Poll: German Grand Prix 2018, Hockenheim - Race 11/21

Rate the 2018 German Grand Prix out of ten


  • Total voters
    140
  • Poll closed .
Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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40,069
lol

he did the same thing that Kimi did, but FIA only penalised the Ferrari driver

Because it was specifically mentioned as something NOT to do in the Baku Race Directors notes. Yet he did it anyway. So it was a fully deserved penalty.

No such mention in the RD notes for this weekend/circuit so, yeah... what was your point again?
 
Soldato
Joined
15 May 2007
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12,804
Location
Ipswich / Bodham
I hold my hope for one of these races where we wont get robbed of a good battle.
The fight will be awesome, it will last for multiple laps, two drivers jostling for 1st & 2nd preferably 5 laps from the end, with me on the very edge of my seat and my heart rate going through the roof... I still hold on to that slim chance it could happen, I guess thats why i'm a sucker and keep watching.

That's why a lot of us keep watching - one day, after years, we'll be rewarded with 8 minutes of epic action :)
 
Permabanned
Joined
2 Sep 2017
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10,490
It is scary how easily the modern F1 car fails under any sort of wet weather.

Vettel was essentially a passenger long before he went off. Gutted tbh, I wanted to see a proper fight for the lead under the circumstances.

Yes, the stadium section of the circuit is like street one - the walls are close, any mistake is punished with journey through or stuck in the gravel, it is too narrow.
Given also that Sebastian had previously escaped the intense traffic, he drove too risky and got punished.
I believe Hamilton's tyres wouldn't have been in that good condition to actually fight for the first place.

Anyways, did Hamilton say thanks to Sebastian for the nice gift?! :D
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
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32,574
Location
Llaneirwg
Great drive by hulkenburg.
Enjoyed his 'thanks for that' when two cars in front went off!

The rate he overhauled KM in the wet was amazing.
Starting to dominate sainz a bit
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Nov 2005
Posts
5,709
When did that terrible idea to interview drivers jsut out of the car start?....
Been happening for a while, I’m not a fan of the constant interviews but there’s more chance of a truthful interview when they’ve just got out of the car. The PR tripe they spout most of the time makes me feel sick, luckily I almost always watch after it’s started so I can FF these sections.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
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17,823
Location
Finchley, London
I just watched the highlights. Wow! I'm so happy at this result, it really couldn't have worked out any better, and the racing gods were definitely puling the strings for Lewis. Seeing Vettel crash out like that on his home turf and allowing Lewis to win makes this the most satisfying race of the season for me. So funny how Vettel took Silverstone and Hamilton took Hockenheim, both stealing each others home GP. And funny how Lewis was almost in tears at quali and then Seb almost in tears after thumping his steering wheel. It's tough at the top! :D
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,188
I thought this too

People are getting it wrong though, Vettel was actually slower than Kimi and Bottas as well as Hamilton in the two laps before he crashed. I mean he was pushing but the idea Hamilton wasn't catching him hand over fist is simply wrong. Bottas closed 2 seconds in the 2 laps before the crash, Hamilton only ~3.5 seconds (as in not as much faster than Bottas/Kimi as he had been but he was being very careful around backmarkers giving them plenty of space to not take him out if they lose it).

Vettel wasn't pushing overly hard, in fact he maybe wasn't pushing hard enough. I don't think it rained more heavily in the last few laps it was I think just tires losing heat in those conditions. The more heat they lose the harder it becomes to generate heat because they can't go fast enough and temps dip even further, losing more grip, etc. Vettel may have dropped off too far, seen temps drop and lost the grip he needed to stay on the track.

He pulled out 6.5 seconds on Kimi before Kimi also gained a little on Vettel before the crash. Kimi was badly struggling for pace and going off track yet started to gain on Vettel.

In the rain Vettel only averaged the same pace as Bottas, was miles slower than Hamilton then his paced dropped off significantly.

Honestly on those tires with the way his performance dropped off, he may have been looking at 4th even without crashing. My bet is he needed to pit for tires with temp in them and may well have gone for inters. Had he done that he'd have been pitting a second time for slicks. If he pit onto slicks he'd actually have been in a not terrible position but he's still have been 14-15 seconds behind Kimi (if he pit that lap, further behind if they waited a few laps as he was losing a lot of time) but he'd be on nice fresh ultras. At that point who knows, with Ham on ultras I couldn't see him being caught but Kimi almost certainly was going to have to pit again.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Apr 2011
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Barnet, London
There was a point were you could see Vettel and Kimi were struggling on their tyres and the rain looked to be coming, or maybe it had even arrived and I think Hamilton was starting to catch them all. I remember saying that they should pit Vettel, get him out in front of Lewis while they could, on the same tyre as Lewis. They almost couldn't get beat then with the fresher Ultra. If the rain got worse and Lewis had to pit, so would Vettel... stalemate almost.
 
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
30 May 2007
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St A
Some great drives today, Lewis was very composed throughout. Bit of fortune returned from his home GP.

Whilst I root for Lewis in this Championship battle I really do feel sorry for Vettel, he needs to have a strong GP in Hungary otherwise he'll be lamenting over his mistake over the whole summer break.
Lewis normally comes on very strong in the 2nd half of the season too.
 
Associate
Joined
2 Jul 2008
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1,538
Location
Near London
Likewise, although I do think that the Ferrari is very strong and Vettel will be tough to beat. I still reckon the championship will be dictated by reliability, more so than any other year.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Nov 2004
Posts
45,038
Likewise, although I do think that the Ferrari is very strong and Vettel will be tough to beat. I still reckon the championship will be dictated by reliability, more so than any other year.

Have said this since the start.

The way the championship is going it will depend on luck in the last race. Amazing how many times it has switched at the top.

I wonder what else Vettel will do to throw it away.
 
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