Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Monaco, 2018

Hamilton expects a “boring” one-stop race

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton wants to see fewer one-stop strategy races.

What they say

Hamilton was asked whether a one-stop strategy will be possible in today’s Monaco Grand Prix:

I think that’s the target, which I think is not very good here. They should make us use multiple ultra-softs, or hyper-softs.

One stop is always a boring race. Especially on a track where you can’t even overtake. So, it adds more excitement to it.

I’m sure we’ll do one stop [today]. The other tyres could probably go a long way.

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Comment of the day

It’s all going wrong for Max Verstappen in what doesn’t look like his fourth full season of F1:

Verstappen is looking like driving his rookie season this season whereas 2016-2017 were like his fifth/sixth years in F1.

His only mistake last year was running into Ricciardo in Hungary. In 2016 he had a nightmare in Monaco but apart from that he was driving really clean regarding his aggressive race craft.

One reason I think of is Verstappen thinking of the possibility of winning the championship. In 2016, Mercedes was on another planet and last year they weren’t really there. However this year it is possible to fight for it, especially having strong Red Bull development in mind, and Verstappen is over-driving every time a chance appears.
Michal (@Michal2009b)

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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37 comments on “Hamilton expects a “boring” one-stop race”

  1. I feel sorry for Hartley with his qualifying ruined by LeClercs yellow flag.

    That said, for as long as Verstappen keeps crashing I get the feeling his seat is safe.

  2. Pirelli always stuck between a rock and a hard place. Here is a driver basically asking for a designed to degrade tyre. They’ve made a perfectly quick, soft, grippy and “aggressive” compound suited for the kind of racing you’d want to see on a street circuit.

    His only complaint is that he doesn’t want it to last so long so there’s a need for a second stop.

    I can almost guarantee if they were forced to two stop on this tyre, the drivers would be complaining about how quick the tyres are falling off and how Pirelli can’t even make a tyre that will last half of the race around a less demanding street circuit like Monaco. And how by comparison the Ultra is so slow and not worth using at all and they have no choice.

    1. Perhaps for races like Monaco the FIA should life the mandatory 1 pit stop requirement. That way the strategic intrigue could be between 1 stop and not stopping at all as opposed to trying to manufacture the need for a 2nd stop through overly degrading tyres. It would be interesting to pose a question to the teams to see if they would feel the need to stop or if they could do the whole race on hypers, or would they feel ultras would be a viable choice in such a hypothetical scenario.

      1. lift* (ps: edit button pls)

        1. @skipgamer, yes I’m always amazed how I proofread exactly what I THINK I wrote only to have a glaring error jump out at me the second it appears as published.

        2. Not exactly the same idea here, @skipgamer , but I was wondering yesterday if the Monaco GP should be split into two half (sprint) races with half the usual points awarded for each, maybe with one of the races using a reverse grid, and pitstops optional in both races. Seeing as how it is quite processionary and lends itself to very little strategy, this could give a bit of variety and fairness (by reducing the impact of luck).

          The huge risk is that FOM might decide to roll this out to other races as well, which would be a disaster at many tracks that are excellent with the current format.

      2. strange, i had the exact opposite idea… raise tha mandatory pit requirment to 2-5 or so.
        and every tyre has to be used at least once. with 5 mandatory pit stops the pack should be crazy mixed at some points i presume.

        1. yes, 5 pit stops and big fuel tanks so they can drive as fast as possible between stops, no more tire and fuel saving. (sarcasm)
          I am 100% sure that Verstappen will not only screw his own race but also some other drivers

  3. Jonathan Parkin
    27th May 2018, 4:52

    The more carbon fibre comes off Verstappen’s car, the more sorry I get for Danill Kyvat

    1. It’s shocking when you look his stats…

      1. Sergey Martyn
        27th May 2018, 8:02

        Whose stats? Kvyat or Verstappen?

    2. Jonathan Parkin
      Why? Could Kyvat do the good things that vesthappen has done in F1 to date?I. I can accept that he was not treated fairly at times, but vesthappen has proven he is a race winner. He needs to calm down, & stop believing in his own hype before he damages himself, never mind someone else on track.

  4. Ricciardo better stay at Red Bull where he actually has a chance rather than joining a team that loves to put all the eggs in only one basket like Ferrari. It’s between snatching Bottas seat or staying at Red Bull if you ask me… Going to Ferrari would be a step backwards. Plus Seb would not allow it.

    1. Ricciardo better stay at Red Bull where he actually has a chance rather than joining a team that loves to put all the eggs in only one basket like Ferrari.

      The way Ricciardo was brought out behind Verstappen on strategy after already overtaking him was really questionable from Red Bull in Baku. It leads me to think Red Bull would be no better than Ferrari.

      Who knows, it’s his choice and it’s not as if he’s overloaded with options to be frank.

    2. FlatSix (@)
      27th May 2018, 7:07

      @fer-no65 Here’s how I tend to see it:

      -ALL teams back one guy when it’s clearly he delivers and the other does not. You’d have to be insane to not back Hamilton or Vettel compared to their teammates.
      -Bottas is the perfect fit for Mercedes; fast, reliable, safe, doesn’t make mistakes, brings in the points, is the perfect supporting role for Hamilton. So why change that and upset the team’s balance?
      -Kimi is the perfect fit for Ferrari; *copy above and add ‘reasonable’ in front of most*

      I’ve said it so often, Ricciardo is hot property on a market without buyers. If only Renault were further up on the grid they’d might take a chance on him, same with McLaren. For now, and I believe also for all years until 2021 Red Bull remains his best bet*.

      *If they go with Honda next year,…, then McLaren or Renault suddenly sounds more interesting of course.

  5. Not blessed anymore…

    1. Does look a little like sour grapes

  6. Regarding the tweets against grid girls from Jennie Gow. Don’t women have the right to make their own decisions? You don’t like so everyone that doesn’t agree with you is wrong? It’s an idealism that has no real basis in reality. Women like to look hot, and men (EVEN OTHER WOMEN) notice women that look hot. Don’t blame grid girls for your own insecurity.

    1. And what happens to grid girls when they turn 35 and start losing their looks? I know girls that have been models/strippers, I prefer to listen to their opinion on the issue rather than reading men’s opinions like yours. One day you will get your head around, possibly only when they start using scantily clad men instead of girls.

    2. FlatSix (@)
      27th May 2018, 7:03

      @alex-bkk Jennie Gow blocked me for the most stupid reason. She posted something along the line of what very much seemed as a job offer but only females could apply. So I asked her whether she thought that was discriminatory, she answered it’s called ‘positive discrimination’ and thus it was fine. Then I replied that you don’t solve ‘bad’ with ‘more bad’ by discriminating others. There’s loads of alternatives to get women into F1- (sport)journalism without discrimination.

      In the end she sent me a message stating it was not a job but a mentorship, which I’m totally fine with, she can choose whomever she’d likes to mentor, still a shame she thought “positive discrimination” is all right.

      But she kept me blocked. Because she replied to my tweet however I received multiple insults, threats and slandering, and all I did was ask a question… when I replied to those with the same question and premise many continued to insult me, and eventually blocked me too. That’s your average leftist potential in having a meaningful discussion. One guy however who first insulted me listened to me and actually agreed afterwards, kudos to him.

      1. @flatsix
        Thats not lefties, its just internet.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          27th May 2018, 12:26

          @rethla – You’ve hit the nail on the head there. Previously, if someone was unable to put forward a solid argument that didn’t contradict itself, they wouldn’t have got into a position to talk publicly to the world – if they did, no-one would listen.

          Discrimination (however you dress it up) isn’t right. If you want equality, you want equality. If you have no intention of acting that way yourself but you want everyone else to change, you’re just part of the problem.

      2. GtisBetter (@)
        27th May 2018, 8:44

        discrimination in the hiring proces is actually a very big thing and it’s very hard to tackle, though i don’t think it’s always a bad thing. The nursing department at my hospital for example had a time where they would hire men only, to get a bit more diverse. I think some schools did it too. The point is that they at least need the skills to apply, so they are valued on that. The gender thing was to achieve an overal better work situation. Of course they couldn’t put that in the add, cause it does come down on discrimination.

        I think you “leftist” potential remark is a unnecesary and wrong. It’s just the internet where a normal discussion seems to be impossible on both sides.

    3. ColdFly (@)
      27th May 2018, 8:10

      Women like to look hot

      It’s people writing stuff like this that make the grid girl ban argument stronger.

      PS it’s actually the organisers (mostly men) who decide to have grid girls or otherwise.
      Maybe next some weirdo decides to have a midget throwing competition. And surely you’ll find some people who accept to be thrown around for money (you know those people who ‘like to be small’)

      1. @coldfly, you joke about “a midget throwing competition”, but I believe that there was an incident a few years ago with the England rugby squad getting into a lot of trouble when they basically did something like that.

    4. But it’s not necessarily about the grid girls themselves, yes of course they should be free to choose whatever profession they want.

      The issue is more about how it portrays women in F1. And the same goes for any other sport that still does it… That the men are there to do the important bit and the women are there to stand behind them and look pretty.

      It’s a dated marketing strategy that society should move on from.

      1. You can see plenty of women on the grid, in team gear, either shuffling tyres or tapping on a laptop/talking into their headset. Perhaps FOM need to do a better job of their camera-people’s ability to spot them…

  7. ”One stop is always a boring race.” – Not necessarily always, so I disagree with him on that to a certain extent.
    – Which corner is Felix Rosenqvist referring to, LOL?
    – Ted’s tweet, though.
    – I agree with the COTD.

    1. @jerejj
      The Max Verstappen corner.

  8. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    27th May 2018, 7:46

    There is nothing better than qualifying at Monaco, my heart was racing watching Ric throw it around yesterday, the cars always look truly spectacular, especially when someone is hooked up. The race however doesn’t necessarily always work but it’s only one race weekend in a big calendar so it’s always worth carrying for the quali alone! I’m always against such things but maybe they could tweak the race weekend format just for Monaco eg. Two sprint races. I’d be happy just watching a time trial around Monaco rather than a procession.

    1. But it isn’t the only boring track for racing though… Melbourne, Russia, Spain, Monaco, Paul Ricard, Hungary, Monza, Mexico and Abu Dhabi all produce mediocre to subpar racing imho.

      This is in large part due to the aero dependance of the cars of course, but there are much better tracks to go to than these ones imho.

    2. @rdotquestionmark: 2 sprint races and best of 11 time trials.

  9. Sergey Martyn
    27th May 2018, 8:12

    Verstappen: “”The team will always be behind me in good or bad times”
    Oh boy, talk with Kvyat about that. Behind you with an axe in hand.

  10. Be interesting to see who has to pit first and which teams use their “number 2” drivers as “blockers”.

    Hamilton pits before Raikkonen or Vettel pits before Bottas, those are the permutations, assuming no changes to the grid positions at the start.

    Other than that I don’t expect a very exciting race, it’s not going to rain is it?

    Hopefully I am wrong, I often am!

  11. “The rulebook) says that it is the duty of the competitor to satisfy the FIA that their car complies at all times and they were having difficulty satisfying us. Here, we are now satisfied.”

    Ferrari battery clash has imploded in soap balls. Obs no mention here Whiting & Todt intervues in tempting remove fools and blames from FIA, revealed former engg. Sassi n Alllison now MB pushed secretely them for investigation, without expose MB officially by suspects, no evideces. Very poor poo figure every one Mb included indeed.
    Sassi still in gardening leave, he has than broken rules, he should deserve a legal action.
    No possibile accept Maranello tortellini do better than GB motor valley, it urges to check for tricks.

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