2015 British Grand Prix - ***SPOILERS with slow Mclarens***
Posted by Laton
Well a great race, Hamilton very lucky with the strategy call (reminds me of Monaco 2008 a bit) - but without the rain in the first place Rosberg wouldn't have had a chance, so a deserved win for Hamilton.
Disappointing for Williams, at least in the end they have the excuse of the rain as they were never going to win regardless with that pace. Unlucky to lose 3rd, but considering Vettel nabbed the podium off Massa in Austria, perhaps it was a bit of poetic justice that the situation was reversed today.
Hard to say what the right call was in the first stint, think they should have just let them race rather than the compromise they found. Based on Massa being faster in the 2nd stint on the primes I'm not sure Bottas was really that much faster today so doubt he would have pulled too far out of the DRS zone if he did overtake Massa (depending on how much time was lost in the overtake). Unfortunate for Williams to be exposed a bit with their strategy again, but presumably they didn't want to pit too early (to avoid the undercut) and risk poor tyre life later in the race.
X (@ed24f1)
Disappointing for Williams, at least in the end they have the excuse of the rain as they were never going to win regardless with that pace. Unlucky to lose 3rd, but considering Vettel nabbed the podium off Massa in Austria, perhaps it was a bit of poetic justice that the situation was reversed today.
Hard to say what the right call was in the first stint, think they should have just let them race rather than the compromise they found. Based on Massa being faster in the 2nd stint on the primes I'm not sure Bottas was really that much faster today so doubt he would have pulled too far out of the DRS zone if he did overtake Massa (depending on how much time was lost in the overtake). Unfortunate for Williams to be exposed a bit with their strategy again, but presumably they didn't want to pit too early (to avoid the undercut) and risk poor tyre life later in the race.
X (@ed24f1)
I'm not convinced Williams strategy was at fault to be honest. I think they made the correct calls given that ultimately Mercedes have the performance advantage. They gave it a good go. It was inevitable that Merc would move ahead at the pit stops for two reasons, 1) the Merc has a advantage good enough that it doesn't need the 'undercut' and so has flexibility in pitting either before or after the Williams and maintaining the edge. 2) the Merceds pit crew are stronger than the Williams crew.
That Wiliams gave Merc a race of it all at was actually rather pleasing, so nearly a 2nd and 3rd out of it, so in that light 4th and 5th is dissapointing but that's what happens when your car has an inherent weakness in wet and slippery conditions.
Bad day for Toro Rosso, I felt they'd been a bit too bullish following their Friday form, and a slide back down the field a bit was rather inevitable. Force India are definitely getting their act together though and getting a lot out their current package and to be as close to Red Bull as they are is pretty good going.
LOL Maldonaldo...
That Wiliams gave Merc a race of it all at was actually rather pleasing, so nearly a 2nd and 3rd out of it, so in that light 4th and 5th is dissapointing but that's what happens when your car has an inherent weakness in wet and slippery conditions.
Bad day for Toro Rosso, I felt they'd been a bit too bullish following their Friday form, and a slide back down the field a bit was rather inevitable. Force India are definitely getting their act together though and getting a lot out their current package and to be as close to Red Bull as they are is pretty good going.
LOL Maldonaldo...
Yes, I am being a bit unfair on Hamilton perhaps, it wasn't all luck, but it seemed like he'd cooked his tyres so had to pit either way. The call to go to inters was the right one but still quite risky, and I'm not sure if he would have had the foresight to pit if he didn't have the worn tyres like I mentioned.
X (@ed24f1)
X (@ed24f1)
Quote
J i m
I'm not convinced Williams strategy was at fault to be honest. I think they made the correct calls given that ultimately Mercedes have the performance advantage. They gave it a good go. It was inevitable that Merc would move ahead at the pit stops for two reasons, 1) the Merc has a advantage good enough that it doesn't need the 'undercut' and so has flexibility in pitting either before or after the Williams and maintaining the edge. 2) the Merceds pit crew are stronger than the Williams crew.
That Wiliams gave Merc a race of it all at was actually rather pleasing, so nearly a 2nd and 3rd out of it, so in that light 4th and 5th is dissapointing but that's what happens when your car has an inherent weakness in wet and slippery conditions.
I agree. At least one Mercedes beating the Williams cars was inevitable. I'd love to think Williams were genuinely only a couple of tenths slower, but I fear it was more a case of 'won't pass' rather than 'can't pass' from Mercedes, biding their time and refusing to take the risk in passing a couple of feisty Williams's.
Still, good race, if only for the agonising hope that Austria 2014 wouldn't be repeated, then those nice sprinkles towards the end was a rather nice cherry on the top. It had all the ingredients to be an epic race, but I'll settle for what we got.
gav Wrote:
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> I agree. At least one Mercedes beating the
> Williams cars was inevitable. I'd love to think
> Williams were genuinely only a couple of tenths
> slower, but I fear it was more a case of 'won't
> pass' rather than 'can't pass' from Mercedes,
> biding their time and refusing to take the risk in
> passing a couple of feisty Williams's.
I think it may have been a bit of both (won't and can't); even when Mercedes gave Rosberg the hurry up he was unable to pass Bottas (until the rain) - and that was even when Bottas didn't have DRS.
Morbid Wrote:
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> Where do you get your support for that assertion?
>
> And in reality, isn't this a case of damned if do,
> and damned if you don't? Had he gotten the pit
> stops wrong, would that have been agreeable to
> you? I think not.
I had another watch of Lap 43 of the race and I think I may have misinterpreted his team radio message that was broadcast. I assumed he more meant that his tyres were gone but he actually more meant that there was not enough grip for them. It was hard to tell at the time because it was difficult to see the rain levels from the TV broadcast.
So yes, I think there was probably a lot less luck in it than I gave credit for. Possibly the dynamic of Rosberg catching him at 2 seconds per lap influenced his call but that's hard to tell.
X (@ed24f1)
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> I agree. At least one Mercedes beating the
> Williams cars was inevitable. I'd love to think
> Williams were genuinely only a couple of tenths
> slower, but I fear it was more a case of 'won't
> pass' rather than 'can't pass' from Mercedes,
> biding their time and refusing to take the risk in
> passing a couple of feisty Williams's.
I think it may have been a bit of both (won't and can't); even when Mercedes gave Rosberg the hurry up he was unable to pass Bottas (until the rain) - and that was even when Bottas didn't have DRS.
Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where do you get your support for that assertion?
>
> And in reality, isn't this a case of damned if do,
> and damned if you don't? Had he gotten the pit
> stops wrong, would that have been agreeable to
> you? I think not.
I had another watch of Lap 43 of the race and I think I may have misinterpreted his team radio message that was broadcast. I assumed he more meant that his tyres were gone but he actually more meant that there was not enough grip for them. It was hard to tell at the time because it was difficult to see the rain levels from the TV broadcast.
So yes, I think there was probably a lot less luck in it than I gave credit for. Possibly the dynamic of Rosberg catching him at 2 seconds per lap influenced his call but that's hard to tell.
X (@ed24f1)
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