FORUMula1.com

[sagi58]

Sorry im new to this ....

Hello, pluto!!

[darwin dali]

[pluto]

Thx

[gdh]

Renault must be so incredibly pleased that Red Bull did so well today, or not. So good to see the old qualifying rules in place again.

[LewEngBridewell]

Fairly good race again, it's not been a bad start to the year in terms of entertaining racing.

[overboost]

Ferrari really missed an opportunity with that horrible start. Vettel leaving an opening on the inside for Kvyat an then running into is teammate. Why not slow just down a bit Seb, Kvyat was already ahead when you went wide into your teammate. Should have been a double podium for Ferrari. Marchionne will have words with Vettel I think.

Raikkonen kept cool and had an excellent recovery drive going from last to 5th. And Ricciardo as well showing his skill in the Red Bull getting from the back to fourth and especially in his duel with Hamilton easily out foxing him and getting past with a big hp deficit. Ricciardo is a huge talent. Hamilton looks like yesterday's man, out classed so far by Rosberg this season and today racing with Massa and losing to him.

Things could get worse for Hamilton if he doesn't get it going soon as Red Bull and Ferrari are close to Rosberg in pace and the team will start (around mid season) wanting to protect Nico's wdc lead and use Hamilton in a #2 role. Lewis really has to win in the next two races to get his championship in order.

The race was very hectic at the beginning and mellowed out towards the end but overall not a bad race with Raikkonen and Ricciardo coming back up into contention.

[darwin dali]

To be fair LH had some substantial damage on his T-tray from driving over/with his broken wing which made him lose downforce (they tried to fix it during one of his pit stops by adding more downforce to his wing) and his suspension was not working properly either.

[overboost]

Hamilton's car looked fine. It was stable with good pace and had no problems catching Bottas nor Massa. He also seemed to be moving through the traffic more quickly than Kimi throughout the race until that last stint.

What I saw was Hamilton making a clumsy move on Bottas in a poor place for overtaking and locking his wheels and damaging his tires in the process. He knew that those tires had to make it to the end. Massa's solid defending also seemed to puzzle Lewis who had better lines and grip but couldn't get it done. At the end with his damaged tires now expired he almost fell to Verstappen.

He just went out to fast and hard on the final stint, didn't consider managing the tires in spite of any damage he may have had. This is where the ban on team radio cost Lewis as the team would have been all over this and given Lewis some coaching on how to manage the tires. Wolff said that Lewis's strategy was designed to get him to 4th or 5th place.

The car is handling like a 'four poster bed' comment from Lewis doesn't hold up imo, just an excuse to cover a sloppy drive. The team won't be pleased with that kind of comment.

[overboost]

Kvyat rubbing it in?!

[overboost]

With this win Rosberg now has six wins in a row. This puts him in lofty territory with Shumacher, Ascari and Vettel the only drivers in F1 history having equal or more consecutive wins.

What makes Rosberg's achievement most notable is that he is doing this as a #2 driver. Something that I don't think has never been done before.

[gdh]

Very entertaining race, lots of drama and passing. Nice Sunday outing for Rosberg, thought we caught a glimpse of him txting and posting pics during the latter laps. On to Russia. Saw Toto walk by the Renault stable and check his watch.

[overboost]

[sagi58]

WoW!!!

Well worth getting up at 2:00 a.m. for!!

Obviously, my heart was in my throat when Kimi and Vettel made contact;
but, wow... they really recovered well!!

Vettel knew he messed up and got on the radio immediately to apologize.
Kimi kept his cool... sure, Marchionne and Arrivabene will have a word with
both; but, whatever happens behind closed doors, should stay there!!

Interesting comment during the race (I think it was Brundle?)...
something along the lines of the Mercedes car not handling well in traffic?
I guess they're referring to it having great straight line speed; but, being
difficult to handle at slower speeds?

[myownalias]

Interesting comment during the race (I think it was Brundle?)...
something along the lines of the Mercedes car not handling well in traffic?
I guess they're referring to it having great straight line speed; but, being
difficult to handle at slower speeds?

I'm not sure that it's really a problem with Hamilton's car that made it hard to handle in traffic, he did get a decent clout at the start that broke his wing which went under his car, which in turn could have damaged the underside of the car. I think the performance suffered because of damage more than car design.

[sagi58]

Thanks, MOA! That makes more sense than Brundle's comment,
which I thought was strange, so I figured someone here would be
able to explain it to me. To be honest, I couldn't understand how
a car could be that fast and that reliable and then have problems
with handling in traffic!

Thanks again!!