2015 Formula 1 British GP

[Britpoint 4]

Oh Williams... the rain probably would have given them trouble anyway, but once again they were too hesitant on the strategy.

[sjsharp2010 225]

Hughesy said:

couger1981 said:

Another boring race, looking forward when other teams take the first 3 places instead of Mercedes.

Boring race? You are joking right? If not then I'm not sure what race you were watching...

I agree I really enjoyed that one that probably is one of my favourite races of the season  so far. I don't look at who's winning al the races I look at who's fighting who. How many challenges were there throughout the race and from that perspective it was perfect. it was definitely a mixed up race and turned out to be a great show because of it. I think Williams made the wrong call in not letting Bottas go earlier but I can understand why they didn't but as they say hindsight is  a wonderful thing.

[VetteIfan 0]

The element of luck certainly played its part today for Lewis. I was sat on the bank between Stowe and Club, and at the point Lewis took to the pit lane it was the wrong decision to pit. It wasn't wet enough, it had only been very lightly spitting with rain for about 10 minutes and the track was actually barely damp (at that point of the circuit at least). But, and I don't exaggerate on this, literally just after he crossed the pit lane line the heavens opened and the rain went from spitting to heavy in a split second. It was quite remarkable tbh, the racing gods really were on his side. But, luck can sometimes be the result of bravery, and at the end of the day Lewis made the perfect call, along with driving a great race. 

Amazing race though. Been to Silverstone 4 different years now, and the atmosphere this year was by far the best. Not just today, but all 3 days. The post race track evasion was, as always, pretty mega to be a part of. Ecstatic to see Seb on the podium too, after lap 1 I thought it was gonna be a long day, but fortunatly the racing gods shined on him today as well. 

Also a mention for Jenson. Despite enduring a miserable weekend, after the race he was at the pit wall signing tonnes of autographs for fans on the track. I tried to get close but people were basically fighting to get near him, so I just made do with a picture. But yeah, class act. 

[RevolvingPrawn 1]

Can we see your Button picture? :p 

[Hughesy 254]

RevolvingPrawn said:

Can we see your Button picture? :p 

I got a real good closeup picture of Button 

[AMSKRR 3]

VetteIfan said:

The element of luck certainly played its part today for Lewis. I was sat on the bank between Stowe and Club, and at the point Lewis took to the pit lane it was the wrong decision to pit. It wasn't wet enough, it had only been very lightly spitting with rain for about 10 minutes and the track was actually barely damp (at that point of the circuit at least). But, and I don't exaggerate on this, literally just after he crossed the pit lane line the heavens opened and the rain went from spitting to heavy in a split second. It was quite remarkable tbh, the racing gods really were on his side. But, luck can sometimes be the result of bravery, and at the end of the day Lewis made the perfect call, along with driving a great race. 

Amazing race though. Been to Silverstone 4 different years now, and the atmosphere this year was by far the best. Not just today, but all 3 days. The post race track evasion was, as always, pretty mega to be a part of. Ecstatic to see Seb on the podium too, after lap 1 I thought it was gonna be a long day, but fortunatly the racing gods shined on him today as well. 

Also a mention for Jenson. Despite enduring a miserable weekend, after the race he was at the pit wall signing tonnes of autographs for fans on the track. I tried to get close but people were basically fighting to get near him, so I just made do with a picture. But yeah, class act. 

Yeah, that was crazy good timing haha.

[Platy 6]

Just finished watching the race, Hamilton and Vettel timed their pitstops perfectly. 

[AMSKRR 3]

Did anyone else see these guys on Friday? They had a CD Player and did the little dance to it for a short time lol
http://gyazo.com/3dee09c0fedddbc7626cea38c7dc1c83


Oh and check out this video of Vettel in the wet on the slick tyres. Crazy how much he closes on Kimi here.
http://wtf1.co.uk/vettel-ferrari-slicks-in-wet/

[SamuelTrautman 0]

its so heartbreaking watching jenson struggle in that car :'-(

don't know why everyone is bashing Williams so hard, even if they had a 30 seconds head start Mercedes have so much pace advantage that they would still beat them.

so how many overtakes for the lead have we had so far this season? 2 lol 1 in the pits (Silverstone) 1 at the start (Austria) and people wonder why the fans think its boring.

people cheer when someone does the undercut yet complain about reintroducing refuelling as the overtakes happen in the pits, just like the undercut lol

each race I watch this year makes me want to watch it less and less 

[AMSKRR 3]

SamuelTrautman said:

its so heartbreaking watching jenson struggle in that car :'-(

don't know why everyone is bashing Williams so hard, even if they had a 30 seconds head start Mercedes have so much pace advantage that they would still beat them.

so how many overtakes for the lead have we had so far this season? 2 lol 1 in the pits (Silverstone) 1 at the start (Austria) and people wonder why the fans think its boring.

people cheer when someone does the undercut yet complain about reintroducing refuelling as the overtakes happen in the pits, just like the undercut lol

each race I watch this year makes me want to watch it less and less 

People are bashing Williams because their strategy was so amateurish. You got both drivers within a second, leading the race. Behind them are two very quick cars whose pace is limited due to your excellent straight line speed. So one of those very quick cars comes into pit, allowing him clean air and room to push the car to the limit. Meanwhile both of your cars are trundling around slowing each other down and couple that with an obvious pace deficit and you've lost the race after 20 or so laps. Lewis could use the clean air and tyres to punish you for your, quite frankly, dumb strategy.

It was vital to keep Lewis behind one of them, slowing him down so that the other Williams can pit and get out ahead. I like Williams, but that was a suicidal  decision. The Mercedes were never going to pass without a mistake from the Williams drivers.
 

[f1since08 60]

I watched the race from the grandstand at Stowe, and what a race it was! It was a fantastic experience to be there and the atmosphere was great! I got a lot of marbles on the walk round the track post race. The seats were fantastic, and the cars sounded a lot louder there compared to Brooklands. Now I want to go back next year!

[f1since08 60]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CowtAuigNz8

[SamuelTrautman 0]

AMS97KRR said:

SamuelTrautman said:

its so heartbreaking watching jenson struggle in that car :'-(

don't know why everyone is bashing Williams so hard, even if they had a 30 seconds head start Mercedes have so much pace advantage that they would still beat them.

so how many overtakes for the lead have we had so far this season? 2 lol 1 in the pits (Silverstone) 1 at the start (Austria) and people wonder why the fans think its boring.

people cheer when someone does the undercut yet complain about reintroducing refuelling as the overtakes happen in the pits, just like the undercut lol

each race I watch this year makes me want to watch it less and less 

People are bashing Williams because their strategy was so amateurish. You got both drivers within a second, leading the race. Behind them are two very quick cars whose pace is limited due to your excellent straight line speed. So one of those very quick cars comes into pit, allowing him clean air and room to push the car to the limit. Meanwhile both of your cars are trundling around slowing each other down and couple that with an obvious pace deficit and you've lost the race after 20 or so laps. Lewis could use the clean air and tyres to punish you for your, quite frankly, dumb strategy.

It was vital to keep Lewis behind one of them, slowing him down so that the other Williams can pit and get out ahead. I like Williams, but that was a suicidal  decision. The Mercedes were never going to pass without a mistake from the Williams drivers.
 

slowing each other down? looks like bottas couldn't get near massa after they said they were good to race, maybe he was a bit too aggressive with the tyres at the start. Dumb strategy? seems like it was just the rain that caught them out. whatever the strategy they aint got a chance of beating Mercedes they just aint fast enough, whatever way you want to describe it the fact is that they are easily a second a lap slower than them. The only dumb thing was not pitting for wets same time as vettel. Yet you never mention that.

[AMSKRR 3]

SamuelTrautman said:

AMS97KRR said:

SamuelTrautman said:

its so heartbreaking watching jenson struggle in that car :'-(

don't know why everyone is bashing Williams so hard, even if they had a 30 seconds head start Mercedes have so much pace advantage that they would still beat them.

so how many overtakes for the lead have we had so far this season? 2 lol 1 in the pits (Silverstone) 1 at the start (Austria) and people wonder why the fans think its boring.

people cheer when someone does the undercut yet complain about reintroducing refuelling as the overtakes happen in the pits, just like the undercut lol

each race I watch this year makes me want to watch it less and less 

People are bashing Williams because their strategy was so amateurish. You got both drivers within a second, leading the race. Behind them are two very quick cars whose pace is limited due to your excellent straight line speed. So one of those very quick cars comes into pit, allowing him clean air and room to push the car to the limit. Meanwhile both of your cars are trundling around slowing each other down and couple that with an obvious pace deficit and you've lost the race after 20 or so laps. Lewis could use the clean air and tyres to punish you for your, quite frankly, dumb strategy.

It was vital to keep Lewis behind one of them, slowing him down so that the other Williams can pit and get out ahead. I like Williams, but that was a suicidal  decision. The Mercedes were never going to pass without a mistake from the Williams drivers.
 

slowing each other down? looks like bottas couldn't get near massa after they said they were good to race, maybe he was a bit too aggressive with the tyres at the start. Dumb strategy? seems like it was just the rain that caught them out. whatever the strategy they aint got a chance of beating Mercedes they just aint fast enough, whatever way you want to describe it the fact is that they are easily a second a lap slower than them. The only dumb thing was not pitting for wets same time as vettel. Yet you never mention that.

If Bottas and Massa are less than a second a part, I would say they are holding one another up. Bottas in clean air could have gone faster than Bottas stuck behind Massa for example. 
So pitting at the same time as Lewis in the first round of stops would have been sensible.

From there, if they were still ahead they could split their strategies when the rain came, like Ferrari did or gamble both and leave them both out until Hamilton pitted again.

They kept Mercedes behind for 20 laps or so, what evidence do you have to suggest they could't do it for another 30? Hamilton, the best driver on the track, was stuck behind Bottas for 20 or so laps. There is no evidence that he could get past, it is possible but writing off the chance of winning based on assumptions is stupid. They lost the chance to win a race.

Anyway, If they had done what I'd said and the Mercedes cars had gotten past, they would have been 3rd and 4th anyway, if they hadn't screwed up their rain pit stop calls.