RaceFans Live: Formula 1

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4,296 comments on “RaceFans Live: Formula 1”

    1. conversely – Perez managed to ALMOST get there with an inferior strategy (for their cars) here.

      But Leclerc surely deserved it this year. Perez had a really solid year, but surely not on the same level as Charles (it would have been because of RB being the better car/team)

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    2. Absolutely awful isn’t it. I wonder what the pundits will talk about. I dread the thought. Hopefully next year’s better but not holding out much hope with these tanks and pirelli tyres. Merry Christmas to you too.

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    1. Racecraft is generally abysmal, and it’s all allowed by the FIA. How is it acceptable to force drivers off the track because you’re going down the inside? A whole generation of drivers have developed these tactics because they’ve been allowed to, it’s shocking

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    1. I know that some lights can take a long time to reach the right temperature and luminosity (we had some that needed at least an hour where I worked) but this early seems odd.
      Perhaps they are just showing off that they do not care about power bills etc ;)

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        1. Let’s not forget when Toto told Hamilton to stay behind Nico and Toto told Nico the race was off… then Hamilton nearly drove Nico off the track to take the lead and the win.

          Let’s not forget that if we’re going to just sit here and play judgypants.

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          1. How come everybody else in the race gives space, but Hamilton doesn’t have to? Is it because he’s British? Because he’s something else? Because he’s your idol?

            Your bias is gross.

          3. @icarby A driver should expect that other drivers follow the rules. Lewis drove into Max. That was a breach of the rules. Lewis drove into Max. That was a breach of the rules. Max should have a belief that Lewis will follow the rules just like Lewis should have a belief that Max will follow the rules.

            You are horribly biased and don’t even bother caring that you are horribly biased. There is no use talking with you.

          2. @icarby okay how about this. Lewis and Max are on the freeway. Max is alongside and Lewis changes lanes and hits him. You are blaming Max for being there when it is 100% Lewis’ fault for turning into him.

        1. I care for the rules & racing properly. I also have a memory. Toto is very good about letting Merc “race” but that’s exclusive to when Lewis is already ahead or with a better strategy.

          The one time I can recall Toto said “chill, stay in line,” was when Lewis passed Nico while Nico had been told they were holding station.

          These are facts, not emotions like you seem to be basing your opinion on.

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      3. It’s not his responsibility to avoid a collision. His responsibility is to stay on the track, if Hamilton decides to leave no room it’s Hamilton’s fault. Verstappen had to commit to the overtake, once he’s there the collision is in the hands of Hamilton

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          1. And the overtake can’t be done cleanly because…Hamilton left no space. See how Hamilton is at fault here? Verstappen doesn’t control what Hamilton does, he occupied space that was present. He did nothing to cause a collision

          2. Did Hamilton crash into anyone? No , did Max ? Yes, why he tried to pass when there was no room. If you want to argue if any room was left or was he entitled to sure go ahead, doesn’t mean he should knowingly crash into another car

          4. iCarbs it is Hamilton’s responsibility to leave space. These are the rules. There is no rule allowing a driver to push another driver off the track the way Lewis used to do.

            According to the actual rules, Lewis was required to leave space, which he did not do. He turned into Max. According to the rules, Lewis was 100% at fault.

          6. as a matter of fact, Hamilton turned into Max and therefore Hamilton did crash into someone. Max maintained his position as best as he could, and Hamilton drove into him.

            Hamilton caused this crash

          7. Ok… then if you see it that way because you believe he was entitled to more space fair enough, but if you can see there is no space should you keep going knowing you’ll likely crash , Hamilton didn’t turn into Max he actually drove off to the left to avoid him

          8. He absolutely did not drive to the left to avoid him. He went left after the collision which he caused by turning into Max.

            Also, had Max simply let off at that place, Hamilton still could have driven into him at the angle of attack. Max would have had to drive OFF OF THE TRACK to not be hit by Lewis. This is why it is so clearly Hamilton’s fault.

          10. @gufdamm because it is literally the rules. #1 you can’t drive someone off the track anymore like Lewis used to do. #2 You must leave space.

            4 times now we have seen an overtake in the same place and the leading car left space. Hamilton is the only driver who can’t manage to follow the rules in that part of the track.

          12. Not hardly. Did you miss the Lewis vs. Nico years? It was Hamilton’s only way to win was to drive others off the track. Now that Max started doing it, they cried foul and had the rules changed.

            And that doesn’t even matter. This specific instance is extremely clear that Hamilton caused the incident.

  173. The stewards must have considered the Senna s as one corner so when Max dived down the outside he was not entitled to any space. Its the only semi logical way Verstappen gets a penalty from what was a racing incident or slightly Hamilton’s fault.

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        1. He was ahead, then Hamilton pulled a couple feet. Max was already there. Already there. There were 3 other passes in the same place where the driver gave space and Lewis did not.

          Again, CHECK. Max was alongside Lewis and Lewis turned into him.

          The bias is stupid here.

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      1. Uh huh. Which credentials do they have again? From what I know, there’s no F1-specific qualification. Drivers are not good judges, they spent their racing life attempting to toe the line of regulations. The fact is that the rules state one thing and the stewards judge the opposite way; if they’re trained, the training is beyond inadequate

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  197. What in the heck is going on with these drivers??? Ricciardo driving into KMag who (probably knowingly) backed into him, then Hamilton just does a stupid while Maxi is driving well and can’t get half a lap without Lando and LeClerc!?

    And Latifi hasn’t done anything wrong yet!!

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          1. Totally agree. I was excited for Merc through the first stint but had a bad feeling when they pitted fairly early on the medium. Thought they were going to 2 stop but when I realised it was the hard it confirmed that Merc were going conservative. I think could have at least been a lot closer with both cars.

          1. It would give opportunity/chance, that’s the point. That’s what it did before. I don’t buy into parking on track is not part of strategy let alone outright cheating but it s really hard to prove. As u may know

  334. I think I’ve said it too many times. I don’t think I support any driver over another – but I’m sick of seeing Danny Ric being nowhere week after week. It’s like he’s given up. I’d love to see him get a result of some kind before season end.

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    1. Embarrassing that he’s still acting the clown. You have leave to do that if you’re delivering on track, I can’t remember the last time he put in a decent performance. A song and dance is made about his Monza win but it’s a very luck break in an otherwise abysmal period of his career

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      1. He’s literally last – behind Latifi etc and by more than 10 secs. I just wondered what happened? There was a time where we thought he would at least be a WDC contender. Even in Lewis or Michael Schumacher or Kimi’s darkest periods – they weren’t trundling about in last.

        I don’t think he was ever going to be the greatest ever, but every weekend he si nowhere. And I don’t know why.

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  373. Button keeps saying Palou is doing well because he knows the circuit well thanks to all the Indycar races he’s done there. Palou has never driven here ever. He’s just really good, like many Indycar drivers – he’s even beaten Herta! (though he did have a better car).

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    1. Nah, not today. Not long till sunset, they would run out of daylight shortly after the 3 hours window ends.
      Scheduling a race that close to sunset is the issue, and I thought we had learned that lesson years ago.

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  386. The biggest problem here is of course that the tractor shouldn’t have been sent on track in these conditions unless it was certain that there weren’t any drivers remaining to pass the incident location (especially if the session was to be red flagged anyway). But what Gasly did seems utterly stupid as well. In such conditions, it is appallingly easy to lose control/aquaplane at even relatively low speeds, which is the reason we shouldn’t be seeing recovery vehicles on track, so how does Gasly (or any driver doing the same) justify pushing to catch up with rest of the pack?

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  388. In these sorts of conditions you can lose it even at low speed (which is still pretty rapid). It should always be the case that’s there’s no heavy equipment (or marshals) on track on such occasions, let alone after what happened to Jules – on this very track!

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    1. It’s clearly visible on the left side of the track just off the racing line following his pit stop. If you have access to onboard cameras you can view this. The FIA is a joke. Red flagging a race during full wet conditions and putting recovery equipment on track during such conditions. what a shambles.

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  415. I just tuned in, interesting talk with Isola on the International feed.
    I wonder if the tyres as a product got better or if they just work better. Guess we will never know due to the new format.

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    2. I’m normally of this opinion – but seeing the safety car go through turn 3, I think this is one of those occasions I think it was the right call. It was like running through a kids paddling pool. There’d be no skill involved – just aquaplaning and a big pile of cars on top each other.

      I think the issue is with no sunlight (I doubt these lamps do much to make water evaporate) it might be a while.

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