ben1990

Agreed. Mercedes seemed to be flexing their muscles ahead of next year. They need to improve how their car works in traffic though, was very keen to see them go wheel to wheel.

Max was unlucky imo. Driven brilliantly and was the only driver to get penalised for track limits, the number of times the on-board showed drivers cutting the inside of the corners and no penalties.

Almost completely dark in Littlehampton. Very eerie

Didn't the fia put restrictions on oil burning before Baku? Pundits thought that it would hinder Mercedes but it actually hurt Ferrari iirc

According autosport, Sebs gearbox is ok but how can it be? Still has to last 5 races too

Feel for Alonso as he had made a brilliant start and followed in Hamiltons wheel tracks. Shame for him that he was a split second too late.

That one is on Vettel Imo. This was supposed to be the race where he took a decent championship lead but not to be

Hamiltons race sim in fp2 didn't look too bad so if he beats at least Kimi off the line he may be able to hang on to the leaders

Not really unexpected to be fair. Vettel with a stonking lap notwithstanding the hit of the wall. If he gives Max a sniff into turn 1 there could be sparks. This was always going to be Mercedes weakest track of the last few, fully expect an close fight for the rest of the season

I like their optimism

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/131789/renault-split-could-force-red-bull-to-honda And Renault want to split from Red Bull

Even though on paper Ferrari should be quicker in Singapore, I can see Red Bull being faster. They had better race pace than Ferrari today on a power track. Then after that, at tracks that may suit Mercedes, Red Bull could easily snatch a podium. Could work both ways though

Ferrari are meant to dominate in Singapore but I'm not so sure. Momentum could be a key factor and it is not with Ferrari yet. I was surprised that Bottas was able to pass Ocon and Stroll a lot easier than Vettel despite the Mercedes issues with dirty air

And Hamilton now clear at the top of the all time pole list. Perfect result there for him with a few cars between him and Vettel.

I'm still trying to work out how Hamilton kept Vettel behind at the end despite being on much harder tyres. Engine power helped of course but I would have thought that the tyre delta would have allowed Vettel to get drs then breeze past. Agreed about the force India drivers, they need to curb it before they cause a major problem. Perez was too aggressive Imo, Ocon made a legitimate attempt to pass

That must sting for Honda. Now if they were trying to sell them as gp2 engines I think they would be in business

Not forgetting how much the Mercedes struggles with dirty air, all the more difficult to pass at Hungary. Can't help but feel that Hamilton will regret handing back the place to Bottas at the end of the season

Scratch that, Vettels car has a gearbox issue just 2 hours to lights out! Reading through autosport forum

So will it be an easy Ferrari 1-2 or will we see a reverse of the start of the 2015 race?

Maybe so. Or they realise they need to push the limits to try to catch Mercedes and went too far. Mercedes have had their gearbox issues on both cars because of pushing them too far to gain fractions of a tenth

And I thought Mercedes were the ones that were meant to struggle on tyre wear

Mercedes had a major pace advantage this weekend. Hamilton setting fastest lap on 20 odd lap old soft tyres while the Ferraris were 1.5 seconds or more slower says a lot. Fun race all in all, kudos to Ricciardo and Hulkenberg too

Toro Rosso already in trouble this weekend. Entering a car with a damaged wheel tether despite the stewards telling them to fix it.

Big question is, can we consider Bottas a serious title contender as let's face it, Hamilton would be ahead of Vettel in the points if it wasn't for the headrest + gearbox penalty. Even starting p3 I think Hamilton would have finished at least p2 today. Onwards to Silverstone.

For now Vettel seems to have reclaimed his lucky jam jar from Rosberg. Should be a fun race, hoping for rain.