[Jody Barton]

If he's already thinking about 2021 he's already lost that championship as well. If we are talking about maximising the available equipment there is absolutely no argument in my opinion that can be made for Bottas retaining that drive in 2021. He's not a championship contender, and I don't think he ever will be. In over 50% of the races (Hungary, Britain, 70th and Spain) this year Max has beaten him in a slower car. Sure, the 70th Anniversary GP could be argued to be an anomaly, but he was actually lucky to get past Max in the Styrian GP as well. He might be fast, but he's not good enough in races, and yet again I'm not sure it was his start that screwed him this weekend, Lewis set the car up for the race on Saturday, and Bottas' focus was on pole position. That's his problem in a nutshell, he focuses on Saturday, not the whole weekend.

[morini]

If he's already thinking about 2021 he's already lost that championship as well. If we are talking about maximising the available equipment there is absolutely no argument in my opinion that can be made for Bottas retaining that drive in 2021. He's not a championship contender, and I don't think he ever will be. In over 50% of the races (Hungary, Britain, 70th and Spain) this year Max has beaten him in a slower car. Sure, the 70th Anniversary GP could be argued to be an anomaly, but he was actually lucky to get past Max in the Styrian GP as well. He might be fast, but he's not good enough in races, and yet again I'm not sure it was his start that screwed him this weekend, Lewis set the car up for the race on Saturday, and Bottas' focus was on pole position. That's his problem in a nutshell, he focuses on Saturday, not the whole weekend.

I'm not convinced there is all that much in it on Sundays between the RBR and Mercedes. Yes the Merc is the overall better package and faster in most situations, but the way I see it Max and Lewis are getting much more out of their respective packages than Valtteri and Alex. I can fully understand VB focussing on Saturdays as if he is out front he knows full well he can win. Track position is king and I think that is a pretty realistic way to approach it.

It is all about fine margins. It is feasible that if VB took Lewis route and went with a more Sunday focused set up he may well have not qualified on the front row. After all, in the P sessions the RBR was not all that far away in quali sims. Admittedly, come the crunch they were 0.7 off the pace so (with hindsight) VB could have given away a fair bit of quali pace for a better race day set up and still been on the front row. But he wanted pole as that is his only real way of beating Lewis.

The only time I think I've ever seen VB pass LH on track was in Austin where there was a huge tyre advantage (LH didn't even try to fight it IIRC). I don't think I've ever seen them properly fighting where VB took a position off LH.

[morini]

Mark Hughes' piece today on f1.com. Could RBR have won that if they cleared Q2 on mediums? No - Mercedes had them well covered.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/artic...hbmHa.html

The last line of that piece says what I have thought (and said) all along "And we also learned that the Mercedes doesn’t automatically struggle with its tyres when the going gets hot.". They didn't last year and they don't this year. The 70th Anniversary race was an exceptional outlier caused by a combination of factors. It was those ridiculously high tyre pressures for softer compounds combined with the heat, not the temperatures alone.

I don't think Mercedes will fear hot races. Toto basically had a dig at Horner post race telling him as much.

[morini]

I didn't know Forza was in charge of the comms links in the post race press conferences?

   

Lol

[Jody Barton]

Just thought I'd post this, as a number of ex-F1 drivers seem to be exceedingly impressed with the drive Lewis put in during the Spanish GP. Apparently Prost was gushing with praise on French TV and Barrichello was doing the same on Brazilian TV. Even Rosberg described it as phenomenal.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/artic...kx0VI.html

[morini]

Just thought I'd post this, as a number of ex-F1 drivers seem to be exceedingly impressed with the drive Lewis put in during the Spanish GP. Apparently Prost was gushing with praise on French TV and Barrichello was doing the same on Brazilian TV. Even Rosberg described it as phenomenal.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/artic...kx0VI.html

Strange though, it looked really easy watching on TV but I guess it always does at places like Barcelona, not exactly known for close racing. LH himself said he rated it as "up there" in terms of his best drives as well. Just goes to show, it's not all about battling through the field (though that is far better for us lot to watch).

On his general performance this year, even though in terms of points he as done better by this stage of season, I have to say I'm not sure I have seen him driving better or more consistently. He hasn't really had a weak weekend, the first race being a rather poor result but IMO a great performance and a bit unlucky. In all races so far he has been on it.

I would also have to say the same for Max. He hasn't put a foot wrong either and (at 22) is driving like a seasoned veteran. Much, much better approach than his early seasons. He has got a shitload of experience in F1 now though, can't forget that.

[morini]

Did anyone else read Jolyon Palmer's article yesterday and think he should find a different direction in life?

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/artic...kx0VI.html

Bottas did three stops mate, he wasn't ever doing a 1 stopper. The last one purely to make certain of the FL point!

What Palmer said :

"With track position being so important at Barcelona, it was surprising that Mercedes pitted Bottas again at the end of the race, rather than attempting a one stopper."

Seriously? Don't content publishers have editors and proofreaders any more?

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[edit]
Only just realised Jody linked to the same Palmer piece in his comment earlier (sorry Jody, I didn't click on the link in your post but was reading the Palmer article yesterday). Anyway, just wanted to point out that there is a stupid mistake in that write up, not disputing anything else though

[Jody Barton]

Not sure it is a mistake. His argument was he thought that they should've tried to one stop, run longer on the first stint, rather than what they did which was mirror Max which was only going to end one way.

[morini]

Not sure it is a mistake. His argument was he thought that they should've tried to one stop, run longer on the first stint, rather than what they did which was mirror Max which was only going to end one way.

Very badly articulated if that is what he meant!

If it was indeed what he meant (I certainly don't read it that way myself) then he should have said it more clearly, something like "I was surprised Bottas came in for the soft tyre when he could have tried a 1 stopper". The pit stop he refers to at the end of the race was, as we all know, a third stop and done for a specific reason. Besides, Bottas wouldn't have beaten Max on a 1 stopper IMO.

[Jody Barton]

Maybe it's because I saw the video report he did Morini, it was far clearly in that. It is badly worded in the article, I accept it isn't clear.

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PS, you are also wrong, the Soft pit stop was his second. He set his fastest lap on a set of nediums, which was his third pitstop.