2017 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand PrixFormula 1 

If Mercedes continues to be this far off the pace for the rest of the season, Hamilton is toast.

Maybe Mercedes have found the limits of their package, race pace wise. It might also be that their power unit actually has a lower total power output potential than their rivals, and they've reached it. It could also be Mercedes and Hamilton talking BS in an attempt to make the championship seem more open than it might really be.
 
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I don't seee how Stroll could have ever seen Vettel coming. Vettel saw Stroll the whole time.

Mercedes are lucky Ferrari had such bad luck/circumstances the last 2 races.
 
I don't seee how Stroll could have ever seen Vettel coming. Vettel saw Stroll the whole time.
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Looking at it from all angles, it's very difficult to pin the post-race crash on either driver. Vettel was on the right moving left and Stroll on the left moving right. Both drivers were on the marbles, picking up rubber for the post-race weigh-in and neither accounted for the movements of the other...

... but...

... all drivers know that after the race they drive over the marbles to pick up rubber. All drivers know this means erratic movements. All drivers know where the cars' blind spots are. Vettel hung back as Stroll turned in left to turn 5 and put himself in a position where Stroll perhaps couldn't see him clearly other than to know he was back there somewhere, then chose to pass him (perhaps thinking Stroll had slowed to let him). Unfortunately he chose the exact moment to take a racing line through the corner and squeeze left that Stroll decided to move off the racing line and go to the marbles on the right.

Stroll's still a rookie, but he's probably been in F1 long enough now not to behave in such an inexperienced manner. Nevertheless, you'd expect a four-time world champion with a decade of experience not to make the same kind of lapse of concentration - and as the following car it is kind of up to him a little more to make sure he can be seen in situations like that (and it's not exactly the first time this season he's lost track of his position relative to another car under non-racing conditions). But both can feel a little aggrieved by the other.

Maybe it's time for the FIA to introduce a fixed position cool-down lap with no overtaking. After all, there are usually excited marshals on the track waving all the flags...


At least the F1 deities ignored Max for a race though.
 
Speed difference between Vettel and Stroll is big so even if he looked into his right mirror before entering the corner Vettel is way back. There is another car just behind Stroll and they are in left turn. I learned to look where I want to go so I assume Stroll was looking left making it almost impossible to see Vettel. Maybe Stroll just wanted to let the guy behind him pass and then *poof* there's Vettel.

Oh and number 1 lesson on track: the fast watch out for the slow!
 
Lol @ always expecting Vettel to leave room even when he's not actually squeezing anyone off track, all because someone else turns into him, or doesn't break because they're trying to block kimi from taking 2nd position, or because they can't be bothered to use their mirror. Sounds like Stroll knew he was at blame too.
 
Oddly happy to hear Grosjean/Haas know what's wrong, and just need to figure out how to fix it. Hopefully Japan will be good to them as they expect.

Glad I didn't stay-up 'till 3am just to see Kimi's best shot at a win blow-up with a turbo.
 
Looking at it from all angles, it's very difficult to pin the post-race crash on either driver. Vettel was on the right moving left and Stroll on the left moving right. Both drivers were on the marbles, picking up rubber for the post-race weigh-in and neither accounted for the movements of the other...

Mate. It was a left handed corner. It will always look like Seb turns into Stroll from Seb's angle. However, I think it was pretty clear from the back angle that Seb actually kept in his line and gave Stroll a decent amount of space, whereas Stroll was obviously headed to the right.
 
Speed difference between Vettel and Stroll is big so even if he looked into his right mirror before entering the corner Vettel is way back. There is another car just behind Stroll and they are in left turn. I learned to look where I want to go so I assume Stroll was looking left making it almost impossible to see Vettel. Maybe Stroll just wanted to let the guy behind him pass and then *poof* there's Vettel.

Oh and number 1 lesson on track: the fast watch out for the slow!

Peripheral vision and awareness is very important in racing, especially in F1. Yes his main focus would have been on where he's going, in fact probably quite far up the track from where he was (seriously about as far as he can physically see), but he should at the same time have a good awareness of what's in his mirrors and what's around him, as well as relative speeds. He should be estimating where cars have moved to when they go out of sight, all at racing speeds, so should be easy for him to do coasting back to the pits if he was paying attention.
 
Mate. It was a left handed corner. It will always look like Seb turns into Stroll from Seb's angle.

The FIA found that that was exactly what happened when they examined the videos, the telemetry and spoke to the drivers. Stroll was moving out to the rubber and Vettel was turning in past him. It was entirely avoidable but the balance of blame (imo) lies in the faster, more experienced driver coming from behind at too great a speed.
 
The FIA found that that was exactly what happened when they examined the videos, the telemetry and spoke to the drivers. Stroll was moving out to the rubber and Vettel was turning in past him. It was entirely avoidable but the balance of blame (imo) lies in the faster, more experienced driver coming from behind at too great a speed.

I disagree with you mate. Experience has nothing to do with this incident, as nobody would predict that a "Racing driver" is not aware that you are behind him in a relatively slow speed cool down lap.
 
They should abolish this stupid collecting marbles thing, when the cars come back weigh the car without wheels

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You know... why not?

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So, spend the day out with the family and I can only watch the live commentary as it unfolds.

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Can Vettel go a single weekend without chopping a rookie's nose off? Granted, Stroll was moving right, but Vettel had absolutely no reason to aim for that apex before fully clearing the other car.

A very costly mistake after a brilliant recovery.
 
Not sure why they allow drivers to sit on cars for rides. Seems incredibly dangerous and is a bad example to set for those watching.
 
Not sure why they allow drivers to sit on cars for rides. Seems incredibly dangerous and is a bad example to set for those watching.

It was especially dumb because the medical car was right there.
 
The reason he did it was because the fans love it. I for one was a lot happier that he climbed on the Sauber and not in the Safety Car. It's and iconic image seeing one driver riding on another car. Think Senna/Mansell. Yeah it's dangerous, but it's another of those things they'll allow until someone gets hurt.
 
I think Mercedes is already regretting giving Bottas another year.

How the hell is he so freaking slow? 40 seconds behind his teammate? Bottas is really doing himself no favors in the second half of the season.

Hamilton needs him for the last races. Ferrari looking strong, and Redbull look like it caught up with them (Mercedes), at the minimum.
 
Not sure why they allow drivers to sit on cars for rides. Seems incredibly dangerous and is a bad example to set for those watching.

As far as I'm aware they don't...but it's probably just a $10K slap on the wrist or something silly. It's not out and out "legal" as far as the rules are concerned. Won't be heavily penalized until someone is grievously injured doing it. Personally I like seeing it, so, meh. :D
 
It's kinda sad to see Malaysia go. It's given us a lot of unforgettable races, and generally good action. It's certainly better at that than any of the other Asian races. It was slowly becoming a classic.
 
It's kinda sad to see Malaysia go. It's given us a lot of unforgettable races, and generally good action. It's certainly better at that than any of the other Asian races. It was slowly becoming a classic.

Probably one of the very few Tilkedromes that actually turned out alright.
 
Few random thoughts:
- Back to back 7th place finishes for Vandoorne. That's promising.
- Wow. Two weekends in a row where Ferrari had the red carpet rolled out for them to erase the gap with Mercedes. It's stunning how the end result was nothing short of disaster both times.
- Quite interesting to see how Red Bull will affect the rest of the season. Worst case for Mercedes is if they slot in ahead of them but not ahead of Ferrari. Otherwise, it's not going to help Ferrari if Red Bull is the best of the class since Ferrari won't be scoring max points.
- The crash with Stroll and Vettel was... weird. Stroll should've been paying more attention and Vettel should've given himself a lot more room when passing. It could've been both were exhausted after a long race and simply were too lax with their actions on the cool down.
- Well, Jolyon Palmer was back to being what cost him his seat.
- I don't recall exactly but I think the Force Indias found a way to indirectly hurt each other at the start.
 
Probably one of the very few Tilkedromes that actually turned out alright.
Malaysia was the first of the Bernie expansion tracks, if I'm remembering correctly, so I guess Tilke still hadn't perfected the formula of removing all the excitement from the design yet.

And as far as drivers riding on other cars goes... after hearing some of the stories about the way track marshals drive, I think I'd rather take my chances with hanging off someone's airbox too, given the choice.
 
Sky F1 have got on board footage from Stroll’s car from the post race crash which apparently the FIA didn’t see before.
 

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