Raikkonen pips Hamilton as wall strike delays Vettel

62 comments on “Raikkonen pips Hamilton as wall strike delays Vettel”

1. 

   Chaitanya
   14th September 2018, 15:08

   No wonder ferrari have decided to gamble with Leclrec.
   1. 

      Joao (@johnmilk)
      14th September 2018, 15:14

      Didn’t he crash on FP1?
      1. 

         Chaitanya
         14th September 2018, 15:36

         Yes, but considering this is his 1st outing on streets of Singapore and the crash took place during FP1 it’s not as serious as what other “experienced” driver did in FP2.
   2. 

      Rubens Cheriballo
      14th September 2018, 15:19

      The driver decision seems crazier every day
      1. 

         Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
         14th September 2018, 19:29

         You mean keeping the driver that finished higher the previous 3 seasons, and indeed has the greater points count of the 2 in 2018, is a bad decision?

         I sure am glad you don’t make any decisions in my life.
   3. 

      Angela (@angie)
      14th September 2018, 15:52

      Leclerc is making Erickson look very competent. Ferrari may regret their driver line up decisions for next year.
      1. 

         Mashiat (@mashiat)
         15th September 2018, 10:47

         @angie Can’t be any worse than Raikkonen. 2 poles and 0 wins in 34 races with a championship-calibre car. That would be poor even for Ericsson.
   4. 

      erikje
      14th September 2018, 16:49

      Because Kimi was fastest?
      1. 

         Chaitanya
         14th September 2018, 17:19

         Also their Golden boy put the car in wall during FP2.
         1. 

            Alex
            14th September 2018, 18:14

            Well Vettel and Leclerc both put the car into the wall and the demoted Raikonnen is in first place…

            Of course this only FP2 but i can be said with humour that looks like a sign from the Gods….
2. 

   Ivan Papalezov (@cordoba16vt)
   14th September 2018, 15:21

   Hamilton and Raikkonen have similar driving styles , hence the close results . My favourite drivers current drivers in anyway. I remember in late 2013 when Hamilton went to Mercedes and everybody was talking how superior RB with Vettel was , he ( HAM ) said – do not underestimate what a wonderful job he is doing – that shows a lot of respect. Similar experience to him in 2014-2017, whatever people say and the booing he is the consistent, fightful guy delivering wheter he is on pole , front row , or back of the field. Sad to see Raikkonen go – if anyone still states that he has lost his speed must be out of his mind.
   1. 

      teco
      14th September 2018, 16:40

      He has though, i’m a big fan of his, but he just isn’t as sharp as before.
   2. 

      Mashiat (@mashiat)
      15th September 2018, 10:48

      @cordoba16vt

      if anyone still states that he has lost his speed must be out of his mind.

      In this case, then I guess he never was a good driver then (which I don’t believe).
3. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   14th September 2018, 15:25

   Approximately eight tenths faster than last season’s pole time this early into the race weekend already, which means that we could be in for the 2nd most significant improvement in ultimate lap time on last season after Circuit de Catalunya.
   1. 

      ColdFly (@)
      14th September 2018, 17:58

      On faster tyres this time; not as meaningful. @jerejj
      1. 

         Jere (@jerejj)
         14th September 2018, 21:24

         @coldfly Yes, the hyper-soft is two-steps softer than last season’s ultra-soft, but still, not everything is down to that. Aero gains from the previous season to the current campaign equally play a part in why the lap times have regularly been faster this season than they were last season as well, perhaps even more so than the ‘softer’ tyres.
   2. 

      stefano (@alfa145)
      15th September 2018, 0:23

      Shortened track as well
4. 

   GnosticBrian (@gnosticbrian)
   14th September 2018, 15:27

   Another Vettel mistake.
   1. 

      ColdFly (@)
      14th September 2018, 17:59

      probably trying to get them out of his system early on ;)
      @gnosticbrian
      1. 

         frood19 (@frood19)
         14th September 2018, 21:08

         @coldfly the Schumacher method!
5. 

   Sumedh
   14th September 2018, 15:31

   So the mind games between the Ferrari drivers for 2019 have begun. “Whatever you can do, I can do as well”
   1. 

      Boudi
      14th September 2018, 16:42

      Brilliant 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
   2. 

      Aldoid
      14th September 2018, 17:46

      +1
   3. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore)
      15th September 2018, 3:07

      Ahaha, true, didn’t get it at first.
6. 

   Seann (@canuckfan)
   14th September 2018, 15:33

   Vettel, does not seem to fare well with pressure.
   His back up, will be gone next year, and new competition, will be his team mate.
   He just might, totally unravel, before the year is out.
7. 

   Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
   14th September 2018, 15:35

   Can we all calm down about Seb’s mistake? Lewis also lost the brakes and almost crashed onto Vettel but no-one is talking about that. Mistakes happen and that is why we have FP1, FP2, FP3 so drivers can test the limits.
   1. 

      koddamn (@gufdamm)
      14th September 2018, 15:37

      Session ending damage is not efficient testing of the limits.
      1. 

         Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
         14th September 2018, 16:13

         I agree on that. But people make it out as one hell of a mistake.
      2. 

         Hugh (@hugh11)
         14th September 2018, 16:24

         Realistically, it was a tiny scrape with the wall that ended with a radiator leak. It’s not like he got oversteer mid corner and slammed into it breaking the suspension or whatever. Minor scrape with a major outcome.
         1. 

            Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
            14th September 2018, 16:29

            Had a similar bump on his pole lap last year. Luck wasn’t with him today though.
            1. 

               anon
               14th September 2018, 16:58

               @panagiotism-papatheodorou, whilst I would agree with some of the comments above that the severity of this incident does seem to be being overstated by some, I wouldn’t say that it was just bad luck – it was a minor misjudgement, though one of those inevitable incidents that come as drivers try to progressively push harder during the race weekend.
   2. 

      Blazzz
      14th September 2018, 15:53

      Seemed to me like Vettel blocked Ham while he was on a hot lap and Ham had to take avoiding action. Things like that in qualy would be a slam dunk penalty.
      1. 

         John
         14th September 2018, 15:58

         No they were both on cool down laps overtaking a car on its outlap. I think Hamilton just wanted to also overtake Vettel but slightly misjudged his braking as he was unsure as to what Vettel was going to do.
      2. 

         Aldoid
         14th September 2018, 17:52

         Yeah, I think you’re reading too much into it. If they had made contact, it would have been Lewis’ fault more than anything. He tried to get past & backed out of it too late, then had to brake on the dusty part of the track while trying to switch back on to the racing line (that Vettel was currently occupying, simultaneously braking with full traction as opposed to a sliding Hamilton). By my reckoning, he was very lucky to have avoided contact with Seb.
         1. 

            mystic one (@mysticus)
            14th September 2018, 19:15

            @Aldoid have you actually watched the incident? vettel was going considerably slower up until ham was behind him, and then suddenly decided to play “mind games” with hamilton i guess?

            vettel is doing every stupid things possible to lose his championship chances….

            tomorrow or race day he will repeat his silly risky self and will seal off his hopes for wdc by end of this race most likely and then people will complain what a boring f1 is again… that merc too powerful yada yada yada
            1. 

               Aldoid
               14th September 2018, 20:04

               It’s free practice. Slowing down & speeding up again is pretty much what they do all day. I don’t see how that makes in an automatic slight on Vettel’s part, despite his reputation. & if Vettel loses by doing stupid things and further angers the usual suspects who will complain about Mercedes being “too powerful” (not that that particular excuses is valid anymore anyway), yada yada yada, I don’t care: same as last year… no skin off my back. I’ll still be rooting for Lewis to win, same as always. I’ll still point out when I think he’s at fault too, same as always. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me: seeking validation of my opinions from others isn’t why I’m here. Expressing said opinions, sure.
8. 

   pastaman (@)
   14th September 2018, 15:37

   Hey, Stoffel isn’t last!
   1. 

      thepostalserviceisbroke (@thepostalserviceisbroke)
      14th September 2018, 15:43

      World-class silver lining finder!
   2. 

      erikje
      14th September 2018, 16:53

      Probably because the McLaren did not fall to pieces this time..
      He actually was able to complete a fast lap.. wow…
9. 

   MG1982 (@mg1982)
   14th September 2018, 16:07

   In the meantime, BOT still is weirdly slow compared to HAM. Something’s fishy…
   1. 

      Kibo
      14th September 2018, 16:13

      I believe Bottas made a mistake and given that they only did 1 hypersoft run that was it.
      1. 

         Kibo
         14th September 2018, 16:19

         Ok looking at it he did more than one run on HS tyres. But I remember reading he had made a mistake in his fastest lap.
   2. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      14th September 2018, 16:24

      @mg1982 Yes, two possibilities: 1. Hamilton is a faster driver. 2. Mercedes are deliberately slowing down their other driver so he’s less able to assist in the championship battles. Using what I call ‘Shrek’s razor’, I’m going for number 1.
      1. 

         MG1982 (@mg1982)
         14th September 2018, 17:23

         Yeah, don’t know, but in the last few races he’s visibly worse than usual. Too many sessions where’s he’s more than 0.5sec slower than HAM. It’s a lot… even for a fast HAM. HAM being suddenly faster than ever this year is the most unlikely case. BOT actually being a worse driver than he showed so far is a more probable case, but not very believable either. Mercedes actually using him as a test bed, not letting him use the full potential of the car… because of reliability OR something, all of these “excuses” in order to prevent him for being a threat to HAM is the most likely situation. Short story: he’s a no.2 now. “Funny”, Mercedes actually reckoned they’ll use orders in the WDC fight (while Ferrari didn’t do it), although they also claimed previously their drivers get equal treatment.
         1. 

            Martin
            14th September 2018, 17:57

            Mercedes actually using him as a test bed, not letting him use the full potential of the car… because of reliability OR something, all of these “excuses” in order to prevent him for being a threat to HAM is the most likely situation

            Just no.

            HAM being suddenly faster than ever this year is the most unlikely case

            Yeah it’s not like Hamilton has ever been 5 tenths up on a team mate before …. oh wait he has … many times.
            And its not like Hamilton’s form relative to his championship rivals has improved in the latter half of previous seasons …. oh wait it has.

            Would love to see some evidence from you for your “most likely situation” … but I guess its not like Mercedes are in an extremely tight fight for the WCC championship are they? …. oh wait
            1. 

               Tore Weyland
               15th September 2018, 1:16

               Just like last season Bottas miraculously finds his speed again when Hamilton’s WDC is in the bag. And Hamilton even “lets” Bottas win a few races after that :)
         2. 

            David BR (@david-br)
            14th September 2018, 18:04

            The qualifying difference so far this tear is actually fairly low, 0.128s (in Hamilton’s favour) only. I agree the difference has looked bigger the last few qualifying sessions and races, but that’s surely down to Hamilton being in great form just now, while Bottas’s form has dipped (including some atypical collisions in races). That reverses the start of the season when Hamilton was so-so and Bottas driving well. I don’t think you need much else to explain it. Practice sessions, who knows, they may well be running different programs and testing different things.
         3. 

            Ju88sy (@)
            14th September 2018, 18:23

            @mg1982 This is a fantastic warped ‘tinfoil hat’ view, thanks for giving me a chuckle on a Friday evening ;).
            1. 

               mystic one (@mysticus)
               14th September 2018, 19:19

               @ju88sy for a second, i thought he was gonna claim merc used orders on Ferrari to take a rookie in their car so merc can win easier :) and kimi is the proof of merc orders :) as kimi been a gent in the last race to allow hamilton win…. oh well… people are sometimes way too clever for their own good :)
            2. 

               MG1982 (@mg1982)
               15th September 2018, 9:17

               More tinfoil hat than we keep hearing for years, that RAI is a match to VET…. but the team doesn’t let him beat VET, win etc etc?! So much tinfoil that makes one wonder why the heck Ferrari didn’t bet on RAI for the WDC from the beginning and they bothered hiring ALO and VET if remotely true.
         4. 

            anon
            14th September 2018, 22:37

            @mg1982, just to check, are you basing your assumptions just on the summary of the results as given in the article above, or did you watch or otherwise read about what happened during that qualifying session from any other sources before making your comment?

            As I understand it, Bottas set his best time with a fast lap quite early on in the session, at a time when the track was still reasonably dusty. He was then on course to set a better lap time later in the session, but ended up making a mistake and running wide – so driver error seems to have resulted in an unrealistically large gap (the difference in the previous session was less than a few tenths, after all).

            Equally, during the first practise session, Vettel was also faster than Kimi by around 0.5s in that session as well – are we to assume that Ferrari are “not letting him use the full potential of the car” given that Kimi was also that much slower than his team mate?
10. 

    DonSmee (@david-beau)
    14th September 2018, 16:22

    Vettel choking again. Too much cucumber perhaps?
    1. 

       rpiian (@rpiian)
       14th September 2018, 20:36

       Wow! Much deep! So dirty!
11. 

    pantherjag (@pantherjag)
    14th September 2018, 16:35

    Sebs scrape is not a big deal

    Kimi will have gathered relevant data for the session

    They can do a quick sim run in fp3 to make up for it if required

    Pretty sure he will still take pole and the win
    1. 

       koddamn (@gufdamm)
       14th September 2018, 16:57

       Sebs scrape? He was leaking coolant and had his session end.
       1. 

          pantherjag (@pantherjag)
          14th September 2018, 18:08

          His scrape with the wall

          Ended his session but not a huge deal since other car can gather tyre data
          1. 

             mystic one (@mysticus)
             14th September 2018, 19:21

             other car can gather but not him… he needs to gather his own data as his driving style is quite different! he may get meaningful input from kimi but that doesnt always help if you cant use your own limits of the track…
12. 

    papaya
    14th September 2018, 16:52

    What a drive by Hamilton! With amateur 3rd tier Mercedes’ performance at Singapore, Hamilton able to make-up for 0.6s! I hope he’s not exhausted after the Sunday’s race having to fight with the car…
13. 

    bull mello (@bullmello)
    14th September 2018, 17:09

    Kimi will win in Singapore!
    1. 

       Chaitanya
       14th September 2018, 17:22

       Let’s hope so, he certainly look more composed and calm.
    2. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore)
       15th September 2018, 3:11

       Deserves a last win for sure!
14. 

    rpiian (@rpiian)
    14th September 2018, 20:01

    I really hope Kimi wins. F’ em all.

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