Back to the racing this weekend. Vettel shows yet again how awful he is when things aren’t going his way. Driver error means he spins off, but he then re-enters the race directly in Stroll’s path. Absolutely idiotic, dangerous and thoughtless. I hope they throw the book at him. After the tragic events of last week, he could’ve caused another tragedy. (Lance Stroll did exactly the same straight after too. He may have been angry at Vettel, but there’s no excuse.)
I hope the in race penalties handed out for the Vettel/Stroll incident aren’t the end of the punishments. It’s not an exaggeration to say that both of them, particularly Vettel, could have killed someone so for them to get the same severity of punishment as Kimi got for starting in the wrong set of tyres seems a bit messed up.
Happy for Leclerc. Seems a genuinely nice lad - he might be from a wealthy background but he’s been brought up properly. He pushed the limits a bit today but Verstappen was allowed to do it to him in Austria so the FIA/Stewards have deemed its acceptable so can’t blame him for using it to his advantage this time. Personally I don’t like seeing it as I think it’s to the detriment of good racing. It’s hard enough to overtake as it is without it being okay for the car in front to just push the chasing car off the track.
and thought it might be of interest to the motor racing fans on here.
Hopefully it will be of interest.
EDIT: If the link doesn't work and you are on Facebook the page is called Everything F1
If any fans of Formula 1 do look at the linked page I'd be interested to know whether or not they think it is any good.
Have any of you F1 fans looked at this and if you have is it any good?
Had a little look. Potential for some interest there. It’s a fan page, so I imagine there may be some controversial views on show, but at first glance seems fairly inoffensive - maybe even a bit vanilla - but I might keep an eye on it. Cheers @LenGlover
Vettel remains one of the fastest drivers out there. On his day he may be the fastest. He lacks Hamilton's race craft and is going through a bad patch but he can come back. I think he needs a new target. That is to forget about the title and beat LeClerc. I would not be surprised if he does that, but he needs to focus 100% on that now.
I think Vettel needs to be the main/ sole focus in a team, when he gets a team mate who can match or beat him, and the teams efforts and support becomes divided he seems to struggle, perhaps try to hard and makes mistakes. This also occurred against Danny Riccardo at RedBull, and Vettel in the end had to leave, and maybe looks like its happening again.
Finally had a chance to sit down and watch yesterday's race. Really enjoyed it, especially Vettel showing his true colours again.
I'd be interested to know if this bothers anyone else - Not sure if it's Sky jerking off over them or if it's the general Italian thing of having these names but.... every time 'Crofty' (don't even get me started on commentators using nicknames) said 'Tifosi' I wanted to punch him in the mouth.
LeClerc would not have won that race if it was in another country IMO. He should have been penalised. It has also become apparent that he stitched Vettel up in qualifying. Vettel has stitched up a few teammates in his time, but the fact remains.
LeClerc would not have won that race if it was in another country IMO. He should have been penalised. It has also become apparent that he stitched Vettel up in qualifying. Vettel has stitched up a few teammates in his time, but the fact remains.
Hmm. Not so sure about that. It was a bit naughty, but no more than that in my opinion. And that comes from me, a bonafide Ferrari loather. I grant you that the circumstances of the race being in Italy could cause this (admittedly lenient) decision to raise some eyebrows, but I suspect that if anything contributed to the leniency, it may have been the (in my view) totally unjustified “let them race” backlash after the quite appropriate penalty given to Vettel that, ahem, “stole” his victory from him in Canada. When you consider how many people threw hissy fits that day, despite the blatant effort Vettel made to obstruct Hamilton while reentering the track after yet another cock-up. Then consider how the Leclerc/Hamilton incident was a genuine racing moment where Leclerc could maybe, just maybe, claim to have the racing line, you can see why they let him off. Having said that, it does make me wonder whether, if the crime was big enough to warrant a telling off in the form of a black and white, should he be allowed to earn the win off the back of it?
Jolyon Palmer nails the corner the rule makers have painted themselves into in this article. I agree with him that we can’t just have it being okay to run another car of the road because that is “letting them race”. It’ll lead to less overtaking, not more.
Thinking about the race on Sunday and Rosberg and Hamilton's rivalry. Surely it is perfect to have an excellent driver like Bottas who is not as good as Hamilton. When you have two drivers really competing with each other in the same team, they take too many points off each other and cause issues within the team. Ferrari have to think about this for next season. I recall Alonso and Hamilton at McLaren taking points off each other and despite having the best car, neither were world champions that year.
Didn't see the race but I read that Vettel was a dick again, ignoring team orders and later pretending it was all just a misunderstanding. I really hope Leclerc shafts him good and proper at some point this season.
Personally, I thought LeClerc was being the dick. He should have taken the assurances that Vettel would let him through at some point and accepted the best time for that was going to be later in the race and then he should have shut his gob. Vettel was pulling away and LeClerc's job to achieve that was simply to pull away from Hamilton.
If he doesn't you throw a strop then, but the race dictated they put a distance between them and Hamilton and that had to be the early focus. Vettel wasn't holding LeClerc up. If he was, then fair enough.
All the commentary suggested it was a stupid idea pre-agreeing that LeClerc would deliberately tow Vettel and get oases and then soon after give it back.
much better to have suggested to Leclerc he shouldn’t give that advantage to Hamilton if he could avoid it and leave it at that.
Naturally leclerc would have or could could have been swapped at pit stop without so much open whining that must have the Mercedes team setting themselves laughing every time they play the car to team radio back.
Wasn’t able to watch the race this week, but on reading about this whole incident, it just makes me happy to see that Ferrari, despite their wealth, arrogance, sense of entitlement, pettiness, whining and blame culture, have once again contributed to a poor working relationship between their two drivers, leaving them with yet another stinking mess to deal with. Pretty much every decision they’ve made this year has served only to mess up their races and to drive a bigger and bigger wedge between Leclerc and Vettel. They’re now at the point where there appears to be no trust or respect between the drivers - to the extent that I wouldn’t be too surprised if at some point in the near future they take each other out of a race.
Moving forward, Leclerc has clearly got a brighter future than Vettel, so I can’t see Vettel hanging around at Ferrari for too long unless Leclerc gets his head turned in the next year by an offer as number 1 driver in a competitive team. (But that seems unlikely, considering Hamilton and Verstappen have those spots right now and McLaren aren’t going to be challenging for anything until they change back to Mercedes engines in 2021 at the very least.) Having said all that, Leclerc, despite having a breakout year, hasn’t been perfect.
I think Vettel has effectively ended his competitive career this year. He’s been shown up as not being as good as he thinks he is, as well as not being as good as his rookie teammate, despite having the benefit of experience, past success and, until recently, team orders. He might hang about in the sport for a while yet, like Kimi has done, but I can’t see him holding on to the Ferrari drive after 2020. I actually think Ferrari would offload Vettel this winter if it weren’t for the fact that: a) They’d have to pay him a shitload of money for the privilege. b) Leclerc is so young. They need an ‘old head’ while Leclerc matures, but although Vettel is making a pig’s ear of it, they won’t get one of the older, more experienced drivers in just to babysit for a year or two. So I reckon they’ll see his contract to 2020 out, then get rid. Leclerc will still be a baby, but a baby with two years in a top end team.
Vettel’s only chance would be if the Ferrari is absolutely dominant next year and he somehow manages to keep Leclerc behind him. But that requires a big step up in performance from both him and his team.
Fingers crossed, he messes up again next year and retires, meaning we don’t have to look at his entitled, smug, arrogant mug anymore.
I can see him lasting one more year at Ferrari then moving on to someone else in 2021, meanwhile Ferrari will make a big play for Verstappen for 2021, whilst Hamilton retires after beating Schumacher's world title amount
I agree that LeClerc looks to be one for the future, but I don't think he has proven himself to be better than Vettel yet and I wouldn't put him above Verstappen. If I was boss of Ferrari, the jury would still be out. There are all sorts of factors involved and Vettel can come back. He is undoubtably quick - on his day quicker than Hamilton. It is just overall Hamilton is the more complete package. Vettel doesn't like a competitive teammate though so it is going to be a recurring issue for the team.
Lol. No. I’ve always found the whole Ferrari thing a bit repulsive - the whole media love in makes it worse, especially when you don’t see anything lovable about them.
It’s a bit like how many of us dislike Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and so on. There’s a constant fawning over them that’s disproportionate and it just makes me want them to fail. It doesn’t help that they seem to hire unlikeable drivers like Prost, Schumacher, Alonso, Vettel (not saying bad drivers, just unlikeable in my opinion!)
Suffice to say that I’m enjoying this season for more than just the racing!
It isn't just Ferrari, it can happen in any team. Even teams not at the front. Your teammate has the same machinery and for that reason is the last person you want to be beaten by. What Mercedes have is two drivers who really get on. Although if Bottas was a bit closer to Hamilton, that probably wouldn't be the case. Interestingly Alonso and Hamilton were a bit of an issue in the same team, but when that was no longer the case, their respect for each other shone through.
I think Rosberg is a very nice guy, but he decided he had to be a complete bastard to win the title and it worked. Ok, Hamilton had more bad luck and would have won the title without it, but Rosberg got himself in a position to be close enough to take advantage. He tried to get as close to the line as possible that season and passed it a few times. Fortunately for Mercedes, they were not really challenged by other teams, but if the line ups stay the same, it will increase the advantage to Hamilton if the teams are closely matched.
Lol. No. I’ve always found the whole Ferrari thing a bit repulsive - the whole media love in makes it worse, especially when you don’t see anything lovable about them.
It’s a bit like how many of us dislike Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and so on. There’s a constant fawning over them that’s disproportionate and it just makes me want them to fail. It doesn’t help that they seem to hire unlikeable drivers like Prost, Schumacher, Alonso, Vettel (not saying bad drivers, just unlikeable in my opinion!)
Suffice to say that I’m enjoying this season for more than just the racing!
I have no real interest in Formula One but one of my sons is in to it and we went to the Canadian Grand Prix this year and the crying/booooooing/stroppy antics of the petulant Vettel/Ferrari fans made me really dislike them . so I’m with Romford being anti Ferrari
Vettel was brilliant in qualifying this morning. Then when it came to the race, he false started.
Absolutely sums him up as a driver - on a track racing against the clock, he’s decent. Put him under pressure and he’s not. He held off Hamilton for the last few laps though, so fair enough.
Bottas has been very good this weekend. Deserved to win this.
One thing this weekend that irritated me because it’s been happening for a while now, is the drivers bitching at their teams about other drivers, tactics, tyres or whatever over the team radio. I really want one of the engineers to say something like: “Look Lewis/Seb/Charles/Max*, you look after the driving, we’ll look after the tactics, now shut the fuck up and drive.”
Hamilton is a winner, but he will reflect on this with satisfaction ultimately. He wants Bottas as his teammate and whilst that was on for next year anway, this cements that. Bottas does have to win the odd race. He can't be caught by any driver other than Bottas now and Bottas doing that looks near impossible. I think it is precious to have two drivers in Hamilton and Bottas who actually seem to get on with each other. If Bottas was dominating Hamilton, that might not be the case, and that is why I wouldn't be thinking of getting rid of him. look at the trouble the team had in the past and Ferrari are having now. Well done Bottas for today anyway.
Comments
Happy for Leclerc. Seems a genuinely nice lad - he might be from a wealthy background but he’s been brought up properly. He pushed the limits a bit today but Verstappen was allowed to do it to him in Austria so the FIA/Stewards have deemed its acceptable so can’t blame him for using it to his advantage this time. Personally I don’t like seeing it as I think it’s to the detriment of good racing. It’s hard enough to overtake as it is without it being okay for the car in front to just push the chasing car off the track.
I'd be interested to know if this bothers anyone else - Not sure if it's Sky jerking off over them or if it's the general Italian thing of having these names but.... every time 'Crofty' (don't even get me started on commentators using nicknames) said 'Tifosi' I wanted to punch him in the mouth.
I grant you that the circumstances of the race being in Italy could cause this (admittedly lenient) decision to raise some eyebrows, but I suspect that if anything contributed to the leniency, it may have been the (in my view) totally unjustified “let them race” backlash after the quite appropriate penalty given to Vettel that, ahem, “stole” his victory from him in Canada.
When you consider how many people threw hissy fits that day, despite the blatant effort Vettel made to obstruct Hamilton while reentering the track after yet another cock-up. Then consider how the Leclerc/Hamilton incident was a genuine racing moment where Leclerc could maybe, just maybe, claim to have the racing line, you can see why they let him off.
Having said that, it does make me wonder whether, if the crime was big enough to warrant a telling off in the form of a black and white, should he be allowed to earn the win off the back of it?
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/49629863
much better to have suggested to Leclerc he shouldn’t give that advantage to Hamilton if he could avoid it and leave it at that.
Naturally leclerc would have or could could have been swapped at pit stop without so much open whining that must have the Mercedes team setting themselves laughing every time they play the car to team radio back.
Pretty much every decision they’ve made this year has served only to mess up their races and to drive a bigger and bigger wedge between Leclerc and Vettel. They’re now at the point where there appears to be no trust or respect between the drivers - to the extent that I wouldn’t be too surprised if at some point in the near future they take each other out of a race.
Moving forward, Leclerc has clearly got a brighter future than Vettel, so I can’t see Vettel hanging around at Ferrari for too long unless Leclerc gets his head turned in the next year by an offer as number 1 driver in a competitive team. (But that seems unlikely, considering Hamilton and Verstappen have those spots right now and McLaren aren’t going to be challenging for anything until they change back to Mercedes engines in 2021 at the very least.) Having said all that, Leclerc, despite having a breakout year, hasn’t been perfect.
I think Vettel has effectively ended his competitive career this year. He’s been shown up as not being as good as he thinks he is, as well as not being as good as his rookie teammate, despite having the benefit of experience, past success and, until recently, team orders. He might hang about in the sport for a while yet, like Kimi has done, but I can’t see him holding on to the Ferrari drive after 2020. I actually think Ferrari would offload Vettel this winter if it weren’t for the fact that:
a) They’d have to pay him a shitload of money for the privilege.
b) Leclerc is so young. They need an ‘old head’ while Leclerc matures, but although Vettel is making a pig’s ear of it, they won’t get one of the older, more experienced drivers in just to babysit for a year or two. So I reckon they’ll see his contract to 2020 out, then get rid. Leclerc will still be a baby, but a baby with two years in a top end team.
Vettel’s only chance would be if the Ferrari is absolutely dominant next year and he somehow manages to keep Leclerc behind him. But that requires a big step up in performance from both him and his team.
Fingers crossed, he messes up again next year and retires, meaning we don’t have to look at his entitled, smug, arrogant mug anymore.
I’ve always found the whole Ferrari thing a bit repulsive - the whole media love in makes it worse, especially when you don’t see anything lovable about them.
Suffice to say that I’m enjoying this season for more than just the racing!
I think Rosberg is a very nice guy, but he decided he had to be a complete bastard to win the title and it worked. Ok, Hamilton had more bad luck and would have won the title without it, but Rosberg got himself in a position to be close enough to take advantage. He tried to get as close to the line as possible that season and passed it a few times. Fortunately for Mercedes, they were not really challenged by other teams, but if the line ups stay the same, it will increase the advantage to Hamilton if the teams are closely matched.
so I’m with Romford being anti Ferrari
Then when it came to the race, he false started.
Absolutely sums him up as a driver - on a track racing against the clock, he’s decent. Put him under pressure and he’s not. He held off Hamilton for the last few laps though, so fair enough.
Bottas has been very good this weekend. Deserved to win this.
One thing this weekend that irritated me because it’s been happening for a while now, is the drivers bitching at their teams about other drivers, tactics, tyres or whatever over the team radio. I really want one of the engineers to say something like:
“Look Lewis/Seb/Charles/Max*, you look after the driving, we’ll look after the tactics, now shut the fuck up and drive.”
*delete as appropriate.