Eight poles, two wins: Will Hamilton convert this time?

18 comments on “Eight poles, two wins: Will Hamilton convert this time?”

1. 

   Green Flag (@greenflag)
   16th March 2019, 19:06

   As long as the looming first corner collision between Max and Leclerc doesn’t impact Lewis, barring mechanical issues he’s home free and clear.
   1. 

      Dmitry (@)
      16th March 2019, 19:30

      Hmmm, you think it will be Verstappen and Leclerc?
      I was thinking Verstappen will be aiming at Vettel… but I wouldn’t discard Leclerc meeting with Haases… or even – who knows how good Norris starts…
      1. 

         ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
         16th March 2019, 21:04

         Seb going to let Max pushing Valtteri and sneak back into 3rd place. He would then control the pace so Valtteri and Charles had close fight while watching Max ruin Lewis tyres. But Seb could not win this because Red Bull strange tyre strategy on Pierre would help Max more at half way through the race.

         In the end it would be 26 points race for Charles.
2. 

   Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
   16th March 2019, 19:08

   I have a feeling he will, but I think Seb will finish second. The front wings are wider this year so I wouldn’t call out some carnage in the start, especially when you have Max, KMag and Grosjean so close together.
   1. 

      Tango (@tango)
      16th March 2019, 19:31

      Yeah that’s the trio I’m looking on to spice up the start
      1. 

         Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
         16th March 2019, 19:34

         Lando starts 8th and he isn’t very experienced, is he? I am pumped man, rewatched qualifying because of the F1 drought.
3. 

   Adam (@rocketpanda)
   16th March 2019, 19:17

   I’m almost certain he’ll win relatively comfortably. I’d be happy to be wrong though.

   There’s a lot threatening a good race to be honest. Bottas has every chance of getting past him at the start and seems pretty on it, and maybe the race pace of the Ferrari’s and Verstappen might overhaul him. It’ll be interesting especially to see the full power of the Red Bull-Honda in race trim and obviously having Vettel, Verstappen, Leclerc & Grosjean so close could mean collisions. Then you got to consider a saftey car’s fairly likely to mess up a victory… so there’s a possibility of a fascinating race.

   That said… I fairly expect Hamilton & Bottas to break away from the chasing pack and Hamilton to maintain about a 4 second gap to Bottas, and win with an unchallenged 1-2.
4. 

   cc
   16th March 2019, 19:58

   With the Pinocchio brothers locking out the front row, it’s hard to look past a Mercedes 1-2.
   1. 

      Me
      16th March 2019, 21:44

      ROFL
5. 

   Hugh (@hugh11)
   16th March 2019, 20:13

   Interesting how if Giovinazzi did his Q1 lap in Q2, he’d have made it into Q3, but instead, he starts 14th…
   1. 

      nase
      17th March 2019, 0:23

      @hugh11
      Or, seen from a different angle: It’s fascinating how close the Sauber (or Alfa, whatevs) duo came to producing a completely different result. Räikkönen came tantalisingly close to being eliminated in Q1 (he made it through in 15th place with just 0.051 seconds to spare, behind him were Gasly and Sainz, who were clearly faster than that), and Giovinazzi pieced together a lap time that would’ve been fast enough for Q3 (in fact, it was just 0.117 seconds slower than Räikkönen’s best effort, despite having been set no less than 43 minutes earlier, which can make a huge difference in terms of track evolution …). In other words, Giovinazzi was probably less than a car’s length away from being Sauber’s hero, but then he didn’t perform when it counted the most, and suddenly he’s the ‘slow’ one watching his team mate having fun in Q3.

      The real story here is how incredibly tight the midfield has become. Everyone bar Williams seems to be able to fight for Q3, and everyone bar Mercedes and Ferrari is just one mistake away from being eliminated in Q1. Yes, even Red Bull aren’t safe, as Gasly’s example shows. Two unobstructed flying attempts just weren’t enough in his case. In other words: Hero or zero, it’s all in the drivers’ hands (at least for 12-14 of them). Forget the frontrunners, they’re predictable and plain boring. The midfield is where F1’s heart is beating.
6. 

   Robert McKay
   16th March 2019, 20:30

   The interesting bit of this Grand Prix will be the Formula 1.5 race. Not convinced the race at the front will be very interesting, but stranger things have happened.
7. 

   AliceD (@aliced)
   16th March 2019, 21:07

   My prediction based on nothing at all is for a first lap safety car. Neither Williams finishing the race. Hamilton wins as well as getting fastest lap after backing everyone up the last 10 laps of the race.
   1. 

      SaraJ (@sjzelli)
      16th March 2019, 23:34

      I just vomited a little
8. 

   MaliceCooper
   16th March 2019, 21:18

   Scything through the first lap chaos will be Alex Albon, who holds off Bottas in the final laps to take an amazing win for STR :-)
9. 

   Niefer (@niefer)
   16th March 2019, 23:44

   Unless Vettel (or Verstappen) makes a miraculous start like 2016, it’ll be piece of cake for Lewis. I honestly expect a Grand Chelem. He started on fire.
10. 

    Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
    17th March 2019, 1:12

    Well, hopefully Hamilton crashes or blows up so we can get an entertaining race.
11. 

    Jere (@jerejj)
    17th March 2019, 3:11

    Not this time either. One way or another, he’s going to fail at that yet again around this circuit.

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