2019 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix

[Sasha Jednak]

What a race, and I heard from Merc themselves that their mission is to get 10 WCC and 10 WDC on the trot......

That's what they payed for. End for zero fun people, before you burst into flames read on...

*sarcasm off*
Team has to have some goal, otherwise it is very hard to create any results.

The desicion to box Lewis was stupid on so many levels, again the F1 fans suffer through pu**y tactics, it was set up for a great final few laps. If the graphic about tyre life is accurate it said he had 70% in those tyres? What was the point in leaving him out so long in the first stint if the plan was still a 2 stop? I'm happy for Bottas but would of liked to see him overtake for the win.

I'll have to watch maybe part of this race, but what was the state of Bottas's tyres when he stopped? As I see it (only saw Q and R results on paper), Bottas was faster Merc in Q. Then for first pit they decided to react on Seb's undercut, while Lewis had nothing to lose behind so they left him out. I see that reaction on undercut in range of their Singapore strategy, very bad decision since they had track position and big advantage. IMO they could have made easy 1-2 with 1 stop for both.

EDIT: To answer myself after watching highlights video: YES easy 1-2 for merc with 1 stop each. Good defence from Seb in the end. Leclerc-Gasly in Spoon same as Vettel-Verstapen last year, just that Gasly didn't care about racing this time. Albon-Norris, clear Ricc divebomb, to bad Norris didn't wait for him, looks like he could just come back under him when Albon went deep. Leclerc-Verstapen, something like Kvyat-Sainz in China this year I think. It was small mistake, it was first lap, it was Ferrari and it was penalty in the end (this sounds bad for those calling it FIArrari ). After that, super reflex from Lewis, Ferrari same mistake as with Seb in Canada few years ago and Alonso in Malaysia long time ago. It's like they think FW will repair itself. All in all, congrats to Merc on the 6th title of 10. Now bring on 2024 (if the top is true we know who will win next 4)

 

[Enagee]

So Charles gets a penalty...
FIA is making the sport messy.... First they decided not to investigate Charles and Max, no warning flag for Charles for driving with a damaged car and depositing pieces of his front wing over the track.

Then decided to investigate, wait till after the race to give a 5+10 sec penalty. And give Ferrari a €25k fine?? Seriously!!

 

[snyperal]

So Charles gets a penalty... FIA is making the sport messy.... First they decided not to investigate Charles and Max, no warning flag for Charles for driving with a damaged car and depositing pieces of his front wing overthe track, then decided to investigate, wait till after the race to give a 5+10 sec penalty. And give Ferrari a €25k fine?? Seriously!!

Agreed, that was dangerous i mean it took Lewis' mirror off, what if it had hit him or a Marshall in the head?

 

[Enagee]

Agreed, that was dangerous i mean it took Lewis' mirror off, what if it had hit him or a Marshall in the head?

 

[Kakusso]

• Ferrari to the stewards: If you apply any penalty to our drivers there will be serious consequences.
• Stewards to Ferrari: Ok no further action.
• FIA to the stewards: There have been serious incidents that should be investigated.
• Stewards to FIA: We can't analyse it right now Ferrari warned us. We will analyse them after the race.

 

[Sasha Jednak]

• Ferrari to the stewards: If you apply any penalty to our drivers there will be serious consequences.
• Stewards to Ferrari: Ok no further action.
• FIA to the stewards: There have been serious incidents that should be investigated.
• Stewards to FIA: We can't analyse it right now Ferrari warned us. We will analyse them after the race.

Just imagine that instead of those we only had "common sense to stewards: bla bla bla" during only this year, not to mention last few years.

 

[Maurits Vernel]

How was LeClerc's pass any different than Verstappen's at Austria? I'm not rationalizing, just didn't see much difference 'tween the two.

Verstappen didn't take Leclerc out.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Verstappen didn't take Leclerc out.

The only reason Verstappen didn't actually take Leclerc out was because Leclerc did run off track.
Otherwise Verstappen would have taken Leclerc out!

 

[paulvanwens]

The incidents at Austria and Suzuka are not comparable in my opinion. Austria was at the end of the race, in a battle for the win, and tires and brakes are on running temperature. Suzuka was at the start where everything is cold and a driver has to take that into account.
At Austria, Max and Charles were pretty much completely even, while in Suzuka Max was clearly ahead of Charles when entering turn 2 (he was in turn 1 already ahead of Charles, so Charles should have known Max was there.
In Austria there's a huge runoff-zone at the hairpin where it's easy to make use of, and the speeds are a lot lower in that hairpin. At Suzuka turn 2 is a pretty fast corner, with only a very small runoff-zone which ends pretty much always in dissaster if you have to make use of it.
The incident at suzuka happend before the apax, while in Austria it was after the apax.
In Austria it was no more then a little bump, while at Suzuka debris was all over the place after the impact. That's a bit more then just a little bump.

I have no idea why you even try to compare the two incidents, besides the fact that it's Charles and Max again.

 

[snyperal]

The only reason Verstappen didn't actually take Leclerc out was because Leclerc did run off track.
Otherwise Verstappen would have taken Leclerc out!

View attachment 329277

That's just it, that run out racing is a game of chicken. What are they to do, stick it on the kerb follow the radius and if they crunch they crunch? Both incidents aren't the same, but we are seeing this time and time again, esp. With these younger more aggressive drivers.

 

[Appie Kuipers]

The only reason Verstappen didn't actually take Leclerc out was because Leclerc did run off track.
Otherwise Verstappen would have taken Leclerc out!

View attachment 329277

You have a very strange look at racing, why old COWS when this all is about Japan GP?
Opinion ok, does not mean you can't see things wrong! Otherwise is cristalbal wishdom!!

 

[Terry Rock]

View attachment 329229

On another point....
I've long stated those openings in the halo need to be closed-out with some type of screen material.
Look at all the scratch marks in close proximity to it.
Want to know what happens if a bolt, spring or some sharp bit of debris goes through it?
Ask Massa.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Opinion ok, does not mean you can't see things wrong! Otherwise is cristalbal wishdom!!

I agree fully with your wise comment.
And does also respect that you admit that "Opinion ok, does not mean you can't see things wrong!"

 

[NDG]

The desicion to box Lewis was stupid on so many levels, again the F1 fans suffer through pu**y tactics, it was set up for a great final few laps. If the graphic about tyre life is accurate it said he had 70% in those tyres? What was the point in leaving him out so long in the first stint if the plan was still a 2 stop? I'm happy for Bottas but would of liked to see him overtake for the win.

Heard Bottas on the radio? "James, it's Valteri! Well done! Thank you!" I'm assuming it's the payback James promised him at Singapore. When James asked Bottas to slow down so he will not undercut Lewis. James also said, I'll pay it back to you... They have this team rule to just keep positions, like who's at front stays there.

 

[RichardHessels]

That's easy. Verstappen didn't end LeClerc's race.

Indeed, at Austria he was on the inside ahead of Leclerc, who left a hug gap on the inside twice.
Both cars continued without damage.

But here Leclerc got passed on the outside and pushed a bit to much throttle to keep up with Max.
Colder tires and less downforce because of other cars did the rest.
Noob error, won't happen again. Those boys learn really fast.

Driving with loose parts is another thing, that could be seriously dangerous for everybody at the track.
2 cars got damaged by that stupid discision of Leclerc to not pit with loose hanging parts.
Mclaren lost valueable points because of it, when that same scrap ended in their brakeduct.
Imagine that piece of endplate going at 25 cm more towards the middle of the car.
Even the halo would not been able to catch that one.
The F1 mirros are really strong, they must withstand large loads, but was cut off like a leaf.
Could have badly hurt or even killed Hamilton with it.
Don't understand why he did not get the full 30 seconds penalty that stands for it, but only 10.
So he still scored some points, he did not deserve.
Those WC points bring in much more cash, than the 25.000 fine they got for not pitting right away.

Big fail of the FIA stewards this race

 

[paracletus]

Conclusion: Albon > Gazly.

 

[Antony Snook]

Missed the race. Did not want to do a ghoster and stay up all night. I saw there was a re run at 8am. TV not working. Turns out my TV box is HDMI 1 and somehow changed it to coxail input that i don't use. Felt so stupid knowing i could of fixed it on Sunday morning if i had my head screwed on. Solved it Tuesday afternoon.