[shibujp]

Perez has to be the hero for Red Bull today. The defense he mounted on Hamilton was sweet and critical support for Max and the Red Bull team in their pursuit of the championship. It's these kind of efforts that justify Red Bull's faith in him and for the next year.

Overall I think Red Bull did an excellent job managing the whole race and ensuring maximum points on a track on which they were clearly on the backfoot through free practice and qualifying. And their pit stops are back on point. 2.1 seconds flat for Max today.

Thanks to the fact that Lewis was at the back of the grid, Bottas could drive his own race. Very well managed throughout. He was able to respond to Max when Max closed the gap a couple of times which showed that he was managing his tyre life quite well. I don't think Max was in any position to challenge him today. A deserved podium for the Finn.

Ferrari was the other standout team today. Though they could have done better with Leclerc's tyre strategy and Sainz's pit stop overall Leclerc's finish in P4 and Sainz finish in P8 after starting at the back was superb. Both the Ferrari driver's are separated by 0.5 points in the championship. Well deserved driver of the day award for Sainz too.

Pity about Alonso and Gasly today. Both had the potential for strong finishes today. I felt the penalty on Gasly was a bit harsh. He was obviously making space for Perez coming up his inside. Poor Mick Schumacher was hard done by Alonso after qualifying the Haas in P14 yesterday. Talking about Haas, Mazepin has eared a best friend in Hamilton who was nearly taken out by the ?Russian while trying to lap him!

Tsunoda acquitted himself quite well in his defense of Hamilton which made the capitulation by Norris all the more surprising. I would think that the McLaren is much stronger than the Alfa Tauri.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[mayankk]

It was a fun race, actually one that kept you glued. I'm a hamilton fanboy, through and through, but I'll also be the first to confess that even though him winning is very satisfying for me, there have been races where the TV was on mute, and I would only pay attention when something else happened. Else, just playing in the background.
To the race, then. From lap 10 onwards, I expected that the track would start drying. When vettel went in, I was sure he would end on the podium, if not the winner. But boy, this track just doesn't let go of the water, does it?
And man do those inters have life in the right hands!! What management from Lewis. I think the team worked well together to get the best possible result. His tyres when they came off, were almost slicks! Could have sent him sliding, could have failed. Even with their contrary views, I think this was the best that they could do today.

Chuffed for bottas, though. What. A. Drive. Absolute masterclass from him, the way he managed the gap and the tyres.

[Chetan_Rao]

Hamilton was never going to make it to the end on a single set, while doing competitive times. The only driver that actually did, Ocon, struggled massively at the end.

Ferrari tried with Leclerc, and he couldn't manage them even in clear air out front. Trying to hang onto P3 at the risk of a tire failure or DNF in treacherous conditions, wasn't a risk worth taking in such a tight title battle, so Merc's prudence was arguably a plus this time.

Hamilton has historically done well at Austin, so he should bounce back in a fortnight's time. Intriguing run in coming up.

[Porcupine]

That new Mercedes engine is looking strong. It remains to be seen if it's track specific or good everywhere like the Red Bulls have been. Austin should be interesting, Hamilton loves that track.

[arun_josie]

Nice to see Bottas taking P1. Thankfully he was outside the team order window this time .

Perez had an excellent race too. A nice fight with Hamilton and then his move on Leclerc. Hope he continues this form in the coming races so that we can see a much closer fight for the constructors championship.

If not for the bad pit stop, Sainz could have finished higher up the order.

[NKB]

A very good race. Given the tricky condition, it was skill race and not brute pace. One lock up at high speed and the car could have gone for trip to barriers.

For me the driver of the day was Perez. Wheel to wheel 4-5 corners with Hamilton and then coming out ahead after a mini drag race it self makes him the hero for me, let alone how he kept Hamilton at bay. Much deserved P3 for him and I am very happy to see him on podium. He should be there more often.

Bottas had an amazing race and deserved the win. He had a clean start and then had a flawless race. Last time around here he had a horrible race full of spins and this time a straight win. I was wishing that it should not come to a point where Hamilton could sense a win at the expense of Bottas. If it had happened, we all know the result, given how the driver’s championship is poised.

Max would happily take this result for a weekend which was otherwise very difficult for him. He did not find any rhythm with the car during the whole of weekend. He simply did not had the pace to challenge Bottas.

Hamilton may feel he should have stayed out and he could finish P3 but I think that would have been a wishful thinking. Gasly was gaining on him and he was losing more than a second per lap already before he pitted and situation would have been much worse. Overall I feel he had a good race.

Another moment I wanted to mention which I enjoyed a lot. It was when Mick Schumacher made it to Q2. I mean to take that Haas to Q2 is an amazing job which he has done twice now. His reaction after that summed it up all.

[Fiestaboy]

Interesting points in the race:
1. Bottas winning the race & taking his total race wins to 10.
2. Though less pace, Max & Perez maximized it for a double podium. that's the Max (MAX) could achieve.
3. Ferrari's new PU shows the hard work being put in Ferrari factory.
4. Without doubt, podium will be a psychological boost for Perez.

Takeaway's from the race for next races:
If Merc is going to carry this much pace, then it will be an easy win for Lewis in upcoming races. Fans will not have opportunity to see great battles unlike the 1st half of the season.

Max was not able to reach within 1Sec to Bottas in rain, shows how much RedBull are lacking pace with respect to Merc in Turkey.

[Porcupine]

Originally Posted by Fiestaboy

Takeaway's from the race for next races:
If Merc is going to carry this much pace, then it will be an easy win for Lewis in upcoming races. Fans will not have opportunity to see great battles unlike the 1st half of the season.

That's hard to say as Red Bull keeps making minor aero upgrades to a package which is still better than Mercedes. Along with the fact that the Merc's have always been temperamental based on track layouts and weather/temperature. I think we're still in for some exciting scraps between the lead duo.