2017 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 24 - 26 March

[Juzh]

Vettel takes Hamilton in the stops. Great.

[Phil]

7 laps before the end of the race some thoughts:

• extraordinary race by Ferrari. They pressured Mercedes/Hamilton into an early stop that proved to be fatal. Was close (Vettel got out 4 car lengths ahead with VES in between), but it worked
• Very nice pace by Vettel in the Ferrari. Would have wondered what would have happened if Hamilton had stayed out longer and Ferrari try perhaps pitting first
• Hamilton's early stop compromised his race pace somewhat, especially relative vs. Bottas
• quite disturbing (but expected) that a car that was at least 1 second faster (Ham vs VES) wasn't able to pass. While Melbourne is a difficult narrow bumpy track, I feel that perhaps in 2014-2016 it would have been doable. Perhaps a sign of DRS being less effective.
• I hope for Hamilton's sake that the early pit wasn't entirely his call
• the SRF (Swiss) broadcast is so ****** bad.

Congratulations to Vettel and Ferrari! I personally think they deserved the win. Had however VES not been, I think Mercedes would have brought home the win, even if only due to circumstance of overtaking being next to impossible.

[dans79]

If I was Lewis I'd be super pissed after the race. As his race was lost when he came out behind Max!

[Juzh]

[*]quite disturbing (but expected) that a car that was at least 1 second faster (Ham vs VES) wasn't able to pass. While Melbourne is a difficult narrow bumpy track, I feel that perhaps in 2014-2016 it would have been doable. Perhaps a sign of DRS being less effective.

No one overtook anyone last year, or did everyone forget already?

[matt_b]

Mercedes should've left Lewis out but to be fair they didn't know how hard overtaking would be against Max on old ultras. Don't think they will be making that mistake in the future.

[zeph]

So, looks like Ferrari may be able to get on Mercedes' nerves this season.

[Singabule]

Well deserved win from Vettel. Great job!

[Goran2812]

well, someone messed up letting all those people on the track... lol

GREAT race!!!

[iotar__]

- I don't mean to brag but look it's a one stopper afterall and a boring one at that.

- Hey but at least they were pushing 100% and whizzing around three seconds quicker, those overtakes, pure at last. People are really stupid to believe this nonsense. I want my points back BTW, so once again: the only good thing about quicker cars is that boring races will finish earlier.

- sod Ferrari and their third grade engines they provide for customers. Maybe Brawn instead of worrying about shark fins should look into that?

- Ferrari should have been on pole, Raikkonen is completely useless.

[ismail1991]

It was a strange race to me. Hamilton's complaints about understeer started almost since second lap and it was quite clear the car wasn't turning. Even like that Hamilton and Vettel opened the gap to Bottas to 10 seconds. Hamilton pitted early and it was a bad call, he couldn't overtake , he got pissed and angry and he lost to much pace. After that Bottas started to go faster than Hamilton. Hamilton's car to me had quite clear setup issues or some sort of damage. The most strange thing is that while Vettel was quite comfortable in front, Raikkonen was unable to catch Bottas and pressurized by Verstappen.

[dans79]

Mercedes should've left Lewis out but to be fair they didn't know how hard overtaking would be against Max on old ultras. Don't think they will be making that mistake in the future.

I'm expecting some shouting in the post-race debrief. I was watching timing, and after the pit Lewis was faster or on par with Vettel, right up until he got stuck behind Max.

[Phil]

@Juzh,

I suppose I forgot. Either way, Mercedes got it wrong. They probably anticipated that many would pit around the same time, so by the time the gap to VES would be closed, he'd pit too. The RB however stayed out relatively long.

What impressed me most about Ferrari, is that they were able to go quite an amazing pace. Being a bit more collected now that the race has ended, I'm actually quite confident that the strategic decision to pit early is what cost Mercedes the win and made Ferrari look quicker than they are. They are probably close to Mercedes, but Vettels race pace was slightly exaggerated due to the fact that their gamble of stopping late just payed off (they got out ahead of VES) and then had the benefit of running fewer laps on the harder tire till the end of the race. Hamilton's race pace was compromised for the same reason. He was on the "winning strategy" that turned into a "damage control" one.

Had VES not been, it would have been hard to beat Mercedes as overtaking is impossible on this track. In hindsight, it would have been interesting to see how things had turned out if Hamilton had not pitted when they did - and see if perhaps Ferrari gambles with an early pit stop to undercut Mercedes. We won't know.

[GrizzleBoy]

Mercedes should've left Lewis out but to be fair they didn't know how hard overtaking would be against Max on old ultras. Don't think they will be making that mistake in the future.

We could see the DRS not really working for other cars.

Seb was in DRS for a while behind hammn the beginning too and still couldn't overtake.

The stop was a total panic mistake.

[Restomaniac]

So a close run thing.
Exactly what everyone wanted.

I will go back to the Ham complaint about the floor. What was that about? Maybe the problem in testing apppeared again?

[Silent Storm]

[*]quite disturbing (but expected) that a car that was at least 1 second faster (Ham vs VES) wasn't able to pass. While Melbourne is a difficult narrow bumpy track, I feel that perhaps in 2014-2016 it would have been doable. Perhaps a sign of DRS being less effective.

No one overtook anyone last year, or did everyone forget already?

I remember last year Aus GP Hamilton was stuck behind the Toro Rosso of Verstappen.