In the round-up: Valtteri Bottas says he doesn’t want a win in return for handing Lewis Hamilton victory in Russia.
What they say
Yesterday Hamilton said it was unlikely he would end up ‘returning’ the victory Bottas gave him in Sochi. Asked about his team mate’s comments, Bottas said:
I definitely wouldn’t want to win by being given it. I want to win by winning the race myself.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
At dinner with ex-Schuey engineer, talking what separates the great from the good in F1. ‘I noticed certain characteristics,’ he says. ‘The quick guys always like a little understeer. But the fast, the best of the best, always want oversteer.’ Fastest way after all. 👍
— Jethro Bovingdon (@JethroBovingdon) November 8, 2018
Being in the same gym as two F1 drivers, a former F1 driver and former Olympic rower (silver medal) has made me feel very, very unfit #F1 #Brazil #SaoPaulo
— Bec Clancy (@becclancy) November 8, 2018
Spent a few days in Vietnam with Red Bull back in May. They went nuts for some F1 action. Wonderful country and a good addition to the calendar I’m certain.
— Ben Holmes ☁ (@Bensedits) November 7, 2018
Pirelli has set minimum slick tyre pressures of 23psi (front) and 21psi (rear) for this weekend's race. In the past two weekends the pressures have been raised following Friday practice. #F1 #BrazilianGP
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) November 8, 2018
A few tweaks to @InterlagosTrack since last year: new double exit kerb at turn four, barrier improvements, some resurfacing in the pits and "in order to ensure that the grip of the track is more consistent it has been cleaned twice with very high pressure water." #F1 #BrazilianGP
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) November 8, 2018
Replay of the 1988 Japanese GP on TV… Don’t want to leave my hotel room now! #Fever #Prost #Senna pic.twitter.com/bNgxJx1Fw5
— Karun Chandhok (@karunchandhok) November 8, 2018
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Kvyat to test for Toro Rosso in Abu Dhabi (Autosport)
"The Russian will prepare for his third spell at Toro Rosso by driving for the team on day two of the Yas Marina test this month."
IndyCar downplays Brazil’s announcement of a race in Rio in 2020 (NBC)
"There’s only one problem: no one from Brazil seemed to tell IndyCar about the race."
Hanoi hosting the Vietnam Grand Prix fits the bill for F1’s owners (The Guardian)
"Spa recently did a deal with a reduced fee and both Silverstone and Monza are attempting to do the same. New venues can alleviate that but fitting Vietnam and potentially others into the schedule will be a far from easy task."
Raikkonen on social media, motivation and speaking Italian (F1)
"A wide-ranging and entertaining chat as he nears the end of his F1 career with Ferrari."
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Comment of the day
Don’t overlook Vettel’s achievements in light of Hamilton’s says Trayambak:
I think among the towering achievements of Hamilton, it is also easy to forget that Vettel’s personal statistics have also reached a high that few drivers could only hope to emulate. While Vettel had two years of complete domination, Hamilton has enjoyed four years with an untouchable car.
Both of these drivers have achieved something they define their generation, and indeed I feel this would be called the ‘Hamilton-Vettel era’. It feels good to watch this and the Moto GP renaissance in my lifetime.
Trayambak Chakravarty (@major-dev)
Happy birthday!
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Exediron (@exediron)
9th November 2018, 4:55
@COTD
Four years with an untouchable car for Hamilton? Really? 2014-2016 is three years. Is the poster trying to say the 2017 car was untouchable?
socksolid (@socksolid)
9th November 2018, 5:23
It was. Without looking any statistics I’m sure the mercedes 2017 season was stronger than the red bull winning seasons.
KGN11
9th November 2018, 5:57
Sorry, but could you please clarify that statement?
Me
9th November 2018, 15:36
Hamilton has had an untouchable car for 5 years and it will be 6 next year and 7 the year after. The number will continue climbing until they change the PU regs.
This is the anti competitive hybrid era, car domination (with some tyre fixing sprinkled in) controlling all results. To classify this era as driver defined is ludicrous.
Speaking of tyre fixing, PSI twiddling is basic results manipulation.
Martin
9th November 2018, 22:13
You spelt 3 wrong
grat
10th November 2018, 2:27
They changed the PU regs for 2017. Where were you?
KGN11
9th November 2018, 5:54
So according to COTD, Vettel has only 2 dominant years compared to Hamilton’ 4?….
If you’ve won the championship 4 seasons in a row, you were the dominant car/driver/team. Only once in Vettel during those championship years did he not win more races than anyone else on the grid and that was 2010 when both he and Alonso won 5 a piece I. Overall, Red Bull as a team won 9 races that year.
Let’s stop with the caveat, Vettel has 4 years of dominance as he was in the best car during that period.
John H (@john-h)
9th November 2018, 6:58
Vettel had 2 years when the Red Bull was what I would called ‘dominant’ and Hamilton had 3 years in my opinion (2014-6). However, Hamilton had a much better teammate in Rosberg which meant he had to drive exceptionally well in 2014 and 2015.
So while I agree the COTD is plain wrong (Hamilton has never had 4 years in an untouchable car), the sentiment that Vettel’s achievements should not be downplayed is correct. His stock has definitely gone down these past two years however.
kpcart
9th November 2018, 10:48
Show some respect, look at webbers Monaco drives
John
9th November 2018, 22:39
You’re right.
It’s typical of vettel apologists that even when he has (quite rightly) statistically been toppled as the driver of his generation, attention must once again turn to him and history revised to show him in a positive light.
Vettel hasn’t won a title in a car that wasn’t the fastest, Hamilton has twice, arguably three times, and two against said Vettel.
Trayambak Chakravarty (@major-dev)
9th November 2018, 7:14
Thanks for the COTD, it’s the first time in 8 years I’ve ever got one on this lovely website!
I apologise for the typo, as some noted, I meant to say that Hamilton had three years with an untouchable car. However, it must also be noted that in the latter half of 2017, Vettel had a spate of reliability issues and the car was just not as fast at some tracks as the Mercedes, which seemed like a bulletproof tank. Also, Bottas and Hamilton both won races in that car whereas Raikkonen couldn’t win a single one last year (which was gut wrenching for me as a Raikkonen fan, but redemption at Austin indeed).
David BR (@david-br)
9th November 2018, 9:28
@major-dev I agree with the other part of your comment, the ‘Hamilton-Vettel era.’ Since Hamilton arrived in 2007, the championship race has always involved one or both of them, and has only been lost (fairly or very closely each time) to 3 other drivers. They have dominated as much as their cars.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
10th November 2018, 1:44
Saying that is discrediting alonso: whenever the car was competitive he was there (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012), he just rarely got a competitive car, there’s no way if you replaced vettel or hamilton in any given year with alonso he’d have got results a class lower!
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
9th November 2018, 7:22
I wonder where Seb will go from here? Will we see him get back to his relentless best, or has his confidence and self belief been knocked beyond repair, a lot of sportsmen never comeback once they doubt themselves. I think Seb has doubted himself this year as shown by those moments of hesitation or overly zealous attacking. I don’t think his battles with Max over the last few years have helped, it’s hard to know where the line between fair and correct racing is nowadays because Max has torn up the rulebook, if you’re not on the unsporting side you’ll get left with your pants down these days.
I still think we will see the best of Seb again, he will never be the best in the rain or close quarters racing, but in the right environment he’s fast, relentless and will produce robotic levels of performance. I certainly admire his teamwork and overall work ethic. I think he will be too much for Charles this early in his career.
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
9th November 2018, 7:33
Regarding cotd, in the same way styles make fights in boxing, I think skill sets suit certain eras in F1. I’m not so sure Lewis would have won those 4 titles for RB in the same manner at least Seb did (he would have definitely won the lions share I don’t deny that). Seb’s robotic run and hide style, always pulling out a 2 second lead in the first two laps was almost iconic and suited the high downforce RB before DRS was activated. Lewis also wasn’t as stable (2011) as he appears now. On the same hand I think Lewis would have won the championship this year even if Seb and himself had swapped cars.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
10th November 2018, 1:46
Yes, after a few years of attempts we can say the 2018 ferrari was as competitive as mercedes, and vettel made so many mistakes he’d have lost even in the 2018 mercedes.
ColdFly (@)
9th November 2018, 8:32
I had dinner in the same restaurant as a current F1 driver and shared the pool with an Olympic swimmer (gold medalist).
I should have tweeted this and make it to the round-up ;)
Jere (@jerejj)
9th November 2018, 9:57
@coldfly When?
George
9th November 2018, 15:47
Yes, but you would’ve had to fess up being fat instead of unfit :p
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
9th November 2018, 8:44
It seems I’m the only one here thinking that 2017 Mercedes was far superior too. Maybe not dominant, but far from being beatable over the course of an entire season. They won 12 times, 3 of which with Bottas, and made 15 poles.
In my opinion, this is the first year in recent times when they could realistically lose the championship.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th November 2018, 10:04
@m-bagattini Yes, but for the most part, the race wins were relatively spread out between Mercedes and Ferrari last season as well.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
9th November 2018, 10:29
It probably depends on what you mean with “relatively” (which is, of course, relative). 3 out of 5 wins overall, more than double the wins of the second car (12 vs Ferrari’s 5). Again, not as dominant as in earlier years but far from being beatable over the course of the season. With a much less competitive teammate than Rosberg, in retrospective, it was pretty easy for Lewis after Monaco.
Nick (@notacop)
9th November 2018, 9:25
I was thinking that Mercedes will “fix”a race for Bottas to win without the drivers knowing.
Bottas will lead the race at some point and then Hamilton will receive a message in the lines “Lewis we need to take care of the tires, do not fight”
The team will gain some good reputation after killing Botta’s race at Russia and he, without knowing will gain some confidence.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
9th November 2018, 9:45
I tend to think the same way, if only ease the conscience’s of some of the management.
They are going to have to do it very cleverly though as the entire F1 community will be watching for just something like that.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th November 2018, 10:03
”I definitely wouldn’t want to win by being given it. I want to win by winning the race myself.” – Indeed.
An Interesting article by The Guardian.
I agree with the COTD.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
9th November 2018, 12:28
Many thanks for the birthday shout out @keithcollantine – more than I had from the wife and kids so far :)
I am hoping for a late birthday present of a wet race on Sunday (if anyone can help).
Brian (@bealzbob)
9th November 2018, 12:54
Oi ! @ahxshades you got 2 birthday shoutouts :P :P
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
9th November 2018, 12:57
indeed @bealzbob, truly fortunate man!
iCarbs (@icarby)
9th November 2018, 13:07
I think COTD undermines Hamilton’s achievements and not sure if I agree or disagree with it on a whole.
I do hope Bottas can win either one of the remaining races on merit, I like his attitude in that regard.
Gabriel (@rethla)
9th November 2018, 17:41
Why would it undermine Hamilton?
Its a team sport and his team has bean unbeatable.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
10th November 2018, 1:50
Not sure bottas will be able to, I’d expect mercedes to be slightly better than ferrari here in interlagos, remembering the 2017 values, and I’d expect them to still have the edge in abu dhabi, bottas was particularly strong last year, so maybe a win there.
Needless to say, we’d have had all 6 top team drivers with at least a win this year if it weren’t for unnecessary team orders, and no, I’m not saying it with hindsight, the situation was already clear back then for the drivers’ title.