Nathanael F1 wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 03:38
I was shocked that it took so many laps for Bottas to close up to Max and that he ultimately couldn't get past. Is Bottas that bad, or is Max that good, or both?
Overtaking is tough, it looks like you need more than a second pace advantage of several uninterrupted laps to set it up. Plenty of drivers had their races ruined after getting stuck behind much slower cars. 'Monaco without the walls'.
Nathanael F1 wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 03:38
Also, what happened to Kimi Raikkonen? I thought 1/4 of the race through he was already up to ~13th and not out of sync on pit stops. I thought he might have a chance to get some points. Did he spin or have a bad pit stop? TV feed barely showed the Alfa Romeos all race.
Looks like the first half of his last stint just wasn't enough. What he lost to the cars around him then, he couldn't make up in the last half.
Hoffman900 wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 03:42
Remember, Bottas was told he had to run 1:18.5s to catch him quicker than he actually did, and he did run those times. I don't have the lap times in front if me, but a quick look shows Valteri was overall faster than that. Someone should take the average from that point (radio transmission) to the end and that will tell you. If Valteri was faster than that, he exceeded expectations and it was the strategists who got it wrong.
He did, indeed, do 1:18.5s, except when he caught traffic laps 58-60. Verstappen lost 3/10ths a lap passing them, Bottas lost a second a lap passing them. Also worth noting that Verstappen went from cruising at 1:20.0s to comfortably into the 1:19s when Bottas started catching him. I think Mercedes expected that though, as their prediction would have been spot on but for the time lost in traffic.
I suspect the same thing happened the first time Bottas closed up. He got there just as the pair of them hit the Latifi/Norris/Ocon/Grosjean train and clearing that took four laps, at which point Bottas pitted.
Sieper wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 15:28
Lecler did get a great start from the right side of the grid.
It's looks great because everyone in front of him had no traction. If you compare him to Vettel, Leclerc is only holding position. If you look at the run into the first corner (and out of it), it's Hamilton who makes the best start (by quite a distance). It probably doesn't look like that because a) Bottas was too busy trying to work out what the start light looked like and, by the time Vettel is having his wiggle, Hamilton is
so far ahead he's almost out of shot.