Start, Silverstone, 2020

Hamilton drags Mercedes to victory after last-lap puncture

2020 British Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton scored a dramatic win in the British Grand Prix as both Mercedes drivers suffered punctures in the final laps.

The world champion’s front-left tyre failed on the final lap of the race, yet he was able to drag his car to the line before he was caught by any of his rivals.

Valtteri Bottas, had been pursuing Hamilton closely, suffered a similar failure a few laps earlier. He was able to pit for fresh rubber, but ended the race out of the points.

Max Verstappen was closing rapidly on Hamilton having pitted for fresh tyres shortly before the end of the race. He grabbed the bonus point for fastest lap, but missed out on a chance of victory by five seconds.

The Mercedes drivers weren’t he only ones to suffer punctures at the end of the race. Carlos Sainz Jnr also had a blow-out in his McLaren.

Those failures helped to promote Charles Leclerc to third place. Daniel Ricciardo passed Lando Norris in the final laps and the pair took the flag fourth and fifth respectively. Esteban Ocon made it a double points finish for Renault in seventh.

Despite colliding with Kevin Magnussen on lap one and collecting a five-second time penalty, Alexander Albon recovered to take eighth behind Pierre Gasly. Lance Stroll, who lost several places in the second half of the race, collected two points for ninth.

The final point went to Sebastian Vettel, who had Bottas breathing down his neck at the end.

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2020 British 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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165 comments on “Hamilton drags Mercedes to victory after last-lap puncture”

  1. Only if the punctures happened 10 laps earlier, the race would have been more entertaining. It was one of the most boring races ever (also due to the lack of spectators). Unlucky Bottas and Sainz.

    1. So it was boring because the guy who started in first won despite having a punctured tyre, rather than the guy who started in 3rd who pitted for fresh tyres? I wasn’t aware the excitement rating of a race was based in who wins.

      The point is, the race actually had some excitement, with the winner being in doubt until he crossed the finish line. That is an exciting race, irrespective of who wins.

    2. @amg44 Lack of ambience really flattened out this one, nonetheleess brought to you by Pirelli. The ending was so dramatic though, unbelievable, but all the drama in the world didn’t change a thing, mega anti-climatic.

    3. It was one of the most boring races ever (also due to the lack of spectators).

      Seriously? @amg44
      Except maybe for Japan and the post race ‘invasion’ in Italy I don’t miss the spectators.

  2. Still, without any victory, Verstappen is 18 points behind Hamilton. If Red Bull finds a cure for their issues, he could fight.

    1. He’ll be 37 point behind Hamilton right? @pironitheprovocateur

      1. In his world, where Lewis is the worst, Max is 18 points behind.
        The reality is not that kind to him.

    2. No, he can’t.
      And you wanted to say 36, not 18

    3. Oh…my bad, I thought wiki points weren’t yet updated when they actually were. Don’t mind the comment above.

      1. Too late

      2. Dennis Mwansa
        2nd August 2020, 16:14

        LH 88, VB 58, MV 52
        That looks like 36 points difference to me.

      3. @pironitheprovocateur in fact it’s 36 points with Max getting fastest lap. But everyone should always fight until the end because anything can happen, there are still a large number of races left. People seem to forget Covid is around, drivers can potentially have to miss 2+ races

        1. Hamilton getting Covid an losing a couple of races is the only way to make this year interesting in regard of the championship.
          Not that I want that to happen.

          1. I am a big Verstappen fan but i only want him to win championship on sporting grounds only not because of misfortune of his competitors! I guess we have to wait until 2022 at least!

          2. Wow. Never wish this sort of things. It might actually come to you and you never know how bad it could devastate your clan.

            Never say such a thing.

  3. Shock. No delight in such ending. Spoiled all the good feeling from the race.

  4. It wasn’t a classic… until those last few laps! Not been an exciting ending like that for a while! Hamilton did well to get it around and a very commanding lead in the championship.

    Great result for Ricciardo! Podium just out of reach

  5. There would be a lot more punctures.

  6. Silverstone and tyres are becoming a small “tradition” now? Pirelli needs to have a look at it ASAP!

    1. One the contrary, let’s just hope they’ll leave the championship open after next week’s Grand Prix.

    2. Yes in 2017 as well with the 2 ferrari drivers Vettel and Raikkonen. For the excitement as a spectator i would say it is a good thing those flat tyres but i guess it can be dangerous for the drivers so maybe better if Pirelli are going to fix this!

      1. 2013 also.

        You could argue that if a driver is concerned they could always change tyres during the race and not push them so far, however end of life they should go off the cliff in terms of grip, not delaminate and fail. 7 years on a Silverstone and they’re still delaminating.

    3. Didn’t Pirelli give a predicted max of 33 laps for hard compound? Teams where into 40, or something, laps…

      1. Pirelli themselves said 40 laps and then 2 long safety car periods should have helped extending that. Except, Pirelli seem just as bad at predicting the quality of their tires as they are at making them.

      2. Pirelli’s predictions don’t really matter because teams will always try to maximize tyre life in each stint. Pirelli says 30/40 laps, teams see in FP’s they can do more, so they do it, because its usually (almost everytime) better strategy wise!

    4. Aren’t the tyres for next week’s race already manufactured and at the track? And didn’t they go one set of compounds softer for the next race?

      Thinking we’re going to be seeing a whole lot of pit stops.

      1. And it’s supposed to be as hot as it was on Friday.

        I’ve been waiting for a race where no one finishes because they’re out of tires. This might be it.

    5. The teams should have listened to the drivers who were telling them about vibrations. Even the AWS graphs had tyres at 10%… I’m sure planning to stop after twenty or so laps after the last safety car would have been quicker for almost everyone. Maybe they didnt want to risk another safety car catching them out. At least someone should have tried it. The likes of Stroll and Vettel lost so much time as their tyres aged. Pitting when the tyres lost performance would surely have paid off.

  7. I said it during the live chat, and it happened. I was worried when Bottas was pushing, because it looked like he was not managing the tyres. It was clear that a stint on hards from that point would be on the limit. Also note, that next week, the tyres are a step softer. Two stops will be the way to go next race.

    Anyone noticed how a different puncture was on Hamilton? It did not look like a normal puncture. Normally the thread would detach, but on Hamilton and I think on Bottas as well, the thread remained intact.

    1. Just the nature of the tyre failure which along the circumference and not across it.

  8. Never been a fan of bonus points for anything, but this for me just reinforces why the extra point for fastest lap is a bad idea. Racing drivers shouldn’t deliberately be giving up time in the race for any reason. This just proves it.

    Not that I’m biased for Max or against Lewis, but Lewis basically won this race because Max made a completely un-needed stop.

    1. I’ve a feeling that Lewis would have pitted if had Max stayed out, i.e. MM gambled that the gap wouldn’t be closed if Hamilton had a puncture.

      It might sound a bit odd – but pit stops, especially urgent ones are notoriously risky and could easily have cost a few seconds more than normal and been behind Verstappen

      1. I’ve a feeling that Lewis would have pitted if had Max stayed out

        he had less then 10 seconds , adding an extra 20 for the pitstop and only a few laps to compensate.
        Impossible to win with such a strategy.

    2. Was it unneeded, given Max has said he wasn’t sure the tyres would have lasted? It seems more like he wanted to ensure he would finish and asked to pit – if he was right on the limit, then it probably was the right call overall.

      1. It could well have been the right call, Verstappen may well have blown a tyre on the last lap too, and they’d have looked foolish for ignoring the warning signs. But given the fact that Red Bull are no match for Mercedes on pure pace, I think it’s fair to say that with no added incentive to pit him, they may well have sensed an opportunity to steal something and at the very least, be more inclined to keep him out just to keep the pressure on Mercedes.

        More to the point, surely the whole point of racing is to get to the finish as quick as possible. Anything that encourages drivers to deliberately give up 20+ seconds can not be a good thing.

        Every time we’ve seen the late pit stop dashes to try and get the bonus point, it’s always felt like there’s going to come a time when the car in front hits trouble, but they were too busy half a lap behind trying to get one good lap in. It’s had the potential to happen for ages, and now it has. I dread to think what’ll happen when a title is on the line and it gets decided by someone making a pit stop with 2 to go just to go for the fastest lap…

        1. The added incentive was 1 point. That’s why redbulls decided to pit.
          But greed over need and lost the race. Lol.

    3. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      2nd August 2020, 16:44

      Even without the point on offer for fastest lap it made sense for Verstappen to take the ‘free’ pit stop, he was experiencing vibrations from his tyres as well.

      1. You have to consider a tire failure at 200 mph could be ugly but if you are in second and the guy ahead had a giant groove in his tire and his teammate just had a tire failure you stick it out for a couple laps. RBR is there to win races when they get the chance not win a title by a banking points. I was surprised they came in.

        1. However, if you also have a couple of rather deep cuts in your tyre and have already seen two other drivers have their tyres fail, that rather changes the gamble.

          Furthermore, there was less visible evidence that Hamilton was in trouble – so, if you are Red Bull, it would not have been obvious that his tyre was about to fail too.

          If you are on the pit wall and hearing your driver tell you for several laps that the tyres are looking very dodgy, with the available data backing it up, it would have been a bold call to overrule Max.

          We are guilty of applying retrospective knowledge to the decision – personally, I think Red Bull made the best decision they could based on what they knew at the time, and probably would have been criticised pretty heavily if they had tried it and lost the win in the same way.

          1. Three drivers.. if you look at the images of the Kvyatt incident you will notice the right rear tire exploded at the same time he hit the curbs. There are tire parts flying before he lost control.
            So it was not Kvyatts fault.

  9. If only it had been a 53 lap race!!! Crazy! I bet Christian is kicking himself pretty hard right now.

    1. If it had of been a 53 lap race they would have brought Ham in. Bottas tyre went before Ham got to the pit entry. They took a risk as it was the last lap.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        2nd August 2020, 22:12

        @nanotech, @riptide If it was a 53 lap race they would have brought Verstappen in a lap later and people would be wishing for a 54 lap race. :)

        1. Hah! Fair!

    2. Given the sate of Max’s tyres, can you guarantee that they would have lasted an extra full-tilt lap?

    3. @nanotech Horner doesn’t make these calls. He just hires/fires the ones that do.

  10. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
    2nd August 2020, 16:10

    Bono my tires are gone

    1. Who The ¥£€> are you and who cares what happened to your tyres.

    2. @asleepatthewheel

      Forget the ROTTen unregistered troll, I enjoyed your comment.

  11. If Pirelli brings softer tyres Mercedes could slip back in the 2013 days.
    Also explains why this car is so fast in the rain.

    1. Not really. Realistically, they’re always a pit stop ahead anyway

      1. Not this time.. it was less then 10 seconds!

        1. Of course this was because there were safety cars. Otherwise the gap would have been much larger.

  12. Perez more present than ever, left a hole on the RP roster with Nico out and Stroll unable to get extract more performance and points. Mercs still feel vulnerable on tyre management. Feel bad for Sainz, he did a good race.

  13. Only one driver has scored points in each of the first 4 races this year – first time this has happened since 2008. Also the first time since 2000 that only one driver has finished in the top 10 in each of the first 4 races.

    1. Nice stat.

    2. Has to be schumacher in 2000 cause I remember 4 consecutive wins, and no idea about 2008, but I presume we have good candidates in both ferrari and mclaren drivers, and maybe some others too.

      1. It was Kimi. Only six drivers finished legally in Australia and Räikkönen got point even though he retired five laps from the end.

  14. Punctures due to hitting the curb from the dirt coming out of Chapel onto Hanger Straight? The erosion over the course of the race could be a factor??

    Either extend the curb or gravel before next weekend.

    1. Think you might be bang on the money here @salty. Over 50 laps with 19, 18, 17 cars all hitting that dirt before the curb at 150+mph could quite easily have exposed a sharp edge of the curb.

      1. Good shout, it’s the front left tyres that mainly punctured and possibly one left-rear. Clockwise circuit though so lefts are likely to take the pain.

      2. Guess that qualifying red flag wasn’t as over cautious as it seemed to many!

  15. By the way, what a shame for Hulk. I strongly hope he’ll get a chance to race next week again, it would be extremely unfortunate if he didn’t even get a chance for a racestart.

  16. W11! The only car capable of winning the race on three wheels!

  17. Dunno whether to be impressed or depressed that punctures strike both Mercedes in the dying laps, Bottas falls out of the points but Hamilton still wins on three wheels. Welp, championship’s over, lol.

    1. Yeah, worst case scenario for the championship this.

      1. Honestly not worried about the championship, I think it’s a done deal no matter this result cause hamilton is simply more consistent than bottas, he needs better drivers as opponents, verstappen, russel, leclerc, but they don’t have the car.

        So actually I like it more when mercedes loses the 1-2, or in this case doesn’t get a car into the points than a 1-2 when anyway I already know hamilton will come out on top unless he gets covid.

  18. Lewis has to be the ultimate driver. Not only has he had a competitive car every single year he has raced. (most of them really dominant). He also just doens’t seem to run out of luck. Really it’s incredible…

    Amazing driver don’t get me wrong, but wow also really fortunate.

    1. You clearly don’t remember 2012 very well then. Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Korea spring to mind. Then the engine blowout in Malaysia 2016.

      1. In such a long career. He has incredible few unlucky moments.

        1. That’s just to name a few. Could be here all day if we started with China 2007 for eg.

          1. He’s only had 3 bad years really, 09, 11 and 12. 2009 was his only year in an uncompetitive car. In a career which is likely to be 16 years long, and he’s likely to be competitive in the next 3 years too.

            Incredibly fortunate compared to someone like Alonso or ricciardo But great driver nonetheless

          2. @Saad Mughal
            I believe the point wasn’t so much having the fortune of having a competitive car- but reliability.

            However if we are talking about having bad cars-
            With Ricciardo I will agree. But Alonso’s misfortunes were to some degree self inflicted. Snitched on his team with spygate costing them $100m and having to leave on sour terms; burnt bridges at Ferrari just before they got competitive and poor career choices. In fact none of the top teams wanted to hire him prior to his “retirement” due to his conduct.

        2. F1oSaurus (@)
          2nd August 2020, 22:28

          Pretty much the whole of 2016 was a disaster though: Bahrain rammed off by Bottas, China issue in quali causes start from P22, Russia issue in quali causes start from P10, Baku issue with engine mode settings, Spa needed to replace all the broken engines and had to start all the way from the back, Singapore missed most of FP2, Malaysia engine failure

      2. Its called skill not luck, also hamilton has always had tough teammates. Bottas is his weakest teammate that he has had and that says a lot about him. While drivers like vettel and max look better then they are paired with slow teammates

        1. I believe Kovalainen was a weaker teammate than Valtteri (probably the only teammate of Hamilton that I didn’t consider to be a strong rival), but I agree with the sentiment otherwise.

        2. and max look better then they are paired with slow teammates

          like ricciardo ;)

          1. Do you forget that Ric out scored max in their first season together (maybe even first two) ! Ric hasn’t exactly shone at Renault either, so you judge him from a single season which was fairly even but he edged with a very off colour Vet.
            Sorry but Max is unproven. Let’s see how he fairs with Sainz.

          2. Just checked the stats.
            Riccardo out scored Max in every season they were together, 457-377points, equal wins and more podiums and pole positions for Ric, qually was 20-21 to Max, he only better stat.
            On paper Max was far from great versus Dan Ric

          3. F1oSaurus (@)
            2nd August 2020, 22:29

            Lol, erikje. Ricciardo beat Verstappen yes. Is that really the point you want to make?

    2. Infact here luck has only evened itself out for Hamilton. Starting on Pole 2013 Silverstone, Hamilton’s tyre had a blowout, as did many cars that race. Rosberg, not for the first time, benefited from Hamilton’s misfortune and won the race. Still, Rosberg finished behind Hamilton that year in the Championship dispute him collected 25 points that race whilst Hamilton collected 0.

    3. @jesperfey13 You’re new to F1 aren’t you?

      I don’t remember the last time a driver lost a title on the last race due to a mechanical issue, by one point.

      Hamilton has had more mechanical issues whilst leading than any other driver I would venture.

      Yeah he’s generally had good luck recently, but you make your own luck sometimes. Was today good or bad luck?

      1. It was definitely good luck today because of what happened to his only realistic title challenger and where Bottas actually sustained the puncture, meaning he scored no points at all.

        However Hamilton has had his fair share of bad luck. 2013 at Silverstone is the perfect counter to what happened today.

      2. Please provide the stats for mechanical failures whilst leading? Otherwise I’d maybe ask you how new you are to F1. Maybe you should stop attacking people because they propose the thought of how lucky a driver is, as if that somehow devalues their skill.
        Look at Chris Amon, a very well regarded driver but maybe the unluckiest of all time.

    4. Nah, every driver has gone through some bad luck.
      Lewis lost 2016 because of bad luck in sepang.
      Max is so lucky as Fernando is not in the other redbull.

    5. @jesperfey13

      There was a gravel trap in China that has been paved over. And a long ago scrapped McLaren transmission. Both attest to Hamilton’s unremarkablely normal luck, and the fact he will never be the driver who won the WDC in his rookie season.

  19. How did Norris fall back behind Ric?

    1. Also whatever happened with Gasly who gained an advantage by going off the track?

      1. He was alongside Vettel and Vettel forced him off the track. I was really surprised it was framed as gaining an advantage.

        1. Jose Lopes da Silva
          2nd August 2020, 17:13

          Seemed like he was playing bumper cars

      2. F1oSaurus (@)
        2nd August 2020, 22:31

        Chaitanya Yeah why didn’t Vettel get a penalty for shoving Gasly off? I guess the stewards though not to penalize Vettel since Gasly made it past anyway.

    2. I was wondering this too, literally didn’t realise until the recap of the finishing positions a minute ago. Might be relevant for my DotW pick. I think stewards ‘noted’ that incident with Gasly and Vettel but decided not to take action.

  20. Twitter is going mental saying Hamilton should have pulled over. I remember Mansell trying to push his car over the line (unlawful now) but hey this was the modern day equivalent. Rather suspect these are just salty people.

    Still, quite a boring race until the final few laps. Watching the tyre blowouts reminded me of the 2013 British GP where coincidentally- Hamilton also had blowout while leading.

    I have never been a fan of this tyre deg era introduced after 2011. A 4 time champion once said “we are driving at the pace of the tyre not the pace of the car” which just goes against racing principles. Some management has always existed but this much is silly.

    1. Hamilton did exactly what he should have done. It’s the last lap, get the car to the line and let the stewards sort it out.

      1. +1. If Hamilton pulled over the same people would have probably said “Hamilton gave up” etc etc.

    2. I am not a Lewis fan, but I don’t understand these people either. This particular situation seems safe enough to me, and Lewis did a great job not to destroy this tyre to the state it would damage the actual bodywork, while – on top of that – managing to keep the win, that sure will be remembered. And I’m 100% agreed with you about those silly tyres. I wonder if they review their decision to run compounds 1 grade softer next week.

      1. I highly doubt there will be a mid season change- that would turn political very quickly. This is F1 after all. But perhaps next year things might change- let us not forget though that this isn’t Pirelli’s fault. It’s the FIA who asked them to make chewing gum tyres and they have said this from the start. I believe Bridgestone pulled (partly because of this) and retracted their bid to re-enter F1 when the FIA requirements remained the same.

        1. Yup, I remember Michelin also said it straight they do not want to produce such tyres when there was a tender. I still feel there will be some measures, maybe pressures or kerbs altering, but it should be interesting if they still would stick to initial plan.

        2. That’s not correct @blazzz. The tyres can just degrade and lose all grip to meet what the FiA are after, not delaminate and fail catastrophiccally on the side wall.

          1. That’s not correct @blazzz.

            It’s not true that the FIA asked Pirelli to make degrading tyres?

            The tyres can just degrade and lose all grip to meet what the FiA are after, not delaminate and fail catastrophiccally on the side wall.

            Clearly reality is showing that theory to be an unsolveable equation. It seems those two things are not mutually exclusive- hence the blowouts.

          2. F1oSaurus (@)
            2nd August 2020, 22:33

            @blazzz no the FIA did not ask Pirelli to make degrading tyres. Pirelli were the ones who propose this idea. Motivated by Ecclestone who didn’t want Michelin to win the deal, but FIA had noting in their tender that mentioned degrading tyres. In fact before Ecclestone and Pirelli teamed up, Michelin looked set to win the deal and they were actually proposing tyres that lasted longer in order to save on cost (use less tyres).

      2. @hoshino I actually think running softer compounds will be the better option. It will require them to do two stops. This makes the stints themselves shorter. Today, they had the hardest compound Pirelli even offers for 40 laps on the car before the tires delaminated. The only way that could have been prevented is if, their lone pit stop came later in the race.

        1. Yep. Think we’re going to see a lot of stops.

          Also, in increase to the mandated minimum tyre pressures seems likely.

          But it’s far too late to change the selection of compounds on offer, as far as I know; they’re long since manufactured and shipped, and I don’t think they have anything like enough surplus stock to make last minute changes.

    3. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      2nd August 2020, 16:52

      Don’t pay too much attention to twitter, you’ll get more sense talking to your dog.

    4. I think it was the the right decision. It was the last lap and the car was still drivable.

    5. Waddya mean Salty people?! Easy tiger!!!

    6. No orange circle on black flag, car is safe to drive!

  21. How it is allowed to do more than half lap with such tyre problem?.

    Furthermore, the drivers clarly push to do not lose anytime. If that is not risky, I do not know what it is.

    1. If the tyre was delaminating and leaving debris everywhere- sure. It wasn’t. Have you not seen races when people have continued with a dodgy front wing? I remember Suzuka when Leclerc’s front wing actually nearly took Hamilton’s wing mirror off- he wasn’t required to stop then until that point and this situation was nowhere near that dangerous.

      1. Hopefully this time there was no other issue, but it foes not mean that this driver/team behavior is not risky.
        For example, with such problem, can you predict that the front wing will not get destroyed before enter to pits? Now you may consider that the driver even push to not lose time…. This is by far risky and should be penalized to avoid future problems and accidents.

        1. but it foes not mean that this driver/team behavior is not risky.

          Motor racing is risky by nature. Again I ask- was Hamilton’s tyre more riskly than Leclerc is Suzuka? On the last lap?

          1. Or Bottas, or Sainz, or Kimis with the wing disintegrating?

    2. Bottas also drove a full lap before pitting, as have literally hundreds of drivers before them. I didn’t see a single part fall off either car, and the Red Bull sparks more during normal running. I still don’t understand how the Red Bulls pass the ride height test.

      1. The sparking in intentional.. to protect the bottom wooden piece.

        1. Indeed, but it doesn’t do it if it doesn’t touch the ground.

          And the ‘plank’ isn’t wooden.

    3. Drivers regularly go round with fully delaminated tyres to get back to the pits. Look at Leclerc in Monaco last year

      It’s not unusual

      1. True but in this case Hamilton drove by the pits. Didn’t cause any dangerous situation but I believe he should have gone into the pits (and unless they changed the lap count line after MSC took a victory in the pits, which the probably did, he would have still won the race.

        1. Finish the race in the pits? What’s the point?! The difference was 2 low speed corners and 1 medium speed. I’d rather see the leading driver win the race taking the chequered flag as long as reasonable to do so. Some people being really picky when there wasn’t any debris coming off the car!

        2. What’s the point? There are no more laps at racing speed once Hamilton crosses the line so there’s no safety issue

        3. man, this doesn’t make any sense at all, he then should go to the pits to change for a tyre he wasn’t going to use?

    4. Lol are you serious, is this your first f1 race

      1. Having been an F1 couch potato for a longer doesn’t exactly entitle you to a more creddible opinion.

        1. @jeffreyj No but it helps. Every season there’ll be some cars with blown tyres or bits of wing falling off and the drivers trundling round the track, slewing bits everywhere. I can’t remember the stewards every doing anything. If the car can get back to the pits, drivers will try. In this case, Hamilton’s car had remained intact despite the blowout. Can’t see the issue.

          1. True, but they do sometimes call in drivers if dangerous bits are loose and might fall off the car. Sainz in Singapre a few years back comes to mind.

            However, in this situation I don’t think Hamilton should have been ordered to stop or enter the pitlane rather than over the finish. I think that’s mostly salty Dutch fans being jealous of Lewis’ good fortunes.

    5. Well, you’re allowed to drive back to the pits with a puncture. The finish line is pretty close to pit entry I believe.

    6. Wear some PPE, it keeps the virus out. No problemo with a tyre still attached to the wheel hub.

      How abt max driving a broken car before the race started into the crowd of mechanics. What if it poked someone’s bump in the way to the grid slot.

    7. Jamt, almost every time a driver gets a puncture in the last 30yrs I have watched they continue usually to the pits. It is standard. You are creating an issue that isn’t one.
      Have you watched F1 for long?

    8. See Alonso Baku 2018. One lap. Two tyres.

  22. Rumour has it that Renault will protest against Racing Point again, this time for copying their 2019 driver.

    1. @pironitheprovocateur well, RP didn’t race him so I guess Renault can’t protest that 😉
      But yes, since there has been no decision about the brake ducts, Renault “needs” to protest again this race (to make sure the team get DQ in all of them). But seeing that RP finished behind them, they might skip this race…

    2. Lol @pironitheprovocateur!
      They didn’t run the part in the race though ;)

  23. Hamilton: “my tyres dead bono!”
    Bono: “it’s ok Lewis, one lap left just bring it home”
    Hamilton: “I don’t feel like you’re taking me seriously?!”

    1. Hamilton: ‘Iv’e only got three tyres.’
      Bono: ‘it’s OK Lewis, one lap left just bring it home.’
      Racefans: ‘I see Lewis complaining about his tyres again.’

  24. Pronto Mario?

    Si?

    SBinalla

    (Legreg on podium)

  25. No one’s pointing out the Racing Point aren’t quite 2019 Mercedes, they’re more 2013 Mercedes. Great on Saturday, often falling back Sunday.

    Ironically, I think Perez could’ve been on the podium here, given his penchant for tyre management.

  26. If Kvyat’s safety car hadn’t come out, at what point would the drivers have pitted? And would the subsequent green flag stint been longer or shorter then what the ran after the 2nd safety car ended today?

    1. Soft runners wanted to go to at least 20-25 laps before pitting. Grosjean on mediums went at least 35. So the answer is that the safety car forced everyone to go for long stint on hards which was borderline possible.

      1. I doubt mediums would have got to lap 35 bearing in mind how the hards wore.

        How much softer will the tyres be next week?

        1. * I mean at the pace Mercedes were running.

  27. Albon is just way too aggressive I think he’s trying to make up for the lack of pace his car has

    1. He just needs to learn some patience. Of his three recent incidents, he was only 100% innocent in Brazil – the other 2 I class as racing incidents that Albon could have foreseen and prevented. Of course the other drivers could have prevented them as well, but any racing driver would have done what Hamilton and Magnusson did in trying to hold position – it is the attackers responsibility to make a safe pass.
      Hopefully he will learn to bide his time to get some better results.

    2. Albon is the new crash kid and I don’t think he belongs in a front running car. In Austria people blamed Hamilton for the crash which I thought was 50/50- but since then Albon has been in incidents at every race. What does that tell you

      1. Tells you he’s been put under too much pressure too early in his career. Typical Red Bull tbh.

    3. I don’t think Albon did anything wrong. Magnussen lost all speed then still slammed the door on him by crossing on the apex. He had to know that other cars would be on the racing line doing a much faster speed.

  28. We actually had a race long battle for the lead. Bottas would close under 1s or 1.5s and Hamilton would try to keep him at bay. In this scenario the question was who would run out of tires. But the broadcasters just ignored it. I’m not saying it was a 9/10 race but there was a story up front that just got ignored. It’s not common that Bottas legitimately pressures Hamilton as rosberg could do so maybe they didn’t think it was really happening. As it was Bottas did push hamilton to his limit. Unfortunately he came away with nothing to show for it.

    1. I agree. Bottas admitted post race that he wasn’t doing much tyre management- which is why he ran out of tyres 1st. Ironically it ended up costing Bottas more.

      1. True, but if you are following due to the aero you tend to slide more so that hurts the tyres.

        Wonder if Merc will “let them race” next weekend?

        1. but if you are following due to the aero you tend to slide more so that hurts the tyres.

          Agreed.

          I highly doubt that’s going to happen- maybe Bottas will defy team orders (highly doubtful) and we will have a rinse and repeat of the chess game that happened at the front today.

    2. While the max over-hype is in full force, the sky cocksters are blind to what everyone else is doing.

    3. @dmw I felt the Sky commentators ignored the way Bottas was pushing too. It was good he did, but there was a clear tyre management issue there given when they’d pitted to put on the hard tyre. Hamilton said after the race that he’d been managing the tyres, but VB clearly hadn’t been. But no amount of pushing late in the race was going to help Bottas. He was too soft at the start, where he should have made a plunge for the lead. It’s those chances that determine the season. Rosberg knew that.

      1. He was too soft at the start, where he should have made a plunge for the lead. It’s those chances that determine the season. Rosberg knew that.

        @david-br I was surprised that he wasn’t more aggressive at the start. Bottas is very clean in general, but sometimes he seems too clean. It’s a general trend, the lack on move on Vettel on the last lap in Bahrain in 2018 said it all, generally hasn’t changed since then. On the other hand it’s admirable that he wants to keep it clean, the Mercedes bosses don’t want another repeat of Spain 2016

        1. Hamilton had the inside for the second corner so unless Bottas drove Hamilton off the road at the exit of turn one there was really no way for him to get the spot. That said Hamilton did just that to rosberg in Austin at the start one year (and armchair stewards went nuts).

  29. Binotto: Valterri

    Valterri: Yes

    Binotto: S🅱inalla

  30. Red Bull made a huge mistake here and so did Mercedes.

    Next week will be interesting, Mercedes looked to struggle a bit in the hotter FP1 and 2 and it’s forecast to be hotter for the race, plus the tyres are softer and Mercedes cannot make their tyres last.

    Probably a Merc 1-2 by 30 odd seconds then.

    1. @davidjwest Haha yeah probably, and an early Verstappen retirement due to some sort of mechanical issue

    2. @davidjwest It’ll be an easy two stop for all drivers next week, given how Albon came through at the end and being the softer compound. Easy peasy two stop.

  31. Red Bull was absolutely stupid to bring in Verstappen. Absolutely 100%. They lost a win right there. Hamilton, next, was stupid not to come in.

    However it does seem to suggest that next week is going to be far more simply with the softer compound. Easy 2 stop, nothing interesting going to happen.

    1. His tyres had 50 cuts in it and Max was complaining about vibration. The only way to look stupid is to ignore those signs and get a puncture and finish dead last.

  32. I think this race was Bottas best chance to beat Hamilton as he’d been having setup issues this weekend. Next weekend I expect the gap to open up.

  33. Getting a bit tiresome to see the same winners every week. By my count, only nine drivers have won races since the start of the 2013 season:
    Hamilton
    Rosberg
    Bottas
    Vettel
    Alonso
    Raikkonen
    Leclerc
    Ricciardo
    Verstappen

    Am I missing anyone? Is the fact that we’ve only had nine different winners over the course of the last seven+ seasons a bit shocking to anyone else?

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