Formula 1 talk.

[HoosierDaddy]

It was a lose, lose proposition. If Hamilton pits everyone stays out. As the leader of the formation he was not allowed contact with his pit so it would have been his call. The team would not have been ready for him so that would have made things even worse. It played out just fine except for Alonso.

No way. Then it would have been lose/lose for 2nd, 3rd, etc.. I'm running X and will stay out just to be temporarily ahead of a car that pits in front of me and let x+1, x+2, x+3, etc. put on slicks? As soon as one goes for the pit the vast majority behind them will. It was so obvious to the drivers that every other one of them came in without orders from the team. Lewis screwed up.

Sponsored

 

[Bikeman315]

No way. Then it would have been lose/lose for 2nd, 3rd, etc.. I'm running X and will stay out just to be temporarily ahead of a car that pits in front of me and let x+1, x+2, x+3, etc. put on slicks? As soon as one goes for the pit the vast majority behind them will. It was so obvious to the drivers that every other one of them came in without orders from the team. Lewis screwed up.

Everyone behind Lewis was in communication with their teams. They were ready for their cars. Lewis had to make the call on his own. 50/50 chance to maybe get it right. If Lewis comes in the other teams might have been told to stay out. Doesn't matter now, but it was fun seeing one car getting the lights.

By the way it should have been a flying start. Just as if it would have been a yellow flag. Just sayin'.

 

[Bikeman315]

I know. Standing starts are more exciting but flying starts are safer, most of the time.

 

[XeninWorX]

I think they stopped doing rolling starts from a red flag now. Standing start is much better anyways as you never know who’ll get the better take off. Rolling start is boring.

 

[Caballus]

You mean Eau Rouge/Raidillon or the chicane? Either way, I don't think much more will be done to either. They recently added more drains because of all the recent rains (there has been much more rain than has been on the news). Beyond that, I doubt that there will be any major changes soon, though time will tell. If anything, there may still be room for better drainage, especially on the run between La Source and Eu Rouge.

I participated in a track day there a few weeks ago. I was extremely happy to luck out and have a dry day--was raining daily for several weeks straight before and continued to rain afterwards. The recent floods came a week later. Had it rained on the track day, I likely would have opted out and absorbed the loss. I know the track extremely well and changed from SC2s to PSS before the track day, but still far too much of a novice to risk a wet day at Spa. Was impressed with the car's ability to handle Charlotte in the rain during Track Attack, but that track doesn't compare. Nevertheless, I don't see them making any changes to the course.

Agree on F1!

 

[XeninWorX]

So Vettel just got disqualified for not having enough fuel at the end of the race.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Everyone behind Lewis was in communication with their teams. They were ready for their cars. Lewis had to make the call on his own. 50/50 chance to maybe get it right. If Lewis comes in the other teams might have been told to stay out. Doesn't matter now, but it was fun seeing one car getting the lights.

By the way it should have been a flying start. Just as if it would have been a yellow flag. Just sayin'.

Your wrong about the communication. Not allowed at that time. Others may have instructed their driver during the red flag to pit OR use judgement. If Merc didn't, they share the blame for the driver's dumb call.

 

[Inthehighdesert]

You can put that bs squarely on Wolf and Merc. The FIA is straight up maniputing the results now. Its complete bs.

So Vettel just got disqualified for not having enough fuel at the end of the race.

 

[XeninWorX]

You can put that bs squarely on Wolf and Merc. The FIA is straight up maniputing the results now. Its complete bs.

Well Aston Martin are using a Merc engine, lol. Actually it’s probably from Vettel keeping up with Ocon. He was trying to get the win but should have settled for second and save fuel. But that’s not very exciting now is it.

 

[Bikeman315]

Your wrong about the communication. Not allowed at that time. Others may have instructed their driver during the red flag to pit OR use judgement. If Merc didn't, they share the blame for the driver's dumb call.

a couple of interesting things



And Lewis’ comment at the post race interview.

Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport magazine) Lewis, can you talk us through that situation, after the restart, why you didn’t pit? Did you know that there was the chance to pit after the formation lap and how was the communication with the team?

LH: Yeah, I know that we can pit. Obviously we all started on the inters and I tried, just through the formation lap, giving the team information. It was dry in all the corners and so I kept telling them: dry, dry, dry and they said to stay out. I don’t really understand but I’m sure it is top off… definitely a mistake from us all but we win and lose as a team and we bear the burden of the mistakes together and we just keep fighting. The team did an amazing job with the strategy, with the pit stops and I just had to make it work out there, so it was flat chat for the entire race and very, very hard with tyre temperatures and that but nonetheless I enjoyed it.

 

[Caballus]

Actually, I was there on 7 Jul. Haven't seen any pictures posted, but would be interested if there are some. My car was actually on the lower end of the spectrum. There were two groups: street legal and non-street legal (i.e., racing). Many of the non-street legal were testing, probably for the 24 hour race. There was a Lambo team from Italy with a truck load of cars, literally. I wish I had taken the time to take pictures. Also interested in the ones from 21 July if you have a link.

Looked up the crash you mentioned, Jack Aitken. I see your point. I heard the commentators mention it several times, but wasn't watching during that portion. I've watched from a few angles and can't figure out what went wrong. Seems almost like he was trying to correct from oversteer and overcompensated while lifting. We'll see if the barrier gets moved, though I'm doubtful. Just amazed and thankful that he walked away from it. Speaks to the safety engineering that goes into these cars and driver equipment.

Didn't know about the fuel rule until this incident. I get it though. I don't think bigger tanks will make a difference.

 

[Bikeman315]

I'm sad for Seb but very disappointed in the team. They know the rules and didn't follow them. F1 had no choice as they have to test the fuel and there wasn't enough to test. I also hate "Fuel Racing", and see it in NASCAR and Indycar all the time. It has never really been a big issue in F1 and hopefully it stays that way. Refueling in F1 is just to dangerous.

Sponsored