2019 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, Aug 30 - Sep 1

[SiLo]

Hamilton and Mercedes will regret a few tiny mistakes today. Hamilton going deep in the chicane and taking another lap to pass Vettel. And the slower pitstop. I think he would have won without those two little things.

But at least we see how perfect Mercedes has to be to beat Ferrari at a power track.

[mkay]

Hamilton and Mercedes will regret a few tiny mistakes today. Hamilton going deep in the chicane and taking another lap to pass Vettel. And the slower pitstop. I think he would have won without those two little things.

But at least we see how perfect Mercedes has to be to beat Ferrari at a power track.

The Safety Car was a lot more detrimental to Mercedes' chances of winning this race, but I agree with you.

[SiLo]

Hamilton and Mercedes will regret a few tiny mistakes today. Hamilton going deep in the chicane and taking another lap to pass Vettel. And the slower pitstop. I think he would have won without those two little things.

But at least we see how perfect Mercedes has to be to beat Ferrari at a power track.

The Safety Car was a lot more detrimental to Mercedes' chances of winning this race, but I agree with you.

That's a good point actually, they needed more laps to push Ferrari into a slower pace to complete the race easily.

[aral]

there seems to be a lot of potential ferrari team managers here. the team has TWO drivers, both whom are capable of winning the race. just because one wins does not mean that the other is no good. ferrari went for a strategy that ensured that one of their drivers won, so what is the problem with that? mercedes have done the same in the past on many many occasions. the low ambient temperatures played into mercedes hands as was expected

[NathanOlder]

If Vettel doesnt win Monza... so what? He’ll just learn, improve and become a better driver for it. I dont get all this pressure talk. Leclerc is good. No shame in being beaten.

Learn and become a better driver, yeah ok Phil. Sebs on the way down, and now Charles has that burden off his back, he will surely get stronger.

Seb is in trouble, I can see him leaving at the end of the year if he doesn't win a race or 2, and Monza could be the last chance.

[Unf]

Vettel's move on Ham was an exact copy of last year's one.

Yah casue Lewis didn't learn anything from last year. He overtook Vet after start and let him to use his slipstream... so bad strategy.

[zeph]

It was a sad end to an otherwise great effort by Norris.

Congrats to Leclerc with his maiden victory, many more to come, no doubt.

Good RBR debut from Albon, but all four wheels left the track when he overtook Perez, so he should have had to give that place back.

[Noble29]

Vettel's move on Ham was an exact copy of last year's one.

Yah casue Lewis didn't learn anything from last year. He overtook Vet after start and let him to use his slipstream... so bad strategy.

Except he tried the opposite after the SC restart when Vettel went wide at T1, he lifted off to ensure he didn't pass and could pick up the slipstream, yet the Ferrari still just drove away from him up the hill. Either option resulted in failure to be ahead of the Ferrari come Les Combe, so not much you can do about that.

[dans79]

Wrong, without the Vettel’s undercut and teamorder, Hamilton would have got them both. He was only 0,5s behind at the finish because of the holdup by Vettel. Excellent strategy.

I agree, Lewis lost 2 or 2.5 seconds behind Vettel (without checking the app) and took a good deal of life out of them as well. He said something along the lines of "the rears are on fire" the lap before he overtook Vettel. After he got past he had to hold station for a few laps to bring the temperatures down, and make sure he had enough tire life to get to the end. Lewis also lost a second or so (again without checking the app) because Mercedes left him out.

If Mercedes has pitted Lewis on the exact same lap as Charles, the strategic situation wold have been a little different.
Lewis would not have lost time to the undercut, and thus would have been close to Charles. This would have made it more tricky for Ferrari to orchestrate the swap, and probably made life for Lewis a little easier. I'm also shocked Mercedes didn't leave Bottas out to act as a road block.

[Phil]

Learn and become a better driver, yeah ok Phil. Sebs on the way down, and now Charles has that burden off his back, he will surely get stronger.

Seb is in trouble, I can see him leaving at the end of the year if he doesn't win a race or 2, and Monza could be the last chance.

You talk as if everything is set in stone. It isnt. The car doesnt particularly suit Seb, hence he is naturally struggling. Evenso, the gap isnt that big. He has a lot of experience and i think Vettel has the right mindset to be of value to the team, even if he isnt beating Leclerc.

And next year, it’s a new car again, with a bigger change coming up in 2021. There’s absolutely no guarantee that Leclerc will be better then, just as there is no guarantee Hamilton will be better than whoever he will be driving next to. It’s just seems daft to write off the driver who still has more points and played the team player today.

His contract and his pay grade might be renegotiated though, come 2021.

[littlebigcat]

Good RBR debut from Albon, but all four wheels left the track when he overtook Perez, so he should have had to give that place back.

Incorrect. Albon was making a passing move and Perez moved over and didn't leave a cars space for Albon to go through. He went off the track because of Perez while he was passing, not passing by going off the track.

Thats the difference and why Perez is under investigation not Albon

[siskue2005]

Ferrari is a team that lacks confidence. They had the car to finish 1-2 today . The strategy for Sebastian Vettel was amaturesque. Pitted him too early.

The blame lies on Vettel, who couldnt handle the tyres in the first stint and Ferrari had no choice but to bring him in early!

[loner]

Good RBR debut from Albon, but all four wheels left the track when he overtook Perez, so he should have had to give that place back.

Incorrect. Albon was making a passing move and Perez moved over and didn't leave a cars space for Albon to go through. He went off the track because of Perez while he was passing, not passing by going off the track.

Thats the difference and why Perez is under investigation not Albon

can't see 4 wheels off...
https://twitter.com/FiftyBucksss/status ... 63335?s=19

[Sevach]

Learn and become a better driver, yeah ok Phil. Sebs on the way down, and now Charles has that burden off his back, he will surely get stronger.

Seb is in trouble, I can see him leaving at the end of the year if he doesn't win a race or 2, and Monza could be the last chance.

You talk as if everything is set in stone. It isnt. The car doesnt particularly suit Seb, hence he is naturally struggling. Evenso, the gap isnt that big. He has a lot of experience and i think Vettel has the right mindset to be of value to the team, even if he isnt beating Leclerc.

And next year, it’s a new car again, with a bigger change coming up in 2021. There’s absolutely no guarantee that Leclerc will be better then, just as there is no guarantee Hamilton will be better than whoever he will be driving next to. It’s just seems daft to write off the driver who still has more points and played the team player today.

His contract and his pay grade might be renegotiated though, come 2021.

Vettel was doing just fine vs Leclerc up until Canada, since then he's been outqualified repeatedly(not always his fault he had a number of car failures) and has been up and down in the races.

Hard to understand.

[Scorpaguy]

What year is this?

Max hopelessly dive bombing...Ferrari making good strategy calls...Seb being a good team player...Merc being out-stategized...no Big Red Driver mistakes?!?!

I found myself looking for Brawn and Shumi today. OK, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but still the first time since Austin that Big Red was getting the best out of everything.