Brazil '17

[Bagwan]

Here we are again .
I love this track .
Except for turn one , where they put up a parking lot , it has no issues with track limits , because the grass is there to punish them right away , should they get greedy .

It could be a mixed up grid , with rain predicted for qualifying and dry for the race .

I wish it wasn't all sewn up , championship-wise , but it should be good racing anyway .

Second practice had Merc only two tenths ahead .

[The Black Knight]

Yeah this track is great in that way. Grass is there to hurt the drivers, although I think turns 3,4 and 5 should all still have grass on them.

The solution Horner came up with is a good one. Have grass around the outside of the track for limits and tarmac on the otherside again. Equally safe but punishes the drivers if they exceed track limits.

[AndyL]

The top prizes are already awarded in the championships, but there are still some interesting battles to be resolved in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Ocon v Perez is a big one. Ocon has been coming back at Perez over the last 3 races, and is on the front foot this weekend with Perez having to give way to George Russell for first practice. Not good for Perez' career if he gets beaten over the season by almost-rookie Ocon.

A couple of other big names are also in line to be embarrassed by inexperienced team-mates: Stroll is 4 points ahead of Massa, and Vandoorne 2 ahead of Alonso. But the McLaren battle is a bit of a lottery based on who doesn't break down or have a 100-place grid penalty, and the Williams battle seems a bit academic with Massa heading for retirement anyway.

[AndyL]

Torro Rosso and Renault are apparently having a big falling out:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/132947/toro-rosso-hits-back-at-renault-over-failures

Both blaming each other for the engine problems. Sky just showed a shot of Cyril Abiteboul talking to Helmut Marko before P3 looking decidedly unhappy. Now there are rumours that Renault are looking for evidence that Torro Rosso may have breached some contractual term that would allow Renault to withhold engines and force Torro Rosso out of the remaining two races.

A storm in a teacup surely, they have to patch things up. I can't believe Renault are really so sensitive about such things after 10 years of being bad-mouthed by Red Bull.

[Tazio]

Should be a stellar quali', with the Boss being my pick for pole!

[Tazio]

Well Lewis just crashed out of q1!

[Tazio]

Cheers Valtteri, and Fred!

[AndyL]

Rubbish performance by useless Bottas, Lewis would have beat Vettel by at least 6 tenths of a second there.
Probably conspiracy by Mercedes, sent Lewis out on cold tyres to make sure he won't take points off Bottas for 2nd in the championship, without having to issue team orders.

[AndyL]

Funny to see Vettel and Raikkonen park up on the grid, ready for the interviews, and going "where is everybody?" :)

[journeyman racer]

Rubbish performance by useless Bottas, Lewis would have beat Vettel by at least 6 tenths of a second there.
Probably conspiracy by Mercedes, sent Lewis out on cold tyres to make sure he won't take points off Bottas for 2nd in the championship, without having to issue team orders.

Is this comment serious?

[zako85]

Bottas did well considering that he beat the "dry track" times of his competition at the time when the track was already getting wet in the final seconds of the qualifying.

I think tomorrow's race will be terrific. Who wouldn't want to see a four-way battle between Bottas, Vettel, Verstappen, and Ricciardo? Let's get some popcorn.

[Duncan]

Hamilton starting from the pit lane, taking a new engine. Might as well, I guess.

I'm assuming Hamilton is going to be running a different strategy and starting on soft to everybody else's supersoft. Along with everybody else, Hamilton only has one set of mediums for the weekend. No rain expected for tomorrow, so I guess his best strategy is probably to run as long as possible in the first stint and only stop once. Should be an interesting race...

[zako85]

Hamilton starting from the pit lane, taking a new engine. Might as well, I guess.

I'm assuming Hamilton is going to be running a different strategy and starting on soft to everybody else's supersoft. Along with everybody else, Hamilton only has one set of mediums for the weekend. No rain expected for tomorrow, so I guess his best strategy is probably to run as long as possible in the first stint and only stop once. Should be an interesting race...

That's way too much anxiety and strategizing done for a driver who is starting from the last place of the grid and who has already nothing to fight for. Hamilton fan detected!

I mean seriously, we're having an expectation of a four-way battle between Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, and Vettel, and you're still worried about Hamilton? Well, here is my prediction, unless one of the top five crashes out of the race, Hamilton will finish sixth. Is that good enough for the fans?

[Tazio]

Felipe Baby!

[andyone]

That's way too much anxiety and strategizing done for a driver who is starting from the last place of the grid and who has already nothing to fight for. Hamilton fan detected!

I mean seriously, we're having an expectation of a four-way battle between Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, and Vettel, and you're still worried about Hamilton? Well, here is my prediction, unless one of the top five crashes out of the race, Hamilton will finish sixth. Is that good enough for the fans?

he is already sixth on lap 22nd.

[AndyL]

Big bonuses for the Ferrari pit crew this month I hope. A 2.1s stop for Vettel vs 2.7 for Bottas, and that might have won them the race.

[truefan72]

sigh...Hamilton has run into roadblock Kimi.
losing more than 2 seconds a lap behind kimi

[truefan72]

That's way too much anxiety and strategizing done for a driver who is starting from the last place of the grid and who has already nothing to fight for. Hamilton fan detected!

I mean seriously, we're having an expectation of a four-way battle between Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, and Vettel, and you're still worried about Hamilton? Well, here is my prediction, unless one of the top five crashes out of the race, Hamilton will finish sixth. Is that good enough for the fans?

what were you saying? lol
anyways. Bottas continues to disappoint.
As usual he did just enough and provided no challenge whatsoever for Vettel. Right from the start.
a great drive from Hamilton. He just ran out of laps
alonso gave it his best effort

[truefan72]

the Massa farewell show part 2.
lol

[zako85]

This was a disappointing race. I was expecting a three-way battle between Vettel, Verstappen and Bottas. Instead, the top three finish in the same order that was after the race start. Red Bulls speed disappointed.

[Warriwa]

When is Bottas' contract over? Will that seat go to Ricciardo I wonder.

[AndyL]

Bottas signed another 1-year deal I believe.

[COD]

Bottas screwed the start, did a good lap out of the pits when he had free track, but was not enough. As Hamilton was unable to pass Räikkönn, that showed the problem of current cars, you need lots of speed difference to pass. That is why Bottas was stuck behind Vettel and Kimi behind Valtteri. Hanilton was good against inferior cars, but against Ferrari, he was just as lame as Bottas

[N. Jones]

IS that why? I could not understand why Bottas could not close up on Vettel.

[zako85]

IS that why? I could not understand why Bottas could not close up on Vettel.

Obviously Vettel had some extra speed on tap.

[COD]

Bigger wings means more turbulence and thus difficult to get close enough to pass. We have heard drivers say that many times this year. They put these DRS things to aid it a little, but not make wings significantly smaller?

[Duncan]

I think Hamilton's tyres were probably falling off in the last few laps against Kimi.

One thing that the NBC commentators mentioned: one reason Hamilton was able to slice through the field so effectively was that by starting from the pit lane and breaking parc ferme, he was able to change the setup on his car. Everybody else had set up for the cold and damp conditions for qualifying, and Hamilton was the only car on track with a completely dry weather setup.

Jaques Villeneuve is laying into Bottas again today for only finishing a few seconds in front of Hamilton, but I think kind of misses the point; the Mercedes had different setups and different strategies. Bottas did manage to get pole, and was keeping pace with Vettel during the race, even though he couldn't make it past.

[Duncan]

Oh, and Alonso's performance was... interesting. Just how good is that chassis really? Possibly quite good. Assuming next year is mostly evolutionary from a chassis perspective, we'll find out what it can do with a real engine.

[Duncan]

Oh, and one more thing... reading between the lines a bit (but not much) it sounds like Renault are bracing themselves for a whole bunch of their power units going kerblouiee in Abu Dhabi.

Not so much a fundamental issue with the engine as a supply chain cockup. They didn't anticipate so many failures, and didn't manufacture enough parts, so they're now using refurbished and/or retired components, particularly for the MGU-H. That definitely doesn't sound like it will end well.

Multiple reports suggest that Red Bull were struggling in Brazil because they had their engines turned down because of this.

Who says a lame duck race can't be interesting?

[N. Jones]

Yeah I wonder if that is true that Mercedes changed his setup for the conditions on Sunday. He was easily passing people throughout the day.

[The Black Knight]

Yeah I wonder if that is true that Mercedes changed his setup for the conditions on Sunday. He was easily passing people throughout the day.

They did, but remember his engine only has to last two races. This allowed him to push relentlessly and in very high engine power modes. He just ran out of tires in the end to pass Kimi. Without another VSC at the right time or safety car, he was never realistically going to be able to finish higher than 4th.

[henners88]

IS that why? I could not understand why Bottas could not close up on Vettel.
I’ve been quite surprised by Bottas this season. He’s been in F1 a few years now and last season I would have said he was perhaps developing into a better driver than Rosberg. I was wrong I think. He reminds me a bit of Kovalainen in that he’s a good racing driver, but perhaps not quite good enough in a top team.

I think it’s often said that ‘put any driver in a top car and they’ll win a championship’, but that is more often than not not the case. The likes of Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso etc are multiple world champions because they outperform teammates and adapt quickly.


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[Bagwan]

Nice to see you around henners , old man .

The two Finns are both number twos for their respective teams , with a car that fits the team mate better .
I've always thought it would be prudent when shopping around , that one of the first thoughts when choosing a driver would be his style and whether it is similar to , firstly , the characteristics that the car inherently has , and secondly , the other driver you've chosen , so that they may develop the car in the same direction .

It would seem to me that it would help .
But they don't seem to make any effort on that front . Often there is one driver who struggles more than he should , or that's what it looks like from here .

Your boy did well , don't get me wrong .

Stick around if you can .

[journeyman racer]

Hanilton was good against inferior cars, but against Ferrari, he was just as lame as Bottas
Good? Hamilton is always awesome against inferior cars.