***** F1 Spoiler *****

[ScrumpyCheddar]

RACE RESULTS... 

Sebastian Vettel Disqualified after Insufficient Fuel sample after race.. F1 regulations state that “Competitors must ensure that a 1.0 litre sample of fuel may be taken at any time during the event” And only an insufficient 300ml could be removed from Vettels Aston Martin in Budapest. Aston Martin have until Thursday to overturn there appeal.  

[Paul]

A weekend to remember that motor sport is dangerous, and despite all of the advances in car and track safety it will always be so. I have been a volunteer marshal in the past, it is a fantastic thing to be involved with. Thankfully fatalities and serious injuries are very rare but we should remember that without these people and their dedication motor sport at any level simply would not exist. 

Not only do I send my condolences to all those impacted by the events at Brands Hatch but also take the chance to thank all those who give up their free time to put on the show for the rest of us. 

As for the race it highlighted for me just how much of an issue overtaking has become with the modern cars. Even with fresher tyres, a faster car and DRS Hamilton couldn't get past Alonso until the latter eventually succumbed to the relentless pressure and made the tiny error Hamilton needed. I have never been a Vettel fan but I do feel for him, disqualified for such a technical infringement but it is a bread and butter job for teams to make sure these standard regulations are adhered to. I note that the results have now been adjusted and the standings updated. 

Once again we see Hamilton leading a world championship in a clearly inferior car, I wonder if he can take it home from here and win number 8? Whether he can or not I have no doubt there will still be those who want us to believe that "it's all down to the car" .....

[ExSurveyor]

It was a strange sight to see Lewis the only one on the grid for the restart and then end up last at 14th after a lap.

 

[Paul]

It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened to the restart if he had pitted too as there is no protocol to cover that scenario, a standing "grid" start with all cars starting from the pit lane. The current regs allow any car to return to the pit lane after a formation lap but they must wait for all cars starting on the grid to pass a line on the track denoting the end of the pit "blend" lane before they can leave the pit lane proper. Only at this point does the red traffic light at pit exit turn green. If there is no car on the grid to trigger that opening of the pit exit then it all gets a bit stuck. 

All in all he might just have been safer doing what he did. As champions the Mercedes pit is the first on the pit lane, so he would have been first in, and presumably out of his pit box then has to travel the length of the pit lane past all the other teams at the speed limit. We saw plenty of dodgy releases as it was. With auto release systems (something I am vehemently opposed to, I think they are inherently dangerous) the risk of someone firing out of a pit box straight into the side of him meant settling for a podium, much as it is not Hamilton's mentality might have been the best "long game".

Had he adopted that policy in Azerbaijan instead of going for the lead at the restart he would have a very comfortable lead in the driver's standings now, even with the Red Bull's dominant pace. 

 

[ExSurveyor]

Apparently according to Massi they would have gone through the normal lights procedure then triggered the pit lane light.

[CeePee1952]

Belgian Grand Prix???? What a complete and utter farce!!  Glad I didn't fork out to go and watch it!  The FIA really need to get their act together! 

Chris

[JanetAnne]

Next you'll be saying the Broads Authority need to get their act together because of the poor summer weather here

[Chelsea14Ian]

1 hour ago, CeePee1952 said:

Belgian Grand Prix???? What a complete and utter farce!!  Glad I didn't fork out to go and watch it!  The FIA really need to get their act together! 

Chris

Fully agree.To only race,not really the right word. I could  have taken place  in my mobility scooter! And have a result was stupid. Think Lewis was right ,those that went to the race should get there money  back.

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Absolute joke … There be getting rid of the wet tyres next..  Very very disappointing decision… 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Perhaps they should of held the race today. It has been done before.

[Chelsea14Ian]

Think that was ruled out,because Friday  in Holland. Plus they said 85% chance of rain today.

[ModeratorTeam]

Open for discussion.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

I`m sure we have all seen the races since the topic was locked and I have no wish to start the blame game over who was right and who was in the wrong in the recent past incidents so all I will say is congrats to VB yesterday and I hope the championship goes all the way to the final race of the season where it is decided on the track and not in an office.

[ExSurveyor]

It was an interesting battle between LH and his engineers, gut feeling and experience versus data. I think LH made the wrong call this time.

It will be an interesting end to the season.

[Paul]

22 hours ago, psychicsurveyor said:

I think LH made the wrong call this time.

I'm not sure that's the right way around? LH was adamant that staying out was the correct call, the team were equally adamant he should come in. Mercedes have not got all of their strategy decisions right recently, in fact in the last couple of years since the death of Niki Lauda there has been more than one occasion where it seemed at the time that the call being made was just plain wrong, and so it was on Sunday. It's easy to be wise with the gift of hindsight but even at the time the decision to pit Hamilton for new intermediate tyres felt wrong. It was determined by data of course, but not just actual data, a good degree of extrapolation is involved - guesswork to you and me. I wonder how much the loss of Lauda's steadying influence, his sense of race craft and feel for the situation at hand is being missed in the MB garage. Computers and statistics seem to have total control now and sometimes they lie to you. Lauda used to be the man to spot that, I wonder who, if anyone does that now? When I used to race saloon cars and single make series if a pit stop was not mandated you always weighed the potential gain versus the cost. In Sunday's scenario the scale was tipped strongly to the side of cost. 

After the race Toto Wolf claimed that the change was necessary as Hamilton would be caught anyway. Really? The times prior to Hamilton's stop didn't not bear that out. Leclerc was not catching anything like quickly enough to close the gap by the end of the race and he himself was being caught (and was eventually passed) by Perez. Mercedes did have the data on the tyre to know it could last the race distance from the set Hamilton used for 50 laps last year at the same event. 

The decision not to stop earlier was fair enough. Everyone expected a dry line to appear, in fact it was doing so well before the end of the race but there were too many wet areas on track still for slicks to become an option. Hamilton's only chance of winning the race was to be the one driver who stopped just as the slick window opened. Sadly it never did but he was driving a fine rearguard to protect what he had, until the pit stop. We will never know how it might have played out if Hamilton had not stopped but I strongly believe he would have hung on to finish third. The pit stop condemned him to fifth, and with the early cycle deg and graining the new inters were suffering he was lucky not to lose more places. It robbed him f the chance to at least try and defend the position(s) on track. 

 

[Bikertov]

The risk for LH was that the tyres delaminated and failed on him, resulting in a DNF.

The garage was telling him not to risk it, vs LH saying it felt fine at that stage.

In hindsight (of course), if he was going to pit, he should have done it earlier as others did, to get through the deg and graining and give more time to then make up positions. Else he should have just stayed out on the old tyres.

Split second decisions, that you can't then go back on. Easy for us armchair enthusiasts to comment/criticise !

 

 

[Bikertov]

Either way, I'm actually quite pleased for Bottas that he got a win, and the damage limitation for Merc as a team was not too bad - could have been far worse bearing in mind the slippery conditions and the LH 10 place grid penalty.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

I`ve read that MB watched the tyre temperatures dropping off and became concerned about a DNF, they threw the dice hoping for either a pit stop under the safety car or the track drying out neither of which happened on a track that was different from last year in terms of tyre wear.

 

[ModeratorTeam]

Open for discussion.

[ScrumpyCheddar]

I always enjoy the US Grand Prix and that one was a good un .. Great result 👍👍👍

[ExSurveyor]

A good close race, it should be a good last few races.

[twowrights]

4 hours ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:

 Great result 👍👍👍

Nah! 

[ExSurveyor]

Well that was an interesting race

[Bikertov]

I suspect that it is now too much for LH to retain the drivers title. The gap is too great unless something out of the ordinary happens, like a DNF for Verstappen

[oldgregg]

As Murray used to say, F1 is 'IF' spelled backwards....

It does look like Max is in a strong position, but one DNF for whatever reason and a series of strong races from Lewis could flip it around.

I'd love to see Max take it this year, I think he deserves it and it'd be great for F1 as a lot of diehard F1 fans (myself included) have got pretty bored with the series over the past few seasons.