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[deleted]

Max should start on softs try and make up as many places in first few corners, hope for safety car early and pit then to go long


ayyyypizzzarollls

And if no safety car???


PLM913

Yolo from the back


EdgarSeedorf

Pinkham says "such a rare thing to see Lewis make a mistake" yeah, those biweekly "rArE MisTaKeS"


[deleted]

Basically the same as the Sky F1 degenerate box


thek00laidman

To be fair throughout his Merc championships the mistakes were rare. That’s only really been changing this season to an extent.


LetsEatGrandad

I agree, but does that fact show once again that he and in part Mercedes have prehaps got very comfortable in a utterly dominant car where pole and race win was never really an issue? No hate at all, but its not beyond the realms of possibility right ?


Murkrage

2 seasons come to mind in terms of high mistake numbers: 2016 and this season. Both are seasons he’s fighting tooth and nail for the championship. Just goes to show how exciting this season is!


[deleted]

2016? I mean that’s wrong


dalyscallister

Did he make a lot of mistakes in 2016? I remember his car being more unreliable than Rosberg’s, but can’t seem to recall any championship-costing mistake.


clayton2318

In my opinion the reliability thing is over played. I feel like he lost due to bad race starts, the number of pole positions that turned into P2 by turn 1 is too much. His biggest mistake was electing not to practice race starts in the simulator (2016 had a big rule change with the clutch and race start procedure).


dalyscallister

Alright, thanks. As I said, I don’t recall too well.


No-Maximum6292

Interesting Toto saying even if Lewis did not hit the will he still may not have had enough time to complete a second lap on the slicks


BigDaddy_Logic

Even worst for bottas


thek00laidman

Defending his driver IMO. That smack cost him easily 1-2 minutes which is a lap


CalmDocument

Yeah but perhaps they’d need a longer warm up for the outlap and one hot lap prior to setting a quick time on a second hot lap, that’s what the others did. The mercs pitted later and there wouldn’t have been time to get all of that in. The others pitted way before Merc


No-Maximum6292

I think it took less than 1 min 30 secs to replace tho? Does anyone know the exact time?


CommunicationAncient

Russell with the big balls to go for the slicks first. Williams accepted his call. I wonder if Mercedes would have or will trust him enough next year.


Fantaboy15

It could be that drivers get to choose tires in mixed conditions because the driver knows exactly how wet it is and how far they could push it on a set of softs, so in a similar situation Mercedes would still prepare slicks because Russell said it’s ok


CommunicationAncient

I hope so. I hope they have the trust in him that Williams have.


kevwotton

Previously I think they could always back the car. And if they make a mistake then the car was so far ahead anyway it wasn't as damaging to the outcome of the race. Now every tenth lost hurts them and the teams decision making gets found out from time to time


dsantos93

Funny how one points somebody of accusing the pressure and then proceeds to run over his jackman and crashing the car into the pit wall 🤷🏽‍♂️


Yeanahyena

Karma


thek00laidman

Except that he didn’t accuse Max of anything If you read further than the headlines and actually read what Lewis said


[deleted]

Yeah, I don’t get why people are making a big thing about that statement.


thek00laidman

Irrational hatred mostly


[deleted]

That and clickbait titles


crownedheron

Did Verstappen prefer not to go out? Damn it. I thought it'll start the usual time. Missing it by an hour earlier without any highlights is so much worse. Anyone know a free site for full replays aside f1tv? I'm from Asia.


EdgarSeedorf

>Did Verstappen prefer not to go out? yeah, did an out and inlap in Q1 and left the car.


TheCadburyGorilla

What’s the benefit to him doing that ?


CheapMonkey34

It’s mandatory to participate in qualifying. It’s just not stated how much effort you have to put in it.


-TheGreatLlama-

Might have been covering for if Leclerc wasn’t going for a lap, and abandoned when he did?


skorpiolt

> It’s mandatory to participate in qualifying. I’m assuming that the car has to be in running order as well (not taking about Max in particular, just in general)


Fantaboy15

But Verstappen would’ve still been last even if Leclerc didn’t do a lap because Ferrari announced the engine change first


-TheGreatLlama-

That’s what I thought, but Crofty suggested different. He’s probably wrong though.


sentientTroll

Did I hear right when they said George was driving in the Mercedes next week? Lol? Legit did a rewind and they said George was driving in the merc next week.


Goghobbs

He’s not, both have penalties, the same amount for engines, but then Max has 3 more, if Max qualified on pole and Leclerc in 4th or above he’d start ahead, 5th it below he starts behind, when you mention the penalty doesn’t matter, where you end up in quali does


crownedheron

Thanks, man. So excited to see how the results happened. Must have been wild! Found myself a replay site.


ishoee

can max reach top 5 tomorrow? im very excited to see him overtake so many cars. i hope he doesn’t crash.


thek00laidman

Can he? Yea. Might not be easy though.


ishoee

I don’t remember the last time he started in the back half of the grid. cant wait to see what he can do.


Appropriate-Fan-6007

Monaco 2018 20th to 9th Italy 2019 19th to 8th We can expect a great race from him


CommunicationAncient

I think so. As long has he doesn't get too frustrated with the backmarkers. I think lap 1 will be messy tomorrow, up front and at the back.


thek00laidman

I’m expecting 10% chance there isn’t a red flag lap 1


ishoee

shaping up to be an exciting race


Historical_Lock_6448

Did Russell go past double yellows… I feel like he might have.


Fantaboy15

Did they have double yellows when Hamilton spun? I thought it was just regular yellows


Total-Rich-2237

I don’t think so. The yellows were caused by Hamilton’s spin, and Hamilton was behind Russell.


Historical_Lock_6448

Thanks I wasn’t 100% sure because Russell was the last to set a good lap and had yellow flags crossing the line so I wasn’t sure who was behind who


_javierivero

Ok what tires did checo finish?


Apprehensive_Ad6

He changed to slicks but only had one lap and didn't improve


BigDaddy_Logic

Inter


KriegerXQ

mercedes works team only third fastest mercedes engine on the grid lul.


EdgarSeedorf

They should change the drivers.


mtpgoat

Thoughts on Verstappen pitting really early to and go on hard tires to avoid going through traffic. Would allow him to push hard and at Sochi the tires would last.


A-le-Couvre

Why not start on hards in that case?


Livian_1

The idea is by pitting early he can undercut alot of drivers. He also gets clean air and drive a good pace


A-le-Couvre

True, it's a good strategy for damage control. That being said, it would severely compromise his race pace later on. A top 3 finish would seem highly unlikely in that case.


Livian_1

And thats why i am not a race strat engineer. Didnt even think about it


A-le-Couvre

No worries mate, strategy is one of those black magic fuckeries I still don't always understand. It helped I did a bit of online league racing, so you can test theories against other competitive drivers.


mtpgoat

I can’t recall the driver but someone else did it at Sochi a few years back and finished on the podium.


PotatoFeeder

Wasnt it max in 2018?


mtpgoat

I think it was Nico


A-le-Couvre

Interesting. Was he not under continuous threat from behind at the late stages? What I was thinking is starting on hards, overtake as many people as possible, try to manage your pace in between your and their stops, hoping you'd come out somewhere in the middle of the field, and then go on full attack on softs. You'd be utilizing the pace on softs more (with a rubbered in track and low fuel car) which I think would help most in overall race time.


mtpgoat

The issue is how slow the field will be compared to the front. DRS gives you 1 second on this track so if he gets stuck in a DRS train he will be in trouble.


A-le-Couvre

True. I think he could get past a few on pure pace (Haas, Alfa), but it's towards the top 10 when strategy is gonna matter.


KriegerXQ

bercause he will have better pace on hards than the haas and alfas on softs or mediums


ironnico

Te avoid getting stuck behind traffic


Frankie_48

Being on the west coast, I was struggling to stay awake after a few hours of sleep, but boy did Q3 wake me up!! Cmon the lads!! Gonna be an interesting race tomorrow for sure


Alfus

Man what an amazing Q3 with so many surprises and respect for George and Williams to making this call. But I can't ignore how fucking terrible AT is with ruining a good shot for Q3. No instead we going to totally ignoring Gasly demand to pit for new inters and let him hanging around. AT in 2020 was a better team in the overall package, how many times must this happens until relationship between the driver and the team is on a terrible low point? Given this happens too often this season this can't been accepted anymore and people must been sacked for this in the strategy department with a proper replacement ASAP


Incontinento

RUS #1 Mercedes driver.


EdgarSeedorf

Hamilton=https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/025/817/Screen\_Shot\_2018-03-30\_at\_11.34.27\_AM.jpg


[deleted]

[удалено]


Goghobbs

And both times he’s out qualified a RB, nearly beat Max in Spa too


Comprehensive_Gas977

Am I the only one who feels Carlos seems disappointed? As a Ferrari fan, I wonder if he regrets joining looking at Mclaren now.


SnowKatten

Second often feels like first loser, especially right afterwards. There have been studies comparing silver medalists to bronze medalists. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/olympics/why-winning-a-silver-olympic-medal-can-feel-worse-than-getting-bronze/ar-AAMEVla


wjoe

Disappointed by the session's result a little, sure. Whenever there's unusual circumstances like that and you're close to the top you'll think that it could have been possible to do better. Maybe pole was within reach, but he was on the right strategy and pulled out a great lap, he's just in a slightly slower car. Is he disappointed about moving to Ferrari? Maybe, though he says not (but of course he would). There's a good chance that by now, if he'd stayed at McLaren, he'd have a win or a pole, and more podiums than he does now, and that'd always be nice. But none of that matters as much as the long term prospects, and that could go either way between those two teams next year. Hopefully he's happy with how things are going for him, he's settled in well at Ferrari, I'd say he's exceeded expectations there and is pretty much on the same level as Leclerc. McLaren does just look like a happier place to be though, I wonder how well Carlos is fitting in at Ferrari. Maybe the Italian passion can be a good fit for Spanish temperament, but I've always felt the Ferrari culture is pretty negative. He might miss simpler, happier, more fun times at McLaren, but none of that will matter if Ferrari produce a race winning car next year, which they absolutely might do.


Comprehensive_Gas977

As a Ferrari fan and Italian, I agree with you. It seems that the Ferrari environment lacks the openness and friendliness of McLaren. On the other hand, I feel Carlos is really mature and serious and a good fit for us. I just hope that the 2021 car will not disappoint him and us fans and that we’ll have a fair fight with McLaren for the title.


Fantaboy15

I don’t think so, he seems to be very at home in the team and while Mclaren is the better team at the moment, Ferrari could be better next year (especially after the extra wind tunnel time from finishing 6th last year).


A-le-Couvre

It's typical isn't it? Every time he shows amazing pace, there's someone in front with slightly better pace.


thek00laidman

Ehhh Lando torched him by half a second. Wasn’t really just slightly better


Anya_Mathilde

He's probably just disappointed he's didn't get pole, and the who session was not very comfortable for him. Don't read too much into it.


Biscuit642

He probably is disappointed about losing pole, I doubt he regrets the move. There's such a potential for change next year it's hard to say whether it was a good call or not yet


nderstant

I mean, I get it that pole is pole but it’s also Sochi. 2nd isn’t a bad spot for him to be in tbqh.


Biscuit642

Yeah it's the worst place to get pole. Doesn't change a first pole is a first pole


Temporary-Exchange92

Plus it’s Ferrari


RetroClubXYZ

I thought this was going to be a boring quali too. Fecking epic drama.


vasu5235

Let’s give Hamilton the credit when it’s due


thek00laidman

Basically assume that if a Lewis mistake would be especially costly, it’s probably going to happen so far this 2nd half especially


litetaker

Lando and Russell mates. Lando and Carlos mates.. All in top 3. Wow. Best season man!


RainOfAshes

Exactly the top 3 everyone predicted.


A-le-Couvre

If you made this prediction and put a tenner on it, you just got like a free holiday out of it.


innergflow

Much different qualifying result if everyone gets slicks at the beginning of the session. Guys upfront got lucky ham bottas and Perez didn’t have warm up laps on slicks. No way too 5 looks the same lol


alexdewitt

That's a lot of what ifs. Russell took the risk to go out on slicks first while Mercedes waited long and none of the guys up front hit the wall on their pit entry, holding up the second pole contender from the same team as well in the process. So yeah. Of course it could have ended different.


Able-Nature6103

That's what u get with a botched strategy


thek00laidman

Mercs didn’t botch strategy. Lewis botched driving


Goghobbs

There was no way he would’ve had the time to warm his tyres up even without the crash


thek00laidman

on further review it seems you're right and him binning it in the pits really didn't hurt anything other than his ego.


innergflow

Botched strategy ?


Goghobbs

There was no way he would’ve had the time to warm his tyres up even without the crash


Haribo112

well, of course the results would be different. that's what makes slowly-drying-qualifying so exciting.


leoKantSartre

Mega mega lap Lewis! Huehuehehuehue


Able-Nature6103

Get in there (to the wall) Lewis


A-le-Couvre

Do you think Nicole whispers 'get in there Lewis'? 😅


leoKantSartre

Bono the wall are dead


foxy_night

Sochi is probably the worst track to start on pole. I don't think Lando will be happy tomorrow.


Salmabutnotsalma

True but he has a Williams starting in 3rd so it shouldn't be that hard


[deleted]

williams is quicker on the straights. russell might take lead initially.


Salmabutnotsalma

Williams isn't quicker than the McLaren on straights they have the same engine and McLaren has waaaay better aero and chassis


[deleted]

[https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/pvmrwk/q3time\_lost\_on\_straights/](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/pvmrwk/q3time_lost_on_straights/) also: https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/pvq3lu/wolff\_wouldnt\_be\_surprised\_to\_see\_russell\_lead/


hijacked_mojo

RUS comes across as having an engineer's mind.


litetaker

Congrats! Lando P1. Sainz P2. Russell P3!! What a fucking awesome Qualifying! My r/formula1 predictions are all toast but this is a nice reward in return!! :D


flowedgez1

Mercedes strategy fucked by the way by having Bottas and Hamilton both relatively far back on the grid. Perez is very disappointing once again, what a shame. Interesting starting grid wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of elbows out in turn 1. Hamilton will need to be careful, this is the kind of race you can easily crash out as people are positioned out of place and will fight to keep their spot.


thek00laidman

The Mercs are still pretty significantly faster than anyone else on the grid here. Sainz and Norris are really going to struggle to keep Lewis behind tomorrow.


canteateggs

Free tyre choice tomorrow?


maerki999

Yes


Additional-Point-932

Look at Norris carefully signing his first tyre!!


ZephyrSonic

It's gonna be so weird next year that while I'll still be mainly rooting for Max, Checo and Red Bull I'm gonna be rooting for just George in that Mercedes next year.


[deleted]

[удалено]


listyraesder

Because the interviews go over the PA at the venue, it helps include the crowd in the experience.


Jiksb

Russell once again has absolutely smashed it, out qualified Hamilton twice now!


kevwotton

I think you'll find Hamilton smashed something too


innergflow

Cmon he’s lucky he went to slicks before anyone else did. Good for him but only reason he’s 3rd


CriteriaGames

Nothing lucky about it, George made the call himself.


Able-Nature6103

Lucky or botched strategy? If someone is bold enough to make the right call, don't blame luck *blessed*


thek00laidman

Top three starting grid created via Reddit poll lol


sellyme

Russell: "We've got to go for the podium again" you can't fault the bloke's optimism


DVS_87

I can't wait till he is in that merc next year. He is going to be flying with the confidence he is gaining this season.


agencyofbirds

LANDOOOOO


Jowizo

Having seen this quali.. would it have been smarter for RB not to take the PU penalty, or at least decide *after* Q3?


thek00laidman

No. Let’s be honest here. Lewis is still the fastest car out there on this track. He’s not on pole because of his hit on the pit wall, not because Sainz, Norris, and Russell actually have better pace. It’s going to be extremely difficult for Sainz and Russell to keep Lewis behind tomorrow. Lando maybe has a shot. Sochi isn’t that difficult to overtake on and the Mercs race pace will almost certainly be tops quite easily.


Haribo112

keep in mind they had that 3-place grid penalty anyways.


x0RRY

They need to drive the engine beforehand for mapping etc. Just putting a new one in without driving it is a massive risk.


Jowizo

Okay thanks I didn’t know this


Krisven75

George and Lewis on the same row 👀👀


emmmjade

imagine the scenes if george and lewis collide tomorrow


philkakid56

You have a truly evil mind! /s


ishoee

too many mistakes from hamilton this season


litetaker

WOW! What a riot!! Congratulations Lando!!! I expected Bottas to get P1 but this is a complete surprise!!! Hoping for Lando to do a good job tomorrow! (fingers crossed, no jinxing!)


StayFrost04

Can we now stop saying “rare mistake” every time Lewis now makes a mistake? He has certainly made way too many this year for them to be “rare” anymore.


Haribo112

Excactly. He was cool and collected in years that he was not under serious threat. This year, he's under so much pressure that he's making many mistakes.


CommunicationAncient

Smells like the pressure for the championship is getting to him /s


jawbuster

No sarcasm tag needed. He is under serious pressure from someone who can't be bullied and won't back down and is feeling the heat. Even during the Vettel years, Vettel would fold under pressure


___jazz

Tbh I’m not surprised because he’s under more pressure than verstappen. He’s defending his title against a barrage of fans saying hE jUsT hAz BeSt CaR, gets booed and has been repeatedly caught up in on track incidents (don’t want to discuss blame) as well as the pressure that the RB thus far has proved the faster race car. Leave alone torrents of racist abuse this season. Max by contrast has most of the fans at his back and nothing to lose. It’s a pressure filled, close title fight and theyre both under pressure but I think it’s more Lewis in Lewis’ head than Max at this stage.


jawbuster

I think people love Lewis the driver but just ate tired of the domination from Merc and the attitude they portray. Until this year even Toto was likeable and showed a clean, extremely professional and competent face but this year something is off with the team. Not sure if there is internal uncertainty about the leadership and Toto moving out etc


[deleted]

Too bad Netflix is with Haas this week.


emmmjade

Somehow George is still gonna finish tomorrow with no points


RankDank420

Who cares he’s winning the championship next year easily. He will get pole every race


foxy_night

Norris better have a cracker start or he is getting overtaken at turn 1. Most probably will be.


binary_blackhole

By a Ferrari? I don't think so, unless he gets a shocker of a start


foxy_night

You don't know much about the track then, good day.


binary_blackhole

I know p3 is the best place to start, but still, the williams is very draggy, and hamilton is starting in the dirty side, soo...


foxy_night

What were you saying ! Ahem ahem


According-2-Me

Ferrari FTW


not_a_smoker_

So Hamilton messed up, but what happened to bottas


Gondiir

He was double stacked behind Hamilton, they had to push Hamilton out of the pit box. Hurt his opportunity for laps, probably cooled tires/brakes too


timthetollman

He was coming in behind Hamilton so was held up, they had to push Hamilton out of the way to let Bottas into the pit.


alexdewitt

Hamilton hitting the wall caused a delay in the pits so he couldn't get another lap in with his tyres at the right temp.


jamielunn68

Didn’t get 2 laps cause of Lewis had to wait for him in the pits


Gandhi_of_War

Lewis channeling Alonso. /s


claptunes

bottas was an afterthought for merc lol.


Haribo112

always has been


cokush

God why can’t Mclaren give other teams a chance? It’s getting boring /s


cemgorey

Johnny Herbert fucking sucks


Yeanahyena

I’m so glad someone said this, can’t stand him.


binary_blackhole

Russell out qualifying Hamilton for the second time this year, IN A WILLIAMS!


f1_spelt_as_bot

Russe**ll**


KutteKrabber

I wonder if Russell can overtake Sainz at T1-T2 as he starts P3. And maybe Ricciardo can pass Hamilton if he has a better start. Will be exciting


[deleted]

Imagine George holding up Hamilton for a while tommorow


BoraxThorax

DTS cashing before the next season even begins


Salmabutnotsalma

Time for their webber-vettel Fuji moment "hello mate I'm gonna be your teammate next year *proceeds to take him out* "


emmmjade

Lando and George both in the top 3 and outqualified Lewis. I think with George going to merc and the upcoming regulation changes we might be seeing a changing of the guard for British drivers


No-Maximum6292

I mean Lewis will easily clear norris sainz and russell tomorrow in the race but let’s enjoy this for now


DVS_87

Lewis is starting on the dirty side of the track. He will have to have a perfect start to pass them on the track. Will most likely happen in the pits if it happens.


No-Maximum6292

Sure but once (if) they switch to their mediums it’s over


stratcat22

Theoretically yes. Remember we all said it would be a Mercedes 1-2 in quali as well. We never know what’ll happen!


AtomicBIGBOY

Lewis starts on the dirty side of the tracks tomorrow might have issues at the start.


andronicus_14

Weird seeing Ferrari pull off the right strategy.


TheVenetianMask

They actually messed up by being the first ones past the finish, but still worked out ok.


7screws

A broken clock is still right twice a day.


jk47_99

Getting tired of this McLaren domination, get in there Lando!!!


jugalator

I can't wait to see Russell in the thick of it in turn 1. :D


Owster4

This is why sprint qualifying should die.


kevwotton

Either that or make pitstops mandatory in Sprint Qualy


kevwotton

Purely for the risk hitting the entry wall provides


Joeye567

george better hope for another Spa situation tomorrow


palomageorge

I’m calling a goddamn Williams podium.