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

[bunglesprout]

Hungrymc said:

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.

I think Martin Brundle said on Sky that Merc didn't call him in earlier in case there was a problem with recovering the stranded car and the VSC turned into an actual SC and negated any possible advantage. I think they were a tad lucky that the message that the VSC was ending soon came at the right time for Hamilton to dive in to the pits and gain a bit of advantage. I think VSC ended as he was coming into his pit box, so he had about half a pit stop to gain an advantage, hence managing to wipe out the lead Vettel had built up.

It was a brilliant call, and I did wonder WTF they were doing bringing him in as the VSC stint was ending. One of many reasons I suppose why I don't work for Mercedes strategy team

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Sa Calobra said:

Cold said:

I think even Seb would begrudgingly accept that was a pretty good move by Hamilton and you'd expect Bottas to have a very wide car.
Shame Massa had an unwanted influence on others.


Mind you, my daughter was watching the podium with me and shrieked "What has he done to his hair?!".

My words were 'thats a good transplant'. Is have mine, I have since Uni in 97 even though I have the hairline etc still. Dude just shave

One of the best races of recent years and you guys want to discuss LH's hair?

A psychologist would have a field day...

[HTP99]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Sa Calobra said:

Cold said:

I think even Seb would begrudgingly accept that was a pretty good move by Hamilton and you'd expect Bottas to have a very wide car.
Shame Massa had an unwanted influence on others.


Mind you, my daughter was watching the podium with me and shrieked "What has he done to his hair?!".

My words were 'thats a good transplant'. Is have mine, I have since Uni in 97 even though I have the hairline etc still. Dude just shave

One of the best races of recent years and you guys want to discuss LH's hair?

A psychologist would have a field day...

Whilst I don't particualry want to discuss his hair, the first thing that I said to the wife when he jumped up onto the podium, sans cap, was "WTF look at Lewis' hair!".

Hair aside it was a great race, I watched the highlights later in the day and unfortunately I caught the result before watching it (I did try and avoid it); only a headline, so when Vettel got the lead and built up a good gap I was quite intrigued as to how exactly Hamilton made it through to first, it was good to watch, especially as Spain tends to be a bit of a borefest.

[DanielSan]

ClockworkCupcake said:

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.

It's good for the sport we finally get to see them head to head in relatively equal cars, and if we get a few more battles like yesterday it won't be a bad season.
I missed nigh on all of the interviews after the race but did Vettel sound as knackered as Hamilton at the end of the race?

[rdjohn]

That was a truely great race.

Probably only because Pirelli screwed up and brought the wrong tyres. It would have been a 1-stop tyre preservation fest had they been using Super-Soft to Medium.

My feeling remains that they should mandate a 2-stop minimum to ensure the cars can be pushed for the whole race. The performance is obviously there in both the Ferrari and Merc PUs.

Normal service will be resumed at Monaco and Canada.

[CoolHands]

rallycross said:

CoolHands said:

BEN fkING EDWARDS SHUT UP YOU fkING

Yes x 100 its like his pubes are on fire.
I have to turn it down when I know something exciting is approaching, (like one driver lining up to overtake another); and mute when something crazy like Hamilton starts to overtake Vettel. He's a fking idiot who ramps it up out of all proportion, it really gets on my wick.

He's literally orgasmic, it's embarrassing.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

HTP99 said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Sa Calobra said:

Cold said:

I think even Seb would begrudgingly accept that was a pretty good move by Hamilton and you'd expect Bottas to have a very wide car.
Shame Massa had an unwanted influence on others.


Mind you, my daughter was watching the podium with me and shrieked "What has he done to his hair?!".

My words were 'thats a good transplant'. Is have mine, I have since Uni in 97 even though I have the hairline etc still. Dude just shave

One of the best races of recent years and you guys want to discuss LH's hair?

A psychologist would have a field day...

Whilst I don't particualry want to discuss his hair, the first thing that I said to the wife when he jumped up onto the podium, sans cap, was "WTF look at Lewis' hair!".

Presumably old duffers reacted the same in the 1970s upon seeing Jackie Stewart's long hair, James Hunt's flairs etc

[funkyrobot]

CoolHands said:

rallycross said:

CoolHands said:

BEN fkING EDWARDS SHUT UP YOU fkING

Yes x 100 its like his pubes are on fire.
I have to turn it down when I know something exciting is approaching, (like one driver lining up to overtake another); and mute when something crazy like Hamilton starts to overtake Vettel. He's a fking idiot who ramps it up out of all proportion, it really gets on my wick.

He's literally orgasmic, it's embarrassing.

I had had enough of him last year. I struggle to watch the C4 coverage now as I'm finding him more and more annoying.

[London424]

That was a good one.

Haven't heard a driver struggling with the g-forces like that in a long time (I'm not sure I've ever heard it before as team radio has come a long way). Also great to hear that Lewis was able to push the entire time. Sounds like if they can give the teams tyres where a 2 or 3 stop is optimal you are going to get that sort of effort.

[motco]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but Nico Hulkenberg was interviewed on the pit lane pre-amble and when asked about sharing his umbrella he said something along the lines of "No, I want to avoid the sun, I don't want to get colour!" No uproar, no outrage? What is the PC world coming to?

[MartynVRS]

funkyrobot said:

CoolHands said:

rallycross said:

CoolHands said:

BEN fkING EDWARDS SHUT UP YOU fkING

Yes x 100 its like his pubes are on fire.
I have to turn it down when I know something exciting is approaching, (like one driver lining up to overtake another); and mute when something crazy like Hamilton starts to overtake Vettel. He's a fking idiot who ramps it up out of all proportion, it really gets on my wick.

He's literally orgasmic, it's embarrassing.

I had had enough of him last year. I struggle to watch the C4 coverage now as I'm finding him more and more annoying.

The best commentary pairing was Brundle and DC. Shouty Crofty is just as annoying on Sky if not more. I just don't like him.

[thegreenhell]

rdjohn said:

That was a truely great race.

Probably only because Pirelli screwed up and brought the wrong tyres. It would have been a 1-stop tyre preservation fest had they been using Super-Soft to Medium.

They had to 2-stop using soft and medium. Do you think that using the super-soft would have allowed them to 1-stop?

[swisstoni]

<puts on Columbo raincoat>

"Dere's one thing dat's bothering me..."

Why didn't Hamilton fight back immediately after he was passed at the start?
Was the Ferrari just faster or did Hamilton/Merc immediately decide to stand off and wait for strategy. Was it just not worth fighting at that stage?

[London424]

swisstoni said:

<puts on Columbo raincoat>

"Dere's one thing dat's bothering me..."

Why didn't Hamilton fight back immediately after he was passed at the start?
Was the Ferrari just faster or did Hamilton/Merc immediately decide to stand off and wait for strategy. Was it just not worth fighting at that stage?

My guess is that he was trying but at the stage (lots of fuel etc) there wasn't much he could do. I think he might have said as much on team radio.

[HTP99]

swisstoni said:

<puts on Columbo raincoat>

"Dere's one thing dat's bothering me..."

Why didn't Hamilton fight back immediately after he was passed at the start?
Was the Ferrari just faster or did Hamilton/Merc immediately decide to stand off and wait for strategy. Was it just not worth fighting at that stage?

I imagine he was looking at the bigger picture, why go for it and possibly have a crash, when later in the race there may be a better opportunity.

[ClockworkCupcake]

MartynVRS said:

The best commentary pairing was Brundle and DC.

Interesting opinion. I never liked that pairing as it was two pundits and no commentator. Both of them work well as a foil to an actual commentator. Brundle tried to step into that role the that pairing and I never felt that it suited him.

For me, the Croft / Brundle pairing is working very well.

[Gary C]

ClockworkCupcake said:

MartynVRS said:

The best commentary pairing was Brundle and DC.

Interesting opinion. I never liked that pairing as it was two pundits and no commentator. Both of them work well as a foil to an actual commentator. Brundle tried to step into that role the that pairing and I never felt that it suited him.

For me, the Croft / Brundle pairing is working very well.

Agreed.

Coulthard just does not do it. Too monotone and not that enlightening. Brundel just seems to be a more 'intelligent' commentator. Croft adds the noise in a Murray walker style.

[RichB]

ClockworkCupcake said:

Interesting opinion. I never liked that pairing as it was two pundits and no commentator. Both of them work well as a foil to an actual commentator. Brundle tried to step into that role the that pairing and I never felt that it suited him.

For me, the Croft / Brundle pairing is working very well.

I dislike Croft because he tries too hard to stir up controversy where there is none. It's as if he thinks "this race is a bit dull so I'll just throw out some nonsense to get people tweeting into SkyF1." It obviously works because people tweet to him but he's like a headline writer for the Sun. For example, long after the stewards had said there was no action required when Hamilton and Vettel came together as Vettel left the pits Croft was still banging on about it being controversial. It wasn't, so I wish he would just move on and commentate instead of st-stirring all the time.

[BigBen]

Can anyone explain Daniel Ricciardo's slightly odd post race interview, he started off being as keen as mustard, but then went on about mustard and juiciness for quite a long time as if getting key phrases in for a bet.

[RB Will]

Bit disappointed with Bottas backing out in turn one at the start. He was well up past Hamilton and could easily have had 2nd place but backed right out causing the 3 car shunt and resulting mess.