F1 Talk: Hamilton leads an awkward Mercedes 1-2

Lewis Hamilton took a third consecutive victory but it was definitely far from easy as he had to fight with Sebastian Vettel, only to be “controversially” let through by teammate Valtteri Bottas. Bottas moving over for Hamilton was the big talking point on Sunday and whilst I can see both sides of the argument of whether it was the right thing to do or not, I believe it was the correct decision, and Mercedes do not deserve to be criticised as badly as many people have reacted to the move.

Mercedes were put in a tough position mainly because Hamilton failed to take pole position. A mistake at turn seven after being a third of a second faster in sector one alone on Bottas meant it was the Finn who took his second pole position of the season as Mercedes locked out the front row. At the start of the race, Hamilton was too busy fending off Sebastian Vettel rather than attacking Bottas and was a bit lucky to stay ahead of the Ferarri.

Bottas tactically stayed to the inside between turn 1 and the first braking zone at turn 2 so that Hamilton was in his slipstream and Vettel was hitting clear air, therefore having more drag. It meant Mercedes would stay 1-2 but Hamilton went wide at turn 2 and Vettel had a chance to pounce and attack but he put his car in a poor position going into turn 3 and wasn’t aggressive into turn 4. Vettel missed a big chance to jump his championship rival but he didn’t take it.

The top four stayed as they were until the first pitstops but it became clear that Bottas couldn’t pull away in the first stint. Bottas pitted first, as the first car in a team gets pit priority. Hamilton and Vettel pushed on but the ultrasoft tyres didn’t have much pace left in them so Vettel pitted to undercut Hamilton.

It was a successful strategical play from Ferrari as Vettel had a car length or so in hand on Hamilton as Hamilton exited the pit lane. But Hamilton fought back hard and a scrappy lap (especially the third sector) allowed Hamilton to get a run on Vettel towards turn 2.

Vettel moved over to the inside very aggressively, forcing Hamilton to back out. It was on the limit for me but it was just about fair. Hamilton moved back to the racing line to get a good run out of turn 2 and he was right on the tail of the Ferrari going around turn 3. Vettel said he was unsure of where Hamilton was in his mirrors and he left a gap to his inside going into turn 4.

Hamilton went for it, didn’t lock his brakes, didn’t run wide and got the move done. Had it not been for what happened next, everybody would have been talking about that overtake. A shame really that the team orders took centre stage rather than the brilliant racecraft from Hamilton. We only got a lap or so of the battle we have been waiting for all season. When it comes to wheel to wheel action, Hamilton nearly always comes out on top and he did so again on Sunday.

Had Vettel been able to prevent Hamilton from overtaking him at that point we would have had a very different race. But he wasn’t able to unfortunately (for the championship sake) and even though Ferrari got their strategy bang on, Vettel wasn’t able to capitalise out on track.

Onto the team orders then.

Bottas was told to move over for Hamilton on lap 25 at turn 13 and Bottas did so. He did so at walking speed and my heart sank as I’m sure many others did. Was it the right call?

I said after the German Grand Prix, when Mercedes used team orders then by telling Bottas to not attack Hamilton, that there’s millions of pounds at stake and as a team you want to do everything to make sure that you win. Imagine if Hamilton wins the championship by less than eight points. It’s unlikely now but you just never know. You have to play safe and maximise everything.

What if Hamilton has an engine failure at Suzuka during the race and then has to take a grid penalty for the next event. 50 points could soon turn to single figures and the comfortable lead that Hamilton has now won’t be so comfortable. We don’t know what’s going to happen and it would have been silly for Mercedes not to use team orders just for morale sake.

Basically, as a team, you would rather look a little bit bad then look like idiots. You don’t want to have any regrets, especially when a championship is on the line.

I’m sure deep down even Bottas knows why Mercedes did what they did. He will be hurt and I do feel bad for him. He will get chances to win more races but even he knows that a race win for him is not as important as the championship for his teammate, even if it costs us (the fans) a chance of a battle between the Silver Arrows, just like we got when Nico Rosberg was at Mercedes.

Even then, you can argue that had Mercedes let them race, Bottas and Hamilton may have collided or slowed each other down to let Vettel overtake Hamilton. Mercedes just wanted to play it safe.

Bottas said he was about to speed up but I do think he was slightly slower than Hamilton overall. What I didn’t like is that Mercedes said they were worried about blisters for Hamilton, hence the team orders, but I didn’t notice any signs of blistering. Also, if blistering was the reason for the team orders then why didn’t Mercedes switch them back round like Force India did with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez in the same race.

Again, you can use the argument of Hamilton only gaining three points on Vettel compared to 10 points. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and some may look back at the Russian Grand Prix and say Bottas was robbed of victory. In all honesty, I think we will forget all of this by the end of the week and whilst unhappy that Bottas wasn’t allowed to try and win, Mercedes did the right thing but could have handled it much better.

Hopefully, we won’t see three sad faces on the podium again this year.

Away from the front, we saw an incredible drive from Max Verstappen who drove the first 10 laps like it was a video game. To overtake two cars every single lap, without burning up the tyres or getting stuck in the turbulent air, is very tough to do. The young Dutchman didn’t do anything silly and drove with a wise head as he eased through the field. Nico Hulkenberg’s team radio summed it up when Verstappen came to lap him. Hulkenberg said “how the hell did that happen?” which made me laugh but also showed how surprising Verstappen’s pace was. He led half of the race!

It’s a shame Daniel Ricciardo had front wing damage for much of the race as he hit some debris so we don’t know if Verstappen’s mega speed was normal or out of the ordinary. Carlos Sainz had significant floor damage all race after getting hit by Sergey Sirotkin on the opening lap at turn 2, hence why both were so slow all race long.

Neither team had as bad as a race as Toro Rosso though. Both drivers were out after a handful of laps when the front brakes overheated, and one of the pistons in the brake calipers got stuck which caused overheating of the brake fluid and a very long pedal which is a nightmare scenario for the drivers. The good news from Russia for Toro Rosso is that they tested their “Suzuka special” engine, for this weekend, and it looked excellent. Up to 0.5 of a second per lap is expected in performance and if that rings true then watch out for Toro Rosso in Q3 this weekend. Are Honda finally coming good? If so, Red Bull will be rubbing their hands together for 2019.

As mentioned, their is another F1 race this weekend and it’s the Japanese Grand Prix. A real drivers track. Overtaking is very hard but qualifying is spectacular as the cars are on low fuel, the engines are turned up, and the amount of downforce that today’s cars make is extraordinary. Vettel and Hamilton have both won four times in Japan, and both will be looking to get a 5th win as they look to take a 5th world championship.

It’s Hamilton’s to lose now as Mercedes have proven that their car is now the car to beat. I cannot explain where Ferrari’s pace has gone but I have read reports that they don’t have the same power boost coming out of the corners as they did from around Canada – Monza. Whether this is true I don’t know. But it looks as if Ferrari have gone backwards in the development race and something happened prior to Singapore. Red Bull would probably have beaten Ferrari at Russia if they didn’t start at the back and don’t be surprised if Ferrari are only the third best team this weekend.

Meanwhile, Mercedes have developed very well and the aerodynamic bits and pieces that they’ve brought to each race since the summer break have worked. It looks very much like we will get a similar situation to last season, with Ferrari losing a lot of pace in the latter part of the year and Hamilton and Mercedes clinching both titles with 2-3 races to spare.

I’m usually one for optimism but I don’t see a way back into the championship for Vettel and Ferrari, even if Hamilton does suffer a DNF this weekend. Momentum is not on their side, time is running out and the gap is expanding in points and in terms of performance.