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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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So qualifying is over and its a front row lockout for the Red team.
Despite the advantage the Red team has, only 3 tenths of a second seperate the top 4 drivers.
Lewis qualified fourth but will start his race in 9th after recieving a 5 place grid penalty for changing his gearbox.
Despite that, i for one am looking forward to the race. During practice, the race pace runs all seemed extremely close, so I am not expecting any particular driver to run off into the distance.
Lewis will start on the Soft tyres and will go deeper into the race before stopping. If its a one stop race, he will be looking good toward the end of the race as he be on the faster tyre.
To throw a spanner in the works, Verstappen will start around 15th. He may just interfere with the front runners strategy.
Either way, its looking interesting.
The Sakir circuit is a wide one and overtaking should be plentiful. This race may go down to the last lap. It's got the ingredients for a cracking race  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Nice right up, couldn’t add more. I’ve just watched it too. Can’t believe verstappen. He seems to of gone backwards this year. I had real high hopes for him early / mid season last year. Looks like vettel is getting all of the luck again, although you can’t take his pole away from him, great lap.
Damage limitation for Hamilton this race I feel. |
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By *eywestMan
over a year ago
Liverpool |
Since Verstappen signed his new contract last season, he has been very inconsistent. He is skilled no doubt, but I get the feeling that he is not going to deliver in the long run.
I would happily have a repeat of the Singapore start where The Red Team took each other out.
As for tomorrows race, Hamilton is looking at 4/5 at best. Unless the racing gods are in a particularly benevolent mood, overtaking is still going to be difficult...
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"Since Verstappen signed his new contract last season, he has been very inconsistent. He is skilled no doubt, but I get the feeling that he is not going to deliver in the long run.
I would happily have a repeat of the Singapore start where The Red Team took each other out.
As for tomorrows race, Hamilton is looking at 4/5 at best. Unless the racing gods are in a particularly benevolent mood, overtaking is still going to be difficult...
"
It will be interesting to see if Mercedes ask Bottas to move over for Lewis in the dying stages of the race should he be directly behind him.
There are so many variables for tomorrow and 1 and 2 stop strategies are both genuine ootions. For Lewis fans, all eyes will be on how well his soft tyres perform over the super softs and how long they last. A safety Car at the right time can bring all top 6 drivers together again with all to play for.
Bottas can be used as a bit of a guinea pig tomorrow. Push the reds harder in the early part of the race, using more fuel but more importantly using performance out of the tyres. This could lead to blistering or even forcing
Them into a 2 stop race. This will give Lewis an opportunity to concentrate on his strategy and possibly become a contender at the end of the race.
Ricardo is definitely the dark horse starting from 4th tomorrow. His only Achilles heel, straight line speed |
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By *eywestMan
over a year ago
Liverpool |
As the Mercedes are on different tyres resulting in a split strategy, and Hamilton's being a "recovery" drive - to invoke some team orders especially so early in the season, would be against the usual Mercedes rules of engagement. There is precedent from Hungary last year, but that was well into the season.. If they shuffle them on track, they will certainly be showing who is the No.1 publicly - even though its not a secret.
It will be interesting to see how K-Mag does in the race, both Haas cars had proper pace in Australia, he could put a little spanner in both Mercs and Red Bulls race if he gets a good start and puts his rather sharp wide elbows out...
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"As the Mercedes are on different tyres resulting in a split strategy, and Hamilton's being a "recovery" drive - to invoke some team orders especially so early in the season, would be against the usual Mercedes rules of engagement. There is precedent from Hungary last year, but that was well into the season.. If they shuffle them on track, they will certainly be showing who is the No.1 publicly - even though its not a secret.
It will be interesting to see how K-Mag does in the race, both Haas cars had proper pace in Australia, he could put a little spanner in both Mercs and Red Bulls race if he gets a good start and puts his rather sharp wide elbows out...
"
That was my point precisely about the Merc drivers. Be interesting to see if Mercedes have changed their approach this year.
Bottas is out of contract this year and with the exception to just a handle of races has proven that he is a reliable and dependable driver but definitely not WDC material.
HAAS is an interesting but my gut feeling is that #44 has enough ammunition in his cockpit to power passed them down the main Drs straight.
Getting excited about the race already |
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"I think Lewis will still get a podium place tomorrow
I hope so."
A podium is possible. He needs to stay out of trouble at the start. He looked like he had really good pace on the soft tyre yesterday, so he's definitely still in with a chance of a good race today. |
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It was a great race but I can't help thinking that Bottas was rather lacklustre and could and should have pushed more at the end. I think if Hamilton had been in the same position then he would have been much more aggressive and put Vettel under much more pressure. Thumbs up to Gasly, he did a great job. |
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By *eywestMan
over a year ago
Liverpool |
It still shows that even with tyres of different compounds and age; when the cars are of a similar performance, they stall the forward progress when within a second of each other..
A good race on the whole, Verstappen once again over driving, and I stand by my view that he won't win a World Championship.. The Red Team screwed up again and Mercedes got about the best they could have hoped for.
A round of applause to Gasly, kept out of trouble and the engine didn't kaboom, but still over a minute back from the top 3. The performance gap between the top 3 teams and the rest is just growing..
Teflonso fourth in the championship is flattering a McLaren car that still has issues, and the Renault engine has its arse handed to it by a Honda engine today.
Only 7 days to go until round 3....
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"It was a great race but I can't help thinking that Bottas was rather lacklustre and could and should have pushed more at the end. I think if Hamilton had been in the same position then he would have been much more aggressive and put Vettel under much more pressure. Thumbs up to Gasly, he did a great job."
I had Bottas as my driver of the race, very unlucky he didn't get Vettel at the end - it was only because of the bad areo flow from being so close to the Ferrari. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"It was a great race but I can't help thinking that Bottas was rather lacklustre and could and should have pushed more at the end. I think if Hamilton had been in the same position then he would have been much more aggressive and put Vettel under much more pressure. Thumbs up to Gasly, he did a great job.
I had Bottas as my driver of the race, very unlucky he didn't get Vettel at the end - it was only because of the bad areo flow from being so close to the Ferrari."
Not good enough for a top drive.
Will not be long before Daniel Ricciardo finds himself in that car or a Ferrari. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Gasly was on fire and with a possible red bull and a Mercedes seat being vacant next year, he’ll be one the teams are watching.
Gutted for Kimi and his mechanic. Does anyone know if he’s ok? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"It was a great race but I can't help thinking that Bottas was rather lacklustre and could and should have pushed more at the end. I think if Hamilton had been in the same position then he would have been much more aggressive and put Vettel under much more pressure. Thumbs up to Gasly, he did a great job.
I had Bottas as my driver of the race, very unlucky he didn't get Vettel at the end - it was only because of the bad areo flow from being so close to the Ferrari."
Bottas is a very competent and fast driver, but I don’t think he’s ever impressed me with his overtaking skills |
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I wasn’t expecting much from the race but it was action and controversy from turn one!
Verstappen did his usual hot headed attack and fortunately for Hamilton he came out on top... that Dutch kid is so overrated! Yes he’s talented but he’s got a lot to learn about braking distances and respect for other drivers track positions.
Great podium for Lewis he gave it his best shot. Bottarga needs to step up his game... Mercedes had the pace but it took him a full race to eventually catch Vettel ... torro rosso up to fourth! Who’d have put money on that? ?? |
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