Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020Formula 1

[McLaren]

Ah, Norah & others: Bottas now says eat crow.

 

[Samus]

Steady on Valterri, you didn't actually do anything this race, other than what should have been done after HAM penalty. We'll never know how the fight would've gone without it.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Who got fastest lap?

 

[PaMu1337]

Who got fastest lap?

Bottas

 

[Liquid]

Bottas giving it the big 'un.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Valtteri Bee-ttas

 

[Sum1s2pid]

Frustrating race. Totally worth dragging my corpse out of bed at 4am to watch the race live. Zero points for McLaren (Still 3rd? Too early for math.), but Ricciardo did well, and Leclerc is just dragging that dog around the track. Hard to root for Albon.

 

[mustafur]

T2 really is a stupid corner.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Crofty's bee puns are worse than that Turn 2 bollard layout.

 

[lancia delta hf]

Still, if you want to watch a good race, the MotoGP starts in half an hour.

Thanks, saw this at the right time. They're on their warm up lap. I was gonna watch it tonight as I thought it already started.

 

[PeterJB]

That VTB logo looks like they've erected a shrine to Bottas.

 

[PaMu1337]

I love how the Merc engineer is standing on the lowest platform, but still sticks out the highest

 

[LeGeNd-1]

'Grats to Bottas. Kind lucked out on this one but you gotta be in it to win it. It's just postponing the inevitable though. Great fightback from Ham as usual, would've easily won this without all that kerfuffle. The only person who could beat him is himself. Would be interesting to see if he does reach the penalty points limit and has to sit out a race, though I'm sure he'll just be extra careful in everything from now on

It's nice being able to watch the end of the race at a reasonable hour. Why does the European races not start at this time as well???

I don't generally hate on Lewis. He's a brilliant driver. But it is quite common that when things don't exactly go his way, he's constantly complaining about everything.

Honestly, it's just gut instinct to complain when things don't go your way. It's just his method of dealing with it in the heat of the moment. I bet you 99.99% of the population (including you and me) will complain in the same situation, and even in lesser situations.

Even with the complaining, he still gets his head down and that's what matters in the end.

Lewis responds to penalty:
"Where does it say that in the rulebook?!"
"This is ridiculous"
"It doesn't matter anymore"

Ricciardo responds to penalty:
"Ok, I'll drive faster"

Different words, same action

 

[AshenGraey]

Bottas acting like he had to do s super drive and earn that win ....I won't take it away from him cause he still had to take the car to the finish line but let's be real here. That was basically a gift and considering the situation if he didn't make it stick, he should really consider giving that seat to Russell or perhaps Max to try out.

And Lewis should definitely blame himself for being stupid cause that could have been a fairly straightforward win...also one more violation and he'll get to voluntarily sit out a race

Good job for Perez and Ricciardo. They both drove a really good race!

 

[Frank McGank]

I agree and the bollards are placed in an unsafe manner. See Carlos' wreck. Don't put drivers in that position.

Carlos put himself in that position by not slowing down despite having ample opportunity to do so. He thought he could avoid the time penalty associated with going through the bollards by just going faster through them. As if they weren’t specifically designed to force you to slow down. Blaming the circuit design for Carlos’ crash is like blaming the circuit design when a driver doesn’t know the layout and misses a braking zone. It’s his job to know the rules of rejoining the circuit, and he chose not to follow them. People are just looking for reasons to say Sochi is a bad track (it is, but this ain’t one of the reasons why).

also find it amusing when people say safety is the most important thing, and then in the same breath say we need less safe runoffs in the form of grass and gravel to punish drivers more harshly when they make a mistake. Doublespeak much?

 

[PeterJB]

Under the modern points system (including fastest laps), Hamilton has now exceeded 4,000 career points.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Sorry, it was a bad pun based on the poor rules used at Turn 2.

Oh right sorry.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Bottas is often there to scoop up the points when Hamilton ballses up. That's why Mercedes want to keep him.

Compare that to Albon, who was once again nowhere in comparison to his team mate.

 

[Samus]

I wonder if we will find out whose idea it was to do the starts there, HAM or the team. As HAM said it doesn't really matter now, but it was just such a bizarre mistake to make. Did he just decide to do them there, or did the team tell him to? ..and who else had already done some there, junior formula?

 

[PeterJB]

Bottas is often there to scoop up the points when Hamilton ballses up. That's why Mercedes want to keep him.

Compare that to Albon, who was once again nowhere in comparison to his team mate.

Albon's performances this year have been unacceptable. With Ferrari out of the way he needs to be starting and finishing 4th in each race.

 

[Samus]

Bottas is often there to scoop up the points when Hamilton ballses up. That's why Mercedes want to keep him.

Compare that to Albon, who was once again nowhere in comparison to his team mate.

Yep. Every team would have a HAM & BOT if they could. It's a dream team from their POV.

It sucks for us when he can't challenge HAM most of the time but yeah, from a team POV, you can't argue with it.

 

[PaMu1337]

I wonder if we will find out whose idea it was to do the starts there, HAM or the team. As HAM said it doesn't really matter now, but it was just such a bizarre mistake to make. Did he just decide to do them there, or did the team tell him to? ..and who else had already done some there, junior formula?

Just saw it. Hamilton asked the team if he could do that. Team said it was ok.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

There's no reason for Mercedes to look for another driver at the moment. He's playing the perfect #2 and is there to pick up a 2nd or 3rd when Lewis isn't there. Out of the top 3 (top 2 + Ferrari), they have the best driver combo at the moment.

Unfortunately, Albon isn't anywhere close to Verstappen. Red Bull have to be considering their options. Not sure what's going on there. Besides Ricciardo, it doesn't seem like anybody can work well with that 2nd seat.

 

[Famine]

That Bottas radio message...

 

[PaMu1337]

Mercedes has now won 50% of all races they participated in (110/220)

 

[Samus]

Just saw it. Hamilton asked the team if he could do that. Team said it was ok.

Bit of both then, but more on the team. Another one to add to the Mercedes "We learn from this" pile I guess.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Bottas sounded like a bit of a turkey for even caring about what anonymous instabook users think of him

 

[TenEightyOne]

Bottas sounded like a bit of a turkey for even caring about what anonymous instabook users think of him

I don't know, I thought his original reply (if that's the now-famous post that he's alluding to) was very good. I doubt he'd engage if it was mentally bad for him - he's at the top of a demanding sport and has learnt his way around mind-management by now. He probably gets a kick out of the way this one's played out, and good for him.

 

[evldave333]

This has been probably the best ever Russian Grand Prix.

Not that that is much of an accolade. It's like being awarded "least ugly genital wart".

Get this race off the calendar.

Careful you might get a novichok bottle of water lol

 

[MagpieRacer]

There's no reason for Mercedes to look for another driver at the moment. He's playing the perfect #2 and is there to pick up a 2nd or 3rd when Lewis isn't there. Out of the top 3 (top 2 + Ferrari), they have the best driver combo at the moment.

Unfortunately, Albon isn't anywhere close to Verstappen. Red Bull have to be considering their options. Not sure what's going on there. Besides Ricciardo, it doesn't seem like anybody can work well with that 2nd seat.

Trouble is, I dont think the Red Bull is that good a car. I think Verstappen is an exceptional driver driving a car that very much leans to his driving style. Whether its Albon, Gasly, Kvyat, Perez or Hulkenberg in that 2nd car, they will be distant to Max.

My curveball suggestion this season has been, put a junior straight into the Red Bull. Forego the AlphaTauri which is a completely different car to drive and stick Yuki Tsunoda straight onto the Red Bull. He has a flamboyant aggressive style in F2 and it might just pay off.

Otherwise Red Bull need to either accept their 2nd driver will never be at the level they need or they need to build a more neutral car that can be easier tailored for others styles.