Poll: Singapore Grand Prix 2019, Singapore - Race 15/21

[JBeck]

Unlucky Leclerc but that's racing so get used to it, Vettel drove superb nonetheless. Merc what a stupid strategy, should have pitted Lewis with Leclerc, stupido!

Boring overall though...

Ferrari really are getting their act together now, big challenge to Merc for the rest of this and next year, RB also looking decent.

2/10

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Leclerc does not look happy. Neither does Vettel, he knows he was gifted that win.

Once again Mercedes insist on staying out longer. It just doesn’t work.

I think the thing is they knew they weren't fast enough and the win was only going to come from strategy. It just didn't pay off this time.

 

[Kelt]

Voted utter ****.

Because it was.

 

[4K8KW10]

I think the thing is they knew they weren't fast enough and the win was only going to come from strategy. It just didn't pay off this time.

But Hamilton is the one who won today. 7 points out of Charles' score wiped out...

 

[Mr Jack]

Unlucky Leclerc but that's racing so get used to it, Vettel drove superb nonetheless. Merc what a stupid strategy, should have pitted Lewis with Leclerc, stupido!

Should have pitted him the lap after Vettel. Anything else was daft.

 

[mmj_uk]

What's disturbing is that Ferrari sabotages its own chances of the Drivers' Championship. Charles got screwed so many times this season, maybe at least 50 points lost due to his own team' stupidity.

It's not stupidity, I think it's fairly clear they're still favouring Vettel. He's their big cash cow probably cant afford to let his reputation drop.

 

[Quartz]

but he must be getting worried now about holding onto his championship lead.

Lewis is 96 points ahead of Leclerc. That's 4 clear wins with Lewis scoring nothing in every race and there are only 5 races to go.

Anyway, Red Bull seem to have made the right decision with ditching Gasly for Albon: Alex is right up there only eight seconds behind Max.

 

[utajoker]

turned off as soon as vettel crossed the line, Leclerc was never going to pass Vettel and Ham never going to pass Max.

Most of the overtaking was on big tire differences, althought most couldnt manage that without crashing.

Why not use a virtual safety car in any of those instances instead of losing a load of laps under a proper SC.

The only chance this race had was of tires running out but 3 SC sorted that out.

 

[4K8KW10]

It's not stupidity, I think it's fairly clear they're still favouring Vettel. He's their big cash cow probably cant afford to let his reputation drop.

Favouring the slower, older, less capable and less motivated drivers is stupid. So, now instead of Charles being 30-40 points behind the leader, he is 100 points behind.
If this is not stupidity, I do not know what is.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Ferrari are laughing now. They are too fast on the straights to be overtaken with drs. They don’t drop as much in the corners as they did. Whilst Hamilton seems safe in the championship, the winter will be interesting, especially given there is little change into next season. It’ll be a difficult balance between 2020 and looking ahead to the 2021 rule change.

 

[JBeck]

Should have pitted him the lap after Vettel. Anything else was daft.

Indeed, they royally screwed it up...

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Should have pitted him the lap after Vettel. Anything else was daft.

Yup, ferrari worked out there was a gap there, how did Mercedes not see it. They could have been P2 at worst, possibly even P1, although I doubt the hards would have fired up quickly enough.

 

[holdin09]

Boring race as usual from Singapore

 

[Mr Jack]

Yup, ferrari worked out there was a gap there, how did Mercedes not see it. They could have been P2 at worst, possibly even P1, although I doubt the hards would have fired up quickly enough.

It's not just the gap, it's how they failed to spot the undercut possibility that gets me.

 

[LEUVEN]

It's not just the gap, it's how they failed to spot the undercut possibility that gets me.

Mercedes didn't fail to spot the undercut.
Their biggest advantage was their tyres and that was the only realistic way to beat Ferrari.
It made no sense to pit a car early that had a tyre advantage and Mercedes had to go with it knowing that when a safety car emerged, the strategy came back to them.
I do think the made more of a mistake when they did bring Lewis in as they should have gone all in and kept him out until the safety car and put softs on, as it was the only realistic chance in my opinion.

 

[MissChief]

Mercedes usually dependable race strategy let them down, prompted I feel by Lewis himself saying his tyres felt ok. As soon as Ferrari pitted Lewis should have been in the next lap.

Race itself a bit dull at the front, the track suited Ferrari in that they just couldn’t be caught.

Some good racing lower down though, certainly doesn’t merit the number of 1 and 2 votes.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Mercedes usually dependable race strategy let them down, prompted I feel by Lewis himself saying his tyres felt ok. As soon as Ferrari pitted Lewis should have been in the next lap.

They seem to rely on Hamilton saying his tyres are ’ok’. That’s all well and good, but Hamilton doesn’t know the pace of those on newer tyres. Then they keep him in the dark and say all is fine - I’ve said it before, but he needs a new race engineer.

 

[MissChief]

They seem to rely on Hamilton saying his tyres are ’ok’. That’s all well and good, but Hamilton doesn’t know the pace of those on newer tyres. Then they keep him in the dark and say all is fine - I’ve said it before, but he needs a new race engineer.

It would have been chief strategist that either said it was ok for him to stay out or overrule Lewis and tell him to Pit.

 

[mmj_uk]

Favouring the slower, older, less capable and less motivated drivers is stupid. So, now instead of Charles being 30-40 points behind the leader, he is 100 points behind.
If this is not stupidity, I do not know what is.

F1 is heavily influenced by business and money though, Ferrari don't want to be paying millions of pounds to a well known, multiple world champion who is the face of all of their marketing if he becomes a laughing stock.

Mercedes/Hamilton should have just pushed Leclerc from the start rather than playing Ferrari's game of tyre conservation, Ferrari basically told Leclerc to bunch the pack up and then pitted Vettel at the perfect time, his pit stop was 0.6sec slower and he still came out well in front. If Leclerc hadn't been cruising for the first 15 laps Vettel wouldn't have been anywhere close to him after the first round of pit stops. This race might as well have been simulated in the pit garages because the drivers at the front never really even tried to race, it was all tyre conservation and driving to what some strategist says is the best way to drive.

 

[Mr Jack]

Mercedes didn't fail to spot the undercut.
Their biggest advantage was their tyres and that was the only realistic way to beat Ferrari.

If Lewis had pitted immediately after Vettel, he would have undercut Leclerc and won the race. At worst, the undercut could have failed and he stays second. Instead he came 4th.