[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by mayankk

That was amateurish from both of them. Though I think it's more Nicos fault, I'm inclined to think it's going to classified as a racing incident.

Sorry, I disagree. I think H is becoming the new Hunt the Shunt (James Humt has that nickname). Totally irresponsible. Going off the track on the grass, and that too to overtake your own teammate. I think Niki Lauda also suggested that it was more of H's fault. Nico had every right to defend his position.

It was a great race by Max V. Seems that Kimi's tyres were wearing out.

[ajmat]

I used to admire Lewis but lately he has become too full of himself and complacent. Nico just does not seem to be a pleasant person. Folks like Vettel, Ricardo have a very affable personality.

Rosberg deserves a chance to win the world championship, but I hope the other contenders make him work for it!

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Sorry, I disagree. I think H is becoming the new Hunt the Shunt (James Humt has that nickname). Totally irresponsible. Going off the track on the grass, and that too to overtake your own teammate. I think Niki Lauda also suggested that it was more of H's fault. Nico had every right to defend his position.

It was a great race by Max V. Seems that Kimi's tyres were wearing out.

Sorry, but the stewards disagree.

Also, he's an F1 driver. He wouldnt be where he was if he thought he could go on the grass to overtake. Like I said, a racing incident.
He's still got a long way to go before he becomes the shunt.
http://www.supersport.com/motorsport...ape_punishment

[reignofchaos]

I'd love to see Nico and Hammy take out each other in the next few races as well. Makes for such spectacularly competitive races.

Loved watching every minute of yesterday's race. Felt bad for Kimi that he didn't win but still, now he's second in the championship thanks to consistent performances.

As for Max - this guy is F1's future. My personal prediction is that we'll see all MS records be broken in the next few years. At 18, this guy is more mature than 90% of the rest of the grid.

Fabulous drive by him under serious pressure from Kimi in the last 20 laps.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Sorry, I disagree. I think H is becoming the new Hunt the Shunt (James Humt has that nickname). Totally irresponsible. Going off the track on the grass, and that too to overtake your own teammate. I think Niki Lauda also suggested that it was more of H's fault. Nico had every right to defend his position.

It was a great race by Max V. Seems that Kimi's tyres were wearing out.

Originally Posted by mayankk

Sorry, but the stewards disagree.

Also, he's an F1 driver. He wouldnt be where he was if he thought he could go on the grass to overtake. Like I said, a racing incident.
He's still got a long way to go before he becomes the shunt.
http://www.supersport.com/motorsport...ape_punishment

In the end it was a racing incident, but in my book Lewis was for too enthusiastic, no good can come from getting onto the grass right before a corner when you need to brake hard. What did he expect would happen?

But what a fantastic race! nail biting stuff after a long time.. how F1 used to be!
Unbelievable drive from Max under pressure in a car he hasnt completed a race distance in, im a little disappointed that Kimi didnt even try a move though.

Red Bull though did make a mistake with Ricciardo's strategy, apart from having to overtake Seb, how was expected to also overtake Max and Kimi on a track like this?

Shame that Mercedes excellence is robbing us of such classics!

[Aditya]

Final standings



Link to Team-BHP News Article

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Shame that Mercedes excellence is robbing us of such classics!

Agreed. I am an unabashed Hamilton fan, as well as Mclaren's(God help them), and I can empathise with other teams because Mclaren/Merc fans have suffered through the decimation-days of El Fingro. It was a fun race yesterday , after a long long time. I enjoy Hamilton winning, but its seriously boring to see them vanish, and actual racing taking place only for 3rd position.
Thank god for MotoGP

[Fullrevs]

That was a great race to watch mainly because of the Mercedes drivers taking each other out. The FIA have decided to take no action on the incident. Mercedes reports that Rosberg was on the wrong engine mode and lost a serious amount of speed. Hamilton was a bit over ambitious in trying that hard. There really is no room to overtake there.

Verstappen, what a guy!! He drove like a real champion. Holding his nerve and not making any mistakes. The guy is going to be on every teams wish list and Red Bull were extremely clever in promoting him and locking him up for the coming seasons.

The Vettel and Ricciardo duel was awesome to watch. Quite surprising to see Vettel really had to try 'extra' hard to keep that 3rd place with desperate stops to shift back to the harder tyre and undercut Ricciardo.

Start of the European races and no one could ask for a better start. Here's hoping there are more races like this.

[arun_kun]

That was one heck of a race. I wish Mercedes drivers take each other out on every race. That had really made race interesting, else with out much overtaking possible on the SpanishGP it would have been same old top 2 Mercedes finish.

I was wishing for KIMI to win, but what the heck, what a drive by Max. He did not put one foot wrong. Kudos to him and Redbull management for promoting him. Redbull has that killer instinct which Ferrari is lacking to grab an opportunity given.

[greatgyan]

That was an entertaining race!! well done to Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Making the most out of a rare occasion when the Mercedes guys tripped over each other.

As for the crash, I hold Rosberg responsible. If you see the footage in slow-mo, you can see that he makes a clear move towards the inside of the track to block Lewis, this when Hamilton has decided to take the inside line and go through with the move.
Nico knew that he has had a bad exit out of turn three and is going to be under pressure in the dash to turn four. Normally in such cases, the driver ahead takes the defensive inside line straight away and leaves the outside line open for the driver behind.
Here, after having had a slow exit out of turn three, Nico holds his line and is waiting to see which way Lewis goes, once Lewis decides to goes on the inside, Rosberg makes a slight kink towards the inside as well, it can be clearly seen on the footage. This in my opinion was wrong, once Lewis has made his move, it was wrong on Nico's part to push him out onto the grass. Then,there were just 2 options which Lewis had, either make contact with the rear of Nico's car, or go onto the grass (which is what he did). There was no way he could have pulled out of it cause he had already made his move and taken the momentum ahead.
Even the FIA ruling says the one should leave a cars width from the edge of the road, Nico didn't follow this and hence I hold him responsible.

Now for the 3 stop strategy, I don't know who came up with this at Red-bull. Catalunya is infamous for its lack of overtaking and everyone know how notoriously difficult it is to get a pass there. Let alone get a pass on similar performing cars. Here, track position is king and even if you have fresh tyres, there's a very slim chance of you getting a pass on a similar car in terms of speed and performance (here, Red Bull and Ferrari). Hence, the 3 stoppers ended up behind the ones opting for a 2 stop strategy .

[SilentEngine]

Verstappen's win also keeps alive the interesting stat of having different Spanish GP winners every year since 2007! Even Ricciardo win also would have kept it going!

Originally Posted by Hatari

But what a fantastic race! nail biting stuff after a long time.. how F1 used to be!
Unbelievable drive from Max under pressure in a car he hasnt completed a race distance in, im a little disappointed that Kimi didnt even try a move though.

Kimi had to balance the attack with taking his tyres to the end. In a track like this, unless the driver ahead makes a mistake it's not easy to overtake. Even with superior traction and fresh tyres, Ricciardo couldn't overtake Vettel, so there was no way for Kimi through unless Max made some mistake.

Originally Posted by Hatari

Red Bull though did make a mistake with Ricciardo's strategy, apart from having to overtake Seb, how was expected to also overtake Max and Kimi on a track like this?

This was really baffling. They left him too late for his final stop. It's almost as if they didn't know what do to. Probably they didn't expect Max and Kimi to last the distance in that set of tyres although Max and Kimi's side of garage were clear that they were going the distance. As a team Red Bull didn't lose too much because they got the win anyway, but tough luck to Ricciardo.

[tharian]

An interesting post race analysis on the 'Merc take each other out' on first lap;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STJRK71xWow

[asr245]

Watched the race on a replay. Things really have turned so bad that we are calling this race interesting. I mean the fight between Ric & vettel was much more interesting. They were closer & some moves were made. 1-2 were classic Barcelona - you can close up but u can't overtake. But that's what you get when one team dominates.

Still a great drive by Max. How Ferrari must be ruing screwing up qualifying. Had they been ahead, I am sure Ferrari would have won.

Originally Posted by greatgyan

Nico knew that he has had a bad exit out of turn three and is going to be under pressure in the dash to turn four. Normally in such cases, the driver ahead takes the defensive inside line straight away and leaves the outside line open for the driver behind.

Agree that Nico's defensive move came late, but it was ruthless & I liked it. I am 101% sure that's what Ham/Vettel/Alonso would have done too. He slammed the door on Ham's face! They were both out but Ham lost more than Nico. Maybe next time Hamy will be more careful.

This reminds me, couple of races ago Ham turned in on Bottas at turn 1 on start. Bottas had half a car alongside but was still penalised. What did you think about that?

[deetjohn]

Well done Max! What a debut! Reminded me of Vettel' first win. This boy is surely going places.

I caught the Q and race live for the first time this season. Lewis nailed that lap for P1 on Saturday after the massive lockup on the first try. It was a massive lap! And I really thought that could be the turning point for him this season.

But that first lap clash spoiled it all. Watched the replay multiple times and it's best to classify as a racing incident. Nico lost the best line and momentum and Lewis went for a gap which was always going to be a squeeze. I was somehow baffled when Lauda put the blame squarely on Lewis though.

Anyways, the season is long and nothing is lost even now. Lewis needs to get his head down and get some solid results. Doesn't look like RBR and Ferrari can catch the Merc on race trim.

[greatgyan]

Originally Posted by asr245

Agree that Nico's defensive move came late, but it was ruthless & I liked it. I am 101% sure that's what Ham/Vettel/Alonso would have done too. He slammed the door on Ham's face! They were both out but Ham lost more than Nico. Maybe next time Hamy will be more careful.

This reminds me, couple of races ago Ham turned in on Bottas at turn 1 on start. Bottas had half a car alongside but was still penalised. What did you think about that?

Yes, that was in Bahrain i guess. I think the difference there was Bottas was coming from way back and was looking for more of an opportunistic move to muscle his way past the cars at turn-1. Here though, Lewis was right behind Nico and had a very realistic chance of taking the lead.

But agreed, even I'm happy to see this gusty and devil may care attitude of Nico. He's been accused of perhaps being a little soft in the last 2 seasons. Hence, this is a welcome change.