[Official] Team of the Grand Prix: Russian Grand Prix 2015

[Born Racer]

Who is your team of the Grand Prix?

[TrapezeArtist]

A tricky one, this race.

Clearly not Mercedes since one car broke and the other was causing concern. Uber-fast though.

Williams? The cars were looking pretty good but strategic decisions in qually and the race were not the best.

Force India? We didn't see what Hulkenberg might have done, but he didn't qualify great. Perez was put on an ambitious strategy that exploited his tyre-saving abilities but was still a bit lucky, and he would only have been fifth if it weren't for another bit of luck.

Toro Rosso? Out-qualified their big brother team even though they have to use that terrible Renault engine (that's tongue-in-cheek, Regie) that the other lot complain about so much. But still not that great.

So I've given it to Ferrari. They were on for a two-four until.....

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Ferrari. Only team to get 2 into the top 10.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

Ferrari. Only team to get 2 into the top 10.

They could have got 2nd and 4th, rather than 2nd and 8th, if Kimi hadn't clipped Bottas. They would have been my choice, if it wasn't for that.

If it hadn't been for Kimi clipping Bottas then it would have been 3rd spot on the podium for Williams as well as 5th place.

Anyway, I'm going to give it to McLaren because despite Alonso being penalised for running wide, getting both those cars to finish is quite an achievement it itself.

[stripedcat]

Force India - good strategy call for Perez. Sadly, we will never know what the Hulk could have done.

Mercedes - Dominant. But - a car broke on them. A bit worrying - as it's near the end of the season. I'm sure the team want the WCC(it's near enough their's) - but also 1-2 in the WDC. With Vettel in 2nd place - that's going to be a bit tricky.

Williams - Strong here. They made mistakes in qualifying. I don't think they had quite the pace of the Ferraris though. It's a shame that they lost Bottas - otherwise that 3rd on the podium would have been their's.

Ferrari - Quite strong here. I'd say they had the second fastest car. A shame they only 2nd-8th. It could have been 2nd-3rd. More podiums and more points. Both drivers looked strong as well.

McLaren-Honda - Well - they were getting mugged on the start/finish straight - but hey they got both cars to the end and a points finish. A difficult year for them.

So - I'm going to give it to the underdogs - McLaren.

[stripedcat]

P.S. Just a quick update - yeah Mercedes clinched the WCC through Kimi's penalty.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Mercedes.

[BertMk2]

Sauber. What the hell was that thing doing scoring points?

[GT6]

great result for force india this week so they get my vote

[steve_r]

Force India for beating cars that are faster than their own.

[TrapezeArtist]

3 votes for McLaren???????????!!!!!!! So getting two cars to the finish is worthy of TOTR?

[chillibowl]

i also voted Mclaren. i like how they are pushing and pushing and as the season is winding down, i feel like this is an attitude missing by the other teams .

Ferrari, for me, are a weird one. with Seb they could have tried to be more aggressive and maybe could have found themselves closer to the back of LH by the end. perhaps they are put off on taking chances in light of how it turned out in Spa and how close the battle for 2nd in the drivers is right now.

then at the same time, Kimi took a huge chance with his pass on Bottas when if he held station he could have kept the constructors title going on for one more race...which i guess doesnt matter as everyone is resigned to the fact that Merc will win it so why not let Kimi take a chance.

to be fair i dont really understand their thought process.

Ferrari did do well though but imo they are playing an individual game now (and rightly so) whereas Mclaren are still doing the team thing so they get team of the race from me.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

i also voted Mclaren. i like how they are pushing and pushing and as the season is winding down, i feel like this is an attitude missing by the other teams .

Well, each to his own, I suppose.

I wouldn't know whether they are pushing and pushing because we no longer see anyone but the drivers on TV since Martin Whitmarsh went. Eric Boullier just refused to talk to David Clout-hard on the grid in Sochi. (His right, of course, and maybe he was rushing to something important.) Perhaps you see more of them in Canada.

In any event, I don't think pushing and pushing is enough. I'm sure Won would be the first to agree that you also have to achieve, and there's not a lot of that going on.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

I wouldn't know whether they are pushing and pushing...

to be honest i also dont know how hard they are pushing either. its just an assumption i am making based on the Honda bringing a new engine to Sochi for Alonso. i suppose one could think they are just doing what they should be given their plight so yeah i may be giving them more credit then they deserve.

with the sorting of the drivers contracts and the use of the final upgrade tokens and a point (even though it was due to attrition), i do still feel like they achieved a great deal this weekend though.

to each their own of course

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

3 votes for McLaren???????????!!!!!!! So getting two cars to the finish is worthy of TOTR?

What do you mean with TOTR? Anyway I would have voted for McLaren for bringing points.

[Aysedasi]

Difficult but I'll go McLaren too. I refuse to vote Ferrari as it was a travesty that Raikkonen was still able to collect points after driving at the end like a complete novice.....

[Mekola]

Force India did one of their best races, crowned by a podium. Got my vote.