olegg it was nothing personal, it was not the location, it was certainly not the view, it was not altogether the circuit (but then I am biassed against street circuits), it was not altogether the lack of overtaking, it was just that nothing gelled despite an exciting qualifying session. The leader was slightly faster than the second who was slightly faster than the third who was slightly faster than the fourth who was a lot faster than the fifth; this carried on right through the field.
The ultrasoft tyres were not replaced because they had gone off but rather for tactical reason, not to gain places but to hold on to the position they had. With ten or so laps to go I worked out from the timing that at best Vettel was going to catch Bottas no more than two laps from the finish and since Bottas was straighter in a straight line and the way the drivers handle DRS now Vettel was unlikely to get past a faster car in the short term.
A huge part of the problem is that the cars are too much alike; if the engine manufacturers were told that their would be xxx litres of fuel per race go build the engine however you want to it would be a start. At one time the engines were either 1.5 litre supercharged or 4.5(?) litres normally aspirated which made quite a difference in the weight of the car requiring differing suspension systems and tyres. Cars went better on some circuits than others, yes there were boring races then but at least you could often see a car in the lead develop a problem which the driver had to nurse or it could even run out of fuel going round the last corner.
Those days will not return but we deserve something better than the current offering.
