Originally Posted by
CardShark
Racing Point Force India still haven't confirmed their line-up, it would be easy to say that Stroll will be moving over so perhaps Ocon will take a birth at Williams. Mercedes would want to keep him in the sport and Williams do have Mercedes engines, Ocon has been quite vocal about being comfortable with (what he perceives to be) the fact that the manufacturer has his back so perhaps he'll take the remaining RPFI seat instead of Perez... Can't see that though, Williams would be more likely, even if that does seem like a downgrade from his current car. Williams did put in a decent show at Monza by their own recent standards, maybe the aero issues that they've been suffering from weren't such an issue there. Quali went well and both drivers finished in the points, the first time this year IIRC.
So what will become of Vandorne, then? I predicted earlier that he would lose his McLaren seat and probably take on a test/reserve driver elsewhere, it's either this or he's out of the sport altogether. He started well at McLaren, Alonso always appeared to have the measure of him though there were the occasional signs of speed, this season though he's the only driver on the grid that has been out-qualified by his teammate every race weekend - that's not a great performance even if we are comparing him to Fernando. Congratulations to Lando, he'll be happy, so let's hope that any talent he has isn't masked by the McLaren package. His teammate for next year is a known quantity and will be a good benchmark to measure against.
I can't not comment on Hamilton, Verstappen, Raikkonen or Vettel.
Lewis really did put on a show, didn't he? The first lap overtake was one of the strongest of any driver so far this season, if not the strongest given the championship battle, who he overtook and the potential consequences if it went tits up. A fine drive, one in the eye to Vettel and Ferrari, followed by a poke in the other with the Mercedes duo driving side by side after the race had finished. Ferrari were supposed to be the stronger team just like they were at Monza last season, and Lewis took the top step in both matching Michael Schumacher's number of wins at the Italian circuit.
Verstappen. Oh dear. Just when I though he had maybe grown out of his bum-fluff years he takes a step back, not in his speed - which is clearly apparent - but his attitude on the track. Yes Max, we get that you're "not going to change your style", however please take your errors on the chin instead of blaming others. Your arrogance will seriously start to grate, not accepting that you were at fault with the Bottas incident was nothing compared to your comments on not caring if Vettel closed in within 5sec of you. You've demonstrated that you can manage your car, now start demonstrating that you can manage your head. We want to support you, I know that I do, so please sort it out!
Rumours have resurfaced about Leclerc replacing Raikkonen for '19 despite his pole and 2nd place finish yesterday. I've nothing against young talented blood coming through though I'd keep him on another year if he is willing, he's no slower than he was 11 years ago when he won the DC, and Leclerc hasn't scored any points since June even if he has been involved in incidents outside of his control. Kimi got the best out of the hand he was dealt within the race, though I'm not entirely sure he deserved C4's driver of the day (Hamilton for me).
Vettel's "Hamilton didn't give me enough space" was a slight tell on his mental attitude. It was clear that it was a safe and fair pass, his questioning of it showed that he was ignoring his own failure to avoid the collision. The German can get rattled when under pressure, Ferrari do have a few circuits coming up that historically suit them so can he make the most of it and close the gap?
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