Bottas: Team orders or just poor form? https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/me...-most-difficult-moment-of-my-career-valtteri/ "Being honest it may be the most difficult time of my career so far, in terms of how I feels every time I get in the car," Valtteri said. "I just want to perform, to be on a good level, but I haven't been doing this for some time for various reasons."
His pace is not team order related, but what we may have to consider is that he could be the test mule for the car development?
so: 1. 34 point lead 2. 5 races to go. If vettel could win all 5. he gets a 35 point turn around no? 25-18 = 7 so 7x5 =35 As of now I think vettel needs a DNF minimum from hamilton and to win all races. I can't really see either happening right now. Vettel managed to blow his nice shiny new engine by both red lining it chasing AND then but losing the gear box..... This karma thing.... wow.
I think you are right and as of today suzuka loks like it will be the final nail. I mean ok anything could happen hamiltons car there but if things go to plan i can see hamilton racing to block vettel at some point during race while red bulls scamper. That gearbox is imo the straw thats broken this championship's back. shame really it was going quite nicely for a long while. fizzed out now.
What might make it interesting is the performance of the Merc. Clearly it is struggling at the moment. We are assuming Hamilton only needs to keep finishing second but with the Red Bulls resurgent it might not be that simple.
if Hamilton can't win then I'm sure he'd be more than happy for the RBR's to take points off Vettel as well. I can see some real 'team racing' happening with Merc and Ferrari. Look out for lots of complaining!
Well Vettel drives like a prick, just not aware of whats going on around him, concentrated sufficiently to get through the traffic to reach 4th place, then realized he could not take 3rd and brain fade set in, and CRASHED.
Hamilton is't that far ahead and Ferrari and Red Bull could conceivably with five races to go, stop him, Mercs do seem to have a performance issue at the moment.
The Mercedes pace was horrible but they've had off races before, so it's to early to tell of it's a one off or whatever. Vettel is in a tricky situation now. Worse case they don't change the gearbox and it goes bang mid race in Japan. Middle ground is to take the 5 place penalty. Best case it's fine. He slowed right down at the end of the race as well. More than I feel necessary. I'm suspicious about what may have happened to his car in those closing laps.
I think several people, including Red Bull chiefs, reckon Vettel was running light on fuel. So perhaps he was critical for the last couple of laps. Or perhaps he was under-weight and took Stroll out to avoid scrutineering...
Didn't really see this at the time but we got to see the drivers briefing before the race, something a bit different from FOM.
With all the wheel banging you see in races I'm still wondering how on earth this happened, didn't even seem that hard a hit. It's just decimated his car. Rivals be warned, don't get argy-bargy with the Williams please log in to view this image
An interesting race. Congratulations to Verstappen. In my opinion, he was the best driver / car combination of the weekend, even though I think Ferrari were perhaps a tiny bit quicker on raw pace. Based on the weekend as a whole though, Hamilton can consider himself pretty fortunate to have finished 2nd. The Mercedes was third best, and having gone the wrong way in terms of development, apparently, they may be far from safe in terms of the World Drivers' Championship despite the enlarged points difference. Ferrari's unreliability was a terrible blow to Vettel but Räikkönen was even unluckier – not that he's much bothered. Vettel did well to scythe through slower traffic during the race, but what on earth was he doing after the finish?! I've listened to opinion from many sources and cannot apportion any significant blame upon Stroll, who was doing the normal thing in going off the racing line on a corner in order to pick up debris. That particular corner tends to get more marbles than all others at this circuit and going off line on a straight for the same reason picks up far less. Vettel knows this. Yet he seems to have ignored it altogether! You'd think a four time World Champion would by now have learned to be less impetuous and more considered in his actions on track… 'Racing incident'? Nonsense. They were not racing. One driver was far more responsible for this collision than the other. Normally, that means a penalty. However, I'm going to be cynical: given the Championship battle, it is more likely than normal that his error be dismissed – especially driving a Ferrari…
People are blaming Vettel in the bizzaro collision, but from this footage ot looks like a Strollololol to me. The video I posted earlier is no longer available. Hopefully this one lasts longer
Thanks, Bhaji. The video shows Stroll driving off to the right of the normal 'racing' line. Other videos of the incident make it easier to see that Vettel approached from in Stroll's 'blind-spot'. But whether or not this was the case, it really is beside the point. They were not racing. Going off line in a corner after the Chequered Flag is to be expected. It is standard form to collect chunks of old tyre rubber where it is most abundant; on the outside of the racing line in corners, especially that one. Even if he did not pay the usual attention expected in a race – and I'm not suggesting either way – Stroll knew the race was over and was doing the normally accepted (and therefore relatively predictable) thing. Even so – and as always – Vettel should anticipate the possibility of someone doing something different than that of his own mind-set. The race was over, so: tootle along behind, collect some debris, wait until the straight before overtaking – or, if absolutely necessary, make your actions blatantly obvious and overtake with extreme caution if you still insist on doing so in an unusual place! Since the race had finished, one must address the situation from the perspective of what is most reasonably to be expected at that time. It seems to me therefore, that the most reasonable conclusion is derived from asking the following two questions: Is Stroll more or less likely to expect to be overtaken at that location than for Vettel to be expected to adhere to the norm in anticipating another driver may want to get marbles where they are easiest to collect? Is it reasonable for Vettel to expect his actions to be anticipated by another driver when the latter is following the norm, whilst he is doing something less normal? If the answer to either is in doubt, Vettel must be more at fault for putting himself in a position of danger. And that's the real point: there was no need. Not at all. Yet he did. What was he thinking? Or had he simply stopped thinking? Who knows? –What is clear is that he made himself vulnerable when there was no need, which smacks of inexperience, not a four-time champion…
