F1 grand prix

[steveconway24]

Strange start to the season. Mercedes carrying on where they left off.
Red bull doing excellent with the Honda power unit, something McLaren couldn't do.
Ferrari looking strong in practice and qualifying, but struggling in the race.
But Williams! Using Mercedes powerunit, gearbox but way off the pace of the rest of the field.

[Biggin]

Yes Dunedin I have to agree with you telling Leclerc to let Vettel past as he was quicker yet he could not pull away from Leclerc then they compromised Leclerc in order to get Vettel closer to Bottas and that failed and costing him a place , I just hope that comes back and bites them

[Dunedin]

So the race number 1,000 has been won by Hamilton who led after passing Bottas off the start line.
Ferarri didn't like the idea that Leclerc was ahead of Vettel during the race so gave him team orders to let Vettel pass him. This in turn gave Verstappen the chance to take 4th pushing Leclerc into 5th.

Hamilton,
Bottas,
Vettel,
Verstappen,
Lectern.

Hamilton now leads the Championship.

[Dunedin]

I won't post the results as there maybe some who have not seen the race yet.

But I will say, Ferrari, you deserve to lose good drivers. Will they ever learn.

[Dunedin]

Did you mean Mercedes?

Yes!!!! Well spotted.

[hotphot]

Did you mean Mercedes?

[Dunedin]

Despite all the talk of the possible dominance of Ferrari this year, Bottas takes pole in qually followed by Hamilton, Vettel and Leclerc. The differences between the cars were only two hundredths of a second between the two Mercedes and even less between the two Ferrari's. It looks like it's not only Hamilton that Vettel has to worry about.

[Dunedin]

So, Vettel quickest in first practice followed by Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen and Bottas.

In second practice it was Bottas quickest from Vettel, Verstappen then Hamilton.

If you want your new driver to feel wanted and respected, the last thing you do is to tell the world that   You as a rookie will be given team orders on the track when racing in order for your team mate to win rather than you, even after you almost won the last race and didn't only because car failure.

Well done Ferrari.

[Biggin]

Yes an excellent drive from Leclerc would have won by a handsome mile if it had not been for his power unit problem. Once again Vettel showed his weaknesses again when under pressure.

I wonder now if Ferrari will regret telling Leclerc to hold station behind Vettel in Australia it certainly looks like he is faster than Vettel .

Mercedes certainly have a fight on their hands this year as at the moment it looks like Ferrari are the fastest at the moment

[Dunedin]

Brilliant drive from Leclerc only to lose the win due to a lack of power from the hybrid side of the car.
One thing certain, this is only the start of his potential winning of F1 races, as he has done through his championship wins in karting, GP3 and GP2.

Hamilton,
Bottas,
Leclerc,
Verstappen,
Vettel,
Norris.

This year looks like a real battle between five drivers.

[Biggin]

I just hope if Leclerc is winning Ferrari don't engineer something to get Vettel ahead. They certainly looked too fast for Mercedes today

[lmj52]

Ferrari were dominant, great to see Lecrerc get pole. Don’t know what they have done to get this improvement. As you say the race might well be different

[Dunedin]

Leclerc on his Ferrari debut takes pole position. He was quickest in all of the qualifying sessions.
Vettel takes his place alongside on the front row, whilst Hamilton and Bottas are on the second row.

Qualifying is not racing, so let's see what tomorrow brings.

[Dunedin]

Vettel led in second practice, followed by his teamate Leclerc with Hamilton 0.6 second behind.

[Dunedin]

The new Farrari driver Charles Leclerc was quickest in first practice at 0.26 seconds quicker than teammate Vettel and a second quicker than Bottas. Hamilton was over a second slower than Leclerc.

[Biggin]

Bottas took the lead in the 1st corner and never looked back finishing well ahead of Hamilton Verstappen 3rd Vettel 4th Leclerc 5th

Vettel pitted first and Mercedes pitted Hamilton next I would assume to cover Vettel and he did come out ahead but the new tyres did not seem to be working . Bottas went another 7 laps before pitting, Verstappen was last to pit and eventually past Vettel.
Shame on Ferrari Le Clerc on a different tyre strategy closed down a 12 second gap and in position to Pass Vettel and was told to back FGS Ferrari its the 1st race of the season let them race

1Bottas
2 Hamilton
3 Verstappen
4 Vettel
5 Le Clerc

Just to  confirm Ferrari Team Orders on the first race here is quote from Le Clerc's Post race interview

On whether he asked if he was able to overtake team-mate Sebastian Vettel late on, Leclerc says: "I asked, we had to keep positions."

Ferrari should be ashamed of themselves what happens if Leclerc seems to be faster in the next races do they hold him backjust to please Vettel - that would be a big mistake.

Something that you don't see at Mercedes they let their drivers race until it becomes a situate=ion where one or other is clearly in better contention for a title, like last year when it was important for Hamilton to get points

[Biggin]

Well in winter testing all the talk was of Ferrari Speed , now where the talking is done in the qualifying Mercedes lock out the front row with Hamilton 1st Bottas 2nd and Vettel 3rd 7 tenths of a second behind Hamilton  and 5 tenths behind Bottas.

1 Hamilton
2 Bottas
3 Vettel
4 Verstappen
5 Le Clerc

[Dunedin]

Hamilton quickest in both practice sessions. But is Vettel posting a dummy.

[Dunedin]

Micheal Schumacher has been seen in public for the first time since his accident and appears to be on the right road to recovery. 

[Dunedin]

Today is Schumacher's 50th birthday as he continues his recovery at home in Switzerland. He has not been seen in public since his skiing accident and his current health has not been made public.

[Dunedin]

So Lewis wins again followed by Vettel and Verstappen. Dramatic crash on the start of the race with a full rollover, but no injuries. 

[Dunedin]

With Kimi breaking down on the track, it looks as if Bottas will move up into 3rd place in the Championship.

Spoke too soon. Bottas dropped back from 2nd to 5th with only a couple of laps to go.

[Biggin]

Mercedes create a record at Abu Dhabi by being the 1st team to lock out the front row of the grid at the same venue for 5 years in a row

[Dunedin]

Having seen, as others have, the young driver in F3 this weekend, taking off and flying through the air like a jet taking off before crashing into buildings at over 100 mph shows that street circuits with little or no runoff area's are too dangerous. As Biggin knows, I have been saying this for years. She has gone into theatre this morning to repair her spine.

[Dunedin]

Meanwhile after War and Peace above,   Verstappen gets 2 hours of community work for pushing Ocon in the weigh room following a light collision on the track. He believes it cost him the race, even though he was partly to blame in my opinion. It reminded me of an incident in the past when James Hunt blamed another driver over a coming together and downed him with a right to the chin while still still on the track with the race still running.

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[/quote]

[Biggin]

Sebastian Vettel got away with his latest red-mist moment, but the controversy over his behaviour at the weighbridge in qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix revived memories of other incidents in which his temper has cost him dearly.

On Saturday, the trigger was that the Ferrari driver was called by the FIA's random selection process for his car to be weighed as he came into the pits early in second qualifying.

The issue for Vettel was that rain was in the air, and Ferrari had just taken a huge strategy gamble, to come back in for a different type of tyre, and having his car weighed could have meant that he suffered very badly.

It takes time to weigh a car and with threatening clouds over Interlagos it was very possible that it could have rained before Vettel had set a lap time.

Vettel let his impatience and frustration get the better of him.

As the stewards report said: "The driver did not stop the engine at the time he was directed by the official at the scales, knocked over the cone placed to stop the driver from driving onto the scales, which he then did



"At the time he was being shown a sign to have his "brakes on" by an official who was standing in front of the car, and while not hitting the official did force him out of the way while driving onto the scales. He then turned off the engine.


"Once the weight was taken, he then did not wait for the officials to push the car off the scales, and while the stewards accept that he may have misunderstood the indication from the official, he then re-fired the car and drove off the scales, which is not the procedure because it can damage the scales, which in this case he did.

"While no-one was hurt by the scales being thrown out from behind the car, and while the stewards accept that the driver did not drive off the scales in a reckless manner, the procedure is established exactly to prevent damage to the scales or a potentially dangerous situation, which is exactly what was caused."

In the end, the stewards decided to issue only a reprimand and a €25,000 fine - not a major problem for a man earning something in the region of €30m.

Contrary to the FIA's initial communication, Vettel did stop the engine when on the scales, and they were able to properly weigh the car.

This is probably what stopped Vettel receiving a further punishment. If a driver ignores a request for his car to be weighed, the normal penalty is to be sent to the back of the grid - ensuring a racing car is the correct weight is one of the fundamentals of motorsport, as weight has a significant effect on lap time.

It was not hard to see why Vettel was annoyed, but at the same time, rules are rules. It's not up to the competitors to decide whether they comply with them. As Fernando Alonso put it: "It's not ideal because the weather can affect things. Maybe the rule is not the best. But it is the way it is."



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[Dunedin]

The plan must be to get points for Bottas to move him up the leader board as well as to seal the constructors championship.

[Biggin]

Hamilton takes pole in Brazil from Vettel , Bottas and Raikkonnen.  Vettel however is under investigation for failing to Follow stewards at the weigh Bridge.

Ferarri played a cute one on second Qualy going out on the fastest tyre but coming back in without doing a time lap and switched to the longer lasting soft tyre , so Mercedes and Ferrari will be on Different tyre strategies.

Mercedes will have the grip to get off the line and move away but Ferrari will not need to pit as early so it could be an interesting race. That however all goes out the window if it rains

[Dunedin]

There is talk in high places of "Sir" Lewis Hamilton.   

[Biggin]

I have to agree Stean great race from Max and next year with a Honda engine if they get it right for power and reliability  Red Bull could be a real force next year

Mercedes never seem to do too well in Mexico as they seem to eat up the tyres more than others if they could just get the aero of Red Bull I think they would be untouchable.

Ferrari they looked to  have the speed back 7mph faster than Mercedes in Straight line Speed in Mexico of course some of that could be down to Aero dynamics

And congratulations to Lewis there was a point in the season it looked like Ferrari and Vettel would walk away with the title, but Lewis never gave up and got his reward

[stean]

congratulations to Lewis for winning the world championship, although he had a scruffy race he did enough to get the points. And well done to Max for his win, what a great racer he is he will no doubt be world champ one day.

[Biggin]

Red Bull lock out the front row in Mexico but it was Ricciardo that takes Pole when everyone was expecting it to be Verstappen

1 Ricciardo
2 Vertsappen
3 Hamilton
4 Vettel
5 Bottas
6 Raikkonnen

[Biggin]

Well done to Kimi and Max. I do agree that Lewis was pitted to early, but I also think they have the grid the wrong way round ie the pol sitter should be on the inside not on the outside as he is disadvantaged by the time he gets to the corner at the top of the hill. Maybe they can change it for next year.

Yes Stean I agree the pole sitter is on the wrong side of the grid and Eddie Jordan has been making that point for a couple of years but nothing changes.
Mercedes biggest mistake was leaving Hamilton out too long on 2nd set of tyres , they should have pitted him when he was 19secs in the lead he (they waited until 12 secs) would then have been out in front of Max and right behind Kimi on fresh tyres.

However it was nice to see Kimi winning and a great drive from Max it will be interesting to see how Red Bull goes with the Honda engine if it has more power then the Renault it could be a very interesting season next year.

In the right car I have no doubt the Max will be a world champion of the future

[stean]

Well done to Kimi and Max. I do agree that Lewis was pitted to early, but I also think they have the grid the wrong way round ie the pol sitter should be on the inside not on the outside as he is disadvantaged by the time he gets to the corner at the top of the hill. Maybe they can change it for next year.

[Biggin]

Mercedes Strategy buggered up Lewis race pitting him far too early when a virtual safety car putting him on to what could lead to a two stop strategy and that did happen so he lost out when everyone else did one