[mayankk]

I can't believe that mercedes would be so stupid to try such a trick this late in the game with so much, literally everything, at stake. If they have, then the penalty and the loss(es) would be well deserved. It would be heartbreaking for me as a Lewis fanboy. But for such a stupid and obvious method, well, deservedly.
As it is, they are lucky to be where they are, considering that they started believing a championship this year to be winnable so late in the day.

Let's see what the race brings. I don't know why max thought he could play Inspector seb. There was something childishly fun about how seb carried out his inspections. Max, though, went straight for the offending part, but that team has experience, especially in that area and those methods, don't they.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Ashishkel

...

How did Verstappen find this, it's just mm level differences in assuming. May be logical deductions from the sudden pace surge?

Verstappen may or may not have suspected something, and his opinion is irrelevant either way. He isn't allowed to touch a rival's car, and has now been fined €50,000 for the infringement. The official report says there's sufficient video evidence (from onboard cameras on car #44 itself) to prove Verstappen didn't damage car #44 in any way.



The Merc is under investigation because the FIA technical delegate found the anomaly in parc ferme scrutineering post qualifying.

Edit: Hamilton disqualified from qualifying results. Full ruling text below:

[Cyborg]

Mercedes is not stupid to do something so obvious, it must be something which happened during the qualifying session by accident. It’s impossible Max could do anything to increase the gap of the rear wing just by touching it.

Since it is what it is, the FIA will perhaps disqualify Hamilton and hand out a fine or a grid place penalty for Max.

This situation may decide the outcome of the championship which will be a pity since it won’t be played out on the track. Waiting to see how this plays out.

Cheers

[Doge]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Both offences appear slam dunk on face value.

Mercedes must be arguing how the DRS slat is over the limit cause of some defect and not intentional. Other than that this is a slam dunk penalty yes.

Originally Posted by Ashishkel

I think it was stupid from Verstappen to touch the rear wing. It goes on to show that he still has a lot to learn and control his emotions.

How did Verstappen find this, it's just mm level differences in assuming. May be logical deductions from the sudden pace surge?

Assuming that the PU is reliable. Bottas seems to be doing just fine after playing the role of guinea pig. Let's hope delivers.

If the new found speed had to do with the DRS gap tweaking, then it's another thing.

I don't think it was stupid, other drivers in the past have done more, one which comes to my mind is Seb pushing a Merc after the race IIRC. It is just that Max did this at the worst time possible.
The new found speed also has to do with the engine just turned up a bit since it is new.

Originally Posted by mayankk

I can't believe that mercedes would be so stupid to try such a trick this late in the game with so much, literally everything, at stake. If they have, then the penalty and the loss(es) would be well deserved. It would be heartbreaking for me as a Lewis fanboy. But for such a stupid and obvious method, well, deservedly.
As it is, they are lucky to be where they are, considering that they started believing a championship this year to be winnable so late in the day.

Let's see what the race brings. I don't know why max thought he could play Inspector seb. There was something childishly fun about how seb carried out his inspections. Max, though, went straight for the offending part, but that team has experience, especially in that area and those methods, don't they.

Well this is even weirder since Mercedes was also suspected for this in the Mexican GP IIRC but was legal.
All the teams have their own " inspectors" and they usually inspect before entering parc ferme. Would be really bizarre if Merc lied but this is F1 and cheating is only cheating if you are caught.

[Cyborg]

Punishments have been handed out. Hamilton will start from the back of the grid for the sprint race starting at 0100 hours IST, 14th November (tonight) and Max has been fined fifty thousand Euros.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...rand-Prix-news

Cheers

[Doge]

Here is the FIA release.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Doge

Mercedes must be arguing how the DRS slat is over the limit cause of some defect and not intentional. Other than that this is a slam dunk penalty yes...

The why and how wouldn't matter anyway. A car not meeting spec doesn't have to be through someone's fault. The latest precedent is Vettel's car being disqualified at Hungary.

The car didn't meet post-race scrutineering requirement of supplying a 1 liter sample of fuel. Aston Martin argued their calculations show there must be sufficient fuel in the tank, until they realized there was a previously undetected fuel pump issue.

The stewards acknowledged the new findings, but dismissed it as irrelevant to their decision, as the car failed to meet the regulations as stated. The Aston Martin got disqualified for being out of spec due to a part failure through nobody's fault, something they hadn't even noticed until post-race scrutineering flagged the fuel sample issue.

Much as it sucks in context of the championship, and much as it will cause frustration for fans, it's the right decision on the balance of evidence. The infringement itself was cut & dried and clearly measurable according to the ruling text, so the ruling presumably took this long because they deliberated the consequences, but ultimately decided to not consider circumstances external to the infringment as relevant for fair consideration.

It may be a semantic issue for fans, but car#44 was found in breach of regulations for the session in question and disqualified, not its driver. You win with the car, you lose out with it.

Tough, but fair.

[iamahunter]

Many LH fans going on twitter saying that Max damaged the rear wing of car no.44.
And so was the argument by Mercedes.

However, before making any such statements, I think its very wise to look at the logic.
A F1 car's rear wing is a very crucial part of the car which actually generates and provides the car with almost a ton of weight in form of downforce.
Additionally the DRS mechanism operates at speeds of over 250kmph, which means it has to strong enough to pull the wing up against the nature's force.

The components of a F1 car are not weak by any means.

How on earth is a touch from a driver going to destroy it?

Unless, you actually want to say that the driver who touched it is indeed a Supermax, oops, a Superman! (pun intended)

[tharian]

Not a fan of Lewis, but what a drive by him to gain 15 places in 24 laps!
Another couple more laps and he would have secured third position for tomorrow. He mastered the approach to the start finish straight to do an over take every other lap.

Can't wait for the main race.

[mayankk]

Wow, The mercs came back, and how.
Masterclass by the Master from the back of the grid. But that last lunge on Norris, that was epic, Lewis of the old. Man, that over 70+ laps tomorrow is going to something not to be missed!! 10th is way more than I expected, but looking at today, it's going to be a nail biter.
Way to hold on to the constructors championship, what an effort from bottas. Baited the red bull, almost, for the entirety of the sprint, before waving tata to it. Class effort from the finn.

[iamahunter]

That was amazing Sprint.

What a drive by Bottas, the soft tyres played their part. Max was almost 0.6 sec near to Bottas when he was asked to cool down.

The defense of Carlos was nothing but outstanding. Perez did miss out on couple of overtaking opportunities.

The Mercedes engine is so damn powerful, it was so clearly visible the way Lewis was overtaking. The only cars that actually gave him a tough time were both the Mclarens. Else I did not see anyone blocking him particularly.

[Ashishkel]

Surprised by the Gap developed by the top 2 and the 3rs place. Sainz was the bottleneck and he kept it tight and Perez didn't take too many risks. Makes sense, considering that it's just a sprint and not the race.
I really hope that Perez won't hold back in the main race.

Even I thought that McLaren was the only team who offered some resistance to Lewis' rally, considering that they are running the same PU. But again, Lewis'must have got tired, because the aggression seemed to wear off a bit in the middle.

But would have loved to see some action btw Perez and Lewis in the sprint itself.

But over-all, thanks to Lewis' it was entertaining.

I hope by next year atleast, we get almost all the cars on the same technical excellence, atleast 90% , then the race would actually become more about the driver, than more about the car.

[Ashishkel]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Wow, The mercs came back, and how.
Masterclass by the Master from the back of the grid. But that last lunge on Norris, that was epic, Lewis of the old. Man, that over 70+ laps tomorrow is going to something not to be missed!! 10th is way more than I expected, but looking at today, it's going to be a nail biter.
Way to hold on to the constructors championship, what an effort from bottas. Baited the red bull, almost, for the entirety of the sprint, before waving tata to it. Class effort from the finn.

I do agree that it was a clean drive by Bottas. But Max was asked to stand down, made sense, anyway it's front row.

[Akshay6988]

Yesterday's sprint race showed just how much faster the top team's cars are ! Lewis's overtake on Lando was a delight to watch. Valtteri such a great driver, often overshadowed by Lewis, but when he gets the opportunity, he nails it ! Hope Alfa Romeo give him a decent car and with the budget cap and regulations changes, we'd see middle and bottom teams also competing.

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

Max was almost 0.6 sec near to Bottas when he was asked to cool down.

Makes a lot of sense strategically from the driver's championship point of view.

There was just 1 more point to gain but 2 points to lose along with grid position for the main race if Bottas took him out of the race due to a "racing incident".

Max still has a first row start and increased his lead by another 2 points in the driver's championship.