USGP H’s & Z’s

[Scott]

Heroes

Kimi.  As he said, he has proven some people wrong.  In particular, those who say he is over the hill, not motivated and those who question why doesn’t he just pack up and go home.  I would throw scorn at Palmer if the Radio 5 crew who the entire season has been totally dismissive of what Kimi brings to the sport.  For a guy who couldn’t tough it out for two seasons, he has quite the attitude.

Max - as much as I cringe to give him credit, this time it was incident free, and he was putting pressure on the race winner in the closing laps. 

Lewis did all he could and was gracious in giving praise to the others at the end.  I thought they had made the perfect strategic win bringing him in during the VSC, but it shows how things can change.

Zeroes:

Vettel.  Idiot.

Stroll - there is a brake.

Gremlins in Ricciardo’s Electrics.

A bit surprised that both Ocon’s and Magnussen’s cars were DQ’d for fuel issues, although for different points. 

Thoroughly enjoyed the race, first on in a while that had my heart pumping at the end.

[guest3164]

Heroes:

Kimi- For once not messed around with a dodgy strategy, Ferrari got it right for him and it was a well deserved win.  A feel good result!

Verstappen- The enigma showed why he is so frustrating as he clearly has bundles of talent and can at times race with the best like the best.

Hamilton- Top draw race given the strategy he was on didn't work, still had opportunities to come 2nd. 

Whoever it was making fast car noises near a microphone around lap 20- neooooow, neoooooow.

Zeroes-

Ocon/Magnussen's cars- for being DSQ.  Disappointing but the blame obviously lies with the teams.

Hamilton's strategy- Should have come in when it was clear he was losing pace and his tyres were shot.

Stroll/Williams- Just had enough of this pairing and can't wait to see the back of them.  Stroll isn't half as good as he thinks he is.

Liberty Media- Ban grid girls but allow scantily clad cheerleaders, double standards.  Either go all in or don't bother. 

[Robem64]

I can't add a lot to the previous postings except to despair that Stroll will have a seat for next season and Ocon may not...absolutely ridiculous. How is it that Stroll doesn't yet have enough points on his licence to serve a race ban. He is literally an accident that waits to happen in almost every race.

Other than that a thoroughly entertaining race from start to finish. Interesting that Horner praised Max on team radio for a "mature drive" - he can do it when he has the grown up head on. He just hasn't had that head on in enough races this year.

[Monty]

Heroes
Kimi - held up Hamilton when he needed to and then drove a sensible race
Hamilton - fantastic qualifying and still the most exciting driver on the track
Zeroes - stupid rules: I can't stand Magnusson but to be disqualified for using 0.1kg too much fuel is crazy and then Ocon's penalty was even more stupid. Other people do far worse things and get a pathetic 5second penalty!
Red Bull - build one fast and reliable race car for golden boy Verstappen but can't build a car to survive a race for Riciardo.

Undecided - Vettel; two 'rooky' mistakes (speeding under red & spinning) but then an amazing drive through the field.
Verstappen; came through the field but on the first lap I am sure he made no attempt to make the corner and then overtook about 6 cars by simply cutting the corner (I haven't had the chance to go back and look at the recording so I could be wrong - did anyone else see this??)

[rmassart]

Hamilton's strategy- Should have come in when it was clear he was losing pace and his tyres were shot.

Can someone help me understand why Mercedes didn't bring him in earlier? 

After Raikonnen's pit stop I think he was ~17s clear. He maintained that for a few laps, then started loosing a few tenths a lap for a few more laps. OK, you keep him out so that he races a shorter distance on the new tyres.  But then he was loosing 1, even 2 seconds a lap. I think he was 6s clear of Raikonnen when he actually pitted. If they had brought him in 3 - 4 laps earlier he would have come out in front of Verstappen I think.  I don't understand their thinking. I was screaming at the screen telling them to bring him in. Surely track position is more important... Did they really think he would just drive past Verstappen?

Otherwise nothing more to add. Exciting finish to a race finally.  If only more races could be like that. If only the Championship as a whole could be like that.

[Dare]

Kimi's win made the whole season worth it for me.   A second
at Monza and now tis win and he's being replaced. He tried to act
nonchalant but you could tell he was happy as a lark

[guest3164]

Kimi's win made the whole season worth it for me.   A second
at Monza and now tis win and he's being replaced. He tried to act
nonchalant but you could tell he was happy as a lark

I noticed he was trying desperately hard to suppress a smile from coming through, especially whilst being interviewed by Brundle!

[Dare]

Kimi's win made the whole season worth it for me.   A second
at Monza and now tis win and he's being replaced. He tried to act
nonchalant but you could tell he was happy as a lark

I noticed he was trying desperately hard to suppress a smile from coming through, especially whilst being interviewed by Brundle!

Me too....seeing he was in Texas he should have
let out a big yahoo

[cosworth151]

Heroes:

Kimi - Others have already said about everything I could about Kimi's race. I just wanted to add how happy I was to see him back on the top step.

Zeroes - COTA  We have a saying here in the hills: Even a blind hog roots up an acorn every now & then. Sunday's race was COTA's acorn.

[Jericoke]

Hamilton's strategy- Should have come in when it was clear he was losing pace and his tyres were shot.

Can someone help me understand why Mercedes didn't bring him in earlier? 

After Raikonnen's pit stop I think he was ~17s clear. He maintained that for a few laps, then started loosing a few tenths a lap for a few more laps. OK, you keep him out so that he races a shorter distance on the new tyres.  But then he was loosing 1, even 2 seconds a lap. I think he was 6s clear of Raikonnen when he actually pitted. If they had brought him in 3 - 4 laps earlier he would have come out in front of Verstappen I think.  I don't understand their thinking. I was screaming at the screen telling them to bring him in. Surely track position is more important... Did they really think he would just drive past Verstappen?

Otherwise nothing more to add. Exciting finish to a race finally.  If only more races could be like that. If only the Championship as a whole could be like that.

My guesses as to why Mercedes waited so long to pit Lewis a second time:

• In the past the Pirelli tires have been known to blister, then wear down to a more stable layer.  They were hoping that Hamilton's tire would 'fix themselves'
• Quite often a problem affecting one driver's tires will affect others.  They were hoping that Kimi's tires would degrade as quickly as Lewis' did, forcing Kimi to back off

Assuming that Hamilton was suffering from poor tire management or that they had a bad set of rubber just seemed the least likely scenarios to Mercedes.  It's what happens when things go your way for so long: it's easy to believe they will keep doing so.

As a racing fan, I'm quite happy with the show that this 'mistake' created, so I can't complain too much!

[John S]

Hamilton's strategy- Should have come in when it was clear he was losing pace and his tyres were shot.

Can someone help me understand why Mercedes didn't bring him in earlier? 

After Raikonnen's pit stop I think he was ~17s clear. He maintained that for a few laps, then started loosing a few tenths a lap for a few more laps. OK, you keep him out so that he races a shorter distance on the new tyres.  But then he was loosing 1, even 2 seconds a lap. I think he was 6s clear of Raikonnen when he actually pitted. If they had brought him in 3 - 4 laps earlier he would have come out in front of Verstappen I think.  I don't understand their thinking. I was screaming at the screen telling them to bring him in. Surely track position is more important... Did they really think he would just drive past Verstappen?

Otherwise nothing more to add. Exciting finish to a race finally.  If only more races could be like that. If only the Championship as a whole could be like that.

I think the simple answer is the track/air temperature, we have seen before when the temps are higher Merc struggle with tyres. I was at Silverstone this year for the race and it was spectacularly hot for Britain and Merc clearly couldn't cope yet traditionally that track is brilliant for them.

COTA has so many similarities to Silverstone, sweeping fast sections with high speeds carried around the lap. Much increased temps on race day caught out Merc but played to Ferrari strengths. Note Vettel was able to hunt down Bottas in USGP, just as he did in the latter stages at Silverstone, a comeback drive that only underlines how good the Ferrari's were on the day with a win & 4th place. Both Ferrari's beat a Merc in a head to head.

Max sneaked in the middle with brilliantly calculated and executed RBR strategy, oh and for him a v good drive if you excuse his early lap antics as clearly the Stewards did.


Zs…  Inconsistency again from Stewards, Sainz gets a 5 sec penalty for leaving track on lap one but I can't see how he gained advantage, unless you count not steaming into several cars ahead who were braking in a bunch, he actually returned onto track without overtaking anyone.
Max it seems can jump cars outside track limits with impunity on the same lap????????????????  Hey d'ya think they might have got the car numbers mixed up?       

[Scott]

Possibly, but I think it was also that after Merc did Lewis’s VSC stop, it wasn’t long before they realized they couldn’t eat away at the gap from Kimi and they had Lewis try to push hard.  He seemed to cook his tires quite early, I noticed the yellow’s marking within 10 or 12 laps.