That hamilton performance was astonishing

I personally had written the championship off after the last race, lewis after all the adversity faced this weekend had not.
0.2mm issue with the drs gap, tough luck mercedes, but it did break the rules. Cant argue with the decision.
they took it on the chin. 5 place grid drop for the new motor was factored in so that was irrelevant.
All the needle between merc and rb was rather distateful.
Still we rise? he certainly did.
Maxs defence at turn 4 was out of order but understandable, the stewards decision on that was unfathomable.
I dont think lewis gives 2 shits about the seatbelt fine.
He has rescued his championship
Lets see what red bull and mercedes cook up to moan about to the fia next weekend.
Whatever merc did to that car this weekend, they created an absolute missile that lewis found a way to unlock. Bottas not so much. perhaps lewis can control the softer rear end setup that squats more to stall the diffuser better than bottas can so they can push the setup at the rear abit further, more confidence on the brakes maybe so he can get the car to pitch forward that little bit more to get the front end planted.
I think that race was the driver excelling, not all the car. that speed was in bottas car too, he just couldnt unlock it

Its more the steering angle he used that interested me, there didnt look to be enough on
I doubt it will get looked at, but at least the fia will have to explain their reasons not to so there might be abot more clarity as to what is allowed and what isnt

I see max, bottas and sainz have all got to go see the stewards in the morning for yellow flag infringements following gasly bashing the front wing off his alpha tauri.

There may be a different starting grid come midday tomorrow

I thought that was a reasonably good race
Not a thriller by any means, but better than i expected

Not at the top, lewis just buggered off into the distance, max also buggered off just not quite as quickly but there was some pretty good racing throughout the rest of the field
Alonsos pass on gasly and his defense from max on the outside was great to watch, as was his battle with perez. fred was pretty good to watch all weekend
Ocon and perez were great to watch, i loved the radio message 'tell esteban to defend like a lion'. he gave it a go, and that couple of seconds bought made the difference. Alpine had a rather good day all round.
Nice to see lance stroll have a decent run too
Ferrari and mclaren were both pretty anonymous, williams and haas nothing doing, not even sure where alfa finished and alpha tauri race pace was nowhere to be found. Seb also had a reasonably solid drive too.

Christian horner getting a bollocking by the fia was rather deserved.

Lewis did exactly what he needed to do, Brazil must have lit a fire under his arse.
If the championship goes down to the last round ill be happy
I just hope the championship isnt decided by some bullshit incident

Sir frank williams has passed away aged 79
Another one of the f1 greats after murray walker gone

Grenfell Tower: Rethink deal with
insulation firm, Mercedes F1 urged

Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire and government minister Michael Gove have criticised Formula 1 team Mercedes for signing a deal with a firm linked to the tower.

The F1 team signed a deal with Kingspan, which made some of the insulation used in the cladding.

Grenfell survivors called the sponsorship "truly shocking", while Mr Gove said he was "deeply disappointed".

Kingspan said it played no role in the design of the cladding on the tower.

The company said its product made up only 5% of the insulation in the block, and it was used without its knowledge.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team - which Britain's Lewis Hamilton drives for - announced it had signed a partnership deal with Kingspan on Wednesday.

Kingspan's K15 insulation was one of the products installed on Grenfell Tower during its refurbishment. But the majority of the insulation used on the tower block was made by another company.

The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire is currently examining how the building was covered in flammable materials, which contributed to the spread of flames that took hold of the tower in June 2017, killing 72 people.

Grenfell United, a group of survivors and bereaved families from the fire, said in an open letter to the F1 team that the announcement of the new partnership was "truly shocking".

"This news has shattered us," it said, adding it wanted Mercedes to "immediately sever your relationship" from the company.

In a tweet, Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove said he was "deeply disappointed" the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team were accepting sponsorship from Kingspan while the Grenfell Tower Inquiry was ongoing.

He added: "I will be writing to Mercedes to ask them to reconsider. The Grenfell community deserves better."

Lisa Nandy, Mr Gove's Labour shadow, welcomed his "swift criticism" of the sponsorship deal, which she described as "deeply disrespectful" to Grenfell survivors.

However, she has also written to Mr Gove asking him "to take the same principled stance in relation to the decision by the Conservative Party to take millions of pounds in donations from property developers responsible for flats that have been covered in the same dangerous ACM cladding since 2017".

She called for the money to be returned to "send a clear and unequivocal message of support of the Grenfell community".

The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.

Kingspan said: "The Grenfell Tower fire was a tragedy that should never have happened, and Kingspan supports the vitally important work of the inquiry to determine what went wrong and why.

"Kingspan played no role in the design of the cladding system on Grenfell Tower, where its K15 product constituted approximately 5% of the insulation and was used as a substitute product without Kingspan's knowledge in a system that was not compliant with the buildings regulations.

"The new partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team reflects the ambitious sustainability targets of both organisations."

A spokesman for the Mercedes team said: "Our partner Kingspan has supported and continues to support the vitally important work of the inquiry to determine what went wrong and why in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

"Our new partnership announced this week is centred on sustainability and will support us in achieving our targets in this area."

SOURCE

Lots of finger-pointing but it's not clear who was at the root of procuring and installing the wrong materials.

Did Hamilton ever need pole position today - one of the key achievements in all of his career poles.  He MUST win the race tomorrow and, with Verstappen in 3rd with Bottas ahead of him, that looks to be as good an advantage as he could have hoped for.  The headlines all say that Verstappen gave pole away, but from my reading Hamilton won it by pushing the car to its limit but no further.  Verstappen pushed it too far, and that could be a very costly mistake for him.

How long will Bottas last in front of Verstappen?  Based on recent races, not long at all.  A straight fight between the key protagonists is on the cards, then.

Qualifying times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.511
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.111s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 0.142s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.543s
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull 0.612s
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 0.614s
7 Lando Norris McLaren 0.669s
8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 0.931s
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1.136s
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1.243s
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:28.668
12 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1:28.885
13 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:28.920
14 George Russell Williams 1:29.054
15 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:53.652
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:29.177
17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:29.198
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:29.368
19 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:29.464
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:30.473

There were some appalling driving standards at that race, not just from max, but up and down the grid. lewis too, shoved max off at one point to give him a taste of his own medicine.
What the heck max was doing i dont know, and the fact that from the telemetry and subsequent stewards decision he did brake test lewis is utterly stupid.
The pass he made at the third restart was superb, the rest of the race the conduct was atrocious. How many times does someone have to bail out before penalties are given? 4 times a race apparently.
Bottas backing up the pack behind the safety car was pretty questionable, tsunoda getting a ten second penalty was pretty harsh too, seb chopped across to my eyes.

I did not enjoy that race one bit, some periods were utterly farcical.
Give the place back 'strategically', i.e force the passing driver to pass just before the drs line so you can just zip straight back past needs to be looked at in depth.
There needs to be some sort of rule as to where on the track the pass can be made so there is no advantage gained by the person giving it back.
An utterly rediculous race


Its gotten to the point for me that this season will be remembered for all the wrong reasons