Alright when was that again.....?

[NDG]

That happens a lot in some racing forums. Busy people forgetting raceday and weekly threads. Anyways... The race was great to watch and shows how confident Mercedes is at executing strategy calls. Red Bull caught napping once again. I heard RB were pirating Merc engine guys. They should think about the strategists as well. The ones at Red Bull doesn't deserve to be there. SMH

 

[NDG]

The rate at which red bull is getting these strategy calls wrong and blowing race wins I wouldn't be shocked if they poach Max.

That moment Max past Lewis at T1, I already thought the race was sealed. Red Bull threw Max's efforts out, no wonder whoever is their number two driver is always outshined. Imagine if RB is already giving Max their 100% then that happens, I can't see their number two driver getting good strategy and race wins.

 

[RichardHessels]

That happens a lot in some racing forums. Busy people forgetting raceday and weekly threads. Anyways... The race was great to watch and shows how confident Mercedes is at executing strategy calls. Red Bull caught napping once again. I heard RB were pirating Merc engine guys. They should think about the strategists as well. The ones at Red Bull doesn't deserve to be there. SMH

RB is just not fast enough, Mercedes was faster on the medium and soft tires. Combine that with a driver like Hamilton. RB is close, but not fast enough.
If they would have pitted twice they would be still be to slow.
Sure Verstappen can push a really fast qualy lap almost matching Mercedes.
But not for 70 laps in a row.

 

[LeSunTzu]

The good news for RedBull of the first 4 races is that Mercedes now needs Hamilton to deliver at 100% to win every race. The bad news is he does it more often than not.
I hope RedBull will keep the fight until the end and not collapse like Ferrari/Vettel in 2018.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Red Bull seem to have the faster car, off the line, at least.

Mercedes seem to manage their tyres better, have better strategists, and a better driver pairing (although I'm not so sure about Bottas' loyalties anymore).

It was a pretty entertaining race, all in all

 

[Turk]

Mercedes seem to manage their tyres better, have better strategists, and a better driver pairing (although I'm not so sure about Bottas' loyalties anymore).

I think for the first part of the season Bottas should be allowed to fight for the championship. He didn't get out of Hamilton's way during the race but he didn't really fight him either. He's technically still in with a chance and should be entitled to race his own race.

I don't think team orders should come into it until the later half of the season and the chance of winning the championship is gone.

 

[Enagee]

Red Bull seem to have the faster car, off the line, at least.

Mercedes seem to manage their tyres better, have better strategists, and a better driver pairing (although I'm not so sure about Bottas' loyalties anymore).

It was a pretty entertaining race, all in all

The Redbull is a rocket ship, within the first lap Max was gone and a second ahead after the first lap

But as said there's different advantages to both the Merc and Redbull, this race was won by tyre management and strategy.

Re: Bottas.
There is still hope for Perez but he made way for Max, Ricardo done the same previously for Lando no problem.

Lewis and Bottas were clearly on different strategies, after all that Bottas pitted and then still couldn't get fastest lap of the race.
Now he looks a bit silly and can't expect any favours from his team mate.

I think RD have had enough of the F1 posts, it don't do nothing apart from extra work moderating, one less article.

 

[Paul McCluskey]

I'm just loving having the old style tracks back with gravel traps and fast flowing , not the stop start Tilke dromes like china , south korea etc tracks

 

[Ruttman98]

RB is just not fast enough, Mercedes was faster on the medium and soft tires. Combine that with a driver like Hamilton. RB is close, but not fast enough.
If they would have pitted twice they would be still be to slow.
Sure Verstappen can push a really fast qualy lap almost matching Mercedes.
But not for 70 laps in a row.

I read your first sentence as the following:

RD (Race Department) is not fast enough . . .

 

[paracletus]

This race was in the bag for RB if they did the pit stops right.

So that 2/4 now which RB should have won.

 

[muzikant]

1 Redbull just lacks speed in Q 3 one pole in four races is not enough 2 Mercedes is simply the better car again, tires also lasted longer. Max could do little after his perfect start work to do Marko! finaly where is Perez?

 

[LeSunTzu]

Pérez said from day 1 that it would take him about 5 races to come to grips with the car.

 

[BP]

My eyes were glued to that delta the whole race and Max was managing to keep Lewis out of DRS range for most of the race (just barely, he'd extend the gap just before a detection point) but I think that took it's toll on the tyres plus Hamilton's quick dive for pit stop #2 caught the Red Bull strategists off-guard...they should have known those tyres wouldn't hold for 40+ laps and pit Verstappen right then and there (as in the next lap); let him chase Hamilton and see what happens...only then would he have had a chance. Seems almost like RB was trying a "Merc @ Silverstone 2020" strategy, but Barcelona is brutal with those fast sweeping corners and they were on mediums, whereas Hamilton was on hards last year for Silverstone. That 1-stopper was too ambitious.

I think, barring Mercedes pulling another 2014 and holding back on engine power (very doubtful), that the cars are fairly well matched...it's strategy and the driver determining these opening races. For once, don't blame the cars guys...we have as close a fight as we'll get between Lewis and Max and so far Lewis is rising to the challenge (and he's always said he wants close fights).

 

[RedBull48]

Even if they did pit max a second time he didn't have another set of mediums, so he would not have been able to do anything with softs anyhow.

 

[BP]

Even if they did pit max a second time he didn't have another set of mediums, so he would not have been able to do anything with softs anyhow.

Ahh ok I didn't realise that, makes sense now

 

[RichardHessels]

This race was in the bag for RB if they did the pit stops right.

So that 2/4 now which RB should have won.

Max was 15 seconds behind Hamilton in the end. A pitstop would take about 22 seconds.
So he would have been still be not able to make a difference as the gap was 15 seconds in the end.
Hamilton could follow Verstappen with quite some easy, even in dirty air.
Mercedes is much more ahead as it looks, looking at the teammates performance of RedBull.
It's just Verstappen that makes Red Bull look better than they really are.

 

[Deleted member 379375]

"Verstappen that makes Red Bull look better than they really are."

And by the same logic, Lewis makes Mercedes look better than they are

 

[Deleted member 379375]

duel post please delete

 

[sanderan]

Mercedes is much more ahead as it looks, looking at the teammates performance of RedBull.
It's just Verstappen that makes Red Bull look better than they really are.

Sorry but this often repeated argument does not make sense and is just a reflection of your own bias. It could as well be just Perez who is making the RB look worse than they are. The gap between teammates only tells you about ... the gap between teammates and cannot on its own possibly tell you if one is underperforming or overperforming the car whatever that means. The problem is that this is a comparison without an objective baseline. This is just another iteration of the same “when it is Lewis, it is the car, when is Max, it is the driver”.

 

[NDG]

I think Max was asked to nurse his tires to the end and Lewis was just taking the life out of both sets of mediums. I don't think Max and his car is that slow. The strategists didn't do their homework and maybe did not run that in the simulations. I can't tell, but that's how it looks like.