I completely agree, so scrap the rule, then everyone can do it, he should have been penalised under the current rule.
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What a great result for Red Bull at the Red Bull track and what a great race between the front runners.
If you were cynical you might think it might have been staged to help promote the sport, win back detractors, as well as satisfy a major sponsor. But not me. :smug:
Great win for Max (his 6th in 90 starts - LH achieved 9 in his first 35), and Chaz was a bit unlucky because he simply seem to run out of tires, but no doubting he definitely has a future in F1. As does Norris.
Biggest winners on the day was Liberty and the FIA.
At least it was a good race and not spoiling it weighed heaviest in green table politics, as such illustrating that F1 rácing is castrated by overregulating. Maybe some rules will per immediate be scrapped.
It is beyond silly that two races in a row have this rule book throwing.
Another outstanding day for Lando, guy has so much potential
The FIA have since explained why the decision took so long - https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/m...wards/4486338/ Mattia Binotto has also stated that Ferrari won't appeal even though they think the decision incorrect. I think that's rubbish personally, if they honestly thought Verstappen was in the wrong then they'd appeal, the reason given for not doing so was "to support the sport".
I'm not so sure that they would have required much time to check the spelling of "no further action" however there you go... Considering recent events I'd be surprised if there wasn't some triple cross-checking going on to ensure that the correct decision was made, I feel that they got this one spot on. Max had his nose in front of Charles at the apex and it has always been the case that the overtaking driver can then close down the line that the defending driver may take. The Monegasque would have known that his line was going to close yet he chose to keep his foot down, that's understandable as he'd a) want to accelerate out the corner as fast as possible and b) hope that Max would allow him some some of the black stuff though the Dutchman was under no obligation to do so.
I'm also a touch gutted for Leclerc. A sweet pole followed by leading the race for the best part of 70 laps will do nothing to ease the so-near-yet-so-far pain, short term at least. He'll take heart that he was the better Ferrari driver over the weekend, and it's certainly a case of "when" and not "if" he wins his first GP.
Unlike Gasly. How far behind his teammate was he? The one that proved the car was up to winning the race? Christian Horner said that they want to take the competition to Ferrari however he's not going to publicly declare that one half of the driver pairing isn't cutting the mustard, there's prize money at stake at the end of the season and RB will be keen to nab 2nd in the CC. How, though? I've said before that the RB talent pool isn't deep enough to put even a half cert replacement in for the Frenchman next season or maybe even later in this one, their only current hope is for Gasly to pull his Nomex racing socks up. Dan Ticktam has recently been dropped by RB's junior driver programme so at least there's no pressure from that corner...
Where did Afla Romeo come from? The Iceman has been there or there abouts for a few races this season, his teammate not, however they both qualified and finished in the top 10 with Giovinazzi scoring his maiden F1 point and the first Italian driver in a good few years to score anything at all. McLaren easily took the title of "Best Of The Rest" with an outstanding performance from the team and both drivers, Norris took a very mature 6th place race finish and Sainz Jnr 8th after starting at the back of the grid - if it wasn't for Verstappen and Leclerc either McLaren driver could have taken driver of the day. Renault failed to perform again with Ricciardo looking and sounding quite dejected, the salt in the wound being his old team's top step finish. Racing Point's Perez out-raced and out-qualified his teammate and was only one position away from a point, the Torro Rossos both finished in the bottom 6 as did Haas with their drivers tumbling down the order right from the off. They had a shocker of a race and were probably the net worst performers on the Sunday with Williams' George Russell finishing one place ahead of Magnussen.
With every race that passed by we were getting closer to a weekend when Mercedes were going to miss the top step and I'll be honest in saying that I find it a shame that it has finally happened. I know that there were some that were getting bored of it however I really wanted to see how far they could push their winning streak, and today we found out. Both drivers were beaten by better competition, of that there's no doubt, and it may well be many seasons yet before McLaren's '88 win streak will be either equalled or bettered. Lewis will be keen to make amends at Silverstone in two week's time, for sure.
So, now back to Leclerc and Verstappen. They were both absolute stars this weekend, and they both thoroughly deserved their respective steps on the podium. The Orange Army witnessed a classic race with their own man winning, Zandvoort would probably sell triple the tickets for 2020 if they were able.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/1zkq1...ePxv/giphy.gif
If one was cynical one may think Max deliberately went slightly deeper into the corner on his second attempt, thereby pushing Leclerc wide because on the previous lap when he hit the apex bang on-and in so doing left one cars width for Leclerc-Leclerc was then able to get the run on him down to turn 3 owing to the Ferrari’s faster straight line speed.
He definitely went deeper than the racing line either as a result of braking later thus ensuring the overtake on the inside or to intentionally block Leclerc's turn-in, or the latter was a happy bonus of the former. Regardless, it was a hard yet fair move, and typical of his driving style.
Having now watched the highlights I think that the stewards bottled it.
Under current regulations there is little doubt, in my mind, that Verstappen crowded Leclerc off the track, he had nowhere to go.
It looked to me as if Verstappen momentarily opened up his steering at the critical moment, resulting in contact, and a penalty was justified.
I’m a little surprised that, according to the BBC, Ferrari are not planning an appeal.
I don't think anyone could sensibly argue about the move, the argument is was it within the current rules, MV pushed CLC off the track, he had nowhere to go, the rule is currently the driver has to leave a cars width. there is an argument regarding what car was in front at which position on the track.
They need to scrap these ambiguous rules that are without doubt open to interpretation, MV deliberately left the steering wide open for as long as he could and stay on the track, maybe next time CLC will be more robust and not get out of the way!
If formula one is to save itself and produce close racing I think it needs to scrap the cars width, safe joining and weaving in the breaking zone rules, this will produce consistency and stability, all of the drivers know exactly where they stand, not just the chosen few.
I agree; especially since the current cars are a large as pre energy crisis US muscle cars.
About the weaving it is a universal rule that you can change your line ónce.
About ´block passes´; they are indeed normal in all racing as long as the pass is made without needing contact to be able to make the corner.
The thing is that the overtaker must per difintion go off the ideal racing line as the one to overtake sits on the fastest line if not defending and thus blocking.
That leaves two options for the guy behind;
- go into the corner like a fart and go out like shit
- go in like shit and out like a fart
and which to choose depends on how the blok in front defends and the corner. Whichever either or both opt for; there is always going to be a point where the lines cross unless we change to Scalextric racing.
The rest is a risc assessment by the drivers; the essence of racing.
Racing is a high risc sport. F1 is the summit so risc should either be accepted or the sport cancelled.
Back to LV a Lecrec I think Ferrari is right. Both in pointing to the current silly rules ánd for not protesting to make their point that it should be scrapped.
Further explanation of how the stewards reached their decision - https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/v...sberg/4486521/
I'm still of the opinion that they made the correct call. Leclerc had the option of cutting back, instead he chose to leave the circuit, all Vestappen did was force Leclerc into making a choice. If there was a wall on the outside then Leclerc would have definitely cut back and avoided contact with said wall. You could even see him briefly open the right hand lock when he realised Max was too far past, it was here that he made the choice to attempt going around the outside or to back off completely.
There were a few of us wondering how long the Rich Energy/Haas relationship would last given the more than slightly dubious RE background. I thought the partnership would last the season tops, it appears I was wrong.
RE have terminated their contract due to Haas under performing, according to the energy drink "company". Sure, Haas have been rubbish of late, however RE loosing their court battle ref their logo and then being ordered to disclose full details of their production runs, finances and so on has got to be the steer here.
Let's see if they're able to strike up a sponsorship deal with another team in the future, after all they were touting for Force India in its entirety before Stroll Snr stepped in...
There's a thread on the Autosport forum entitled 'What is Rich Energy'?
May I suggest that the answer is 'history'. Perhaps the strangest, of the many strange, sponsors that's ever been in F1.
Definitely very strange goings on with Rich Energy!
Is the correct answer, surely. There appears to be some sort of rift between William Storey and his fellow investors in Rich Energy, and I suspect that this is only the beginning of the unravelling of what appears to be a company with no product, but a knack for generating publicity and media coverage from thin air.
It is believed that Haas can continue to function without the "sponsorship" of Rich Energy, and hopefully they will. If reports are to be believed the cars will run at Silverstone with Rich Energy branding, because it's too late to remove it before the event, though not the logo which was the subject of the recent court case, which was removed from the cars, team uniforms and everywhere else before the last race in Austria.
It has to be said, sadly this sordid affair is more interesting than most of the races so far this season.
Isn't it ridiculous that, in an age where most of our sport requires a subscription, we have one glorious day in the summer when you can watch the Wimbledon Mens Final, British Grand Prix and the England-hosted Cricket World Cup on terrestrial TV.
I am not for one minute complaining that they are all available, only that they all have to clash on one day, especially with all of them being held in the UK.
People need to think a bit more.
The whole idea of allowing the British GP and the ICC World Cup Final back onto Terrestrial TV from their usual Sky home is to be able to spread the word to a larger audience.
And then they go and divide the potential sporting audience by 3 by clashing with the only 2 other main events being hosted in the UK this year. Bravo.
This did make me smile, but it's great to be spoilt for choice. For me it's a no brainer especially after today performance against the Australians.
Watch the cricket, record the GP and watch it immediately after the cricket to prevent any spoilers. As for the Tennis - who cares. Federer or Djokovic or Nadal will win anyway.
It now appears that the shareholders are "in the process of legally removing" the individual responsible for the tweet from the company. I wonder who that could be...? They've also stated quite clearly that Rich Energy will continue with their sponsorship of Haas and still believe in both the team and F1 itself and that it was a rogue tweet that was in no way representative of the company's viewpoints.
That all makes sense. Like others, I was so caught up in the scandal that I didn't twig that if the tweet was official then a) Haas wouldn't have initially responded with a "no comment" and b) a joint statement would have been made. In the age we live in where someone like the POTUS speels out twitter content like no tomorrow we all got sucked in.
Anyway, I usually do a little intro before each race however I'm at work tonight. If I get a chance I'll write something up tomorrow after 1st practice. For those that aren't aware C4 are showing the practice and quali sessions live as well as the race.
Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix. The circuit at which, in 1950, hosted the first ever Formula 1 Drivers Championship race and, for 3 of the 20 drivers on the grid, their home GP.
George Russell. Reigning FIA F2 Champion, 2017 GP3 Champion, a karting champion in various classes from '09 to '12, BRDC F4 champion in '14, 3rd place in the FIA F3 championship in '16 and current ROKiT Williams driver alongside Robert Kubica, a driver that he has both out-qualified and out-raced this season by some margin. A (small) rumour has it that the Mercedes backed 21yr old will be taking Valtteri's seat in 2020, not Sebastian Ocon.
Lando Norris. Runner up to Russell in '18 and the victor in '17 FIA F3 series, '16 championship winner in the Toyota Racing Series, Formula Renault NEC and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series (busy year!), MSA Formula Championship champion in '15, karting champion and '16 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner, currently alongside Carlos Sainz Jnr and has recently re-signed with his teammate at McLaren for 2020.
Lewis Hamilton. 5 time WDC, the most successful British GP driver ever and, arguably, the best driver ever to race an F1 car. He's the only driver to have won a race in every season he has competed in and has more poles, more front row starts, won at a greater spread of circuits and holds more records of significance other than total number of F1 race wins and DCs (both held by Michael Schumacher) than anyone else, ever. Few would disagree that it's only a matter of time before they're both surpassed, and that's before anyone raises the point that the bulk of Schumacher's wins were on the back of a team that was clearly biased towards him.
Today's practice sessions had Gasly lead driver after FP1 and the Mercedes duo leading the FP2 session, with Leclerc 3rd. Fresh tarmac and fickle winds blowing over the gradient free circuit served up a challenge to team and driver with many off-circuit excursions, including Grosjean who managed to spin his Haas at the pit lane exit in FP1 in what could cynically be described as an attempt to wipe the Rich Energy sponsorship off the car.
Plenty more news to be spoken about including Silverstone's new contract (did anyone think that a new agreement wouldn't be reached?) however it's late and a liquid lunch is taking it's toll.
Enjoy the race. Silverstone isn't some namby-pamby wishy-washy stretch of tarmac, it's 3.7 miles of complete and utter commitment. Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Stowe and the relatively new Abbey are amongst the most testing elements of any circuit on the calendar, and the venue deserves its place within the history of F1.
Stop press: Stroll doesn’t make it to Q2
It's something that I read on another forum, that Russell may be taking Bottas' seat with Ocon sitting in Russell's. It was supposedly from a reliable source however I've no way of verifying it, other than to say stranger things have happened. As I've said before in this thread, Russell has been smashing his teammate into the weeds, the only issue with that is that we're talking about Kubica who arguably isn't the driver he was. The Brit's track record speaks for itself though and he comes across more mature than his 21 years when discussing the team's current form, I'm sure he'll be around for a good few years yet regardless as to which team he's driving for.
Bottas didn't do himself any harm today though, did he? Pole, even if it's by the tiniest of margins, is still pole, tomorrow is the real test though. I've spoken about Leclerc's ascendancy a few weeks back and his performance relative to his teammate has been superb so far this weekend, last year's race winner Vettel has some work to do tomorrow to make up for his shortfall in quali. Gasly upped his game even if Verstappen out-qualified him again.
I'm watching the C4 show as I type, contrary to what I've read about Russell in a Mercedes Eddie "Rumour Mill" Jordan has just stated that we'll be seeing Lewis and Seb swapping seats with Max sitting alongside Seb... There is some chatter about Verstappen's contract and Hamilton has never ruled out driving something red however it's the Seb in a Merc bit that doesn't add up to me!
I just hope we get to see Russell in a competitive car sooner rather than later, Norris is coming on very nicely in the McLaren and Russell was thought of as even better in the junior formulae, the prospect of him in a Mercedes is intriguing.
Looks good for another decent race tomorrow almost nothing in it between the top three in qualifying.
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Eddie Jordan confidently predicted that Seb and Lewis would be swapping seats. He then said he'd made that up.
Why is bringing back refuelling even being discussed?! It's was proposed a few years ago and ruled out because statistics showed that there was less overtaking in the year's that refueling was allowed.
BBC News - Formula 1: Refuelling return to be discussed
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/48971037
I was never a fan of refuelling because it meant more passes during pitstops rather than on the track.
Horner hits the nail on the head:
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "My recollection of refuelling, which was part of the sport when I came into F1, was that it became just a strategic race as to how much fuel you put in at the start. You wouldn't pass any cars on track, because you would either short-fill or long-fill the car in the pit lane."
"So while it was a fascinating race for tacticians and strategists, it was a very static boring race on track. And that's why we moved away from refuelling so the drivers had to cope with a heavy fuel-load car and with that came the challenges of having to manage a car that lost 100kg during the course of a grand prix."
Millions are spent on making F1 safer for the driver and then one wants to introduce a high-risk 'exercise'... I remember Max' dad Jos being on fire in his Benetton in the mid-90s. And there are more examples.
Let’s hope that the F1 race is at least half as good as the F2
Brilliant race for supporters and neutral spectators! Fun to watch!
Menno
Well done Lewis, and an extra 'well done' for ignoring the late pit calls. Stupid, panicky, thinking by the pit wall that could have c****d it all up.
6 British grand prix wins!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f20dbd9153.jpg
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Hell of a race for many reasons. Not really sure Vettel was think....not thinking I suspect.
Good job Lewis, he was like dog with a done from the start, the safety car was lucky, but I suspect he might of got past VB.
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That was the best race for a long time, proper wheel to wheel racing with no interference, it might be that this track suits these cars but Liberty and the FIA should learn some lessons
Someone quote me but I bet they will be dishing honours to the England cricket team, but LH and the brits in F1 will get ignored again