Yeah the radio broadcast made it more out to be Maz's fault than the TV show did Overall a good Race, shame Norris couldnt hold on for the Second place, but a hell of a good ( and hella lucky ) race from Lewis
I wonder if Mercedes are regretting keeping Bottas on this year. Being slower than Lewis is one thing, being so much slower than a Williams that he feels he can have a go round the outside of Tamburello is another. Of course it would be the driver who wants your job that collides with you, bit too much you move, no you move going on there. Russell didn't exactly cover himself in glory either, but he caught a Merc driving a Williams, they should put a blue plaque up or something. Merc got very luck that Perez had a wonky driving weekend, he's probably not going to do that again. Also, Toto Wolff: If he does that again I make him drive the Clio Cup next year...
Not Russell’s best weekend, he overreacted and touched the grass. It does, however, beg the question of Bottas yet again - why was he back fighting a Williams and not up front against the Red Bulls. All in all another good race, Max surprising me with his maturity - I really didn’t think he’d step up once the cars were equal, but so far he has. Lando is driving great, and brilliant to see McLaren back up there fighting for podiums. Ferrari have upped their game, although it’s not looking like Leclerc is the future world champ I’d though a couple of years ago.
Whilst Russel span I can see where he is coming from. Bottas definitely squeezed him out but maybe he shouldn't have been outside on the wet in the first place. Racing incident all in all. Definitely not a good look to smack him on the helmet but when you've just crashed at 200 mph I can see why adrenaline will be pumping. Norris looked strong, Ferrari look to have made steps forward, Bottas looked less than average, Hamilton is lucky (but you also make your own luck), Verstappen is looking to have matured into a more complete package (see if this holds under stress) and Perez just had a bad day at the office.
im well in the 'Racing incident' camp, but i saw Riccardo say when a driver is moving over towards you, you dont know how much he is going to keep moving, or even if he can see you, so you HAVE to overreact else he could just drive straight into you anyway Bottas did seem to be sleeping and Jinked left at the last second, but by then Russel was already on the wet grass and the crash was inevitable Russel then charged the Mercedies to demand to know wtf Bottas was doing, so Bottas flipped him off and you can see Russel going for the slap Neither driver really covered themselves in much glory over the weekend, and both drivers share the blame in the accident and the aftermath, as for what that means for the future, it will be interesting to see Also Kimi was demoted https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/raikkonen-loses-points-after-post-race-penalty-at-imola/6334703/
Very clear racing line that Bottas was on and following at that point, Russel would of known that as he would have been following it himself if Bottas wasn't in his way, it was the dry line on the track, Russell took a chance on the outside, failed, simple really.
I feel compelled to point out that the Haas cars were so slow today that they were classified behind Sebastian Vettel, who did not finish the race.
Russell and the press in general have been hyping him up since he was quick around the worlds most simplest race track. It reminded me of the track Richard drove in top gear f1 test thing years back very basic. Latifi is getting closer and closer in Qualy now and Russell seems to think he is the worlds best driver all of a sudden. The way he attempted the overtake was always going to result in him going off the track onto the wet grass (more tracks need grass) and crashing. Toto in his 60/40 comment also knows Russell was wrong. Bottas was never leaving him enough space and it reminded me off Nico and Lewis from Spain, Nico positioned lewis onto the grass spin crash both out similar outcome here. Also his over the top reaction of going hitting bottas on his helmet was shocking to see and will not be doing him any favours at Mercedes HQ as its terrible PR. Mercedes problem will be Sponsors, Sponsors need a driver who has world brand recognition. Russell and Bottas will not work for Merc next year if Lewis does retire. Which means they will need a big name if lewis is to leave. If Lewis stays I think Russells chances of been in the other car are basically nil. Lando would be my surprise pick for the second Merc seat alongside Lewis if they want rid of Bottas. Mercedes have a very quick race car that is easier on its tires than Redbull is becoming very apparant at least in Lewis hands.
Russell needs to be on the receiving end of a slap not dishing them out. He appears to be carrying a heavy chip of entitlement on his shoulder.
Yeah, maybe deputising for Lewis has gone to his head a little. Here's hoping it's just a phase because I think he's got the goods to make it big, if he doesn't brat himself out of consideration.
I think it's frustration creeping in. He won British Formula 4, GP3 and Formula 2 on his first try, through his junior career (2008-2018) he won at least 1 championship 7 out of 11 years and race wins every year. Now he's at Williams for his third year and in the Williams at least he can't even score points, he's stomped the team mates, he got in the Mercedes and stomped Bottas. After a decade of winning everything putting in maximum effort to finish bottom third every week must be soul destroying. It wouldn't hurt him to put the attitiude away though.
Drop the handbag slaps and bide his time until he can get in a competitive seat and he could go places. Trouble is all sports are littered with athletes with potential whose attitude consign them to the bin of missed opportunity.
More twatting about in the margins because they don't want to admit the pay to view model is slowly crippling their viewer base world wide. It's always qualifying they mess around with, becuase you can't change the format of a race with destroying the series' credibility. Still dumb, the last couple of years have been pretty good, even if it's 60 laps and then Lewis wins a lot of the time. I expect it will go one of two ways, eitehr the race will be a total procession as the drivers protect their cars and tyres for the actual race. Or it's going to end in a huge cloud of carbon fibre that results in one or serveal drivers missing the actual race due to broken chassis/injuries/lack of spares.
Russell for me is vastly over rated, He is beating a pretty poor team mate in Latifi. At the easist track in the history of F1 in a Mercedes car people called him great but the reality is he still did not beat bottas in qualy or the race yes there is circumstances but the results still stand. I dont even know if he will be in a Merc car for next season, I have been surpised they have not tried to move him up the grid somehow
Mazespin at the front? At that point you might as well just slash the tires of ~5 randomly chosen cars before the regular start rather than having them drive through a pile of debris
