2018 Italian Grand Prix - Monza, 31 Aug - 2 Sep

[JonoNic]

Bottas was not sacrificed today, by keeping him out and holding up Kimi he benefited from fresher tyres at the end to be able to challenge Max and he would have passed him if he really needed to. The team knew he would not lose any places by staying out longer because of the gap to the rest of the field.

I'm not saying that Bottas was sacrificed. It's just easier to take advantage when the performance of these cars are so close.

[Restomaniac]

Hamilton need to finish his career at Ferrari

Why?
He may end up tied top on the all time championship’s table.
He will end up top on poles
He will end up top on wins.

I’m sure he’ll sleep fine.

Of course, but I think for all the support Ferrari got today, he would love that. Secondly I'd say if Vettel fail to win the championship this year, who is more capable of giving to Ferrari a new WDC ?

He is tied to Mercedes for the next 2 seasons. Even the great Schumacher’s skills dropped off as he aged.
By the time Hamilton possibly gets to be in red he could well be in the sunset of his career.

[Fulcrum]

It was great to see a battle for the lead for 80%+ of the race. When was the last time we saw 1-2 within a second for that duration?

[Spoutnik]

Why on earth you're blaming the Merc strategy.
Bottas and Hamilton were issued the same problem. They're in the gearbox of their opponents, who stopped for tires not so much faster (half a second a lap), while the SS on the Merc were still good. So stop latter, and create a difference of performance. In reality that was the best way to help Hamilton to finish 1st and Bottas 3rd... (EDIT : Toto is saying on French TV that that was the best strategy for Valtteri himself and Lewis at the same time).

[F1NAC]

It was great to see a battle for the lead for 80%+ of the race. When was the last time we saw 1-2 within a second for that duration?

yeah. Too bad that one was already at the start of the battle hindered with disintegrating rear tyre

[Restomaniac]

It was great to see a battle for the lead for 80%+ of the race. When was the last time we saw 1-2 within a second for that duration?

What amazed me was that the Mercedes seemed more than happy sitting in the dirty air (Hamilton and Bottas).

[Shrieker]

I don't believe this Ferrari has an advantage crap. The way Hamilton caught Vettel was too easy

1- Hamilton was faster than both Ferraris in sector 1 in Q3 yesterday,
2- He had the benefit of a not one, but two car tow.

[Sierra117]

It was great to see a battle for the lead for 80%+ of the race. When was the last time we saw 1-2 within a second for that duration?

What amazed me was that the Mercedes seemed more than happy sitting in the dirty air (Hamilton and Bottas).

They've really done a fantastic job with tyre life management.

[matt_b]

Why on earth you're blaming the Merc strategy.
Bottas and Hamilton were issued the same problem. They're in the gearbox of their opponents, who stopped for tires not so much faster (half a second a lap), while the SS on the Merc were still good. So stop latter, and create a difference of performance. In reality that was the best way to help Hamilton to finish 1st and Bottas 3rd... (EDIT : Toto is saying on French TV that that was the best strategy for Valtteri himself and Lewis at the same time).

This

[Phil]

I agree, fantastic race. A great thriller, great racing and very strategic too. Just had everything a race would want.

Kimi, for what it is worth drove masterfully. He too would have deserved the win.

Even Vettel drove extremely well to do damage limitation and i feel he conducted himself very well and fair post-race.

I am also really glad there were no penalties during the race, except Max. I didnt think Max’s move was that bad, but the 5 seconds felt ok because he cut the chicane a few laps before.

I also felt Dan drove terrible. Way too aggressive and bumping into Gasly was not clean racing. He might have been quicker but you cant plow into other cars like that.

[PlatinumZealot]

I don't believe this Ferrari has an advantage crap. The way Hamilton caught Vettel was too easy

Three factors
Hamilton had better tyre prep on the formation lap
Slipstream
Vettel was setting up to pass Kimi instead of defending the line against Hamilton.

Erm the Mercedes was dropped by the Ferrari in the First stint. It was definitely the slower car.

Kimi lost out because of three things:
Vettel cracked under pressure instead of securing a Ferrari 1-2 after the first lap and getting two cars home in one peice
Ferrari did very little practice on the soft tyre so they didn't manage them well
Ferrari pitted too early and that forced Kimi to burn out his tyres in dirty air.

These reasons cost Ferrari an easy 1-2 in the better package.

[Gr1ff]

Great race today. Fell asleep watching spa not monza.

Personally I think the tewards got it right on all accounts.

[PlatinumZealot]

I mean vettel came to within 8s of RAI and 16s of victory from the back of the grid with a quite severly damaged car. Another strategic blunder by ferrari, mainly done yesterday.

Mercedes is willing to use Bottas to delay the competition, Ferrari doesn't even change the running order to benefit their number 1.

How are Ferrari to change the running order when the number 1 driver crashes himself out contention on lap 1?

[Fulcrum]

I don't believe this Ferrari has an advantage crap. The way Hamilton caught Vettel was too easy

Three factors
Hamilton had better tyre prep on the formation lap
Slipstream
Vettel was setting up to pass Kimi instead of defending the line against Hamilton.

Erm the Mercedes was dropped by the Ferrari in the First stint. It was definitely the slower car.

Kimi lost out because of three things:
Vettel cracked under pressure instead of securing a Ferrari 1-2 after the first lap and getting two cars home in one peice
Ferrari did very little practice on the soft tyre so they didn't manage them well
Ferrari pitted too early and that forced Kimi to burn out his tyres in dirty air.

These reasons cost Ferrari an easy 1-2 in the better package.

The bit in bold, are you referring to this race? Hamilton was within 1 second throughout the first stint.

I agree with your other points. Also, there was no need for Raikkonen to use his tyres so heavily after his first stop. Why were Ferrari advising Raikkonen so poorly? It felt like quite naive strategy on their part.

[siskue2005]

I mean vettel came to within 8s of RAI and 16s of victory from the back of the grid with a quite severly damaged car. Another strategic blunder by ferrari, mainly done yesterday.

Mercedes is willing to use Bottas to delay the competition, Ferrari doesn't even change the running order to benefit their number 1.

How are Ferrari to change the running order when the number 1 driver crashes himself out contention on lap 1?