2020 Spanish Grand Prix Race Thread

[TheGiantHogweed]

Well, I think Either Bottas is doing as he's done with Verstappen before in the past which is to save his tyres until the last few laps then give it everything. Or him on his used tyres just doesn't have the pace

[mikeyg123]

What is Bottas doing?

[mikeyg123]

Penalties for ignoring blue flags are absurd.

[lucifers]

come on vettel hold on

[Schumacher forever#1]

Penalties for ignoring blue flags are absurd.

Stewards were probably bored

[mikeyg123]

Grosjean pulling his favourite move.

[pokerman]

Grosjean is determined to cause a crash with those late defensive movements.

[pokerman]

Penalties for ignoring blue flags are absurd.

Yes because you should do your best to hold up the leaders?

[pokerman]

The softs have done nothing for Bottas, Hamilton did right to ask for mediums.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Well, unless verstappen's tyres drop off massively, I think this is confirmation that Bottas won't get past.

[pokerman]

Now Grosjean is leaving debris on the track.

[Schumacher forever#1]

Vettel and Perez proving that, once again, one stopping and some easy tyre management is faster than a supposedly quicker two stop strategy.

[pokerman]

Bottas just set fastest lap, you have to ask what he's been doing?

[mikeyg123]

Penalties for ignoring blue flags are absurd.

Yes because you should do your best to hold up the leaders?

Why should the 4th placed driver lose 3 seconds in their own race? 3 seconds for Perez is no less crucial than 3 seconds for Hamilton. Blue Flags should mean nothing more than don't defend.

[mikeyg123]

Bottas, what the hell have you been doing for the last 10 laps.

[pokerman]

That gave me a heart attack, I thought Hamilton was pitting with a puncture after running over debris.

[pokerman]

Grosjean needs to retire.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Hamilton clearly knew that the softs were the wrong tyre and he refused the stop. Bottas had got put on them just before this. I do wonder if Bottas will have managed to beat Verstappen if he'd gone with mediums. But he didn't go against the teams decision. And Verstappen extending his lead over Bottas in the standings. This was not any bad luck on Bottas's side this time. He performed will in qualifying and certainly looked underwhelming in the race - or it could just be the difference between him and Verstappen and Hamilton. His start really didn't help though.

[Banana Man]

Jeez, Albon. Did Max lap him in the end? TBF that was a terrible strategy for him, they couldn’t have pitted into any worse traffic if they’d tried.

[JN23]

That gave me a heart attack, I thought Hamilton was pitting with a puncture after running over debris.

Me too and Crofty tried to jinx him!

[TheGiantHogweed]

Bottas, what the hell have you been doing for the last 10 laps.

The last 5 or so laps, he looked reasonable. He lookedc terrible before that, but that was related to traffic. But it is his own fault that he got himself in this situation.

[JN23]

Happy for Vettel to get a good result

[Invade]

Monster race from Hamilton despite its ease. He demolished this race and his teammate.

Good effort from Vettel who finished in a position perhaps ahead of where the car should be — very frosty team communications, however.

Verstappen had a strong solid race, but didn't have the pace with the Red Bull of the Mercedes. He wasn't so far off the pace of Bottas however.



Alex Albon just isn't performing. He's not putting any weekends together.



Hamilton just crushed it today. It was an imperious display.

[tootsie323]

Jeez, Albon. Did Max lap him in the end? TBF that was a terrible strategy for him, they couldn’t have pitted into any worse traffic if they’d tried.

It bugs me. Don't get me wrong, I think that a lot depended on whether he could clear the RPs early (and getting stuck behind Bottas into Turn 1 ballsed that up) but I still can't fathom the strategy unless it was partly sacrificial, for data for Verstappen.

[Mort Canard]

I have to wonder if Max could have done anything with Valtteri if Bottas had gotten a good start. Seems like it would have been very hard for Max to overtake on track or with pit strategy.

[Invade]

Yep - RBR certainly did get in Albon's way today. I don't think it shields Albon, though.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Although Leclerc suffered bad luck, I honestly thought his race until then looked rather poor to be fair. or at least he went backwards rather than forwards and Vettel was not far behind him at all. I also thought he did some rather clumsy attempts on Norris that could well have gone wrong. I'm actually not sure which one of the two whould have finished ahead in the end if not for Leclerc retiring. Credit to Vettel for the solid result this time.

[Invade]

Well, I think Either Bottas is doing as he's done with Verstappen before in the past which is to save his tyres until the last few laps then give it everything. Or him on his used tyres just doesn't have the pace

Ultimately the softs were the wrong choice. I think Bottas could have caught up to Max on mediums, but wouldn't have passed.

Although Leclerc suffered bad luck, I honestly thought his race until then looked rather poor to be fair. or at least he went backwards rather than forwards and Vettel was not far behind him at all. I also thought he did some rather clumsy attempts on Norris that could well have gone wrong. I'm actually not sure which one of the two whould have finished ahead in the end if not for Leclerc retiring. Credit to Vettel for the solid result this time.

I thought his race looked OK. Not poor, not good.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Bottas just set fastest lap, you have to ask what he's been doing?

You don't have to ask if you actually watched the track graphics that showed Bottas was in traffic over a lot of these 10 laps. Or even listen to crofty mention this...When he was in clean air, he then did have some pace.

I can't make excuses for him being where he was as he caused that himself. But as we know, the back markers were not easy to clear this race and there were more than any other race in over 2 years. And 2 of the drivers especially we found out were not making it easy to let the leaders through.

[Greenman]

.

Hardly worth the race, most people just finished roughly where they started. Only Vettel looked like a success, but the was mainly due to Leclerc retiring and Albon being sabotaged by his own team.

.

[Invade]

Nico is extolling the virtues of Hamilton and being very critical of Bottas.

[Clarky]

Crofty really needs to stop reading into the stupid tyre graphics.

[pokerman]

Jeez, Albon. Did Max lap him in the end? TBF that was a terrible strategy for him, they couldn’t have pitted into any worse traffic if they’d tried.

It bugs me. Don't get me wrong, I think that a lot depended on whether he could clear the RPs early (and getting stuck behind Bottas into Turn 1 ballsed that up) but I still can't fathom the strategy unless it was partly sacrificial, for data for Verstappen.

I think that they wanted to evaluate whether a one stop was possible, the only chance for Verstappen to win the race.

[kleefton]

Man Lewis just crushed it. It's very interesting how he managed his stints, always being careful at the beginning of stints, then unleashing the pace towards the end. Bottas and Max seemed to go hard early, and had trouble maintaining good pace towards the end.
Albon was used as a guinea pig. It was obvious the hards were not to see the day but they put them on his car anyway. I must say though, that even on the mediums his pace was weak. I could not believe he did not get Vettel. That really showed how poor he was today.
Happy for Vettel, and I like the way he is voicing his displeasure with the Ferrari team over the radio. Very telling indeed.

[TheGiantHogweed]

vettel, stop wearing Ferrari's masks. They are rubbish!. Every single time you say more than 10 or so words you have to push it back up. The random ones that other drivers and teams use now seem a lot more practical.

Regarding his interview just now, I think Ferrari are really messing things up for him regarding communication. It really seems like they keep forgetting about him and Vettel should get the respect for forcing the team to listen to him.

[pokerman]

Bottas just set fastest lap, you have to ask what he's been doing?

You don't have to ask if you actually watched the track graphics that showed Bottas was in traffic over a lot of these 10 laps. Or even listen to crofty mention this...When he was in clean air, he then did have some pace.

I can't make excuses for him being where he was as he caused that himself. But as we know, the back markers were not easy to clear this race and there were more than any other race in over 2 years. And 2 of the drivers especially we found out were not making it easy to let the leaders through.

I didn't see one lap from him that suggested he could catch Verstappen apart from the one fastest lap he put in on the softs.

[Invade]

Interestingly, I think Bottas' fastest lap (by about a tenth?) denied Hamilton a rare Grand Slam.

[Clarky]

Interestingly, I think Bottas' fastest lap (by about a tenth?) denied Hamilton a rare Grand Slam.

I am sure Bottas did a 1:18.1 and Hamilton a 1:20.2.

[Schermerhorn]

Autosport Forum posters calling for Albon's blood (as usual)

What was Albon supposed to do? He was fed into traffic on tyres which were 1 second plus per lap slower than the other compounds. Of course he was going to be "nowhere" by losing a tonne of time.

[Schermerhorn]

Grosjean needs to retire.

Agreed. He has had his day. I remember him being the first lap lunatic in 2012 like yesterday. In 2013 he turned it around but failed to maintain the mojo ever since.

I think Perez will take his spot at Haas which makes alot of sense and opens up good commercial opportunities for Haas in the Mexican market as well as the wider Spanish speaking Latin American market.