Bottas: I can do much better than I did in 2018

15 comments on “Bottas: I can do much better than I did in 2018”

1. 

   mfreire
   14th December 2018, 1:17

   I very much approve of Monza restoring the second Lesmo to it’s pre-1994 form, but maybe a little slower so that it isn’t flat but still very fast (it would be flat in today’s cars)
2. 

   Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
   14th December 2018, 2:21

   How was the old Lesmo? can’t find a video or picture showing the differences. Would anyone help me?
   1. 

      TomMK (@tommk)
      14th December 2018, 2:56

      It was much better, faster. Watch the old footage and you can see the way the cars carry more speed through there and on to the back straight. There was also a spectator stand there which was demolished.
      1. 

         socksolid (@socksolid)
         14th December 2018, 4:21

         I’m not sure it is better. I think the current second lesmo is better corner because it is slow enough so drivers need to lift and brake into it. Sometimes we even see drivers make mistakes there. Plus the corner has gravel runoff so you can no go wide and not lose time. The old corner was a lot faster and with the massive amount of downforce of these current cars it would be easily flatout. And because of the higher speeds fia (or the motorbike organization) would probably want tarmac runoff there.

         Honestly I just think monza wants to make sure it keeps its fastest f1 average speed. Make the second lesmo faster you make monza faster. But then again every couple of years monza has an idea to change some corner but eventually nothing happens. Remember the new turn 1 proposal from some years back:
         https://www.racefans.net/2016/05/24/monza-planning-tear-first-chicane/
         1. 

            Phylyp (@phylyp)
            14th December 2018, 4:50

            I’m not sure it is better. I think the current second lesmo is better

            @socksolid – nicely argued, and very nice to see a viewpoint that doesn’t always see the past through rose-tinted glasses.
3. 

   Mashiat (@mashiat)
   14th December 2018, 5:26

   Well, you can’t be much worse.
4. 

   ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
   14th December 2018, 6:21

   Is that Valter’s response after you guys showed his RaceFans rank?
   1. 

      ColdFly (@)
      14th December 2018, 7:52

      That woul be a great feature.
      @ruliemaulana
5. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   14th December 2018, 9:36

   He’s right.
   – I agree with the COTD.
   – Having just watched a pre-1994 onboard I can conclude that I wouldn’t be against if the second Lesmo were to be modified back to its old faster layout although I don’t think it’d really be necessary as the corner in its current form is excellent as well.
6. 

   Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
   14th December 2018, 11:09

   SO! .. Ferrari are pulling even more strings behind the scenes than we realised! I knew it all along.

   Totally agree with COTD.
   If Lance looks bad next season then I feel it will make the entire sport look bad for allowing seats to be bought rather than earned. He is a heck of a long way from being the worst F1 driver that I have ever seen so I am hoping that, with enough time and practice, he will become more acceptable to all those who despise him.

   It would be great to see Susie Wolff doing well in FE.
   Motor racing is one of the sports where I really don’t understand the lack of good women competitors.
   Driving at speed requires the kinds of talents that have nothing to do with gender differences so far as I can tell and there must be plenty of women out there with the aggression and determination to win.
   1. 

      Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
      14th December 2018, 18:27

      Lance Stroll is obviously a good driver because his best result is third place on a wet track.
      I think we need to give Lawrence Stroll some credit, he could have put Lance into the seat before the season ended, but instead chose to leave him a Williams. I don’t know why that was, but we can at least see he’s not impatient.
      I think he really wants this team to succeed, and to that end I suspect he will have his own expectations of what his drivers will achieve in 2019.
7. 

   Maciek (@maciek)
   14th December 2018, 11:26

   It’d be great both for Bottas and the sport if he could push Hamilton, but so far it looks like he’s on his way to joining a long list of decent drivers whose confidence was destroyed by untouchable teammates. On an ideal day, Bottas probably can beat a Hamilton who happens to not have his… stuff together, but I just don’t see him challenging over the course of a season. But I’d be happy to be proved wrong.
   1. 

      erikje
      14th December 2018, 15:35

      if he could push Hamilton

      He will.. next year Tot will ask him to push the car of hamilton over the line.
8. 

   StefMeister (@stefmeister)
   14th December 2018, 12:21

   Removing the second chicane & re-profiling the second Lesmo back to it’s old configuration is good if in terms of average speed but I honestly don’t think it’s necessary.

   The old second lesmo was a great corner for the cars of it’s time because even in 1993 while it was possible to take it flat in qualifying if you were good enough & the car was well balanced enough it wasn’t easy & in the race it was even more marginal. In anything beyond around 2001/2002 the old 2nd lesmo would be easy flat so I don’t think reverting back to that configuration would really add anything.

   As to the 2nd chicane, The only change I think they should make to that is revert the kurb’s back to what they had prior to 2009 so that it’s actually a challenge again, I’d do the same at the 1st chicane as well.
   The new high profile/sausage kerb’s used on this type of corner remove a lot of what used to make them so challenging because now it’s a straightforward left/right while before you could/needed to use more of the kerb’s & it was this which made these sorts of chicanes (The old bus stop, Final chicane at Montreal & Variante Alta likewise) so challenging. Use too much kerb & you lose a ton of time, Use too little & you can lose a lot. It was a balancing act & watching cars flying over them was always fun.

   Other than making that change I don’t see any reason to actually remove it, It’s a place where most of the overtaking occurs & even with a longer run between the 1st chicane & the 1st lesmo I think the 1st lesmo would be fast enough with a short enough braking zone that I don’t think it would be a good overtaking spot. Additionally at this point I think the chicane have become part of Monza’s identity & are able to offer a greater challenge for car/driver (Providing they get the kerbs right) than would be the case without.
9. 

   hobo (@hobo)
   14th December 2018, 15:28

   I like Valtteri. He seems like a good guy, and is a handy driver to boot. But nothing that I have seen so far indicates that he is up to this. Both RAI and VER had 2 more DNFs than Bottas, yet finished ahead (albeit just).

   Maybe it was just a bad season and he’ll come back on form. But I think our time of intrateam battles is over for now. LEC-VET is the only possible one I see in the top teams for next season.

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