Come on Ham, just nurse it home. I want to see those Italian tears
Verstappen continues to be an idiot and Vettel being his own worst enemy.
Good clean driving by Ham and Raikkonen in their fights.
Verstappen is the only guy on the field actively
racing as it should be. Now, for the
incident. I am of the view that Max is in the wrong - Ver clearly knows Bottas is next to him and although he does not deliberately
steer into Bottas, his line is diagonal, but straight. The (Dutch) commenters called this a foul, but Verstappen himself, who knows the rules, states that you can do this in a break zone, as long as it is a straight line.
Technically, he is right. But he was also fully aware that Bottas was there and by doing created a collision situation. This is a situation that can be explained both ways, which is seen in the penalty the Stewards gave to him: 5 seconds.
Max will obviously disagree with this view from his POV and yeah, he drives
straight, so its allowed.
But he also drives diagonally, meaning you will inevitable push someone off the track (In this case, Bottas). And knowing that Bottas is right besides you, this is interpreted as an
incident.
So, the Stewards reacted accordingly. I can think of worse examples where it was the other way around and the Stewards were
petty. This? Not so much. I do like that Verstappen still refused to give away the position, and also his dialogue - utterly comical. For all the wrong reasons, its the kind of stuff you need in F1. Often it works out, sometimes its the most amazing overtake of the season and it gets punished either way for crossing the line, and sometimes it does not work in your favor, as is the case here.
Other then that, an entertaining race. Vettel ffed it up for himself, sucks that Kimi couldn't keep up with his tyres. Ham now holds a comfortable lead and Seb needs a victory and some more to get the tension back flowing.
Biggest downer: Bottas holding off. I know that this is allowed practice and if it gives your teammate the win, go for it. But
this is exactly why
hearable teamorders got called off on the radio. Now they just don't do that on the radio anymore, but just pre-determine this before the race as one of the many scenario's that may occur. I don't know, its clever by the team, but in terms of sportmanship, its not.
Not that Ham or Mercedes care about that. The results count, and (for them) rightfully so. For the viewers, its a bit of a letdown.
That's my take on it though.
Gotta agree with Max here. These bullshit rules are killing racing. Motherfuckers need to just get out of the way of who's coming behind, where's the fun in that? The GOAT Schumacher would absolutely never allow that, he'd throw fools out of the course for having the nerve of trying to pull a fast one on him. Now you can't cowboy shit.
These guys aren't children. Stop handicapping skill.
This was a rather obvious mistake, there have been instances in the past where punishment was much more debateable and those things are really unneeded and unwarranted. Liberty Media wants to make F1 an Entertainment Extraordinaire. That means you will have to relax the rules a little. Hell, Alonso leaves the F1 because of it (Not the pre-dominant reason ofcourse, but it played a part)
So we're just going to advocate running drivers off the road?
Where was the skill exactly?
I advocate for more battles like these. This was one off the mark, but what i absolutely despise in modern F1 is how (most) drivers just give up their position when they are overtaken. Race after race you see this happening. Its boring, its trite. When a Vettel or a Hamilton have to start from behind, i want to see every other driver do his best not to have them gain so many positions, irregardless of motor advantages.
Fight for your place. But more often than not you see these drivers just letting them pass by - Which is a terrible mentality to have.
(In retrospect, that's what i agree with Seb in his post-interview and with Alonso and Verstappen in general - There is nothing to be gained from driving safely and letting everyone pass.)
Just because there are a bunch of drivers that cant seem to go into a corner without annilihating everyone doesnt mean its not possible.
On the other end (And in defence of Verstappen), the guy is also responsible for some of the more memorables overtakes in F1 in recent years. It often works, and sometimes it does not. Today was one of those days.
