The Official 2017 Spanish Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[CoolHands]

Good race. Mainly cos Hamilton and vettel were going at 10/10ths

[hairyben]

CoolHands said:

Good race. Mainly cos Hamilton and vettel were going at 10/10ths

It could have been eithers for pretty much the whole race and thats what makes it exciting/suspenseful and what a few who judge by the number of overtakes dont grasp.

BTW how fit is vettel? Ham and ric were both fubar afterwards in the pre podium and he looked like he could go again

[cheddar]

Derek Smith said:

The timing of LH's pit stop caught me out. I was critical of it right up until the battle for turn 1 as Vettel came out of the pits. That was a big Wow

Had they bought him in on the previous lap the whole stop could have been carried out under VSC and he would have easily leap frogged Vettel, as it was when he was released the cars were already back up to race speed

[thegreenhell]

lee_fr200 said:

Vandoorne needs to wake up I genuinely still don't believe he deserves the mclaren drive
He's a lot slower than Fred to the point it's embarrassing and he then hits massa

I can't see him doing well at monaco

I've been giving him the benefit of my doubt so far, being a rookie up against arguably the best driver on the grid, combined with the Honda factor, but it will be very interesting to see how he goes at Monaco against someone who hasn't driven a 2017 car yet, and who couldn't even be bothered to test the car when he had the chance.

[hairyben]

cheddar said:

Derek Smith said:

The timing of LH's pit stop caught me out. I was critical of it right up until the battle for turn 1 as Vettel came out of the pits. That was a big Wow

Had they bought him in on the previous lap the whole stop could have been carried out under VSC and he would have easily leap frogged Vettel, as it was when he was released the cars were already back up to race speed

Yup, although being on softs it would have felt marginal on stint length, what suprised me was not getting vettel in during vsc for his mediums. Then pitting him at racing speed. Like wtf?

[Hub]

Derek Smith said:

Hub said:

Interesting race between the top 2... But Ricciardo in 3rd finished nearly a lap behind, and everyone else was lapped. The difference with the top 2 teams and the rest is ridiculous.

Two of the top six cars were out at the first corner and yet we had a race long battle for the lead.

The 89 British GP is my favourite, where just two cars were on the lead lap. That too built up slowly, that too had action all down the field, that had two great drivers at the peak of their form, that too was a cracker.

What's not to like about this one? I would agree that it might have been better if the overtake for the lead came nearer the end of the race, but you can't have everything.

It was a cracker. There were overtakes all through. Interesting is hardly an apt description of what was an exciting race.

The timing of LH's pit stop caught me out. I was critical of it right up until the battle for turn 1 as Vettel came out of the pits. That was a big Wow!

I struggle to empathise with those who didn't think this was the best race of the season so far and likely to be the best race of the season.

Well done Ocon. And a Sauber in the points. And a battle for the lead that went on for quite a few laps, and I wasn't sure it was over for a number more.

I stated just before the start of the season that the battle between Ricciardo and Verstappen would be the one to watch. Can't wait.

I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. It was a more general comment about the current performance gap between the teams. At least there is a bit of competition for Merc now though!

[ClockworkCupcake]

thegreenhell said:

it will be very interesting to see how he goes at Monaco against someone who hasn't driven a 2017 car yet, and who couldn't even be bothered to test the car when he had the chance.

Jenson certainly has nothing to prove and nothing to lose. I'll be interested to see how he does (Jenson, that is).

[lee_fr200]

Jenson will relish it and show his worth n class vandoorne will be last or out

[ClockworkCupcake]

lee_fr200 said:

Jenson will relish it and show his worth n class vandoorne will be last or out

Will he? Or will he pitch up, swan around, do a half-arsed job, bring it home intact, and jet off again?

Honestly, I really don't know which he will do.

[cheddar]

hairyben said:

Yup, although being on softs it would have felt marginal on stint length what suprised me was not getting vettel in during vsc for his mediums. Then pitting him at racing speed. Like wtf?

Only one lap difference and Lewis set fastest lap of the race right near the end

Agreed on Ferrari making the strange choice to pit Vettel at race speed rather than at VSC speed

[hairyben]

cheddar said:

hairyben said:

Yup, although being on softs it would have felt marginal on stint length what suprised me was not getting vettel in during vsc for his mediums. Then pitting him at racing speed. Like wtf?

Only one lap difference and Lewis set fastest lap of the race right near the end

Agreed on Ferrari making the strange choice to pit Vettel at race speed rather than at VSC speed

With the clarity of hindsight thats easy to say, how well the softs were likely to hold up for 30 racing laps at 1:40 this afternoon was perhaps less well understood.

[iandc]

I think Vettel and Hamilton seem to have a mutual respect for each other. Both want to race and are quite happy with the wheel to wheel stuff we saw in the race. No complains afterwards from either driver. Plus the marshals seemed to be happy to let most coming togethers be seen as racing incidents.Altogether much better than the penalties dished out last season.

[ClockworkCupcake]

iandc said:

I think Vettel and Hamilton seem to have a mutual respect for each other. Both want to race and are quite happy with the wheel to wheel stuff we saw in the race.

Vettel said as much in post-race interview on Sky. He said that Lewis and him aren't best friends or anything, but they both have a love of racing, mutual respect, and he sees no reason for any animosity off the track.

[patmahe]

Anyone else think there should be a bonus point for pole and one for fastest lap. At least if you've had a crap race you can change tyres with 3 laps to go and just go for it, could make boring finishes more interesting.

[Mark-C]

ash73 said:

Credit to Lewis he really worked hard for that one, Seb a bit unlucky but a good fight. Pity about the carnage at the start but happy to see Danny on the podium.

Why are they allowed to pit under the VSC when it can gain such an obvious advantage?

If it was an obvious advantage they’d all do it ... and then there would be no advantage ....

Good race though

[lbc]

iandc said:

Plus the marshals seemed to be happy to let most coming togethers be seen as racing incidents.

You mean the stewards!
The marshalls clear incidents from the track.

[rallycross]

CoolHands said:

BEN fkING EDWARDS SHUT UP YOU fkING

Yes x 100 its like his pubes are on fire.

[Z3MCJez]

cheddar said:

Derek Smith said:

The timing of LH's pit stop caught me out. I was critical of it right up until the battle for turn 1 as Vettel came out of the pits. That was a big Wow

Had they bought him in on the previous lap the whole stop could have been carried out under VSC and he would have easily leap frogged Vettel, as it was when he was released the cars were already back up to race speed

Had they done that then VET would have stopped the following lap mainly under VSC and I think HAM would have been further back. But, I don't have good enough coverage in the US to know for sure exactly when the VSC ended.

Jez

[Z3MCJez]

Hamilton's second pit stop cost him 16s on the road (He was 7.9s behind as he entered, and 23.9s behind as he left). Vettel was 22.8s in front when he pitted. So including stop length etc. Hamilton made up 8.8s.

I actually think that there's a bit more to be made up than Hamilton did - A VSC stop should cost about 12-14 seconds depending on pit lane length, so Hamilton lost 2-4 seconds. But as Vettel was 8s ahead on the road, if Hamilton had stopped on the previous lap and got the full benefit, then I think Vettel would also have got the full benefit.

This was (by luck or by plan, we may never know) the perfect call.

It seems Toto agrees with me too :-)

http://asia.eurosport.com/formula-1/wolff-explains...

Now, should Ferrari have stopped Vettel? Probably. And if they weren't going to, then they should have run another 10-15 laps on the softs, which is I'm sure what they were working to. Although they were working to having an 8s lead to defend too ...

Jez

[Hungrymc]

Z3MCJez said:

cheddar said:

Derek Smith said:

The timing of LH's pit stop caught me out. I was critical of it right up until the battle for turn 1 as Vettel came out of the pits. That was a big Wow

Had they bought him in on the previous lap the whole stop could have been carried out under VSC and he would have easily leap frogged Vettel, as it was when he was released the cars were already back up to race speed

Had they done that then VET would have stopped the following lap mainly under VSC and I think HAM would have been further back. But, I don't have good enough coverage in the US to know for sure exactly when the VSC ended.

Jez

I think that's what it was all about, they were ready to move the previous laps incase Ferrari did. But the plan was to try and bring him in the last lap of VSC so that Ferrari didn't have the chance to shadow them (under VSC). And it worked as it shortened the stint on mediums and put him alongside Seb having been 8 seconds behind.