AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly has won the Italian Grand Prix, fending off a charging Carlos Sainz in the final few laps. After the order was reversed in two safety car periods, Gasly held on and underlined an already impressive season with his first win.
To be fair to Bottas, going through traffic is his weak point but he was trying to pass cars with little wing and great straight line speed which isn't easy, and it's been said he was carrying damage. If he was loitering too much Verstappen would have had him, but HE couldn't pass either.
Hamilton did scythe through a number of cars but they were backmarkers. He only had to do one Renault and one Racing Point in terms of cars of note.
A "bad day" for Hamilton and Bottas only nets +3 points, that's pretty soul-destroying no matter what excuses you make.
Did anyone else feel like Sainz knew this was his only chance to win as next year's Ferrari is going to be an absolute dog?
Very true! Just like his last stinker in Germany last year, where he still managed to come away with a bigger lead in the championship! Another difference between him and Bottas- Hamilton almost always capitalises on his rivals off days. Bottas doesn't tend to. To be fair Hamilton has very few off days, but all the more important to be right there. Bottas didn't really have any bad luck today, in fact all the good luck- both his championship rivals very much compromised, but a very bad race, and he missed an open goal by only finishing 5th.
I agree for a driver of Lewis' experience to miss two signs designed to ensure the safety of marshalls etc. shows that the signs were placed poorly. Over on the left of a tight right hand corner when a driver is going to be looking at the apex. There should have been a radio message at least, there were 12 seconds between the pit lane closed decision and Hamilton entering the pits.
Same infringement for HAM in Austria too. Marker boards over on the far left in a right-hand corner; given you lean your neck in the same direction of the bend too, I wonder how much he could really see past the halo
I don't understand why it's not available as information in the cockpit, I thought they had a system for displaying the flags and when there's a SC/VSC to the driver via the steering wheel? I mean, it's 2020 for crying out loud. Formula 1 looked very stupid today in my opinion.
Agreed; should be flashing away on the steering display. I wonder whether this has even been considered; I know they get the yellow/red flags & safety cars on the steering wheel
Last edited by 214270 on 06 Sep 2020, 21:42, edited 1 time in total.
Talking of the halo. Would Leclerc have hit some tires with his helmet if the halo had been missing?
That was my instantaneous thought as well. I didn’t bring it up due to the fact it will probably lead to a row.
Why? The halo is long accepted. It is much safer. I was surprised he walked away so easily. It must have been real high g force impact? One small mistake/hard toedragen car and you can go full speed into the tires. Brrr.
Is there a pit lane closed flag which marshals could display half a lap previous?
Not that I know off, I also think it was not necessary, why didn't they wait until the pack was bunched up behind the SC after all of the stops? Or just push the car back into the marshall post that Mag had stopped by and left it until after the race? The FIA trackside operation has suffered since we lost Charlie, there has been a lot of very bizarre decisions in the last 18 months. When was the last time we say a VSC?
I'm not enamored with Masi. I listened to his Beyond the Grid episode and he seemed to take more pride in being told by someone the Austrian GP was a good spectacle than it was a well run and incident/controversy free one. This for me is very worrying. Not his job to be concerned with the spectacle or making races more 'exciting'. I imagine he will give himself a pat on the back for stirring the pot and getting an unusual result today as well.
Last edited by El Scorchio on 06 Sep 2020, 21:51, edited 1 time in total.
I agree for a driver of Lewis' experience to miss two signs designed to ensure the safety of marshalls etc. shows that the signs were placed poorly. Over on the left of a tight right hand corner when a driver is going to be looking at the apex. There should have been a radio message at least, there were 12 seconds between the pit lane closed decision and Hamilton entering the pits.
Same infringement for HAM in Austria too. Marker boards over on the far left in a right-hand corner; given you lean your neck in the same direction of the bend too, I wonder how much he could really see past the halo
Well if nothing else, at least no-one can complain that the sport is bending the rules or making exceptions for Hamilton just because of who he is. When he's broken rules this season he's been bang to rights.
Never been a fan of wacky races, just feels too artificial. Is there a record for the maximum number of penalties handed out in a single race? or in a single season? We must be on the way to breaking one of those two records. Anyway, good drive from Gasly I do wonder if Red Bull is thinking about swapping him back to the main team, Albon really isn't performing at the moment. A pretty disappointing drive for Bottas, seemed to be blaming the lack of engine modes for not being able to race, but that didn't seem to stop Hamilton? I remember a few years ago how a rule change around driver coaching really hurt Rosberg's performance, I do wonder if this will have a similar impact.
EDIT: Also, I do hope the FIA fully investigate today's stupidity with the pitlane closure and make sure it doesn't happen again, there needs to be a much clearer system, even if just from a safety point of view.
2 bright flashing lights aren't enough warning?
You can always tell a front-runner fan by the way they whine...
I am not asking the obvious. The car had just stranded and it wasn't an accident zone like turn 1. Was there a need to immediately close the pit lane and push the car in?
The obvious for Michael Masi was that the car was going to be pushed through pit entry. So that's why they closed it immediately.
I have no problem with that, but why wasn't the light at the beginning of pit Lane on.
It's ridiculous considering the amount of money involved in F1 that it seems like we're still stuck in the late 60s with people manually flipping switches on the lights after being told to do so on a radio.
Everything with the FIA is a committee via a game of telephone.
I absolutely agree with you on that. One would expect much better considering the overall sophistication in F1.
Nobody noticed lap 19, magnusen caused safety car in strange way, just after Leclerc Pit for hards. Then Leclerc took strategic position among first cars after safety car restart. Sounds a bit dodgy, Mgnuaen broke something without evidence
And this after the restart after Lewis and Gio took their penalty, apart from Raikonnen falling like a stone and Lewis blasting through the field, no one else overtook anyone
Lap 31 https://serving.photos.photobox.com/174 ... c991b1.jpg
Thanks. That was pretty much the way it appeared watching. The SC and Red Flag masked the almost total lack of overtaking. I’m surprised only Bottas seemed to mention it.
Magnussen has to be an ass even when there's no profit for him, just let it roll into the pitlane.
FIA should consider a rule that says, "limp, non dangerous, cars should make their way to the pits".
The FIA seems eager to bring Masi is a lot more "enthusiastic" about SCs than Whiting ever was, i don't think that's a good thing.
Sinalization wasn't good enough.
About Bottas, Mercedes might have chosen an engine mapping/cooling package that only works on clear air, he had a lots of overheating, still terrible performance.
Leclerc slipped on his own saliva when the glimpse of a solid result appeared in his eyes.
It was good to see Kimi in front if for a little while.
Sainz was great.
But so was Gasly and under bigger pressure.
And this after the restart after Lewis and Gio took their penalty, apart from Raikonnen falling like a stone and Lewis blasting through the field, no one else overtook anyone
Lap 31 https://serving.photos.photobox.com/174 ... c991b1.jpg
Bottas mentioned it in the team radio. It was mostly waved away because he was salty, but there is some merit to it.
The thing is; the ban has done nothing at all to change the status quo or bring anyone closer to anyone. All it did was remove the ability for drivers to set up overtakes.
Nobody noticed lap 19, magnusen caused safety car in strange way, just after Leclerc Pit for hards. Then Leclerc took strategic position among first cars after safety car restart. Sounds a bit dodgy, Mgnuaen broke something without evidence
Nobody noticed lap 19, magnusen caused safety car in strange way, just after Leclerc Pit for hards. Then Leclerc took strategic position among first cars after safety car restart. Sounds a bit dodgy, Mgnuaen broke something without evidence
Oh here we go....
Agree. I can’t see anything there to think of foul play at all. Just coincidence.
Nobody noticed lap 19, magnusen caused safety car in strange way, just after Leclerc Pit for hards. Then Leclerc took strategic position among first cars after safety car restart. Sounds a bit dodgy, Mgnuaen broke something without evidence
Yes, Ferrari are a team full of heavy rule breakers who were desperate for a few points and, with all the political power they have, made Magnussen cause a Safety Car. On top of that, they had the racing director fulfill their wish of SC as well. They also arranged Hamilton to jump on his Scooter and drive to the racing director in order to make it look a bit more dramatic for the sake of the show.
The FIA trackside operation has suffered since we lost Charlie, there has been a lot of very bizarre decisions in the last 18 months. When was the last time we say a VSC?
