Sergio Perez, Racing Point, Bahrain International Circuit, 2020

Perez rebounds from 18th to take first win after heartbreak for Russell

2020 Sakhir Grand Prix summary

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Sergio Perez has scored the first victory of his Formula 1 career despite a first-lap collision which left him 18th at the end of lap one.

The Racing Point driver took his first victory in race which Mercedes newcomer George Russell long seemed destined to win.

Russell took the lead at the start of the race from second on the grid, passing Bottas on the inside of turn one. Bottas then had a slow exit from turn two, which help up Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc hit Perez’s Racing Point at turn four, ending his own race and knocking the Racing Point into a spin. Verstappen joined Leclerc in retirement as he tried to drive around the outside of the spinning pair, but hit the barrier.

Russell led the first two-thirds of the race but lost his advantage as a result of a Mercedes pit stop error. He and Bottas were told to pit during a Safety Car period, but after swinging into the pits later Russell was fitted with the wrong set of tyres. It was only discovered once Bottas arrived in the pits, and Russell had to be called in for a second stop.

That promoted Perez to the lead ahead of Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, followed by the two Mercedes, Bottas ahead of Russell. But within two laps of the race restarting Russell had passed his team mate around the outside of turn six.

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Russell picked off Stroll and Ocon in quick succession, but had to close down the three-second lead Perez had quickly established. He was on his way to doing so when he picked up a rear-left puncture, forcing him back into the pits.

That left Perez clear in the lead. He brought his Racing Point home 10 seconds ahead of Esteban Ocon, who scored the best result of his career with second place for Renault. Lance Stroll completed the podium after nearly crashing into the Renault at the restart.

Carlos Sainz Jnr took fourth for McLaren, having lost time earlier in the race with a mis-timed pit stop at the end of a Virtual Safety Car period. Daniel Ricciardo brought the second Renault home in the top five.

Alexander Albon finished sixth in the sole remaining Red Bull, followed by Daniil Kvyat. Bottas slipped to eighth after an old set of tyres were fitted to his car at his second pit stop.

Russell recovered to ninth, but remains under investigation for the set of tyres which were incorrectly fitted to his car. Norris completed the points scorers.

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2020 Sakhir 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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275 comments on “Perez rebounds from 18th to take first win after heartbreak for Russell”

  1. Good luck explaining to the casual fan why Perez doesn’t have a drive for next year. Surely Red Bull should be signing him tonight. How ridiculous. Feel gutted for Russell. He well and truly showed he’s the real deal. That pass on Bottas was incredible!

    1. Because it’s about money and that comes from marketing / pr where Vettel brings in more. That’s actually the story people who who don’t follow F1 know very well.

      1. This race shows anyone can win in a Mercedes. To prove my point Perez won in the 2019 Mercedes.

        1. Well, Stroll didn’t win at Monza. So maybe not everyone.

          1. Everyone who has some talent :)

          2. Stroll had the opportunity to win this race but threw it away yet again. That’s 4 by my count.

        2. Coventry Climax
          7th December 2020, 12:54

          That’s utter crap. Bottas can’t, obviously. And I have serious doubts about -say- half of the field being champion material. We’re talking, supposedly, the best drivers in the world, and a highly rated Russel, so to say ‘anyone’ is a massive misjudgement.

    2. @tommy-c and the depressing thing is that, rather than celebrating what Perez has achieved, we are having to listen to tiresome and utterly childish trolling from the usual suspects in this thread.

      In this moment, we should be seeing those who claim they “want good racing” and “seeing things shaken up” praising Perez – considering that his race looked like it was going to fall to pieces within a handful of corners through no fault of his own, he performed superbly in that race with his strong and consistent pace, decisive moves and making the full use of the opportunities that came with the strategy that he and his team ran.

      If those posters who claim to want to see determination and skill being rewarded, then this is a race where Perez showed considerable amounts of both and we should be seeing him being congratulated for what he achieved. Instead, we have to see this thread being ruined with bile, bitterness and fanboy rage from those who, when faced with such a performance, ignore it because they prefer to stoke angry whining and fighting.

      1. Perez showed how to extract the most out of the car, or situation, more than once.
        Getting to pass the finish line 1st, wonderful race from him.
        if Red Bull wants to get a driver with a winner mentality, they should get Perez.
        I wonder how he would play as a teamplayer though

    3. Wow what a race. So true! Also good luck explaining to the casual fan how a talented young driver can be dropped into Hamilton’s car for 3 days and produce pretty much the same result as statistically the greatest driver of all time! So now we know, the future of F1 is shaping up to be Verstappen, Leclerc & Russell fighting it out into the next decade. Russell’s performance proves he belongs in F1s elite group of current drivers. I suppose the side-effect of his performance is that it raises questions about just how good Hamilton & Bottas really are? Before this weekend, we all rightly assumed Hamilton was operating on a really high level, and Bottas was driving brilliantly to run him so close in qualifying. Hamilton is one of the greatest drivers of all time no doubt, but in 2022 his teammate has to be Russell who is the future of the Mercedes team, Bottas is not. Could be another Vettel v Leclerc style fireworks display!

      1. Just a footnote, now we’ve seen Russell’s potential we have to go back and reappraise Kubica’s comeback last year. Considering the limitations in his arm he was close to Russell’s pace, even though he wasn’t as quick as pre 2011. Russell had him covered in quali and most races but still more impressive from Kubica than we realised. Reminiscent of Schumacher and Rosberg, we assumed Schumacher wasn’t preforming as well as previously, but we were actually undervaluing Rosberg who went onto give Hamilton a tough time and win a World Title.

        1. Rosberg lucked himself into a World Championship. If you’d repeat the season 100 times, he’d lose 100 of them. And he knew. That’s why he rushed out of F1.

          1. “Rosberg lucked himself into a World Championship” thats a load of BS for sure …..

            So we can say the same of 2008 …… “what if ferrari hadn’t screwed massa in Singapore” …. in this case Hamilton lucked in that title as well by your standards?

            Drivers get titles because they work hard for that …. simple as that …. either rosberg, hamilton or any of the others ….

          2. @spafrancorchamps completely false. That was the year that Hamilton still couldn’t figure out how to get great starts & was overdriving the car so much the car broke down. Rosberg handled the gearbox better until late in the season when Hamilton started to come to grips (pun intended!) with starts and was easier on the machinery.

          3. @neiana

            was overdriving the car so much the car broke down.

            You accuse others of being bonkers, yet you come up with bonkers statements like this. Can you provide us with a source please that Hamilton was overdriving the car? So by that logic, Russell overdrove the car yesterday and damaged his tyres which is what led to the slow puncture? That’s a consistent line of thinking right according to your assertions?

            Anyway, source of Hamilton breaking the car please, or it’s just your warped opinion.

      2. I suppose the side-effect of his performance is that it raises questions about just how good Hamilton & Bottas really are?

        Yes it really does

    4. Yeah, but let’s not get carried away. He was at best heading for a podium until Mercedes pit team dropped the ball. It was nice to see him win, but he was only in this position due to someone else’s misfortune.

  2. Well done Perez on a deserved win…. but to the rest, what mucking fuddle!!

    You have to think if Hamilton had the lead he would have argued against the second stop, why stop, why double stop?

    1. Look what happened to Bottas, that’s what would have happened to Russel too. Old tires are good for nothing.

      1. @ivan-vinitskyy – Stroll got half way into the race on soft tyres and heavy with fuel. Valteri rooted his hard tyres in less than half the laps and with a lighter fuel load.

        1. And if everybody else had got a free pit stop 20 laps is, stroll would have gone backwards.

      2. Russell had already stopped, he didn’t need to stop again even for a sc restart. Bottas needed to stop. I guess Mercedes was thinking about not disadvantaging Russell at the restart. In the end they both suffered.

        Apparently the COMS to the pit crews failed and they weren’t made aware of the double stop till the very last moment.

      3. Coventry Climax
        7th December 2020, 13:01

        Almost correct: any Pirelli’s are good for nothing, not just the old ones.

    2. Hamilton would have been further up ahead from Bottas and a double stack would not have been such a mess either.

      1. @f1osaurus Ifs and buts are candy and nuts.

        Really irrelevant point you make there – Hamilton wasn’t driving today.

        1. Not irrelevant. He showed this.

          1. @f1osaurus

            It is irrelevant because you’re dealing solely in hypotheticals with no concrete evidence.

            But go ahead, live your life in make believe and outside reality if you want, you’re making a fine job of it already.

          2. all hypothetical…

            Now reading BottAss’s comment, same story, 100% agree with BottAss here

          3. Do you seriously want to contest that Hamilton is not usually further ahead of Bottas?

            Not sure what your hysteria is based on either. Why the ranting?

          4. @f1osaurus

            I’m not contesting the point itself, I’m merely saying that the point you make is irrelevant because it’s hypothetical. Maybe you can’t understand so I’ll make it clear for you – Hamilton wasn’t driving the car on Sunday.

            Also I implore everyone to look at f1osaurus’s comments feed – you’ll see someone who rants, raves, launches personal attacks and isn’t fit for this forum.

      2. @f1osaurus you’re right, because Hamilton has been driving that car for how many years?

      3. @f1osaurus Saying the radio would not have failed if Hamilton was there is stretching it even for a Hamilton fanatic

        1. @balue If you had actually through that “clever” remark through then you might have understood that it actually confirms my point. There would have been no discussion which driver was in the lead, so they would not have needed the radio message.

          1. There was absolutely no discussion who was in the lead now, Russell would have been out right before Bottas came in had they not screwed up!

      4. @f1osaurus Why would Hamilton have been further ahead? Usually once in the lead he maintains the gap at a few seconds and looks after the car and tyres – which is the smart thing to do if your only chance to lose is reliability or a safety car.

        1. @keithedin Because he usually is.

          1. @f1osaurus

            ‘Usually is’ isn’t proof. Again like I said above your point is irrelevant and without merit.

  3. That was crazy. Gutted for Russell, but so pleased for Perez! Crazy that the podium was both Racing Points, AND the previous driver in that team. Hulkenberg must be shaking his head in disbelief!

    1. Nice Show today!
      Checo, what a race. How is it possible that this guy does not have a decent drive…
      He has speed, consistency, and even comes with money… Plus he has a special way with these Pirellis.
      Shame though for Russell, but I think he’s shown what he’s capable of and his time will come. Especially after Bottas once again has shown that he’s just lacking top quality.
      He was just poor after the restart on tyres that were no worse as those of the guys ahead of him.
      Esteban Ocon deserves a hornorable mention here as well. Well done.

      1. That wasn’t mention to be a response to you euro

        1. Hehe, no worries. I didn’t expect to post twice either! (Below lol)

  4. That was crazy. Gutted for Russell, but so please for Perez! Crazy that the podium was both Racing Points, AND the previous driver in that team. Hulkenberg must be shaking his head in disbelief!

  5. No words Mercedes. I’ll leave the questions and just await for the pure pitwall on Wednesday. But, putting Bottas on old hard tyres was asking for trouble. As for Red Bull, better solve the issues, cause once again, no win for them when Mercedes make errors, and on a race where Hamilton was not even driving.

    1. A well deserved win for Checo Perez, when he was LAST after lap 1. If Red Bull doesn’t put him alongside Max for 2021, then they’ll never manage to create a competitive team to even challenge Mercedes…

      As for Mercedes, they have an issue when a sudden SC appears(Germany 19,Monza 20 and today). This race also showed that Bottas can’t turn this situation around and that the best solution for the team is to replace him,as he seems unmotivated. Obviously he is contracted for 2021 but unfortunately today’s showing was quite alarming

      1. This proves that pitting always carries high risks regardless of how many practices the crew gets. Toto has always been critical in extra pit stops, as he always commented that something could go wrong. Regardless of these issues, Russell has shown this race that he can challenge for a race win. Whether he can be on Hamilton or close to Hamilton’s level of consistency in a season will be hugely important, especially given that there are 20+ races in every season. But in one race, he has shown he can definitely compete.

        1. 2020 has been a very easy campaign for Hamilton with one of the most dominant cars of all time.

          Years where he has been challenged he’s been far less consistent. Think 2016-18 where he underperformed for the first third of those seasons. Even in the McLaren days Button had more wins and outscored him during their time together 2010-12.

          Russell was very good under pressure tonight. No complaining about tyres, questioning the team over pit strategy. Sure he got angry on the radio at one point but it was understandable given he had the win stripped from him twice. I don’t think Hamilton’s had that kind of luck in a single race in the entire hybrid era yet Russell had it in his very first race.

          1. Button did not have more wins than Hamilton.
            Hamilton won 10, Button won 8.
            Dont lie to fit your narrative.

          2. @deanfranklin

            Button had more wins and outscored him during their time together 2010-12.

            Hamilton had 10 wins, Button had 8.
            Hamilton finished ahead 24 vs 13 times to Button.That generally states that all things being equal Hamilton had the beating of Button.
            In those 37 races that both cars saw the chequered flag between 2010-2012, Hamilton scored-545 points.
            Button Scored- 483 points.

            I don’t know if you are making up lies or you are generally not clued up on the sport.

          3. Simple error. Still it was 10 wins to 8 which is close. Not like 15 to 3. Button also outscored Hamilton over that period. Shows how close they were.

          4. @deanfranklin

            It’s exhausting to hear people saying Button outperformed Hamilton. Hamilton was the better of the two drivers.. more wins, more poles and beat Button 2 out of 3 seasons. Hamilton took the championship down to the last race in 2010 and would have taken the title in 2012 if it wasn’t for reliability issues. In 2012, Button was fighting back markers and failing to make it in to Q3 while Hamilton was fighting for the win in the same car. The gulf in class in 2012 between Hamilton and Button was probably as large in the gulf in class between Albon and Verstappen this season. Hamilton had a terrible 2011, where he tangled with Massa way too often and threw away a lot of points. Button had the best season of his career in 2011.. so yes.. he beat him in one season.

            I can’t see anyone who takes the sport seriously ever claim the Button was better than Hamilton when they raced in the same machinery.

          5. @todfod

            Well said. I think it’s a combination of things though. Frankly a younger generation who haven’t been watching F1 very long; but the media (in the UK in particular Sky F1) feeding that narrative. As recently as this past month they had an article on Button giving praise to Hamilton for making history but again, that outscoring narrative was repeated.

            I have been watching F1 for a very long time and team mates were never compared in this way. Remember when Prost “outscored” Senna even in Senna’s championship winning year? That’s never mentioned. Remember when Lauda was “outscored” by Prost overall, but they had one championship apiece?

            What is funny is that the FIA regulations are quite clear on this cumulative points issue- yet it doesn’t stop people adding Button’s 2011 points to 2010 and 2012 and making it seem like he won all three seasons.

          6. Dave (@davewillisporter)
            7th December 2020, 14:18

            @deanfranklin aside from the rather obvious factual errors others have pointed out, F1 doesn’t work over several seasons. It works over one. Everything is measured in seasons. There is no “three year” championship! You can compare careers sure, but compare the whole career, not just a bit of it.

        2. Sorry, the initial answer was going to be an individual comment. Anyway, the last time i can recall Mercedes nailing a double stack was in China 2019. In all the other cases they have been caught out and not by a small amount.

          I have to agree about Russell. I like Valtteri but he ain’t good enough for the seat. He had a really solid 2019 but he has been quite hopeless in 2020, especially in the last events. George proved today how much more of a complete driver he is, despite being stuck in the Williams

        3. Mercedes has the worst pit crew on the grid. HAM knows this which is why he has been refusing to come in for safety stops all season. There is 100% risk in coming in with this crew. They are routinely over 3 seconds.

          1. Umm have you watched a Ferrari pitstop?

    2. @krichelle I don’t think they had a choice. They couldn’t put the wrong tires on, so they had to put the old ones back on.

    3. What I get just from their reaction during Bottas pit stop is that , they realised they had put Bottas’ (soft) tyres on Russel’s car (maybe just one of them , perhaps the rear right). They removed whatever yellow tyres they had put in Bottas Car (they were Russel’s tyres) and sent him out with the tyres he had originaly coming into the pits (Used Hards)… Well I am rereading it and it doesn’t make much sense but it is what it is.. :)

      1. @vaiosp Yeah basically when Bottas came in they didn’t have a full set of his tyres since somehow some of them ended up on Russell’s car. So the only legal set of tyres they had in the right place was the hards they had just taken off. So given that they’d already spent 20+ seconds of confusion and it would take another 20+ seconds to run and grab another set from the garage, they decided to cut their losses and just try to get him back out their asap so salvage what he could.

        1. Yeah we now know what happened.. When I posted we had no idea, just the footage of the pit stop.. :)

    4. They really didn’t have many options left at that moment @krichelle, as @vaiosp mentions, they put Bottas’ tyres on Russels car, so they couldn’t put the right new tyres on his car. The only other option was to retire him then and there.

      1. @bascb I have to agree, once the mistake was realised, I thought they did rather well in just putting the hard tyre back on again and just getting him out. I don’t know who made the call, but all things considered it was relatively swift decision. Much quicker than running to the back of the garage and finding another set (if there was any available and if there was they were presumably not in blankets). It sounds daft, put just quickly bolting on the same tyres was the best decision.

      2. @bascb

        Yea, seems the case. The mistake started a chain of events. The technical failure started it all.

  6. Great race from Russell, horrible race from Mercedes.

    Bottas was closing on Russell before the last SC with fresher tyres, so I believe we would have had an exciting fight for victory without that SC.

    1. An outbreak of idiocy at Mercedes robbed Russell.
      But he proved that you can parachute a talented driver from the back of the grid, non-elite, short of experience, put him into that car and zap. He will win.
      Which begs the question: what could any one of the elite drivers do in that car? Wins and titles of course, many of them.

      1. Just a thing I disagree with here: russel is likely an elite driver, everything he showed before this chance agrees with it, just like everyone saw at sauber and in the junior career that leclerc was special, just like everyone knew verstappen was special at toro rosso or before already, and as I’m at it, even drivers like schumacher and hamilton showed themselves at the first qualifying in f1 already, not to mention in their junior careers.

        1. I would say elite potential certainly. He will join the elite sometime soon I am sure, when he is a proven multi-race winner. At Merc? He will reap titles like confetti.

    2. @hotbottoms Yes he was closing fast and a fight looked likely, but not with the Bottas luck. As Brundle well says: ‘If Bottas didn’t have bad luck he’d have no luck at all’

  7. Russell loses, Mercedes loses, but overall, F1 wins.

  8. Dear Redbull please give Sergio perez the drive, your Albon is simply pathetic, just imagine what sergio perez can do in your car. Redbull should have taken this race win in the absence of mercedes.

  9. That’s it, sergio can do no more. If he can’t get a seat now it’s through no fault of his own.

    Super happy right now tbh. I’ve been a huge fan for so long. Almost wrecked my van several times listening to the race. Last to first, absolutely incredible. No better way to win imo.

  10. Can someone please explain to me how Vettel makes a better prospect for Aston Martin than Perez…?

    1. Marketing

      1. Has-been fortunate 4 x Champ vs a highly competitive driver. I guess it must be that.

        Bit of a travesty

        1. How many Aston Martin’s do you expect to sell in Mexico vs. Germany, you think.

        2. By marketing I mean that is more easy for PR to have a 4 times world champion than a sometimes podium contender. Nothing to do with the current form, racing skills or speed.

          1. I think there are a number of reasons why they chose Vettel, The obvious ones:
            Vettel is marketable as 4 times WDC
            Vettel has a bigger fan base than Checo
            Apparently He agreed to a serious pay cut
            the not obvious one:
            Stroll sr. has taken Vettel on boad because he needs an experienced driver that is on the lower side of his parabolic career that will become Lance’s tutor. He will help Lance with his experience and will try do develop his driving style.
            This was clear from an interview Vettel gave to Webber on C4 saying: ‘I have nothing to hide (as technical and racing experience) anymore’. Checo would have been a competitor while Vettel will be more of a mentor to Lance.
            I think if you look at it from this perspective it all makes sense for the Stroll family. If then Vettel performs during races that will be a welcome bonus, but they will be happy anyway.

    2. Won 4 world championships.

      Racing Point want to grow into a regular race winning, championship contending team & having a driver that knows how to do that will bring a lot to the team.

      It’s the same reason teams have made similar moves in the past, Including when Racing Point back when they were Jordan signed Damon Hill for 1998 & credited him for helping get the team to where they were in 1999 winning 2 races & been in contention for the championship until Nurburgring. They are hoping Vettel can bring that same mentality & help them move even further forward.

      1. the only problem is Perez has more points than vettel and stroll combined, but I guess Vettel must be a hell of a car dealer !

      2. Yeah but when was the last time he won a championship? 2014 !! it is going to be 7 years when he gets into AM. Ever since his exit from RBR (who didn’t want him back in 2021) He has proved that he is not that great when he doesn’t have the better car on the grid (RBR circa 2012-2014). I like Vettel, nice person and I know this post looks critic of him, but I like him. It just feels like putting Michael Jordan to play with the Mavericks … great advertisement until fans see how much he sucks in the court now and then the whole thing backfires for the worst.

        Schumacher is light years away from Vettel, and I only bring his name to this post because AFTER wining a record 7 WDC MERC brought him back to his squad and we all saw how it went.

        How much more “winning mentality” RP wants after Checo’s victory today? We heard the Team chanting and cheering his name on the pit wall? He is very much liked by the Team and inspiration to the Team, He’s been critic and demanding over the radio questioning strategies and bringing to light the missing opportunities by the Team, how much more push can any other driver do?

        I just don’t see current Vettel being better than current Checo. One thing is to win with a dominant – best car of the grid, other is to maximize the car and punch above the weight. So good luck to RP in 2021 trying to claim points from 2011-2014. We will see… said the blind.

        I am respectfully replying to your post Roger since you mentioned the 4x Champion, but just to share my opinion, not really questioning yours (will never do that).

        1. 2014 vettel won a title? I thought that was 2013, not only was there a dominant mercedes in 2014, so it wasn’t possible to win the title in another car, but vettel was also terrible, demolished by ricciardo.

          1. @esploratore You are 100% right. I stand corrected, Vettel’s 4X were from 2010-2013… it’s been so long ago that I got confused with the correct years.

            So I guess RP 2021 plan is to claim points from 2010-2013 ;-P

        2. “It just feels like putting Michael Jordan to play with the Mavericks”

          Probably a better argument to bring up his “come back” to play with the Wizards, since that actually did happen. :)

      3. @roger-ayles, Vettels method of winning by running your team mate of the track at the 1st. corner or slowing down to allow the pack to attack you team mate etc. etc. Is not likely to be tolerated, let alone encouraged, when his team mate is the boss’s son.

        1. @hohum but that was essentially Hamilton’s primary way of beating Rosberg for quite some time.

          1. @neiana, funny I never noticed that.

    3. At the time they signed Vettel, Perez was getting beaten by Stroll. Plus they got the best feedback to improve the car from Hulkenberg. Which apparently improved the car significantly and after implementing that they are generally finishing as the third team ahead of McLaren and Renault as they were supposed to be all season.

      1. @f1osaurus Dude, are you a troll or what?
        I have been watching your comments and it seems to me that you are either an 8yo boy or a handicapped adult.
        I really feel sorry for you.

        1. But, he’s right. Stroll was 4th in the championship with 57 points to Perez’s 34 when Vettel was announced. Even if you take off Stroll’s points from the races Perez missed he was still ahead at the time. Since then Stroll had a horror run of luck and the news lit a fire under Perez who has been exceptional. The Vettel fan in me wishes he never signed with RP.

        2. @f1-fan It’s 100% fact. That you don’t want to see the truth is your problem.

          1. @f1osaurus Ok, Mr.Bean. Now, give us an article/source etc. from Racing Point, that says “During the absence of Checo, Hulk provided feedback and we used this to make the car better”.

          2. @f1-fan Wow, you missed that one and then you lecture me?

            If you add a “Please teach me, master of F1 knowledge” then I might oblige. If you don’t want to do that then I suggest you use Google.

            spoiler It was reported with a main article on this blog as well. So you don’t even need Google if that’s to advanced for you.

          3. @f1osaurus This EXACTLY my point, Mr.Bean. On your comments, you present hilarious hypothetical scenarios and you don’t have the courtesy to at least provide some evidence to back them up. But of course, you expect from people to take it for granted and to take you seriously also.

            I asked you to do it, it was an easy one, but again you didn’t.

          4. @f1-fan I mentioned exactly what terms to look for ON THIS SITE!!!!!

            If you cannot figure this out then hide in shame under your bridge

        3. @f1-fan

          Exactly, @f1osaurus by the looks of their comments has an outstandingly sad little life. I’d suggest they start living in reality and face up to the truth that being a nuisance on an F1 comments board is not a useful way to spend your time.

          We’d be all better off if they left this site like Bottas will be leaving Mercedes in 2022.

        4. Dude, are you a troll or what?

          He is one of the most active trolls on this site. So the simple answer is Yes.
          In his distorted vision the fact Perez missed several races as a result of Covid is unimportant. It does not fit his narrative so ignore it..

          1. Lol, says the biggest troll of them all.

            The only reason you pretend I’m a troll is because I’m always right yet you don’t want to hear it.

            I also did not “miss” that Perez was out, I’m simply reporting facts. Stroll finished 4 out of 5 times ahead of Perez. Finished (for the mentally challenged) means that both were racing and finished the race. Also to be clear (for the mentally challenged) that means that Perez only finished once ahead of Stroll.

        5. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          7th December 2020, 14:27

          @f1-fan That’s 100% correct. Otmar remarked on it after Silverstone 70th anniversary GP and this website wrote an article about it:

          1. @davewillisporter I know man, it was intentional, read my reply above.

  11. F1 is a team sport. Every part has to work and sometimes it ends up like this. Today russell showed that he will get more chances in the future.

  12. Everything is checked today in MB with their “random” mistakes.

    They checked Russel if he has the guts for it and doesn’t makes mistakes. Check successful
    They checked if he can do safe passes to anyone and especially Bottas. Check successful
    They checked if the team does a mistake, how he will react. Check successful
    They checked if Bottas has a phycological problem with Hamilton or this is his ability in general. Check successful

    In MB they are incredible and Toto is a god. I am pretty certain he will say “we were very unlucky today and this stuff happens even in the biggest teams”

    Well done to Perez, i hope in RB to open their eyes and take him or better if Hamilton doesn’t accept a salary cut because what we saw today is that MB has a monster of a car and rookie can win, then they can hire Russel and Perez from now on :)

    1. Not really sure what you’re getting at with the “random” comment, but Russell is hardly a rookie.

    2. That’s an interesting way to view it, not likely but they indeed checked out russel well if so.

  13. Same amount of heartbreak for Russell and Bottas but of course Bottas isn’t mentioned.

    The site has always been very sadly UK-centric, but come on now

    1. How was it the same amount?

    2. *huhhii What? Russell had a chance of his first win, on his first try in a front running car. He squashed Bottas, then was taken back. Then squashed Bottas again (though admittedly on much better tyres), and almost retook the win, then was thrown back AGAIN.

      Yes, it was crap for Bottas too, but he has had wins already.

      You have to have some weeeeiiird glasses on to see that as site bias.

      (and nope, I’m not British)

      1. Not a front running car, it’s THE front running car

    3. @huhhii
      Mercedes imploding saved Bottas’ blushes big time. Regardless of the fact that he himself was unlucky to finish 8th, he is far more lucky than Russell finished 9th.

      His reputation would be in tatters if Russell beat him and won the race with minimal preparation and not fitting in his shoes properly.

      1. I don’t think Bottas’ blushes have been saved at all, anyone who understands F1 clearly saw Russell outperformed him in the race to a very great degree.

        MB surely need to get Russell in and dump Bottas ASAP, contract or not. They might want to double check at Abu Dhabi if Hamilton is still not fit.

    4. @huhhii As an English speaking site I would normally be very open to the idea that it’s a bit ‘UK-centric’, but I think the vast majority of F1 fans regardless of nationality were cheering Russell on in that race, he was living a dream, just as I think the vast majority were delighted to finally see Checo get his win. I don’t think it’s necessarily ‘anti-Valtteri’, it’s just that he’s won races and gets that opportunity every time he goes out, it’s the story of the underdog that’s appealing more than anything.

    5. Well Bottas never looked like winning the race, whereas Russell did. Twice.

      I’m afraid this was a race that Bottas HAD to win. He never got close. But he wasn’t the only one to have a bad race (botched pit stop aside) – Verstappen blew a probable race win for the second time in three races and Leclerc made another serious mistake.

      If I have a vacant seat in a Mercedes in 2022, I’m putting Russell in it without hesitation. Bottas is lucky he’s already signed for 2021.

      1. @scbriml Bottas was catching Russell hand over fist on the hards

        1. For a few laps when Bottas hards were brand new and including lap 55 where Bottas made up 5 seconds thanks to Russell correcting his sensor issue (I believe). After that the gap was pretty static fluctuating up and down by the odd tenth until the pit stop from hell.

          So I disagree that Bottas was ever threatening Russell’s lead.

    6. What BOT?
      Everything is changing around him .. but he is consistent in his performance, whn less inexperience (Merc drive)guy driving , BOT has to show his exp in Merc seat. But as usual beaten by teammate throughout race. Evry yr we comment BOT.n+1 but reality its same BOT.n-1

  14. <3 George and Sergio :) It was a real redemption for Perez, no matter where his road leads in the future, he deserved to be high on a podium, if at this race then at this race.

    Probably if Stroll can drive 40 laps on abrasive surface as a first stint with the heavy car, Mercedes could consider using softs sometimes, not just when it's absolutely necessary. See how Russell squeezed through on the softs. Probably at this race Bottas could have had some chance with a 2 stopper, with 2 short stint on softs. Imo some well prepared slightly used softs would be at about ok to do that. I just can't imagine that the Racing Point car has better tyre management than the factory Mercedes car. It would be better to the sport to allow the two drivers to have very different pit strategy. I think having the same strategy for both drivers is a bit too sterile management. I miss Ross Brawn's sometimes jaw-dropping unprecedented strats from the Schumacher era. I don't think that would put Bottas ahead of Hamilton on the duration of a whole season, but it would be more amazing for both of the drivers, and for us as well.

    I'm really sad for Russell, it was the first time for a long time ago, when I watched free practies, because I awaited so much to see him in a good car. But F1 is often heartbreaking. He did really well, congrats.

  15. Sergio to Red Bull. George to Mercedes.

    That should now be abundantly clear to both teams, as far as 2021 is concerned. Red Bull need a fast, consistent, experienced driver to help with car development. Albon might have potential, but he just can’t get the car to work for him. Mercedes need someone to take over from Lewis at some point, and having George in the team to learn from him seems a no-brainer. Bottas is good, but George will be better.

    1. “Bottas is good, but George will be better”

      George is great. Bottas is very mediocre. He didn’t set the world on fire at Williams. Never took his chances at Williams, never taken them at Mercedes.

      If Russell isn’t in the Merc next year then it will be the hollowest of championships for whichever Mercedes driver wins the title.

      1. @deanfranklin Bottas was great at Williams. Stop it with this nonsense.

        Reality is that Russel is WDC material and perhaps even on level with Hamilton already.

        1. Yes, it’s impressive, this was just a race and he’s made silly mistakes at williams, so probably over the course of a season for now he would have the speed to match or beat hamilton but would lack consistency, so I’d place him along verstappen and leclerc atm, verstappen makes less mistakes than leclerc, but he’s also been in f1 for longer.

          1. @esploratore Verstappen put his car in the wall in Hungary, broike his front wing in Styria, binned the race in Turkey and yesterday parked it in the wall again by flooring it across the “runoff” instead of safely navigating around the incident.

            Leclerc has made plenty mistakes too yes, but I don’t think he makes more mistakes than Verstappen really. Especially considered that Verstappen is usually just cruising to P3 while Leclerc has to battle in the midfield.

        2. He was decent at Williams. But not that significantly better than an aging Massa (who was still not bad though).
          Plus he’s a nice guy, a very quick driver over a single lap and the perfect sidekick to Hamilton. But he’s always been missing the “wow” factor, which someone in the best cockpit available should have.

          1. @roadrunner Oh come on he was a lot better than Massa. He was usually hampered by poor strategy since Smedly was always looking out for Massa instead. So he usually started ahead and then was finished behind on poor strategy calls.

            Still he generally scored 50% more points than Massa. Similar to the gap between Hamilton and Bottas.

          2. @f1osaurus

            Let’s see some proof for that wild Smedley conspiracy claim please.

            Wow you really do make some awful points, I wonder why you bother.

          3. @f1osaurus
            It’s always difficult to compare points that way. If you beat your teammate by 2:1 points you’ll beat him by just one point but by 100%. Admittedly, the more points are scored, the more accurate it gets.
            So let’s do the maths for the sake of the argument:
            Bottas scored 408 to Massa’s 307 points which means Massa achieved around 75% of Bottas. Therefore Bottas beat him by around 33%.
            Those are good numbers but imho not that impressive. And nowhere near the 50 % you claimed. They hit pretty much the definition of decent.

            Considering your idea of Smedley sabotaging Bottas… Well what can you say. Sometimes it’s better to agree to disagree. You obviously like Bottas and think he is or was a very good driver. That’s fine.
            No need to come up with a theory Donald Trump would be proud of. This way any sensible argument immediately is discredited…

        3. LOL! So Russell could be on the same level as Hamilton, who most agree is on the same level as Shui?

          You’ll be telling us that Perez is no better than his 2013 form next

    2. Till today we knew it was a two car championship. Today we know half of the grid would win it against Bottas in that car.

  16. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
    6th December 2020, 19:41

    It’s the car

    1. 3 things we learned today. 1 what an amazing car the Mercedes really is. 2 how useless Bottas is. 3 how ordinary Hamilton is.
      Regardless how good or not Russel is he’s been in the car for 3 days and goes out and does exactly the job Hamilton does week in week out. You just can’t deny that.

      1. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
        6th December 2020, 20:32

        I can deny that.

        Like VER stated earlier, in situations like this HAM would be the difference and won today. And you would all be complaining how boring F1 is.

        1. Sure, Hamilton would have fixed the puncture on the fly, saving the 4th pitstop that the normal human beeing Russel couldnt avoid….

          1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
            7th December 2020, 14:42

            Assuming that if Lewis was in the car, the race would have gone exactly the same as how it went for George, down to the most minute details like running over the same piece of tarmac with the same piece of debris is absurd! It would likely have been a completely different race. We cannot know what would have happened. That aside, drawing the conclusion that Hamilton is ordinary based on one race when his racing career spanning 2 decades is full of extraordinary performances is quite frankly the dumbest take of the weekend. Congratulations you win a prize!

        2. Hamilton wouldn’t have won after that puncture. Also Russel has been in the car 3 days. And he doesn’t fit. This weekend reflects badly on both Bottas and Hamilton.

          1. Just look at monza if you want to see how hamilton would deal with a similar situation: he recovers positions fast, yes, unlike bottas, but he can’t do miracles, and russel did just like hamilton, he got into the points with like 1 lap missing and while I was following other cars I noticed he managed to pass norris as soon as he caught up with him at the last lap.

          2. But more likely he’d have been far enough ahead to allow a safer pit stop with less time pressure where the wasn’t an issue with sets of tyres.

            Or so far ahead he’d have refused the stop (like Perez etc), or… or…

            Who knows.

            Part of being the best driver is getting in the best car.

      2. I don’t understand. Why is it not possible that Russell and hamilton are evenly matched talents? The way people compare drivers seems to imply there’s some pool of talent to which certain percentages are assigned to drivers and there must be a definitive rank. Lewis is a great driver and he’s had 13 odd years to show it in competitive cars. Russell is likely a great talent but has only had a single race to prove it in a competitive car. Anyone who follows F1 shouldn’t be surprised that he performed as well as he did. Him performing well takes nothing away from Lewis.

        1. It’s not impossible, but I’m laughing at all those who think this now somehow shows how easy Hamilton has had it for 14 seasons

          Everyone who knows anything about F1 thinks that this is the most dominant season of the Silver Arrows – certainly on a par with say 2015/16 and arguably more than 2014

          Virtually every driver on the grid would win in that car. What makes Hamilton special are seasons like 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2017 or 2018 – when he’s either had a car that was inferior to the best or at the most only marginally better and still got wins every single season

          But Russell does look good. His overtaking was impressive and that’s always a men v boys differential. However, let’s not get carried away. It’s highly likely even on that short track that played right in Mercedes hands, Hamilton could have been as much as 0.5s ahead

        2. Cheese Grommet
          7th December 2020, 8:11

          You have to view Russell’s performance through the lens of the Hamilton haters. They’ll use anything at all to try and level Hamilton. We all knew that Russell had great promise even before he joined F1, his performance should have been no major surprise, many of the Hamilton slagging posts could have been written in advance with just race details to insert.

          Russell is not an average driver, he is potentially one of the best, his performance takes nothing away from Hamilton just as Hamilton’s 2007 performance took nothing away from Alonso, he was simply just as good.

    2. Huh. So he is getting that close to pole and a win in a Williams?

  17. Well done to Mercedes. Their “small” mistake gave Pink Mercedes third place in WCC..

    1. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
      6th December 2020, 19:46

      Russell qualifies behind Bottas, and finishes behind Bottas.

      And your conclusion is he would comfortably beat Hamilton.

      We may get a chance to see to see this scenario, but your logic does not follow.

      1. I think you watched the race as much as you’ve paid attention to the comments.

        1. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
          6th December 2020, 20:24

          At least I watched it with my eyes open unlike you.

          1. Eyes open? With eyepatches on?

          2. petebaldwin (@)
            6th December 2020, 21:22

            I see we’re having a grown up debate on Racefans tonight….

          3. @nickelodeon81 You’re absolutely bonkers if you think Russel didn’t prove he was the superior driver, by far, compared to Bottas. He outperformed him and quite admirably so, having only been in the ill-fitting car for a whole three days. Don’t forget the mis-sized shoes, because his own shoes were too big for the driver compartment.

            Russel was ahead of Bottas the entire race, from turn 1 until Mercedes pulled a trick & threw the wrong tires on. Then he had a puncture through no fault of his own and he had already passed Bottas (and several others) by this point.

      2. Did you watch the race? Russell put bottas in the shade…

    2. HA HA… I missed that but i now see your point , good spot. :)

      Russell will have another chance , im sure of it …

  18. Anyone else having 502 bad gateway

    1. we broke the page. :)

  19. Russell was magnificent. Clearly quicker than Bottas and Mercedes must have in the team next year. I think he’d match Hamilton right now. With pre-season testing, Mercedes sim work, a cockpit he can fit into, car designed to suit him, he’d comfortably beat Hamilton. No question about it.

    Russell looked very Hamilton-like out front despite only driving the car for the first time two days ago.

    Incredibly bad luck for Russell. The issue he was having with the power/sensor (Hamilton’s had one mechanical retirement in over four seasons), a puncture, putting on the wrong tyres, two additional stops? When does Hamilton have that kind of bad luck? Even when he had a puncture at Silverstone he crossed the line in first on three wheels.

    Mercedes can’t justify giving $50 million per year to Hamilton to do no better than a 22 year old on $1.2 million per year. Especially in this economic environment.

    Great result for Perez and it was a stunning comeback from the back of the field, but today is about the arrival of Russell. What a joke if Russell isn’t in one of those Mercs next year. It has to be Russell head to head with Hamilton, or Russell as team leader with Bottas his wingman. How boring will it be seeing Hamilton and Bottas out front next year knowing that Bottas couldn’t beat a guy that had only been driving the car for 48 hours.

    1. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
      6th December 2020, 19:46

      Russell qualifies behind Bottas, and finishes behind Bottas.

      And your conclusion is he would comfortably beat Hamilton.

      We may get a chance to see to see this scenario, but your logic does not follow.

      1. I think he is perfect with 34milion less per year as salary.

        1. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
          6th December 2020, 20:24

          I think he will at least have to beat Bottas in the same car before coming to that conclusion…

          1. @nickelodeon81 he very clearly had the whooping of Bottas. Not only did he lead (from Bottas’ pole) from turn 1, but stayed in the lead until Merc put him behind Bottas. Then he passed Bottas and several others before being told to pit. Once he pitted, he actually passed cars, which Bottas did not do.

          2. @neiana

            he very clearly had the whooping of Bottas.

            Bottas halved Russell’s lead prior to the safety car from 8s to 4s, and I guess you missed the Merc crew’s farcical pit stops where Bottas was put back on old hard tyres and Russell was on mediums. Rose tinted glasses much?

    2. @deanfranklin
      Can you really judge Russell from one race? Yes he didn’t make a mistake but he didn’t have much to content with. Today’s race speaks more conclusively about Bottas who struggled a lot. Rus needs to face a tougher team mate, and Max / Leclerc when they have the right equipment. I would also like to see how Russel handles more complex circuits. There is no doubt in my mind that he should replace Bottas. Whether he has raw speed of Ham, or his consistency or his car management skills or even race-craft… that I don’t know but would like to find out when he gets a good car. As for money, Mercedes spend close to half a billion per year on 2 cars. They have to win, and with Max so close this year + strong Ferrari last year it may come down to 0.1sec per lap from your £50m driver and it must be worth it.

      1. All that Russell had to do is beat Bottas which is all Hamilton has to do. Only difference is that Hamilton has had 8 seasons in the Merc, Russell has had 48 hours, wearing shoes a size to small, pedals in the wrong position, still getting used to the settings, still figuring out the limits of the car. Managing tyres over a race distance was a step into the unknown for Russell. He’s only going to get stronger and stronger as he gets used to the car.

      2. Russell didn’t have much to contend with? It’s difficult to tell on the internet but I take it that was sarcasm.

      3. I can tell your bias. Russell is too tall for the car, he was forced to used an small shoe, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t comfortable in the car as it was designed based on Hamilton’s likings, size,etc. Russell had only 48 hours to get into that car and drive it, he hasn’t driven the 2020 Mercedes until two days ago , He qualified 2nd and passed bottas in the first lap even though he is not used to the steering wheel, pedals on that car. He asked during the race things about changing the engine settings while he was racing!!! He had to get use to the pit stops, tires behavior on that car,etc yet he never made a mistake. He was forced to pit 4 times in the race, and he would have won if it wasn’t for the puncture. If this was Hamilton , you would have wrote thing that would have making him the super star. This race just shows, Russell is asc material. And that Hamilton is overrated. It is the same reason why bottas is Hamilton’s teammate. Bottas is just a mediocre driver that has the best car and that making him good enough. TGUS RACE SHIWS ALMOST ANYONE CAN DO WELL IN A MERCEDES, TODAY’s RACE WAS WIN BY A 2019 Mercedes.

        1. Last but not least, last week, Fernando Alonso was asked what young driver he think was doing the best job and was a WDC material. He said George Russell!!! I’m pretty sure he knows a bit more than us.

          1. Nobody’s arguing about Russell been the best of the young drivers

            I’ve already expressed a desire of Toto to dump Bottas and let’s have Russell against Hamilton

            We’ll then see if the ridiculous narrative been presented by lots on here and yourself, that based on one race Hamilton is over-rated is true

            After all it’s nothing to do with this seasons Silver Arrow been so far superior to the rest that it’s arguably the most dominant car ever

            Hamilton’s reputation isn’t built on this season, where by his own high standards he’s been average for him. He hasn’t suddenly appeared out of nowhere and this is his first season. He’s classed as on of the best ever because of his world title winning seasons of 2008, 2017 and 2018 where his car was no better than his rivals. Or even better was 2009, 2010 and 2012, where somehow in 09′ he got two wins out of a Mercedes every bit as bad as the current Ferrari

            But you just airbrush everything that’s happened in the previous 13 seasons, judge him in this season and call him overrated

          2. @banbrorace

            I take your points but to claim that the 2009 McLaren is as bad as this year’s Ferrari is disingenuous. Sure, maybe at the start of the year but not when Hamilton won those 2 races.

    3. @deanfranklin – Russell won’t be beating Hamilton anytime soon.

      Plus unproven over a season, he is Mercs best option to occupy the other seat, no one is replacing Hamilton.

      Thinking back to 2007 as an example Hamilton matched/beat current world champion Alonso in equal machinery.

      If Russell does that, then he is ready. Russell showed today that he is merely Luke from Star Wars a new hope, Hamilton is Darth Vader/Palpatine/Yoda combined!

    4. @deanfranklin

      he’d comfortably beat Hamilton. No question about it.

      Genuinely- how long have you been following F1? I guess the beauty of the internet and free speech is that anyone can voice their opinion, however baseless, but that doesn’t make it fact. Even if Russell won today, even if he wins next week; that’s still no indication that he can replicate that weekend in, weekend out, year after year. It’s certainly no indication that he would beat Hamilton weekend in weekend out. I can’t help but feel Hamilton would have won today- he probably would have refused to come in and also, while there is suspected debris for Russell’s slow puncture, maybe he just abused his tyres. One weekend (or a few for that matter), does not a great driver make.

      Mercedes can’t justify giving $50 million per year to Hamilton to do no better than a 22 year old on $1.2 million per year.

      Christ, I think Toto should be sacked and you should take over, don’t you think?

      1. “Even if Russell won today, even if he wins next week; that’s still no indication that he can replicate that weekend in, weekend out, year after year.”

        Russell didn’t make a mistake today, had every obstacle put in his path but still maintained his focus. He drives very well for Williams where he’s fighting for position more often than Hamilton does out front.

        He doesn’t have to be this ultra consistent driver year after year because even Hamilton isn’t. Hamilton wasn’t consistent in 2016, was really poor in 2017 and 2018 until the European season started. Button had more wins and points during their time together as teammates. Hamilton beat Rosberg 42-36 in qualifying during the time as teammates. It’s not exactly dominant. Hamilton’s been more consistent this year, but his only competition is an underperforming Bottas. A guy who has only drove the car for the first time 48 hours ago is already quicker than Bottas.

        1. Having had time to digest it, I think today was actually pretty good for George. He was quicker than Bottas in the race and handled all the set-backs in a mature manner. I can’t remember a race situation as sickening as that for a long time.

          I think today’s result for George was actually better than a scenario where he finishes a distant second behind Bottas. This weekend could have been a lot worse for George and I think he’ll come to realise that. One thing you can say about him is that he hasn’t had a easy introduction to F1 unlike certain other drivers…

          1. “I can’t remember a race situation as sickening as that for a long time.” Wasn’t Hamilton screwed out of a Monaco win, one year, because of a strategy mistake by Merc?

        2. @deanfranklin

          Russell didn’t make a mistake today, had every obstacle put in his path but still maintained his focus.

          Perhaps you have the memory of a goldfish. Can you tell us what happened in Imola, behind the safety car, when he was set for points?

          He doesn’t have to be this ultra consistent driver year after year because even Hamilton isn’t.

          But Hamilton’s “inconsistencies” have not been as bad as his team mates and competitors which is why he has a 12-2 up seasons wise.

          He doesn’t have to be this ultra consistent driver year after year because even Hamilton isn’t.

          Rosberg is a world champion. Wiped the floor with Schumi.

          was really poor in 2017 and 2018 until the European season started

          Must have been watching different seasons. That year the Mercs were a handful and Ferrari had the upper hand with the way they were apparently cheating the voltage with the energy recovery etc etc. In any case, if you want to cherrypick certain sections when Hamilton’s results weren’t so good, we can also find countless examples of George going backwards this season in races.

          underperforming Bottas.

          If Bottas is such an underperformer Russell should have outqualified him yesterday and driven into the sunset today like Hamilton usually does. Not what happened is it?

          It’s not exactly dominant. Hamilton’s been more consistent this year, but his only competition is an underperforming Bottas. A guy who has only drove the car for the first time 48 hours ago is already quicker than Bottas.

          This is a gem. You conveniently use the argument of George not being familiar with the car yet Hamilton stepped into a car that was designed around Rosberg for 3 years, the W05 had already well taken shape prior to Hamilton’s arrival. So how can you penalise Hamilton for driving Rosberg’s car yet turn a blind eye to Russell? It doesn’t matter if it’s over a weekned or over a season, you can’t change the design philosophy of a car overnight. So you can’t have your cake and eat it?

          1. @blazz

            Why are you talking about Hamilton in 2013 having a whole season in a Mercedes car you claim was Rosberg’s to compare to Russell jumping in Hamilton’s for a single race? I know design philosophy can be important but if it is like you imply it is, we’d see drivers to take at least a year to get up to speed with a new team, which clearly isn’t the case. It really does matter about timescales here, one race weekend to get adjusted is completely different from a season, which I’m sure you realise but are just trying to make a ridiculous argument.
            Do you not realise that Russell has been driving a different car all season up to this point? (I’m aware he’s had testing runs in the Mercedes).
            But really what an awful comparison you make, completely irrelevant.

          2. @blazzz

            If Bottas is such an underperformer Russell should have outqualified him yesterday and driven into the sunset today like Hamilton usually does. Not what happened is it?

            Yeah, no. Hamilton’s been in the car all season plus the Merc for several seasons, week in and week out. George had the wrong size shoes in the wrong size cockpit in a car he didn’t understand fully even after the lights went out for the start, which he did perfectly. Try again in 10 years after he’s been in a top team for a decade, in the same car for the whole season.

          3. @neiana

            Try again in 10 years after he’s been in a top team for a decade, in the same car for the whole season.

            Moot point. As Rosberg said, if you’re quick in one car you’re going to be quick in any car. In any event all of your points don’t really address any of my fundamental points- namely all sorts of wild assumptions that @deanfranklin was making.

            @Comparator

            George had the wrong size shoes in the wrong size cockpit in a car he didn’t understand fully even after the lights went out for the start, which he did perfectly. Try again in 10 years after he’s been in a top team for a decade, in the same car for the whole season.

            In other words, “there’s still no indication that he can replicate that weekend in, weekend out, year after year.”

      2. @blazzz

        “Christ, I think Toto should be sacked and you should take over, don’t you think?”

        LOL!!

        That would be a hoot. I actually think Toto should meet with all these, er, wiser judges as he could learn from them

    5. In 13 years of F1 HAM has lost to BUT and ROS. Both those years came with Bad luck and good luck for the other drivers.

      So your saying after 1 race GR can beat a Schumacher, Senna. Prost , Alonso and Ham who are multiple woods champions ??

      GR is a great prospect for the future , that’s the only thing you can take from today.

      1. If Russell has a comfortable pace advantage over Bottas after 48 hours in the car.

        Hamilton’s average margin over Bottas in qualifying is only a tenth of a second and Russell has that and more.

        At the end of the day you’re not going to pay $50 million per year to a guy no quicker than a 22 year old on $1.2 million.

        Russell in a Merc makes for a better story next year anyway.

        1. @deanfranklin Though Hamilton was 3 tenths ahead of Bottas in Bahrain Q3 the race weekend before.

        2. Do you go with a guy who has 94 wins and 7 would championships and also has won 11 out of 15 races this year .

          Or do you go with a guy with 2 guys with 9 wins between them. One guy with 9 wins and a good prospect for the future.

          Tough choice, don’t forget Daimler has a market cap of $61billion .

          What is $50m a year salary to the best driver in the world ?

        3. Hamilton doesn’t get the big bucks because he’s in a car that’s arguably the most dominant and will probably be the same next year

          He gets gold because when the competition is tight he wins, i.e. 2008/2017/2018. Like Alonso he gets the most out of a lesser competitive car, i.e. 2009, 2010, 2011 (when he was largely terrible but still won), 2012. That’s why Alonso always used to see Hamilton as his biggest threat, despite having another rival, Vettel, in a far better car

          So yes. Give Lewis 2021 off. But he’ll be needed for the unpredictable new regulation of 2022

        4. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          7th December 2020, 15:46

          @deanfranklin

          It’s 45M and yes, that’s exacty what Merc are going to do. Did you expect Lewis to be replaced by George in 2021?

  20. Any chance Russell drives for Merc next year? Contracts can be terminated.

    1. I would have said no chance, but he is now a definite for 22. And as he is out of contract at the end of 21 he has just added a fair few million to his worth to a number of teams inc Mercedes.
      As for Bottas future with Mercedes; only the team know that. I thought Hamilton had broken Bottas in Portimao. He had that haunted look that Rosberg had at times. And although Bottas has been completely off his game since then, there has been quite a few issues with the car, etc. that has muddied the waters.
      But this weekend George outshone him. If it happens again next weekend I think Mercedes will have some hard decisions to make for 21.

      1. Hamilton “broke” Bottas in 2018. It could be seen as an error of Toto’s not realise Bottas’s head has gone, when it comes to racing Hamilton and Russell should have been booked for next season – I’ve been moaning about this for weeks. I like Bottas, but like Roger Federer’s peers of the noughties – they were done the minute they saw him and that didn’t change until the likes of Nadal, Djokovic and Murray came along and actually started beating Roger

        It could simply be that Toto thought that it’s no use changing for 2021 – major changes are relevant for 2022

    2. Probably yes , specially if Hamilton doesn’t take the check cut, Mercedes board would have a hard time justifying large payments to make Hamilton bigger when they can take the spotlight as been the Team not the driver, which is why they spend the money isn’t it ?

      Toto just making stellar job all around

      1. Unconvinced it’s about money. Hamilton either want to build an unbeatable legacy or walk away and pursue his politics

        Don’t take any notice about his grumblings about a salary cap etc, he throws these comments out for distraction purposes – he’s not as daft as some think!!

    3. Dave (@davewillisporter)
      7th December 2020, 15:48

      @f1mre No, Toto has already stated he is loyal to his two current drivers. Russell will join Merc alongside Lewis in 2022. Williams are doing a deal with Perez for 2022 from what I hear. Not sure where that leaves Bottas.

  21. Gutted for Russell after such a great performance, but this is one of the few alternative outcomes that I’d consider an upgrade for my happiness. Given his current situation and the uncertainty ahead, there’s no better time for Perez to become a race winner.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      6th December 2020, 21:31

      @neilosjames I’m gutted for him but ultimately, his job was to impress Mercedes today and the position he finished in isn’t that important for this. They’ll look at the data to see how well he did.

      The fact he had an incredibly cruel setback handed to him by the team, fought back before getting another cruel setback with the puncture and was still grown-up and professional about it at the end of the race will have probably impressed the higher ups at Mercedes more than if he’d just kept the lead and comfortably won.

      Mercedes already knew he was fast – they now know he can fight at the front, reacts well to setbacks and makes less mistakes than Bottas.

  22. Leclerc’s Torpedo jump could’ve ended the race for Perez on lap one, but luckily it didn’t.
    Mercedes’ master plan helped RP to reclaim the lead in the WCC battle for P3.

  23. Mercedes should just go for Perez and Russell next season. They’d still finish 1st and 2nd in the drivers’ championship, win the constructors’ championship and save the best part of £100m.

    Two additional comments:

    1. I realise Bottas has already signed but there must be a clause in there somewhere.

    2. Lewis is an AMAZING driver. One of the greatest, if not the greatest, of his generation. It’s just that Mercedes don’t need him. Stick him in the RB alongside Verstappen and let’s see some magic!

    1. They might also lose 100M sponsorship by not having Hamilton. Hamilton-Russell and Verstappen-Perez are reasonable and viable possibilities for next year.

      1. Perez brings Carlos Slim’s money.

        They’d be fine!

    2. @sonnycrockett Imagine that Verstappen hadn’t put his car in the guardrail on the first lap. It’s better to have a driver like Hamilton around to deal with that.

      Perez is no better than Bottas anyway.

      1. @f1osaurus

        Any proof?
        Bottas may be an alright qualifier and probably better than Perez but his race management is a level below Perez’s. As we’ve seen throughout his Mercedes career, Bottas’s tyre management is not particularly close to Hamilton’s.

        1. Do you have any proof?

        2. @f1osaurus

          I’m not the one making the claims, but here’s one anyways – Perez has finished ahead of his teammate in the championship every year since 2015, whilst Bottas hasn’t since 2016.

          1. @f1osaurus

            In addition, whilst not perfect by any means, the best model I’ve seen of comparing drivers across teams/eras is that developed by f1metrics.
            If you check it out you’ll see Perez is ranked a fair bit higher than Bottas. Sure there are some slightly off placements in the rankings, but I really doubt this is one of them as they raced in the same era. Plus the model was updated before this season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bottas even further behind on account of his performance this season.

      2. I tend to agree. The two years between Perez and ocon they were evenly matched. Ocon is being destroyed by Ricciardo. Also hulk and Perez were also evenly matched. So I think drivers like Hamilton, Charles, Alonso, ricciardo, verstapen and Russell are a step above Perez and the resto of drivers.

        1. But you’re not taking into account that Perez has improved this season. Like Hamilton, he’s getting better every season

          1. @banbrorace Perez is in the third fastest car which should consistently finish at the front of the midfield. Which in yesterdays case was P1 since Mercedes and Verstappen took themselves out.

            Besides they needed Hulkenberg to improve the car to actually show it’s potential and indeed consistently be the third fastest car. Rather than the fluctuations they had before Hulkenberg helped them out.

          2. Do you concede that he’s a tiny bit better than his 2013 form though?

          3. @f1osaurus No, why? He was beaten 4-1 by Stroll during the first half of the season! Perez only has had some better results than Stroll after Stroll had a seriously bad crash and was struck with covid-19.

            So at best we can argue if Perez is less worse now than he was during the first half of the season, or that Stroll is dealing with some issues and has dropped back instead.

            Either way, Perez being beaten by Stroll for the first half of the season is hardly an indication of a driver who is much improved. Plus it’s a perfectly good reason for Perez to be dropped exactly at the time when Stroll got that podium in Monza.

          4. @banbrorace Ugh that reply above was for you

          5. @f1osaurus

            You do realise he said ‘2013 form’ not beginning of the season form. All your points reference the beginning of the season, which means your counterargument is groundless in response to @banbrorace’s point.

            Maybe actually read things before jumping on your keyboard.

    3. Mercedes haven’t finished making history.. an 8th title for lewis would cement their place in F1 folklore.

      They aren’t going to throw that way to save a few bucks, this PR and Prestigue is marketing gold.
      This point goes beyond the sport, this is about the brand and its future.

      1. @f1osaurus

        First three races, Perez was up 2-1 – so how can he be 4-1 down after five, did he get one taken off him and handed to Stroll because he was observing the 2013 rules are something???!!!!

        Love the way you choose the first five races and conveniently forget to mention that Perez missed two due to Covid

        Also since when has 5 races (your 4-1 comment) represented half a season. They were 4-2 after 8 races, having competed in 6 together – the halfway point (more or less)

        And it’s been 7-0 ever since. Meaning that he’s 9-4 ahead.

        Plus, when since has the halfway point ever been any measure of any driver? If it was Hamilton he would be more or less without a title. Vettel and Shui have both had 2nd half season surges for their at least one of their titles – so why on earth are you obsessed with the early season stats and been lulled into this spectacular own goal?

        I repeat I’m not even a Perez fan, but I’m becoming one, thanks to you

        When you’ve learnt to read stats correctly, please come back

        https://www.racefans.net/2020-f1-season/2020-f1-statistics/2020-f1-championship-points/

      2. @banbrorac So yeah, that because you count a DNF for Stroll as an “up” for Perez. That’s obviously not how it works.

        Plus, when since has the halfway point ever been any measure of any driver?

        Maybe think about when the announcement was made that Perez was going to be dropped.

        Can you please either spent 5 seconds thinking your remarks through or just not reply at all? These nonsensical “ad absurdum” replies you keep coming with are very tiresome.

  24. Did you watch the race?

    Russell controlled the race out front. Had a 4 second lead before the first stop then 9 second lead after both Mercs had stopped. Had some gremlins with the sensor which cost him time after that, but then maintained a 5 second lead.

    Russell drove within himself and found time when he needed it.

    We’ve seen in the past how Bottas struggles passing in traffic and people attributed it to the Merc only being good in clear air.

    But Russell disproved that tonight. After the bungled pitstops, he went from 5th to 2nd in a blink of an eye and was only 2 seconds behind Perez with about 7-8 laps to go when he got that puncture.

    1. @deanfranklin Oh come on, Russell had a massive tyre advantage while Bottas was at a tyre disadvantage and was supposed to be nursing his tyres till the end.

      We’ve seen Hamilton cut through the field like that too. Even Bottas has done so on occasion. Although agreed, only when he had a reason for starting from the back. Like a gearbox change or something like that. So that he was forced to set up the car for the race rather than just go full out on a Q3 setup.

      1. @f1osaurus so George had, admittedly only one chance, but still, a Hamilton race. Very few drivers can do that. Vettel did it for a few years, Alonso did it.. Rosberg managed it enough times to take a WDC.. but Bottas maybe once or twice in his F1 career and George has already had nearly as many Hamilton races as Bottas.

        Yeah, I’m not going to say he is on Hamilton’s level, just like I didn’t say Hamilton was on Alonso’s level when Ham was a rookie. Hamilton has many times made his case to be placed on the top tier in F1 and I absolutely believe he belongs there. George? If he can maintain this, snatch a top drive and continue then absolutely. Just like people were all about Max and he’s not quite there, yet, but very, very close. George has already proven he can.

        1. @neiana Well at least people realize how good Russell is and see that Leclerc and Verstappen messed up yet again on their own.

  25. Did Bottas come in for a tire rotation? (FL for FR) I’m not sure that would even be legal.

    And he who is last shall be first. Well done Perez, and Racing Point.

    Sergio should have a drive SOMEWHERE.

    Hamilton should take a sabbatical and Mercedes should hire Perez and keep Russell; THAT would be interesting.

    1. Yes he has to go to Mercedes and replace Hamilton because that makes perfect sense. All Ham brings to the team is being the most successful driver of all time, F1 box office, and the guy who brings $50 million plus in sponsors to the team. After all, what other choices are there? No way would you put Perez in the RB to replace Albon. Albon is clearly a star of the future and essential to RBs future program.
      And lets face it, no one would pay to see Russell v Hamilton. And no one wants to see the second RB driver challenging Max.

    2. That was done before in 2013 when Perez replaced Hamilton at McLaren, and we all saw what happened there? He was quickly replaced. So go right ahead and repeat history.

  26. If this doesn’t make RBR sign Perez, then may they suffer with Albons for eternity.

  27. What a race.

    Today gave us some answers on alot of drivers.
    -Leclerc- fast, but still error prone. Especially coming after Turkey
    -Seb Vettel to Max: 1st time into the barriers? Actually that’s very harsh, Max was actually
    restrained and showed alot of maturity in that situation, but I feel like for a driver of his calibre he could have
    survived that.
    – Russell: absolutely gutted for him, but you also can’t help but feel for Bottas. Prior to the safety car he was
    closing the gap to Russell from over 8s after the pitstops to under 5, but of course not many people will give
    him much sympathy.

    Perez: Driver of the day for me. Sure needed some luck, but to come from 18th after the first laps to win is stellar. It’s getting more and more difficult for Red Bull to justify giving the seat to Albon in my opinion- but it’s their team and I think they have already made the decision to retain Albon.

    1. Davethechicken
      6th December 2020, 20:13

      Agree largely with you. Although I think Russell’s cloud has a silver lining.
      The misfortune Russell suffered and the way he responded so positively to it showed a lot more of his abilities and character than if he had cruised to a Merc 1-2, after the safety car.

      1. +1. Russell absolutely deserves to be in the Verstappen/Leclerc debate of future stars. F1 is in very good hands for when Ham, Vettel decide to hang up their gloves.

    2. Whilst I do have sympathy for Bottas the outcome of him chasing Russell down at that speed meant that his hard tyres that were meant to last till the end gave up well before and that’s why he started dropping back so fast

      1. It’s a very short circuit though and tyre deg wasn’t as high as expecte. Almost everyone extended their stints, even those on the softs.

        1. Wouldn’t stop and actually didn’t stop Bottas, lacking tyre management almost certainly caused by that charge to try and catch Russell

          He has form on this recently, when previously he’s been so good. It kind of shows the issue with him – his head is all over the place

          If I were him, I’d seriously consider retirement

  28. Mercedes pit stops errors.

    stops + errors = 2 s’s

    Heartbreaking for Russell and Bottas. No win for Russell.

    Russell finally scored points. But, probably wrong tires lead to no points for Mr. Russell.

    Happy for Checo with his win. He earned it.

    1. Let’s not forget Verstappen and Leclerc, had either of them made it past the farcical start they might have posed more questions for Russell and co. Their absence denighed us a truly historical race. Too many unanswered questions to call this race a classic.

  29. Great race for Perez I wonder who he’s done the deal with for 2022? Ocon terrific drive shows he’s definitely one of the potential future WDCs. Stroll lucky the get 3rd imo next year the McLaren with the same PU will be in front of the pink Mercs.
    Russell and Bottas may be disappointed for good reason Merc will be doing some serious de-briefing about today’s race. But Russell can sleep well tonight as he has only to negotiate the details for his Merc contract for 2022.

    1. @johnrkh

      Great race for Perez I wonder who he’s done the deal with for 2022?

      Could it be Renault? It’s either that or McLaren. He doesn’t want no-hoper teams anymore.

  30. Imola should be no more.

  31. What kind of penalty is likely for this kind of unprecedented pit blunder?
    Because if they fitted on a set from Bottas’s tyres, then it’s probably more than a 10seconds penalty. Although if it’s “only” a 10s or a 10s stop and go, and those tyres were completely ok then maybe he shoul not have called out to the pits again but should have instruced to drive as fast as he can and pull out a huge gap if possible.

    Although I think it’s likely more than a 10seconds or a stop and go, so his points will be taken away … :(

    1. I consider their pit stop a bit overly cautious, their hard tyres were quite fresh, they had the position, and Perez, and Ocon, and Stroll had not pitted, so they were quite safe, and at this short circuit they could have waited one lap, and make their bet from position. If it’s about poker terms, Mercedes might be on some kind of a “positive tilt” due to having so long winning streak, and even if apparently they are doing the wonder, that positive tilt can affect decision making (similarly when the cause is a longer series of bad beats, the bad feeling is there, no matter how good one is), but that’s still quite masked by success to be too much apparent. Bottas had an interesting pit stop at previous race as well.

    2. Not unprecedented, it happened to someone at Spa a few years ago. I can’t remember the outcome though.

      1. But that was mixing up different tyres that where all allocated to Bottas. This was fitting another drivers tyres on the car. So George has exceeded his tyre allocation for the weekend, and that’s a penalty.

        1. Didn’t say it wasn’t a penalty, just saying a similar thing happened before. Yes I also think a penalty is possible.

        2. In the after show they claimed the regulations say that the team has 3 laps to correct the error.

          1. Hmm Brundle said the same on commentary but I have zero faith in the stewards making correct or consistent decisions on anything to be honest. It could be anything between no penalty and DSQ who knows lol.

  32. Mercedes did a Ferrari!

    1. Mercedes didn’t have a Hamilton saying ‘I’m staying out’.

      1. I was wondering about the same thing. It was all very hectic and on short notice. Also there was zero need to pit anyway. A driver of Hamiltons experience (and standing within the team) for sure would have been right to at least question the decision.
        But on the other hand, if the lead Mercedes doesn’t pit the second placed driver is handed a massive advantage.
        Imagine Russell (or Hamilton for that matter) overruled the call and Bottas in second pits, everything works fine and he passes the other car with his fresh rubber.
        It’s some sort of a box, you’re damned if you do and damned if you dont.

        1. Well then is the Hamilton Rosberg battle at this very track as an example of the scenario, as far as different tires leaving Hamilton vulnerable.

        2. It was the right call to come in and double stack.

          Bottas was forced to go back out on his used hard tyres and was swarmed by everyone behind him.

          1. Perez, Ocon and Stroll stayed out on their old tyres and did just fine. It was really only Bottas who went backwards…
            But I agree that pitting was the right thing to do. Free pitstops are basically a no brainer.

  33. Toto, give Bottas the payoff already, damn!

    Get George in the seat that (be)fits his talent and lets have some fireworks in 2021.

    Russell vs Hamilton, what a prospect.

    The only way to make today’s disappointment tolerable was to see Checo get his win, brilliant stuff!

  34. I like Albon as a person and think he has shown some really good moments behind the wheel, but I can’t see how you could justify picking him over Perez for next year right now. On a day when Mercedes imploded, and Max and Leclerc were out on lap 1, a bare minimum from Albon should be a podium. Instead he was largely anonymous. He might’ve lost out with pit stops and safety cars but I didn’t notice it, but I guess that is also the point, he was nowhere even near contention for a podium today. For the car he’s in, that’s unacceptable, and I suspect Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko will not be pleased with that performance, to say the least.

  35. That was a great win for Checo. You deserved that. RP are fools for bringing in Vettel, but it looks good for the sponsors.

    About Merc, big Blunder. Great race by Russell.

    But 100% HAM would have won that race.

    1. Through being on Pole and leading turn 1.
    2. Preservation of Medium tyre without really pushing.
    3. He would not have needed to push the Hards like Russell and BOT.
    4. He would have questioned the pit stop.
    5. If he did pit under instructions , they would have certainly had HAM tyres ready for him as they expect him to always be in front of BOT.
    6 HAM hardly ever pushes the car 100% to win.

    They really need to drop BOT for 2021.

    1. I don’t know if he would have won with the puncture and other random events that can happen. but that pit stop reminds one of turkey when he rejected that last stop when everyone thought he would need fresh inters for the end.

    2. Some guys have all the luck. Hamilton gets a puncture at Silverstone but it happens 200 metres from the line so still wins, Russell has a puncture through no fault of his own and race destroyed.

      Has Hamilton ever had someone else’s tyres put on his car in his career? Russell has that in his first and maybe only ever race for Mercedes. You’d be incredibly unlucky if one of those things happened but Russell had both. Didn’t rattle him, just got on with it and had a sensational recovery drive TWICE.

      It was the right call to come in and double stack no doubt about it.

      Bottas had to go back out there with used hard tyres and was basically swamped by everyone behind him. Went from 4th to 8th.

      1. 200 metres from the line? Try about a mile and a half. I think over the course of a career we can point to bad luck for every driver, including Hamilton. ‘Bad luck’ diminishes over time as experience reduces exposure to circumstance where ‘bad luck’ can prevail. That’s not to say that what happened to Russell wouldn’t have happened to Hamilton but I do think that the older, wiser heads have a propensity to avoid ‘bad luck’ more often.

  36. Long story short…

    Russell has secured himself the 2022 Merc seat. He basically did what Verstappen did on his Red Bull debut and didn’t get the end result through zero fault of his own. He pretty much showed Bottas up and proved he belonged.

    Albon has lost his Red Bull seat to Perez. The massive doubt with Perez has always been whether he could actually convert a race winning chance if one presented itself. It wasn’t even just an easy race he entirely lucked into. He had to fight through the field to be in the position to capitalise. He did. He delivered. Meanwhile, Albon could only get 6th in a race where Verstappen and Leclerc were out on lap 1, Both Mercedes were taken out of contention and the eventual race winner, in a slower car, does so from being 18th at one point. Yet Albon still finishes behind 2 Renaults, 2 Racing points and a McLaren, whilst only just edging out Kvyat in the ‘Junior’ team….

    He’s clearly a lovely guy, he deserves a seat in F1, but sadly, if you’re not delivering what a team needs, when it needs it, especially when chances open up (See also Ocon getting 2nd today as doing just that), it’s a hard nosed business.

  37. Like seeing Checo score 2-1 in front of Max, Charles and Lando at the last minute, with wild celebrations from Esteban, Lance, Daniel and Nico.

  38. It’s like Lewis Hamilton is still with us this weekend.

    F2 Mick Schumacher ‘tyres gone’-sets fastest lap.
    F1 George Russell ‘No power’-sets fastest lap.

  39. I thought the funniest thing of the whole race was from BOT race engineer.

    “Ready for the restart , We will catch Perez towards the end of race for the win”

    What does he see that we do not?

    Reality BOT finished 8th.

    He cannot lead the team in Ham’s absence.

    1. Baffling. He was keeping up until his error in turn 4 and then he just went straight back. I hate to say he choked but that was odd. Checos tires were not box fresheither but he just ran away.

      1. Not to take anything away from Perez, but it’s significantly easier to succeed on old tires when you’re in clean air.

    2. The race engineer was probably confused about the tires he was on.

  40. Absolutely brilliant. Congratulations to Perez, a long time coming. Nicely underlines his career, a Grand Prix victory to go alongside those podiums.

    Russell’s performance also underlined the fact that Mercedes would have won the titles they have regardless. F1 is 99% car, 1% driver.

    If the margins between teams are fine, that 1% is priceless. Hamilton is a great driver, but the 6 titles he’s taken with Mercedes do not illustrate that.

    I’m glad that something that has been clearly so obvious for years has been proven today.

    1. It was always the way. No one has ever won in f1 without a car! But, the 1 per cent matters. That 1% can be the difference between a Hamilton and a Bottas or a Vettel and a Webber or a Schumacher and an Irvine. Being a great driver is not just about getting that last bit of the car. It’s doing so under pressure. It’s about putting together a season. It’s about motivating and driving not just the car, but the team. Imagine if we had two drivers of Bottas’ calibre in the Merc and two Verstappens in Red Bull. Would Merc have won both titles already? If it’s 99% the car, the 1% can be the difference between dominating and losing. It’s important.

      1. The difference is that Schumacher wasn’t competing against his teammate for his championships except in 2002 and 2004. The rest of the time he was fighting actual other teams who often had cars faster than his.

        Hamilton’s main competition for his championships since 2014 has been the lowly paid driver on other side of the garage.

        1. The difference of what? Between Hamilton and Schumacher? I don’t think that has anything to do with my comment. And why pick out Hamilton and not say anything about Vettel?

      2. @aezy_doc That’s some crazy math..

        1. In what way? It’s a reply so I was using the figures in the original post.

    2. Tell that 99/1 thing to bottas and verstappen who are locked in a tight points race right now in different cars.

      This tale has been historically disproven time and again when you look at results. Even now at the end of a season you don’t see the grid 2×2 on the points table.

      I guess that 1 percent matters when the difference is few tenths of a second on Saturday and one fewer mistake on Sunday. It adds up.

  41. Great drive from both George and Perez, Perez is in the best form he’s been in since coming into F1, not having him on the grid next year in his prime would be a joke. Hilarious interview from Lance, didn’t congratulate Sergio until he made it known he should have won the race, he couldn’t carry Sergio’s helmet if he tried.

  42. I think this weekend showed just how mediocre BOT is. Russell is promising but he is last in this year standings so it seems as half the grid will win the championship against him with the same car. Think about it: Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Vettel, Ricciardo, Perez, Alonso, Kimi…. all migjt win against Bottas if they would be gifted that Mercedes. Maybe even Gastly , Norris or shall I say it Stroll?? We always knew it was a two car championship but with a mediocre number two is just a joke.

  43. I don’t really have time to sit and watch these things, so I watch em while I’m working in the garage. And just like last week, I will be replaying this one over and over. Wow, what a race. Congrats to Chico. A really deserving win.

  44. I think that its time to put Russel in the Merc and Perez in the Red Bull full time!

  45. Tommy Scragend
    7th December 2020, 0:00

    When was the last time there were two new winners in the same season? 2008? (Kubica/Kovalainen)

    1. Tommy Scragend
      7th December 2020, 0:01

      And Vettel of course!

      1. @tommy scargend

        2012 I believe – Rosberg and Maldonado

  46. Well done Perez, well deserved. Have to say Russell looked a lot like Hamilton in the race, albeit much poorer of course. Bottas…what to say, can’t justify his seat I think now. Leclerc..so disappointing. He needs to be patient and have a better car…

  47. So happy for Perez. What a great story. Just remember how he was seen after mclaren days.

    As for the man often mentioned on the same breath now I can’t work out how he was so far down after the SC when he was just behind Perez.

  48. So happy for Checo. Been waiting for his win since his scrappy Sauber podiums in 11-13.

    Bottas should have bagged this but Merc fubar’d his race. We were stripped of a fair fight between Russell and him on the same tires. Russell obviously was exceptional and deserved more.

    A rare moment of humility for Leclerc just topped off an excellent race.

  49. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
    7th December 2020, 4:47

    Why isn’t anyone questioning the unnecessary SC needed just to get a front wing off of the track? They could have retrieved it under the VSC if they really wanted to.
    Anyway once the wing was gone, the SC stayed out unnecessarily for another 2-3 laps. This ‘spicing up’ of the show is happening all too often now. Shame on Masi and liberty.

    1. The SC was necessary that’s why no one is questioning it, even under VSC with such a short lap the gaps between cars weren’t big enough. Imagine what could have happened with a marshall on a live track. Did you not watch last weekend? SC stayed out to let lapped cars pass.

    2. SC was necessary. The wing was close to the racing line.

  50. Fairytale win for Perez.

    Not only going from last (through no fault of his own) to first, but doing it just one care before his (possible) exit from F1!

    Showed great quality in working his way through the field (including passing his teammate), and then managing his tyres to create a comfortable victory margin.

    Always felt he was unfairly criticised for his McLaren stint. Just as he was starting to get used to the team, they dropped him.

    I do hope Red Bull give him the seat. Alex Albon is a lovely guy but apart from the odd gutsy pass, he is just too far off Max to justify keeping him in the seat. Checo might have the same issue – but he brings experience and talent. HAs to be worth a punt.

  51. Great race from Perez and from Racing Point and on the preparation and strategy. Perez and Racing Point made the right call to focus on top speed to make the car raceable and to for for a medium – hard strategy after the 1st lap crash. Even the strategy with Stroll was good – the only one who started on the softs who was able to one stop. The only miscalculation was that they overdid allowing Ocon to undercut them despite starting on harder tyres when they could have pitted Stroll earlier for hards.

    *Alternate history warning*

    If Leclerc had avoided without the crash, Perez would probably have been on the same strategy as Stroll, and with the extra speed he showed in the race he could have challenged for the win anyway. Verstappen would have struggled to pass him due to the difference in straight line speed and I’m pretty sure he would have stayed fairly close to the Mercedes. Verstappen would have gone with a two stop to undercut Perez as his only chance of a win. Mercedes would choose to cover him off and as per their usual dedication to fairness would make both drivers pit. Russell would have asked why but pitted immediately. Bottas would have moaned but would have complied a few laps later after the team management tell him to pit in no uncertain terms. Meanwhile Perez would have stuck to his one stop, and then kept within the pit window of the others before they all stop for a second time and drop in behind him. In this alternative reality if any safety car periods happened, Racing Point would leave Perez out (having learnt their lesson from Imola) while Mercedes and Red Bull would inexplicably pit their cars for a third time onto slightly used soft tyres, dropping them behind Ocon and Stroll… While they pass Ocon and Stroll, Perez would hold on for the win

  52. Stunning performance by Russell and very happy for Perez. An underrated driver gets his reward in potentially his second to last race.

    I wasn’t sure about Russell before, but that was on Hamilton’s level. And to think it was in an unfamiliar car too. Problem is he doesn’t seem to have have Hamilton’s luck and that could be an issue for some.

  53. McLaren 1-1 Racing Point: Huge fist fight between both teams, that started off when Norris and Stroll had a fist fight. Two players from each team get sent off for “angry team radio” conduct.
    Racing Point 2-1 McLaren: In the last minute of the game, Perez scores the winning goal and celebrates in front of Norris as an act of revenge and tells him “SO WHAT NOW HUH?” followed with celebrations from Ocon and Hulkenberg.

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