[Muinarc]

 
Yet the inevitable SC appearace negated all that gain. Think perhaps the driving population in F1 is hip to the whole joke by now and conducting itself accordingly?

 
Who knows, I just need more drama like this to feed off of. This is like WWE and the olden times of NASCAR. F1 can be measured in whines per minute (WPM), the higher the WPM the more I love it.

 

[Hutnicks]

   
Who knows, I just need more drama like this to feed off of. This is like WWE and the olden times of NASCAR. F1 can be measured in whines per minute (WPM), the higher the WPM the more I love it.

Or cusses per hour

 

[garryt]

Well,
 
I'm glad Hammy won and it goes to the wire.
Max was deffo driver of the day though. Without doubt a future world champ!

 

[oqvist]

Happy I didnt see it live. Max wanted to stop the race early that nico wouldnt want to go on suggest it was to dangerous was more predictable from his position impressive how quick max found the fast lines. Next year you will see all f1 drivers spend insane amount of time in the simulators.

 

[MuZo2]

It was so long race, SC & red flag made it really boring. But once they let drivers race it was fantastic, spectacular overtaking. Max made it special but also down it was exciting race for Sauber & Manor. Icon had good drive ,wished he could have pushed a bit in later stages to catch Nasar. Vetel semns to be struggling, was moaning whole race about conditions & as usual about Max.

 

[WraithApe]

Frustrating stop-start race but worth watching for Max's phenomenal drive - so late in braking all the time and fearless in such difficult conditions. Had RB not made the gamble to switch to inters which didn't pay off, I'm sure he would've been 2nd on the podium. Couldn't believe he finished 3rd as it was, scything through the field in the last 10 laps!

 

[oqvist]

Yeah all the gambling on intermediate when all forecasts said more rain was strange to see. Okay for the teams that cant score points in other way then fluke on strategy

 

[Hutnicks]

Gotta love the rain. The kid reminds me of Jacky Ickx in the wet, simply unbeatable and on another plane from the rest of the pack. The type of drive we need to see more of.
 
 If for no other reason than he continuously drives Vettel to the brink of a nervous collapse, the kid is worth watching. Here's hoping the trend in new blood continues and we a lot more new ways of working the scenario. I think that a lot of the boredom introduced over the last few years is in fact driver induced in that they hold a set pattern of behaviors sacred on track and simply have stopped looking for options for fear of making an error. In the SAP regulated garages the whole focus seems to have shifted almost entirely to risk management vs the opportunism that ruled in days gone by. Riccardo takes creative license when it comes to making a pass, so I can see why Horner sincerely believes he has the best driver pairing on the grid. Hope Renault gets a few extra ponies out of that beast for next year so we can see some gloves off slogging it out between them and Merc.
 
 Still liking Hams gamesmanship to the very end. "I know everything that went on in the race, I saw it on TV" to Rosberg in the podium room. The guy just never lets up. Really illustrative of how a race can be two vastly different animals to different drivers. The lead having an easy go of it while the pack fights like wolves over the scraps.
 
The SCUD just not getting anywhere at all. This could become their Bowies 1976, the year he went to his grave claiming he had no memory of. I wonder if Seb wakes up in the morning thinking he's going to work at Redbull and it was all just a Scarlett hazed dream? Kimi, I believe must have resigned himself to just getting whatever he can out of the car while planning his retirement.
 
Still liking FI this year more and more. The little team that could. They do an amazing job with what they have while the likes of Sobber and Williams eternally whine over the unfairness of the racing gods.If they could do a better sponsorship deal or some kind of partial buyout they could well be the next RedBull and push the order back a bit on the grid in a more permanent manner.
 
Now a year where Merc RedBull and FI were fighting it out while the Scud, Williams et all became best of the rest would be a season I could easily warm up to.
 
Button, it seems, is bound to go out on a low. Miserable car to finish out a career in. I hope he and Massa are out in a bar all night commiserating. The last two gentlemen drivers should have been able to go out on thoroughbreds not pack mules. Then again things usually end badly in ventures such as these or they would never end.
 
I harp on this a lot but here is what racing can be when the tyre deg nonesense is removed from the equation and you have tyres that can run the entire distance. Vastly different complexion to the picture.

 

[gr8soundz]

  Frustrating stop-start race but worth watching for Max's phenomenal drive - so late in braking all the time and fearless in such difficult conditions. Had RB not made the gamble to switch to inters which didn't pay off, I'm sure he would've been 2nd on the podium. Couldn't believe he finished 3rd as it was, scything through the field in the last 10 laps!

 
Definitely an amazing drive by Max.
 
I still don't get why they gave up 2nd place and pitted him for inters then switched back to full wets. Part of me thinks the team didn't want him between the 2 guys fighting it out for the championship. That way he (nor the team) could be blamed for anything that might have happened up front. Hope I'm wrong but maybe the team secretly agreed with Toto calling Jos but said the opposite publicly.
 
Anyway, their decisions (and Charlie not calling the race after lap 53) made for a very exciting race in the end. Imo, after seeing how Max moved up the field, I think he would have probably won the race had they held position. At least he certainly would have tried to pass Hamilton.
 

 

[oqvist]

Toto called Jos and said Mercedes would pay Max 300 million dollars for staying out of the championship battle ... But no that theory is wild can´t see it happening but I was scratching my head as to why for sure. Drivers felt the balance was so bad they just felt force to try another tire?
 
As for tires it was the wet that created the dynamics not that the tires didn´t worn or anything. If anything that people went and pitted for intermediates did change things a bit rather as if all had just stayed on wets like they where supposed to. 

 

[MuZo2]

   
Anyway, their decisions (and Charlie not calling the race after lap 53) made for a very exciting race in the end. Imo, after seeing how Max moved up the field, I think he would have probably won the race had they held position. At least he certainly would have tried to pass Hamilton.  

 
 Did you see the race? he was on intermediate tyres and rain got worse, he could have been in barriers. And he pulled all those moves because of fresh tyres all other were on old tyres. Conspiracy theories are ridiculous.

 

[oqvist]

   
 Did you see the race? he was on intermediate tyres and rain got worse, he could have been in barriers. And he pulled all those moves because of fresh tyres all other were on old tyres. Conspiracy theories are ridiculous.

 
I think he questioned more the move to inters rather then the move to wets . Crappy strategy did cost a better position for Max looks like red Bull does indead have the best chassi but the Merc is obviously not bad even when they have a hard time using the hp advantage.

 

[gr8soundz]

 
 Did you see the race? he was on intermediate tyres and rain got worse, he could have been in barriers. And he pulled all those moves because of fresh tyres all other were on old tyres. Conspiracy theories are ridiculous.

 
What race are you talking about? NO ONE should have been using inters during an entirely wet race that was red flagged TWICE.
 
He passed Nico on full wets and was less than 5 seconds behind Hamilton. All 3 cars had the same tires because of the red flag session. Then Red Bull pits him for inters but he comes back in like 3 laps later for full wets again. Of course he had fresher tires to pass everyone but had lost too many track positions to catch the Mercedes cars again.
 
Once again another team (other than Ferrari) potential throws away a win because of a poorly timed (or unnecessary) tire change. Had they left Max in 2nd with the same wets he would have been just behind Lewis after the last safety car. I'm a fan of Lewis but no way Max doesn't challenge him if they're that close for 15 laps.
 

 

[Hutnicks]

   
What race are you talking about? NO ONE should have been using inters during an entirely wet race that was red flagged TWICE.
 
He passed Nico on full wets and was less than 5 seconds behind Hamilton. All 3 cars had the same tires because of the red flag session. Then Red Bull pits him for inters but he comes back in like 3 laps later for full wets again. Of course he had fresher tires to pass everyone but had lost too many track positions to catch the Mercedes cars again.
 
Once again another team (other than Ferrari) potential throws away a win because of a poorly timed (or unnecessary) tire change. Had they left Max in 2nd with the same wets he would have been just behind Lewis after the last safety car. I'm a fan of Lewis but no way Max doesn't challenge him if they're that close for 15 laps.
 

To be fair a lot of folks got overly optimistic with the intermediates. It was Ricciardos initial performance on them that started the binge as he was a second and a half faster. A few laps later it was a different story with Max referring to the car as "a boat" and "a guaranteed accident". The real question seems to be why everyone ignored the forecasting which was spot on in this case.

 

[Jabbah]

 
To be fair a lot of folks got overly optimistic with the intermediates. It was Ricciardos initial performance on them that started the binge as he was a second and a half faster. A few laps later it was a different story with Max referring to the car as "a boat" and "a guaranteed accident". The real question seems to be why everyone ignored the forecasting which was spot on in this case.

 
Yes, this. The lap times were at the cross over point and RB were gambling on the rain getting lighter so going for the undercut and ultimately the win. The commentators were surprised though and mentioned that FI amongst others had said the forecast was for rain getting heavier. Forescasting is notoriously difficult there but still. A shame as Max would have been even closer to overtaking Vettel in the championship if they had been safe and stayed in second. Amazing drive to recover to 3rd again though.