Verstappen stuns Mercedes with Silverstone victory

2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix summary

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Max Verstappen sprang a surprise on the Mercedes drivers to win the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone from fourth on the grid.

Verstappen’s gamble using hard tyres in Q2 yesterday paid off superbly. After passing Nico Hulkenberg at the start, he moved within range of the Mercedes drivers as their medium compound tyres quickly started to fade.

While Verstappen’s team initially discouraged him from following the Mercedes too closely, he wasn’t keen on the idea, and was breathing down Lewis Hamilton’s neck after early leader Valtteri Bottas pitted.

Verstappen stretched his advantage after Hamilton pitted, and almost had enough of a lead to jump the pair of them before he came in. He emerged from the pits between the two black cars, and immediately passed Bottas for the lead.

Verstappen took medium tyres at that stop, and was soon back in, joined by Bottas, to switch back to hards to run to the end.

Despite growing blisters on his tyres, Hamilton delayed his second pit stop, allowing him to attack at the end of the race. Once he rejoined, he quickly passed Charles Leclerc despite a firm defensive move from the Ferrari driver, then went after Bottas.

Bottas was powerless to do anything to stop his team mate passing him in the DRS zone. Hamilton shot past with ease on the Wellington straight, but was never going to be able to catch Verstappen, and took the chequered flag 11 seconds behind his rival.

The Racing Point pair ran fourth and fifth early on but slipped behind Leclerc and Alexander Albon. Nico Hulkenberg made an extra stop for soft tyres which left him behind team mate Lance Stroll.

Esteban Ocon collected another eighth place for Renault, followed by Lando Norris and Daniil Kvyat. Carlos Sainz Jnr ran well for McLaren early on before a slot pit stop cost him time. Ocon’s team mate Daniel Ricciardo fell to 14th after a mid-race spin at Village.

Sebastian Vettel also spun, at turn one on the very first corner. He made his way back to 12th behind Pierre Gasly.

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2020 70th Anniversary 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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207 comments on “Verstappen stuns Mercedes with Silverstone victory”

  1. “Nico Hulkenberg made an extra stop for soft tyres which left him behind team mate Lance Stroll.”

    *Cough*

    Is this the F1 anyone wants to watch?

    Hopefully we see these compounds or temperatures or whatever caused Mercedes so much trouble again for a few more races. We might actually have a contested championship on our hands.

    1. One of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen.

      1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
        9th August 2020, 16:36

        Pull the other one! Apparently Massa had a gearbox problem when Alonso passed him in Germany 2010 too.

        1. @jackisthestig the thing is, Hulkenberg was heard talking on the radio after the race about how he’d been in trouble with those tyres and how he probably went too hard on them at the start of his stint and blistered them.

          I know that people automatically want to attack a figure they want to hate, but if Hulkenberg himself was going on after the race about how those tyres were shot and ruefully discussing his tyre management problems, is it that inconceivable that he genuinely was in trouble and that he really did need to pit?

          1. Agreed. i was initially skeptical but if he felt he genuinely had issues then so be it. I will let RP off this time :-)

    2. That was really obvious and painful to watch. Imagine if Bottas and Hamilton crashed out and that left Stroll in 3rd.

    3. Hope we don’t see it ever again

      #F1DitchPirelli

    4. No apparent logic in that pitstop but in the end it achieved what was desired by the management.

    5. Lawrence “I’ve never cheated at anything in my Life” Stroll…

    6. – Fa, Alex just passed me, tyres are quite worn. Am I still in contention for 6th place?
      – Copy that, we are currently investigating our options my son!

    7. You guys are like Trump supporters in your support for this guy. He’s spent ten years in F1 and has been a complete failure. The terrible Stroll stayed with him all day today. That was his last F1 race. Just let him go.

    8. Magnus Rubensson (@)
      9th August 2020, 21:29

      F1 has won the entire world and lost its soul.

    9. 100% terrible call. Hulk clearly would have finished ahead on merit.

    10. Given the finishing positions, apart from the fairy tale, shouldn’t a good team manager ensure their regular driver gets the championship points and not the fill in driver? Not a lot of point in Hulk getting points in the championship when the points for the team is the same. I would like to think if it was a podium position they may have considered leaving the Hulk in front.

      1. Except that team manager should ensure WCC points, those provide the money.

        I am sure Nico was not tending to the squishy tires properly.

      2. Magnus Rubensson (@)
        10th August 2020, 7:53

        Team ended up with less points.
        Before pitstop: Hulk 5th and Stroll 6th.
        After pitstop: Stroll 5th and Hulk 7th.

        1. Team ended up with less points.

          Points aren’t awarded based on position around a pit stop, @magnusrubensson.
          Before pitstop: Hulk 5th and Stroll 6th. expected finishing position Hulk DNF and Stroll 6th
          After pitstop: Stroll 5th and Hulk 7th. realised finishing position Stroll 6th and Hulk 7th.

          Seemed to be the right call, and as mentioned above, Hulkenberg agreed with it during the race; it’s only the jealous and conspiracy theorists who are upset.

          1. Magnus Rubensson (@)
            10th August 2020, 11:21

            Sure, whatever.

  2. Max – The only entity keeping F1 tolerable.

      1. Yep, how could anyone rate this race an 8!!? (I gave it a generous 4 and should have got some extra zzzz’s)
        Imagine trying to convince potential new fans watching that F1 is the pinnacle of Motor Racing.
        Two hours of Krusty and Co yakking about Tires, filling time, as there was no real RACING.
        Great to see Max win, that’s all I can say.

        1. This was far better than the average F1 race has been since 2014 though. If you think this was a 4, why are you even watching F1?

          1. So where were the passes or battle for the lead?
            Were you watching another race?

          2. “If you think this was a 4, why are you even watching F1?
            Why’s that any of your business?

          3. I watch it for the commercials

          4. So where were the passes or battle for the lead?

            When Verstappen overtook Bottas on the track? @budchekov

        2. @budchekov Max passed Bottas after his first stop, so there was a pass for the lead. Hamilton passed Bottas for second and Leclerc for third, so there was quite some on-track action. It was much better than last week’s race, imo.

          1. Agree – a very good race, especially compared to the others.
            I barely watch F1 anymore, but this one held my interest.
            Unfortunately, I think things will be back to normal next week.

    1. +1 Liberty should be very very very happy with this kid coming along. Basically, it saved their billion investment.

  3. I will not take credit of Max because I hate doing that for such performances. However, Bottas? What on earth was that defense? You were defending against a rival team driver not against Hamilton, your teammate. That was incredibly weak and sloppy. You cover the inside line fully, don’t leave space on the inside for him to dive. I am sure Max would have still overtaken him, but that defense was lousy. After he got overtaken by Max, Bottas picked up pace, and who knows, maybe he could have kept him behind…

    And then Hamilton goes longer as usual and then comes back to overtake Bottas. What are Mercedes going to do with that? Bottas just does not have it to win championships. I have never said that about him, but this race made it clear. What a disappointment.

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      9th August 2020, 16:08

      There was no way Bottas was gonna win that fight with Max, the smart move was to make sure he didn’t ruin his tires even more defending, seeing they had a lot of problems with them.

      He was also not going to win again Lewis his DRS and his new tires. This was Mercedes tactics that lost him second.

    2. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
      9th August 2020, 16:11

      He took the inside line against Lewis lol

    3. Bottas backed out when defending against max, he is very weak.

    4. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      9th August 2020, 16:46

      Verstappen had proved that Red Bull could go really long on these tyres without losing pace. Mercedes knew this from seeing their first stint. Bottas had the chance to get along side Verstappen, but knowing the advantage verstappen had, If Bottas had wasted more time, that will have just been pointless. 2nd was realistic and that was what Mercedes seemed to ruin by pitting him when Hamilton’s tyres were in much worse shape. Hamilton even questioned why they were not pitting him. The win was not possible IMO for either Mercedes, but Bottas deserved 2nd and was unlucky again. A great deal of your comments seem to be full of hate towards Bottas. Most people think he was just unlucky. It wasn’t realistic as I said for either to beat verstappen as he wasn’t even pushing.

      1. You call me a hate towards Bottas? I am literally the most fan towards Mercedes. It’s the first time I even go like this towards Bottas because it looked like he had a chance of keeping Max behind as he kept up with him, and they even pitted at the same time. I thought that Bottas still could have won for Mercedes, or at least could have helped Hamilton catch up in the end. It just got me mad that Bottas did not defend, and it appeared to have cost Mercedes.

        I was at the 2017 Austrian Gp and the 2019 Japanese Gp live on the track, and when Bottas made those starts, I literally jumped out and started shouting when he took the lead.

        Anyway, back to the race, I was nervous when they left Hamilton out for almost 30 laps on the hard, that I thought Mercedes were pushing for a one stop to win the race, to the point I commented on the live chat that it would have been a crazy strategy. It looked like Mercedes was attempting two different strategies on their drivers for the win.

        It does not stop me from questioning Bottas sometimes in terms of pace, attacking or defending. I questioned his pace in Monza last year and his pace in Hungary this year because of the situations. I also questioned his lack of agression in Bahrain 2018. I also questioned Mercedes decision not to pit in the second safety car in Austria this year. Same as Mercedes, who want to win every race, fans like us do to, and we are disappointed.

        For this race, I think starting on the hard tyre would have been better for Mercedes given their pace advantage. That’s it. I am not taking credit away from Verstappen in beating arguably the two drivers, one of them arguably the best of all time, and both of them driving possibly the best car in F1 history made by the best team in the history of F1.

        1. I don’t think starting on hard would’ve made a difference, RB were simply better on the tyres and it wasn’t going to get better for Merc. If anything, strategy permitting, Merc need to figure that part out.

          Plus a few other teams had a similar problem.

        2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          9th August 2020, 18:03

          Apologies for using such a strong word, but I think a win was totally out of the question for Bottas. Even after the race when Toto was asked if they could have won, he litrally said they had no chance. I didn’t see the point of Bottas needlessly defending verstappen with the level of issues both mercedes had regarding looking after their tyres.

        3. As an aside, I am flummoxed how you have used ‘literally ‘ in place of “figuratively “

  4. Imagine how pointlessly boring Formula 1 would be without Max Verstappen.

    1. I believe leclerc, riccardo, norris, and potentially russel, in the second seat of that bull would make F1 even more interesting. Come on red bull just bring someone in from a different team

    2. Top man Max.
      Now that he’s winning, Holland needs a new national anthem.
      Jeez, what they play now is some dreary dirge. Starts off OK, but quickly loses its way
      (a bit like Alfa driver Giovinazzi)

      1. Haha, its an oldie for sure, written in 1570. But as a dutchie it still gives me goosebumps to hear it at an f1 race! I’ve been a fan since the late seventies, never in my wildest dreams had I expected to have a dutchman ever to win in f1, so proud of max!

        1. No offence intended. If it’s from the Golden Age, and Vermeer and Rembrandt sang it, then I eat my words.

          1. It was at first sung at a much faster pace, so perhaps you like that one better. The slower melody is from 1626, making it more suitable to be sung in churches, with an organ making the music.

            The lyrics describes how the Habsburg King is a tyrant and how William of Orange was justified in revolting and how God will grant him the Dutch kingdom, similar to how the biblical David defeated Saul and God granted him the kingdom of Israel.

            At first it was a song used the Orangist political faction. When the House of Orange became the monarchs in 1813, they picked another song as the anthem, to indicate that they would represent and work for the entire nation, not merely their own faction. Only in 1932 did it become the national anthem.

      2. Tommy Scragend
        9th August 2020, 17:47

        The Austrian one is an absolute dirge.

      3. GtisBetter (@)
        9th August 2020, 18:05

        One does not simply change an anthem. (At least not without making a lot of people mad)

        At least it was better then the one played after the F3 race, which was some kind of mix I think.

  5. Well done to Racing Point, they have managed the strategy brilliantly – the protege has finished in front of the unwanted replacement and justified his place in the team. I hope Nico won’t race for those swindlers ever again.

    1. Well, we don’t know if Perez will keep on getting Covid 19, do we?

  6. Am a Hamilton fan BUT-…..
    Thank God For Max and Redbull and hats off to them for that excellent strategy!

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      9th August 2020, 18:48

      I always wonder why people put “I am a [driver] fan, but..” in front of a sentence. What do you want to say by giving us that extra piece of info?

      1. I don’t get it how it bothers you. It says more about Max performance, I hope you can relate.

        1. GtisBetter (@)
          9th August 2020, 20:17

          Does that mean that when you don’t start a sentence they way it doesn’t mean anything?

  7. Unbelievable unsporting remark by Hamilton. He flat out suggested RBR cheated with the tires.

    1. erikje Want to quote that bit of your imagination?

      1. Hamilton said on the team radio that “they must be doing something with the tyre pressures”; implying that Red Bull started with lower pressures than mandated by Pirelli.

          1. and excuses to erikje; you might not always agree with him, but he deserves better than your original reply. @david-br

          2. @coldfly Why? As pointed out by others, Hamilton’s comment doesn’t automatically translate as an accusation of cheating, it may have simply been implying that Red Bull did better on setup. I’m thanking the others for providing the quote, not its scandalized interpretation by someone ever eager to accuse Hamilton of maliciousness.

          3. Don’t worry; saying sorry won’t hurt.
            @david-br
            erikje even included the word ‘suggested’ (rather than ‘accusation’ which you seem to read in it).
            And I’m not sure where you got the setup reference; Lewis explicitly referred to tyre pressure (RBR running lower pressure).

          4. Lewis explicitly referred to tyre pressure (RBR running lower pressure).

            Which is a kind of setup right?
            I’m sure erikje has the capacity to explain his comment.

        1. @kaiie

          implying that Red Bull started with lower pressures than mandated by Pirelli

          Which would’ve been caught before the race/during the race leading to disqualification.
          Hamilton implied Red Bull started with lower pressures than what Mercedes were running. Some people here don’t understand the word ‘minimum’ it seems.

      2. Lewis said “maybe RB are running with low pressure”. Oh, so now Erikje and I have telepathy!

      3. @david-br as others have said, Lewis said it on the radio.

        Another piece of whining and poor sportsmanship from Hamilton

        1. @nvherman Or alternatively he’s suggesting Red Bull had made a better decision within the legal parameters. However the urge to rush to condemn Hamilton over nothing is presumably too strong for the weakminded.

          1. condemning looks more your style in this topic..

          2. @david-br that was absolutely not what he was implying at all.

          3. petebaldwin (@)
            9th August 2020, 21:08

            See if I acted like an idiot and rudely accused someone of lying, I’d apologise once I was proven to be wrong….

          4. Says erikje whose only ever contribution here is to whine incessantly about Hamilton.

          5. @petebaldwin The imagination bit still applies. See above reply.

    2. Quote please

    3. Suggesting Red Bull were running lower pressures than Mercedes doesn’t mean they were running lower pressures than what was mandated by Pirelli. Besides as someone mentioned in the commentary, the tire pressures are checked on the grid and also shown in the telemetry. I don’t think Hamilton was suggesting that they were doing something illegal.

      1. The tire pressure is mandatory.

        1. @erikje That’s what I’m saying, have you read anything? And Hamilton knows that and what I thought he was suggesting was RB were running much lower pressues *compared to Merc* and not below the mandated minimum. He wasn’t accusing RB of cheating (which if they did, they would simply have been caught easily)

          1. RB were running much lower pressues *compared to Merc*

            the tire pressure is manadatory.. so every tire (on every car) has the same pressure.
            So the suggestion of Lewis was impossible without cheating.

          2. Minimum tyre pressure is mandatory – it’s very widely assumed that they’re all at the minimum and Pirelli raised it further for this weekend.

          3. @erikje It’s the minimum tire pressure that’s mandatory, not the pressure itself, what is the matter with you? Unbelievable how some people are just blinded by their opinions and don’t bother to check what’s true and what’s not. There is a stipulated minimum pressure so that teams don’t run lower than that and gain a grip advantage. Doesn’t mean they can’t run higher pressures than that. Care to read the last sentence here? Or are you incapable of understanding even that?

            so every tire (on every car) has the same pressure

            Oh dear.

          4. @sravan-pe your right its the minimum. But more pressure is not something drivers and constructors like . If you ever used a car with excessive pressure in the tires you know what i mean.
            btw: Remember the “balloon” remark by Hamilton. So its still is very unlikely he meant they increased the pressure.

          5. @sravan-pe.. to make things clear.. here is the team radio: do doubt about his intentions.
            https://youtu.be/ySO2Az0eUfs?t=74

          6. @erikje

            your right its the minimum

            Thank you. If you still wish to read what Hamilton said in the way you seem fit, then great. But not even knowing the correct rule doesn’t help you case mate. You said ‘cheating’ in your original comment, which if you knew enough about the rules and how they’re enforced is a very difficult conclusion to reach after hearing Hamilton say ‘they must be running lower pressures or something’.

            do doubt about his intentions

            Cool, it’s good to have doubts.

            He flat out suggested RBR cheated with the tires.

            No, you have a doubt it is so, but here you are claiming what he meant for him and that’s far from correct.

    4. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      9th August 2020, 16:39

      I’m no Lewis apologist but you can’t take things said over the radio in the heat of the moment too seriously.

      1. When the thing he says is basically an accusation of cheating without any proof or basis. Then yeah, I’d say we can take it a bit more seriously than a driver swearing or getting angry over something that was ultimately his own fault, for instance.

        After his recent IG faux pas’, you’d expect him to steer clear of baseless accusations even on comms.

        1. SMH. You guys really have it for him.

          1. Yep they do, I heard the comment and interpreted as clutching at straws as to how they can push without destroying their tyres. Max had older/used tyres at the end, than Hamilton’s and were in better condition. I’m Intrigued too plus if they, RB, can keep that advantage then good for them. One area that they are able to beat Merc on.

    5. @erikje

      Kinda selective given Red Bull were protesting at every single thing Hamilton and Merc did earlier in the season don’t you think? Red Bull aren’t exactly the most “sportsmanship” team out there anyway so pot kettle.

      1. They only protested ( and rightly so!) for Lewis making a mistake the stewards missed on the camera images they used.
        Sour grapes it seems..

        1. @erikje

          They only protested ( and rightly so!) for Lewis making a mistake the stewards missed on the camera images they used.

          Yeah they really had to dig didn’t they to find that exact camera angle? And the week beforehand with the Albon crash (which IMO was 50/50) they were pushing for a harder penalty.

          Sour grapes it seems..

          Indeed- if you can’t see why competitors do these things in the heat of battle- it is indeed sour grapes on your part.

          1. No they had not to dig.. the images form the 360 onboard are only available after the race. They download them form the car after the race.
            Try to do your homework.

          2. btw, nice example of whataboutism ;)

    6. I tend to agree with you.
      Judging from how he has reacted in the past under adversity, I agree with you.

    7. Try not to loose any sleep over that

  8. Well done by Red Bull and Verstappen, setting themselves up for the win by qualifying mon the hard tyre. I was going for a better result by Hulkenberg, struggling to see the logic of that last pitstopnto switch to the soft…

    1. There was none. He could have finished in respectable fifth but it wasn’t in the interest of the RP’s management. I hope he won’t race for them again.

    2. Hulk himself reported a big vibration but I guess commenters here won’t believe him.

      1. I’m sure Stroll was reporting no vibration at all.

        Everyone reports they are struggling on tyres and vibration. It’s what happens when you runs softer tyres in Silverstone.

        1. So you’d have preferred the team completely ignores his feedback in order not to offend internet commentators?

        2. If that’s the case then, given last weeks punctures they probably made the right call. Anyway Nico must have known they’d pit him if he said those words.

    3. I had a bet on Hulk in top 6, now I have a bad taste in my mouth…

  9. Brilliant race from Verstappen and Red Bull, excellent damage limitation from Hamilton.

    1. Ham wad gifted second place by a better strategy.

      1. No erikje, that’s not the case. Bottas was free to decide his own strategy too.

        1. Yes, I heard that to…he was begin to come in… ehm…

        2. Maybe listen tot the team radio again. Bottas was even asked to slow down!

          1. The reason ham jumped bottas were his laps after bottas second stop. He matched both Max and Bot for several laps, the gap to Max static at 11secs, once he had clean air. This is despite the tyre age and blistering. When ham pitted, max had only closed to 8.5 sec on fresh tyres. Those laps bottas should have been closing him down rapidly, but he didn’t. That is why ham was able to pass him. Why bottas wasn’t quick enough at that stage wasn’t due to Mercedes pit strategy.
            If ham had lead into the first corner it may have been last week rerun. But he didn’t and that was down to his qualifying.

          2. Two points: one, Bottas can decided to stay out or come in. That’s what the serious championship contenders do, take events into their own hands, decide they’re best staying out or pitting. Second, Mercedes may have been more inclined to let (advise) Hamilton to try a one stop, or stay out longer and try to chase down Verstappen on fresh tyres because he’s shown he can do it. In Austria last year, Hamilton won the race against Verstappen by making up a 20 sec deficit on new tyres. Bottas couldn’t do the same this year in virtually the same situation. It’s no use moaning about Hamilton being favoured when he has built an entire career around proving why he should be better trusted to deliver a marginal strategy. Is that really too difficult to grasp?!

        3. @david-br

          In Austria last year, Hamilton won the race

          your fantasy is growing by the minute.
          I get it your a blind Ham fan. Thats no problem. The problem is you seem to think that everyone that criticizes Ham does not like him. I am not looking at his external activity. That’s only important for the likes like you it seems.Its one of the greatest drivers in the best car. But now he has found his match. A better driver in a lesser car. I can imagine it must hurt a blind Ham fan.

          1. erikje Actually, for what it matters, I rate Verstappen just as highly, as you’d notice if you paid more attention. But clearly he still has to prove he can deliver all that talent. The blind obsession is your own projection I’m afraid.

          2. @david-br as i said it seems to hurt you more than others.
            Btw you need a championship winning car to win a championship. Excellent driving, like VER does is not always enough to compensate for the extra power the Merc engines have ( and the illegal Ferrari last year)

          3. Excellent driving, like VER does is not always enough to compensate for the extra power the Merc engines have

            No, it isn’t, and Verstappen has been brilliant this year, as he was for most of last year (and the year before). He has matured and is the only driver currently capable of pushing the Mercedes two while their car retains dominance. You’re spot on. Does that make Verstappen a better driver than Hamilton? Is the question even worth asking? Personally I see them as evenly matched. But the point remains: winning a title is something else. I’ve no doubt Max will achieve that feat. If he’s lucky with his future career, he could even match or beat Hamilton’s records. But still, you can’t anticipate that achievement or predict how he’ll deal with competition at that level. That’s kind of what makes the future fun, waiting to see how it all plays out. In the meantime, constantly denigrating Hamilton or downplaying his talent and achievements is lame – and clearly isn’t something Verstappen himself does. They show clear mutual respect. Maybe try some?

  10. By the way, Hamilton should probably face an investigation on his pitlane entry before the second stop. Doubt that he managed to slow down sufficiently but it won’t affect his result.

    1. +1 Exactly.I don’t think he managed to slow down enough untill the line.That was a massive lock-up and has gone even after the line so…

    2. It’s an automatic system, the announcement of an investigation normally comes very quickly and always leads to a penalty. The fact there was no investigation means he slowed down enough.

      1. Exactly

      2. @carbron Applying science and logic is a bit beyond the likes of @pironitheprovocateur

    3. He did a second brake moment just after the line and drove way below 80 then. He even accelerated to reach 80 again. Pitlimiter speed. It was a mistake without consequences.

    4. Lewis will face a police investigation as he stole Max trofee!

    5. What investigation? He wasn’t speeding, if he was he would of been penalised.

  11. You could almost hear the collective climactic release of the the establisment when Max won.theyve been pumping him up for so long that finaly had something celebrate….The guys on Sky were giddy……so the guys on Sky started complaining that Mercededse gave Lewis the one stop to beat Bottas .then when Lewis finally stopped they started complaining how its now unfair on Bottas that Lewis has fresh tires…wow those bitter envious non accomplish ex British drivers are showing their true colours…….

    1. Hamilton was definitely favoured with his late second pit stop – I doubt Bottas couldn’t go on for another five or so laps in his second stint.

      1. If he was given the undercut you would be complaining tooo….theres no pleasing you people when its come to Lewis…

      2. So when should he have been stopped? If Bottas had gone on for another 5 laps, and Lewis for another 5 laps after Bottas how do you think that would have changed the race result?

        Lewis will simply have overtaken Bottas earlier because he has always had better pace than his teammates around Silverstone, and also manged his tires a bit better.

        1. I agree with the better tire management, however I strongly doubt about the need to box Bottas around 10 laps earlier than Hamilton.

          1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            9th August 2020, 17:01

            The thing I don’t get was when they did Bottas’s 2nd stop, his tyres were in far better shape than hamilton – so he easily could have gone longer and likely extended the gap to Hamilton a bit further. This will then have given Hamilton a bigger gap as well as less time and laps to pass Bottas. I really don’t get why they pitted Bottas when they did. 2nd place was deserved for him.

            I don’t think either driver managed their tyres better given the situation this weekend. The driver behind always suffers more. This was obvious with bottas last weekend – and in this race, both the first stints, it was obvious that Bottas’s tyres were clearly in better shape that hamilton’s. But I don’t think it is to do with management and rather clean air. The reason why Hamilton got by so quickly at the end was that Botats pitted earlier than he needed to and Hamilton had tyres that were 10 laps newer. Luck is not going Bottas’s way this season. Over the past 2 weekends, he’s pretty much looked matched to Hamilton. Slightly slower last weekend, but I’d say his race pace was slightly better this time.

            To be realistic, Bottas should only be 10 points behind Hamilton in the championship which isn’t bad going given the gap between winning and coming 2nd.

        2. @kbdavies Their pace and tyre management was very similar throughout the race up until Bottas’ second stop. I don’t think Mercedes intentionally gave Hamilton the better strategy, but given that his second stint tyres maintained their performance longer than expected it definitely worked out better for him.

      3. @pironitheprovocateur Do you honestly believe that Mercedes did that to give Lewis the advantage over Bottas, and not because they were just trying to find the best way to take the win away from Max as the tyre situation was constantly developing throughout the race?

        It was unfortunate for Bottas no doubt, but to suggest the team made those strategy calls in order to favour Lewis over Bottas, is just laughable.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          9th August 2020, 17:05

          It seems suspicious that they gave this to Hamilton and not Bottas though does it not? As he was already closer to verstappen and his tyres were in much better condition than Hamilton’s at the time Mercedes pit him. It really seems questionable. If either driver should have gone longer, it was more realistic to be Bottas given he was further up the road and had better tyres – therefore will have lost less time. But from what toto has been saying, they pretty much knew they couldn’t beat verstappen. I mean look at his first stint. The tyres barely dropped off and Verstappen was flawing it. He simply managed it later on and pushed when he needed. He will have been able to keep either behind easily.

          1. If you rewatch ham/bot for the laps after bottas second stop, you will see ham was initially largely matching both bot and ver lap times on their new tyres, once in clean air on his used tyres. Those few laps allowed ham to beat bot, not a favourable strategy call.

        2. I agree with you in a way but only because I don’t think Mercedes would have even considered Bottas.
          Bott is the number two in the team and has proven time after time that he is happy with the situation.

          I would say that they gave Lewis a shot at the win knowing full well that Valtteri wouldn’t be a problem.

          1. So you knew when Max and Bottas came in for their new tyres that Ham would be just as fast on his old ones?

      4. *facepalm*

        Bottas was reacting to Max and he had priority in pit strategy

    2. the stop for Bottas was an attempt to undercut verstappen, however, they boxed at the same time and neutralised that strategy.

      He was 2 seconds behind when he stopped, it was a good try.

    3. @spactus F1 is not for you if you cannot even respect what an accomplishment it was just for those ex British drivers to have gotten as high as the pinnacle of racing, no matter the degree of their opportunities and success in it. You so belittle the very sport you are watching that it boggles the mind as to why you bother.

  12. Max you wonderful wonderful guy!
    The Red Bull strategy worked and you just seemed to laugh your way through that race.
    Top work from all.

    Respect to Leclerc for forcing one of the worst Ferraris we have seen in some time up into fourth.
    Even scoring points was beyond Mr Vettle whom I really do believe needs to reconsider his future life choices.
    You are rich Seb. Don’t waste a seat if you can’t do it anymore.

    What I like the most though is that Mercedes will be a little bit shaken now.
    There will be questions asked.
    “Why didn’t we win? – – – I thought we were always supposed to win!”

    Disappointed for Hulkenberg. Maybe a seat in an honest team might be better?

    1. They were 2-3, and they are not shaken. They are not so easily shaken.
      Just look at past 6 years.

      By midnight they will know what happened. By noon tomorrow they will have a mitigation plan.

    2. To be fair Ferrari really didnt do Seb any favour with their ridiculous pit stop calls.
      They called him in way to early, so he is stuck in traffic and then they do it again to put him on medium tyres with a long way to go.

      1. To be fair, the spin at the start was all Vettel himself.

        1. Sure, but even with that spin he could have scored some points instead of running in no mans land.

  13. Redbull was the fastest car on the grid in race trim. An average driver like Albon dragged it to 5th place and was dead last near the beginning of the race. Mercedes W11 looked like the tire destroyer Mercedes W04 of 2013.

    1. Ah, it was the car, not the driver! Now where have I heard that before?

    2. This and this again. +1

  14. Best part was when they told Max not to drive so close to the Mercs.

    1. Nice try. I’m no Verstappen fan but sometimes you just have to take your hat off and admit it when a driver shows true excellence

  15. Max is much better than both mercedes drives full stop.

    1. LOL

      In your dreams!

    2. Disagree if you compare with Lewis. Remember Max has been beaten by Sainz and Riccardo previously.

      1. When was Max beaten by Carlos?
        And although D Ric scored more points with a lot of luck, he in general was trailing Max by quite a margin, despite Max being basically a rookie
        Hence Daniel packing his bags and fleeing into oblivion.

        1. The luck argument regards d ric falls down against Sainz. The year max and Carlos were together Max had 2 mechanical dnfs and sainz had 7. Max had 2dnfs due to accidents which he could have avoided. You can’t argue him better than Sainz on luck and riccardo also on luck

          1. Also max wasn’t a rookie vs d ric.

          2. in 23 quali sessions:
            – Max won 12. there was no misfortune from Carlos in any of these 12 losses. Carlos actually crashed twice by own mistake. eg in Russia 2015 it was in FP3 and he couldn’t participate at all.
            – Carlos won 11. but there were 3 weekends where Max couldn’t fully participate in quali due to engine or technical issues. eg Japan 2015, where Max was 0.8s quicker in Q1 but engine failed in Q2. Effectively Carlos won 8 clearly on merit.
            so is it 12-11? or 12-8?

            Also in races i don;t think the 7-2 is right. can you mention the races? Verstappen was significantly ahead in all stats (points, laps leading teammate, avg finish position).

            Also, keep in mind that ‘Max the teenager’ wasn;t at his prime yet. Fair enough? i believe Max had a steeper learning curve than Sainz or Ric. Particularly wrt being more consistent, clean and patient.

          3. Max was 0.35s quicker in Q1 Japan 2015. mislooked.

          4. Hi, stand corrected in that Max had 3 mechanical retirements not 2. He span out in British Gp and crashed into back of grosjean in monaco. Sainz retired in aus/gb/hun/belg/rus/Brazil & bahrain gps.
            Verstappen finished 5 races ahead of sainz and sainz 4 ahead of verstappen.
            5 vs 4 isn’t of any statistical significance (obviously as only 9 races both finished)
            Also sainz qualified ahead of verstappen 10vs 9 in 2015.
            To say verstappen was clearly better simply ignores large areas of the season and is unfair and simply selective. .
            Just like saying riccardo was better than verstappen as he outscored him. It is true but not full picture.
            Neither sainz or riccardo as currently stands are considered greats in the sport, so verstappen although may do well in the future he hasn’t actually proven much as yet.
            I remember many drivers claimed to be future worldchamps who came to nothing. Dan Ric springs immediately to mind, although this looks very unlikely now!
            Only if verstappen breaks records and out performs proven team mates will this change.
            If you look at ham vs alonso you see a true amazing rookie year.
            Sorry for my poor English grammer.

        2. Stop making excuses with loads of luck false claim. In 2018 max had finaly the same luck as Dan 2016 and 2017 combined. Dan smash and outscored Max in 3 season together. No wonder Max doesnt want Lewis as team mates

    3. @hamiledon

      Been a long couple of years for you hasn’t it with Rosberg giving you some respite in 2016, going to be another long couple of years again until Hamilton retires.

    4. Nice excuses. Max had way more luck in 2018 than Dan 2016 and 2017 combined! Dan car broke nearly every weekend! Fed up with RBR! So quit making excuses. Ricciardo outscored Max 3 years together despite huge luck in 2018. Red Bull tires was in a best condition today. That what made max won. Or how about Max being powerless in Hungary 2019? What happened with Max in Hungary 2019 is what happened with Lewis or Bottas today. If mercs never had tire issues Max would be distant 3rd place just like the last weekend first and second stints.

  16. If you want to end the Mercedes era, mess with the tyres. Just like back in Malaysia ’15 when they were beaten two weeks after finishing half a minute ahead of Vettel on the opening race mostly because of tyre trouble.

    And to think that Verstappen should’ve won both races at Silverstone..

    1. I had Sepang ’15 race vibes too while watching this. I remember thinking then too that one particular aspect (blisters in hot conditions in this case) made both drivers look rather ordinary compared to another team that were just more confident from the outset on their strategy and made things work for them.

    2. Both Mercedes cars blew out their tyres a week ago.

      There’s no conspiracy. Hotter weather and Max pushed them.

  17. Lets not forget that Max couldnt take pole when his was teammate with Riccardo,he only did when paired with Albon was is almost useless,,,we know the F1 establishment is eager to move away from the Lewis dominance so there is no critical analysiss ….who knows how fast that Rebbull is….. with unaccomplish hasnt achieved anything in F1 max leading the team with a teammate that cant expose him…so right now anything he does he is a hero and when he gets beat its all Mecedeses power….the guy was even a hero for being outqualified by Lewis 1.2 sec….

    1. @spactus those grapes must sure be sour. Verstappen steal your chips or something?

      1. @spactus What a terrible attitude you have. Sounds like F1 is not for you.

        1. Not a terrible attitude just stating facts. Just you that cant handle the truth!

      2. No sour just stating facts or pehaps you cant handle the truth?! Its a fact Ricciardo smashed Crashtappen to pole and he has so weak team mate not to expose him. No wonder he want another Ricciardo level team mate!

        1. Nice.. still tasting the sour grapes i see ;)

    2. I love the way your comment starts off sane then over the course of five lines degrades into a grammatically disjointed nightmare of hate and anger.
      +1

      1. hahahha i actually lol’d

    3. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      9th August 2020, 16:50

      Have you been roughed-up by Jos in the past? So bitter!

    4. I had to laugh when reading this.

      1. Me too, but he probably really meant it ;)

  18. Not taking away anything from Max and RBR, but it was again all because of awful tyres.

    #F1DitchPirelli

  19. I honestly thought Mercedes were gonna win every race this season… phew! Glad red bull and max beat fairly through superb strategy and driving

    Too bad ricciardo finished that far back, was well poised at the start to get some good points

    1. Glad red bull and max beat fairly through superb strategy and driving

      Agreed.
      If Lewis and/or Val had had punctures today then the rabid acolytes would be claiming that RB and Max got it gifted to them whereas this was purely better strategy and top quality driving.

      1. And it saved RB claiming a driver who gets pole, leads the race til the last lap and then gets a puncture is somehow ‘lucky’. So a win win. But a big thanks from this rabid acolyte to Max for gifting a few extra points to Ham as opposed to Bottas.

  20. Oldest man Kimi beat two rows of drivers ahead of him with a beautifully managed one stopper.
    Last man to stop for mediums. Vasseur needs to up sponsorship, can’t just sit back and rest on the lousy Orlen deal….

  21. Max would break every record in the book if he had a car equal to the Mercedes. Much like Schumacher in the 90’s and 00’s he’s clearly a cut above the field.

    Hamilton has been hard on his tyres even going back to the early days at McLaren, Button was able to manage them better when they were teammates.

    1. Here we go again with the “Hamilton is a tyre destroyer” fairy tales again. Sigh.

    2. Max would break every record in the book if he had a car equal to the Mercedes

      Not if he had someone like Ricciardo as his team mate. In fact Ricciardo denied Max the youngest ever pole sitter on multiple occassions so already that statement has some holes in it.

      1. Ricciardo is a great driver no doubt about that, but not as quick at Verstappen.

        Ricciardo was already an experienced driver that had comfortably beaten Vettel when Verstappen became teammate.

        Verstappen had a clear edge in races and over time developed a clear edge in qualifying.

        1. Verstappen had a clear edge in races and over time developed a clear edge in qualifying.

          The inverse is true- Verstappen had more raw pace in qualy but in the races it was evens stevens. That is why Ricciardo left with a 2-1 victory against Verstappen so again- Max wouldn’t “break every record” as you claimed in your OP.

          1. Okay, not this fairytale again?

          2. @erikje

            Don’t believe in fairytales. Seems you do? But, we can have pub debates on the recognised FIA records if you want.

        2. whats your point of being a rookie against an experienced driver? lewis was also a rookie against a double world champ. besides he wasnt even a rookie when he joined redbull. no excuses there.

      2. @blazzz
        Yeah, those poles from Daniel…..
        What was the score from the last 40 qualifying sessions again? 28-12 in Max his favour,lol, bet those 3 poles (how did Mexico turn out again?) made Daniel sleep easy…… hahaha!
        Btw Max, 2 poles, 9 wins……I’m sure that’s pretty unrivaled.
        Who needs poles!

        1. @Oconomo

          What was the score from the last 40 qualifying sessions again? 28-12 in Max his favour

          Ah the classic cherrypicking.
          In 52 races since Spain 2016 the qualy score excluding grid penalties but taking into account driver error (like when Verstappen binned it in Monaco) was 26-20 in Verstappen’s favour.
          Close.

          Btw Max, 2 poles, 9 wins……I’m sure that’s pretty unrivaled.
          Who needs poles!

          And Daniel defeated Max in 2/3 seasons.

          Also 2 poles and 9 wins is “unrivaled”? Okay, sure.
          I take it Verstappen has the all time pole and wins record then at this stage in his career. You new to F1?

          1. Max at 18 or 19 years old, is not the current Max. While he had class & brilliance from day1, people tend to forget the steep learning curve he had (particularly wrt being more consistent & patient). As a teenager you are not in your prime yet…
            I would be surprised if DanRic would do much better to the current Max than Gasly or Albon did in past 2 years.

          2. @@trib4udi

            Max at 18 or 19 years old, is not the current Max

            Oh I agree. But who says Ricciardo, or any driver for that matter hasn’t also improved? It’s not just Verstappen who has the ability to get better hey.

          3. @blazz

            But who says Ricciardo, or any driver for that matter hasn’t also improved?

            your right.. even ricciardo stated he learned a lot from max ;)

      3. surely you’d agree that a boy of 18-19years old (Max in 2016&2017) hasn’t reached his prime yet? he had a steep learning curve.
        DanRic would not be much closer to Max than Albon or Gasly.

        1. @trib4udi Just saw your comments after I posted mine, and how they are related to my thinking too. I really don’t see an improved DR, but then again he is not in an improved car from his RBR one, but anyway, for me he is just no Max, and there is no other Max on the grid. He’ll be fearing no one, and while he is engrained at a top team, which should be always, he’ll be a huge mountain to climb for any teammate that comes along.

          Now just imagine him in the same situation that LH found himself in in 2014, with a run such as he has had. Not saying that it is going to happen for Max because I think the new F1 will no longer see such lengthy runs of dominance, however, it does highlight what competitors like Max and Bottas are up against, and it would be no different if it was Max in LH’s seat.

      4. @blazzz Max/DR was then, this is now. You can banty the numbers around all you like, but the simply fact is Max has only gotten better as time has gone along, so he is a moving target. Unless DR or a reasonable facsimile of him were to improve from the Max/DR days, there’s no point claiming Max would be troubled by a DR. There isn’t a driver on the grid that would phase Max as his teammate. Not one.

        1. @robbie

          You can banty the numbers around all you like

          That’s just another way of stating you have a problem with some inconvenient truths.

          but the simply fact is Max has only gotten better as time has gone along

          Of course he has. But so have other drivers- Verstappen isn’t the only driver with the ability to improve so its a moot point really.

          There isn’t a driver on the grid that would phase Max as his teammate. Not one.

          At Red Bull- of course. He is the favourite son. Until/Unless the next star emerges from Toro Rosso and start beating him on merit it is perfectly understandable for Verstappen to say that isn’t it and be comfortable with the team structure the way it is. This was Vettel a few years agpo- with the best car of course and he looked legendary until Danny Ric came along.

          1. @blazzz And as LH enjoys as the favourite son etc. I think you’re missing the point that Max is exceptional and imho there is no rising star coming from Toro Rosso that is coming to beat Max. You obviously want to make him sound the same as the other drivers, and he simply is not. He is a cut above. And he is not saying that or claiming it…I am on his behalf.

    3. Ok mate, tell me a better tyre manager than Hamilton since he came into F1? That car on a hot track was eating it’s tyres for breakfast. It’s a well known fact that the W11 is harder on its tires than the Redbull on a hot track FYI.

      1. Bottas managed the tyres better than Hamilton in the first stint. He had kept pulling away from him throughout the stint.

        After that it was an unfair fight because Bottas was sacrificed with poor strategy.

    4. Yea, you keep believing that and will carry on listening to not only his own engineers, but other teams, drivers and Pirelli themselves. And maybe pretend that following another car closely doesn’t damage the tyres as much as being out front.

  22. I honestly think it was the entire package today that won: a combination of driver, team, car and circumstances. Love races like these, you can say a lot of things but you can’t say that the winning package was undeserving.

    Bottas probably should have overruled the team’s decision to have him pit so early into his hard stint, yes his tyres weren’t great but he was staying with Max, Merc should’ve at least done opposite to RBR. Having said that he had no idea that Merc were planning to extend Lewis’s stint, so I think he can be justified in feeling hard done by.

    Leclerc managed his tyres very well, once again I feel the high-rake concept + shaving the wing off the car helped him (and Max) put less load in the tyres, but he still had to make it work. I was incredibly impressed with his hard-tyre stint.

    RP saying Nico complained of vibrations so they had to pit him, but it’s still weird to see him go for softs, those tyres get eaten up within 5-10 miles. Even scrubbed mediums would’ve been better. I don’t want to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon just yet but he had zero drop off in terms of speed, plus higher pressures means the vibrations would’ve been likely localised and not leading to a deflation. But what do I know.

    Ricciardo really bottled it today, surprising to see him lose his rearlike that in a wheel-to-wheel battle, reminded me of Seb in Bahrain last year with Lewis. Speaking of Seb, I can undersand his frustration with the strategy, but maybe if he hadn’t spun, he would’ve been at least 10 seconds up the road and put himself in a better position. He’s not driving like a 4-time WDC.

    Good race drive by Albon, though I wasn’t too happy with how much time he spent behind Gasly.

    Shout-out to Kvyat, though helped a little by Alpha reacting to Albon’s early stop which probably lost Gasly a lot of time in hindsight with the resultant defence and over-long stints.

  23. Nice to see a genuine win through talent, instead of car performance, its been a while!

    1. Agree. This was by far the drive of the season and in much inferior machinery

    2. GtisBetter (@)
      9th August 2020, 19:01

      Hate to break your bubble, but car performance win again. It helps if a good driver is in it.

  24. He was not unlucky, a real racer would want to keep a competitor behind for as long as possible, especially a rival team.

    Bottas 2.0 or 3.0 still ain’t got enough fight to be WDC

  25. Meanwhile the podium ceremony robos are reported to lift and coast towards Barcelona, albeit with opened DRS through corners, so a couple of teams are appealing.

    1. robots :(

  26. Verstappen has been truly sublime so far this season, being just about the only reason the Mercedes drivers would ever need to glance in their mirrors.

    I do find it curious just how far ahead of his teammates he has been over the past year and a half. Albon has been more solid than Gasly was, but still neither of them have looked close to Verstappen, but as we know from their junior careers and their time at Toro Rosso/Alpha Tauri, they’re still very good drivers.

    I find it comparable to Honda’s situation in MotoGP. It’s a bike that seems to suit Márquez extremely well, leading to his absolute domination of the series, but it is apparently very difficult to ride, which has meant his teammates have spent that same period languishing in the midfield. This issue is really hitting home now that he’s injured.

    I wonder if the Red Bull is also just extremely difficult to drive, and just suits Max’s style. Either that or it’s actually an average car, and is being flattered by Max’s astonishing skill. I really hope it’s the former. If Gasly and Albon’s performances are a true representation of the Red Bull pace, I dread the day that Max does wind up with the fastest car. Everyone else needn’t bother turning up.

  27. @jackysteeg Well said and agreed. I think it is likely a combination of the things you speak of. He’s exceptional. He’s engrained on the team. He’s more experienced than Albon and Gasly. And I think rarely is a Newey RBR car not top 3, I think with more time and races Albon’s side will sort some things out. His race pace is acceptable. It’s his quali days that need more attention. If he can start higher up he’ll be less held back from progressing and his car will work better for him.

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