Although VSC would have been fairer.

[mcdo]

One of the best races in a long time.

Austria was only 2 weeks ago. That was way better than this

The intrigue in this race was far higher as after a long time, we witnessed 2 pit stops across all the drivers. There was pure racing throughout the field.

I dunno, when a race win is decided by Lap 20 I don't think it comes close to Max's comeback win in Austria

[mikeyg123]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

Had they left it, either Max or Seb would have hit it. So no, it was safer to remove the car. Although VSC would have been fairer.

I don't know why they can't shut the pitlane under VSC?

[pokerman]

Bottas was unlucky. Great move to get back the position. He had Hamilton covered. SC changed the race for me sadly.

Max was really held up by Ferrari. He looked faster all the time. Once Honda can bring more power I think he will consistently beat the Ferrari's. Gasly finally driving like a RBR driver. It was excellent race. Sadly Vettel made a big mistake hitting Max. Otherwise I think it could have been even better race.

Bottas only had Hamilton covered because it's so difficult to pass, in raceable cars Hamilton would have won easily as he showed by setting fastest lap on tyres much slower than Bottas had on.

I don't think Bottas had him covered at all. With no safety car Lewis would have had a tire life advantage as well as his normal pace advantage. It's likely he would have passed him on track with those factors combined. And let's not forget that Bottas was always going to pit twice and Lewis showed he made the one stopper easily. Either way, Bottas wasn't winning this.

bottas race pace has been a question mark for me for a while now. i also believe lewis would have overtaken bottas one way or another

Well we saw that Hamilton easily was able to make the 1 stop work but would Mercedes have allowed that, I do wonder if the late pit stop request was as much an attempt to equalise things with Bottas?

If not then Hamilton would have finished the race with a tyre advantage over Bottas on top of his obvious pace advantage which may have been enough for him to win the race?

[Lt. Drebin]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

Had they left it, either Max or Seb would have hit it. So no, it was safer to remove the car. Although VSC would have been fairer.

I don't know why they can't shut the pitlane under VSC?

Just a yellow flag on that corner, and ahead of it, would have do it. There was nothing on the racetrack itself.

[j man]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

Had they left it, either Max or Seb would have hit it. So no, it was safer to remove the car. Although VSC would have been fairer.

I don't know why they can't shut the pitlane under VSC?

Just a yellow flag on that corner, and ahead of it, would have do it. There was nothing on the racetrack itself.

They had a recovery vehicle there carrying the Alfa away. I'm sure no one needs reminding what can happen.

[Laz_T800]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

Had they left it, either Max or Seb would have hit it. So no, it was safer to remove the car. Although VSC would have been fairer.

I don't know why they can't shut the pitlane under VSC?

Then everyone who hasn't stopped gets absolutely shafted. Really bad idea.

[pokerman]

I'd be interested to know how Bottas ended up on an inferior tyre strategy to Hamilton. Did he request the early stop? Did Hamilton refuse an early stop and then request the hard tyres? Either way that was the deciding factor today, not the Safety Car.

Because Seb was also capable of a 1 stop they had to have 1 driver also capable. Usually this is the driver 2nd on the road who gets the covering strategy. Really nothing to see here. Imagine if they'd given Lewis the optimal strategy and there wasn't a safety car?

Interesting.

[mcdo]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

Had they left it, either Max or Seb would have hit it. So no, it was safer to remove the car. Although VSC would have been fairer.

I don't know why they can't shut the pitlane under VSC?

Drivers used to get really screwed back when they did this 10 years ago. Although I guess back then the problem was fuel, not tyres

[mikeyg123]

OK so they still aren't even lined up and the car has been cleared.

So why on earth was it not dealt with under the VSC!

Why not just leave the car there in the first place? It's not in a dangerous place; the only thing that makes its place dangerous is retrieving it. Since there's no reason for doing that, it is simply ruining the race.

Had they left it, either Max or Seb would have hit it. So no, it was safer to remove the car. Although VSC would have been fairer.

I don't know why they can't shut the pitlane under VSC?

Just a yellow flag on that corner, and ahead of it, would have do it. There was nothing on the racetrack itself.

Well, that's what I would do too.