Yeah saying they "threw away" the win was obviously an overstatement and I didn't even really mean that they had necessarily made a mistake in stopping. It was really just meant as "in hindsight they would probably have won if they hadn't made that stop".

I was actually a little surprised that they didn't bring Lewis in for a new set (or at least a less used set, don't think he had any brand new sets left) for the final lap after Verstappen had stopped the lap before. It's obviously a pretty strange situation to make a stop for tyres with literally a single lap left but it seemed like the safer strategy given there would have been about a 10-15s margin to get out ahead after stopping.

Extremely surprised that Lewis didn't come in for a stop when Bottas' tyre blew as he already had a pit stop in hand lead over Max (and also to get fastest lap). But not surprised that Max chose to pit to put on new tyres to get that fastest lap rather than as the commentators were saying he should have stayed out in anticipation that Lewis could also have tyre issues. It was a small risk that Lewis would and the gain of a point from getting fastest lap was worth it.

Also impressed by Gasly's drive as well even though he was aided by the tyre issues. I thought he pulled off a few good moves over Vettel and Stroll.

In a season where Max is fighting for second place, maybe third, I think putting to lock in 2nd and fastest lap was clearly the plus EV play. Sure would have been more interesting to see Max go for the win though, in hindsight at least.

The graphics were showing Lewis front left tire still had 10% when it blew out so I am assuming it took some run bad for Lewis to blow the tire out. To win, Max needed to run good with Lewis blowing out a tire and Max not blowing a tire AND Lewis/Mercedes having a brain fart not pitting.

As mentioned I was also surprised that Lewis didn't come in but there was never a possibility of him going for the fastest lap - Verstappen made his stop at the end of the 3rd from last lap, so the only time Hamilton had the full stop in hand would have been at the end of the penultimate lap and obviously not going to set a fastest lap when you're starting it from the pits.

Renault have their pound of flesh

Racing Point hit with a penalty of 7.5 points per driver and 400k€ for copying Mercedes brake ducts.

Drivers haven’t been penalised. Team gets a 15 penalty in the constructors points standing.

Stupid online newspaper I read said 7.5 per driver.

Not to mention the fact that they’ve used 3 drivers, not 2..

I get the feeling that this is a token penalty to get Renault to move on. As honestly you would think Mercedes would have the beef here if Racing Point copied their brake ducts and not Renault. But seemingly Mercedes doesn't care...

Will Perez even get his seat back? Hulk is hulking

Ouch.

For Renault.

Red bull might hire him instead.

Looks like we need hot or wet tracks for the rest of the season. Love the different strategies.

Crazy that Max has more career wins than Bottas in the überMercedes

The choice of Pirelli has direct impact on the race results (and championship). I find that a scary thought.

Reminds me of like 10 years ago now it must be where tyre degradation was so much worse and it was basically one of the reasons why I think Pirelli was chosen as it was on the back of the sport wanting to have more over-taking thanks to the tyres going off more and having all these different compound tyres.

Formula 1 wanted one manufacturer because Michelin was kicking Pirelli's ass, they also liked the tyre degradation for the show

So Michelin just said **** off if we can't kick Pirelli's ass and we have to release shitty tyres for the TV

Really don't know why Pirelli is happy with being the manufacturer of tyres that explodes after 20 turn

Well that has only happened again recently as there was a good 7 to 8 years that Pirelli produced very reliable tyres albeit with varying degrees of degradation.

Be happy that at least that F1 is not NASCAR or we might end up with things like "Competition Cautions"


Uh oh...F1 has considered it...

https://theparcferme.com/ready-for-c...onsidering-it/

It is not true though. It was not the tire choice but the track temperature that caused issues for some teams. The tire choice only forced multiple stops especially for teams/drivers that can't keep all tires at the right temperature at the same time. Haas has had that issue for multiple seasons now but nobody cares until it hits Mercedes/Ham. Mercedes car design has had issues on hot tracks the entire hybrid era but got bailed out at some point by Pirelli selecting tires that basically last the entire race anyway.

Your first and last phrase contradict.
I've heard multiple knowledgeable people say the same: Mercedes has more downforce and more power and likes harder tires. In this race the issue was amplified by the track temperature

I don't really understand the argument. If Mercedes needed to be bailed out by more durable tires, shouldn't they have chosen the harder and more durable tires given the track conditions?

What I am trying to say is that on that weekend any of the possible tire choices Pirelli can make this season would have lead to the same result with Mercedes having issues. Last couple of seasons the available tire choices made it too easy to manage tires and 1-stop most of the time under any conditions. Before that tires were more interesting and Mercedes had issues with high temperature tracks then as well. My understanding the change in tires that happened then was something most teams didn't like except Mercedes and was controversial.

They need to allow different tyre manufactures.

That doesn't work anymore. Tire quality is at a point where Pirelli can make a tire that is fast and lasts the entire race. The degradation of the tire is something Pirelli and FIA decide on at the start of each season and is completely artificial. You can't do that if there are 2 competing manufacturers. Also last time Bridgestone tried to compete it ended in an absolute disaster.