IMO Germany last year, when he was climbing out of the car having stuffed it into the wall, and his current meltdown arguably began, was when it finally dawned on him he wasn't going to win a[nother] title with Ferrari... or anywhere else. Since then he's been on borrowed time in F1.
What. A. Race. Really feel for bottas, would have loved to watch that battle continue had it not been for that safety car, but plenty of action elsewhere. Ferrari need a word with Vettel. Maybe cut his finger off and present it to leclerc on a chain to wear round his neck. Maybe then he'll get the point. On a non-racing point, is channel 4's coverage getting worse? Watching Webber and dc trying to do the gridwalk was like watching 2 overly excited kids who'd never done it before. Eddie outing dc as the new brdc chief was a real dick move too.
If things keep going, he will be presented with a gold plated plaque that read Your new name is Number Two. On that note, Ferrari need to put their full weight behind Leclerc now, even if they don't tell anyone they're doing it. His racing with Verstappen today was ballsy, albeit not quite as ballsy as Valtteri's YOLO into copse corner at the beginning of the race.
I think they over-egged it on account of it being their only [live] gird walk of the year. Had it been just Webber *or* DC, it might've been ok. Possibly, but it's also Jordan being Jordan - knowing/guessing random goings on behind the scenes [without necessarily being told them] and being a bit of an arse is his thing. Also possible DC was just being modest and didn't want to make a big deal of it. Wasn't DHill the BRDC chief for a while?
Oh god they didn't stop harping on about that did they, like a bunch of giddy schoolgirls. Way to show FOM how good and professional your broadcasting is if they ever look at going back to free to air I know Eddie likes to drop his exclusives in here and there, but he effectively ruined what would be an immensely proud moment for dc. Yeh we want the scoop on driver trades in silly season (Lewis to ferrari allegedly), but don't deprive your colleague of a moment like that. Hill was the head of brdc when they signed that awful escalating cost contract with beanie.
That was fun. The Mercs seemed untouchable (much as Max claims he could have done second possibly). Throughout most of the race, they were just controlling the margin, and could drop a second off the lap time seemingly at will. I am a bit sad about Bottas and Lewis not fighting more, but I got the feeling that Lewis was "playing nice" early on. The racing there was not as assertive as it could have been (understandably). I for one am quite happy that Leclerc and Gasly finished in front of their team mates. Max making snide remarks post-race about how "Charles is clearly still a bit sore, the defending was tougher" is accurate. Leclerc defended well there, forcing Max round the outside, etc. Gasly seemed to come together for this race. Regarding Seb: He's not a bad driver, but the second he gets any form of annoyance going, he starts losing time quite drastically (see the events in Canada, where he dropped 0.5 seconds a lap after the stewards gave him a penalty), and making stupid mistakes (especially during the defence).
I'm actually starting to feel a little sorry for Seb now - I can't remember if it was this weekend, or the previous, but the TV coverage I caught a few minutes of showed a montage or him spinning and crashing over the past couple of seasons and it was just embarrassing... some of the incidents looked like the kind of thing you'd expect from a rookie or government-backed pay driver. After 5-6 clips I was thinking "please let it be over now", but no, they kept coming. Another complete hash of a racing move this weekend is the last thing he needed, but it really looks like he was broken months ago. Will he retire at the end of the year? I dunno... If he can pick up the pieces and make a decent stab at it after the summer break (which tends to be the better half of the season for him), then I suspect he will give it another reset and attempt for 2020. But if the season continues in this way, and Leclerc only gets better, I think he could very well bin it off.
The meltdown started at Baku 2017, which he really should have been given a ban over. Then it set in completely at Singapore the same year. If you ever catch yourself feeling sorry for him, just think Multi 21.
...how? It's on F1's official channel. Oh... it doesn't allow embedding, you have to watch it on Youtube.
I think Sir Frank had a flashback to 30-some years ago, when he was last able to drive, wishing he coulda done that himself...
Gasly put up a decent performance finally. Still looks mediocre compared to Leclerc and Norris but at least he put in a performance worthy of the cars relative position. I can't se how Ferrari keep Vettel on. It's been a year solid of mistake after mistake and what makes it worse is Leclerc is delivering. The only reason to keep him on for 2020 is no other drivers available or to let Leclerc get another year under his belt with the pressure of defacto number 1. They Kept Kimi on but he was at least delivering results. Vettel arguably is still delivering, just not as consistent or as good as he should be for a 4 time world champion. Apart from Vettel, the Haas story is worth talking about. Trundling around at the back then sulked off so prevent the embarrassment of being out performed by Williams. Kinda feel it's curtains for the team if this sponsorship nonsense is as bad as it looks.
I think the intransigence over the 2021 rules will be curtains for Haas. When the team started they said they had funding in place for five years, then they would assess the likelihood of their being competitive before commiting the money for another five. Since then the gap between the top 3 and everyone else has become the gap between the top 3, middle 2 and everyone else and it's got even bigger. If Haas do pack up their gear it will be pretty damning of F1, they're nothing like the 2010 teams. they've had the funding, the drivers and the results, if they can't see any point continuing F1 is in big trouble.
Like Williams i think the team will carry on... whether it continues to have Gene's name plastered over everything remains to be seen. Ferrari also thre them under the bus a bit imo... Haas was the Ferrari B team in all but name... and then 'Alfa Romeo' happened.
And it seems like the Haas/Rich story is moving along, as Storey sells his shares, and Rich Energy rebrands
