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Easy pass.
Great call by Merc
Great call by Merc
Will Mercedes pit Bottas or Hamilton again to try to keep the fastest lap from Verstappen?
Gaps aren't big enough to risk it imo.
They were already pretty unhappy with Bottas and thought about replacing him, I'm pretty sure that stunt won't help him in that regard. I get his frustration but last year they let them have a fair fight until he got unlucky for a few races. This year his performance isn't even on the same planet as Lewis', though, he couldn't even beat Verstappen on Mercedes friendly tracks.Shades of Hungary when Lewis came back to beat max.
Bottas giving Lewis a hard time on a different strategy. Not sure how Toto is going to handle. It’s one thing to try and keep the lead if it’s last couple laps, but Bottas had zero chance of holding off Lewis. They shouldn’t have pitted Bottas after that imo. He most likely would have kept max out there on the one stopper and prevented max from getting the fastest lap point. Perez would have got it regardless. But better than max.
Shades of Hungary when Lewis came back to beat max.
Bottas giving Lewis a hard time on a different strategy. Not sure how Toto is going to handle. It’s one thing to try and keep the lead if it’s last couple laps, but Bottas had zero chance of holding off Lewis. They shouldn’t have pitted Bottas after that imo. He most likely would have kept max out there on the one stopper and prevented max from getting the fastest lap point. Perez would have got it regardless. But better than max.
Yeah. Bottas didn’t do himself any favours today. I’d hate to see him lose his seat.They were already pretty unhappy with Bottas and thought about replacing him, I'm pretty sure that stunt won't help him in that regard. I get his frustration but last year they let them have a fair fight until he got unlucky for a few races. This year his performance isn't even on the same planet as Lewis', though, he couldn't even beat Verstappen on Mercedes friendly tracks.
I don’t think red bull would have pitted max if Bottas stayed out. Unless they did it quick and pulled the same move on Bottas. But not sure if they had a good set of mediums. Was entertaining none the less!It did seem odd to pit Bottas when he appeared to have a chance for second place as he was 11 seconds behind. They had to figure Bottas wouldn't be able to hold second when Max came out on faster tires. Maybe Mercedes were trying to entice Red Bull into pitting Verstappen by giving up second place. It would be interesting to have access to the tire choices. They show them sometimes but they often make errors. Did using the scuffed soft tires on Hamilton's car make such a difference in the first run?
They seemed to cut the race coverage short today. They usually talk to the team principles and some other drivers. Maybe Sky Sports did and it was ESPN that cut off early.
I don’t think red bull would have pitted max if Bottas stayed out. Unless they did it quick and pulled the same move on Bottas. But not sure if they had a good set of mediums. Was entertaining none the less!
Verstappen thought he was a sitting duck on the one stop. They are talking about not having another set of medium tires for Verstappen so they couldn't pit when Hamilton did as the soft tires wouldn't have made it to the end. The race was lost on tire strategy in practice. The hard tires must be really bad there as nobody seemed to want them.
I don't think I saw a single car on hards. Then again I think even the softs lasted a good while for pretty much everybody.
Hamilton made some pretty good comments after the race. They may be head games, but he says he learned so much from driving behind max. About his car, what the car does, how max reacts. I’m sure he did, but I’m also sure a little of it was, sure, you can take the lead, but before I take you over later in the race, I’m learning all I can about your car.
At least that’s how I read it.
Also, he said he didn’t know Bottas was told to let him by, and he straight passed him. Valteri also said he wasn’t in a hurry to let Lewis by. He was worrying about his race first.
Red Bull seems to have that short term advantage but they just can't manage the long runs. It would be interesting to see how Hamilton and Verstappen would do in each others cars. I don't think any driver can match Hamilton for being able to manage their tires.
Red Bull seems to have that short term advantage but they just can't manage the long runs. It would be interesting to see how Hamilton and Verstappen would do in each others cars. I don't think any driver can match Hamilton for being able to manage their tires.