2018 United States GP [Texas]

[Nitrodaze]

https://www.grandprix247.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/United-States-Grand-Prix-Grid-girls-Dallas-Cowboy-Cheerleaders-11-750x500.jpg
http://uploadscdn.sportnetwork.net/upload/107/107_1_1539682938.jpg
[BRING BACK THE GRID GIRLS]
Back to the fast pace track in the Texas sunshine. Twenty corners tucked into a 5.513km lap, five of which are some of the most acute hairpins on the calendar. The pit straight ends at an apex at the top of a steep incline up a 157.4m hill that pours down into a series of head swinging esses which undulate downwards to its lowest point 126.5m into a mini valley which is also a very tight hairpin leading into the second longer fast straight. There are two DRS detection points on the two straights of the track.

This is a 56 lap race totaling 308.4km from lights to the chequered flag. Lewis Hamilton has won this race five times but Sebastien Vettel holds the track lap record of 1.37.766 since the 2017 season. It may be a one stop race for those cars that are kinder to their tyres, but two stops is most likely. David Coultard was the first man to take an F1 car round this track; actually while it was still under construction.

It would be a good consolation to Ferrari if they could win this race and the following three races. So l expect they would be well stoked coming into this race. Lewis Hamilton would be world champion if he finishes anywhere on the podium but the constructors championship rages on. l have a feeling, that Ferrari would be very keen to snatch the constructors title from Mercedes' grasp.

If Mercedes wins the 2018 constructors title, they would match Ferrari's five consecutive title wins with Schumacher and eclipse Redbull whom they caught up with in 2017 with four consecutive titles with Vettel. The only real difference would be Hamiliton did not win all the corresponding driver titles consecutively as did Schumacher and Vettel.

This is a Hamilton track, hence he is favorite to win this race but my money is on Vettel.

[Tazio]

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/601362_373794396042340_1549383014_n.jpg?_nc_cat=10 6&oh=3d8942a2eadc47b9e7c513ce893b25d2&oe=5C575BCA

The Boss 2012 baby! :angel:

[airshifter]

COTA has become one of my favorite tracks. Several real passing opportunities, changes of character, and the first turn usually creates some off line encounters as even the best of the best sometimes screw up that exit. I'm expecting Merc to dominate and Seb to crumble again, as I think Lewis is deep in his head at this point.


There was a great thread posted by someone here when the track was under construction, but my search foo didn't find it. He had a lot of great photos of the area as the track was built.

[Starter]

Nitrodaze, I'm glad you are keeping abreast of the upcoming event. :p thanks for the update & photo.

[zako85]

I am glad that the title mentioned specifically the Texas site so that we are now aware which one of the US GPs we're discussing here.

[Nitrodaze]

The Ferraris look swift in practice three. I wonder if they could translate this form into pole position in Qualy.

Vettel has been handed a three place grid penalty for infringing a red flag. If he gets pole, he shall be starting the race from the 4th grid slot. Hamilton needs eight points ahead of Vettel in this race to win the title in Texas this weekend. The best Vettel can do from 4th is to somehow win the race or finish at least 2nd to extend the fight to the next race.

As if it was not hard enough, events have made it even harder for Vettel. He would need to do something magical to get out of this situation ahead of Hamilton this weekend.

[Tazio]

Sausage bites Max! :D

[The Black Knight]

Savage qualifying. Shame about Vettel’s penalty in the end, as would have made the race incredible. Bottas had a sloppy final lap by comparison to the rest. Made a mess of the exit of 20.

What a track COTA is. Best Tilke track by a country mile.

[Nitrodaze]

Savage qualifying. Shame about Vettel’s penalty in the end, as would have made the race incredible. Bottas had a sloppy final lap by comparison to the rest. Made a mess of the exit of 20.

What a track COTA is. Best Tilke track by a country mile.

It is a rollercoaster ride of a lap round this track. TV does not do it justice, you really have to see it to properly appreciate it. It was built with sunshine in mind, hence it is tends to be quite dicey in the wet with rivers flowing across the track in a number of places.

[truefan72]

absolutely pathetic that the one GP in the USA is not even on ESPN or ABC but on some SD channel called LiveWell
Way to go F1 and ESPN, way to bring in those US audience. SMH
Shambolic.

[gm99]

Great start by Kimi!
And another costly mistake by Vettel...

[truefan72]

Oh dear. RBR letting Ricciardo down as usual. That looked electrical

[gm99]

And Ferrari again screwing up their strategy; I don't quite understand why they didn't bring in at least one of their drivers during the VSC.

[truefan72]

Bottas needs to pass verstappen. But as usual he is just driving around with no urgency or zeal. The guy doesn't know the meaning of aggressiveness or competitiveness
Useless driving

[truefan72]

And Ferrari again screwing up their strategy; I don't quite understand why they didn't bring in at least one of their drivers during the VSC.

It is amazing how they botch things up. I don't get it.

[truefan72]

Bottas needs to pick up his bloody pace

[truefan72]

Congrats kimi
Congrats verstappen
Useless bottas.
Good recovery by vettel
On to mexico we go :)

[gm99]

Congrats Kimi! First win since 2013. His 21st (and maybe his last) win also makes him (in American terms) the winningest Finnish driver of all times, surpassing Mika Häkkinen.

[The Black Knight]

Delighted Kimi got that race win. He deserved it.

Championship goes onto Mexico and, barring reliability, Hamilton will probably seal the deal there. Only needs 5 more points to be champion now.

[N4D13]

And Ferrari again screwing up their strategy; I don't quite understand why they didn't bring in at least one of their drivers during the VSC.
Whoops!

To me it was pretty obvious at the moment: the only driver who could get a free pitstop at that point of the race was Hamilton, since he'd get behind Bottas, which meant a free pass. Everyone else would have ended up behind rival cars and at the time it wasn't unclear whether overtaking was feasible.

Pitting Vettel might have made some sense, or it may have not. It could have given him a free pitstop which brought him closer to the podium, but it would have also sent him behind and forced him to overuse his tyres overtaking slower cars, so a second pitstop would have been necessary and it's difficult to say how that would have panned out - but I doubt they could have got it any better.

(Edit: well, obviously Stroll and whoever was in front of him could also get a free stop, but I'm ignoring them for obvious reasons.)

[Nitrodaze]

Bottas needs to pick up his bloody paceBottas was crap in this race. He certainly does not deserve that seat. There are hungrier drivers out there who would do much better with that opportunity than he does. It was just so painfull to watch him drive the Merc as he did.

[Nitrodaze]

Delighted Kimi got that race win. He deserved it.

Championship goes onto Mexico and, barring reliability, Hamilton will probably seal the deal there. Only needs 5 more points to be champion now.

I see it as a mountain climb for Vettel now, in my mind the championship is done. He is too inconsistent to see him being able to mount any sort of meaningfull challenge to Hamilton over the next three races. He kind of was lucky that it is going to mexico with 5 points. It could have been much worst.

Great win for Kimi and well deserved. If Ferrari had done this kind of service for Kimi all season, their constructors tally would have been a different story. Bottas put forward a disappointingly sub-standard race today. He gave away dear constructors point with a very mediocre performance.

Verstapenn is the driver of the day for me. He came from way back in 18th, l think, to 2nd on the podium. That was a great show of driving talent.

How Mercedes got it wrong today.

[Mia 01]

I´m so happy for Kimi!!!!!!!
The best race for me in five years!

[Tazio]

Congrat's Kimi. Well done!

[truefan72]

Whoops!

To me it was pretty obvious at the moment: the only driver who could get a free pitstop at that point of the race was Hamilton, since he'd get behind Bottas, which meant a free pass. Everyone else would have ended up behind rival cars and at the time it wasn't unclear whether overtaking was feasible.

Pitting Vettel might have made some sense, or it may have not. It could have given him a free pitstop which brought him closer to the podium, but it would have also sent him behind and forced him to overuse his tyres overtaking slower cars, so a second pitstop would have been necessary and it's difficult to say how that would have panned out - but I doubt they could have got it any better.

(Edit: well, obviously Stroll and whoever was in front of him could also get a free stop, but I'm ignoring them for obvious reasons.)

lol. Make that two of us.
I take a mea culpa on this one. Ferrari got it spot on with Kimi and mercedes wrong with Hamilton.

Although I think if he nursed his tires he could have gone all the way to the end.
If they were going to go with a 2 stop then they should have pitted Hamilton way earlier, so he would come out behind kimi and not 4th on the track.

But credit to where it is due. Kimi drove a flawless race. The team's strategy with both Vettel (after his now, typical, lap 1 spin) and kimi was perfect.
Mercedes strategy awful. Bottas driving even worse.
to me it, it makes sense to buy him out of his contract and put ocon in that seat. At least he would show some better pace and urgency than Bottas.

[gm99]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing ;)

But I agree, ultimately it was Ferrari and not Mercedes who made the right call after all.

[N. Jones]

KIMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So great to see him with a win. Not sure who was driver of the day as the top four put in goo pd drivers, although number 4 Eff'ed up again.

[mmbmz3]

It was over the air TV on ABC, not on cable or pay TV. Mexico will also be on ABC, check your listings.

[truefan72]

It was over the air TV on ABC, not on cable or pay TV. Mexico will also be on ABC, check your listings.

not on xfinity in my area.
They relegated it to the ch. 790 liveWell channel
however univision had it on their HD channel
They then decided to re-air it at 7:30pm on espnhd

[Starter]

not on xfinity in my area.
They relegated it to the ch. 790 liveWell channel
however univision had it on their HD channel
They then decided to re-air it at 7:30pm on espnhd
Your Xfinity package doesn't give you local broadcast channels?

[COD]

Bottas was crap in this race. He certainly does not deserve that seat. There are hungrier drivers out there who would do much better with that opportunity than he does. It was just so painfull to watch him drive the Merc as he did.


Not saying he did a great job. He was not good at quali and suffered because of that in the race. But without Vettels stupid mistake, he would have finished one place down on Hamilton, who had a much better tyre strategy (of course thanks to better starting position, but still). Mercedes was bad on tyres this time, and Bottas suffered more. Had he not suffered the buncture in Baku, things could be very different. Just adding some realism here. And we don’t know all things happening inside the team. Is he testing some things for next year? Etc.

[The Black Knight]

I see it as a mountain climb for Vettel now, in my mind the championship is done. He is too inconsistent to see him being able to mount any sort of meaningfull challenge to Hamilton over the next three races. He kind of was lucky that it is going to mexico with 5 points. It could have been much worst.

Great win for Kimi and well deserved. If Ferrari had done this kind of service for Kimi all season, their constructors tally would have been a different story. Bottas put forward a disappointingly sub-standard race today. He gave away dear constructors point with a very mediocre performance.

Verstapenn is the driver of the day for me. He came from way back in 18th, l think, to 2nd on the podium. That was a great show of driving talent.

How Mercedes got it wrong today.

The drivers championship is done. Hamilton doesn’t necessarily need anymore points either, all he needs is for Seb to not win in Mexico on Sunday and he is champion. Mercedes are racing for the constructors championship now rather than the drivers.

[Nitrodaze]

Not saying he did a great job. He was not good at quali and suffered because of that in the race. But without Vettels stupid mistake, he would have finished one place down on Hamilton, who had a much better tyre strategy (of course thanks to better starting position, but still). Mercedes was bad on tyres this time, and Bottas suffered more. Had he not suffered the buncture in Baku, things could be very different. Just adding some realism here. And we don’t know all things happening inside the team. Is he testing some things for next year? Etc.

I understand Bottas has had some bad luck in the first half of the season mostly. The problem is, his driving has lacked urgency or purpose in the second half of the season His job is to help Mercedes win the constructors title and he is doing a very poor job of it. It is more noticeable in this Texas race where Mercedes wanted him to step up and he simply did not show any aggression or at least show he is putting 100% effort.

I fail to see why he is in that seat when more capable and hungrier drivers are waiting in the wings.

[Duncan]

The drivers championship is done. Hamilton doesn’t necessarily need anymore points either, all he needs is for Seb to not win in Mexico on Sunday and he is champion. Mercedes are racing for the constructors championship now rather than the drivers.

Yep. More pointedly, Vettel needs to win every race and have Hamilton not score 5 points across the next 3 races combined. Doesn't really seem within reach...

[journeyman racer]

Not saying he did a great job. He was not good at quali and suffered because of that in the race. But without Vettels stupid mistake, he would have finished one place down on Hamilton, who had a much better tyre strategy (of course thanks to better starting position, but still). Mercedes was bad on tyres this time, and Bottas suffered more. Had he not suffered the buncture in Baku, things could be very different. Just adding some realism here. And we don’t know all things happening inside the team. Is he testing some things for next year? Etc.
There's not one post in the Russian GP acknowledging Bottas' performance. Yet there these fools never hesitate to lay the boots into him for any error or perceived lack of performance.


MB have already demonstrated that Bottas' results are expendable. But these idiots don't view his performance in that context. In the end, relative to championship position, he finished where he'd normally be.

[airshifter]

In the end, only the Mercedes strategy cost Lewis the WDC. Like most, I consider the title fight over regardless, as it would be next to impossible for Seb to sweep all the remaining points while Lewis only needs to pick up a few. Lewis has kept it cool even when Ferrari had a car to challenge, and Seb started making more mistakes. As for strategy, I understood the early stop for Lewis, but failed to understand why they waited and waited when it seemed apparent that they tires wouldn't make it race distance with any pace. There were several laps where it was apparent pace was too far down to finish up near the top, and they had everyone but Kimi covered if they came in to pit for new tires. I really think Mercedes are still lacking in race strategy and have been too used to not having to consider it as strongly as the teams with lesser cars.

Watching Max carve through the field was great, and Seb was on a tear once he did his spin as well. There was enough action up towards the front that the midfield didn't get a lot of coverage. Bottas overall had a good race IMO, but he just couldn't hold that final position needed on those well used tires. I personally think he gets a lot of flack (similar to Kimi) when his race doesn't support the team leader 100%. But they are racing and being compared to the real greats, and as such don't always win the fight.


As for Kimi, freaking outstanding to see the current "old man" of F1 bag another win finally, and well deserved. He did it with his usual style, just staying cool and doing his thing. Lewis tried to close that line on the start, but Kimi wasn't going to have it, and from there his race was in hand.

[Nitrodaze]

The yard stick for Bottas is Rosberg, not Hamilton. Two seasons on, he is still well short of Rosberg's performance. The average gap between Hamilton and Bottas is not consistently within or equal to the average gap between Hamilton and Rosberg. From a points perspective, it is soooo gapingly obvious.

[Bagwan]

Not saying he did a great job. He was not good at quali and suffered because of that in the race. But without Vettels stupid mistake, he would have finished one place down on Hamilton, who had a much better tyre strategy (of course thanks to better starting position, but still). Mercedes was bad on tyres this time, and Bottas suffered more. Had he not suffered the buncture in Baku, things could be very different. Just adding some realism here. And we don’t know all things happening inside the team. Is he testing some things for next year? Etc.

Yep , one stop for the Merc was never going to work , as they were forced to silicone the new wheels shut before racing the car .
He never had the tools for the job .

[N. Jones]

One thing I have been thinking about - does this season remind anyone else (besides me) of 1991, when Mansell had the faster car but too many mistakes cost him the title?

[journeyman racer]

One thing I have been thinking about - does this season remind anyone else (besides me) of 1991, when Mansell had the faster car but too many mistakes cost him the title?

What mistakes?

[gm99]

What mistakes?

Spinning off in Canada and Japan; screwed-up pit stop in Portugal?

[N. Jones]

Crash in Australia too which gave McLaren the Constructors title.

[The Black Knight]

One thing I have been thinking about - does this season remind anyone else (besides me) of 1991, when Mansell had the faster car but too many mistakes cost him the title?

Everyone here knows I’m not the biggest Vettel fan but the sheer number of mistakes he has made this year is completely out of character. I always felt that he was vulnerable under pressure and prone to mistakes but never on the level we have seen from him this year.

Ferrari admittted now that they rolled back the uprades they brought to Singapore and hence why they were more competitive in Austin against Mercedes, so it appears there are multiple errors on both the teams and Vettel’s side. I don’t understand why it took Ferrari so long to realise the upgrade issues. I wrote a post the other day here about the upgrades and suspecting the Singapore ones and that was before Ferrari stated they had rolled the upgrades back (or before I heard about it at least), so how could they not have suspected it with all the data they have? That has cost them the championship along with Vettel’s mistakes. Both team and Vettel must shoulder the blame, they both threw it away but, likewise Mercedes and Hamilton just came alive since Singapore.

And I think Brawn is right, Sebastien is out of sorts:

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/25061542/ross-brawn-shame-sebastian-vettel-did-not-make-better-use-competitive-ferrari

There’s a mixture of a lot of factors causing this but he must be under immense pressure at Ferrari.

[Nitrodaze]

Yep , one stop for the Merc was never going to work , as they were forced to silicone the new wheels shut before racing the car .
He never had the tools for the job .

True, something happened to the the Mercedes cars during the race. Probably the race conditions moved away from their race setup from Saturday. I can see that did not help Bottas. But Bottas has been to far behind Hamilton in races with always at least a car between them. If Mercedes is to maintain their lead over the Ferraris, he would need to really step up.

[journeyman racer]

Spinning off in Canada and Japan; screwed-up pit stop in Portugal?

Crash in Australia too which gave McLaren the Constructors title.
Wow! You guys are a tough crowd!

As opposed to diminishing Mansell's 91 season, I thought it was a mammoth effort to make it a contest for the title.

The only driver in driver who's thrown away a title due to their own clumsiness and underperformance in recent decades is Hamilton, in 07 and 10. You can excuse 2007, but he was in prime position to win 2010 after the Belgian GP. 3pts ahead of Webber (much weaker driver in a team that didn't want him to win, albeit in a stronger car), 31 ahead of Vettel and 41 ahead of Alonso (in a weaker car), and he got overrun by all of them.


This is forgotten though because it was 8 years ago, and doesn't fit the narrative of Hamilton being a precocious F1 phenomenon.

If anything, Vettel's current season reminds me of Hill in 95. After a great start, everything they did afterwards turned to ****. It didn't matter what he did, even if it was the right thing, it was the wrong thing. The only thing that could be done was to wait for the season to end.

[COD]

The yard stick for Bottas is Rosberg, not Hamilton. Two seasons on, he is still well short of Rosberg's performance. The average gap between Hamilton and Bottas is not consistently within or equal to the average gap between Hamilton and Rosberg. From a points perspective, it is soooo gapingly obvious.

Rosberg had allready raced for the team alongside Shumi for several seasons before Hamilton came in. Not exactly the same startingpoint for Bottas

[journeyman racer]

Not just that. MB don't have the performance advantage they had from 14-16. Bottas also doesn't have the clout in the team Rosberg had.

[Starter]

Not just that. MB don't have the performance advantage they had from 14-16. Bottas also doesn't have the clout in the team Rosberg had.
You shouldn't need clout in a team if its really a team. If its every man for himself then its not a team. Bottas' role is to back up Hamilton for wins when Hamilton has a problem and to gather constructors points toward the season title. He hasn't done such a great job.

[Bagwan]

You shouldn't need clout in a team if its really a team. If its every man for himself then its not a team. Bottas' role is to back up Hamilton for wins when Hamilton has a problem and to gather constructors points toward the season title. He hasn't done such a great job.

The role of number 2 , as Valterie understood it , began when he fell behind Lewis far enough that there was no chance for him to win , and he duly and dutifully filled the role as best he could .
This time , he couldn't fill the role with no tires at the end .

He didn't fail them . They failed him .
And Lewis as well , as a result .

[N. Jones]

Everyone here knows I’m not the biggest Vettel fan but the sheer number of mistakes he has made this year is completely out of character. I always felt that he was vulnerable under pressure and prone to mistakes but never on the level we have seen from him this year.

Ferrari admittted now that they rolled back the uprades they brought to Singapore and hence why they were more competitive in Austin against Mercedes, so it appears there are multiple errors on both the teams and Vettel’s side. I don’t understand why it took Ferrari so long to realise the upgrade issues. I wrote a post the other day here about the upgrades and suspecting the Singapore ones and that was before Ferrari stated they had rolled the upgrades back (or before I heard about it at least), so how could they not have suspected it with all the data they have? That has cost them the championship along with Vettel’s mistakes. Both team and Vettel must shoulder the blame, they both threw it away but, likewise Mercedes and Hamilton just came alive since Singapore.

And I think Brawn is right, Sebastien is out of sorts:

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/25061542/ross-brawn-shame-sebastian-vettel-did-not-make-better-use-competitive-ferrari

There’s a mixture of a lot of factors causing this but he must be under immense pressure at Ferrari.

This was one thing journos always mentioned - during Vettel's four straight titles at Red Bull he was great because he was almost always at the front, no overtaking necessary. When he had to fight for a position his race craft was suspect. I felt that once he join Ferrari he was forced to fight for positions and has gotten better but maybe, just maybe, putting pressure on him is a sure way of dealing with his challenge over the season.

[N. Jones]

Plus, is Kimi leaving a way to ease pressure on Seb? I am sure that the Kimster could challenge him if he was given the chance.

[Nitrodaze]

Rosberg had allready raced for the team alongside Shumi for several seasons before Hamilton came in. Not exactly the same startingpoint for Bottas

Fair point

[Bagwan]

Max has spoken about this in a recent interview , saying a driver is under acute pressure , especially when he isn't , and knows he isn't , in the best car .
He'll try a late dive bomb , if it's the only way , and can look a little wild at times , but it's a factor of how he perceives his chances at the time , given his equipment .

Max is still seen as a wild one , but his car is better this year and so , he is seen as "settling down" .

This year , Seb and the reds were doing pretty well against a team who had dominated for a number of years , so the pressure of doing so well , and suddenly losing their top man at the half way point had it's effect .

One jink in the armour , and all of Italy is all over you , especially if the dream of the titles was seen to be real .
And , it was .
So , more mistakes came quickly afterward .

Call it "red mist" or anything else , but it's pretty much the same for all of them .
Except maybe Kimi , who doesn't seem to get too excited during the race except when his engineer talks too much , or too little , or unclearly .

[The Black Knight]

Rosberg had allready raced for the team alongside Shumi for several seasons before Hamilton came in. Not exactly the same startingpoint for Bottas

One would expect at this stage for Bottas to be closer than he has been to Hamilton. He has had some bad luck on the way in Baku and Russia definitely should have been his race but, other than that, it’s hard to pick a race where he has been really outstanding. And I still think Hamiltom would have kept Vettel behind him in Silverstone. He’s an okay number two, but I don’t think he’d be at Mercedes long term. I’m surprised he had been resigned for next year. If I were the team, I’d put Ocon in his place, which I suspect they may well do for 2020.

[The Black Knight]

This was one thing journos always mentioned - during Vettel's four straight titles at Red Bull he was great because he was almost always at the front, no overtaking necessary. When he had to fight for a position his race craft was suspect. I felt that once he join Ferrari he was forced to fight for positions and has gotten better but maybe, just maybe, putting pressure on him is a sure way of dealing with his challenge over the season.

He has been prone to pressure under mistakes many times. But I think this is different. There’s the usual mixture of him not taking responsibility for incidents which are his fault and thus he never learns from them. And then there is the leading Ferrari element. That is an extra different kind of pressure in itself. Marchionne used to be getting involved in engineering meetings, something that would have never happened in Luca’s time. Seb as a 4 time WDC was expected to win this year with the car he was provided and he hasn’t.

I think Seb has honed his race craft under the last number of years and can fight for positions now but other basic areas of his game appear to have suffered and I think that’s mainly mental issues.

[Nitrodaze]

One would expect at this stage for Bottas to be closer than he has been to Hamilton. He has had some bad luck on the way in Baku and Russia definitely should have been his race but, other than that, it’s hard to pick a race where he has been really outstanding. And I still think Hamiltom would have kept Vettel behind him in Silverstone. He’s an okay number two, but I don’t think he’d be at Mercedes long term. I’m surprised he had been resigned for next year. If I were the team, I’d put Ocon in his place, which I suspect they may well do for 2020.

Darn right, l thought Mercedes would put Wehrlein or Ocon in the other seat for the 2019 season but didn't. I suspect Bottas is too close to Woolf for anything other outcome to occur. Somehow, l don't think Ocon would get a chance in 2020. If Mercedes has their eyes on the long game, l think they would be looking to George Russell to fill that seat. Unfortunately Ocon has missed the boat. Well, unless he can keep his F1 career alive until Hamilton retires, then he may get a chance.

[journeyman racer]

If Bottas performed to the level of expectation of those critical of him, then it'd just mean team orders gets applied more often (If it hasn't already behind closed doors)


Max has spoken about this in a recent interview , saying a driver is under acute pressure , especially when he isn't , and knows he isn't , in the best car .
He'll try a late dive bomb , if it's the only way , and can look a little wild at times , but it's a factor of how he perceives his chances at the time , given his equipment .

Max is still seen as a wild one , but his car is better this year and so , he is seen as "settling down" .

This year , Seb and the reds were doing pretty well against a team who had dominated for a number of years , so the pressure of doing so well , and suddenly losing their top man at the half way point had it's effect .

One jink in the armour , and all of Italy is all over you , especially if the dream of the titles was seen to be real .
And , it was .
So , more mistakes came quickly afterward .

Call it "red mist" or anything else , but it's pretty much the same for all of them .
Except maybe Kimi , who doesn't seem to get too excited during the race except when his engineer talks too much , or too little , or unclearly .
Fascinating insight. It kind of explains the fluctuation of form in the current generation of drivers, particularly of those seen as "special". Hamilton's a demon in the best car with no pressure, good but unremarkable when not driving the best car in the 6 years between having the best car. Vettel wins 4 straight championships in the best car, gets flogged by Ricciardo in 14 along with 0 wins in 16. Verstappen effectively now admits he needs the best car to drive races at a optimal level.

[journeyman racer]

You shouldn't need clout in a team if its really a team. If its every man for himself then its not a team. Bottas' role is to back up Hamilton for wins when Hamilton has a problem and to gather constructors points toward the season title. He hasn't done such a great job.

MB are going to win the wcc. Bottas is expendable. You always nned clout in a professional environment. What Bottas has to do to get it is not clear.

[Starter]

MB are going to win the wcc. Bottas is expendable. You always nned clout in a professional environment. What Bottas has to do to get it is not clear.
Clout comes from several places. Money, connections, etc. But mostly it comes from being really, really good at what you do, making you a valuable commodity.

[journeyman racer]

Clout comes from several places. Money, connections, etc. But mostly it comes from being really, really good at what you do, making you a valuable commodity.
What is your point then?

[Bagwan]

MB are going to win the wcc. Bottas is expendable. You always nned clout in a professional environment. What Bottas has to do to get it is not clear.

Blackmail Toto .

[Albo]

United States GP was probably one of the highlights in this season, nothing against Hamilton, he is the best driver in the best car atm, but in my opinion he is just dull person and doesnt bring much emotions when he wins.
Here is little something to revisit and live that moment again when Kimi won his first GP in over 5 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mIuSAFwo5M

[Zico]

United States GP was probably one of the highlights in this season, nothing against Hamilton, he is the best driver in the best car atm, but in my opinion he is just dull person and doesnt bring much emotions when he wins.
Here is little something to revisit and live that moment again when Kimi won his first GP in over 5 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mIuSAFwo5M


I do agree somewhat but it must become much less emotional after you have won so many... . I think that must happen to all of the most successful drivers... and I can't blame him/them for that.

[The Black Knight]

United States GP was probably one of the highlights in this season, nothing against Hamilton, he is the best driver in the best car atm, but in my opinion he is just dull person and doesnt bring much emotions when he wins.
Here is little something to revisit and live that moment again when Kimi won his first GP in over 5 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mIuSAFwo5M

When Hamilton did bring emotion to his wins and wore his heart on his sleeves he was criticised. Now that he has calmed down over the years, being more centered and PC, he is called dull. I agree, he is duller than he used to be, but that is simply a result PC conditioning.

It’s impossible to have it both ways. The only driver that hasn’t changed really and doesn’t follow the PC line is probably Kimi and that’s because he never really said much to begin with and he just seems to be accepted as unique. I can imagine the reaction may be different from viewers if Lewis told Martin Brundle he had just finished a shit on his grid walk.

[Nitrodaze]

United States GP was probably one of the highlights in this season, nothing against Hamilton, he is the best driver in the best car atm, but in my opinion he is just dull person and doesnt bring much emotions when he wins.
Here is little something to revisit and live that moment again when Kimi won his first GP in over 5 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mIuSAFwo5M

Hamilton has a love hate relationship with the media that has hounded him over the years with criticism and heckling. Hence, Hamilton do not really do much media interaction over race weekends. The rare media time that Hamilton gives, is usually very strategic and aimed at making some sort of open statement. Hence, l can see why you would think Hamilton is boring recently, as de doesn't smile wildly like Ricciado does to all comers. You have to also bear in mind that he is now an ambassador of the sport. His conduct is now scrutinized more than ever, hence he has to act and talk very carefully.

But if you take time to look at the five time world champion more closely, you find that he is far from boring. As matter of fact, he is one of the most interesting individuals on the grid.