Should be a good race. The Red Bulls could pull an upset. I'm sure MAX is all about the win while Vettel needs to remember the championship. Gonna be a fun first lap.
I liked what Hamilton said (jokingly) in his post qualifying interview. " "But he's got Verstappen right next to him so..anything can happen at the start"
I guess that's what Vettel gets for trying to block Max. He'd have been much better off had he thought of the championship & not being first at turn one. I feel sorry for Max, Kimi & his team not for Vettel. What a bonehead move. Lewis should send him a thank you note, what a gift. All & all after turn one it was a pretty boring race.
The championship is not over. Ferrari won't win the constructors, but a red car still could be driven to the drivers championship. I think it will close.
They said Vettel moved over to cover Max for the turn, he could not see Kimi on the other side of Max or he would have left more room......
No excuse, but I think both championships are over in Mercedes favor.
I know the chop move isn't illegal, but what he did was dangerous; took out multiple cars. There are six races left for him and Ferrari to get back the points, but it would only be fair if he loses the driver's championship as a result of that.
Vettel would have had the inside line as the first corner was a right turn. This might have given Verstappen the inside on turn turn two. In the past, I've remember seeing Verstappen take off Vettel's front wing in a similar move in a previous race. All pole sitters have done a similar move in previous races. This is a dangerous and legal move that makes F1 race starts exciting. Vettel probably should have been going a bit faster before making the chop in wet weather conditions, so certainly, he is to blame, but I would agree with the stewarts that is it a racing incident. It's definitely not Verstappen's fault, but in races, when you get sandwiched like that, you have a split second choice to slow down and admit defeat that you got passed on both sides, or you veer left slightly to avoid the car you can see. Perhaps a bit of inexperience, Verstappen turned left slightly, enough to make contact with Kimi. The term "never let up" is ingrained in most driver's heads so knowing when to ignore that advice is not an easy thing to do, especially in a split second decision. Kimi, for his part had a fantastic start and just happen to have that kind of start in the wrong race. Wished he had that kind of start more often in dry weather.
I was more annoyed at Alonso being an innocent bystander in that mess. He was having the best start of the race, running up the field, and then gets knocked out, no fault of his own.
I think Palmer might be the saddest man. Although Vettle had to be pretty sad with all the points he gifted Hamilton & Benz. Of course I'm sure Vettel has placed blame on someone else.
I'm sure the media is portraying it that Vettel is blaming everybody else. From his remarks at the time of the crash, and Vettel apologizing to his team, I'm thinking he knew he *^&%'d up that one.
From dealings with media, I know they only quote what they want to quote.
Not trying to sound like I'm protecting Vettel. But hey....did you see how great Hamilton's start was? He passed everybody and was in the lead after turn two. Other than Alonso, I was sort of hoping Ricciardo or Stroll would win the race. or even Hulkenberg.
Vettel is too good to be doing stupid stuff like that. I don't want the championship to be decided by Vettel's turn one DNF. It should be decided on track man against man. Hamilton had a great start & much luck getting through the carnage with no damage.
I was trying to explain that very phenomenon to the family this weekend, how an entire season of F1 can come down to 15 seconds of stupidity. But that’s the sport, for better or worse.
Still though, Hamilton can also have a moment of bad luck, get torpedoed by Max, and then we could have a close finish.
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