basti313 wrote: ↑01 Jun 2017, 11:43
No evidence. Just the point, that he was massively pulling away from Vettel on the main straight for 2-3? laps. In the last (overtake) lap the gap was already closing before the start/finish line. As Bot always had a quite clean exit it comes down to power. Furthermore you do not see him lifting when Ham passed. This shows the massive DRS effect.
I think the conclusion is too difficult, given we are talking about two different cars with different engine and thus also different engine characteristics. I am of the belief the Mercedes PU still is the most powerful one. What you we were seeing might just be an effect of that.
Also; two cars with identical acceleration - the car earlier on the throttle will always pull away from the one behind.
Phil wrote: ↑01 Jun 2017, 11:07
Too optimistic for me. Ham could not match Vet soft times. Bot falling into 29s is not a good strategy, no matter how you put it. It was just possible because RedBull was so slow and Rai was out.
I don't think it was optimistic at all. Vettel got by because he managed to push through on the inside. If Bottas had blocked the inside more aggressively, Vettel would have had to try his luck on the outside, like the lap before. Assume Bottas miraculously defending his position against Vettel for 5-6 laps. Then pit to mediums. The question then would become if Vettel could pull a gap of a pitstop to come out ahead. If he failed to do so, he would later be faced of attempting the same passes on identical tires (medium against old mediums for Bottas).
All facts considered and in hindsight, I don't think Bottas would have succeeded to be fair, but during the race, you'd be damned not to try. And the main point about "sacrifices" is that putting Bottas on the normal 2-stop would have brought no gain at all. With no risk from behind (to a point), it would have been a no-brainer.
And as for risking the engine: You never know when you crossed the limit till you do. Point being; in hindsight, yes they might have pushed too far, or maybe it would have made squat difference and the engine [turbo] would have blown either way.