Vettel just awesome today. Hamilton smashed Bo77as but the car was just too slow.

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

Not a Vettel fan - but all credit to him, it was a brilliant lap.

 

Expecting fireworks tomorrow between Seb & Max.

Vettel was impressive today, I dont think Merc expected to be on pole, or even the front row but to be behind all 4 of the RB/Ferrari cars was worse than they expected I think. 

Its the same as where Merc were 2 years ago here - Row 3.

 

Dani Ric says RedBull will win, and I agree - if they beat Kimi away from the lights they can split their strategy to beat Vettel.

 

 

Edited 16 September, 20178 yr by camelspyyder

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

I'm expecting a cracking race tomorrow. The Red Bulls can go for a 50:50 with Vettel knowing that the Ferrari will have to yield or crash - could be an epic race. Will Hamilton have enough pace in the race to get ahead of Kimi? Maybe. It seems to be quite close at the front so what are the chances of their being no contact between the Top 6? Slim I would suggest.

Hamilton must be thinking Christmas has come early.

Ferrari reckon that Verstappen caused the crash with Kimi?????? Looked more like Vettel moving over to me.

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

Stewards declare Ferrari/RedBull clash a racing incident.

Only real option. 

It was to be honest, while ultimately it was Seb that caused it all, he just defended hard and on another day, had Kimi not got as good start he would have squeezed Max and they would have all driven away fine. It's just one of those things, I often wonder how they all get away without tangling at the start. 

 

It's a shame and I'd rather see them fight it out on track, I think with those conditions a feisty Max would have took the win but sadly we wont see what would have happened. I still had Seb down as favorite to win until this weekend, I think he's going to struggle now to pull it back. 

 

 

Also, shout out to Hulk, shame he got mugged with slow Renault pit choices and the issue at the end, I was hoping he'd bag his first podium. 

Hahahahahaha.

 

Signore Marchione went bat5hit after his Ferrari team got spanked at Monza.

 

I bet he really wigs out over this.

 

Ferrari still blaming Max online apparently.

Edited 17 September, 20178 yr by camelspyyder

They will though, they'll never admit it was their own making. 

 

Also, Alonso reckoned he could have got a podium if he'd survived the first corner unscathed, I'd have liked to see him try! 

Looking at the overhead shot now

 

 

Vettel is coming across, Max has already started to slow down and back out of it, but he's still steering left away from the #5.

 

Kimis right rear is just about to hit the RedBull as Max slows. A racing incident, but as Max said - if you're fighting for the title

 

maybe pulling over hard like that is just too much of a risk to take.

 

 

 

I haven't laughed so much since Rosberg chopped Hamilton at Barcelona and they both crashed out.

 

 

 

Edited 18 September, 20178 yr by camelspyyder

2 minutes ago, camelspyyder said:

Looking at the overhead shot now

 

 

Vettel is coming across, Max has already started to slow down and back out of it, but he's still steering left away from the #5.

 

Kimis right rear is just about to hit the RedBull as Max slows. A racing incident, but as Max said - if you're fighting for the title

 

maybe pulling over hard like that is just too much of a risk to take.

Good and useful picture of events. Spot on summary too. Vettel won't be happy with himself. Disappointing for me because I was hoping for a Vettel win.  Damnations!

From this angle it sees N0.7 still had room to keep over and avoid the accident. Mind you N0.5 came over at such a rate, even without the red bull it looks like he was going to hit his own team mate.

Meanwhile, Hamilton is thinking " Holy Moses " as he watches the (de)parting of the Red Sea!

In the previous picture, S.V. has a bit of left lock on - not always a sign of which way he intends to go - also he's definitely looking in his left mirror. 

Target fixation?

Edited 18 September, 20178 yr by punyXpress
split second thoughts

Honda have started the slagging match...

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/131892/honda-mclaren-struggled-to-adapt-to-change

 

accusing McLaren of being unable to adapt to change.  I think if the change is taking about 100bhp off the going rate -  any of the teams in F1 are going to struggle to adapt to that.

 

Let's wait and see how STR do next year tugging that Japanese boat-anchor around.

 

 

It was a bit of an aggressive move on the part of Vettel that would have probably been OK in normal conditions - but not in these wet and greasy conditions.  

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. 

12 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

I haven't laughed so much since Rosberg chopped Hamilton at Barcelona and they both crashed out.

 

Me too!!!

STR have parked Kvyat for "a few races" after his embarrassing crash in SIngapore.

 

RedBull starlet Pierre Gasly is in for Malaysia and probably Japan.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/132034/toro-rosso-announces-gaslykvyat-swap