[Official] Mexican Grand Prix 2018: Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[GT6]

Well got up early and watched the highlights, enjoyed some of the race but not really as good as the last round, congratulations to Lewis but with the top teams 2 laps ahead of the rest it just proves F1 have got a real problem.

[Kempi]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I also feel the need to mention that my (severely lowering) opinion of Seb Vet too a turn in the opposite direction during his post race interview when he said something like) "I don't want to be answering stupid questions like that just now, I need to be going to congratulate Lewis!"
(Mind you, I thought he was going to kiss him too at one stage!)

He not only did that but also went to the Mercedes team and paid his honors.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Kempi

He not only did that but also went to the Mercedes team and paid his honors.

That's interesting, being cynical, I wonder if he's thinking of his career when he no longer drives a red car?

[GT6]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

That's interesting, being cynical, I wonder if he's thinking of his career when he no longer drives a red car?

Well i think most people seem to agree that Seb and Ferrari are not a slick and happy mixture at the moment.

[Mike Harte]

I get the impression that Hamilton became WDC again because none of the other competitors or teams could manage to offer any realistic opposition throughout the whole season.

[Aysedasi]

Or that he's actually rather good and made next to no mistakes.....

[Akrapovic]

Vettel, like Lewis, has always congratulated opposite teams for winning titles. For all the criticism these two get, they tend to be the first saying well done. Fernando on the other hand had a history of not doing so.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I get the impression that Hamilton became WDC again because none of the other competitors or teams could manage to offer any realistic opposition throughout the whole season.

Ferrari offered some opposition. Vettel won the first two races. Won in Canada, GB and Belgium. However, he made too many crass errors during the course of the season, the first of which was at Azerbaijan.

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I get the impression that Hamilton became WDC again because none of the other competitors or teams could manage to offer any realistic opposition throughout the whole season.

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Or that he's actually rather good and made next to no mistakes.....

Or, more likely, a mixture of both!

[Aysedasi]

About right!

[JeremySmith]

Lewis Hamilton is one of the greats and I am extremely proud of him...

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Lewis Hamilton is one of the greats and I am extremely proud of him...

One of the great what, though?


But slightly more seriously, if the other leading contenders had spent less time trying to knock seven bells out of each other and put that effort into actually accumulating points, then the outcome may well have been completely different.


One could almost say that they all lost the chance to become WDC rather than Hamilton winning it.

[Peter Mallett]

Hmm I don't think that's a fair comparison. Yes often he can be a tit but he is streets ahead of the opposition in terms of race craft. He is one of the greats, no doubt about it.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

One of the great what, though?


But slightly more seriously, if the other leading contenders had spent less time trying to knock seven bells out of each other and put that effort into actually accumulating points, then the outcome may well have been completely different.


One could almost say that they all lost the chance to become WDC rather than Hamilton winning it.

Based on this assesssment we could question many (most?) world champion’s titles. I’ll start with Senna in 1991 and move on to Fangio later.

[Akrapovic]

It may be a case of Vettel losing the title rather than Lewis winning it, but sometimes that's just how it goes. In this case that's a criticism of Vettel, rather than Lewis. And Lewis has won titles the hard way without competitors falling away before, so it's not like it was beyond him.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Based on this assesssment we could question many (most?) world champion’s titles. I’ll start with Senna in 1991 and move on to Fangio later.

I don't necessarily disagree, any more than I don't truly believe that Michael Schumacher is one of the greats. Unfortunately with Senna, we never were able to see the final product as he was taken from us too soon.

[Aysedasi]

I don't agree with the premise that Hamilton won it because Vettel and Ferrari messed up. You don't win 5 WDCs (or 4 for that matter) without being good and I think we've seen a thoroughly dominant Hamilton this season, a season during which he's been pretty untouchable - certainly for the second half. I think some people need to put to one side their assessment of his character, his social life and all of the things that are of no real consequence in an assessment of how good you are as a racing driver....

[Kempi]

Lewis was the best driver this year, there is no doubt about that. And he won the title because of that but also helped by a very fast and reliable car with a team that made very little mistakes.

Toto and Lewis were very good about spinning the story the Ferrari were the better car (remember the "56 points is a lot" after Spa?) but in the end no other team could muster any challenge to Mercedes' strength of car and team. So it was another year where the best driver in the best car won.

[chillibowl]

Merc did make some strategy errors/missed pit calls during SC in OZ, grid penalty for a gearbox change in the next race i think, double DNF in Austria, struggled here and there with their tires...

imo some of those early season mistakes contributed to the story that Ferrari had the better team/car and maybe it really was.

for me the difference this year was the driver. LH made far less mistakes on track, had great recovery drives when they were needed (although one win was handed to him after Bottas unlucky puncture) and other highlights like that unbelievably amazing quali lap in Singapore.

and not just less mistakes than SV...i dont think any other driver came close to his consistency this year.

[wolfhound]

Something very unusual has happened Horner praises Renault!!!

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/139738

What could have brought that on at this stage of the season?

[wnut]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Something very unusual has happened Horner praises Renault!!!

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/139738

What could have brought that on at this stage of the season?

Ricciardo was eventually sidelined by a clutch failure.
"He had a bad start, but that was nothing technical, just procedure," said Marko.
"And then the clutch bearing broke, which is a shame. It's very frustrating because a one-two would have been very nice."
Horner added: "It looks like a clutch issue that looking at the data probably started around lap six.

Perhaps to stop Renault posting an analysis of the "procedural failure" and exactly why Ricciardo's car failed.

[steve_r]

One thing I forgot to mention about the race, is that the crowds looked good and they really looked like they were enjoying the race and seemed very passionate about F1, this despite their home favorite having a DNF.

[F1Guy]

On Ricciardo's DNF... Horner blamed clutch failure. But... the clutch is a bought-in product made by AP Racing, and is the same product used by a couple of other teams also. The reason for the clutch failure was because of a hydraulic system failure. Which is an in-house, Red Bull Racing built system. So how can Horner blame the clutch for Ricciardo's DNF?? It was a Red Bull failure. But, Horner and his sidekick Marko laid the blame on the clutch. Will RBR ever put their hand up and admit that it was a fault of their own? Ever??

Was reading this article on Ricciardo's results pre and post Renault announcement.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/motorsp...a9b-1540892696

A 50% DNF rate since announcing he is leaving the team. Has his DNF's post announcement effected RBR's chance of securing 3rd in the WCC? No. DR's DNF's did not effect it at all. And even if he DNF'd the next two rounds, RBR would still secure 3rd in the WCC.

Ricciardo has said that he will not bother showing up for the next two races. So who will be driving in his place?

[F1Guy]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Vettel, like Lewis, has always congratulated opposite teams for winning titles. For all the criticism these two get, they tend to be the first saying well done. Fernando on the other hand had a history of not doing so.

Yep. Like Fernando did HERE right?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Yep. Like Fernando did HERE right?

An interesting clip, well done for finding that!