Grand Prix thread 2017 Russian Grand Prix Chat and Predictions

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Who Will Tackle The Russian Bear

  • Vettel

    Votes: 7 50.0%

  • Hamilton

    Votes: 7 50.0%

  • Bottas

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Raikkonen

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Verstappen

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Ricciardo

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Massa

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Perez

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Sainz

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • OTHER

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
EternalMSC

EternalMSC

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2011
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The ball is back in Sebastian's court, Mercedes try not to trip over themselves as Bottas moves aside, and Kimi struggles once again. Massa, Hulkenberg and Perez flourish under the lights.
Redbull, Toro Rosso and Mclaren have a night to forget.
So far the Grand Prix has been won more or less through strategy, will we see a wheel to wheel tussle in Russia between the titans of the sport?

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2017 Predictions Championship
x2
moreinjuredthanowen
El_Bando
Smithers
BrightLampShade
tomcat606
x1
tomcat606
DHCanary
SgtBhaji
Julius Caesar
ErnieBecclestone
dhel
happyal
fevriul
McFerrari
St. Slicks of Stoneham
Dell Boy
ched999uk
BigErn
eddie_squidd
discostu333​
 
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moreinjuredthanowen said:
Think we already have a clear no 1 driver in each team now and frankly.. i think this one will suit ferrari.
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I think Bottas needs a few more chances yet, he's only just bedding in so we have to be fair. Many more weekends like last one though and he will be under pressure. But not yet.

I actually think Sochi ought to suit him. It's a pretty simple track, a real out and out horsepower circuit, so it should be close between Hamilton and Bottas. Ferrari 3rd and 4th for me here, not far behind but just edged out.
 
TopClass said:
I think Bottas needs a few more chances yet, he's only just bedding in so we have to be fair. Many more weekends like last one though and he will be under pressure. But not yet.

I actually think Sochi ought to suit him. It's a pretty simple track, a real out and out horsepower circuit, so it should be close between Hamilton and Bottas. Ferrari 3rd and 4th for me here, not far behind but just edged out.
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True but Mercedes-Benz have just been and called him up to tell him to pull over..... twice. That tells me something.
 
moreinjuredthanowen said:
True but Mercedes-Benz have just been and called him up to tell him to pull over..... twice. That tells me something.
Click to expand...
I would see it that way if Bottas hadn't been so obviously holding Hamilton up. There are 2 world championships up for grabs in F1, IMO Ferrari are WDC centric and Mercedes WCC. I don't think Mercedes care which one finishes in front, as long as the team maximise their points compared to their rivals. From that point of view they had no real option other than to give the order for the struggling (comparatively) Bottas to move aside as there was a possibility Hamilton would catch Vettel, while it was clear Bottas wouldn't (though he did almost retake the lead at the restart). If it had been Bottas 1st, Hamilton 2nd with a clear gap to 3rd, I don't believe they would've done it.
It will be interesting to see what happens if the roles are reversed, or if Bottas is on the pace, if it does then we can call 'team-orders'.
 
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I'm not sure on this one. I've gone for Vettel for all races so far because I felt they were as quick in race trim and Merc were prone to unforced errors on strategy when not able to coordinate their 1-2's.

Now they appear to have their quali mode back, and this is an out and out power track, with likely low temperatures and low deg my gut says this will be a Merc. Bottas may spring a surprise here as he did in the Williams, assuming Merc will let him race?

I'm going to hold off and see the race sims in practise.
 
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Might come down to a safety car and who can work the softer compounds better. My gut says Bottas, my head says Lewis.
 
As I said at the time, I don't really think they had that much option considering the pace differential and Vettel taking the lead, and, tbh, I think the 2nd order was superfluous, Bottas may have held him up for a corner or 2, but that would've been about it. As I also said at the time, it'll be interesting to see what happens if a) the boot is on the other foot or, b) they're up front on their own, then we'll know what the score is.
 
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Hamilton has gone public to clearly state that team orders will be in play... but on in special circumstances... like the rare time bottas is ahead of him at any time this year

Its very clear to me theres is a clear no 1 and no 2 in mercedes.
 
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There is no way the Renault is near enough on par with the works Merc.

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moreinjuredthanowen said:
Hamilton has gone public to clearly state that team orders will be in play... but on in special circumstances... like the rare time bottas is ahead of him at any time this year

Its very clear to me theres is a clear no 1 and no 2 in mercedes.
Click to expand...

That's how I read his comments too, I just can't see him ever moving over for his teammate..... and how many times have his team mater moved over for him? At least 4 times I can think off.
 
GP1 the mouths are having their say on sky talking about mercedes just wanting best results and win constructors etc.

IMO there is a fatal flaw in the whole logic and happyal is dead right. If hamilton was asked to pull over he would moan and piss about it for at least 10 laps while compromised both drivers races unitl he finally did under protest and he'd spend the next 2 weeks whining the press and saying he's leaving the team.

Botta was asked by sky.. and thier question was incredibly british based.. not asking him outright does he expect the same back but asking that it was perfectly logical he pull over cos he wasn't as fast.

Botta didn't do what hamilton would have done.. hamilton would have attacked them for daring to ak. bottas just said yeah of course if in some theoretical future time when i might be quicker sure the team might ask Lewis to pull over.

He;s a pure no 2.
 
We're at race 4 of 20 and McLaren are racking up the units. Penalties imminent sadly. Ferrari have quietly racked up a few units as well, could come into play soon.

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Spoke to soon

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vandoorne-set-for-grid-penalty-after-fresh-engine-trouble-898935/

Stoffel Vandoorne is set to take a grid penalty for Formula 1's Russian Grand Prix after McLaren-Honda suffered more engine reliability problems.
McLaren-Honda endured a catalogue of reliability trouble with the MGU-H on the Honda engine in Bahrain, so Vandoorne and teammate Fernando Alonso both received updated MGU-Hs for this weekend's race.

Honda detected a problem on Vandoorne's car at the end of the first practice session, so will need to fit his car with a replacement unit.

Although unsure of the exact issue, Honda suspects the problem originated in the MGU-K. Because there is not enough time between sessions to swap individual components, Honda will change the entire power unit on Vandoorne's car.

The fresh engine will feature the same new specification of MGU-H, fitted with the countermeasures Honda developed for the unit following the post-Bahrain Grand Prix test, in which Vandoorne completed 81 laps untroubled on the final day.

The engine swap will push Vandoorne over the FIA's limit for engine component use through a season, taking him to his fifth MGU-H and fifth turbocharger of 2017 before the fourth race of the season has even begun.

That will translate to a grid penalty of 15 places for Sunday's race.
 
They'd better start stacking the penalties so they can have free engines for Monaco
 
Not even a 1/5 of the way through the season and we have engine penalties already, Ferrari on the brink of penalties too. It's a stupid rule when you consider that the FIA will not allow more than 4 teams to have the same engine constructor.

I see Palmer has done his one good lap for the weekend.

Well, I've gone for Vettel as Hamilton is looking scrappy.
 
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