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2019 FORMULA 1 SEASON

SixSniper

New member
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JHB South Africa
I really think Red Bull dropped the ball. They should have pitted Max the very next lap. With their record breaking pit stops he may just have come back out in front, and even if he didnt he would have had new tyres and a competitive car to challenge Hamilton in the last 18 laps. Once they didnt pit Max it was just a matter of time before he was passed. I think the team's tactics cost him the race. But 2 fantastic GP in a row

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CarlosCanizares

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Surrey, BC, Canada
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I was amazed at how much faster HAM was on hard tires with a few laps less on them than VER. He was eating up 1-2 seconds of interval every lap. That reel-in was pretty amazing to watch. When HAM is pressed, the guy just delivers every freaking time.

Ten wins to go, my Hammy-cheering friend!

Seeing him come out of that stop with the same number of laps left as seconds in gap, I definitely thought he wouldn’t be able to do it. But Max’s hards completely going off the cliff definitely helped!
 

95gto

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STL
I think you meant how much faster Hamilton was on the Mediums. Lewis whittled down Max's lead on the Hards but didn't start taking chunks out of Max's lead until he switched to the Mediums.

As for whether Red Bull made the right choice our not you have to consider the risks associated with each option and what was known at the time. Pit Max and you hand the lead to Hamilton, even with a record fast stop. At that point you have to hope Max can catch Hamilton and pass him before the end of the race. If you have an issue during Max's stop, and a lot of the pit stops had issues, you would be asking Max to overcome a decent gap and then still overtake Hamilton by the end of the race.

Instead they chose to play it safe minimize the potential risks. This however meant betting Max's tires would last, which was an unknown, and unfortunately they did not. If the team had gotten some good data on the life expectancy of the hard compound tires earlier in the weekend they probably would have pitted Max, and potentially ahead of Lewis's stop just to cover such a move from Mercedes.
 

CarlosCanizares

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Surrey, BC, Canada
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I really think Red Bull dropped the ball. They should have pitted Max the very next lap. With their record breaking pit stops he may just have come back out in front, and even if he didnt he would have had new tyres and a competitive car to challenge Hamilton in the last 18 laps. Once they didnt pit Max it was just a matter of time before he was passed. I think the team's tactics cost him the race. But 2 fantastic GP in a row

Sent from my SM-A305F using Tapatalk

Hindsight is always 20/20, but I disagree with pitting the very next lap.

Doing so wouldve meant putting Max on mediums (like Lewis) which meant there wouldn't been have a distinct advantage over Merc’s slow corner speed on a track that’s hard to overtake on. There was about 20 laps left with a 20sec gap when Lewis came out. Even with a record-setting pit crew, they probably would’ve still come out after Lewis (which, along with the risk, is really why Horner didn’t call it) because he was reeling Max in a rate of 1-2seconds per lap on the mediums.

With 15 laps to go, there was still a 14-15 sec gap. Max could’ve boxed then so he could put softs on which would’ve given him about 15 laps to negate a 3-5 sec deficit (15sec gap - 18sec pit stop). And softs are about .7-1sec/ lap faster than mediums.

Thankfully, he didn’t because I’m a Lewis guy :D But when he retires, I’m switching to Max!
 
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armedferret

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MD
I think you meant how much faster Hamilton was on the Mediums.

The context of his post (hint: lap count) makes it very clear he was talking about the Hards. And he's 100% correct--Hamilton started eating the HELL out of Max's lead almost immediately. After the initial charge where he Juuuuuuust couldn't get the pass done, he backed off and Max's engineer said over the radio "he'll have seen the best of his tires". He wasn't wrong.

But he also wasn't banking on the pit stop.

And like others, I'm 100% with the mentality they should have brought max in IMMEDIATELY to respond to Merc's stop. not doing so cost them at least a BATTLE for first...if not the top step itself.


And Carlos, as much as I wanna be a Max guy too when Lewis finally calls it a day, I can't discount Lando (whom I could see Mercedes bringing on board to replace Lewis) or Charles. The question is, will Lewis go for topping Michael?
 

CarlosCanizares

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Surrey, BC, Canada
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And Carlos, as much as I wanna be a Max guy too when Lewis finally calls it a day, I can't discount Lando (whom I could see Mercedes bringing on board to replace Lewis) or Charles. The question is, will Lewis go for topping Michael?

Those three are definitely the future of F1!

If Ocon replaces Bottas and Russell goes to a top team, they might even be in the mix.

All I know is the future looks great!
 

Shane_Anigans

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SE MI
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Hindsight is always 20/20, but I disagree with pitting the very next lap.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but this was also a case of Horner not trusting his driver, who despite his youth, does know his way around an F1 car. Max had been on those tires since lap 25, he knew how they were degrading, and he had to know that even with a 20 second gap, Hamilton was going to catch him on fresh tires before the end of the race, and the longer that took, the less he'd be able to do about it. Gambling on Max catching Hamilton after his pit stop may not have paid off, but with both cars on fresh tires Max had the advantage. The race was lost when Horner decided against that, because nothing short of an accident or engine failure would keep Max in the lead. RB's strategy would have worked if LeClerc had been able to keep up with the 2 cars in front of him, but with that gap widening enough for Hamilton to make a free stop, I'm surprised that Christian didn't see it coming.
 

Shane_Anigans

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SE MI
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The question is, will Lewis go for topping Michael?
It's the only thing left for him to achieve in F1, so I definitely think he will. If he wins the title again next season (2019 is pretty much in the bag), I think we'll see his retirement immediately after. If MB are smart, they'll buy Max out of his contract at the end of this season so that when Lewis hangs it up, he can pick up right where Lewis left off.
 

CarlosCanizares

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Surrey, BC, Canada
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Hindsight is always 20/20, but this was also a case of Horner not trusting his driver, who despite his youth, does know his way around an F1 car. Max had been on those tires since lap 25, he knew how they were degrading, and he had to know that even with a 20 second gap, Hamilton was going to catch him on fresh tires before the end of the race, and the longer that took, the less he'd be able to do about it. Gambling on Max catching Hamilton after his pit stop may not have paid off, but with both cars on fresh tires Max had the advantage. The race was lost when Horner decided against that, because nothing short of an accident or engine failure would keep Max in the lead. RB's strategy would have worked if LeClerc had been able to keep up with the 2 cars in front of him, but with that gap widening enough for Hamilton to make a free stop, I'm surprised that Christian didn't see it coming.

I agree that Max should’ve pitted, but NOT the next lap. As I explained, doing so would’ve put Max on the same tires as Hamilton which wouldn’t have been much of an advantage especially with the chance of coming out behind Lewis on this particular track. They should’ve pitted him a few laps later with softs.

If you were Team Principal, would you rather have your car racing Lewis on similarly aged mediums with 19 laps or be the car with the faster tire with 15 laps and probably only a 3 (make it even 5) second deficit?

Horner kept saying he didn’t want to take away track advantage which is why he didn’t pit Max. But track advantage [on shit tires] only really works in Monaco. On a faster tire, you can overtake as many proved that race.
 
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CarlosCanizares

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Surrey, BC, Canada
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If MB are smart, they'll buy Alonso back at the end of this season so that when Lewis hangs it up, he can pick up right where Lewis left off.

Fixed it for you LOL.

Don’t think Dr Marlo will let Max go that easily.
 
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armedferret

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MD
It's the only thing left for him to achieve in F1, so I definitely think he will. If he wins the title again next season (2019 is pretty much in the bag), I think we'll see his retirement immediately after. If MB are smart, they'll buy Max out of his contract at the end of this season so that when Lewis hangs it up, he can pick up right where Lewis left off.

I wouldn't say it's the ONLY thing left to achieve, but it's a massive milestone.

Although TBH, every time someone asks him about the latest record he's broken, he always seems to not even realize it. Usually says something about how he's not focused on tying or breaking records, he just wants to race and win.

So we may see him for a few years yet until he races and doesn't win as much. At least I hope so, cause we all know he's gonna go do the fashion crap full time and Lewis baby I love you so hard as a driver, you're SO unbelievably talented, but FFS STOP DRESSING YOURSELF YOU SUCK AT IT. :D:D:D
 

CarlosCanizares

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95gto

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STL
The context of his post (hint: lap count) makes it very clear he was talking about the Hards.

I wasn't implying he made an actual mistake, I was stating a difference of opinion relative to how I viewed the pace difference seen between Lewis on the Mediums vs the Hards. Perhaps my word choice was poor.

I didn't think the pace difference on the Hards was anything out of the ordinary relative to what we have seen in previous races between RB and Merc. But then again maybe the massive pace difference during the last 20 laps just had me marginalize the pace difference on the Hards.
 

armedferret

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MD
But then again maybe the massive pace difference during the last 20 laps just had me marginalize the pace difference on the Hards.



I think that's the case, because Merc on the F1 website even stated that they needed some SERIOUS driving out of Lewis to make it work at the end, so that he'd be there when Max fell off (rather than another 10 seconds behind still), and he delivered. Not quite as much as Schumacher/Brawn at the same track in 1998, but it's right up there.
 
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