[morini]

Chats open if there are any latecomers.

[The Professor]

Congratulations Valtteri Bottas. You needed that win.

[pennywise]

Congratulations Valtteri Bottas. You needed that win.

You did call it....kudos...well done.

[NeilP]

Not shocked at all that Bottas won, but I am shocked at Hamilton. What a rookie mistake to make. Chandhok made a comment during the race that Hamilton was the only one who could beat himself. Not only did he possibly blow a win today but also picked up 2 points on his license and is within 2 points of a race ban. I still expect him to be WDC but he is making it much more difficult for himself.

All things considered it was a decent race given the boring track. Obviously most of the fun was in the midfield and even towards the back of the pack. Renault did not handle the Ricciardo over Ocon change well at all. Danny screwed up but got away with it by race end.

Another solid drive by Gasly, its obvious to me his future in F1 is getting safer by the race but clearly RBR have moved on from him already. I do not think he will ever see the top team seat again. Horrible race by Albon. Sainz has lost an edge I think he has Ferrari on his mind (for more than one reason probably!). Perez continues to shine which reflects bad on the team given that Stroll is getting the best car (not his fault today he failed to finish today) and the Vettel contract is looking a poor move but I guess time will tell.

Good drive from Norris after a very poor start. Leclerc had a good race for the prancing horses given their poor performing car.

I must admit I am looking forward to the next few races. Hamilton needs to up his game if he does not want to be embarrassed. Not winning from here would be a disaster personally for him.

[The Professor]

Not shocked at all that Bottas won, but I am shocked at Hamilton. What a rookie mistake to make.

That is a bit harsh given it wasn't a solo mistake. Badly handled by the whole team really.

Some of the licence points Hamilton has picked up are very dubious in my opinion. Two licence points today and those two he picked up in Austria for what was a clear racing incident. I'm not surprised he thinks people are out to stop him, but he should keep that sentiment to himself as the trolls will just jump on that and spout the usual bollocks.

The fact is Hamilton needs four completely clean events otherwise factor in an effective DNF into the WDC calculations.

[NeilP]

"That is a bit harsh given it wasn't a solo mistake. Badly handled by the whole team really."

Agreed to a certain degree, however the main responsibility rests with the driver. I am a big Hamilton fan but to me this rests fairly and squarely on his shoulders.

[The Professor]

Yep, the buck stops with the driver, but it's not like he didn't ask the right question

Hamilton: "It's all rubber here, can I go further out?

Bonnington: "Affirm.

Hamilton: "To the edge of the pit wall?

Bonnington: "Yeah, copy, leave enough room for cars to pass."

Was it worth 10 seconds and 2 licence points? That seems disproportionate in terms of penalty fitting the crime.

[pennywise]

Hamilton needs to ask himself why did it matter that there was rubber down in the pit lane starting area?..there is always rubber down at the starting boxes....So Where is the drama....

Also why do the stewards deem it such a harsh penalty..

When Le Clerc takes out Stroll robbing a team of WDC and WCC points and there is no penalty....stinks if you ask me.

[Beano]

Hamilton needs to ask himself why did it matter that there was rubber down in the pit lane starting area?..there is always rubber down at the starting boxes....So Where is the drama....

Also why do the stewards deem it such a harsh penalty..

When Le Clerc takes out Stroll robbing a team of WDC and WCC points and there is no penalty....stinks if you ask me.

Lewis needs to put his head down and focus on the job in hand!

 The race was lost due to him and his teams error, most people in here knew a penalty was coming, that was no surprise. Without that penalty he’d of won for sure. 
 My favourite example of how to handle the penalty situation was DRicc. Engineer “you got a 5 sec pen” DRicc “ Ok I will just have to drive faster” great attitude.

[morini]

Hamilton needs to ask himself why did it matter that there was rubber down in the pit lane starting area?..there is always rubber down at the starting boxes....So Where is the drama....

Also why do the stewards deem it such a harsh penalty..

When Le Clerc takes out Stroll robbing a team of WDC and WCC points and there is no penalty....stinks if you ask me.

Yep, to all of that Ian. Thing is Mercedes and Ham tend to learn from their mistakes so I don't see that one happening again. I agree with the prof that the penalties were particularly harsh for what was a pretty innocuous discretion really. It is what it is though and all the real damage was done yesterday by the red flag and having to clear Q2 on soft tyres. Hamilton knew he was screwed for the win from that point. VB would have won that one today regardless of the penalties, but it lost Hamilton a second place. No biggie really.

Dull race though. What happened to you half way through the race bud? You disappeared from the chatroom.