2019 Formula One Russian Grand Prix

[farjam]

Some stats:

 

[tr1v1um]

If you arrange a team tactic you have to obey it. Charles let Seb draft him and he left the inside open like they planned to secure the 1-2 track positions.

After that Seb was faster than Charles and Ferrari just let Charles talk a bit, Seb does what he has to do. Ferrari shows their authority with the undercut for Charles.

Charles talks a lot and it's the way he talks that makes him look like he's whining but he's just informing when/how/if Seb will let him past (like they planned before the race).

Edit: They also try to calm him by repeating "Keep you head down"
Ferrari was just super unlucky today. Losing a car which results in a VSC which screws the other car.

That's pure nonesense tbh. In this day and age a professional race strategist has to react according to what is going on at the race track and not by some predefined arranged tactics. It isn't that Seb hold him up or anything. It's just to remind you that Seb put a 4 second gap on Charles in the first stint and that Charles wasn't anywhere near Seb to get the place back as his long run pace was rather poor. So in that regard it made no sense to undercut Vettel who was making a gap on Charles and the two Mercs while Charles was even in danger of getting cought by Hamilton. And pitting in Charles under yellow was propably the icing on the cake when it comes to poor strategy, as everyone with two blind eyes could guess the outcome.

All in all, it just shows that there is a big problem with aero in F1 once again leading to some lucky winners. The Indycar race at Leguna had propably more overtakes than the race today with two pretty long straights just to put that into perspective.

 

[jeroenalmere]

this was a boring race period, i think im gonna stop watching F1, its just a waste of time, come on be honest.

 

[bgil66]

I was giddy when Seb passed boy w/Pacifier and then pissed at the team order. Hopefully he can zip it and just race as he has tons of talent and the tifosi loves him. He reminds me of Haas driver Gutierrez with all his complaining which resulted in a no drive in my opinion. But in the moment I guess things just get blurted out.

 

[Stan Marlow]

WOW, Charles was so slow in racing conditions! Seb eventually did not need help to get to 2nd after the start and even managed to get to 1st (nothing Charles could do apart from trying to block him, they are team mates after all ). Team delayed the pit stop of Seb on purpose to get Charles back to first. At the end, a rare technical problem cost the 1-2 of Ferrari. But Charles was not faster than Hamilton for some reason, even on soft vs medium for Luis.

 

[Typ190]

its almost karma when ferrari has a safe 1-2 and yet is panicking because theyre in the "wrong order" and then end up with p3 and a dnf. seb did the right thing and build a gap first, they dont have that kind of luxury to swap them around that early, unless charles was much faster than seb but that wasnt the case. in fact it was the opposite, seb was faster, in which case, they should try to keep things that way. but instead they double down, have vettel lose 4 seconds to leclercs undercut, how ****ing stupid. if you got a 1-2 like this where the driver on 1 is faster, no reason to change it. imo these pre-race team orders dont make any sense if you end up hurting your own race because of it. they can still do them at the very last few laps when theyre 100% certain they finish 1-2. there also is not much reason for these team orders outside "keeping leclerc happy", theyre not in the fight for the championship anyway, just let them race.

other thoughts: kimis 2nd pitstop was hilarious, hulk got robbed by his pitcrew of a better result, after seb, sainz gets my dotd, i think albons drive was vastly overrated because he gained most of those places due to the safety cars and then had fresh softs unlike most around him who were on used mediums.

 

[Deleted member 113561]

this was a boring race period, i think im gonna stop watching F1, its just a waste of time, come on be honest.

bye and please never come back again, nobody will miss u

 

[ATSSHD]

this was a boring race period, i think im gonna stop watching F1, its just a waste of time, come on be honest.

newbie ?
you watched like 2-3 races ever?

 

[Contra 710]

this was a boring race period, i think im gonna stop watching F1, its just a waste of time, come on be honest.

Wait until they get onto a good track like cota or Japan. Sochi is an extremly boring weekend in comparison.

 

[Contra 710]

Leclarc is such a whiny baby... just race man!!!
As a Mercedes guy, I thank you Ferrari.

Right because everyone at Mercedes dosen't throw fits when things don't go there way... The top two teams will always pull the crybaby **** just look at toto over the last 4 races. That's completely normal for professionals

 

[Fat-Alfie]

They really need to ban pit stops under safety car or VSC It shouldn't be possible to make up 13 seconds by pitting under yellow. They should just shut the pit lane until the track is safe again.

I thought that the whole idea of VSC was to effectively 'freeze' the race whilst safety is reinstated. Lewis pitting under yellow did anything but that

 

[Nick Hill]

1) Ferrari is stupid. They have obviously done some nice improvements technically, but they have to be the most self-defeating team in F1 on raceday.
2) I love the stunt Vettel pulled. Showed a lot of fight and I thought it was a great try. In my opinion, Ferrari intentionally screwed him by leaving him out on shot tires so Leclerc could get back ahead.
3) Can we please get rid of the VSC? Speaking on behalf of millions of F1 fans worldwide, we would rather just see the full SC. At the bare minimum, they need to close the pit lane under full VSC. Pitting under VSC seems like it crosses the line from "good strategy" into "exploiting a glitch" to me. Teams (rightfully) will keep exploiting the glitch till someone fixes it (one way or another).

Race could have been awesome but, for me, netted out to be just OK.

 

[Nick Hill]

Also, great job by Albon. He is one to keep an eye on. This could be his ceiling for all we know, but I am interested to see how far he can go.

Also, my capacity for politely tipping my cap to Mercedes for a job well done is at absolute zero. If they folded the team tomorrow, I would throw a little party and then watch with eagerness to see which team ponies up the dough to snap up Hamilton (and I would wish Bottas well in his Formula E pursuits ).

 

[NikiGouda]

WOW, Charles was so slow in racing conditions! Seb eventually did not need help to get to 2nd after the start and even managed to get to 1st (nothing Charles could do apart from trying to block him, they are team mates after all ). Team delayed the pit stop of Seb on purpose to get Charles back to first. At the end, a rare technical problem cost the 1-2 of Ferrari. But Charles was not faster than Hamilton for some reason, even on soft vs medium for Luis.

That's probably because Leclerce is setting up his car more
focussed on qualifying whereas Vettel his setup seems more
trimmed for race performance. I think i read that somewhere
and it would explain at least a few things but i'm not really sure
about that. But if true, it would make appear such a "pre race
agreement" even more questionable where the teammate who
qualified on pole gets automatically the "right" of the better race
strategy no matter what.
I really don't like that, no matter if the guy who must suffer from
the result is called Vettel, Bottas, Leclerc or whoever, especially
when it's not about the championship anymore.
Sometimes i wish F1 would be way more simpler. Just racing
instead of politics. Just as simple as this comment which i
found on Youtube:

This is why F1 is boring now.Too much politics."Respect his pole position." Who cares mate.This is a race.Person who crosses the finish line first is the winner.

 

[Nick Hill]

Also, this is going to be dreadfully unpopular, but the track itself is not that bad. It's just... different. I mean, your ideal track is Spa (or something like it). Laden with history, beautiful scenery, carved right into the geography, etc.

Sochi is kind of the opposite, it feels totally contrived. But, if you can accept that, you realize it has been specifically contrived to (safely) give these types of cars a workout. Driving it, there is certainly quite a bit of sameness to a good number of the corners, but there is still a rhythm and challenge to the experience.

I'm just speaking purely to the driving experience itself. Is it a visual spectacle? No. Does it produce good racing? Debatable.

I dunno, my standards are probably getting too low. I could rattle off a half dozen tracks right off the top of my head I'd rather see, but it ain't going to happen. I'll take the racing as I can get it, I guess.

 

[mrbungle83]

Please RD, i know the foruns here are very free, and we apreciate this. but politics are something that i wish are not brought up here. It just gives me a sour taste in my mouth, simracing and racing are our hobbies and passions, we don't need to have divisive statements regarding politics involved.

Nothing personal against the poster, just a general comment.

Why? This is a forum and it's how they feel if you are offended feel free to ignore but this is a racing forum why shouldn't we feel free to talk about every aspect?

 

[Boby Kim]

I stopped watching after 5 rounds as both Ferrari drivers behaved like childs. Couldn't stand it anymore. F1 is such a joke for the racing sport.

 

[Dux]

That's pure nonesense tbh. In this day and age a professional race strategist has to react according to what is going on at the race track and not by some predefined arranged tactics. It isn't that Seb hold him up or anything.

Except they did made the undercut

 

[keto95]

this is a racing forum why shouldn't we feel free to talk about every aspect?

F1 is about sport and is already political enough; just leave it there.
We don't need your world politics on a racing forum.

 

[Dux]

What has happened yesterday is a constant now that while Leclerc is faster in the quals , Vettel is faster in the races BECAUSE their approach is evidently different in terms of setting up the car - one for the quals other for the race.

While it is important to qualify as much ahead as possible, it is as much important to feel better in the car on race day when things really matter and points are scored, and titles are won. In that regard, Vettel leads almost always and proof Leclerc has much yet to learn, and definitely is not the quicker of the two - contrary on the latest favorite notion which is nothing but a hype and as of yesterday of that I am now certain.

If you are quicker in quals by almost half a second, you will be quicker significantly in the race too - unless your setup doesn't work as good as it was when the car is on low fuel. Leclerc is not quicker.

Speaking of the Ferrari breakdown yesterday it was hilarious.

They made an agreement. What kind of agreement can you make? That slipstream was always there for taking, one gave it or not, Vettel would've made the pass since he had good start. Inside or outside. Simply as Bottas did on Vettel last year.

Vettel past and was quicker, started posting fastest laps and pulling away. Then radio comes to swap their positions which was ridiculous. Vettel sounded rationally "okay then he should come closer" and Leclerc never did because Vettel was faster and pulled away 4 seconds. Anyway the pit sabotages his race and made him stay on worn tyres for too long only for Leclerc to be able to get ahead, and Vettel throwing down the order and now much closer to Hamilton - which makes no logic sense. Except sentimental. And you never do sentimental decisions in F1. Otherwise you are "dead". And as if Karma wanted to prove a point, the car of Vettel gave up giving VSC right on time for Hamilton to pit and take the lead from Leclerc.

I think after this race things won't be the same in Ferrari. Whatever the agreement was it is obvious they don't follow the orders. Leclerc started first is very important to mention for people who have short memory, when he threw Vettel under the bus in Monza and refused to give slipstream in second runs, although Vettel played the team game in Spa holding up Hamilton as much as he could down the S2 where the Merc wouldn't be able to pass, for Leclerc to win the race in the end by less than a second from Hamilton.

Now you expect 4 time world champion, who would've taken the slipstream and overtake Charles anyway to give you back position simply because you had an agreement? He would only respect that agreement if you show speed - which he didn't so any agreement they had ? Goes down the sewer.

Anyway Ferrari has shown authority.
That team doesn't deserve Vettel