Start, Interlagos, 2019

Verstappen wins drama-filled Brazilian GP as Vettel and Leclerc collide

2019 Brazilian Grand Prix summary

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Max Verstappen had to pass Lewis Hamilton twice to claim victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix. But the race ended in drama as the two Ferrari drivers crashed into each other while fighting over fourth place.

Charles Leclerc dived past Sebastian Vettel for fourth place at turn one with five laps to go. Vettel came back alongside his team mate as they raced towards turn two and drew alongside the other Ferrari on the outside. But the pair made contact, leaving both with damage which ended their races.

Their collision triggered the second Safety Car period in the closing stages of the race. The first was caused when Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes expired as he was trying to chase down Leclerc.

Verstappen was under pressure from Hamilton at the time and Red Bull took the bold call to pit him, costing him the lead to Hamilton, but getting onto fresh tyres. It paid off immediately as Verstappen passed Hamilton, who he had taken once earlier in the race, and regained his lead.

Hamilton came under pressure from Albon, and when the Ferrari drivers caused the second Safety Car period, Mercedes brought Hamilton in for fresh rubber. He immediately passed Pierre Gasly at the final restart with two laps to go and set off after Albon.

But a hasty move by Hamilton at turn 10 tipped the Red Bull driver into a spin. Gasly nipped by and held Hamilton off to the line by a car length. Meanwhile the stewards are investigating the collision.

A penalty for Hamilton would promote Carlos Sainz Jnr to the podium. The McLaren driver brilliantly rose from the back of the field to take fourth on the road after running a long first stint.

Alfa Romeo pair Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi took fifth and sixth. Daniel Ricciardo claimed seventh after being penalised for colliding with Kevin Magnussen. Lando Norris, Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat completed the points scorers.

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2019 Brazilian Grand Prix reaction

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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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163 comments on “Verstappen wins drama-filled Brazilian GP as Vettel and Leclerc collide”

  1. Vettel. Ferrari. Height of incompetence.

    1. Sometimes feels like they’re made for each other. Sigh.

      1. @phylyp it has been one of the toughest year being their supporter. I thought 2017 and 2018 were bad, but 2019 showed that Ferrari can find newer ways to ruin their chances each and every weekend.

        1. @knightameer – tell me about it. I’m a Vettel fan. Groan :)

          1. @knightameer @phylyp I know how you feel I still have the slap mark on my forehead from when Ricciardo reversed into Kvyat during the Azerbaijan GP.

        2. No shadow of Schumacher in this team anymore … or else

    2. common. that was a) hard racing and neither driver wanted to yield and b) they hardly touched. weird that they both dnf’d

      1. @mrboerns Moving over when alongside another car in a straight line goes above hard racing and into dangerous racing territory.

        1. @mashiat +1. Exactly.

        2. Maybe you should check Leclerc on Norris in the first laps, that was above hard racing. Leclerc is too aggresive for his own good.

          1. How are you saying that Leclerc is a bad driver when vettel literally crashed into another driver in a freakin straight. Vettel can’t even go wheel to wheel in a straight lol

        3. Webber vs Vettel in Turkey anybody?? Seems it is signature move to move into a teammate

      2. sorry @mashiat but if that kind of miniscule movement in this Situation is where you draw the line to dangerous racing you might wanna watch snooker. that was such a minor deviation by seb it might well have been caused by the coriolis effect…

        1. @mrboerns Minor deviation?! Vettel moved a full car width to the left plowing into Leclerc’s front wheel

        2. Vettel starts his pass with the right hand side wheels on the white line. At contact point, there’s about half a meter there. I wouldn’t call that a “minor deviation” on a short straight. But snooker is fun as well, I guess.

        3. When they touch, Vettel is more or less 1 meter to the left of the white line. When he started the overtake, he was touching the white line.

          That’s not minuscule. That’s massive when it comes to F1. Any half-talented driver can keep the car from drifting 1m to the left in a straight.

          1. @casjo that’s when they touch yes, but that’s just because Leclerc was so close. Vettel moves a full car width to the left. That’s the move he makes. Not miniscule indeed

          2. @f1osaurus Agreed. A full car’s width is reasonable. I’m just not sure how much of a crime SV committed, aside of course from the breaking of the cardinal rule amongst teammates. Along with CL. Taking each other out.

            I think we have to consider that SV had drs and obvious pace over CL, and was ahead of him as he was closing on him left. In other words CL had full view of SV to his right front…and didn’t move left with SV but rather stood his ground. SV did not move suddenly but rather gradually. He certainly didn’t ‘plow into’ CL. Just saying are we sure that wasn’t a racing incident in which CL could have played a part in avoiding? Was he just stubborn over SV having the drs momentum?

            The good news is that this was never going to cost them the Championship, nor their WCC standing, nor even the win, so it can be sloughed off as ‘silly games’ as I believe Binotto has described it. It perhaps rightfully cost them 3rd in the WDC, for now.

          3. @robbie Leclerc quite clearly moved left to give Vettel more room once he saw him moving over.

          4. @mashiat For sure. But couldn’t he have kept moving as SV did, rather than stop moving left?

          5. F1oSaurus (@)
            18th November 2019, 7:16

            @robbie Vettel moved too fast. Just like he did in Singapore or Turkey 2010.

            Besides, why should Leclerc even be moving. Who expects their team mate trying to crash into them?

          6. @robbie Given how suddenly Vettel moved left given their close proximity, I don’t think Leclerc can be blamed for not moving further left. It wasn’t even at the end of the straight going into a braking point, it was mid-straight and Vettel was quite clearly going to overtake him. But Vettel for whatever ridiculous reason felt the need to squeeze his own teammate mid-straight to scare him off, when he would have been better off just driving straight.

          7. @f1osaurus @mashiat ‘Moved too fast’ and ‘suddenly moved left’ to me exaggerate what happened and aren’t consistent with CL describing it as ‘a very small touch.’

            As I said SV was ahead when he started moving left so CL had full view of what SV was doing and could have kept moving left along with SV. Why should CL even be moving? Because SV was. Who expects their teammate trying to crash into them? Nobody and that’s not what happened. But squeezes happen between drivers all the time. It’s part of racing for position…putting your opponent on a less than ideal line for the upcoming corner. Add in the dynamic between these two particular drivers from this particular seasons’ events for them, and I can see why this was a racing incident. Not exonerating SV here, just saying his crime wasn’t massive nor blatant, and CL could have helped by trying harder to keep out of SV’s way, particularly because he had full view of SV’s car. Be different if CL had to rely on mirrors…then I wouldn’t have expected CL to see and react and would have put it all on SV.

          8. @robbie But that is exactly what happened. He almost got ahead of Leclerc and suddenly moved left. Again.l Just like Turkey, Singapore etc.

          9. @f1osaurus I just don’t see the ‘suddenly’ in it. Not in Brazil. Turkey maybe.

          10. F1oSaurus (@)
            20th November 2019, 9:10

            @robbie Well he moves in a straight line and … moves over to the left. At such a rate that it takes Leclerc (someone with very fast reflexes) by surprise.

            Suddenly fits those dots perfectly. If you actually watch the footage …

            Turkey at least made sense since he was moving back to the racing line. In Brazil he was already on the racing line and there was no reason for Leclerc to expect Vettel to suddenly move left. In fact Leclerc would be getting g ready to move right and pick up Vettel’s slipstream.

          11. @f1osaurus You can keep using the word suddenly but that doesn’t make it so. CL should have expected anything, as he himself moved Norris most definitely suddenly. It is not an unheard of move to try to move one’s opponent off their ideal line. Just because SV was in the racing line doesn’t mean he couldn’t have moved CL further from it and just go back to the ideal line himself. That’s racing.

          12. @robbie You can annoyingly try to play words and pretend that Vettel did nothing wrong, but that doesn’t make it so. Yet again Vettel crashed into another car.

            See Sainz demonstrate how it’s actually possible ull off that move without driving into another car:
            https://youtu.be/c_GDGniGT3w?t=85

          13. @f1osaurus If you read my posts more carefully instead of with blinders on you would see that I do not exonerate SV. I just don’t see how he made a sudden move, and I do think CL could have move further left as SV was gradually moving left. But he decided to hold his line. So be it.

          14. @robbie Yes I know that you feel the comical urge to pretend to be the voice of reason, but just stop with the nonsense. Vettel crashed in to Leclerc. Just like he did Webber in 2010, Stroll in 2018 and Raikkonen/Verstappen in 2017.

            If he did something like this only for the very first time, then it’s fine to play the devils advocate, but when someone keeps doing things like this, you need to be extremely blindered to still not see the malicious intent or utter incompetence.

            Also, Vettel was clearly not gradually moving left. He moved over quickly enough to take Leclerc by surprise.

            It CAN be done. An F1 car can drive in a straight line:
            https://youtu.be/c_GDGniGT3w?t=85

    3. Hamilton stole Albon’s 1st podium.

    4. and Hamilton? 5 second penalty for dangerous driving. Should have been black flagged

  2. Vettel! Hahahahahahahahahaha.

    What a wally, plus trying to blame the other guy. Again. When will he learn.

    1. Most probably never. 2017, 2018 and now this year. His errors just pile up.

    2. I mean he is going to keep doing it because his fans have no clue about racing and will always defend him.

      1. (@carlosmedrano)
        That’s your standard reaction it seems for every other driver except your protégé :)

    3. János Henkelmann
      17th November 2019, 22:40

      “He will never learn” – Grosjean

  3. GtisBetter (@)
    17th November 2019, 19:09

    Vettel was to blame, but Leclerc could have been the smarter man and just also moved a bit.

    1. He did move left actually

      1. GtisBetter (@)
        17th November 2019, 19:14

        Oh, then i have to check the replay again, cause I thought he just drove straight

    2. Leclerc moved left but it doesn’t matter he left vettel more then enough space. Vettel just being stupid Isn’t even capable of going wheel to wheel with another driver on a straight without crashing

  4. Vettel remembered how he crashed into Webber in 2010 Turkish GP.

  5. Just WOW.

    Without Toto Mercedes clearly was without a cool head… pitting Lewis from P2 in the end? Seriously?
    And Ferrari… well, like we have seen many times this season – it all goes well, until it unravels in second in a spectacular fashion!

    Congrats to Max

    1. safetycar ending a little earlier and ham not spilling his spaghetti all over albon and they might have looked absolutely genius. you never know…

      1. János Henkelmann
        17th November 2019, 22:42

        The safety car was NEVER going to end earlier than it did!

    2. Hamilton chose to come in

  6. You’d have to be stupid to blame Leclerc for that collision. Your teammate with fresher tyres overtakes you, you LET IT GO. Sure you have to right to fight back but the smart thing to do is to LET IT GO. At the very least try not to steer into him!

    1. @carbon_fibre smart and vettel dont go in the same sentence.

    2. He couldn’t hold it back anymore.

  7. What a race!! 1st part all tactics between the top teams and 2nd part all this crazy stuff happening. Gasly P2!!

    I feel sorry for Albon but what a great champion Lewis is for admitting his fault straight away. I respect that very much

    1. If only the great champion could use his greatness to reverse the moment and gift Albon his podium? This is so hilarious, just because he admits his error doesn’t absolve him? Remember everyone laughing at Verstappen for going too fast under yellows in Mexico? He admitted that, and still got punished and rightly creamed. Admitting something is nothing if you’re clearly af fault.

      1. He could easily have called this a racing incident. But he didn’t. I respect that.

        I don’t like the fact he ruined Albon’s race. Not at all.

      2. 🤡

        When did you suddenly get so hard for Albon? Oh wait it’s something that involves Lewis so you get your back up for the sake of it, sorry continue with your salt.

  8. Shame for Albon. He might regret leaving space for Hamilton. Mercedes have been rash this race. This is not the team that won 6 world championships that we know. But I mean, hey.. why not throw everything there since championships have been sealed.

    If I were the other drivers, I’d be scared to racing against Vettel and not against Verstappen at this point.

    1. If I were the other teammate, I’d be scared to racing against Vettel and not against Verstappen at this point.

    2. I would be more scared against Hamilton. Does what he pleases and takes out other drivers

  9. I enjoyed that one :)

  10. Verstappen the real deal if anyone was still in doubt.

    1. Red bull had by far the fastest car today and max still almost managed to lose it. All hype just like vettel

      1. @carlosmedrano

        Sour reply.
        ‘by far’ ha ha stupid suggestion. Merc lose some of their usual advantage and we’re supposed to believe Max isn’t that quick.

        1. @bigjoe Well Red Bull clearly had the fastest car yes. Are you seriously trying to dispute that fact?

          Ferrari was faster than Mercedes also, but their decent driver had that engine penalty. So he had to come from far behind

          1. @f1osaurus coming from you, the only thing that’s clear is that the fastest car is never Mercedes.

          2. @niefer Nonsense, there were plenty times when Mercedes indeed had the fastest car.

            Today was clearly not one of those. They had the third fastest car today (and yesterday) .

            But of course we know that you can never acknowledge facts. Just cynical snide remarks with no actual content. Disgusting.

          3. Just cynical snide remarks with no actual content. Disgusting.

            @f1osaurus that is when you type about Vettel. ;)

          4. @niefer Wrong again vapid man. I post facts.

          5. @f1osaurus You post salty rubbish, man. But c’mon, don’t be grumpy! Have a cookie.

          6. you reply facts…
            in long runs, for as far we could see, Mercedes weren’t 3rd best car.

            You always defent and praise Hamilton, but Mercedes is a monster of a car.

            I am not saying Hamilton is bad… not at all, he is a monster…
            I liked him very much in especially Monza…

          7. Toro Rosso Was faster than a Mercedes

          8. petebaldwin (@)
            17th November 2019, 23:40

            I just spat my coffee out at the “I post facts” comment. That’s brilliant.

          9. F1oSaurus (@)
            18th November 2019, 7:17

            @niefer Why not try posting something useful for a change?

            You could even try to prove something I said was wrong.

            Show that Vettel doesn’t crash/spin a lot? Show that Vettel wasn’t an utter waste of a car seat at Ferrari? Or more specific to last race show how Vettel didn’t crash into his teammate again? Or show that Mercedes was not in fact the third fastest car in both quali and race this weekend.

            Shiuld be easy no? I’m just salty and you post so much sensible posts. You must know your f1..

            John Ever, We were talking about this race.

            @petebaldwin LOL, yes you are even worse than that niefer thing. You also, try to actually post something useful for once.

          10. @petebaldwin Lol me too, only it was tea.

          11. @f1osaurus no need for hissy fits. We had our argument times. But it’s impossible to reasonably moot with you: you establish personal opinions as facts, and just like Vettel himself, you’re too stubborn to acknowledge that (well, at least Seb reconsiders, with time). Then, we started to provoke each other for fun. Now it seems it’s hurting you, so we’d better stop.

            Now, you came out of factory with two presets: 1- Bash Vettel; 2- Downplay Mercedes. These are the only facts anyone can unravel from your posts. Want proof? Check again those replies you got.

            As you can see, the only use your posts have is to waste beverage…

          12. F1oSaurus (@)
            20th November 2019, 9:11

            @niefer I post facts. Also opinions yes, but those are accompanied by reasoning and facts.

            All you do is waste beverages and drool on your keyboard. Boring us with your uninformed rants and oneliners

          13. @f1osaurus Ok, there is nothing much left to be said apart from this: I haven’t spilt any beverage so far. So you can see how you misjudge facts easily. And, by your posts, it is you who’s been drooling, out of anger, actually. Well, my advice is to chill out a bit.

      2. Carlos, go find a new hobby… your silly comments here are boring. You only bring negativity and add NO new insights or interesting viewpoints.

      3. Max had the fastest car? Maybe on the reds, but definetely not on the yellows.

        Max almost managed to lose it? Oh really, and when was that?

      4. So how do you explain Albon then? If Red Bull was “by far” the fastest wouldn’t he have been in a comfortable second place behind Max?

      5. Your comments are quite annoying.
        DaniRic deserves better.

      6. At least the hype got him into 1st. Unlike a certain ex-red bull driver who tangled with a backmarker and should have been on the podium

      7. (@carlosmedrano)
        Trolling is your second name.
        Poor Danny with those kind of ” fans”.

  11. More things that go wrong with Vettel in the middle of it… I can’t help but think maybe he may walk away. He’s got nothing to lose anymore – 4 world titles under his belt.

    Maybe we haven’t quite seen the end of Hulkenberg after all?

    1. @rocketpanda please, no! I gotta see a proper battle for the WDC between him and LEC! Ferrari got to produce a decent car for both. It’s actually the closest prospect of an epic rivalry in the foreseeable future we may get.

    2. IMO SEB still has the speed, it’s just he keeps on making stupid mistakes one after another. He should have won 2017 and 2018 titles. If Ferrari is the car to beat in 2021 like 17′ and especially 18′, but he still does stupid mistakes then he should definitely walk

  12. Fernando…incoming call from Italy…..

    1. János Henkelmann
      17th November 2019, 22:45

      What a beauty that would be!

  13. Mercedes strategists were awful. Pitting Lewis with just handful of laps remaining. And Vettel is just fading back into the crash-kid of 2010.

    1. @amg44 Mercedes strategists were genius. First stop they got Hamilton in last minute and Verstappen spent the entire middle sector behind two Williams, one of whom even managed to ruin his pitstop too. That is genius, RB were too slow to recognise. Second stop, gained another two seconds. Pit stop thing was a bit naive, but Stroll having his front right fail was not anticipated and another lap could have been the difference.

      1. Lewis passed Max due to Max getting slowed by Kubica in the pits. After that putting Bottas on Hard tyres which was just a bad tyre this race. Bottas only spent 11 laps on those tyres but his race severely compromised. And then the final stop of Lewis was madness.

    2. Vettel never stoped being a bad driver, have you not watched 2014-2019

      1. @carlosmedrano
        Similar to Lewis 2009 -2013

        1. @bigjoe No, Hamilton was great during most of those seasons (barring 2011).

          Vettel in 2009 for instance though. Crashed out of the points 3 out of the first 7 races.

      2. (@carlosmedrano)
        Pity Danny blunderd again this race. Bit sour it seems

        1. What are you talking about he finished 7th while hulk in the same equipment couldn’t finish in the points

  14. I think vettel just didnt realize leclerc was that close, and he didn’t aggressively move across… I was also a bit surprised from the damage that ensued.
    But still 100% his fault

    I think im the only one who has hamilton blameless on the albon incident. He got the inside, albon should have given him room.

    Happy for gasly, great drive from him. But i must say it took me some extreme self restraint when the camera cut to the replay of the albon/hamilton collision right in the middle of that last lap not to hurl the remote at the TV.

    1. vettel just didnt realize

      Exactly, he never does seem to realize where anyone else is.

    2. Hamilton acknowledged it was his mistake which lead to the incident

      1. How big of him

    3. vettel just didnt realize leclerc was that close,

      Yes he would have completely missed that car right next to him when he drove by. Just like in Turkey 2010, Malaysia 2017, Singapore 2017, Mexico 2019 etc

      and he didn’t aggressively move across

      He did. He moved a full car width in very short time. With a car clearly centimeters away from his side.

      I hope Ferrari management finally see Vettel for the poor sport he is.

  15. Mercedes strategists had a complete brain fade today. First, doing the opposite of Max was maybe plausible in a 2-car universe. But they were all the other cars behind Hamilton too… Couldn’t believe they didn’t pit him whatever Verstappen did. Then pitting Hamilton out of 2nd place?! Obviously he had (was going) to push beyond the limits to regain second place in two laps.

    Verstappen was superb, as were Gasly and Albon, who really didn’t deserve that shove off track. Vettel and Leclerc? The question is how long – how many seasons – Ferrari will be able to put up with the two scrapping away points. Because it’s not going to end any time soon.

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      17th November 2019, 19:26

      Doing the opposite of Verstappen was the only chance to win. They couldn’t win if they did the same and as everything is already decided, so why not. Then second one was just damage limitations.

    2. @david-br

      how many seasons – Ferrari will be able to put up with the two scrapping away points. Because it’s not going to end any time soon.

      Remember on the Autosport forums (‘The authority on F1’) when certain followers celebrated:-
      ‘Vettel is doing at Ferrari what Alonso couldn’t do’

      comedy gold that place

      1. Cant believe anyone with a shred of F1 knowledge would have the audacity to say that, wow @bigjoe

        Vettel never dragged ferrari to the final race of the season in a championship battle, or come within less than 5 points of winning the championship. And never looked like he could either.

    3. Lol it was all vettel fault he throw away those point by crashing into Leclerc on a straight because he couldn’t accept that he lost the place to Leclerc fair and square

  16. And with that completely unnecessary safety car for Bottas pulling well off the track the ‘americanisation’ and ‘gimmickification’ of F1 continues.

    That was a pure nascar safety car that served no purpose other than ‘show’. Utterly disgraceful!

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      17th November 2019, 19:28

      Nonsense. That was a good call. The crane and the marshalls were very close to the apex where cars are driving. You use a safety car.

      1. @passingisoverrated @mouse_nightshirt They could and should have used a virtual safety car at the most as there was zero reason at all to use a full safety car, that was purely ‘for show’ purposes.

        bottas pulled off well of the track on the inside of a carner where no car would ever end up if they went off. he was also right next to a gap in the barrier and the car had already been moved behind it when the sc was called.

        back at the russian gp they used a virtual safety car when vettel’s parked car was way more in the firing line than bottas was today. if anything vettel’s car was more worthy of a full safety car than todays was.

        lets be honest the race was dull at that point and they called a totally unnecessary full safety just to spice it up, there was zero other reason!

        @bigjoe it didn’t actually affect any drivers i support so believe me my disgust at this gimmicky use of a sc has nothing to do with it helping or hurting a driver i support. ironically given my disgust at the show call i actually ended up ith a result i was happy with so yeah it aint that.

    2. It was because there was a tractor on track. After the Bianchi incident that left a driver dead, I entirely agree with the full SC.

      It’s disturbing that you find that safety measures are “disgraceful”.

      1. @mouse_nightshirt

        Only when he thinks his driver was affected by it

      2. @mouse_nightshirt exactly. Bianchi’s death should have proved that Formula 1 and Europe’s idea of “safety car” needed a huge reworking, but they chose not to. And I am convinced Hubert died because Formula 1 builds a culture of “never lift because we aren’t going to throw a caution”.

      3. @mouse_nightshirt
        The VSC was instituted exactly for the Bianchi situation, danger off track, but no need for SC. The SC is more for on track dangers. There should have been a VSC for Bottas car, not an SC.

    3. A safety car like that would have saved Jules Bianchi and the culture that would have brought would have saved Hubert, as well.

      But okay, keep being fine with killing drivers unnecessarily.

      1. @neiana that’s not necessarily the case as there were cautions out on track when Bianchi crashed. The Bianchi incident highlighted that in wet conditions you can’t trust drivers to be able to keep it on the road. Driving in the wet at slow speeds loses tyre pressure and ride height and induces aqua planing. Anytime a tractor is on track in the rain, the lesson to have taken is it should be a red flag and this still isn’t the case as shown earlier this year.

        Under dry conditions like today double yellows or at worst a VSC would have neutralised the track to an acceptable safety level.

        I’m actually very concerned that the stewarding this year is more about the spectacle than actually following the rules and ensuring safety. They’ve actually encouraged more dangerous driving and manufactured some dangerous situations through a lack of action.

        1. @slowmo

          that’s not necessarily the case as there were cautions out on track when Bianchi crashed.

          That’s exactly what I am talking about. Formula 1 is so scared to put a safety car on the track that Bianchi died. Formula 1 is so scared to put a safety car on the track that Hubert died.

          If Formula 1 were more likely to put a safety car on the track, then drivers would be less likely to slam the accelerator to drive through other cars if they are spinning in front of them. NASCAR eventually had to realize that people were dying because they threw the caution but waited for the leader to complete the lap, so they said look, if a car spins and it could be dangerous, we’re throwing a caution and the positions revert to 100 feet before the caution.

          If Formula 1 wants to stop deaths like Hubert, they need to be MORE likely to throw a safety car, which should create a culture where drivers instinctively KNOW that their positions aren’t about to be lost if they choose to lift instead of driving full speed through an accident. Truth is, we need MORE safety cars.

          I’m fine with calling it a VSC but make it mandatory. A car goes off? Field is frozen, VSC. Crash? Field is frozen, VSC. Absolutely need to get a car off the track? Make it a safety car if they need to. But Formula 1 NEEDS to implement a culture where drivers aren’t afraid to not t-bone the car spinning in front of them.

          1. A VSC was designed to neutralise the race and “freeze” positions and as such was perfect in these circumstances to use. Motor racing will never be 100% safe and as such saying we should immediately go to a full course yellow and safety car because a car is stranded is overkill in all situations. If we must go in that direction then an immediate VSC until a decision can be made to handle the situation with either yellow flags or safety car is acceptable to me and fair for all.

            In my opinion, that car could have been cleared safely under a VSC and did not need a full safety car. At the end of the day there is far higher risk driving F1 cars at full speed than there is driving that circuit under a VSC in dry conditions even with a car stranded.

            The Bianchi case was a perfect storm of elements that resulted in his injuries and ultimately death and it’s clear that incident should have been a safety car. Lets not pretend the FIA are 100% to blame for Bianchi though, he too had an obligation as a professional driver to respect the yellow flags on that day for the safety of the marshalls, other drivers and himself and he made a terrible mistake and paid the highest price.

            I’m entirely with you in one respect though that drivers do not show enough respect of the yellow flags or their competitors. The FIA this year have unfortunately given drivers free reign to run each other off the road and weave in braking zones and they do it because they’re not afraid of the consequences.

    4. I actually face-palmed when I saw the call for a full SC in the Bottas incident. I had just been thinking to myself “I hope they don’t throw a SC just for the show now, that Mercedes is already parked nicely behind the fence and will be pushed to complete safety in about one lap time”. But they decided to waste 6 laps, just to close the field up. Double yellow should have been enough. If drivers were ignoring that (for which they should be penalized by the way) a VSC would do the job just fine in this particular case. SC should only be used when actually needed, not as a tool to make things more interesting for the casual viewer.

  17. Investigating HAM – ALB clash after the race? What a hogwash. I doubt the sanity of the stewards.

    1. It was on the last lap, you know.

      1. So was VER vs RAI in USA 2017. This is disgraceful.

        1. Indeed, they’ve taken away Sainz’ first podium ceremony

        2. @pironitheprovocateur Verstappen clearly went off track. Ferrari alerted the stewards. Takes 10 seconds to check

          Albon takes an overly wide line into the corner. Hamilton tries to bail out when Albin turns in. Actual investigation is needed. So no, that will not be done before the ceremony.

          They might as well talk to the drivers too then.

          1. And let the wrong guy up on the podium…. The stewards have been extreamly poor this season.

  18. I hope Hamilton keeps his third because I’m not willing to witness the farce of FIA promoting Sainz to the podium place hours after the race. As a fan of McLaren for the last 16 years and going without the a podium for nearly six, that would be rather upsetting.

    1. @pironitheprovocateur

      They may as well tell him to go lick the Champagne from the floor.

    2. Well as they are checking on HAM they are also looking SAI for a false use of DRS. That could promote RAI 3rd

  19. Big Joe talking out of the planet between Saturn and Neptune again. Hamilton was in title contention in 2010 & 2012 in inferior and unreliable cars.

    1. He and Button clearly had the fastest car in Abu Dhabi who won the race in your ‘universe’?

      Alonso had a slower car still and should not have been the one it was left to, to challenge Vettel.
      Come to think of it, most pundits and experts agree. Alonso should not have been runner up. Then again Button was once.

    2. steveetienne

      2012 The Ferrari got 2 poles compared to McLaren’s 7 and Red Bull’s 6. Yet Alonso finished runner up with the most podiums. 2 retirements. Voted driver of the year by team bosses as per 2010 iirc.

      1. @bigjoe Yes McLaren had many technical issues and pit stop issues losing Hamilton the lead. So that is somehow Hamilton’s fault?

        1. Stop @ me.

          I asked you to stop the personal attacks or I’m not responding. You did and now you’re taking me out of context. Speak to @steveetienne
          I’m done.

          1. @bigjoe what personal attack?

            But yes, you are not responding. You simply spout delusional filth

          2. petebaldwin (@)
            17th November 2019, 23:44

            @f1osaurus – You are comfortably the worst poster on this site.

          3. F1oSaurus (@)
            18th November 2019, 7:18

            @petebaldwin Well from you and TinyJoe that is a worthy accolade.

      2. steveetienne

        2011
        McLaren got both cars on the podium twice. Ferrari 0.

        Button 12 podiums 2 RET
        Hamilton 4 podiums 3 RET

  20. Hamilton should’ve been a bit more patient with his attempt. He would’ve been better off waiting for T1. His little impatience cost Albon his first F1-podium.

  21. What happened to Alfa, did they get Ferrari pre-Austin spec PU:s bolted on to the back this weekend ?
    On merit, Kimi 7th, sure on a good day but GIO 8th as well? Well done.

  22. Great race, very amusing!
    About DannyRic, solid driver, but it’s clearer and clearer his fame got totally flattered because of Redbull. He has just a poor repertoire for wheel-to-wheel racing. He is nothing but a dive-bomber, a faith leaper. Could make a name at Assassin’s Creed.

    Ferrari: oh, man, LOL! When the team does not screw up, then the drivers do the job! I must say, though, what a crappy car. Is it made of crystal? What a banal touching that shattered both cars. Also, great racing sum by both, I love hard racing, but when you collide with a teammate, it’s just stupid. At first glance I thought as a racing incident, but if I’m to nitpick, it gotta be VET the responsible. Anyway, really funny!

    HAM, oh HAM, the infallible. He is indeed so blessed that his cRacKinG uNdEr pReSsuRe is gonna be shaded by VET’s DiSgUsTiNg AnTiCs that everyone is gonna be talking about. In the end, what a shame for ALB. When he finally pulls up a convincingly strong performance, he gets nabbed. Meanwhile, great 3rd place for SAI! The guy has been putting decent performances, totally deserved. The only downside is he’s still without a podium. 😜

    Finally, really happy for GAS! At last last he caught a break. Now, he surely gotta buy some drinks for both Ferrari boys. Without their careful support, that wouldn’t have materialised. Maybe his good-friend LEC went by him to collect?

  23. Can someone explain to me though why a full Safety Car was deployed for the Bottas incident and not a VSC? Was there oil/debris elsewhere on the track or something? Just felt safety car was OTT considering where Bottas had parked his car and how quickly they were able to clear it when the safety car was announced.

    1. @ninjenius I don’t think anyone can. Apart from spicing up the last stint I guess.

    2. @ninjenius It was a joke! Spoiled HAM’s shot for the win.

      1. @niefer That was my thought too. There was a decent real race brewing with Hamilton perhaps able to challenge Verstappen by the end of the race. But the FIA stewards went with the needless safety car to ‘spice up’ the race. There was no real justification.

    3. @ninjenius

      Schumacher v2.0 has been helped enough. Someone else’s turn now. Max Senna is the new thing.
      To be fair the Brazilians do seem to love him.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        18th November 2019, 7:20

        @bigjoe If anything, Hamilton is more like Senna (amazing in quali and magnificent race craft) and Verstappen is more like Schumacher (the constant foul play on track).

    4. @ninjenius A full SC was really unnecessary, That should have been a VSC at the most.

      I do get the feeling that it was called more to spice up the show than anything else as I really don’t see any other reason to have called it.

      Looking back to Russia they called a VSC that day despite Vettel’s car ending up in a far more dangerous position (In the runoff on the outside of a corner where a car would end up if they went off) than Valtteri’s was today. It also looked as if they had got Valtteri’s car behind the barrier at the point they actually called for a SC which makes it feel even more unnecessary.

    5. (@ninjenius)
      There was a crane on track close to the apex. Only safe thing to do.

      1. To me as a observer who has never been a marshall it did look like it could have been done under a VSC (or even double waved yellows) as Bottas did helpfully park up at at an opening with a crane on the inside of a corner. I was surprised when a full SC was deployed as would effectively mean that a big gap on the track was needed to do the removal works which to the casual observer didn’t seem to be the case.

        However I am not the one risking my life as a marshall so I will defer to the experts who have the appropriate responsibility.

      2. The crane was never on track, this situation is exactly what the vsc was implemented for. It was just another poor decision by the stewards today. They got the RIC/MAG decision wrong, same with he HAM/ALB and the VET/LEC.

  24. @niefer

    Great race, very amusing!
    About DannyRic, solid driver, but it’s clearer and clearer his fame got totally flattered because of Redbull. He has just a poor repertoire for wheel-to-wheel racing. He is nothing but a dive-bomber, a faith leaper. Could make a name at Assassin’s Creed.

    haha :)) that’s another way of looking at it! But the pundits and experts were all calling RIC ‘the best overtaker in the sport’ for that period. maybe they were seduced by his smile!
    Isn’t it great how they all gush and everything now is always ‘the best…’

    1. Do you guys really think Ric aimed for the kerb?
      KMag, the most generous and easiest to overtake on the track, squeezed Ric short of the apex, got himself kissed and made his own head spin.
      I thought it was a reasonable attempt that would have worked fine on someone that thought that being passed 4 or 5 times already was a trend that had some meaning.
      Maybe he thought it was Nico.

  25. Which driver has been involved in the most two-car/same team incidents over the past ten years? As in both cars not finishing… Anyone know the numbers?

  26. Isn’t it great how they all gush and everything now is always ‘the best…’

    @bigjoe now you nailed it!

    1. LOL, sorry, got the same distraction 😆

    2. @niefer

      haha :) you must remember too when Vettel’s middle name was ‘Fangio’….
      You can literally google ‘Sebastian Fangio’ and see the comparisons and gushing being made by the pundits in the media.

      1. @bigjoe LOL, I remember well the Baby-Schumi phase. Now Sebastian Fangio I gotta google.

  27. How do you block/ban stalkers and trolls who can’t handle the truth ?

    https://imgur.com/OcGAjPV

  28. A question I am someone will know the answer to. When was the last time there was no Mercedes in the final top 3 of a race? I cannot recall but I imagine it was some time ago?

    1. Hockenheim 2019.

  29. This is why I am a Verstappen fan now. Honda was brilliant aswell.

    Verstappen and Lewis did some amazing racing, and would have done some more, but Max was always better. On this race Honda had more power than Mercedes, it was very clear to see. Kudos to them!

    Hamilton was vulnerable today, where was Bottas? Nico would have won this.

    Vettel… Geez, this is why I am now a Verstappen fan. Leclerc is a dumbass aswell, but tottally needless collision. Throwing away 3rd and 4th place. Maybe even 2nd and 3rd. Now Max will have P3 in WDC easy.

  30. Karma I think bit Mercedes on the backside today by the way Bottas was not brought in straight away after his issue.

    I don’t understand why they didn’t bring Bottas in when his car started smoking and it was clear that he was never going to make the finish. At least that way you will get the car back in better condition than it being driven over grass and lifted and transported on a tow truck (see Baku this year with Russell).

    If he came in and retired straight away then all things being equal the first SC won’t have happened and by extension the second won’t have happened as pack not bunched up. This would have given Lewis a virtually uncontested second place. 20/20 hindsight I know but karma coming back to bite Mercedes maybe.

  31. LOL, some people last year on this very same track were giving “wisdom” lessons to the guy who lost victory, and this year they are responsible of depriving another driver their very first podium with a “wise” mistake. HUGE LOL.

  32. Had lot’s of fun today watching this race. Ham a bit unlucky witch Albon. Ferrari unlucky with eachother, But they tried, gave it a go and showed racing spirit. Ves controlled the race, Honda on track within a year. F1 thanks for the show, I need more of this.

  33. It was very entertaining. Some of the lost moments with everything else that went on.
    I loved when VER complained that HAM was speeding through the yellow zone.
    And when VER got cut off coming out of the pits. Thinking that was an unsafe release. Kudos to VER for not losing his mind at that point.

  34. I feel Merc did not perform at optimum this weekend.

    The BIG BAD WOLFF absence showed

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