the red bull/alonso battles have been very entertaining the last two races.

 

Yes the prices are extortionate. Silverstone weekend was >£600.

And watching it on TV is waaaay better (IMHO) as you get to see all the action in high definition and hear the commentary.

Who cares what nationality the drivers are - they all live in Tax havens anyway.

I think Hamilton is a c0ck because if he doesn't win, he has somehow been robbed by team strategy, pit crew, stewards, team mate, reliability.

And I put the failure rate at:
Rosberg 1.5 (1/2 Canada, 1 Silverstone
Hamilton 2 (1 Austrailia, 1/2 Canada, 1/2 Germany)

1/2 Canada because he had the same problem as Rosberg and Rosberg's car didn't break brakes

There are no conspiracy theories here because in no way does it pay for Merc to have them. Bottom line is they have won both Drivers' and Constructors' titles. Do you really think they care which one of their drivers wins?!

I want to see the close racing and as Soulcrew has said, the Vettel/Alonso battles have been great.

 

Ricciardo / Alonso yesterday.

 

Yes that was good. I liked Vettel and Alonso going either side of Raikonnen.

 

That was excellent - I am astonished it didn't end in tears!

 

Racing driver excuses are legendary


Have a read of Button's comments: http://www.telegraph...-collision.html

One minute it's Hamiton's fault, then another it's not. Massa whingeing about Magnussen too...

I don't think it's true all the time from Hamilton - he knew he wouldn't have won yesterday and has accepted his responsibility for his qualifying mistakes at Austria and Silverstone.

Monaco was Rosberg's fault, really.

Let's face it, whenever things have been even, Hamilton has won every time.

 

I doubt they see him as German, he does have a German mum but a Finnish dad - I don't think Rosberg see's himself as German either, unless it suits him .... which of course it does considering as he does he works for a German team, it probably suits Mercedes to see him as German too.
Not a bad race actually and the tactics, either Mercedes or Hamilton's cost him second place he stopped 3 laps too early. Ricciardo is driving the pants off that Red Bull, and Vettle was lucky he didn't finish behind his team mate yet again due to the first lap incident that set Ricciardo way back. I think I have seen enough this season to prove my suspicions right at how 'average to good' Vettle is as a F1 driver, and that but for Newey's car and a ordinary team mate I suspect he would never have won a single title.

 

s2k_nut, did you see pics of Hamilton's tyres after the race? They had gone off big time. That uneven front downforce due to his incident with Button caught up with him at the end I think. Bottas said he could see graining in Lewis' left front tyre and so he had him on right handers, which on a clockwise track was the majority of corners.

LG, true re 'even' but how many ways have there been so far to make it not even?

Still, the halfway point and lots more to come. Depends who's hungary-est

 

To be fair, his tyres were much worse at the end because they pitted early gambling on a safety car following Sutil's accident. Instead of 13 laps, he had to do 17 or somesuch.

As for even - when they've qualified "normally" which is in the front two rows and have had no particular problems in the race.

These races are where this has happened, along with the winner.
Malaysia - Hamilton
Bahrain - Hamilton
China - Hamilton
Spain - Hamilton
Monaco - Rosberg

 

I dont think that Hamilton pitting early was a mistake.

The Sauber situation warranted a safety car, and it is reasonable that Merc and Hamilton would have expected one to be deployed. Hamilton was the first car to pass the stranded Sauber so had the most time of all cars to see if one would be deployed. Therefore I suggest it was not a not a rushed decision to pit him but a considered one. With him pitting (and a safety car) it would have put him on new tyres with a very likely chance of finishing first by passing Rosberg after the restart.

Even if (as happened) the safety car was not deployed Merc would have known that they would still likely catch Bottas and challenge for second. The only question was how quickly to close the gap such that he still had a tyre left to effect a pass and then would he be able to hold 2nd thereafter.

Pitting early did end up with LH finishing 3rd rather than 2nd but was still worth the try by his half of the garage with the upside prize being he would now be 3pts ahead of NR.