All right, before you get all excited about how Hamilton was able to claim his record 69th Pole with a lap in the wet that eclipsed Red Bull, his closest rivals, let’s recognize that the replacement engine rules imposed by Formula One are stupid and counter productive.
Over the last 2 weeks teams have accepted literally hundreds of ineffective grid spot penalties to qualify a variety of replacement parts necessary to complete the season in races where they felt they were already uncompetitive. I won’t even attempt to decode the actual start order except to note Vettel will be in 6th position and if he finishes even as high as 3rd Hamilton takes the lead in the Driver’s Championship.
This was supposed to save money and help the little teams, but like the limits to on track testing have only served to cement the positions of the majors.
Speaking of, there are only 3, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull. This is significant because there are lots of drivers in the also rans whose contracts are coming up and are not satisfied with their teams. Their problem is the big 3 have long term commitments and they’ll have to speculate on some group coming up with a ground breaking idea to advance.
Case in Point: Force India. Many times this season Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon have mixed it up and though Force India (formerly Jordan) is currently a distant 4th in the Constructor’s Championship they could be much closer if their drivers didn’t keep running each other off the track.
Arguably Ocon is actually a better driver, but Pérez contributes about a third of the team’s budget to pay for his seat and rumors (and we only publish the most scurrilous) are that the team has not punished Ocon and favored him enough.
So Pérez wants to move… to a 5th place team?
It’s tough out there in Formula One and not all the game is on the track. So far though Liberty Media is light years ahead of the not lamented at all Ecclestone.
Super Softs, Softs, and Mediums. The resurfacing of the Start/Finish straight did not go well and it’s full of bumps.
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Author
Vent Hole
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Half Hour of Hype
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Recon Laps
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No Rain today
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We race
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Lap 5 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Ocon
Vettel
Stroll
Raikkonen
Massa
Perez
Ricciardo
Magnussen
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Hulkenberg pits
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Magnussen pits
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Lap 12 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Ocon
Stroll
Raikkonen
Massa
Perez
Ricciardo
Kvyat
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Sainz pits
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Lap 15 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Stroll
Massa
Perez
Ricciardo
Kvyat
Vandoorne
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Ocon pits
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Stroll pits
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Kvyat pits
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Lap 20 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Ricciardo
Perez
Massa
Ocon
Raikkonen
Stroll
Vandoorne
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Massa pits
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Palmer pits
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Lap 25 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Ricciardo
Perez
Raikkonen
Ocon
Stroll
Massa
Vandoorne
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Verstappen pits
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Lap 30 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Ricciardo
Perez
Raikkonen
Ocon
Stroll
Massa
Vandoorne
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Alonso and Palmer pit
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Vettel pits
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Hamilton pits
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Perez pits
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Palmer done
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Bottas pits
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Lap 35 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Ricciardo
Vettel
Raikkonen
Ocon
Stroll
Massa
Perez
Magnussen
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Vandoorne stops
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Lap 40 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Raikkonen
Ricciardo
Ocon
Stroll
Massa
Perez
Magnussen
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Lap 45 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Ricciardo
Raikkonen
Ocon
Stroll
Massa
Perez
Magnussen
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Lap 50 of 53
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Ricciardo
Raikkonen
Ocon
Stroll
Massa
Perez
Verstappen
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Ericsson and Alonso pit and retire
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Final
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Ricciardo
Raikkonen
Ocon
Stroll
Massa
Perez
Verstappen