2017 Championship Permutations

[Manoah2u]

Yeah, Hamilton's got this in the bag now, no way he's gonna lose out anymore. He's too much in the zone now, I was surprised by Vettel's start and then rocketing away but in no time Lewis came back and completely devoured him. Seb came back somewhat in the end but that quickly came at a cost as in the last 2 laps he dropped back like crazy. Whether his tires were toast or his fuel was about to dry out, i don't know, but if there was 1 more lap to go, Max would have gotten him. Matter of fact, if Kimi didn't do the switch, Max would have completely eaten Vettel alive in those final laps.

Also, sad luck for Daniel, if he hadn't had that DNF, he 100% would have been 2nd. Amazing dive in on Bottas, who then did multiple moves that earned a penalty, but thankfully weren't given. That Aussie has some serious brake dive-in capabilities, nothing short of perfection. Balls to the wall, that's some crazy stuff.

I did really enjoy Vettel's overtake on Bottas with Vandoorne on his right, that was a ballsy move too.

But had Ricciardo's engine not given up on him, the race would have ended rather different. I know it's always a 'what if' situation but i'm 100% confident that Ricciardo would have upset Ferrari's strategy and would have blocked Vettel's progress in the end much faster due to dirty air. Not only that, but it would also have halted or hampered Raikkonen's pace and without any doubt Ricciardo would have made sure he could block the Ferrari's enough so Max can come closer faster.

No doubt Raikkonen would have let Seb through anyway but it would surely cost him enough to be overtaken by max atleast 2 laps earlier like this and since Vettel's pace went nowhere in the final 2 laps either due to crumbly tires or running on fuel fumes would have made him a sitting duck and seen Vettel finish 2 places lower and have both Daniel and Max on the podium.

that would have seen Vettel have 6 points less, with 259 points, meaning a defecit of 72 points, and Lewis finishing in Mexico 8th would hand him the title then.

But that's not what happened, so if Lewis finishes 5th, he is WDC.

[PlatinumZealot]

Yeah, Hamilton's got this in the bag now, no way he's gonna lose out anymore. He's too much in the zone now, I was surprised by Vettel's start and then rocketing away but in no time Lewis came back and completely devoured him. Seb came back somewhat in the end but that quickly came at a cost as in the last 2 laps he dropped back like crazy. Whether his tires were toast or his fuel was about to dry out, i don't know, but if there was 1 more lap to go, Max would have gotten him.

It was like Hamilton was toying with Sebastian the way it was so easy to get back in front. The taunt of "my tires are still good" was so left-field for so early in the race. So unusual. Was Hamilton patronizing the Ferrari engineers?

[Fulcrum]

Yeah, Hamilton's got this in the bag now, no way he's gonna lose out anymore. He's too much in the zone now, I was surprised by Vettel's start and then rocketing away but in no time Lewis came back and completely devoured him. Seb came back somewhat in the end but that quickly came at a cost as in the last 2 laps he dropped back like crazy. Whether his tires were toast or his fuel was about to dry out, i don't know, but if there was 1 more lap to go, Max would have gotten him.

It was like Hamilton was toying with Sebastian the way it was so easy to get back in front. The taunt of "my tires are still good" was so left-field for so early in the race. So unusual. Was Hamilton patronizing the Ferrari engineers?

Starting 2018 warfare early.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

At the end of Hungarian GP, when F1 went into Summer Break, I was expecting something like this to happen. Vettel was leading by 14 points, going to summer break. Coming back from break, Lewis would win 5 of the remaining 9 GPs, while Vettel would win 3, based on car's strengths on different circuits.



With that, we would be going into Abu Dhabi with both drivers level on points and whoever ends ahead in Abu Dhabi, would win the title. That would have been the most ideal situation, but that didn't turn out to be the case and we have the WDC all wrapped up.

[Restomaniac]

Yeah, Hamilton's got this in the bag now, no way he's gonna lose out anymore. He's too much in the zone now, I was surprised by Vettel's start and then rocketing away but in no time Lewis came back and completely devoured him. Seb came back somewhat in the end but that quickly came at a cost as in the last 2 laps he dropped back like crazy. Whether his tires were toast or his fuel was about to dry out, i don't know, but if there was 1 more lap to go, Max would have gotten him.

It was like Hamilton was toying with Sebastian the way it was so easy to get back in front. The taunt of "my tires are still good" was so left-field for so early in the race. So unusual. Was Hamilton patronizing the Ferrari engineers?

And then again post race. Hamilton with more of those head works

[Silent Storm]

No doubt Raikkonen would have let Seb through anyway but it would surely cost him enough to be overtaken by max atleast 2 laps earlier like this and since Vettel's pace went nowhere in the final 2 laps either due to crumbly tires or running on fuel fumes would have made him a sitting duck and seen Vettel finish 2 places lower and have both Daniel and Max on the podium.

Vettel admitted on slowing down to help give Kimi the tow, he was a couple of tenths faster than Max after both of them pitted, and Vet dropped by a second to help Kimi.

[Manoah2u]

how does driving in his dirty air help kimi? sure, in a qually hot lap it gives some little extra, but in a race? they only risked Vettel getting overtaken by Max too that way.

[NathanOlder]

how does driving in his dirty air help kimi? sure, in a qually hot lap it gives some little extra, but in a race? they only risked Vettel getting overtaken by Max too that way.

Exactly

It doesn't help, it would only help kimi if vettel gave kimi DRS and then got completely out of the way. Vettel had nothing left, tyres or fuel, he was done.

[Jolle]

how does driving in his dirty air help kimi? sure, in a qually hot lap it gives some little extra, but in a race? they only risked Vettel getting overtaken by Max too that way.

Exactly

It doesn't help, it would only help kimi if vettel gave kimi DRS and then got completely out of the way. Vettel had nothing left, tyres or fuel, he was done.

Because Kimi was on a one stop, he was out of tires, compromising his traction out of corners, in bad need of some extra speed on the straights. Vettel (two stop) still had enough traction to keep in front of Verstappen if he would pass Kimi.

[Phil]

As far as permutations go, assuming Vettel goes on to win the last 3 GPs (best-case for Seb), he could end the year on 340 points. Since Seb can no longer beat Hamilton on count of wins, Hamilton currently at 331 points, only needs another 9 points to bag the WDC. This is achieved by either...

- a 5th place or higher in any of the next 3 races
- a 6th place and a 9th place
- a 7th place and 8th place
- two 8th place and a 9th place


For Seb to keep the dream alive, he has to...

- win and Hamilton lower than 5th
- come 2nd and Hamilton lower than 9th

[Manoah2u]

how does driving in his dirty air help kimi? sure, in a qually hot lap it gives some little extra, but in a race? they only risked Vettel getting overtaken by Max too that way.

Exactly

It doesn't help, it would only help kimi if vettel gave kimi DRS and then got completely out of the way. Vettel had nothing left, tyres or fuel, he was done.

Because Kimi was on a one stop, he was out of tires, compromising his traction out of corners, in bad need of some extra speed on the straights. Vettel (two stop) still had enough traction to keep in front of Verstappen if he would pass Kimi.

lol, there is no way that i'm buying that story whatesoever. driving in dirty hot air [wake] of the car in front is MUCH, much more destructive to the tires than the minimal benefit gained in topspeed assuming DRS is available and potentially within slipstream range. all that goes out the window as soon as a corner pops up as the wake destroys the aerodynamics of the car behind (kimi) and thus more fragile in the corners and only extra fries the tires.

i don't know where that 'pull kimi' story came from and who stated it, I'm assuming it comes from Ferrari or one of the Ferrari drivers and straight out of some ferrari fantasy hat bucket but it's absolute bollocks.

again, the wake and dirty air only further compromises kimi's tires, car temperature and aerodynamics. he let Vettel pass a while before for giving him track position for his title chances. but both Kimi aswell as Vettel's tires and potentially fuel were gone. I wouldn't even be surprised if they were driving so painfully slow because of what happened a year ago to the both of them in the last or pre-final lap [tires giving up].

and by supposedly 'dropping back to help kimi', vettel opened up a window for the absolutely raging bull storming in to the both of them to get in DRS range and then devour both of them.

They didn't want to admit that they were as good as sitting ducks for the RedBulls who have made huge leaps during the latter stages of the season whilst Ferrari has completely dropped the ball. Ferrari's pace is completely gone and Mercedes is dancing around them without any effort. Hamilton was surprised about how close Vettel suddenly was after the pitstop, but that was the only moment Ferrari had a moment of pressure on Mercedes, and it was a genuine question of Lewis which quite frankly everybody had. But it was to no avail anyway as Hamilton blasted off into the distance. Lewis is mighty on this track, but i expected much more from Ferrari. Instead, i expected RedBull to have trouble but they were on absolute fire. It's a shame DannyRic had a DNF and Max had a huge grid penalty. Without the Grid Penalty, max would have been 2nd. Same for Danny, no DNF, he would have been 2nd by far.

Ferrari dropped the ball and they know it. There is no denying, it's painfully obvious. Another failure for Maranello. I sincerely hope they'll come out better next season but i'm afraid they've placed their bets and threw all their resources and hopes in this year's contender.

it's over anyhow now. the WCC was gone anyway, but the WDC is also hopelessly gone.

And i dare do say that if Alonso was there, he would have been still on par with Lewis and in the fight. Even though it must be said, i'm sure those same painful DNS coming from brainfades from the Scuderia would have been the same destructive for Alonso, too - which is exactly why he had enough of it.

[Saxmansaxman]

Is anyone still bothering to do the maths? Hope for disaster if you will , but ...

Game over if Lewis gets a few points or if Vettel does not win.

[PlatinumZealot]

At the end of Hungarian GP, when F1 went into Summer Break, I was expecting something like this to happen. Vettel was leading by 14 points, going to summer break. Coming back from break, Lewis would win 5 of the remaining 9 GPs, while Vettel would win 3, based on car's strengths on different circuits.

https://image.prntscr.com/image/ZnDFqSV ... 7QdG7A.png

With that, we would be going into Abu Dhabi with both drivers level on points and whoever ends ahead in Abu Dhabi, would win the title. That would have been the most ideal situation, but that didn't turn out to be the case and we have the WDC all wrapped up.

It can be forgiven that most didn't expect Ferrari to end up being faster in Belgium and Malaysia. The wins would flip the other way around. Hmm. For Mexico and Brazil it is anyone's guess who will be faster.

[NathanOlder]

What would be quite a show would be if somehow Lewis was suddenly given a 3 race ban. Then it would be very interesting to watch. Coukd Vettel score enough points to pass Lewis, could Bottas do it ?

[TAG]

What would be quite a show would be if somehow Lewis was suddenly given a 3 race ban. Then it would be very interesting to watch. Coukd Vettel score enough points to pass Lewis, could Bottas do it ?

Could happen, the same stewards that gave Verstappen the penalty.

Anyway, somewhere on this forum there's a comment by me saying that Hamilton would have the championship clinched by Austin. I wanna seriously apologize to you guys for being wrong. Vettel better win his 5th championship next year, because there are no more statistical clutches to point to that his most ardent of fans can nurse over the winter.

It's been a nice thread while it lasted. Thank you for that @Phil.