quote:

Originally posted by GA Gator:
At a raffle to get into to a store and get an opportunity to buy something off this list. Last year I was middle of pack around number 125 and got Old Fitz 9 yr bib. Fingers crossed for this year.

I suppose a good bourbon would be nice to sip during a race, but guessing you posted in the wrong thread

It will be after qualifying. Max was 2/10ths up on Lewis’s lap when he put his right rear into the wall. Broke his suspension just before the finish line. Max starts behind both Mercedes in 3rd.

Gutting, he was on a really hot lap, to throw it on the last turn.

Conflict for me, not a Lewis fan, but I am a MB fan. Hoping Bottas runs away with it tomorrow.

Starting third is clean side of the track and in position to use the DRS on the straight once enabled, all is not lost. I hate this track, could be some key DNF's coming up.

The track isn't great, but the speeds are pretty awesome.

Definitely not a track to take too many risks, as shown.

When the moving chicanes come up to be lapped, it'll get interesting.

Surprised to see the Astons so far down.

I watched part of the F2 race and passing wasn't as hard as predicted. The F1 cars are wider but will also have tire degradation to switch things around some. The track looks a lot different in daylight too.
The big challenge will be to not get involved in any incidents on the first lap. After that a full course yellow or even red flag is a high probability and timing of pit stops will be critical. The hard tires were fast during the practice sessions so finding a gap and getting onto them early may be the key. The curbs are pretty harsh in places so tires with more laps could be a concern.
Lets hope for a safe race because this place has high disaster potential. Big oval track speeds but without spotters, blind corners and a tank slapper could send someone into a head-on collision with the walls.
Lewis can't clinch it here but Max could. It's a long way to turn 1 so it should be wild.

This was a shitshow from beginning to end. We had two red flags and Lewis fucking up a lead exchange on more than one occasion. Leave it to the FIA to make things worse than in Spa. At least when IndyCar had a bomb in Nashville, the 2nd half turned into a great race.

It's like the FIA is now trying to give Lewis the season, but that would require more organization that currently available.

Agreed. I'm at a loss to understand how the race stewards can assess a five second penalty against Max for what I saw as hard racing in a turn - and then give no penalty to Hamilton for running into the back of Max's car when Lewis had LOADS of room to move past him on either side.

I am close to giving up on F1 when (in my opinion) they are SO slanted towards Mercedes and Lewis that it makes a fair race impossible.

FWIW over at Autosport's heavy-traffic, Brit centric F1 forum, Max is beyond Bond-villain evil.

Lew's running into Max was his biggest mistake since early on in his career when he beached it entering the pits with the title on the line. And, of course, not enough damage to end his race today (Silverstone anyone?) His luck is damned near providential. He DNF's today and the title most likely is Max's.

Yeah, great driver, great car but man he's dodged a ton of bullets this year, bad choices and stupid mistakes. Maybe if he wins title 8 next race, he can take his knighthood and go the fuck away.

Drama overload today but zero fun. SMH indeed.

I hate that race track myself and was surprised to hear some drivers praise it. Accidents that cause a safety car, at worse, elsewhere lead to red flags and race stoppage in Jiddah.

You’ve undoubtedly heard by now that Max was penalized an additional 10 seconds for the incident where Hamilton ran into the back of his car. Fortunately, even with 15 seconds in penalties, Max still finished in 2nd. Last race coming up, tied for the Driver’s Championship. Funny how the two cars reversed dominance the last several races.

Kind of seems like the fix is in and Chinstrap is going to win again.

quote:

Originally posted by HuskySig:
Kind of seems like the fix is in and Chinstrap is going to win again.

Getting Senna/Prost Suzuka flashbacks.
They're tied on points, so Max wins based on having more wins this season (9 to 8 IIRC).

I'm not a huge fan of either of them, so no dog in the fight for me, but hope MB can lock down the WCC, as a MB fan.

Mercedes will have a hard time losing the Constructor's because while Valteri isn't the best, he's still better than Sergio Perez.

Also turns out that the Race Director was trying to get Lewis and Max to switch places to avoid having the stewards look at it. This is Keystone Kops bullshit. Either officially tell him to do it or not.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:

Also turns out that the Race Director was trying to get Lewis and Max to switch places to avoid having the stewards look at it. This is Keystone Kops bullshit. Either officially tell him to do it or not.

Agreed, especially when the two drivers don't know what is going on.

But even after Verstappen took the lead after the engineered Hamilton pass a little later, Hamilton re-passed him once Verstappen's tires crapped out. Even after all that shit, what cost Verstappen the race was a miscalculation about how long the medium tires would last. They didn't last 30 laps, even with all the shenanigans and safety cars.

You might have expected the medium tires to go 30 laps, but they didn't and that was the real difference.

I was kind of surprised RB didn't put Max onto the hard tires at the second Red Flag. They had the wear info from the set used at the original start and aside from a little more weight, they looked like they were nearing the end of their useful life.
Max appeared to me to be keeping Hamilton just close enough behind to try to wear his tires in his aero wake. That was his only real hope.

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quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
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Haven't had a chance to watch, always enjoy IBR post-race.

Finally watched last night. What a cluster! There was so much whinging and complaining during the race it was unbearable. Drivers, principles, Masi, etc.

Masi is a fucking idiot. I'd withheld judgment but think I'm there now.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Even after all that shit, what cost Verstappen the race was a miscalculation about how long the medium tires would last.

I kind of wondered if RB put on the mediums assuming there would be another yellow or red flag. When he got that set, there had been (I think) 2 red and 3 yellow? I can easily see them saying at that point, "Let's go medium so we get more performance, and chances are we will get another flag of some kind and we can pit and change them when that happens."

^^^^^

I have to think this is right. RB had to go with the mediums on their first stop and all indications were another red flag was very much possible. It's not like RB could go with the hards at first stop.

After Merc's dominance the last couple races, RB seemed up to the task at Saudi Arabia. I'd like to believe RB has more set up latitude than Merc and Max has a car that can win at Abu Dhabi.