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[Tizz]

Yes indeed. Anywhere else and he'd have been past Gasly within a lap or two and from there the whole thing falls apart. It was great using Gasly to dictate Hamilton's pace and allow Vettel and Perez to overcut situationally on this track, but that won't be possible to replicate anywhere else. What would happen is Hamilton and Perez would just advance through the field from their starting positions.

Gasly will never be in play unless he's within a pit window somewhere or there are extraordinary circumstance

You think RB gave up 2 positions for Gasly to keep Hammi back ? That is an interesting thought... Agreed, it will not happen anywhere else but maybe in Hungary

I don't think they necessarily intended to definitely let Gasly lose places, but definitely to keep Hamilton behind at all costs and i definitely think Gasly was never going to pit before Hamilton in accordance with a plan. Although for the two teams as a whole, to sacrifice Gasly to two positions in order to allow the WCC fighting RBR car to jump three positions does make sense given the bigger picture. I would be surprised if Horner and Tost hadn't spoken about this as a possible scenario between Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Not saying they did do it, but it has the maximum positive effect on both championships at once for RBR and would be the smart thing to do, and all is fair. You must capitalise when your opponent is weak.

Hungary did spring to mind as the other place, but I think the Mercedes would be able to get past the AT on the main straight without too much bother.

I didn't mean like accidentally but rather see to it that Vettel and Perez would succeed with the overcut. You're probably right. Haha, those sneeky little #%&&% !

[El Scorchio]

You think RB gave up 2 positions for Gasly to keep Hammi back ? That is an interesting thought... Agreed, it will not happen anywhere else but maybe in Hungary

I don't think they necessarily intended to definitely let Gasly lose places, but definitely to keep Hamilton behind at all costs and i definitely think Gasly was never going to pit before Hamilton in accordance with a plan. Although for the two teams as a whole, to sacrifice Gasly to two positions in order to allow the WCC fighting RBR car to jump three positions does make sense given the bigger picture. I would be surprised if Horner and Tost hadn't spoken about this as a possible scenario between Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Not saying they did do it, but it has the maximum positive effect on both championships at once for RBR and would be the smart thing to do, and all is fair. You must capitalise when your opponent is weak.

Hungary did spring to mind as the other place, but I think the Mercedes would be able to get past the AT on the main straight without too much bother.

I didn't mean like accidentally but rather see to it that Vettel and Perez would succeed with the overcut. You're probably right. Haha, those sneeky little #%&&% !

Ah, so purposely let Vettel and Perez past both Gasly and Hamilton? It's entirely possible it was the goal with Perez- hence him staying out longer but not necessarily Vettel. Vettel just nailed it at the right moment, and good on him. Nice to see him have a good race.
Whether by co-incidence or design, RBR did a great job strategy wise with both cars.

[Sieper]

Well, Gasly’s post race interview does indeed point to that being a strategy. He was lightly miffed. Imho.

But was there any other choice? He had the much faster Hamilton behind, the only way to keep that position was to wait for the Hamilton undercut and then Gaurd/defend from it the next lap (outlap on cold hards). As they did.

That was also the reason likely Merc made the undercut. To safeguard Perez, vettel etc undercutting him.

[dans79]

I don’t think so. Even if RBR would be able guide AT it would have been very hard to pull off.

RBR would never do that even if they wanted to, because if they got caught, that's a massive fine/ exclusion from the championship territory.

[Sieper]

Really? I see customer teams helping, not hurting their main teams incredibly often. Is that regulated? Didn’t even know.

But in this case the needed strategy coincided. Imho.

[dans79]

Really? I see customer teams helping, not hurting their main teams incredibly often. Is that regulated? Didn’t even know.

I'd have to dig into the sporting regulations, but I'm pretty sure that would fall under one of the unsportsmanlike rules.

It's happens all the time, but it's more of an unmentioned agreement.

However, if there was a back and forth discussion written or verbal about this is how team A & B are going to hinder team C on a given weekend, that would be totally different.

[Sieper]

I see. Thanks Dans.

[Tizz]

Well, Gasly’s post race interview does indeed point to that being a strategy. He was lightly miffed. Imho.

But was there any other choice? He had the much faster Hamilton behind, the only way to keep that position was to wait for the overcut. As they did.

That was also the reason likely Merc made the undercut. To safeguard Perez, vettel etc undercutting him.

James Vowles said that the undercut was marginal and their only way to change something. They knew that Perez and Vettel were going long.

[Sieper]

Yes, but if they could make the undercut work hamilton could quickly make the overcut impossible. It was very tight. Inlap on warm, but old, softs, versus outlap on cold, brand new hards. A question of meters.

[El Scorchio]

Yes, but if they could make the undercut work hamilton could quickly make the overcut impossible. It was very tight. Inlap on warm, but old, softs, versus outlap on cold, brand new hards. A question of meters.

Yup, in that video Tizz is referring to (worth a watch this time even if you don't like Merc as it goes into great detail about the performance at Monaco) he explains exactly why they did what they did when they did it, (they were worried the tyres would go off and Hamilton would fall too far behind Gasly for the undercut to work, acknowledging that they knew Gasly wouldn't pit before Hamilton no matter what) but due to track temp differences from Thursday which is why there was the drop in performance and not being able to get the hards to work quick enough, Hamilton's outlap was two tenths slower than it needed to be. That was the whole key to the race. Had he got past at that point then neither Vettel or Perez may have been able to overcut him later. That was all dictated by Gasly's slow pace on his new tyres.

[Sieper]

I dont dislike mercedes, nor Hamilton. I am a bit more for the RBR style, bit less corporate, and with (slightly) less money, not wanting that strangle hold (but that might be a matter of perspective) and Ofcourse obviously I am a fan of Max. But I am also a fan of Hamilton’s driving. And sometimes of his talks too.

The race was “boring” but tactically there was a lot going on of which I was, or felt, acutely aware.

The Merc videos are usually too coloured by window dressing. Mostly in small ways. But still.

[El Scorchio]

I dont dislike mercedes, nor Hamilton. I am a bit more for the RBR style, bit less corporate, and with (slightly) less money, not wanting that strangle hold (but that might be a matter of perspective) and Ofcourse obviously I am a fan of Max. But I am also a fan of Hamilton’s driving. And sometimes of his talks too.

The race was “boring” but tactically there was a lot going on of which I was, or felt, acutely aware.

The Merc videos are usually too coloured by window dressing. Mostly in small ways. But still.

Sorry -should clarify that. I didn't mean you specifically as an individual, just you as in as in 'if one doesn't like Mercedes.'

[PhillipM]

I dont dislike mercedes, nor Hamilton. I am a bit more for the RBR style, bit less corporate, and with (slightly) less money, not wanting that strangle hold (but that might be a matter of perspective)

That's a little amusing for a corperate advertising firm that blew into the sport on a wave of cash and pays the bills for *two* teams to give them an advantage

[godlameroso]

Please don't start, when you point the finger at someone, you point 3 back to yourself.

[Sieper]

I dont dislike mercedes, nor Hamilton. I am a bit more for the RBR style, bit less corporate, and with (slightly) less money, not wanting that strangle hold (but that might be a matter of perspective)

That's a little amusing for a corperate advertising firm that blew into the sport on a wave of cash and pays the bills for *two* teams to give them an advantage

Are you trying to miss the point on purpose? RBR is aiming to advertise a dynamic, young, daring, free from boundaries image. Mercedes is traditional corporate. You can even see it in pitbox, the way they behave, the way they dress etc.