Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Hungaroring, 2018

Hamilton wins Hungarian GP as Bottas and Vettel collide

2018 Hungarian Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton took victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen after Valtteri Bottas and Vettel clashed late in the race.

Hamilton and Mercedes won a strategic battle against Ferrari to take his fifth win of 2018 and his sixth at the Hungaroring ahead of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Bottas clashed with Vettel as the pair battled over second place, causing damage to his front wing before colliding a second time with Daniel Ricciardo a handful of laps later.

Ricciardo eventually took fourth ahead of the heavily damaged Bottas.

As the lights went out, Hamilton led away from team mate Bottas ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who passed Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

There was contact between Daniel Riccardo and Marcus Ericsson, while Charles Leclerc became the first retirement, pulling off into the pitlane at the end of the first lap with a mechanical issue.

Despite a good start seeing him move up to fifth, Max Verstappen’s race ended frustratingly early when he suffered a loss of power on lap seven.

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed while the stricken Red Bull was recovered, but racing soon resumed.

Kimi Raikkonen was the first of the front runners to pit, with Mercedes reacting by bringing Bottas in to cover.

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With both Hamilton and Vettel staying out, Vettel began to gain on the race leader as Hamilton’s tyres began to fade. Mercedes pitted Hamilton on lap 26, giving the lead of the race to Vettel.

Ferrari opted to keep Vettel out on a very long first stint, eventually pitting on lap 40 for ultra soft tyres, but a slow stop saw him resume in third behind the two Mercedes drivers.

Stoffel Vandoorne pulled off circuit with a gearbox failure on lap 51 while in ninth place, prompting the second VSC period of the race.

Raikkonen had now pitted for the second time for ultra soft tyres and with the laps winding down the Ferraris began to reel in Bottas in second, who now had over 40 laps on his soft tyres.

Vettel passed Bottas with a handful of laps remaining into turn one, but Bottas tried to retake the position into turn two by holding the inside and tagged the rear of the Ferrari.

Bottas suffered front wing damage, but Vettel appeared to be unharmed by the collision and recovered to take second place.

Bottas dropped to fourth and was vulnerable to Ricciardo behind. Ricciardo tried to pass around the outside of Bottas at turn one, but Bottas appeared to understeer with a lack of front grip, hitting into the side of the Red Bull. The incident in under investigation by the stewards.

Hamilton took the chequered flag for Mercedes to extend his championship lead ahead of Vettel and Raikkonen. Ricciardo eventually passed Bottas to take fourth.

Pierre Gasly finished in a solid sixth place for Toro Rosso, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren. Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean rounded out the points.

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2018 Hungarian Grand Prix reaction

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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172 comments on “Hamilton wins Hungarian GP as Bottas and Vettel collide”

  1. FIA better give bottas a 5s pen for hitting Ric to keep things consistent although it will not matter much to where bottas will finish.

    1. Bottas gave the position to Ricciardo already.

      1. No, he didn’t! RIC passed him in a fight, would have done it anyway. That was just a trick by Mercedes to avoid the penalty, pretending that they gave the place to RIC. Not the case tho.

        1. @mg1982 Well Ricciardo might have passed Bottas on his own, but Mercedes told Bottas to let Ricciardo past and then Bottas left the door wide open for Ricciardo. How is any of that “pretending”. Maybe you should take up a different sport if you have such a hard time seeing things for what they are?

          1. @Patrickl You and brundle must be on the same stuff.

          2. @patrickl in all fairness BOT did look like he was defending. Based on his past responses to team commands and everything then assuming there was no miscommunication one can’t help but assume BOT did give the place back, but he did manage to make it look like he was defending.

            Regardless the stewards penalised him anyway (no places lost, a couple of penalty points but I don’t expect BOT to ever get near 12), though it seems they didn’t care whether BOT then gave the place back (they don’t seem to have a history to anyway, the stewards, if memory serves me).

        2. @mg1982 +1 Was thinking the exact same thing when it happened. Merc knew Bottas was a sitting duck next time around, so they played that radio message to gain sympathy from the stewards in hopes that no further penalty was given.

    2. Agree, think it will be a 5 second penalty. I think he will get a couple of penalty points but might get away with it due to the damage, close call though

      1. Bottas got a 10 second penalty

        1. Whoops! My screw up, the 10 second penalty was for the 2nd incident with Danny.

          1. Yeah this was pre the stewards decision, ultimately 5 or 10 seconds didn’t make much difference

  2. Bottas’ worst performance of the season so far.

    1. Tires were fried so not much he could do.

    2. I mean what can he do when he is used as a pawn for Mercedes to block Vettel. If they truly want Bottas to get he maximum points, they would’ve pitted Bottas after Kimi had pitted. A guaranteed podium in that case.

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        29th July 2018, 16:33

        He missed out on second by a handful of laps, and could easily have kept it… voluntarily giving up the place when Raikkonen pitted to settle for third makes no sense at all.

      2. Yeah, but they will never say it, they will never admit this, they only see this when it is Ferrari, only Ferrari has a second driver to support their main, they are so biased.

        1. Who is “they” and what will “they” never admit? Are you referring to Mercedes fans?

      3. Raikkonen was used as a pawn. Made to stop ridiculously early. Mercedes had to cover this. Which meant that both of them were on a poorer strategy, but it was Ferrrari’s constant use of Raikkonen as a pawn that caused this situation.

        Vettel had every chance of coming out ahead of Bottas. Ferrari and Vettel messed it up themselves causing them to emerge behind Bottas.

        Ferrari had the fastest car. Yet they unperformed in qualifying and again in the race. I get that you are angry, but you can really only blame Ferrari for all that went wrong. In the end they were lucky to get ahead of Bottas. Be happy with that at least.

        1. Raikkonen was 4th. Given that the two Red Bulls were out of the picture Ferrari had nothing to lose putting Raikkonen on a two stopper.

          I thought it worked well. Got him past Bottas.

          1. No one else choose that strategy. Besides his first stint was still too early and why does he do two stints on softs then.

            It just makes no sense at all.

            Well it does, but not in that they actually though that that was the better strategy for Raikkonen.

          2. Raikkonen was 4th and had nothing effectively to lose since he was guaranteed 4th.

          3. He could have fought for 3rd.

        2. Vettel had every chance of coming out ahead of Bottas. Ferrari and Vettel messed it up themselves causing them to emerge behind Bottas.

          I’m actually surprised Sainz was not penalized for waiting till the ninth blue flag to let Vettel, then leading the race, thru.

          It’s in those extra two seconds that Vettel lost behind said that the “Ultras to catch Hamilton” strategy went down the drain.

          1. Exactly FIA is very selective with penalties. Not giving them for infringements against Ferrari

          2. Yet.. it wasn’t even mentioned. That to me, is the reason Vettel came out behind Bottas, more so that the pit stop delay. No penalty, no investigation.. just nothing..

    3. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
      29th July 2018, 16:40

      Well, it doesn’t get much worse than Australia.

      1. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
        29th July 2018, 16:41

        Whoops, wrong reply

    4. Bottas was left out there as cannon fodder, if anything its the golden boy of team red who needs to rethink racing in general.

      1. Your comment towards VET doesn’t make sense at all, it’s just pure bias. He gained fair 1 position at the start. Then, he made use of his “superb tyre management” even better than HAM in Germany given the track! It’s just that there was no rain, no SC etc to take away the win from HAM. Also, Ferrari messed up his strategy without doubt: pitting him exactly when he just managed to get in clean air, when BOT got close to his pit window and while his pace and tyres were OK. We’ve seen what happened: no time over BOT, slow pit-stop… and he came behind BOT, remaining there way too many laps to make a difference anymore. Ferrari messed up like they partially did at Baku too, when they hurried into pitting him although he was still doing more than fine on Softs and while the main rival managed the same thing too. Personally I would have kept him on-track 5 more laps, at least try gain some few more seconds over BOT, to be sure he’s outside his pit window. So, there’s nothing he can do as long as his team doesn’t help him get the best out of his performances.

        1. @mg1982 What “superb tyre management”? He was in a faster car on tyres that are supposed to last 40 laps. Which lasted him … 40 laps.

          Vettel had spent his tyres. He couldn’t go on any longer because he was losing a second per lap to Bottas. If anything, Vettel went too long. He should have stopped one or two laps earlier to have much bigger a margin over Bottas.

          Instead he ends up in traffic, loses another 3 seconds, a small delay in the pit stop … and Bottas is past.

          Clearly this could have been avoided by stopping before hitting traffic.

          Seriously, if Vettel had kept going 5 laps longer he’d possibly ended up behind Raikkonen.

          You really are making a mockery of yourself with these clearly incorrect claims. Or perhaps they are blatant lies which you hope no one calls you out on?

          1. What “superb tyre management”?! The same “superb tyre management” you, HAM fans, praised him for in Germany. HAM was on Softs too and lasted him 42 laps. VET did exactly the same thing yesterday, on a worse track actually, yet nobody’s praising him for keeping his tyres in good shape even after 40 laps, it’s always the car.

          2. @mg1982 Hamilton did 45 laps on those softs, Ricciardo 44, Bottas 55 (ok that was too much)

            Gasly, Magnussen, Alonso, Grosjean, Ocon, Perez, Vandoorne all did the same as Vettel or better

            So how is Vettel doing 39 laps on the same tyre anything noteworthy?

            And I mean in reality. Not just in your head.

            Hamilton was fighting for position in Hockenheim and still he made his tyres last as long. Indeed that is at least some accomplishment. Although also not that impressive. The fact that he was 2 seconds a lap faster than the top cars when it got wet was wat set him apart by a country mile.

            Even more when Vettel hopelessly tried to match Hamilton’s pace he crashed.

            That all was impressive. Not that he went 42 laps on Softs. That’s just a standard 1 stop strategy.

            Really. Just stop embarrassing yourself with these ridiculous remarks.

        2. “It’s just that there was no rain, no SC etc to take away the win from HAM”

          LOL. Really ? If it rained Vettel would have been schooled by HAM, BOT, RAI and RIC. So you should be happy it did not rain.

        3. @mg1982

          Personally I would have kept him on-track 5 more laps, at least try gain some few more seconds over BOT, to be sure he’s outside his pit window.

          Well.. it’s a good thing you’re not in charge of strategy or else Ferrari would be struggling even more than they are currently.

          Vettel had a 27 second lead on Bottas around 5 to 6 laps before his first pit stop. The gap fell to 22 seconds by the time Vettel made his pit stop because he encountered traffic and his tyres were losing too much performance compared to the Mercs on fresher tyres. In anything, Ferrari screwed up by not letting Vettel come in a few laps earlier. They would have had a lesser risk of getting jumped by Bottas.

          It’s just that there was no rain, no SC etc to take away the win from HAM.

          That’s hilarious. If there was rain, Vettel would probably be back in the barriers banging his steering wheel and crying on the radio. It’s funny how Vettel fans can actually say that unfortunately there was no SC or Rain to help Vettel win. It shows how much confidence the tifosi has in finger boy.

          “superb tyre management”

          Man.. it’s impossible to take your quotes seriously. None of them are based on facts and all of them are in favour of Vettel and Ferrari.

  3. I’m gonna say it: Bottas doesn’t deserve a Mercedes seat. He is Renault material at best. He isn’t particularly quick, isn’t particularly consistent, isn’t particularly exciting, isn’t a particularly good wheel-to-wheel racer; he’s just a good midfield driver. A few races where he beats a below-his-best Hamilton doesn’t make him deserving of that seat. Mercedes had Ricciardo as an option, but they went “Who wants an exciting top driver when we can have Massa 2.0 instead?”

    1. Disagree. Bottas has been unlucky. If it wasn’t for Red Bull’s strategic gamble in China and a piece of debris in Baku, Bottas would have had two wins under his belt this season and everyone would be talking about how he’s the perfect driver for that Merc seat because he’s fast, consistent and a great team player.

      The points don’t do him justice.

    2. Ferrari had a much faster car for this track. Bottas was just unlucky to find himself surrounded by those faster cars while Hamilton was cruising safely away from all the mess.

  4. YellowSubmarine
    29th July 2018, 16:19

    Vettel nearly ruined his own race there, cutting Bottas off at the corner when he wasn’t completely ahead of the Mercedes. What did he expect Bottas to do, shrink the Mercedes?
    At any rate, good to see that the stewards agree it was a mere racing incident.
    Interesting track – vettel, with fresh softer rubber and the faster car, struggled to overtake Bottas. I think Bottas did a feast job for his teammate, sacrificing himself and his own podium to ensure Lewis stretched ahead.
    A mention for Gasly and Danny Ric too – the latter easily driver of the day for me. And those Renault engines…

    1. In fairness to Merc, think that was the best call for them for the win and possible 1-2 with overtaking being hard.

      +1 on Vettel, not his fault but yet again why is he taking unnecessary risks. If he gives a bit of room there it’s still job done but you remove the risk of being hit. Not the first time it’s happened

    2. I think Vettel was already far enough ahead to be entitled to take the racing line, such was the difference in their speeds out of turn 1. If anything it was Bottas who was desperate to not concede the position and went too deep into a gap that was always going to disappear. He should’ve just backed off really.

      1. Entitled, but shouldn’t do it. It put himself again on a unnecessary risk.

    3. Also spare a thought for Vandoorne. Been destroyed by the media these last few races seemingly due to his car not being as good as Alonso’s, he gets the old spec car, and is only 2 seconds behind in the race, and then retires…

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        29th July 2018, 17:13

        @hugh11 yeah, was gutted for Vandoorne. Thought he had more pace than Alonso today for the first time in a while, perhaps his best performance of the season.

    4. Same with what happened between Hamilton and Raikkonen in the last race? or the race before?

      1. Nope, Lewis wasn’t ahead and gave Kimi a lot of space. Kimi lost the braking point.

  5. Very innovative strategy from Ferrari: dehydration to push Kimi out of the way for Vettel… ;-)

    1. Well it made kimi at least a Kg lighter, so probably made kimi faster actually. :)

      1. Drinks in a container or bottle and inside Kimi’s stomach weighs the same :P
        So the car didn’t get lighter.

      2. Technically still same weight. Water still in the bottle on the car instead of his body

    2. It worked though ;)

    3. Kimi’s dehidration is more related to usual vodka needs that can’t be fullfilled during the GP weekends…

  6. Bottas is ready for NASCAR…

  7. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
    29th July 2018, 16:22

    Just when you think Raikkonen might finally do something of note…

    1. Based on what? Pretty sure he would have lost the win on pure pace even if he would have been 1st at the end of lap1. He simply cannot compete with these guys anymore no matter if it’s 1 lap or 70 laps. And these guys who’re beating him even in inferior machinery are more numerous every year.

  8. The Sky commentary can barely hide their bias.

    First, they were questioning whether Ferrari should tell Vettel to move over for Raikkonen. If Vettel on ultras can’t get past Bottas, then Kimi on softs isn’t going to do any better.

    Then there was the Vettel-Bottas incident. Why Vettel should be penalised for taking the corner is beyond me. Brundle was hysterical trying to paint Vettel as the villian. Vettel had won the corner. Bottas had no where to go pinned where was. He had to give up the corner otherwise he was going to plow into Vettel no matter what.

    I actually think Bottas was angling for contact there with Vettel. Vettel was a little lucky to not have his front wing chopped at turn 1, then turn 2 I don’t see how Bottas would have actually slowed for the corner and made the apex.

    Miracle that Bottas not only hit Vettel’s tyre (and not bodywork), but the tyre stayed intact.

    And then hitting Ricciardo was real amateur hour stuff.

    I wonder if the media will start implying that this was a conspiracy on the part of Mercedes and Bottas to hit Vettel on purpose.

    1. Brundle’s commentry disgusts me. Even after getting horner’s opinion on the radio, he still blames vettel. What Vet did was risky and he got away with it but it was never his fault for the contact. #sackmartin

      1. I don’t think there’s any question that VET was entirely at fault for the contact with BOT. The point is that he continues to put races at risk with these manoeuvres he could avoid. OK… Fight for position but he had that fight won even if he would have left room for BOT as he had the inside line for the next corner. VET drove ok today but he’s very lucky and why put yourself at risk like that when there was no need? 70/30 BOT fault but 100% avoidable, at no risk to his position, by VET.
        Anyway… great result from my point of view. Was expecting damage limitation for Lewis this weekend but what do you know! Extends his lead in the WDC. Lewis gave himself this opportunity yesterday in qualy. Undisputed king of of Hungary. Koszonom Lewis

    2. @Anon:
      “I actually think Bottas was angling for contact there with Vettel.”

      I absolutely agree with your mickey mouse assessments of horse glassed insights into these kind of situations and hate for Merc…

      Vettel was trying a clean pass by squeezing Bot to the side of the track in a sharp corner…. Like Bottas has the most to loose will back off :)

      Keep ep coming those mickey mouse comments…

      1. Alex McFarlane
        29th July 2018, 16:32

        Shades of that warm-down lap collision with Stroll last year, although Bottas probably should have eased off.

        1. SPOT ON!! +1

      2. Dude, the line BOT took there is a line never taken by the drivers. It’s obviouly it was just a desperate line to try everything against VET. It was just desperate/stupid maneouver, he didn’t had the space, the speed, the tyres, the brakes to make it stick… Same thing with RIC, he braked so late given the condition of his car that actually colliding with RIC prevented him from going off-track.

        1. Charlie (@aliveandwell)
          29th July 2018, 16:59

          Plus, Vettel’s entire car had passed Bottas before the turn. Bottas went onto the kerbs. In my opinion it was Bottas fault, no question about it. But then again, these things happen when fighting for championship points, nothing to moan too long about.

        2. Dude??? Think you’ve given away your age

        3. @mg1982 OIf course not. Bottas was squeezed to the inside.

          Much more important is that the line Vettel took is never taken by the drivers. The rsaing line is at least a car width wider there

          Vettel cut a line much closer tan they normally take to block Bottas. Vettel really was almost looking for an incident with his road ragy/red mist type bouts.

      3. I’m trying to work out what Bottas was fighting for at turn 2.

        The corner was gone. He car was sliding all over the place, no grip.

        For all intents he was one car length behind Vettel, pinned to the dirty part of the track.

        Even if he would have been able to stay with Vettel through turn 2 by some miracle, he would have been completely out of position going through any way.

        You can argue that Vettel was aggressive in taking the corner, but no more aggressive than Hammy taking his corner against Raikkonen at Silverstone (although you should probably show more caution on the first lap where cars are coming at you from all angles).

        If roles are reversed with Raikkonen doing this to Hammy, Brundle and co would be in hysterics claiming dirty tactics, conspiracy theories, etc.

        1. I’m trying to work out what Bottas was fighting for at turn 2.

          How about, “trying to stay ahead of Raikkonen”?

          1. He would have been better off backing off ever so slightly in order to straighten himself up for coming out of turn 2.

            If Vettel left a little more room, Bottas would have been so squeezed coming out of the corner and with dirt on his tyres, would have been easy pickings for Raikkonen.

            Bottas was looking for a crash. Knew his podium was gone, wanted to be a good wingman for Toto and Hammy.

          2. I don’t think crashing like that is easy enough to be worth the attempt

        2. Difference is Ham evualtes risk far more than VET. It wasn’t VETS fault entirely but with a WDC to fight for that was a daft move. As you say he had it won through the next corner regardless of whether he gave room to BOT or not. THIS is why VET will struggle to win the WDC. His risk v reward sense is a little faulty.
          Ham ued to be that way years ago but he now understands that maximising your points tally is a better way to go than risking your race for nothing.

        3. VET took a much more agrees I’ve line today than HAM did at sliverstone. Just watch the replay of both. Also… one got a penalty, the other didn’t so the stewards must agree.

          1. Raikkonen actually had a decent part of his car alongside Hamilton in the corner and was ahead of Hamilton approaching the corner.

            Wasn’t so clear whose corner it would be.

            Whereas, turn 2 was always Vettel’s corner.

            I don’t see how Bottas was even going to make the apex of turn 2. He completely misjudged the situation.

    3. “The Sky commentary can barely hide their bias.”

      Indeed. I normally can tolerate it, but today it was totally blatant. Insistently criticizing the lack of pace of the ultra-softs on the Ferrari when it is clear that track position at the Hungaroring is critical, and therefore Bottas managed to stay ahead for as long as he did. The incident was also pretty poorly blamed on Vettel by Brundle, in my opinion. At least Anthony Davidson seems to be a bit more balanced with his commentary. I wish he’d have a more prominent role in Sky’s broadcast, instead of being confined to analyse replays at the end of the session.

      1. @toiago I made the capital sin of subscribing Sporttv, just come over mate, I have beer in the fridge

        1. @johnmilk – If I were in Portugal I might take you up on your invitation! Although the Sporttv coverage has never really won me over. I find that most of the time they really don’t know what they are talking about, and even when they have guests like drivers (Lamy, Felix da Costa, Monteiro) they don’t really add much to it.

          1. @toiago that is true, they make a lot of mistakes, but at least they are not biased, and here, as you might know, it is either them or shaddy stuff

    4. I was watching on German TV and even they were speculating that Ferrari might give Raikkonen a go too. So it’s really not too weird for Sky to have the same discussion.

      1. The discussion on letting kimi have a go is a totally valid opinion, but the appropriation of blame totally on vet by brundle is just sickening. #sackmartinbrundle

        1. Yet you have to agree with Brundle that it was a dumb move from Vettel to cut Bottas off so close. That’s just bullying and he had nothing to gain from it.

          1. Dumb of Brundle to suggest that. Despite going on the Kerb Bottas kept on it to make sure Vettel could be taken out.

          2. You said you were on German TV so what do you know about what brundle said?

          3. Because you said it and because it’s on the Formula video?

            Seriously dude stop trolling.

          4. @Patickl 1)It was risky and he had every right to take that line as he was ahead. 2) Brundle pin the blame solely on Vet when it was a racing incident. 3) What did i say? 4) Clearly you were not on the same channel to listen in on the commentary 6) By “Formula video” you mean youtube race highlights? It is only out after a few hours after you posted your biased comments so how were you able to get it and it doesn’t cover entirely the commentary. 5) If anyone is trolling it is you and you’re doing at bad job at it deluded old man.

          5. Learn to use lines and perhaps I’ll read your juvenile nonsense.

      2. It’s not a valid opinion. Anyone could see or at least reason that the reason why Kimi was doing faster laps was because Vettel was stuck behind Bottas.

        Vettel dropped back 3 seconds, but was able to close up to 1 second behind Bottas within a lap.

    5. They won’t say this conspiracy, there only conspiracy when it is Ferrari, like when Kimi hit Hamilton.

      1. After things like Austria 2002, Germany 2010 and maybe USA 2005 I can understand anyone saying they’d have earned it.

        1. USA 2005 was Michelin’s fault, Austria 2002 and Germany 2010 were just team orders. No different to Coulthard moving over for Hakkinen in 1998, Schumacher moving over for Irvine in Malaysia 1999.

          Not to mention the 5 team orders Bottas obeyed last year, and what must be a dozen team orders this year.

          Kimi never once had a team order given to him last year, only time this year was when he was on a different strategy to Vettel and holding him up in Germany.

          1. +1. Sometimes I wonder myself how many of us are mentioning these situations as Ferrari-made and only after 2002, when they happened well before 2000, with other teams too. Just rewatched yesterday the battle between Schumacher and Coulthard from 2000 USA GP, Coulthard resisting Schumacher for quite some laps, until Hakkinen caught them, and only 3-4 corners after Schumacher passed him he let Hakkinen overtake him. Same thing with Schumacher playing 2nd to Irvine in 1999. So, no, it’s not a Ferrari method to race and appeared before 2002 too.

          2. There is a reason I didn’t necessarily say I’d agree….but I’d understand.

  9. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
    29th July 2018, 16:24

    Vet-Bot 70% Vettel fault
    Bot-Ric 90% Bot fault.
    Simple.

    1. VET-Bot 80% Bottas fault
      BOT-Ric 100% Bot fault

      Simple

      1. Where do you get your statistical significance for those rate? According to my six sigma and 95% confidence it was like this:

        Vet – Bot 83.6% Vettel
        Bot – Ric 65.3% Bot

        1. 🤣🤣🤣

    2. Slavisa (@sylversurferr)
      29th July 2018, 16:30

      Vet-Bot 99% Bottas fault
      Ric-Bot 100% Bottas fault

      Simple.

    3. Bot-Vet : 55% – 45% (silly from both)
      Bot-Ric : 99.99% – 0.01% (in hindsight Ricciardo would have gone down he inside)

      1. Guy get hit from behind and it’s his fault? Funny enough Ricciado and Max crash wasn’t Max fault….

  10. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
    29th July 2018, 16:26

    Actually, probably more 50-50 in the Vettel Bottas incident.

  11. Tbh, I’m not sure why Ricciardo tried going round Bottas’ outside. Sure, it’s still 100% Bottas’ fault, but he had no front wing, he was always going to understeer / lock up, would’ve been better doing what he did in the end (hanging back then taking a late apex) from the start.

    1. @hugh11 I thought exactly this, 100% Bottas’s fault but Ricciardo only need to wait for the run the T2.

      1. Yes I was thinking the same as well. Same with my curiosity on Bottas defending so hard. He should’ve knew there is no way he can keep Ric behind, I mean its not the last lap, there’s still 2-3 laps to go.

    2. Yeah, it crossed my mind too, but it’s always easy to make that kind of judgement when you’re in front of TV and 25 cameras cover all track and the important situations. Probably RIC did not even know about BOT’s front wing being damaged OR what side of the wing was damaged. Doesn’t matter too much anyway, it was BOT fault anyway, he knew about it, about his tyres etc etc.

      1. Any professional drivers would know. you think Ric would think Bottas is fine when he himself can suddenly close up a few secs gap in 1-2 laps?

      2. @mg1982 I think the audio played Ricciardo’s race engineer on the radio giving him this information, which is why I was surprised he went to the outside on T1, rather than wait for a clean run to T2.

  12. Neil (@neilosjames)
    29th July 2018, 16:30

    Think the first incident, the one between Vettel and Bottas, was a racing incident and I think blame is shared. Bottas probably went in too deep on the old tyres and on the dirty line, but Vettel chopped across unnecessarily when he wasn’t fully clear – he had the position and didn’t need to leave Bottas nowhere to go. Amazed he didn’t get a puncture.

    The second one, I expect Bottas will take a penalty for because it was 100% his fault. He should have braked a lot earlier as he knew he had less downforce on the front end. Ricciardo was an innocent victim.

    1. Slavisa (@sylversurferr)
      29th July 2018, 16:31

      Its same move as Kimi did on Hamilton in Silverstone,how come you didnt tell then its racing incident?

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        29th July 2018, 16:34

        Because I actually watched the Silverstone incident, and it wasn’t the same.

      2. Because it is Ferrari Investigation Association. I like Bot but i feel he deserves a 5s pen but we all know FIA is just gonna be inconsistent and not award anything.

      3. @sylversurferr How are they the same? Hamilton left Raikkonen plenty of space. Vettel left Bottas no space at all. I’m not saying it wasn’t Bottas’ fault, but Vettel was really looking for a collision there.

        Raikkonen @ Silverstone was more like Bottas vs Ricciardo. Which was as clearly Bottas’ fault as it was Raikkonen’s at Silverstone.

        1. @patrickl
          how dare you, when merc involved it is conspiracy to take down Ferraris, but when Ferraris do it more often than not, meh, they are merely racing incident not worth discussing or worth over analyzing :)

          1. @mysticus Heh, sorry :)

        2. Slavisa (@sylversurferr)
          29th July 2018, 16:46

          Even if Vettel let him all space of the world there he would still hit him.There is no way he would make that corner taking it that tight with that much speed he carry.
          So this was maybe even better for Vettel to be hited in rear tyre ,otherwise he would probably be taken off track,like Hamilton was in Silverstone.
          Actualy I am 100% sure Bottas was intentonally trying to put Vettel of track in that corner.

      4. It’s absolutely not the same. Hamilton gave space to Raikkonen.

    2. @neilosjames

      Like Vettel said, “miracle” he didnt get a puncture… Not sure what was he thinking of gaining in pushing a car off track in a corner when the guy has no tyre left to make the corner? He really does crumble under pressure and he does the most silly things to hurt himself worst possible way!

    3. @neilosjames

      Also second comment of yours, Although Bottas looks to be at fault more (your comment dont make sense, about braking early, he doesnt have a duty to brake early to make life easier for someone, otherwise vettel and kimi has been DSQ from races where they could easily avoid braking early), Ric’s move was not so smart esp with a car along side him has no tyre left and front wing damaged? Was instructed to let him by as well…

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        29th July 2018, 16:54

        It makes perfect sense. He’d be braking earlier for his own benefit, and to actually make the corner. That it would make life easier for Ricciardo would be a mere side-effect, and still a better outcome than running into him.

        1. @neilosjames

          “It makes perfect sense” true, thats what i do when i m walking in the park, i let fast walking people through…

  13. Congratulations to HAM. When it matter, his mind is made of steel. In a word, a true Champion. 10
    Congratulations to Toto. Its strategy with “torpedo” Bottas centered target and slow down Ferraris. 10
    Vettel. Too slow on try overtake Bottas. Definitely not a race fighter. 5
    Kimi. Did he race this w/e? N.A. (not appeared). 3
    Ferrari wall crew. Mistakes all time. The only high stuff is the machinery. 4
    Bottas. Faithful little dog. Give him a bone. 7
    Forecast. Still this year, with all toys threw out of the pram, Ferrari need to think over next year. 4

    1. SMH do you realize that this is hungary where passes are very very very hard to come by? Bottas played the moving road block and got exactly what he deserved in the end….
      Track position is king in Hungary and Ferrari did well in having both their cars jump bottas after wet quali……
      rain is what has saved mercedes for the last 2 GPs they are clearly the second fastest car… a dry race in Belgium and Mercedes will be fighting for second.

    2. You forgot the lucky part of having no SC period that contributed to HAM win!

      1. Hamilton won in the third fastest car this weekend through his driving ability alone, no luck. That must really grate on you @mg1982

        1. @mg1982
          You are so GRATEfull mate :)

        2. third?

          1. In the dry Ferrari and Red Bull were both quicker than Merc so yeah .. third fastest.

          2. @davidnotcoulthard Thought Martin made a weird remark too, but Ricciardo’s fast lap was a full second faster than Hamilton’s.

            Unfortunate that Verstappen was out so soon. Would have been interesting to see how he might have benefited from Raikkonen’s ridiculously early stop. Although if VER was still driving, I doubt Mercedes would have covered it.

      2. @mg1982 …don’t see your point there

      3. Is it lucky to have a safety car? Or lucky not to? Make up your mind. Can’t have it both ways as you’ve stated it was lucky Ham GOT the safety car last time out.

      4. @mg1982

        Yeah… Like Australia this year where Vettel went from P3 to P1 because of a safety car. It’s sad that you need to rely on a safety car for Vettel to win.

    3. Vettel. Too slow on try overtake Bottas. Definitely not a race fighter

      This is Hungary – last year it was a Vettel (driving a damaged Ferrari) train. Because track position and barrierless Monaco. @formevic

    4. @formevic

      His mind is made of steel

      Maybe Nico Rosberg would disagree with you…

      1. @tifoso1989 Actually Rosberg would agree. It was Rosberg who routinely cracked under pressure. Like twice going off in Monza while being hounded by Hamilton behind.

        1. I know. It makes it even more amazing that he beat him to the title.

          1. Yeah. Amazing how much more technical issues Hamilton had for Rosberg to still come out on top while almost never actually beating him on track.

  14. I think everyones analysis of Bottas is so wrong.

    Firstly, leaving Bottas out there and possibly finish second, with the added benefit of keeping their leading driver’s championship rival corked up, is what any manufacturer would do. Makes no sense to call him a second driver for it.

    Secondly, I think he performed brilliantly on very worn tires and maximised them brilliantly.

    The only art he lacks, from the look of things, is the art of defending when the actual attack from behind happens.

    His qualy was excellent and race performance above average.

    1. And then he rammed Vettel and Riccardio. But ramming a ferrari is OK akkording to the FIA.

      1. Hitting a driver should result in a position penalty rather than a time penalty.

        It should be a 5 or 10 second time penalty but if you lose no position from it, you should be demoted a position at the race result.

        Bottas didnt lose anything because of hitting Ricciardo, although it was his mistake.

      2. @marcelh
        “But ramming a ferrari is OK akkording to the FIA”
        today there are a lot of Jokers here :)

        “Hitting a driver should result in a position penalty rather than a time penalty”

        That chuckled me even more :) What should Vettel and Kimi got a few weeks? OH forgot, FIA does like ramming Ferraris :)

        1. Uhhhhh… but they got something, no?! And they didn’t even hit 2 drivers!

          1. @mg1982 What?!?! Vettel hit two cars in one lap! With only 5 seconds time penalty!

            And some points, but we know they stop giving him those last few points when Vettel is actually under threat of being banned.

    2. Prab They didn’t leave Bottas out with hopes of taking P2. How could Mercedes have known that Ferrari and Vettel would mess things up so badly with that stop?

      Their only aim could have been to have Bottas finish ahead of Raikkonen

  15. Bottas got a little scrappy at end of race but considering he nearly kept Ferraris behind till the end , a solid performance. Great job from merc to keep at least one car ahead, the red car was by far the fastest car this weekend.

  16. Sky’s commentators are typically partial, as is the whole of the English press. The only thing that matters to them is that Ferrari does badly, no matter how. It’s a shame as journalists.

    1. And bravo to them for that 😉

    2. @jorge-lardone Totally agree. I tune into Italian media for bias-free coverage.

    3. @jorge-lardone I was watching the race on German TV and I thought it was bizarre how much they were rooting for Ferrari. Like Mercedes isn’t a German brand which should get some recognition on German TV.

      I have seen a race on Dutch TV. I didn’t even know if anyone else was driving besides Max Verstappen. I doubt Italian TV is going to be reporting anything else but Ferrari updates. Couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I didn’t see much else but shots with Ferrari cars and drivers in their highlights.

      Sky really has the most unbiased reporting of all. Sure they will be biased towards GB drivers and/or teams somewhat, but it’s not as blatant as any other TV channel from other countries.

      1. @patrickl I’ve read someone say Sky DE manages to be less partial than Sky UK (never listened to Sky DE myself, so grain of salt and all). Based on stories I’ve heard about RTL though I assume that’s what you were referring to. And Ziggo, well as you said (though I find it quite understandable that they’re like that considering their audience (who are probably a bit keener on having a Dutch guy to cirkeltrek around than we))…

        1. @davidnotcoulthard No, it was RTL GP. Didn’t even know they have Sky DE.

          I preferred watching races on Sky. Or rather Sky UK apparently.

          Although I preferred Eurosport ages ago. They had every session on free to watch. Perhaps a bit dull reporting, but no rooting for any team or driver whatsoever. Then Ecclestone and Mosley defrauded FOM away from FIA (doing a $100 million deal for something worth billions a few years later) and it all went to hell in a handbasket from there.

        2. Hi @patrickl @davidnotcoulthard
          Sky UK is that partial and enjoy local fans as Sky IT do samely for reds. You only need to look where they do business. Murdoch policy is the same all countries.

          1. @formevic Leave the tin foil hat Murdoch conspiracy theories out of it! (Selling Sky to Disney anyway) It’s exactly what you expect from any Domestic based sports coverage.

      2. @patrickl If you have the chance and understand German, try watching on ORF (Austrian TV). Excellent commenting by Alexander Wurz. No bias at all as far as I can tell, and a lot of insight. Much better than all the other channels.

        I used to like watching BBC with Coulthard and Brundle as well, but Croft and Brundle are quite bad, albeit less bad than RTL.

    4. @jorge-lardone

      Tune in to either German or Italian coverage of the race, I’m sure you’ll find them unbiased. They are journalists of the highest degree with a lot of respect for the team and driver you support.

  17. Brilliant job by Lewis and Mercedes, against the odds where ferrari and red Bull have been quick than them. Really feel for Bottas, but absolute good on running those tires to the end though eventually he lost out to Vettel and Riciardo.

  18. YellowSubmarine
    29th July 2018, 18:58

    That unnecessary risk taken by vettel when overtaking Bottas is something that seems to pop up every now and then with vettel – a strange desire to almost want an obvious humiliation of drivers he’s duelling with. Like he gets angry when he can’t overtaken a driver he sees as lesser than him, and then tries to ram the point home almost in a road-rage sort of way. I think this is what is behind incidents like Baku against Lewis, Turkey against Webber, Hungary against Bottas, “this is getting silly, I’m just ruining my tyres”, “I want blue flags now”, etc.
    He lacks self-control in those critical moments when racing almost becomes personal, and let’s his frustrations out in a manner that’s very dangerous.

    1. Indeed I wonder if it’s part of his “red mist” nature or that he’s just clumsy at overtaking. He always seems to cut it extremely close when he overtakes someone. No matter how easy the overtake is.

      Like in Austria where Hamilton’s tyres were completely shot and Vettel could easily get past, yet he blocked Hamilton off completely from taking the turn sliding within inches of Hamilton. When it would (should) have been an easy and clean overtake.

    2. But he was in front! Most likely he thought BOT gave up as he pretty much covered the interior completely. It was just an exaggeration from BOT to try something like that with an inferior car. Really now, he really thought VET would still give him enough space anymore at the interior once he got completely ahead?! What real racing driver does that? And proof that he exaggerated on purpose is that he made another mistake with RIC.

      Sorry, but HAM today just hit a new max level of ridiculousness, asking about the condition of BOT’s tyres.

      1. @mg1982 It’s not really a difficult idea for you to try to grasp. Vettel should have erred on the cautious side and given space rather than rely on Bottas not hitting him. Instead he wanted to prove his point that he’d got past. That leaves the other driver to decide whether to meekly cede or ‘advise’ Vettel that they’re still there and collide. It’s not the kind of pointless bravado Hamilton risks anymore.

        1. @david-br Maybe VET’s idea of cautious was making sure BOT had no chance of getting back at him (…resulting in, something that could’ve ended rather badly)

          1. @davidnotcoulthard Having watched it again, I think you’re right actually, he seemed too keen to close off the threat, which to be fair he seems to recognize by not blaming Bottas.

      2. @mg1982 Ridiculous in what way? BOT was on those tyres longer then him and he was checking so he could pace himself accordingly.

        I believe you are choking on Red Mist

  19. “Interesting tactics” from Bottas… Sigh.

  20. Billy (@picklehead83)
    29th July 2018, 22:33

    It’s not over Ferrari will be back. Hopefully the conspiracy theorist Allison buries Merc within a month.

  21. VET is not innocent, yet deserved to turn ahead of BOT with no drama (which he raised chances to happen).
    BOT should have known better and keep his car out of trouble. I favour HAM but would’ve been disgusted if VET was taken out of the race.
    You can’t ruin championship battles like that, we want it to happen through racing, not DNFs. BOT and other drivers need to show respect if they are not in the “real” battle.
    Of course, we are all good criticizing from our couch. Drivers make mistakes. Far less than we would’ve

  22. Another empty ‘win’ and probable ‘championship’ from Ham then.
    Everyone falling over themselves and him sailing to another unchallenged win in the best car.
    F1 titles are like free coupons now when once they were life changing blood and sweat.
    Roll on 2021 I suppose, if anyone is still around to watch…

    1. What a silly comment. You must be new to F1 because what is happening now, or in fact what had been happening during Merc domination in previous years is nothing unique. F1 has always been about the best drivers in the best car. Period.

    2. Quite a ridiculous comment.
      First of all, the championship is far from over. Especially, Ferrari will comeback in the 2nd half with their 40hp more power unit.
      Secondly, Ferrari has been the fastest car this season, and the driver in the 2nd fastest car is leading the championship.. which only makes it more interesting.
      Thirdly, there’s no reason to sulk because your favourite driver/team is not performing well. If Ferrari wants to win a championship they should hire a proper #1 driver.

      1. If Ferrari wants to win a championship they should hire a proper #1 driver.

        Ha!

  23. Ferrari made plenty of blunders but the first was spotting MB a free run in the first stint by putting the car on slower tires ahead of the faster car. And they compounded this by pitting the potentially quicker car early. They should have let RAI in front to harry Bottas instead of trying to remove him by undercut. That took too much time.

  24. Why Bottas is not given 30 second penalty as he didn’t serve his penalty in the race.

  25. I am a HUGE Merc/Ham fan and pleased with HAM result, dissapointed in BOT. But for me the Toro Rosso finishing in front of McLaren was just really great given there finger pointing at Honda

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