At first I thought Vettel was channeling his inner Schumacher but was shocked it was Sir Lancelot.

I liked Vettel's calm radio message afterwards.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Rain + Red Flag lucky
Looked like GR wanted them to push him, but that MB was buried at the rear. Rough ride through the gravel, too.

Better for GR that he was stuck and caused a red flag. Neutralized the ability of anyone behind him to beat his time. Kind of like a Ferrari hitting a wall at Monaco.

I still say they need to adopt the IndyCar rule where if you bring out a Red Flag, your 2 fast laps are deleted and you cannot move on to the next Quali round. You should be able to qualify and not crash at the same time.

Alonso also copped a 5 second time penalty and will start 18th for the race.

Just finished the Sprint. Might have been more overtakes than most full races.

Not sure what happened to Alfa's Friday pace, they were nowhere in quali, but more racy in the Sprint. Maybe their wet pace just isn't there?

Good to see Merc having some pace & good on GR for the win, and KMag for keeping it the points.

George Russell baby! Fantastic win for George and Mercedes. Finally a 1-2 for the team and it wasn't a close race except for the teammates. I have been watching F1 since my teenage years of the 70's and while my heroes come and go, the young talent is rising to the top. I have no real favorites and still love seeing Alonso getting top 5's. From the early 70's to now, the one thing that keeps me watching is the racing. We will see what next year brings, but things will be different in the Mercedes garage.

Red Bull should either sit Max or box him and take his tires away until he learns to play nice with his teammates and others. And keep repeating.

quote:

Originally posted by Jamess1:
Red Bull should either sit Max or box him and take his tires away until he learns to play nice with his teammates and others. And keep repeating.

Let’s see Max talk his way out of this one.
If the speculation’s right in any way, that Perez walled it intentionally at Monaco qualifying, the FIA will have to get involved.
I don’t see it, based on the video, but if it were true, how’s that different than what Piquet Jr. did on Flavio's advice that resulted in a lifetime ban?

On the other hand, Ricciardo has a 3 spot penalty at Abu Dhabi for punting KMag on lap 1. Anyone else think Ricciardo shot himself in the foot and the knee in regards to getting a drive next year? After his performance this year, I’m not sure I’d even want him as a reserve driver.

I was just thinking that Max's behaviour in this race showed more justification for Daniel leaving the team.

Not that it has worked out well for him.

While I think with Max, this is a 100% dickhead move and something I wouldn’t do, it is notable that all the past five champions have done similar things in their competitiveness to include Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Shumacher, and now Verstappen.

Just saying that it is not uncommon in Formula 1 for the champions.


I have no idea if Perez intentionally put it in the wall. RBR has all the data, or did.

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
I was just thinking that Max's behaviour in this race showed more justification for Daniel leaving the team.

Not that it has worked out well for him.

Daniel was the only one at Red Bull that kept up with Max. If you want to get the team on your side, then beat the little bastard.

quote:

Originally posted by Jamess1:
Red Bull should either sit Max or box him and take his tires away until he learns to play nice with his teammates and others. And keep repeating.

No one at Red Bull is going to do anything whatsoever to Max. Horner can get as upset as he wants, but the fact is that Max is their Star driver, has been for a while, and can get away with pretty much anything. Plus, he has Marko’s undisputed backing for anything he does.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
On the other hand, Ricciardo has a 3 spot penalty at Abu Dhabi for punting KMag on lap 1. Anyone else think Ricciardo shot himself in the foot and the knee in regards to getting a drive next year? After his performance this year, I’m not sure I’d even want him as a reserve driver.

His chances of getting a drive were already zero before this race. At best he was hoping to be a reserve driver for a big team like Merc or Red Bull, so maybe that’s out the windows, but I’m not sure either of those teams would have really wanted him even before this.

Not sure how much we'll ever know for sure about what motivated Max's attitude yesterday, tbh I was embarrassed for Leclerc's begging the team to have Sainz let him by. A good enough race at Brazil but there was a hard unpleasant edge to it throughout.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:

No one at Red Bull is going to do anything whatsoever to Max. Horner can get as upset as he wants, but the fact is that Max is their Star driver, has been for a while, and can get away with pretty much anything. Plus, he has Marko’s undisputed backing for anything he does.

Even if Red Bull benches Max (which they can since they have both championships), who do they put in the car? Another washed up Daniel in Danill Kvyat so he can race in the same car as they guy who’s currently banging his ex girlfriend and mother of his child?

quote:

His chances of getting a drive were already zero before this race. At best he was hoping to be a reserve driver for a big team like Merc or Red Bull, so maybe that’s out the windows, but I’m not sure either of those teams would have really wanted him even before this.

Before there was a chance he could land a job at a backmarker as reserve, but now he’s just Ralf Schumacher’ed his career.

An eventful Brazilian GP, enjoyable & congrats to GR for tye win.
Lewis has one more race to keep up his, win in every season competed, record. Seems unlikely, depending on MB pace in Abu Dhabi.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
I was just thinking that Max's behaviour in this race showed more justification for Daniel leaving the team.

Not that it has worked out well for him.

Daniel was the only one at Red Bull that kept up with Max. If you want to get the team on your side, then beat the little bastard.

And find him putting you into a wall from behind?
We've seen other drivers on the same team take each other out before.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
I was embarrassed for Leclerc's begging the team to have Sainz let him by.

I agree. LeClerc was asking them to ask Sainz to give up a podium finish. Had they radioed that into Sainz, I would have hoped his response would have been even stronger than Verstappen's. Something along the lines of, "Are you kidding me?!? F--k off!'

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
I was embarrassed for Leclerc's begging the team to have Sainz let him by.

I agree. LeClerc was asking them to ask Sainz to give up a podium finish. Had they radioed that into Sainz, I would have hoped his response would have been even stronger than Verstappen's. Something along the lines of, "Are you kidding me?!? F--k off!'

Commentary said the same. If they'd been 4/5, maybe, but you don't take an earned podium finish away. 3/4 is the same for the team regardless of driver position