Grand Prix 2018 United States Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

I could have totally borrowed C_A_T’s last years’s writeup as it’s completely applicable to this year’s race. I would but I don’t as I have a ton of respect for our moderator and I owe to the site something new, even if I’m nursing a 40-degrees cold and I’m nursing a hernia. Sorry for the brevity of my article and I hope the race more than make up for it.

America the land of opportunity and excess is the next stop the the F1 circus this year. With a shinny new Justice Kavanaugh in charge of waving the checkered flags (sorry he probably won’t), the few f1 fans left in the room cheer and wait in expectation to see if a nearly crowned leader Lewis Hamilton bagged the title (he probably has already). This put him ahead of Frenchman Alain Prost and tie in number of titles with Argentinean Juan Manuel Fangio. Quite the achievement. Mercedes a class on his field, even if he Ferrari is at least as fast, will see Bottas victorious as soon as the the title is settle. Vettel has singlehandedly managed to derail his own path to a 5th title by making a little too many mistakes.

Let’s hope for a real old fashion show and a mano-a-mano between the 2 4-title champions rather than an anticlimactic “Bottas, Lewis is faster than you” affair like last race.

Gentlemen, start your engines and Make Racing Great Again!

 

[Dartman]

F1Brits_90

Firstly, it was 100km/h (about 60 mph) which is very slow for an F1 car.
Secondly, Vettel was one of the few cars on the track at the time
Thirdly, this is the third time this season that a driver has transgressed these regulations.

gethinceri - i'd actually argue that the problem here is the regulation rather than the penalty, as the required delta leads to too many drivers being punished.

Aquaplaning starts at 9Xsq root of tyre pressure in mph when the depth of water overcomes the depth of tread so with about 20psi in a F1 tyre thats aboout 15 mph and you have no control

 

[FB]

I listened to it on the radio, sounded like quite a good race so I might take the time to watch some of it on the DVR.

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

I really enjoed the race, the track seems very very good and that certainly helps in delivering good races. A great drive from Kimi and from Verstappen. I think that Hamilton was very cautions on his last stint and that is one of the reasons why he'll win this year's WDC, I personally think that he could have overtaken Versnatten and possibly Kimi, IMHO he didn't want to take too much of a punt with Verstappen.

The race also leaves me with a few questions:

- why Kimi hasn't raced like he did yesterday for years?

- why Vettel always tries to change the angle of his car any time he comes anywhere near another car? yesterday he could have easily walked away from that mistake had he accepted to nudge Ricciardo's car, he decided that he couldn't take that risk and I am wondering why because every young kid in karting knows that if you understeer and try to put the car in oversteer to close the line into a bend there is only one outcome: you spin. So my question is why is Vettel so scared of getting anywhere near another car even in a situation like he had yesterday with Ricciardo, had they touched it wouldn't have been Vettel's fault (and most likely both would have been able to continue their race with no problem), it was obvious that he had a bit of unexpected understeer, my problem is with how he reacted to that. It's the third time that he does it and the third time that he spins, if he thinks that he's not allowed to race on a level playing field with the others he should be honest about it

- why do we all accept consistent unsportly behaviour from Bottas? letting your team mate through is fine, not great but fine, holding up you team mate's opponent race after race isn't. And I'm sure that deep down Bottas is a very nice chap, one of the nicest probably, so I don't think that this attitude is really his decision. I mean is it really necessary for Mercedes with the massive advantage that they have in the standings?

- why did Camilleri tell Kimi that his services very no longer needed just a couple of hours before the race in Monza? are Camilleri and Elkan up to the job?

 

[Dartman]

Aquaplaning starts at 9Xsq root of tyre pressure in mph when the depth of water overcomes the depth of tread so with about 20psi in a F1 tyre thats aboout 15 mph and you have no control

That should read about 40mph, bit early for the brain

 

[Greenlantern101]

Ocon and Magnessun officially disqualified for fuel flow infringements.

Thrilling.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Ocon and Magnessun officially disqualified for fuel flow infringements.

Thrilling.

ocon was a slam dunk, but magunssen is the confusing 1 because how?? because I thought that fuel tank only held 105kg & also they always underfill for performance reason & hoping for a safety car

 

[Angel]

I agree Publius Cornelius Scipio If only Kimi drove like that all the time, clearly he can when he wants to. The fact he often doesn't appear to want to bother makes it all the more frustrating. You can see why teams (mostly Ferrari) get fed up and let him go when he's clearly not trying like he should.

Ferrari have Seb who was/is over driving and Kimi who has been under driving. I wonder if Leclerc will just be driving when he gets there!

 

[Ruslan]

Wondering if Vettel will have an easier time passing Ricciardo early in the race than he did Verstappen.

I feel prophetic.

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

I feel prophetic.

 

[F1Brits_90]

as I said on the rating thread how can not love that race because we did get some great action through the teams uncertainty. like the beginning of 2012 the less teams know, almost the better the racing. & I think as viewer 1 of the great feelings in sport. Bar a underdog winning, is watching the "old guys" rolling back the years. like Federer at Wimbledon, Tiger Woods at the tour champ ,Phil Taylor at World Matchplay. Steve davis beating John Higgins & even Mansell back in 1994 or Schumacher taking pole. there is just a warm glow as who doesnt like the romantic side of sport. I took more pleasure in yesterday win than if Hamilton had won

I know that kimi is unpredictable & any non f1 fan gets confused at this popularity. Because he is a anti hero. His motivation can be temperamental depending on chance of victory. But i love his relaxed attitude. Having a magnum, taking no crap from his engineers. His interview made me laugh "its better than 2nd" i want rory mcilroy to say that if he wins masters or that been so long he forgot when finnish national anthem finishes. Like or not but he is a character when in this age too many plain boring ones. excluding indy 500's Kimi is 11th oldest winner & 6th youngest winner, in last 40yrs only Mansell Regazzoni & Reutemann were older & last time kimi raikkonen won a race for Ferrari. badoer was kimi teammate at ferrari. sutil at force india, Nakajima & Rosberg were teammates at Williams finally Heikki Kovaleinen came 6th in McLaren​

 

[Ruslan]

Was Ferrari the stronger car? It may well have been. It appeared that at least in the case of Bottas versus Vettel, that Bottas simply ran out of tires at the end and could do nothing about Vettel. It would appear that at least at this race, we were back to seeing Mercedes burn through the tires quicker than Ferrari. As Hamilton took two pit stops, we did not see this with his car.

If Vettel did not loose three spots in qualifying on Saturday and did not hit Ricciardo on Sunday....would we have seen a Ferrari 1-2 at this race?

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

Was Ferrari the stronger car? It may well have been. It appeared that at least in the case of Bottas versus Vettel, that Bottas simply ran out of tires at the end and could do nothing about Vettel. It would appear that at least at this race, we were back to seeing Mercedes burn through the tires quicker than Ferrari. As Hamilton took two pit stops, we did not see this with his car.

If Vettel did not loose three spots in qualifying on Saturday and did not hit Ricciardo on Sunday....would we have seen a Ferrari 1-2 at this race?

Mercedes had to close the holes in their wheels as they were deemed a moving aerodynamic device and they got their old issues with overheating the rear tyres. Regarding Vettel, that could well have been the case but I think that Hamilton would have defended the first corner much harder from Vettel (as any reasonable driver would, in fairness) as in such a situation Hamilton would gain an advantage if they crashed, with Kimi he had everything to lose

 

[Angel]

I feel prophetic.

Come on then Ruslan, who will Seb crash into, sorry, try to pass next weekend?

 

[cider_and_toast]

Does anyone else think Hamilton's aggressive hard left at the start was actually more detrimental to him than it was worth?

He got away as well as Kimi and I think would have had the legs into the first corner. Even if not he would have been able to slot into second there. It seemed like an odd thing to do.

 

[The Artist.....]

Does anyone else think Hamilton's aggressive hard left at the start was actually more detrimental to him than it was worth?

He got away as well as Kimi and I think would have had the legs into the first corner. Even if not he would have been able to slot into second there. It seemed like an odd thing to do.

The "Schumacher chop" is now such a de-rigeur move in F1 that I'm not sure that some drivers realise that it's not always necessary.

That being said, it doesn't come anywhere near as bad as Mansell in Portugal in 1990... Having been thoroughly pissed off by Ferrari's internal politicking, he almost took his own team-mate out of the race, and both of them were shuffled back in the pack... (Check out 4:41 onwards)

 

[Izumi]

Hard to say today if MB will continue with F1 after 2020. German business media suggest that Dr. Zetsche's days as a chairman are numbered, and we do not know anything about his potential replacement, just as how such move could potentially affect their F1 involvement. There could be at the top just a change for sake of change. (Nothing is forever in auto-business.)
There are some shareholder's voices who are totally opposed participation in the series on basis of misdirected spending. Not too friendly climate in US just gives them one more argument to shut it down, and limit their racing exposure. Brexit headaches could add one more argument "why bother at all"?
My guess is that many fans would shout "yippee ki-yay," however I say be careful what you wish for. There could be impactful consequences should MB leave, and it might not be all for good. To use cliche, MB in F1 is too big to move out without leaving havoc behind.

 

[Angel]

Does anyone else think Hamilton's aggressive hard left at the start was actually more detrimental to him than it was worth?

He got away as well as Kimi and I think would have had the legs into the first corner. Even if not he would have been able to slot into second there. It seemed like an odd thing to do.

He almost always does it, I'm not sure if it's to intimidate his opponents or because he genuinely believes he will gain from it. He doesn't always, but it doesn't stop him trying. He's far from alone in making that move though as The Artist..... said.

 

[F1Brits_90]

cider_and_toast I think its an unconscious move that all drivers use now, just an acceptable tool in their arsenal. I thinking of the last few races I think Bottas did it in Russia, Hamilton did in Singapore & Kimi did it in Monza. but lewis you would've been briefed because we all knew that it was highly likely kimi would lead into the 1st corner with the better tyres & inside line

Izumi of course if Mercedes leave their would be big short term problems but long term it can only be good because the finances are much discussed & how they have made F1 a closed shop to any new teams because why would any join F1 currently. they are seeing the top 3 spending a combined billion between them per season & that level is only increasing. then likes of Renault or Force India spending 100+m to finish a lap down in 7th or 8th. if they left hopefully the long term positives are that its a more sustainable sport, more talent less money make it into the sport & B teams die a death

 

[RasputinLives]

Vettel did it in Singapore one time and got roasted for it.

 

[cider_and_toast]

In this case, its not about the right and wrong of the chop, its more a case that Hamilton hindered his own getaway by chopping. By coming across on Kimi, he took a longer route and pretty much conceded the inside line to the corner. Both cars got away well. Hamilton seemed to hold his line then decide to chop. That action allowed Kimi to draw level long before the corner.

It could be argued that pole at the CoA would be better placed on the left which would enable the pole sitter a greater choice of lines to take. Then again, from a racing point of view, leave it where it is.