planetf1.com

Hamilton at least has more or less retracted his comments https://i.redd.it/76lr2bmezv811.jpg and I swear I saw something from Merc on Twitter or somewhere earlier saying they didn't consider it a deliberate act, though for the life of me I can't find it now. I'd be very surprised if anybody continued pushing this theory in any kind of serious way at this point.

Hamilton:
“Interesting tactics, I would say, from their side,”
“We’ve just to work hard to try to position ourselves better so that we are not exposed to the red cars, “Because who knows when that’s going to happen again.
We’ve got to make sure we work hard together as a team to try to lock out the front row and make sure we’re fully ahead of these guys.”

When Vettel hit Hamilton in Baku last year, Hamilton sized the opportunity to score in the psychological warfare against his opponent. And he capitalized on it. Because Vettel was wrong, he lost himself there. I felt then that it was the turning point for Vettel in his quest for the title. He was a loser there. Hamilton got him.

Here, now. Looks like Hamilton is trying the same, to get under the skin of his opponent, trying to capitalize on what happened. But he doesn't have a case now, and that places him into the position of a loser by default of it.

And of course they should try to lock out the front row and make sure they are fully ahead of those guys. That is how you win, that is what you try to do every single time. Ridiculous.

I'm throwing it out there if it keeps happening, at the moment it's just a coincidence, not even that really, I would say Mercedes are just kind of making the FIA take notice.

Both accidents were obviously just racing incidents even though both drivers were penalised, obviously Vettel gains nothing from such incidents when he is involved but then Mercedes might get a bit jumpy when the perceived #2 Ferrari driver hits their main title challenger, then they lump in the two incidents together just to get the FIA's attention.

Found this interesting, it seems Williams reverted both cars to a previous spec and does Renault are still having exhaust issues on the Red Bulls?

Technical Delegate’s Report
The following parts and parameters have been replaced / changed during the Parc Fermé yesterday
and today:
Mercedes:
Car 44:         Plank
                    LHS barge board

Ferrari:
Car 05:         LHS rear brake duct external body
                    LHS front tyre
Car 07:         RHS rear brake duct external body
                    RHS rear floor fixing support screw

Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer:
Car 03:         Secondary exhaust
Car 33:         Secondary exhaust

Force India Mercedes:
Car 11:         Cylinder #3 spark plug
                    RHS ignition coil bar

Williams Mercedes:
Car 18:         Rear wing (different specification)
                    Engine cover wing (different specification)
                    LHS cooling panel (different specification)
                    Floor
                    RHS front brake wear sensor
                    RHS front brake wear sensor calibrations
Car 35:         Rear wing (different specification)
                    Engine cover wing (different specification)
                    LHS cooling panel (different specification)
                    Front wing/nose assembly (different specification)
                    Front wing/nose assembly
                    Floor

Haas Ferrari:
Car 08:         RHS rear brake duct quadriplane
Car 20:         Front plank and skids
                    T-tray assembly
                    T-tray mounting studs
                    LHS rear brake duct quadriplane

McLaren Renault:
Car 02:         RHS front wing flap element

All above parts have been replaced with the approval of the FIA technical delegate following a written
request from the team concerned, this being in accordance with Article 34.2 of the 2018 Formula
One Sporting Regulations.

The FIA Formula One Technical Delegate

source:themanpost

Kimi's wife apparently weighed in after the race (removed now). Apparently directed toward the entire Mercedes team...

Vettel and Kimi intentionally taking out Merc drivers, yet not switching positions in Austria... interesting tactics indeed.

I don’t recall there being anywhere near as much outrage when Bottas punted Kimi twice in Spain and Baku last year.

Both Mercedes and Hamilton are very good at using the media to slander their opponents. Mercedes falsely accuse Ferrari of cheating with their battery. Hamilton falsely accuses Raikkonen of taking him out on purpose. They are also very good at using the media to get what they want. Hamilton was complaining that the tyres made the race in Austria boring, which was clearly not the case. He also said that Pirelli should have brought the thinner tyres, the ones Mercedes conveniently have better tyre wear on. Wolff himself has been pushing for the thinner tyres to be used for the rest of the season, even Horner called him out on it.

They need to be called out for these political games they are playing.

Team in wanting favourable conditions in order to win shocker!?!?!

They all do the politics thing, every last one of them, we just get to hear about and scrutinise the big teams doing it more.

Yeah, I love how Merc wants the tires that they work best with to be required for all the remaining races. Politics are in full force once again.

I don’t recall there being anywhere near as much outrage when Bottas punted Kimi twice in Spain and Baku last year.

Both Mercedes and Hamilton are very good at using the media to slander their opponents. Mercedes falsely accuse Ferrari of cheating with their battery. Hamilton falsely accuses Raikkonen of taking him out on purpose. They are also very good at using the media to get what they want. Hamilton was complaining that the tyres made the race in Austria boring, which was clearly not the case. He also said that Pirelli should have brought the thinner tyres, the ones Mercedes conveniently have better tyre wear on. Wolff himself has been pushing for the thinner tyres to be used for the rest of the season, even Horner called him out on it.

They need to be called out for these political games they are playing.

You think Mercedes are the only team to do stuff like this?

When it comes to playing political games I'm afraid Mercedes are absolute amateurs compared to those old masters of the art, Ferrari. How many times now have they threatened to quit the sport because they are not winning?

Exactly. Merc wanting those thinner tyres is like Christian Horner suggesting the same engine mode should have to be used in qualifying and the race.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/229 ... -australia

I'm not sure it's anything worth getting worked up over, happens in every sport.

How is this comparable really?

I think that is indeed pretty comparable.

I just hope the FIA have the spine to not give in to it. I am fully against mid-season tyre changes. They are given info on the tyres towards the end of the previous season, they all take this into account when designing the car, they then test with those tyres, so that's what they should run with for the season unless there are safety issues.

If it's just a team not getting tyre wear right, then sod it, that's on them. Let them make a stop extra.

Successfully lobbying for mid-season tyre changes was exactly the way how Red Bull politiced its way to the 2013 title.
An interesting, competitive season turned into an extreme borefest thereafter.

Undoubtedly they did play politics to get things changed to suit them, although safety played a part too after Silverstone, but that season was far from good at the beggining of the year. The racing was dreadful.

My most vivid memory of those tyres is Hamilton on the radio in Spain saying "I can't drive any slower", those tyres were a joke tbh.

I'm pretty sure it was the fan backlash to the tyres that caused them to be changed. Pretty sure I even remember Hembrey at one point saying something like "look if we change them Red Bull will dominate" in response to all the negative fan reaction to the tyres.

Source for the quote?

Safety: well, tyres being run inside-out, with tyre temperatures outside the recommendations and much longer than recommended caused most of the failures, next to Kerb issues.

Red Bull lobbied loud and hard that year - and"abused" the failures to get their will. Mightly successful.

But there appeared little hunger in this performance. “I’ve just been overtaken by a Williams,” he complained on the team radio. The sub text obvious.

Then a lap later as the team asked him to conserve his tyres he answered: “I can’t drive any slower”.

Hamilton's quote was widely reported - I can't exactly find the radio message itself but it's everywhere in news reports etc.
Here is one: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formula- ... do-1884670

I meant Hembrey's quote.

"Unless you all want us to give Red Bull the tyres to win the championship. It's pretty clear. If we did that, there would be one team that would benefit and it would be them.

Oh, OK, sorry. That one is here:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/22501577



Note that this is before the Silverstone events.

.

But yes, exactly, Red Bull lobbyied hard throughout the season to get the tyres suiting them. Hembery's pre-Silverstone quote underlines this. And it came as predicted - in the second half of the season the winner was known even before the weekend started ...

Yes, but I also went over some extra arguments which make for a different situation back then and now and I don't think they should be glossed over.

Of course it is nothing new that teams will try to get things their way and they all do it (well, especially the front-runners). But in case of 2013, there was an outcry from a lot of people - fans, pundits and drivers - and the tyre info was there far too late for teams to factor it into development. During actual development they had to make do with Pirelli's statement that "the tyres wouldn't change too much". And far into the development cycle they changed the tyres so much and they were too soft.

Basically those who were good on the tyres, got lucky.

Well, it was the same for everyone, wasn't it?

I already explained that there were other reasons for the tyre failures - but of course they were politically downplayed by Red Bull and some others who hoped for an advantage.

And also this year there are more factors - like the better performance of the modified tyres regarding blistering (at the end of the day making them safer ...).

Hamilton:
“Interesting tactics, I would say, from their side,”
“We’ve just to work hard to try to position ourselves better so that we are not exposed to the red cars, “Because who knows when that’s going to happen again.
We’ve got to make sure we work hard together as a team to try to lock out the front row and make sure we’re fully ahead of these guys.”

When Vettel hit Hamilton in Baku last year, Hamilton sized the opportunity to score in the psychological warfare against his opponent. And he capitalized on it. Because Vettel was wrong, he lost himself there. I felt then that it was the turning point for Vettel in his quest for the title. He was a loser there. Hamilton got him.

Here, now. Looks like Hamilton is trying the same, to get under the skin of his opponent, trying to capitalize on what happened. But he doesn't have a case now, and that places him into the position of a loser by default of it.

And of course they should try to lock out the front row and make sure they are fully ahead of those guys. That is how you win, that is what you try to do every single time. Ridiculous.

Well, it was the same for everyone, wasn't it?

I already explained that there were other reasons for the tyre failures - but of course they were politically downplayed by Red Bull and some others who hoped for an advantage.

And also this year there are more factors - like the better performance of the modified tyres regarding blistering (at the end of the day making them safer ...).

It is really very similar.

Hamilton loves to play the victim. He did the same thing in 2016 "something or someone doesn't want me to win". Hamilton is very good at using the media to push his agenda.

Unfortunately for Lewis, Kimi is too popular and well-liked. That's why his slander in the media backfired.

Well, in Silverstone Hamilton actually was the victim - no matter how the Vettel-Räikkönen brigade tries to spin it.

Same story with midseason tyre changes: when they suit Vettel, they are fine (2013), when they do not suit him, they are unfair.

Well, in Silverstone Hamilton actually was the victim - no matter how the Vettel-Räikkönen brigade tries to spin it.

Same story with midseason tyre changes: when they suit Vettel, they are fine (2013), when they do not suit him, they are unfair.