[rst89]

I watched a complete F1 race today after ages and it was Hungary GP.
I felt when Hamilton pitted for the medium compound tires, Max verstappen also should have been brought in pits. Though he would have been behind Hamilton after coming out of pits, at least he would have given a chase.

I feel strategy wise, this was a brilliant move from Mercedes, as they say rolling the dice.

Rest of the race was pretty standard, nothing great from other drivers.

[Joxster]

Here are the race highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnz-lc9LYgo

Cheers

[motor_breathing]

Originally Posted by rst89

I watched a complete F1 race today after ages and it was Hungary GP.
I felt when Hamilton pitted for the medium compound tires, Max verstappen also should have been brought in pits. Though he would have been behind Hamilton after coming out of pits, at least he would have given a chase.

At the time of Lewis's pitstop, Merc had nothing to loose. And Redbull wouldn't have expected to merc to close 21 second gap in about 15 laps.
Merc is a superior car in all respects it looks like, especially in race trim.


What actually stole the race from Redbull in my opinion was Gasly's pace. In an identical car had he been with in 20 second of Max, merc would not have got a free pitstop.



I have a feeling that Danil Kvyat will be in the other RB seat after summer break

[sgiitk]

Hats off the Hamilton and Merc. I am wondering why Verstappen did not go for two stops (which he ultimately did). Probably the tyre choice would have been different.

[bivin]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Hats off the Hamilton and Merc. I am wondering why Verstappen did not go for two stops (which he ultimately did). Probably the tyre choice would have been different.

Initially i was wondering the same. I felt maybe a pitstop for softs with about 15 laps to go might have worked out for Max, but would have been a tight call either way.
Christian Horner later admitted that on similar tyres, the Merc was quicker and pitting in response to the Lewis' 2nd pitstop would have conceded track position.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by bivin

Initially i was wondering the same. I felt maybe a pitstop for softs with about 15 laps to go might have worked out for Max, but would have been a tight call either way.
Christian Horner later admitted that on similar tyres, the Merc was quicker and pitting in response to the Lewis' 2nd pitstop would have conceded track position.

Atleast the onus would have been in the driver, max to do whatever he can to get to Lewis. They took away his tools, the tyres being the most important.

It was clearly a strategy failure. If you notice somewhere during the race, max had a 6 second advantage over lewis, and Lewis just blew that apart while max was trying to conserve tyres or get sleep or whatever. They were just caught napping. Merc was right up his tail at that point. I think right after, lewis pitted and it was game over for max.

[bivin]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Atleast the onus would have been in the driver, max to do whatever he can to get to Lewis. They took away his tools, the tyres being the most important.

It was clearly a strategy failure. If you notice somewhere during the race, max had a 6 second advantage over lewis, and Lewis just blew that apart while max was trying to conserve tyres or get sleep or whatever. They were just caught napping. Merc was right up his tail at that point. I think right after, lewis pitted and it was game over for max.

A late safety car could have put the ball back in RBRs court. Maybe that was their gamble? hindsight is 20/20, but taking calls during a race is nerve racking stuff. Even the Mercs didnt know how their gamble would turn out when it was taken.

[shibujp]

What a race! 4 races in a row with some sort of excitement. The strategy game was played and Mercedes won it with a brilliant call. A no brainer really as the only team that could have prevented it was Ferrari by being within a pitstop gap from Hamilton.

No much Red Bull could have done with the strategy they had chosen. The only way they could have done it is to have Max go faster than he was going which given his tyres was impossible.

Ferrari, given that catching Hamilton was not possible had more to gain by ensuring Max lost a place as it is now Red Bull that is threatening their second place in the constructors.

With all the focus on the top three, the brilliant performances by the McLaren duo is getting swamped. Brilliant result with Sainz and Norris coming in 5th and 9th respectively.

Another race to forget for LeClerc who seems to be a bit rattled of late. Vettel of course capitalised on that. Second podium in a row.

Solid performance by Raikkonen managing another top 10 finish in the Sauber

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Red Liner]

I agree. I just wish Max had a fresher set to mount a serious challenge to lewis. This guy is the perfect aggressor... Not so much the defender yet. Though he did that beautifully when lewis came on to him the first time.

I am unable to support either of the Ferrari drivers or team anymore. Max has my vote for being the most entertaining, most aggressive, most talented, and most driven, pun intended.

[ajmat]

Excellent strategy and a very aggressive drive by Lewis. Max did as well as he could and it coming into his own. Max used to be be aggressive and crash just like Lewis used to before he went on to start winning the World Championships.

Although Lewis seems to be on course to winning the World Championship this year, the second half will to be easy if Verstappen maintains his newly found consistancy and Red Bull bone up on their strategy.

Next year onwards? Perhaps Verstappen becomes the new Lewis, with Leclerc not too far away. If that happens, am sure Lewis will retire rather than become a has been. (also am sure Liberty will put pressure to allow new winners and new blood in to sharpen the mix!)

[india008]

The main problem at Red bull is Pierre Gasly. If he were a little bit quicker,then the Hamilton pit stop wouldn't have happened or at least he could have slowed down Hamilton's pace a bit. Any ways i loved watching Hamilton's impressive drive.

[ramgkulkarni]

Someone during the commentary said that Max is the change of guard that is so necessary in the sport right now. He went on to comment how Alonso or Senna changed the game when they arrived. Boy! is he right.

Max has the potential to displace some of the greats and he sure is proving it. In my opinion, Hungarian GP was the race between Ham and Max. Period

Things could have changed if Bottas gave a tough fight to Hamilton, Mercedes would have not gone for the 2 tire strategy. Eventually saving Max. But such is the margin and it was impressive strategy by James and Merc. Pathetic pace by Gasly and Ferraris didnt help either.

What was most impressive throughout the race was the pace maintained by Max and Ham. At one point, they were 40-50 sec ahead of the competition. I think Max was very close to lap Vettel when he was 4th.

God bless F1 and we get to see more races like these.

[Knowall]

With 2020 seats up for grab... I'm hoping and would like too see the best drivers in the best cars...

- Ocon to Mercedes
- Vettel back to Red Bull
- Alonso back to Ferrari or Valterri
- Hulk to Haas or Sauber
- Valterri to Renault if not Ferrari
- Gasly to Williams or Sauber(loaned)

KUB, MAG and GIO out...

[bivin]

Originally Posted by Knowall

With 2020 seats up for grab... I'm hoping and would like too see the best drivers in the best cars...

- Ocon to Mercedes
- Vettel back to Red Bull
- Alonso back to Ferrari or Valterri
- Hulk to Haas or Sauber
- Valterri to Renault if not Ferrari
- Gasly to Williams or Sauber(loaned)

KUB, MAG and GIO out...

Would make no sense for Haas to remove their top performing driver while retaining Grosjean.

Kubica and Giovinazzi I agree.

[bivin]

Some interesting points by James Vowels. Not the bits about the champagne

He talks about the lack of data on dry tyres from practice, and puts into perspective just how much of a gamble it was when they pitted Lewis.
Excerpt below:

"Going into the race we had less data than normal due to the wet running on Friday," said Vowles. "No one had long run the hard tyre, run it with fuel to understand how the wear, the degradation and how it would progress in the race.

"And that creates a lot of unknowns. Everyone went into the race, ourselves included, with the intention of one-stopping. It is incredibly difficult to overtake in Budapest, and the tyres should make it based on our forecasts of life.

"As we went in it was clear there was no undercut opportunity, our next plan was to offset ourselves
on tyres relative to Verstappen. And then force him into a situation where he is using his hard tyre resource as much as possible, and maybe put him off the curve.

"As Verstappen and Lewis started to pull away from the field, it became obvious that other opportunities existed, which in our case, was a two-stop.

"We have a team behind the scenes that are working tirelessly. They took the morsels of data from Friday, the little running that we had, and constructed models as to how our tyres and Verstappen's tyres would perform during the race. And they were spot on.

Link to the article below:

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/v...ngary/4509904/

Cheers,
Bivin