Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[coinlocket$]

Another easy weekend for Mercedes, what a surprise.

1st and only session of free practice at Imola.



Source: https://www.skysports.com/f1/live-blog/12433/12119397/f1s-two-day-gp-begins-at-imola-live

Ferrari has a hard time to heat tires, they probably go a little better in the afternoon when it will hotter.

[1714237749]

1714237749

[aesma]

Vettel is really struggling again !

I was talking about drivers not being used to the track before, but the other issue is potential mechanical problems. I agree that 90 minutes of free practice could be enough, but what if your engine blows up, or something else goes wrong ? Especially since the cars just travelled.

I see every driver has a "fast" time so everything went well enough.

Another issue, Friday practices allow non F1 drivers to get a drive, with only one free practice it isn't possible.

[coinlocket$]

Source: https://www.formulapassion.it/motorsport/live/f1-gp-emilia-romagna-2020-qualifiche-diretta-imola-pole-hamilton-bottas-vettel-leclerc-verstappen-ferrari-mercedes-red-bull-alfa-romeo-mclaren-renault-528216.html

In this track, the engine is important since this is a fast track and the Mercedes are back in domination.
This is not a surprise that Mercedes will agree with RedBull for a potential lock for Motor development. Guess why?


Vettel in this state is not an F1 driver anymore.

[Koal-84]

A great track and Mercedes of course dominates again. About the Motor freeze, of course Mercedes would be in favor of it, they save costs and maintain their survival. Ferrari wants to avoid that, of course, how does Renault react?

[coinlocket$]

A great track and Mercedes of course dominates again. About the Motor freeze, of course Mercedes would be in favor of it, they save costs and maintain their survival. Ferrari wants to avoid that, of course, how does Renault react?

They all need to be against the freeze of the development otherwise how they can compete if their engine suck?

The Renault engine is better than the Ferrari for this year but who knows for the next year? Ferrari will improve for sure and maybe il will be even better than the Renault one.

There is no logical thing to say "yes we want to freeze too" from Renault while they haven't the best engine in the circus.

[Koal-84]

Worst start Form Hamilton, bur i think he is fast enought to still overtakes Verstappen. Vettel also very worst, like the last races, Vettel will be happy when the season is over. At time it looks good for Bottas.

[coinlocket$]

The virtual Safety Car exactly before the passing of Hamilton in the starting line and with a duration exactly equal to the length of his pit stop is a joke.
They could just wait 5 more seconds and don't gift him this huge bonus.

[LTU_btc]

Overtaking was really difficult in Imola as expected, but can't say that race was boring. End of it was a bit crazy. Bottas is really unlucky today, virtual safety car ruined race for him. Though, with late pit stop Hamilton probably would have overtaken him after all.
Another bad day for Verstappen - he had chance to finnish 2nd, but his tyre blowout.
Another podium for Ricciardo, so happy for my favorite driver and respect to Hamilton for doing shoey .
Great P4 for Kvyat, his overtake over Leclerc was masterclass. Though, I doubt that this result will save his seat in Alpha Tauri.
Some strange moments - Russel managed to crash during safety car, it was ridiculous moment. Stroll hit his mechanic during pit stop, fortunately he is fine after accident.

The virtual Safety Car exactly before the passing of Hamilton in the starting line and with a duration exactly equal to the length of his pit stop is a joke.
They could just wait 5 more seconds and don't gift him this huge bonus.

Yeah, I also didn't liked it. VSC phase was so short that it looked like it was made only to let Hamilton to make free pit stop.

[coinlocket$]

...

Yep even without the virtual safety car, Hamilton was in front of him after the pitstop, he could delay it for 10 more laps.
Is not the 1st time a driver crushes behind the Safety car with cold tires, if I can remember correctly one time happened to Schumacher too.

Raikkonen and Vettel did a good race too, about the overtake from Kvyat over Lecler meh it was cool to see but too much difference on tires.

[-CryptoViking-]

The virtual Safety Car exactly before the passing of Hamilton in the starting line and with a duration exactly equal to the length of his pit stop is a joke.
They could just wait 5 more seconds and don't gift him this huge bonus.

I agree, that was like too much for me lol

Almost like they don't even care that people see this circus... They needed Hamilton to win and get constructors title not Bottas so they made sure it happens. Either this is complete bullshit on our part or Hamilton is the luckiest guy out there...

[Juggy777]

I’m surprised to read that Hamilton says that he wants to stay in F1, but there’s no guarantee whether he’ll stay and race as an F1 driver. In my personal opinion it feels like he’s trying to get a big lucrative deal from Mercedes, because after achieving so much quitting now won’t make any sense for him. However what are your views on this statement, is he actually seriously considering quitting F1? or like I said eyeing a big lucrative contract?.

Sources:

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.imola-race-winner-hamilton-says-he-wants-to-stay-in-f1-but-theres-no.7HIBl0DWs5wZBgoNZSIKMX.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-8886443/Salary-cap-dent-new-40million-deal-Mercedes-Lewis-Hamilton.html

[swogerino]

I think no one has noticed that when Bottas was asked by the team if he wanted to mount the red soft tyres because he was 31.6 seconds ahead of the car following him he was so mad that he didn’t answer at all to the team.If he did he would not have done the safety car pit stop and probably would have won the race.

[Cnut237]

Hamilton [...] is he actually seriously considering quitting F1? or like I said eyeing a big lucrative contract?.

It's difficult to say. You can imagine that once he's hit all the records, he might suddenly lose motivation. But then he's only going to equal Schumacher's 7 titles... why would he not want to continue in what will still be the best car next year, and make it 8? And then why would he not want to test himself in the new regulations in 2022, when racing will supposedly be more dependent on driver than car, and more evenly matched - which is something Hamilton has always said he's wanted.

I think no one has noticed that when Bottas was asked by the team if he wanted to mount the red soft tyres because he was 31.6 seconds ahead of the car following him he was so mad that he didn’t answer at all to the team.If he did he would not have done the safety car pit stop and probably would have won the race.

Bottas wouldn't have won, Hamilton was so much quicker and he was always going to be ahead after the first pit stops - whether it was overcut or undercut. Even if Bottas had somehow managed to come out in the lead, Hamilton would have been right on his tail the whole race until Bottas made an inevitable mistake and Hamilton cruised past. It's happened time and again this season. And that's even without taking into account Bottas' car was damaged.

[swogerino]

Hamilton [...] is he actually seriously considering quitting F1? or like I said eyeing a big lucrative contract?.

It's difficult to say. You can imagine that once he's hit all the records, he might suddenly lose motivation. But then he's only going to equal Schumacher's 7 titles... why would he not want to continue in what will still be the best car next year, and make it 8? And then why would he not want to test himself in the new regulations in 2022, when racing will supposedly be more dependent on driver than car, and more evenly matched - which is something Hamilton has always said he's wanted.

I think no one has noticed that when Bottas was asked by the team if he wanted to mount the red soft tyres because he was 31.6 seconds ahead of the car following him he was so mad that he didn’t answer at all to the team.If he did he would not have done the safety car pit stop and probably would have won the race.

Bottas wouldn't have won, Hamilton was so much quicker and he was always going to be ahead after the first pit stops - whether it was overcut or undercut. Even if Bottas had somehow managed to come out in the lead, Hamilton would have been right on his tail the whole race until Bottas made an inevitable mistake and Hamilton cruised past. It's happened time and again this season. And that's even without taking into account Bottas' car was damaged.

I like Bottas like to know “How d it happened” as this was what Bottas asked on the radio as before coming out from the first pit stop he was the fastest from the top three.I am not saying Bottas is better than Hamilton in no way but I wonder why all the bad luck and bad things strangely happen to him always and almost never to Hamilton?

[Koal-84]

Hamilton [...] is he actually seriously considering quitting F1? or like I said eyeing a big lucrative contract?.

It's difficult to say. You can imagine that once he's hit all the records, he might suddenly lose motivation. But then he's only going to equal Schumacher's 7 titles... why would he not want to continue in what will still be the best car next year, and make it 8? And then why would he not want to test himself in the new regulations in 2022, when racing will supposedly be more dependent on driver than car, and more evenly matched - which is something Hamilton has always said he's wanted.

I think no one has noticed that when Bottas was asked by the team if he wanted to mount the red soft tyres because he was 31.6 seconds ahead of the car following him he was so mad that he didn’t answer at all to the team.If he did he would not have done the safety car pit stop and probably would have won the race.

Bottas wouldn't have won, Hamilton was so much quicker and he was always going to be ahead after the first pit stops - whether it was overcut or undercut. Even if Bottas had somehow managed to come out in the lead, Hamilton would have been right on his tail the whole race until Bottas made an inevitable mistake and Hamilton cruised past. It's happened time and again this season. And that's even without taking into account Bottas' car was damaged.

Hamilton are very lucky with his pit stop and the virtual saftycar, but he drives amazing rounds befor the pit stop. Also a very good race from the ice man Kimi very long and fast first turn, a little bit unhappy with his pit stop, one round later and he have a better result, but actually with the Alfa this is the best you can make of it.

[Cnut237]

I like Bottas like to know “How d it happened” as this was what Bottas asked on the radio as before coming out from the first pit stop he was the fastest from the top three.I am not saying Bottas is better than Hamilton in no way but I wonder why all the bad luck and bad things strangely happen to him always and almost never to Hamilton?

I don't think this is the case. Bottas was in the lead, but Verstappen and Hamilton were close behind. Bottas wasn't able to pull away from them. This meant that when Verstappen pitted and went for the undercut, Mercedes had to respond by pitting Bottas to close him off - otherwise Verstappen would have taken the lead. This left Hamilton out there with a clear track, so he could accelerate away and build a gap to Bottas. The safety car certainly helped, but even without it Ham had built a gap and would have come out ahead after a pit stop.

If the situation had been the other way around, with Hamilton in first and Verstappen and Bottas close behind, what has happened so many times this season is that Hamilton accelerates away and builds a big gap to the other two. This means he can still pit and lead, and the undercut isn't so much of an issue because he's already so far ahead.

The safety car helped, but Hamilton made his own luck. Bottas just wasn't fast enough when he had the lead. Mercs are faster than Red Bulls, he should have been able to build a gap to Verstappen.

If we think about some of the other luck, like Bottas' tyre blowout a few races back... Hamilton is always able to manage tyres better than other drivers. This means when a tyre failure occurs, it's more likely to happen to Bottas first, because his tyres are more degraded.

[aesma]

Entertaining race, although a bit too many reliability issues.

Before the VSC, Hamilton was 27s in front of Bottas, and making fastest lap after fastest lap. He was always going to win. The race director isn't a Mercedes employee, he doesn't decide security stuff to please Mercedes or Hamilton, otherwise explain the penalties Hamilton got recently ? And Mercedes would probably even have preferred a Bottas win, that could have helped in their contract negotiation with Lewis...

[Naida_BR]

I’m surprised to read that Hamilton says that he wants to stay in F1, but there’s no guarantee whether he’ll stay and race as an F1 driver. In my personal opinion it feels like he’s trying to get a big lucrative deal from Mercedes, because after achieving so much quitting now won’t make any sense for him. However what are your views on this statement, is he actually seriously considering quitting F1? or like I said eyeing a big lucrative contract?.

Sources:

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.imola-race-winner-hamilton-says-he-wants-to-stay-in-f1-but-theres-no.7HIBl0DWs5wZBgoNZSIKMX.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-8886443/Salary-cap-dent-new-40million-deal-Mercedes-Lewis-Hamilton.html

If I were Hamilton I would have stayed on driving for one more season.
He is the driver with the most wins right now and he is going to be the driver with the most winning title.
One more season would be a great deal for him to secure those records and increase the gap between his record and the second one in place.
He is already a legend though and he might consider quitting in order to make a life change.

[aesma]

Does Hamilton have a life outside F1, though ? No serious girlfriend, no children...

I was really gutted for Gasly, the Alpha Tauri was surprisingly fast, and it was a GP at home for the team, but, oh well.

[Koal-84]

Does Hamilton have a life outside F1, though ? No serious girlfriend, no children...

I was really gutted for Gasly, the Alpha Tauri was surprisingly fast, and it was a GP at home for the team, but, oh well.

Maybe Hamilton will try a other challenge or it is an attempt to position oneself better in contract poker. For a long time ago Raikkönen search a new challenge and switched to rallying, it was a mistake but a New challenge. For Hamilton in my opinion, the last few years after rosberg have not been a real challenge but have to motivate yourself more than that he was challenged.