[morini]

Actually, if this is correct the licence points have been rescinded

Bloody well should be too! The stewards should be embarrassed TBH.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/...p-stewards

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Thought this observation from TW was worth adding as well. The point in bold.

Asked about Hamilton's 'trying to stop me' comments, Wolff added: "I think Lewis has faced a lot of adversity in his life and for all of us, the penalty seems a little harsh. Never before has a pre-race or reconnaissance lap infringement been penalised with an in-race penalty. That's new.


"Things go against him harshly sometimes. I guess if you're the most successful driver, you have to take that."

[The Professor]

Actually, if this is correct the licence points have been rescinded

Just came back to post that link. Apparently the team was at fault (which was obvious anyway from the radio exchange). I am pleased the stewards chose to take those licence points back. If Valtteri wants to fight for the drivers title I am sure he would prefer it with no stupid race bans for the other guy.

The correct outcome.

[Antilochos]

This race showed some things that are very obvious. Most is about the drivers.

Mercedes. Bottas only has a change of winning when Hamilton gets a penalty. Like golf with handicaps. Bottas acting like a big man after winning this way makes me dislike the guy. He is just a B-rate driver in F1 standards and can only be happy to get this oopertunity with Mercedes, otherwise I doubt he even got 10% of the wins he did or even be in F1 today.
Weird for me although is the mistakes Hamilton made, but on the other hand very normal since making mistakes is human.

Red Bull. Verstappen is just great. Again a perfect driver from the kid (the kid that he still is, it really amazes me how young he is while driving he seems that experienced). Just beautiful to watch him drive. On the other hand you have Albon. What a piece of crap he is becoming every race more and more (as a driver, not as a person). Get him out of that Red Bull!

Renault. Almost same story. Ricciardo is a great driver and just lovely to see him work (not perfect, but just a great drive from him). Ocon, so overrated and not more than an average driver. Fine for Renault now, but he really is not top material like Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo or Leclerc and never will be. I am sure about that.

Racing Point. Loved how Perez AGAIN showed how good he is as a driver. With inferior material to his teammate, he delivers. He should be in F1 next year, hope he finds a seat. Stroll, no comment.

McLaren. Saintz is doing great but today, I don't know what happened. Norris is not bad but still disappointing to me to be honest. Good driver but not top material. Russell is a better bet in my book.

The rest of the field. Gasly again showed his class, even though Kvyat ended up higher up. Leclerc as well did great.
O, Grosjean is back to his unlikable self again...

Not a bad race overall I thought.

[Beano]

This race showed some things that are very obvious. Most is about the drivers.

Mercedes. Bottas only has a change of winning when Hamilton gets a penalty. Like golf with handicaps. Bottas acting like a big man after winning this way makes me dislike the guy. He is just a B-rate driver in F1 standards and can only be happy to get this oopertunity with Mercedes, otherwise I doubt he even got 10% of the wins he did or even be in F1 today.
Weird for me although is the mistakes Hamilton made, but on the other hand very normal since making mistakes is human.

Red Bull. Verstappen is just great. Again a perfect driver from the kid (the kid that he still is, it really amazes me how young he is while driving he seems that experienced). Just beautiful to watch him drive. On the other hand you have Albon. What a piece of crap he is becoming every race more and more (as a driver, not as a person). Get him out of that Red Bull!

Renault. Almost same story. Ricciardo is a great driver and just lovely to see him work (not perfect, but just a great drive from him). Ocon, so overrated and not more than an average driver. Fine for Renault now, but he really is not top material like Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo or Leclerc and never will be. I am sure about that.

Racing Point. Loved how Perez AGAIN showed how good he is as  a driver. With inferior material to his teammate, he delivers. He should be in F1 next year, hope he finds a seat. Stroll, no comment.

McLaren. Saintz is doing great but today, I don't know what happened. Norris is not bad but still disappointing to me to be honest. Good driver but not top material. Russell is a better bet in my book.

The rest of the field. Gasly again showed his class, even though Kvyat ended up higher up. Leclerc as well did great. 
O, Grosjean is back to his unlikable self again...

Not a bad race overall I thought.

On your point about Albon, I think Perez would be a solid choice for that seat if it were to become available brings in good money and for me the best part is he is a strong driver who will bring points at the right end of the grid imo!

[Antilochos]

I agree Beano. Although I would go for Hulkenberg myself; think he is a higher level driver than Perez and has a good relationship with Verstappen (and I am sure that kind of stuff helps within the total team).

But, there is a whole thread about the second seat of Red Bull on this forum for this kind of stuff.

[The Professor]

This race showed some things that are very obvious. Most is about the drivers.

Mercedes. Bottas only has a change of winning when Hamilton gets a penalty.

Not a bad race overall I thought.

I'm afraid I can't agree with Bottas only winning when Hamilton is penalised. He had this race in the bag the minute his teammate was forced to start on the wrong tyre. He did exactly what was required at the correct point in the race today. Hamilton was always pitting earlier and when he did Bottas increased his pace and banged in a series of fast laps. Hamilton could not respond because he was required to take the hard tyre a very long way. Job done, regardless of the 10 second penalty that race was only going one way.

Valtteri Bottas drove perfectly today. Credit where credit is due. Hamilton lost it by having a scruffy Q2 session yesterday. Simple as that.

[morini]

Red Bull. Verstappen is just great. Again a perfect driver from the kid (the kid that he still is, it really amazes me how young he is while driving he seems that experienced). Just beautiful to watch him drive.

What did Max do today that was particularly special? He pulled a great lap out of the bag yesterday to split the Mercs, that was great, fair play. But today he'd have come home a distant third if it were not for circumstances / penalties. Both Mercedes were faster but Hamilton couldn't really attack him when pitting so early and having to do so many laps on the hard tyre.

Solid drive from Max, no question. But he didn't / couldn't do all that much today other than drive his own race at his pace.

VB is my driver of the day for knowing exactly how to execute that race. Made no mistakes and was the fastest driver on the track (partly due to Hamilton being so badly compromised on strategy). The guy knows how to win from the front, he only shows weaknesses when having to fight for it on track. He would be a WDC easily if he were not up against Lewis Hamilton.

[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.

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

I did txt to say I will love ya and leave ya....the ,Moto Gp build up was on and it seemed a more interesting watch.....and I hate Sochi....it's the same as Ricard track...dull as dishwater....plus the boy was wanting to play hurling.....I was juggling both......and in the F 1 the stewards were annoying the life outa me....they will do there best to scupper Ham....although Ham brought it on himself 2day......the  dope

[PaddyB]

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.

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

I did txt to say I will love ya and leave ya....the ,Moto Gp build up was on and it seemed a more interesting watch.....and I hate Sochi....it's the same as Ricard track...dull as dishwater....plus the boy was wanting to play hurling.....I was juggling both......and in the F 1 the stewards were annoying the life outa me....they will do there best to scupper Ham....although Ham brought it on himself 2day......the  dope

Thought it was something I said...

It was quiet in the chat today and I thought th race was dull after the first few laps to be honest. Danny Ricc approach was refreshing compared to other sulky drivers but not a race for remembering. Vettel ... wtf?
.

[Antilochos]

Red Bull. Verstappen is just great. Again a perfect driver from the kid (the kid that he still is, it really amazes me how young he is while driving he seems that experienced). Just beautiful to watch him drive.

What did Max do today that was particularly special? He pulled a great lap out of the bag yesterday to split the Mercs, that was great, fair play. But today he'd have come home a distant third if it were not for circumstances / penalties. Both Mercedes were faster but Hamilton couldn't really attack him when pitting so early and having to do so many laps on the hard tyre.

Solid drive from Max, no question. But he didn't / couldn't do all that much today other than drive his own race at his pace.

VB is my driver of the day for knowing exactly how to execute that race. Made no mistakes and was the fastest driver on the track (partly due to Hamilton being so badly compromised on strategy). The guy knows how to win from the front, he only shows weaknesses when having to fight for it on track. He would be a WDC easily if he were not up against Lewis Hamilton.

The fact that Verstappen couldn't do more today is because his car doesn't give him more. Look at his teammate. It is not the easiest car to drive apparently. 
No, I admit that I have become a fan of Verstappen his style of driving over the last two years (before that I tried to dislike him...). Looking today via his on board camera showed how well he was driving that car, managing everything around him for maximum result possible with that particular car. If nothing is wrong with the car, this kid seems to get everything out of it that is possible this year. He has really grown and today, it was great to watch even though it was not spectacular with the lack of overtaking and other drama. Normally I like the drama, but this solid drive really made me enjoy watching a great driver. Not many on that level and I am happy to notice that, or have the illusion of it whatever you fancy.

But that is my view and you don't need to agree.

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This race showed some things that are very obvious. Most is about the drivers.

Mercedes. Bottas only has a change of winning when Hamilton gets a penalty.

Not a bad race overall I thought.

I'm afraid I can't agree with Bottas only winning when Hamilton is penalised. He had this race in the bag the minute his teammate was forced to start on the wrong tyre. He did exactly what was required at the correct point in the race today. Hamilton was always pitting earlier and when he did Bottas increased his pace and banged in a series of fast laps. Hamilton could not respond because he was required to take the hard tyre a very long way. Job done, regardless of the 10 second penalty that race was only going one way.

Valtteri Bottas drove perfectly today. Credit where credit is due. Hamilton lost it by having a scruffy Q2 session yesterday. Simple as that.

I am not saying Bottas was bad, only that it probably would turn out differently if Hamilton was around. Hamilton is a racer, Bottas is not. If nothing is going on Battas is quick. But if Hamilton was around, even in a disadvantage with tyres, he would find a way to put pressure on Bottas and like always Bottas crumbles when under pressure. That is a fact I'm afraid. Look at all the races behind us.
No, I still stand with my point that Bottas only has a change (especially this year) when Hamilton has other problems. Hamilton vs Bottas one on one, Bottas looses 10 of 10. And I am not even a Hamilton fan, wish Bottas would win to be honest.