In the round-up: Valtteri Bottas says he can’t afford to risk everything to win because of Mercedes’ situation in the constructors’ championship.
What they say
Bottas admitted he has “nothing to lose” in the championship – but says his team doesn’t:
Obviously we haven’t been the quickest ones on the straight lines here, but the tow effect is certainly going to help. A lot tends to happen here in turns one, two and three, as we saw last year with Lewis and Sebastian.
You never know, me I have nothing to lose in the championship, but I have to keep reminding myself that we’re still fighting for the constructors’ championship, so I have to measure the risks. I’ll try to go for any position I can gain.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
I just wanted to clarify a few things. There seems to be some confusion about what the word “paraplegic” really means. Please read my statement below. Thank you all for your amazing support! You’re all a big part in helping me get back on my feet! pic.twitter.com/hcxp4mOcCN
— Robert Wickens (@robertwickens) October 27, 2018
However, incidents like the one in Pocono are the main reason why I think gimmicks (e.g. fanboost) and overly contrived regulations (e.g. effectively only a Toyota being able to win the LM24 this year) are so disrespectful and demeaning to the sport and the inherent risks
— Ben Evans (@bencommentator) October 27, 2018
Somewhat street legal!🚦 pic.twitter.com/ZRhFivyX1K
— Jake Dennis (@JakeDennis19) October 27, 2018
The stewards take no action against Stroll for not rejoining the track correctly at turn eight: "As the painted run-off area was damp, the speed at which the driver was travelling would have made attempting to negotiate the yellow kerb unsafe in such conditions."#F1 #MexicanGP
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) October 27, 2018
By our calculations….
Probably not
— Yas Marina Circuit (@ymcofficial) October 27, 2018
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Mexican GP - qualifying (Toro Rosso)
"Brendon had an excellent Q1, easily making it through on only two new sets of Hypersofts, but wasn't able to match his time again in Q2, which was unfortunate, as he had the pace in the car to make it through to Q3."
Mexican GP qualifying (Williams)
"I drove a very bad lap which I take full responsibility for and I am disappointed with that. I couldn’t maximise the performance the car could potentially allow us, so a very disappointing day."
Liberty Media need to learn that you can’t polish a turd (Duncan Stephen)
"With Liberty Media, I still can’t shake off the sense that they seem to have thought they were buying a TV show."
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Comment of the day
Do Brendon Hartley’s comments indicate he’s learned his fate already for next year?
Doesn’t seem particularly wise to directly oppose the statements of your current employer, especially if your seat is in serious danger and you’re trying to impress them with your performances.
Maybe Hartley knows for sure that Toro Rosso is gonna ditch him, and is trying to pitch his worth to the other teams, if anyone is willing to take notice.
Aaditya (@Neutronstar)
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Hemingway (@)
28th October 2018, 0:19
Daniel deserves more credit than he gets. Since he’s been up against Verstappen he’s had 4 wins vs 3 wins for max, and 3 poles vs 0 for max. He truly performs when the car is capable.
Verstappen is extremely good but is still lacking the cherry on top, he has plenty of time though.
Aldoid
28th October 2018, 1:51
I agree… funny how Verstappen is usually quicker over one lap, but when the top spot has really been up for grabs Daniel has delivered in qualifying. On wins, it may as well be even as far as I’m concerned: I’m not exactly sure just how they stack up on DNFs but recent memory says Max was slightly worse off last year, while this year Daniel has suffered the lions share of bad luck… I’m calling it a wash out of laziness. Verstappen definitely has the speed though… downright erratic sometimes (especially in defense) but he definitely seems quicker when he keeps it together. Still, if ever there was a day for Ricciardo to steal one from Max, this was it. Couldn’t have timed it better.
anon
28th October 2018, 7:35
Aldoid, Ricciardo retired from six races in 2017 and Verstappen retired from seven races, so the retirement rate for both drivers was fairly similar by the end of the year.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
28th October 2018, 10:02
More important than the number of DNF is where they occur which matter for a RBR driver.
2 retirement in Monaco and Mexico is worse then 2 in Spa and Monza.
anon
28th October 2018, 12:09
@jeanrien, since you bring it up, Verstappen didn’t retire at either the Mexican or Monaco GP’s in 2017, although Ricciardo did have to retire from the 2017 Mexican GP.
I would also question whether the race in which that DNF occurred was quite as critical in terms of the points lost as you suggest it was. After all, back in 2017 Ricciardo finished 4th in Monza and 3rd in Spa, whilst in Monaco he was 3rd – so they were actually getting pretty similar results at most circuits on the calendar.
They were, quite often, in a similar position in 2017 to where they are this year – usually quick enough that they were usually guaranteed at least 5th and 6th if they finished, and sometimes better if the front two messed up, but equally usually not quick enough to be an outright threat to the front two teams. In that sense, the relative loss of points was less circuit sensitive than you suggest it was.
Sviat
28th October 2018, 7:55
recent memory says Max was slightly worse off last year,
This is true. Verstappen had 1 more DNF than Ricciardo. But Ric had about 30 points advantage. So even if we give another 25 points to Verstappen for an extra DNF, Ricciardo would still be in front.
This year, Ricciardo has more DNFs.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
28th October 2018, 2:14
The best sales pitch is good results.
I guess I’m old fashioned because I don’t like to “bag the company”, especially if blaming the company is a “cheap shot”. Everyone works very hard at their job, and if things go a bit awry … well they went a bit awry. Was anyone hurt? No, good, move on. Leave those responsible for that problem to upgrade their performance. The important thing is to make sure your own performance wasn’t in question.
Zim
28th October 2018, 6:05
COTD is spot on. His latest demeanour show that he knows he’s out.
Zim
28th October 2018, 6:05
*shows
Wayne
28th October 2018, 7:25
How does 1 driver deserver the pole over another? Doesnt matter what 1 does during practise. It all only matters when the chips r down during qualy. Ric was fasted ric deserves pole. But what a line up 1st to 6th gona b an epic start and race.hope ver and vet dont cause any crashes. Ham amd ric have showed time and again how to race without crashing.
Jere (@jerejj)
28th October 2018, 7:41
”A lot tends to happen here in turns one, two and three, as we saw last year with Lewis and Sebastian.”
– And the year before with Lewis, Nico (Rosberg), and Max, as well as, Gutierrez, Ericsson, and Wehrlein, and the year before that with Seb and Daniel. BTW, I think ”but says his team doesn’t” – Should read ‘his team does’ instead.
– Duncan Stephen’s article is interesting reading, and the COTD has an interesting point as well. BTW, why a question about some 500-storey tower now? It’s still four more weeks till the Abu Dhabi GP, so a bit premature to bring up stuff concerning that race, LOL.
ColdFly (@)
28th October 2018, 8:40
Re. Mr Evan’s tweet.
I find it ‘disrespectful’ when using a crash which resulted in a guy fighting to walk again, as the reason to lambast things that have nothing to do with it. Especially when glorifying a car crash as your own profile banner.
PS maybe I’ll tweet it to him directly
jason
29th October 2018, 3:03
I agree. I tried to click through to read other tweets in hopes of gaining some context that would help his tweet make sense, only to be disappointed.
I assume he is implying that there is some quality of a “gimmick” in the regulations or designs of the IndyCars, but I fail to see what that could be as it relates to the accident.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th October 2018, 11:20
I didn’t get the context behind Keith & YMC’s tweets about a 500 storey building. Can anyone clue me in?
Is it to bring that ground-level circuit up to Mexico’s altitude?
BasCB (@bascb)
28th October 2018, 17:33
Yes, I think it alludes to how an extra 1500 m (500x3m?) of height helps make even a track that in itself is quite boring to drive give us a far more interesting prospect of a mixed grid and interesting race @phylyp.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th October 2018, 17:34
Cheers, @bascb
@johnmilk – yes, we set quite a high bar in silliness!
Joao (@johnmilk)
28th October 2018, 16:36
I think that’s it @phylyp not everybody is as funny as us, sorry Keith you have to work on your game