Hamilton wins in Spain after dramatic duel with Vettel

2017 Spanish Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix after a hard and close battle with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.

Vettel jumped into the lead at the start of the race, but a collision in the first turn between Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen sent the Ferrari into the side of Max Verstappen, taking the Ferrari and the Red Bull drivers out of the race on the spot.

Vettel and Hamilton raced out into the lead of the grand prix, pushing hard on Soft tyres. Ferrari opted to pit Vettel on Lap 14 for a second set of Softs, resuming behind Ricciardo’s Red Bull.

Mercedes chose to take advantage of clear air, keeping Hamilton out until Lap 21 before switching him to Medium tyres. Vettel cruised up behind Bottas, who had yet to stop, and spent three agonising laps stuck behind the second Mercedes before a superb move along the main straight saw him retake the lead.

This had allowed Hamilton to dramatically cut the Ferrari’s advantage. But when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed soon after the half way stage after Stoffel Vandoorne and Felipe Massa collided, Mercedes switched Hamilton onto Soft tyres.

Vettel pitted for new Mediums after the race resumed, rejoining just ahead of Hamilton. Hamilton placed immense pressure on the Ferrari, eventually taking the lead on Lap 44 after a lengthy duel with Vettel.

Hamilton duly held on to the finish to take his second win of the season. Daniel Ricciardo inherited the final podium position after Bottas retired mid-race with an engine failure.

Force India secured fourth and fifth with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, respectively. Nico Hulkenberg took sixth for Renault, while Pascal Wehrlein took Sauber’s first points of the season in seventh despite a five second-post race penalty.

Carlos Sainz Jnr, Daniil Kvyat and Romain Grosjean rounded out the points.

2017 Spanish Grand Prix reaction

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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128 comments on “Hamilton wins in Spain after dramatic duel with Vettel”

  1. Firstlap nutcase strikes again.

    1. Yeah, great race. Only disappointment was Kimi and Max. Too bad for Bottas but he wasn’t really in contention at the time so it doesn’t feel like we were robbed. And Vandoorne, what was he thinking?

      1. i’m sure vandoorne wasn’t even aware Massa was beside him.

        On massa’s onboard shown later, he was so further behind on the middle of the main straight that Stoffel probably believed he wouldn’t be there in the braking.

        But Honda power, we know how it is… and Massa was there.

        1. GtisBetter (@)
          14th May 2017, 15:32

          On his on board It looks like vandoorne was looking in the mirror a lot when massa was next to him.

      2. The gap at front is huge, both Ferrari and Merc were to pull nearly 1min lead over rest of the pack. Again battles in middle of grid were exciting to follow compared to front.

    2. Bottas?

    3. Firstcomment nutcase strikes again

    4. Err….GRO didn’t

  2. Dramatic duel. I like that sarcasm.

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      14th May 2017, 14:43

      +1. That DRS killed the joy of a real, dramatic duel.

      1. GtisBetter (@)
        14th May 2017, 15:28

        There would be no duel without DRS.

        1. I get sometimes annoyed for people complaining about DRS. I think the fact of the matter is that on one hand we want fuel efficient, safe and fast F1 cars leading to innovation in aerodynamics. But, this has lead to cars being sensitive to air quality and thus the DRS.

          1. We? I want fast cars. I couldn’t care less about fuel efficiency pushed by the media because the big corporations needed something new to trick the masses with and make massive amounts of money on.

            And aerowake or turbulence can be adressed with far better solutions than the current DRS system. Even if you’re keen on keeping the opening rear wing just make it so that each driver can use it for a predetermined amount of seconds each lap. In that way it’s at least a tactical tool instead of a cheat mode.

          2. Who is “we”? I think most people watching F1 want to see some good fights on the track and some skillful overtakes requiring some big balls to pull it of. I doubt there are many people watching F1 because they are interested in fuel efficiency, safety and innovation in aerodynamics.

            As far as DRS is concerned, I think the solution is either to have some restrictions on the aerodynamics to reduce the wake turbulence and get rid of DRS, or allow the drivers to use DRS all the time without restrictions. The latter may not be as crazy as it sounds; opening up the rear wing not only reduces drag but also reduces the wake turbulence making it easier for the attacking driver to follow closely.

      2. True. Vettel never would have passed Bottas without DRS.

        1. He would never have been close enough to even attempt an overtake without DRS.

    2. While the overtake itself may not have been dramatic, the duel for sure was. Strategy and also driver ability played a factor today!

      1. The main factors were the VSC and Bottas blocking otherwise only one winner today

        1. Yeah how dare bottas not just pull over and let vettel passed. Who the hell does he think he is. I say he should be banned for life for having the audacity to race vettel for the lead of the race. Disgraceful………….

          1. That’s exactly whst he did for Ham. He did no try to defend his position at all. Both battles were for position. Completely different behaviour from Bot. If he had put up a fight against Ham then no one could say anything. But he let him pass effortlessly.

          2. Ehmm, Gcoul, that’s because they drive for the same team.

        2. Yeah, don’t you hate it that F1 is also a team sport…. sigh. Like Vettel or Ferrari have never benefited from the same tactic.

          1. No problem with blocking or sacrificing a drivers race for another, only denying the facts.

  3. Well that was a very good race. Fight between Vettel and Hamilton was immense, although Ferrari lost the race on strategy again, pitted the first time too early, then for whatever reason pitted the lap after VSC came in, meaning Hamilton gained quite a bit of time on them then. Still unsure as to why the rule for rejoining the track is like it is here, when in Russia Magnussen got a penalty for doing basically the same as Hamilton after being pushed wide, and that was on the first lap. Don’t get why the rule is going round the bollard only if you go over the bumps, that’s pretty stupid.

    Great races for the 2 Force India’s again, 4th best team right now, especially on race pace, and have 2 drivers better than those at Williams. If they can keep Perez, they’re looking strong for the next 2 years.

    Hulkenberg too, excellent race after showing that this isn’t the Renault’s best track in qualifying. Especially as he finished so far ahead of Palmer, the gap was ridiculous.

    And Pascal Wehrlein, what a race, if he hadn’t come into the pits wrong (haven’t seen the replay, but I assume the call from when the VSC came out was so late he literally couldn’t come in to the right of the bollard), that would’ve been 7th place, in a Sauber. Superb 1 stop strategy from him and the team, and 4 very useful points.

    1. he still finished in 7th because he was 6 seconds ahead of Sainz

      1. Really? BBC site is lying to me then. If that’s the case, then it’s even more impressive

        1. That VSC was superlucky for Pascal no matter if he got 7th or 8th.

          1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            14th May 2017, 17:57

            @rethla

            I agree here. I do admit he had a very strong race. But he was extremely lucky. If there wasn’t any safety car and Bottas, Raikonnen and Verstappen didn’t retire, He won’t have been in the points. Also other drivers such as his team mate could have managed points if they were on the same strategy. Even Massa having his issues could well have helped Wherlein a little. Getting points is obviously a huge achievement, but I personally don’t think he did much better than Ericsson this weekend. Even in qualifying, He only beat Ericsson into Q2 by 0.005 seconds.

          2. @rethla @thegianthogweed you guys are the best.

          3. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            14th May 2017, 18:29

            @johnmilk

            You said earlier that you use a lot of sarcasm… So am i misunderstanding you and you mean we are the worst? :D

            Anyway, Would you mind explaining what you mean? I’m guessing you maybe think I’m being a bit harsh on Wherlein?

            Anyway, explain if you can without getting me more confused!

          4. @thegianthogweed you are the best Ericsson’s fans or defense advocate, whatever you prefer

          5. @johnmilk
            Yeh because Pascal was totally unlucky that he got a 5sec penalty. Even with that penalty he was the one who gained most from that VSC in the entire field and if he would have been 2sec later so he managed to dive in without a penalty it wouldnt have mattered the slightest.

          6. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            14th May 2017, 18:46

            @johnmilk
            I’m sorry we don’t agree.

            I’m no Ericsson fan. But I do believe that Wherlein is over rated and Ericsson is under rated. I don’t think Ericsson is better but I’ve been paying very close attention to them both this season and there isn’t much of a difference between them.

            I mainly try to defend Ericsson just because of the amount of critisism he gets when he isn’t actually that bad. Other than in the wet of course. And I may sound like I don’t like Wherlien but that isn’t true. I just think he’s both of the races he has scored points in his career were very lucky even if he did also put in a strong performance.

            Both these drivers have had good races and both have had poor races in 2016.
            And it has to be said that Wherlien didn’t have a great start his season this year because of his big mistake in ROC which cost him the chance to compete in the first 2 races. He did have a strong race in Bahrain, but Ericsson wasn’t far behind him before he had to retire. Then in Russia, Ericsson beat Wherlein by nearly 30 seconds. I really do think the gap between them is far smaller than most think. But I do think Wherlein is more likely to improve over his career than Ericsson as Ericsson is now in his 4th season.

          7. @thegianthogweed you should never be sorry if your opinion is different from someone else.

            If you are not a fan, it’s the 2nd choice then ;)

            I might be wrong at the end of the season (I doubt it) if Ericson shows a side of him that we haven’t yet seen. But I think he had one too many lifes in F1, a bit like Gutierrez.

            It is too soon to draw conclusions with Pascal if I’m honest. But as you say, if they turn out to be at the same level, IMO there is no space for them in F1. It’s harsh but so is F1

          8. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            14th May 2017, 19:47

            @johnmilk
            When I say they are basically at the same level at the moment, I actually think they are both decent. Or average should I say. But I think they are both deserving to be in the sport. I just think several of Ericsson’s good performances haven’t been noticed by people because there were virtually no retirements and he was out of the points. In both of Wherlein’s points finishes, there were quite a few much more competitive cars that retired.

    2. although Ferrari lost the race on strategy again, pitted the first time too early, then for whatever reason pitted the lap after VSC came in, meaning Hamilton gained quite a bit of time on them then

      The VSC came at a horrible time for Ferrari. Ideally, they wouldn’t have want to pit Vettel at all. But their hand was forced because of Mercedes decision to pit Hamilton (for whom BTW, the VSC came at a perfect time). The Mercedes decision to pit became even more awesome as that was the last lap under VSC which meant that Seb had to pit under full racing conditions.
      Now, did Mercedes know that the VSC would end on that particular lap, in that case, yes, Mercedes got the strategy right, but if Mercedes just got lucky with the timing of the VSC ending, then Ferrari are the unlucky ones.

      1. Even so, the Medium tyre would’ve easily lasted a few laps longer, if they’d pitted under the VSC. Yes it is just luck of the draw, but Mercedes may have been monitoring the marshals clearing Vandoorne’s car and then pitted him as soon as it was out of the gravel, in which case it was more clever than luck. But Ferrari were unlucky, yes, but imo they should’ve pitted sooner under the VSC. If anything, after Hamilton passed him, with ~20 laps to go, I’d personally have pitted Vettel onto softs, where he’d have been quicker, forcing Hamilton to push more and killing his tyres faster. Ferrari undoubtedly pitted too early the first time though.

        1. Yes it is just luck of the draw, but Mercedes may have been monitoring the marshals clearing Vandoorne’s car and then pitted him as soon as it was out of the gravel, in which case it was more clever than luck

          If it really was this, then kudos to Mercedes. They beat Ferrari strategists fair and square. But if it wasn’t then, it is plain dumb luck

          Ferrari undoubtedly pitted too early the first time though.

          I have wondered about this too. I fail to understand why they did this. This may perhaps be the first strategy mistake by Ferrari this season.

      2. On RTL.DE, Toto Wolff just said it was intentionally the last lap of VSC, they waited as long as possible so that Ferrari couldn’t react unless under full race speed @sumedhvidwans, definitely was one of the factors gaining them the win, but they had to work for it.

        1. Aah well.. Well done to Mercedes in that case. They engineered it perfectly. (and this is genuine genuine praise coming from a Ferrari fan :))

          Bring on more of such races for 2017.

    3. Are you kidding?

      It was a nice race for the win between Hamilton and Vettel. Everything else was very Sochi-ish, i.e. boring as hell.

      The Force Indias and Hulkenberg were in their ‘finish position’ right after the start. Never challenged Ricciardo in front or had pressure from behind. Solid yes, something special no.

      The Wehrlein strategy worked only because overtaking is nearly impossible. Still pretty good drive.

      1. Sochi-ish? Clearly you didn’t see the part where 7th-11th were all within about 4 seconds before Wehrlein and Sainz broke away. Also, Wehrlein clearly did have pace, as he was able to break away from Magnussen, Kvyat and Grosjean despite them all having DRS.
        I agree that the Force India’s and Hulkenberg endd basically where they were after lap 1, but down the field there was action the vast majority of the time, unlike in Sochi when people were hardly able to get within 2 seconds of each other.

      2. Fukobayashi (@)
        15th May 2017, 11:24

        Sochi-ish? Did you watch the same race? Sochi I can’t recall seeing one overtake for position. Barcelona I saw Vettel pull off a cracking double dummy against a Mercedes and I saw Fernando Alonso pass a Renault on the straight!

        Great race.

    4. Well that was a very good race. Fight between Vettel and Hamilton was immense, although Ferrari lost the race on strategy again, pitted the first time too early, then for whatever reason pitted the lap after VSC came in, meaning Hamilton gained quite a bit of time on them then.

      Ferrari have made some bad calls in their time but IMO this one took the biscuit…..and ate it too. Vettel got ahead of Hamilton right away and was controlling the race very well; history has shown that Vettel can be a formidable opponent from the front. Ferrari panicked and called him in too early, thus playing into Merc’s hands. The Ferrari holds its tyres better than the Merc and so the right thing to do was for the team to wait for Merc to blink first and then take matching action. Bottas by then was so far behind that there was no need to factor him into the equation if only Ferrari had played it smart.

      Instead, they brought Vettel in too early and fitted soft tyres, dramatically reducing his options for rest of the race. This also brought Bottas into play, who did his bit for the team by holding-up Vettel. As if this was not enough, the VSC and the wrong time for Vettel completed the job and gifted Hamilton a victory.

      Vettel did not lose the race but his team and bad luck lost it for him.

  4. “Lap 45 – Controversially, stewards decide no further action on Hamilton for not using the bollard to re-join the race.”

    “Lap – 47 Wehrlein has a five-second penalty for not staying the correct side of the pit exit bollard.”

    Rules are rules and if you break them, you should be penalised even if your name is Lewis Hamilton. So, did Hamilton really win?

    1. He only needed to go around the bollard had he ran over the rumble strip/sleeping police, he didn’t, so no penalty. So yes, he won

    2. 9) Run-off area around turns 1 and 2
      9.1 Any driver who fails to negotiate turn 2 by using the track, and who passes over one of the
      speed bumps across the run-off area, must then re-join the track by driving to the left of the
      bollard before the entry to turn 3, drivers are reminded that having left the track they must
      re-join safely. See the photos on page 5.

      from fia website. but don’t let understanding rules get in the way.
      lewis didn’t touch any of the speed bumps so no action warranted.

      1. and lets not forget he DID NOT run wide, Seb gave him no room in the corner.

    3. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      14th May 2017, 15:00

      Why on earth would you want a silly arbitrary rule to have ruined the showdown between those drivers when it would have been completely unjust considering Hamilton was pushed off from Vettel? No action taken was the right decision morally and for the fans.

      1. And otherwise they’d also have to investigate Vettel for pushing HAM of track – messy, and indeed quite unneeded as you say @rdotquestionmark, this was just a fight, no one gained an unfair advantage there, and they kept their fight up so great for most fans of F1.

    4. There is quite a difference between pushed wide after contact with another car (which you are alongside), and driving your own car in such a way as to miss the entry to pitlane.

    5. Seriously? Rules have leeway especially when the top 2 are racing.

      1. They shouldn’t though. In this case because of the rule quoted by MikeyWayne above, Hamilton didn’t actually break the rules, despite it just being specified to us viewers as if you go wide, you have to go round the bollard, hence the uproar about it. But in other situations, drivers shouldn’t be able to get away with breaking the rules because they’re battling for 1st, that defeats the whole point of having the rules.

    6. Come off it. Why was Vettel not penalised for running another driver off track?

      1. Which race was that in?

        1. What Edd below said.

      2. Massa was under investigation for forcing Alonso off track.
        Vettel never was for doing the same thing to Hamilton…

        go figure…

        1. l’m still none the wiser

    7. Yes Lewis did win because he didn’t break any rules. Funny how you aren’t complaining about VET not getting investigated for hitting another car off the track. Don’t confuse your bias with fact.

      1. Hamilton was never going to pass Vettel in that spot.

        Hamilton routinely did the same or worse to Rosberg (Montreal 2016, Suzuka 2015, Austin 2015 off the top of my head). Hamilton didn’t lose a position, no harm done.

        Bit harder to bully the best German driver on the grid (Vettel), than the 3rd or 4th best German driver on the grid (Rosberg).

        1. Ok

          1) I am not saying Vettel should have got a penalty
          2) “Hamilton was never going to pass Vettel in that spot” He could have easily if Vettel had given him a cars width of track
          3) “Hamilton routinely did the same or worse to Rosberg” When Hamilton does it it is somehow worse? But not when Rosberg or Vettel (or any other driver) does it? Watch out your bias is showing :P

          1. 2) “Hamilton was never going to pass Vettel in that spot” He could have easily if Vettel had given him a cars width of track

            Vettel was always going to take the racing line there.

            When Hamilton does it it is somehow worse? But not when Rosberg or Vettel (or any other driver) does it? Watch out your bias is showing :P

            Hamilton routinely pushed Rosberg off the circuit. Even when he took Rosberg out last year in Barcelona with a mistake that was 100% Hamilton’s fault the team still refused to blame Hamilton.

            Of course, when Rosberg sliced Hamilton’s tyre with his front wing in Spa 2014 they slapped him with a €300k fine. No wonder Rosberg walked out on them…

          2. 3) “Hamilton routinely did the same or worse to Rosberg” When Hamilton does it it is somehow worse? But not when Rosberg or Vettel (or any other driver) does it? Watch out your bias is showing :P

            I think what anon was saying is that if Hamilton can do it to others without penalty then he can expect the same back. YOUR bias is showing from this comment if anything.

          3. with a mistake that was 100% Hamilton’s fault the team still refused to blame Hamilton

            Rosberg, with a crippled car, violently swerves off of the racing line to chop off Hamilton, and that was somehow 100% Hamilton’s fault? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

    8. @Henrik
      Question: So, did Hamilton really win?
      Answer: Yes he did!

  5. Win number 55 sounds really good! Not sure if he’ll get to 91 but well on his way to cementing his name amongst the best ever!

    1. @72defender Hasn’t he (and VET and ALO as well)?

      At least there are easily several champions compared to whom they’re higher rated – perhaps the early-retiring-fasther-son champion pairing for starters. (though I’d still see reasons for considering people like Moss, GV, etc to be even better)

      1. I’m a huge Hamilton fan and no doubt he’s already amongst the best! Just taking things into perspective on him having achieved a mighty 55 wins but still a big 36 wins in arrears of Schumacher. Just have an appreciation for both drivers.

    2. Are you kidding? He’s a triple world champion…

      1. A lot of those wins have been in the most dominat cars in the history of the sport (Merc 2014-16) and he’s had competitive cars since he came into F1. McLaren in 2007 was the best car on the grid. Not many drivers have had competitive cars from their very first race in F1.

        So the stats are some what inflated for Hamilton.

        I don’t remember Schumacher on the radio panting out of breath. Not sure if it was physical and/or mental for Hamilton. He does get panicky sounding on radio when he’s in a contest, so it could be either.

        1. “A lot of those wins have been in the most dominat cars in the history of the sport (Merc 2014-16)”

          Disgruntled much?

          1. That’s just a fact. Rosberg has been his only foil the last three years and we all know that Hamilton was the favoured son. Rosberg was the 3rd of 4th best German driver on the grid depending on how highly you rated Wehrlein.

            Hamilton still has an advantage over Ferrari this year so the championship is his to win since his teammate was barely much faster than a Massa 8 years past his prime.

            Hamilton’s stats are padded. Imagine Alonso’s stats if he found himself in a Mercedes from 2014-16 and had Rosberg as teammate. Probably wins 50 plus races.

  6. The grid is broken this year ….

    P11 Was lapped 2 times

    P4 Was lapped 1

    P3 Was 1m16s behind P2 ….

    This Gap is Giant And kills the competition …. I’m worried

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      14th May 2017, 18:23

      What annoys me most whn gaps get this big is the lapped drivers. Today, there were as many lapped drivers in the points as out of them. And even drivers like Perez who was 4th will ahve had to comprimise his race to let the leaders through. A 4th is probably just as important to Force India as a win is for Mercedes. I sometimes wish that the lapped drivers that are batteling in the points didn’t have to cost themselves so much time. But then I also wish they didn’t cost people right at the back as much either. As they often have to look out for the leaders coming by more than they can overtake. That is just silly!

  7. Fikri Harish (@)
    14th May 2017, 14:48

    Whoa, Wehrlein. And to a lesser extent, whoa, Hulkenberg.
    Palmer really isn’t doing anything worth writing about. I’d put Hulkenberg and Perez in roughly the same level, and given how Ocon is quickly coming up to Perez despite being less experienced with F1 and single-seaters in general compared to Palmer, there really is absolutely no reason why Palmer is light years behind Hulkenberg, other than sheer talent.

    Some inconsistencies with the DRS today. Too powerful for the most part but both Sainz dan Kvyat was stuck behind Wehrlein and Magnussen for what seems like eternity. That Toro Rosso is seriously lacking in power.

    1. Palmer and Stroll are miles behind the others. Neither deserves a seat in F-1, perhaps not even a top F-2 seat.

      Let’s give at least a full season to Stroll, but Palmer is plain mediocre.

      1. Fukobayashi (@)
        15th May 2017, 11:28

        +1

        Palmer has zero confidence in himself. In interviews he resembles a stoned James Franco, mumbling his way through and occasionally remembering that he’s meant to be an F1 driver.

  8. Shocking….over a minute to third place…..fourth place…a lap down.
    …but a good race…..Ham had to work for this win…..he was breathless during radio chat

  9. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    14th May 2017, 14:57

    What a great race. That’s what it’s all about for me, watching two greats duke it out on the limit lap after lap. Mercedes’ call to use the mediums early and stop during VSC won it imo there was nothing else in it between Lewis, Seb or their respective cars. What a great season this is shaping up to be. Also nice touch to let that young lad meet Kimi, I presume this is something Liberty Media organised, more great stuff from them. Only thing I didn’t like was the anti-climatic DRS overtake for the win but it’s better than no overtaking….. for now.

  10. I really wish they would get rid of DRS. It’s more artificial than Cheez Whiz.

  11. Timing of safety car and VSC continues to be be pivotal., as we’ve seen a few times already this season. This time it tilted things towards HAM/Mercedes.

    1. MG421982 (@)
      14th May 2017, 15:13

      Hmmm… can’t remember Ferrari having that kind of luck this year.

      1. Agreed, three times its gone against Ferrari and costing them two wins.

    2. GtisBetter (@)
      14th May 2017, 19:13

      I felt it was more beneficial for Ferrari then mercedes, cause it was sort of in Vettels pit window anyway and they could still decide between 2 or 3 stop. While hamilton had just pitted and was clearly on a 2 stop. The only bad decision would be to do nothing.

      1. MG421982 (@)
        14th May 2017, 20:06

        Do not think a 3-stop strategy would have worked for VET this time. The Softs held up very well for HAM, he set the FL on 30 laps old Softs, plus VET did not manage to open any significant gap to HAM in the 1st stint. It was a must for VET to lap more than 1 second faster than HAM in the last stint, like low 1.22s more exactly… something that seemed kinda impossible. They should have let VET squeeze everything from that car, so who knows what might have happened, maybe a DNF?! Ferrari lost important time because they pitted VET too early, after only 14 laps. They played it kinda stupid, they were really thinking VET on Mediums will be able to hold behind HAM on Softs?

  12. Tasdid jaman
    14th May 2017, 15:03

    Amazing race for Mercedes but disappointing for Red bull, Max and Kimi
    and another wrong strategy for Ferrari.

      1. @Fran: Please argue Your point instead of this negative type of comment!

        1. It’s obvious which part of what was said was nonsense

  13. In a way I blame Ver for trying to take the first corner three wide when clearly there is barely enough space for 2 cars.
    His overoptimistic approach costed himself a chance at points and Kimi.

    1. Yeah, had he be more cautious, or given Kimi more space on inside, that would have left Bottas enough space to stay on track without hitting kimi, and the race behind the top two would have been a lot more interesting @ivan-vinitskyy – I expect Horner to mention it though, maybe as a ‘watch that, and think about it before we go to Monaco’ thing!

      1. Do you really think he knew Bottas was there?

    2. Verstappen was in the lead though. Bottas was way back, so he should have yielded. He never does though and is involved in a lot of this type of first lap accidents.

  14. Winners this round : Liberty Media ( kiddie PR & Rai ) , lucky and talented force India, and Alonso (finisher, and almost on midfield pace). Good Merc strategy, & team work… We all win: it was an enjoyable race.

    1. In fact, neither of the Honda McLaren’s had a DNF due to mechanical/engine trouble, so that’s a win for Honda too, I think.

  15. Force India now the only team to have had a double points finish in each of the five races so far. Hats off.

    1. Im so glad the paydriver teams are getting severly hurt.

  16. Merc seem to have sorted out their following issues with the big upgrade. I enjoyed watching two greats going toe to toe. Both men have their detractors but please- let us not even pretend like they aren’t immense talents. Poor Bottas, he didn’t have the pace today as he confirmed in his interview and the retirement capped off his misery. I thought Merc had screwed up by pitting HAM during the VSC but as it turns out they pulled a blinder.
    Brilliant brilliant race.This is going to be a titanic development war and I don’t think there is a clear favourite between the two top teams.

  17. Stroll is absolutely garbage! Just gutted that panhandling is now the way forward for Williams.

    1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      14th May 2017, 16:14

      Couldn’t agree more, $ only gets you so far and it got him an F1 seat with a historical team, but surely Williams won’t let this go on past this season.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        14th May 2017, 20:11

        I agree he isn’t good compared to the other drivers but to use the words some people do is not very nice. Saying he is “absolutely garbage!” is just stupid. No matter how bad an F1 driver is, they will still be an extremely good driver just maybe not compared to the others. No matter if he has been involved in many incidents, it’s not like he hasn’t had wins in his past.

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          15th May 2017, 2:25

          A garbage F1 driver then

    2. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      14th May 2017, 16:15

      Add Palmyer to that list as well. The gap between teammates is almost embarrassing to watch.

      1. At least palmer is racing a competent teammate.

        1. @rethla Massa may be well past his prime, but I wouldn’t call him incompetent.

  18. Great race, but Hamilton was lucky to win. Vettel did not lose this race but Ferraro lost it for him with their idiotic strategy. Vettel jumped ahead of Hamilton at the start, quickly pulled out a 2+ second gap and was holding it well enough. If only Ferrari had done their homework and looked at how well Vettel controlled the race from the front in his Red Bull days, thet would not have called him in on Lap 14. Merc hoped to draw Ferrari into a strategic error and latter fell for it hook line and sinker. Vettel was ahead of Hamilton, maintaining the gap and was in a car reputed to hold its tyres well and so it made no sense to me calling him in when they did.

    Of course, things got even worse for Vettel when the VSC was deployed and Merc pitted Hamilton under it. Then with Bottas holding-up Vettel allowed Hamilton to catch-up and that was that.

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      15th May 2017, 2:25

      Flashbacks to 2016: Vettel takes the lead, Ferrari gives it back.

  19. DRS and tyre degradation. And look, a higher rating from purists.

  20. Racerdude7730
    14th May 2017, 17:36

    Another great race today loving this season. I give ferrari huge props For finding that little boy in the stands and letting him meet Kimi. They just gained a life long fan. Here is a interview with him. Cute kid https://youtu.be/MN_Ckdk-mbA

    1. Yes, that Kimi and the little Ferrari fan was a wonderful gesture.

      1. Yes, my packing list for future F1 races include a small kid, easy to tears and a few matching fan-outfits;-)

        1. Miss Ann Thrope
          15th May 2017, 1:12

          You don’t need a particularly sensitive child, just need to time the pinch.

  21. Andrew Purkis
    14th May 2017, 18:05

    decent race

    Merc suckered ferrari into a mistake pitting Vettel too early then pitted Ham at the correct point as the VSC ended

    kudos to them but Ferrari has the better race pace so looking good for the WCC

    biggest dissapointment was the gap to the rest 73 sec

    over a sec a lap

    1. Yeah it’s amazing how Merc/Hamilton managed to drag a win out of this. Vettel was already cursing when he messed up Q3, but there probably will be a lot harsher words after the race.

      It’s good the guys in front are really going flat out though. Not just pulling a 20s gap and then keep that steady, but truly flat out racing the whole time.

  22. I felt before this race that the DRS had in general been adjusted to a good level, so we almost avoided DRS drivebys instead of overtakings, but today the DRS was too powerful. A DRS driveby isn’t entertaining, it is robbing us from entertainment. And Ferrari could’ve done better strategy wise – like anticipated the MERC pitstop on the last round of the VSC and maybe pitted Vettel later the first time.

    1. @palle
      All 12 or so overtakes (I haven’t counted precisely yet) today were DRS assisted. A significant portion of those overtakes was a ‘position correction’ after a pit stop, so with the overtaking car on much fresher tyres. If anything, DRS was not powerfull enough by far to provide any entertainment, as well demonstrated by the parade that took place behind the two leaders.

    2. @palle are you serious?

      HAM was on soft tyres vs VET on med tyres, and the commentary CLEARLY indicated HAM got a perfect corner exit from T11 allowing him to easily pass vettel at the top end of the straight. Thats all part of the alternate tyre strategies, very little to do with DRS..

  23. Another pretty good race though I am not buying “awesome classic” narrative presented by some. Hamilton-Vettel was definitely a very interesting fight but there are 18 other drivers and it wasn’t a lot of them between. I hope Kimi strike back soon and this season will be a bit more than a head-to-head at the front every Sunday, even though it is still much much better than 2014-16.

    And Sauber has built a pretty good chassis with great tyre conservation. Wehrlein again the only one to run 1-stopper.

  24. Another Ferrari mess up handed the inferior team a win. Damn shame.

    1. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  25. Being honest… Ferrari need to get rid of that entire pitwall apart from Jock, they’re a liability.

  26. I find it sad that even after a pretty good race that was full of clashes, touching, controversy, tactics and even some light heartwarming sideline action, so many people here are still moaning away. Seriously, why are you even an F1 fan?

  27. Heroic victory by Hamilton in the best car and with his enormous straight line advantage. Mercedes is so good that Vettel with new softs struggled to pass Bottas with his old mediums.

    How many races is that now where Hamilton has required teammate interference to give him victory? Bottas was on a completely different strategy to Vettel, in a completely different race, yet resorted to borderline illegal tactics to keep Vettel behind him. Bottas destroyed his own strategy keeping a driver he was out of sequence with behind him at all costs.

    Bottas must really want that Mercedes drive next year being lackey for Hamilton.

  28. I am the only one who saw yesterday Alonso pass both Williams on the main straight at the latest stages of the race? Yeah, DRS was open, but that was a Honda vs Mercedes on the main straight…

  29. Funny there are no complains about DRS when Hamilton wins with a DRS pass.

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