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[Roth]

I have just rewatched the race sitting still this time, and I have to say Nicos inability to pass Vergne, and his inability to not get overtaken by the Torro Rosso is a massive factor in his inability to win the race from pole in the fastest car. i have never seen that kind of going missing in action from Lewis although I have from Nico many times before this year

If both rewatch that race I reckon Nico will not enjoy the summer break as much as Lewis will

It wasn't the inability to get past, it was that the Merc wasn't even pressuring, the same way Alonso and Vettel and Hamilton were line-a-stern. It wasn't just a cruise and overtake afternoon based on the car as much as the tire strategy. It took Hamilton a great move in a slightly unusual overtaking spot to get by Vergne.

[CookinFlat6]

Has Lewis been unable to pass a Torro Rosso or any other car as he made his way from the back in the last 2 races?
Or maybe Nicos psychological strength was why he was unable to win despite tyres, despite safety car.
Maybe racecraft doesnt mean having to pass cars on track quickly, yes maybe thats it starting from pole there are lots of excuses for not overtaking and getting stuck for several laps in the fastest car when the same car can pass all the others

this is almost as logical and based in reality as your previous gems

[Roth]

He couldn't get past a Renault engined car or a Ferrari.

[sagi58]

He couldn't get past a Renault engined car or a Ferrari.

Speaking of which... NOT to take anything away from Ricciardo's race, which was great;
but, has the Red Bull really come that far along (without development, of course) or were
Ricciardo's passes on Hamilton and then Alonso just a case of varying tire usage?

[Roth]

He couldn't get past a Renault engined car or a Ferrari.

Speaking of which... NOT to take anything away from Ricciardo's race, which was great;
but, has the Red Bull really come that far along (without development, of course) or were
Ricciardo's passes on Hamilton and then Alonso just a case of varying tire usage?

Ricciardo as he's proved before is a great strategist. He seems to sense when to push and when to take it easy to get the most from the tires. So RB give him the basic foundation with the number of stops and he works it from there. He's probably aware too about what other drivers are doing and when roughly he will need the grip to get by for position when it all pans out with no stops remaining. So when he came out behind the Alonso Vet Ham train he didn't push and overtake despite having the equipment. He paced himself seeing the long term strategy. It's quite a skill and he's scarily good at it.

[sagi58]

...So when he came out behind the Alonso Vet Ham train he didn't push and overtake despite having the equipment. He paced himself seeing the long term strategy. It's quite a skill and he's scarily good at it.

The three of them made the race ""seem"" so effortless that it's mind-boggling just much is involved that we don't actually see!!

Thanks, for the explanation!!

[Hammer278]

[geetface9]

I guess when you have a fast driver and the fastest car you don't need to think too much about strategy. You should be able to win from pole or get on the podium when you start at the back of the grid. Oh well.

In this constant quest to have a dig you always come up short in making an even vaguely decent point.

Notice the complete lack of acknowledgement of safety cars benefitting one driver over the other.

I'm not gonna harp on it though because I sleep just fine at night without it, just like Rosberg

[geetface9]

Daaaaaaang that Lewis v Nico thread popped off while I was asleep I missed out!!

Good job to hamilton today passing vergne on the same lap that he pitted because his tires were done. What a drive

[geetface9]

He couldn't get past a Renault engined car or a Ferrari.

Speaking of which... NOT to take anything away from Ricciardo's race, which was great;
but, has the Red Bull really come that far along (without development, of course) or were
Ricciardo's passes on Hamilton and then Alonso just a case of varying tire usage?

Ricciardo as he's proved before is a great strategist. He seems to sense when to push and when to take it easy to get the most from the tires. So RB give him the basic foundation with the number of stops and he works it from there. He's probably aware too about what other drivers are doing and when roughly he will need the grip to get by for position when it all pans out with no stops remaining. So when he came out behind the Alonso Vet Ham train he didn't push and overtake despite having the equipment. He paced himself seeing the long term strategy. It's quite a skill and he's scarily good at it.

I wonder how bad vettel's @$$ is chapped over this. Ricciardo is the man!

[Hammer278]

Roth almost jumped onto his computer to share another valuable discourse on mental weakness when Lewis spun on his first lap....but thought "oh f*ck" when he recovered and beat his highly intelligent teammate who started on pole, never made it past a Toro Rosso, never made it past Lewis with a superior strategy.

But anyway, Lewis needs to work on his mental weakness...starting from the pitlane in that superior Mercedes and only finishing 3rd. And his rash manouvre on Vergne was just dreadful, who'd take a gamble like that when fighting for the WDC? Numbnuts.

Meanwhile, Rosberg was dreadfully unlucky with the SC timing despite starting from pole, and incredibly cerebral in managing his tyres throughout the race. Did you know he was almost 3 seconds quicker than Lewis in the last 10 laps of the race. Champions drive IMO. Lewis needs to learn from him next time when starting from pole position. That is, if he can manage his car and not cause it to catch fire and all during Q1. This WDC is not about being fast, its about preserving the machinery. Let's hope Lewis makes it past Q1 in Spa.

[racechick]

I have a question. I was thinking about the race in bed last night, as you do, and I was wondering why Merc put Lewis on hards for his last stint? He had softs coming out of his ears and they were 1.6 secs a lap faster than the harder one. All the cars he was fighting at the end were on the faster tyre, albeit in the case of Alonso a worn one, but it was holding up. Merc had the Info on how the soft was holding up, why wasn't Lewis on it? It was so much faster he could have done an extra stop if needed. its why he couldn't defend against Ric, couldn't attack Alonso and was vulnerable to Rosberg. He could have won that race, and from the pits , he was on the wrong tyre.
What are your thoughts on this?

[Hammer278]

Safer option I guess. No one knew the options will be so much faster and last as long? If I were Merc and staring at 30 laps to go, I'd put on the safer option knowing that the guy has already made a massive recovery and a podium is confirmed with this choice. If I took the options and expected great performance for 30 laps, I'd be a bit more worried during that 30 lap duration.

Merc's only mistake was making that stupid radio call...to ask 1 WDC rival to let another one through. Dumb as f*ck mistake. And looking at the comments from the team, I have a feeling it was Toto who made the call. He's all like "we must discuss to see if it was a mistake or not blahblah" f**k off hell yeah it was a mistake.

[racechick]

But they did know how much faster that tyre was because the commentators were saying there's a massive difference between them on the sat. And Lewis asked to go longer on his soft set because they were still good. I'm wondering if there's a bit of the McLaren type , work out what looks like the best overall strategy for both cars and stick to it. I reckon if Ross was there still Lewis would have been on the softs and won the race. Alonso went longer than Lewis on the softer tyre.

The call was idiotic and fuels the fired of those saying Rosberg is favoured. They need to be careful.

[Hammer278]

Yeah, I think it was a predetermined strategy which they stuck to. Considering the weather, they always wanted to keep Lewis on a two stop and probably agreed on these tyres before the lights went out.

No thinking on their feet going on, Lowe is an engineer and Wolff can't ride a bike properly...so you can't expect much more. Just hope they manage to quench the shitty reliability issues.