[wrongturn]

Scuderia Ferrari must be one worst camp to be in right now.
- Leclerc is pissed and demotivated as he is treated as a second though he is faster and better of the two drivers right now.
- Vettel has lost it, he just cannot deliver. He is racing Leclerc and trying to get whatever points he can just to stay ahead of Leclerc.
- It's Hamilton vs Bottas and I hope the later wins the championship this year. Hamilton is current champion, the face of Mercedes-Benz and Wolff's favourite so he will keep getting better treatment than Bottas.
- Ferrari must get Kvyat or Verstappen or even Bottas in as their drivers next season. Kvyat would be my favourite.
- Vettel is the biggest problem Ferrari has right now.

[SilentEngine]

What was the reason Ferrari got LeClerc into the team? Now that they have him in the team, they are a confused bunch not knowing what to do with him. To make matters worse, he is also making lot of mistakes. He would have benefitted having another season in Sauber.

Lesser said about Vettel, the better.

I got bored in the middle of the race and started playing the new F1 manager game!

[jraj]

Apparently few folks watched a different Spanish GP. In the Spanish GP I saw on ESPN ,aided along with the paid Official F1 app, I saw Vettel making use of the slow start made by Bottas but left with no place to go at the first corner.

He braked hard,flat spotted the front tire and lost a place to Max. It became clear at that point Charles had more pace and when asked he let Charles through. He was pleading for new tires as he was now under attack from Gasly.

Once he came out from his stop on new mediums,he was pelting out good speed and definitely had Max covered. That explains why RBR pitted Max right away and he had committed to the 2 stop by bolting on a set of softs.

When Charles pit, he was given a set of Hard tires and that meant he wasn't going to stop again. When Seb caught up , what exactly was Charles doing? He was racing Seb and did not allow him through when it was apparent that they were on different strategies and Seb had to stop again - this is where the strategy team scored a self goal.

By the time he let Seb through,the damage was done. When Seb and Max did their next stop, Max emerged ahead of Seb marginally. Seb would have finished 3rd if Ferrari had their strategy played well.

As far as Charles is concerned,his race was well and truly over in the Q2 session on Saturday. There is no way one can recover after damaging the floor of the car that bad. Any chance he had today was by jumping Max at the start and try to keep him behind. Even then, only one car would have finished ahead of RBR.

[nair]

Vettel coping unfair criticism in this particular race from this thread. Turn 1 of first lap is the only place he could have made any difference in today's race against Mercedes. He went for it.


Pic Source: http://formulaspy.com

And as one can see from the picture it was not easy for him at all. I am actually amazed that all 3 managed to avoid contact. That was great driving through that corner especially by Bottas.

It's pretty clear that Mercedes's car is much superior to that of the Ferrari's. So, Vettel has to push beyond the limits, so mistakes do happen. I myself have criticized Vettel for his spin in Bahrain under pressure from Lewis, but today I think he performed well with the package given to him.

Ferrari strategy has been bad as usual. Wish they were more decisive in letting Charles pass Vettel earlier in the race and Vettel pass Charles during the later stages of the race.

With the 5th consecutive 1-2, I think we are in for a Silver Arrows fight to the death. In fact lot of in team battles shaping up. Bottas and Hamilton. Vettel and LeClerc. Magnussen and Grosjean. And shout out to Max. He is something else.

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by jraj

Apparently few folks watched a different Spanish GP. In the Spanish GP I saw on ESPN ,aided along with the paid Official F1 app, I saw Vettel making use of the slow start made by Bottas but left with no place to go at the first corner.

He braked hard,flat spotted the front tire and lost a place to Max. It became clear at that point Charles had more pace and when asked he let Charles through. He was plaeading for new tires as he was now under attack from Gasly.

Originally Posted by nair

Vettel coping unfair criticism in this particular race from this thread. Turn 1 of first lap is the only place he could have made any difference in today's race against Mercedes. He went for it.

It's pretty clear that Mercedes's car is much superior to that of the Ferrari's. So, Vettel has to push beyond the limits, so mistakes do happen. I myself have criticized Vettel for his spin in Bahrain under pressure from Lewis, but today I think he performed well with the package given to him.

I agree. The only better approach would have been following Hamilton based on the aerial replay that I saw which seemly may have helped him get the jump on Bottas. however he would have been under Hamilton's wing. But that is hindsight and may have potentially compromise his aero. In the move that he made he was in clean air.

Binotto Mattia has very little idea about team management. He takes ages to make a strategy decision. Paul Dieresta for Sky Sports was reporting total confusion on the Ferrari pit wall with Leclercs engineer claiming that he on the hards and Vettel on the medium were on the same strategy. By the time the decision was made, the Mercedes were more than 21s ahead and had a free pitstop in hand as a result. amazing how they shoot themselves in the foot again and again. As I said a couple of posts back, LeClerc needs to stay calm and stop compromising his team strategy. Binotto Matia made a big mistake in declaring Vettel as the No 1 driver before the season started. It could have been kept internal to the team and manage it as they have during all these years.

Drive on,
Shibu

[arun_josie]

One boring race this was, apart from some midfield fight. Even the safety car couldn't make the race interesting. Saturday's Formula E was a nail biting one.

[blackwasp]

One of the rare races I missed despite being at home and having the TV + hotstar available. Do I miss it? Nope. The F1 is becoming boring day by day and the Mercedes are just unstoppable at the front. Ferrari have lost the plot and they need to consider what they must do going forward seriously. Leclerc is not getting a free run and Vettel can't put a fight with Hamilton and Bottas.

[GTO]

Guys,

Formula 1 is becoming Formula Yawn. What a boring race. Besides the start of the race (Lewis out-dragging Bottas), Verstappen's remarkable but uneventful drive & Ferrari's goof-ups, there really was nothing interesting in the 90 minutes. I watched the entire race only because I was hanging out with my brothers, so the 3 of us were chatting. But no way would I have watched it alone.

Even though I'm not a cricket fan at all, I'd rather have watched the damn IPL match instead.

[wrongturn]

Originally Posted by nair

Vettel coping unfair criticism in this particular race from this thread.

I met him at the Indian GP, he is a really nice person and my favourite in this year's championship aswell but in all honesty Verstappen has clearly outclassed him even with a slower car in race pace and temperament in recent races. He wasn't able to overtake him in 15 laps starting behind the race car. Vettel seems too content now a days like as if he has lost his hunger for championship, he is under tremendous pressure and more worried about Ferrari's Mission Winnow maybe he is too afraid of making any mistakes or another spinout. All he wants is to accumulate whatever points he can for the team. Scuderia Ferrari has screwed the season so far, management is confused, drivers are confused and they are being extremely unlucky as well. Fortune favours the brave and is currently with the silver arrows.

[Makin Rulesz]

Originally Posted by wrongturn

Ferrari's Mission Winnow

They should rename it to Mission Winhow

[RM Motorsports]

Spanish GP in a minute. Lap 1 to 66.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0D5yGpAEXA

[Scorpion 10]

Backmarkers by 19th Lap of the race - That's team domination in Formula 1 these days !

[Sarath_MoJa]

Watching The Top 3 Teams has become a boring affair with Mercedes perched far a top the RBs & Ferraris. The real fun is to watch Kvyat, Norris, Albon, Stroll race wheel to wheel. We can always expect something is going to happen any moment. That is what F1 is all about, not about the speedmasters scorching the tracks and the others getting lapped even before one third of the laps are over. Missing those F1 races where such wheel to wheel racing happens between the top 3 or 4.

[KL01toKA03]

To make the sport more competitive, F1 needs to distribute money more evenly among all teams, similar to what the Premier League is doing in English football. That combined with some kind of financial fair play would make it interesting.

[KiloAlpha]

I did not watch the Spanish GP. It has been, in most years, a parade. Which I gather it was this year too. I went clothes shopping with my wife instead and going by the comments here, I think I had a better time than all you folks who watched the race.

Came across this article today, about viewership numbers:

https://www.grandprix.com/news/merce...n-numbers.html

TV viewership is reportedly being affected by the one-sided nature of this championship.