No F1 thread?

[Orange Cola]

What was that, best race of a few years?

Despite being a Hamilton fan I had to chuckle when Merc had Hamilton’s car in the pits with no wheels on it for about 40 seconds, dropping right down the pack and DC said ‘the wheels have literally fallen off the Mercedes wagon’. I knew it would take something special to get Williams in the points this year and that’s exactly what happened.

[Rich B]

I see races like this as a bit of a laugh - it was so chaotic that you could barely follow what was going on half the time. Silverstone was the best race this season!

[duncs500]

When LH's car was stuck in the pits there was one particular mechanic who was running around like a headless chicken looking for wheels, I think in the end he didn't successfully bring one to the car.

[NotoriousREV]

When LH's car was stuck in the pits there was one particular mechanic who was running around like a headless chicken looking for wheels, I think in the end he didn't successfully bring one to the car.

When he ran away from the car it had a Soft fitted, when he ran back, without a tyre, someone had stuck an Inter on it. God knows what he was supposed to be doing.

[NotoriousREV]

[Mito Man]

Well it was a very 1950’s style pit stop. Serves them right for desecrating the car like that and dressing up like tarts.

[mik]

[PaulJ]

When LH's car was stuck in the pits there was one particular mechanic who was running around like a headless chicken looking for wheels, I think in the end he didn't successfully bring one to the car.

I felt sure he'd appear with a space saver eventually.

[integrale_evo]

Seems mad that in a race like that the pit crews aren't all 100% on it as you know everything can change at the drop of a hat?

They didn't even have a wing anywhere near ready, I expect Hamilton radioed in as soon as he went off and told them about the wing.

Of course it was very short notice, but he still had to drive back across the track and into the pit lane.

The penalty was a load of bollards, not like it was a planned decision to take that line, bounce off the barrier then struggle to the pits with bits of car hanging off. Surely the risk of cutting the entrance was lower than the risk of doing an entire lap with a wounded car potentially losing bits around the racetrack?

Lots of people complaining about the slick rubber, but it's beyond the limits of the track, just like some places have an Armco or concrete barrier just beyond the curb, other places have grass of gravel, some have grippy tarmac. As a driver you're supposed to drive to the limit including understanding the consequences of going off the edge of the track at most parts of the circuit.

Fairly obvious that a pool of water sitting on top of a rubber coated surface isn't going to provide much grip to tyred f1 car.

[Orange Cola]

I think their issue was that if they did go off then the run off area was pretty much useless, if anything contributed to ensuring it wasn’t just a spin or whatever but a one way ticket into the barriers, which is what run offs and gravel traps are designed to stop.

[Mito Man]

Yep as I believe it LeClerk’s point was that he slowed to 70kmh on the run off expecting the car to be able to have make the turn as it would if the surface had been normal tarmac but he carried on straight into the wall instead. If you see a tarmac run off you’ll probably not slow down as much as you don’t expect it to be so slippy.

[duncs500]

Yep as I believe it LeClerk’s point was that he slowed to 70kmh on the run off expecting the car to be able to have make the turn as it would if the surface had been normal tarmac but he carried on straight into the wall instead. If you see a tarmac run off you’ll probably not slow down as much as you don’t expect it to be so slippy.

And how about if you've just seen several cars in the wall at that location? Maybe then you'll slow down?

[integrale_evo]

But if it had been dry it would have been super sticky and they would have been saying how wonderful it was.

Those that did hit the barrier only got minor or no damage, so the thin strip of gravel seemed to do a decent enough job on a relatively low speed corner.

At the far quicker turn 1 they had standard tarmac runoff and that still wasn't enough.

Last thing we want is 100m of stripey blue grippy runoff around the outside of every corner.

[integrale_evo]

Yep as I believe it LeClerk’s point was that he slowed to 70kmh on the run off expecting the car to be able to have make the turn as it would if the surface had been normal tarmac but he carried on straight into the wall instead. If you see a tarmac run off you’ll probably not slow down as much as you don’t expect it to be so slippy.

He had been over it a few times before his race ending incident too...

[Mito Man]

But that was the first time he went in it with slicks wasn’t it?

[DaveE]

I think the penalty was valid.

The cone was to mark the limits of the pit entrance.

In lieu of say an Armco barrier.

If there was a barrier, he'd have to go round again to get to the pit entrance again.

This is the same thing IMO.

I have no sympathy for the drivers moaning about the run off either. It's their job to know these things and compensate for them.

[Mito Man]

I think if he went round again it wouldn’t have taken any longer as Mercedes would have done a 8 second stop instead!

[Rich B]

If there was a barrier, he'd have to go round again to get to the pit entrance again.

but there wasn’t.

[Marv]

I think the penalty was valid.

The cone was to mark the limits of the pit entrance.

In lieu of say an Armco barrier.

If there was a barrier, he'd have to go round again to get to the pit entrance again.

This is the same thing IMO.

Valid, but a petty. If there was Armco and Hamilton had to do a lap, then bits might have come off his car, potentially causing an accident.

[Orange Cola]

I think the penalty was valid.

The cone was to mark the limits of the pit entrance.

In lieu of say an Armco barrier.

If there was a barrier, he'd have to go round again to get to the pit entrance again.

This is the same thing IMO.

Valid, but a petty. If there was Armco and Hamilton had to do a lap, then bits might have come off his car, potentially causing an accident.

Then he’d have got done for driving that instead because he didn’t pull off and stop the car. How about we stop every car in the race that does... oh wait!