The F1 thread

Fretwired

chillidoggy said:

Fretwired said:

Ricciardo wants to partner Hamilton at Mercedes ..

When’s his contract up? Hasn’t Bottas signed with Merc for 2018?

I reckon the only one who’s as good as Hamster is Verstappen. Then we’d see a right old ding-dong.

The Red Bull boss wants him out .. Bottas isn't performing .. perhaps a swap. It will be a few years before Red Bull can touch Mercedes or Ferrari.

rocktron

Eddie Jordan said, after the Texas qualifying, that be obtained information from his personal reliable source that Maurizio Arrivabene would be replaced as the Ferrari Team Principal.

If that is true, assuming that EJ is not being provocative, I hope they bring in someone with a racing pedigree and not a businessman, although Arrivabene did much better compared to Mattacchi. I wonder who they have lined up for the daunting job of satisfying the Tifosi's expectations..   

chillidoggy

Good luck to the next victim at Ferrari, then. That job's like a revolving door.

simonk

This whole Michael Buffer bit is a bit surreal isn’t it?!

not_the_dj

Max!!!! 

Boromedic

66 point lead.......

chillidoggy

WTF was the Buffer thing all about? Totally cringeworthy, and Max loses 3rd? Nooooo!

thumpingrug

Im trying to blank the Buffer thing from my mind, so so strange.

Otherwise a great race with actions all the way.  Replays clearly show Max way of track so the penalty was fair.

prowla

thumpingrug said:

Im trying to blank the Buffer thing from my mind, so so strange.

Otherwise a great race with actions all the way.  Replays clearly show Max way of track so the penalty was fair.

I did blank the "Ready To Rumble" thing - just did fast-forward...

Atree on Max - great drive, but two wheels off track is leeway and all four is outside of limits.

rocktron

I don't have an eidetic memory and I haven't seen the replays. Did Max place all four wheels outside the track limits, and did it happen when he was executing a pass on Kimi for third place?

As I recall, he definitely had two wheels outside the track limits, but I am not sure about all four.   

simonk

rocktron said:

I don't have an eidetic memory and I haven't seen the replays. Did Max place all four wheels outside the track limits, and did it happen when he was executing a pass on Kimi for third place?

As I recall, he definitely had two wheels outside the track limits, but I am not sure about all four.   

Quite clearly all 4 wheels outside the track limit.

Fretwired

simonk said:

rocktron said:

I don't have an eidetic memory and I haven't seen the replays. Did Max place all four wheels outside the track limits, and did it happen when he was executing a pass on Kimi for third place?

As I recall, he definitely had two wheels outside the track limits, but I am not sure about all four.   

Quite clearly all 4 wheels outside the track limit.

Agree but in Max's defence drivers have been doing that all weekend and in the race yet he was the only one penalised. Who was the driver steward? Wouldn't be an ex-Ferrari driver would he? #FIAconspiracy.. :-)

Electro_Ham

FIA strikes again. Ex Ferrari Mika Salo was race steward.
That said, lots of wheels were over the line in many corners, but, those were actually outside corners. This was an inside corner. So the track length was shortened by Max and not lengthened. In Max's defense, Kimi appeared to turn in and Max may have cut the corner more than he initially intended.

stickyfiddle

It's frustrating because he was obviously 100% over the line, but would have obviously made the pass stick had he not been, because he was carrying so much more speed than Kimi. 

I don't think it's a pro-Ferrari conspiracy, just over-zealous application of the regs.

I have to wonder why they have a bit of red & white-painted tarmac half the width of the track on the inside of a corner? If it'd been 4 feet of tarmac/curb then grass everyone would be amazed with the pass and surely the stewards would not conclude that driving on the grass would ever give him an advantage. 

mikeyrob73

I switched the race off at the end and have only just realised Max was given that penalty. 

PC_Dave

Totally gutted for Max - some of the best driving, and that move at the end?! 

Hero!!

Fretwired

Niki Lauda says F1 needs to discuss the stewards “interfering” after Max Verstappen lost third place in the United States GP for passing Kimi Raikkonen off the track.

On a day where track limits seemed count for very little, they finally did on the very last lap – and at Verstappen’s expense.

The Dutchman passed Raikkonen for third place on the final lap of the grand prix only to be slapped with a five-second penalty.

The decision did not go down well with Red Bull, or even their rivals Mercedes.

“This decision is the worst I’ve ever seen,” Lauda, a Mercedes non-executive chairman, told reporters.

“He (Verstappen) did nothing wrong.

“These are racing drivers, we’re not on a normal road and it’s ridiculous to destroy the sport with this kind of decision.

“At the next strategy meeting we’ll bring it up the agenda and start all over again because we cannot do that, going too far and interfering.

“It was a normal overtaking.”

Was Vettel was outside the track limits when he overtook Hamilton? Replays seem to indicate he was.

FX_Munkee

Fretwired said:

Was Vettel was outside the track limits when he overtook Hamilton? Replays seem to indicate he was.

Yes, but he was quite clearly in a red car.

stickyfiddle

In other news, Sainz did a fantastic job. Obviously there's no Hulk benchmark but he's made Palmer look even worse than he already did and getting out of TR was obviously the right move.

I can see him being the guy to get a Renault podium before Hulk.

Renault are almost certain to beat TR in the standings and might even nick 5th from WIlliams if they get consistent finishes from both drivers. 

Fretwired

FX_Munkee said:

Fretwired said:

Was Vettel was outside the track limits when he overtook Hamilton? Replays seem to indicate he was.

Yes, but he was quite clearly in a red car.

That's why the outside of the track is painted red ... only Ferrari's allowed.

Mika Salo isn't fan of Vestappen either ..max called him an "idiot" after the decision.