Rate the race: 2015 Italian Grand Prix

2015 Italian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Italian Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2015 Italian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (3%)
  • 9 (2%)
  • 8 (8%)
  • 7 (20%)
  • 6 (28%)
  • 5 (14%)
  • 4 (11%)
  • 3 (7%)
  • 2 (5%)
  • 1 (3%)

Total Voters: 618

 Loading ...

1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

You need an F1 Fanatic account to vote. Register an account here or read more about registering here. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.

See the results for past seasons here:

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

142 comments on “Rate the race: 2015 Italian Grand Prix”

  1. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    6th September 2015, 14:22

    Soooooo boring.

    1. Especially that few of the best moments in the race were not even shown live on camera such as the Massa vs Bottas battle. Add to that the errors in the on screen graphics if anybody noticed. Also add to that all the boring DRS passes with no real battles at the front.
      This is not exciting.

      1. Yes, I found aspects of the coverage quite annoying; I get that Ferrari are the home favourites, but switching to shots of Vettel coasting post-finish while the two Williams were still fighting over a podium spot was pretty pathetic.

        1. The TV coverage is so poor these days. Switching to a pit stop at all costs, even if there is an overtake about to happen; watching Vettel come across the line, whilst Massa and Bottas fight it out for 3rd.

          1. Agree. I really do think the international feed ought to go back to the local broadcasters for production, rather than being FOM’s own puppy

      2. Yeah, and who were all those kids/women we constantly switched to during the race?

    2. Mind-blowingly boring.

    3. Mind-numbingly boring.

      1. I ended up fast forwarding through most of it

        1. And then there was the Wookie who performed the podium interviews….embarrassing…

          Wonder what Emperor Bernie charges to appear next to the drivers while being casually clueless in jeans. At least the darkside is strong with the celeb force.

  2. Well that was not very exciting (understatement)
    I give it a 2/10

    Sorry F1, you failed yet again

    1. 2/10 mainly because Hamilton didn’t lift a finger to win it. Mercedes obviously made everything to keep Rosberg at the back again.

      1. And they should have been disqualify Hamilton for tech regulation violation. Whatever it’s 0,02 or 0,1 bars it doesn’t matter. They did it intentionally.

        1. It is a technical directive, not regulation! There is difference… Unless you hate Ham personally, thats another story of course, it wont matter to you so long he is punished…

          1. So were Redbull in Australia 2014..over a technical directive not a regulation..

          2. He is not punished, not because it’s a directive instead of a regulation. Because there was a problem with the way FIA measured the pressures.

      2. Right. Like they did at Monaco.

    2. Um…

      1. Raikkonen stalls on the line
      2. Raikkonen battles his way through the field making some nice moves along the way
      3. Rosberg falls back and has to manage overheating brakes whilst also attacking
      4. Merhi nearly crashes into Raikkonen
      5. Verstappen makes some nice moves
      6. Rosberg closing Vettel down
      7. Rosberg’s engine explodes
      8. Hamilton asked to push hard nobody knows why – a bit of drama
      9. Massa a Bottas fight

      It wasn’t a classic, no. But 2?? Have you ever watched the boring years of F1 when it was all over after the first corner for the entire field?

      1. A 2 was quite generous. The stewards should have given Hamilton a drive through just to make things interesting.

      2. Thanks TdM,
        at least someone else can see the true meaning of F1 and how it will never be a fight on every lap with cars passing every sec just to make complaining aholes happy.
        this a speed track were any distances between cars is hard to make up,
        i certainly enjoyed the race and do agree the coverage needs sorting..
        ive been watching since the late 1970s and class this race highly, complete with the 1000s of fans who turned up at the track…

      3. I think many people are starting to get warped romantic ideals of what F1 should be and have lost the reality of what it is. It was a pretty normal race with a few interesting moments.

        I enjoyed the viewing experience like I do every race, despite the McLaren woes.

      4. Raikkonen is either not interested or not capable of overtakes without DRS anymore….

    3. Really? When did you start watching F1? What were you expecting? This was a pretty standard race. Not a thrill ride, sure, but pretty normal for the last two decades.

  3. Where should I start? It was an uneventful race.

  4. Pretty standard fare Mercedes era race really. A few battles mostly if not totally decided with DRS, no challenge for the win. I suppose whatever that was at the end with Hamilton brought a little intrigue though. 6/10.

    1. a generous man, you are

      1. A few DRS overtakes and close battles are enough to make any race semi-interesting. To me an absolutely awful race would be one of those from the past with 0 overtakes and no battling at all. This wasn’t that.

        1. Simon, you have very low standards of what is expected of F1. You also have a skewed perception of F1 of the past.

          1. @racectrl I do? Because the stats seems to agree with me, in the past twenty years there have been a significant amount of races with far, far less action and overtakes than we saw today. http://cliptheapex.com/overtaking/

            I thought the race was average, 6 reflects that.

          2. I’m not referring to overtaking stats. I’m referring to you painting a picture of F1 in the past being littered with worse races than what we saw this afternoon. That is simply not true, unless you judge races purely by overtaking stats (in that case this season is up there with the absolute best of all-time)

            The last few races are literally the worst i have ever seen from a competitive stand point. Utterly devoid of anything interesting happening, bar a few DRS passes. For you to give race like this a 6/10 is a slap in the face to F1 and what it used to be.

          3. @racectrl I’ve been watching since 1998 and to be honest, 2001 to about 2004 would have seen races like these hailed as the second coming. TV direction only followed P1 + McLaren/Williams or whoever were fighting for p3/4 in the WCC.

            It wasn’t boring because of a lack of overtakes, but because even less was happening. From 2006 onwards there were at least battles in the sense that cars came close on track, but in the 00s before, even that was hardly televised.

            I’m willing to say this race would have been voted 8/10 on average if it happened after the 2004 Hungarian GP.

          4. @racectrl first of all I’m not sure why my opinion is offending you so much, second of all I would ask you to watch some of the Ferrari domination years back, there were some absolute bores during that time, and both before and after it. Few overtakes, no challenging for positions, just nothing much happening at all.

            Monza 2015 was not a classic F1 race, no, but I maintain it wasn’t that bad. It was just average. Looking at the results of the poll so far, the majority agree.

          5. @weeniebeenie You’re not offending me Simon. It’s just frustrating me looking forward to a decent race and then having to sit through utter dross. It makes it even worse when people seem content with what is being served up.

          6. I’m certainly not content with what is being served up as you put it but all I’m saying is i’ve seen many worse races (even this season), I’ve also seen many better and of course the latter is what we want more of, not the averageness this race produced. But it was what it was.

        2. Shall we bring old Grojen back? or Release the Kraken (Maldonado) into the second raw every weekend?

          1. I voted 6 as well, it was nothing special compared to some of the really good races we’ve had this year but it had some good moments and was enjoyable for me as an f1 fan.
            There was some really good attempts at overtakes, unfortunately none paid off which stopped me from ranking it higher.
            With regards to the other comments, I’ve grown up with f1 and started following every race since 2007 and to me this season is as enjoyable as any other.

  5. I kinda liked it. Some overtaking, last laps drama. Räikkönen making ground, Williams intra team hustle. A decent GP.

    1. Yeah, I thought so too. P1 never in doubt, but lots of action in the back. If only FOM had a clue and showed more of it. Oh, well…

    2. I agree.
      Rossberg’s flames and Hamilton being told to increase the gap mere laps from the end will keep a bit more interest in the sport over the following days too.
      Massa 3rd is welcome too.

    3. Yeah. It always makes the GP a bit more itresting, although at the same time depressing, when some of the top drivers have to try and come through the field. Espcially if you hapen to root for that someone like I did. I think Kimi has proven that he isn’t exactly slow.. he just somehow has the worst luck and when he doesn’t he messes it up somehow..

      1. Typical f1 race of 2015. No battle for the win, most overtakes drs assisted. Happy only to see my fav driver third and ofcourse a ferrari podium. 3/10

        1. show you know very little Michael Schumacher won this race by 33sec’s without even trying, yet we didnt complain..

    4. All DRS passes from Raikkonen. How many overtakes which wasn’t heavily influenced by DRS did he have this season? He started lots of races down the grid. In any case, he only overtakes Toro Rosso or Red Bull at engine circuits at most. Generally he passes people via pits. He’s yet to overtake a Williams, did he even have to overtake a Lotus or Force India? Maybe once….
      I think age might have had an effect on his racecraft.

  6. 10/10 What a cracking race! This has really thrown the championship race open! I wonder who’s going to win…

    1. I think S. Arcasm has a chance.

      1. I heard Cpt. O. Bvious put his money on Hamilton.

    2. 10 was too much.
      I vote 9 for after race excitement :)

  7. So basically: Hamilton led P1, P2, P3, Q1, Q2, pole position, led every lap and fastest lap.

    Still it was normal service.

    1. It’s easy when your car is so good, remember?

      1. That’s right.

  8. 7/10 always enjoy Monzo otherwise the score would have been a 5

  9. Boring race, but Raikkonen decided to entertain us by allowing all other cars to pass him at the start and he picking them up one by one….

  10. 5. Boring most of the way, but it was all right the last few laps. Nothing spectacular, though. Sad result.

  11. DRS, management, cars that sound like farts.

    Monza though, so a ‘2’.

    1. Haha!

  12. 5/10. Wasn’t the worst but not great either (didn’t fall asleep this time).

    Annoyed that I forgot my predictions this weekend, I would’ve done well :(

  13. Another unspectacular race, though Kimi’s recovery was interesting (if predictable) to watch.

  14. Anti-climatic race. Anti-climatic season. 6.
    Raikkonen’s start ended the race, even if the race had started well, Lewis and Mercedes had the pace, but it would’ve been more satisfying. Lotus gone. DRS too influential. PU imbalance hurts racing, but that’s life.

    Now on the season, it appears nothing can hurt Lewis and his side of the garage. Like I predicted it’s 2011 all over again, if only Nico had won last year we wouldn’t have such a dominating boring championship.

    1. Hopefully the trend then continiues and we have a cracking 2016 like 2012 was!

      1. Including McLaren’s 2012 form. :)

  15. Wasn’t great, Wasn’t bad.
    Pretty typical race at Monza, 5/10.

  16. 4.

    Monza looks fantastic to be at, great fans, lovely weather and what a track it is to see the cars flat-out on low downforce. But the races can be so dull. Even with Kimi out of position and fighting through the field it was still quite boring. The strange “do not ask questions, just execute” Mercedes comments peaked my interest a bit towards the end but even so, nothing really came of it.

    Would love to see the rating system out of 5 instead of 10. I don’t think people are harsh enough on poorer races.

    1. Would love to see the rating system out of 5 instead of 10. I don’t think people are harsh enough on poorer races.

      Agree 100%, especially when 5 is considered to be an average race yet dull races somehow end up with 7s. I think having the poll so soon after a GP clouds peoples judgement, especially if you’re stoked up on your favourite driver/team doing well, even though the race itself was rubbish.

    2. Spot on about the rating system. I feel most would’ve give today’s race 2/5 (which would be equal to 4/10) and that is a more accurate representation of what we saw today.

    3. +1 was a waste staying in on a sunny afternoon.

    4. Excellent idea about the rating system!

  17. Pretty dull. Would’ve rated it a 5 or 6, because there were a few nice overtakes and also some action going on with Rosberg. I gave it a 4 instead, because this race killed the championship. From now on, there’s only Suzuka and São Paulo to look forward to – the only remaining venues that I like. The rest of the season could be cancelled, and I wouldn’t even be mad.

  18. Some moments of interest so 6/10 but DRS had too much impact. None of the passes were entertaining. “oh he’s close enough for DRS, oh he’s got down to the chicane first and yep he’s held it.” Yawn.

    And George frickin Lucas??!

  19. From a standard score of 5, +1 for Monza, +1 for Raikkonen’s recovery drive, +1 for Maldonado not taking anyone out but himself, and that quite early, and +1 for the Mercedes intrigue. However, -5 for the bittersweet bit where what could be the last Monza race ever tarnished by a very processional DRS race. So, a 4.

    1. +1 for Maldonado not taking anyone out but himself

      http://hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com/ back to zero days.

    2. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 41 wins!!! For Jules (@)
      6th September 2015, 15:13

      @spdoyle17 all those +1 plus the negative number make me wonder if you are rating the race or calculating the starting grid.

  20. 7/10 – If you’re open to it you could see some good racing throughout the field.
    PS – I would have scored it lower had I seen the stupid interview by George Lucas.

  21. Rated 4. It was boring.

  22. 5. Just an average race, even by the standards of Monza…

  23. 1/10 Tired of Mercedes being so far ahead…

    When Red Bull was dominating we saw a witch hunt with plenty of rule changes and car changes to balance the field and allow Ferrari/Mcaren to catch up, double standards are too obvious in this sport.
    Congrats on the hair… I mean championship, Lewis.

  24. Some people will just moan about anything.
    I really enjoyed that race
    The sea of people swelling to see the podium ceremony suggests that they enjoyed the race too.

    1. It’s Monza, Ferrari was on the podium

      1. It would’ve been pretty amazing if they all just went home, just for the laughs.

  25. just a 6/10. This track shondn’t have DRS

  26. Is a race really over when there are investigations running? Should I rate a race when it´s not over yet? Maybe the interesting part is yet to come…

  27. Dull, dull, dull. Not even engine explosions are spectacular any more.

  28. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    6th September 2015, 14:49

    6/10.

    Grrrrrrrr. Another race lacking anything dramatic again.
    But from the other side I enjoyed it with the close-gap battles from: Hülkenberg vs Ericsson, Massa vs Bottas and Räikkönen vs Pérez. Button vs Alonso was to be listed there but the handsome Spaniard retired.

    I would rate it higher if Ferrari could make a rapid start.

  29. A generous 3/10. Whenever there was a nice battle shaping up, the car behind would conk out. DRS was stupidly powerful, the result could well be decided in the steward’s office, and except for the Toro Rossos being exciting, absolutely nothing was worth shouting about. Even Raikkonen’s climb through the field was very bland.

    1. As a matter of fact, I’ve found 15 minutes of the ELMS race at Paul Ricard (which strictly speaking isn’t even a race track) more exciting than the GP. Says it all really.

  30. I rated it a 5, which is high for me this season. I enjoy the old course races, lots of memories. Not sure DRS belongs at the high speed courses and not sure but suspect the new Merc engine further bends the rules but hey it’s all about the show.

  31. Terrible race. 4/10.

  32. 5/10. Love Monza, but DRS ruined many battles. TV director managed to move from one battle to another just as the one they were following resulted in an overtake and the new one faded more than once.

    Also, props to RTL Germany for making it extra boring. Their commentators talked about bloody football after seeing Verstappen overtake, he’s Dutch, the Dutch need yadda yadda yadda to qualify for the European Cup. Really? 2 minutes later and they’re talking over Vettel’s radio in the middle of the pit stop window.. I’m considering to skip every race that isn’t on BBC for the rest of this season.

  33. 6/10
    Too bad Raikonnen thrown his race from the window since the start, he could have spiced the race.
    Good point as Rosberg did not finish the race this give Lewis a bit fresh air.

  34. 4/10. This season can’t end soon enough. Nothing competitive happening at all worth talking about. I’m hanging on to the hope that 2016 will be better (hard to imagine it could be worse). Hopefully Redbull get a Mercedes engine next year and Ferrari make more gains so we get back to proper racing next year. Also, hopefully Williams disappear into the pack because they really haven’t helped this year with their over conservative approach.

  35. Average race, 6/10, but not short of drama.

  36. 2 for the race, 2 for the post-race drama. 4 in total.

  37. It was decent, perhaps a little dull. A lot of the fights were skewed, but some nice overtaking, even if most were a bit obvious due to DRS advantage or engine disparity. A bit disappointing the most interesting component of the race is the tyre issue after the chequered flag.

    It was beige.

  38. Another dull Italian Grand Prix. To be frank, I’m not going to miss Monza and Monaco if both tracks leave the F1 calendar.

  39. 1/10
    A race ? No, a sleeping drug

    1. @bebilou I’m curious, how would you rate the 2009 European Grand Prix?

      1. Maybe he fell asleep thinking about it!

        /badjoke

      2. Why pick a race were a driver picks up a drive through penalty but comes storming back to take his maiden victory? That was a great story and enjoyable to see him pull it off with some stellar laps. Also enjoyed the little incident between Webber and Rubens at the start. Very aggressive on Webber’s part. Rubens also having an issue with his fuel rig and getting pipped by Jenson leading to him having a public spat with the team after the race?(IIRC).

        I would give it a solid 6/10. Are you really saying that today’s race was better?

        1. No one took their maiden victory in 2009 European GP.

          1. Correct. I immediately thought of Nurburgring for some reason. I completely forgot about Valencia :-/

  40. 6 thanks to Raikkonen’s recovery, the Williams battle for 3rd which we didn’t see, Perez here and there, Verstappen going round the outside of people a couple of times and Rosberg providing an element of surprise.

    Otherwise, only two other teams with a realistic shot at the podium and the whole penalties mess, added to the Honda and Renault situation, to Lotus being on the brink of collapse, to Monza losing its slot in the calendar because it can’t support Ecclestone ridiculous hosting fee, to the drivers being silenced down on commercial grounds… it really makes the whole show unpleasant to watch.

  41. 6/10. Rather dull. Hamilton was superb, as ever, and there were a few good battles, but not much to hold one’s interest.

    The TV coverage was dire, as usual. They need to stop focussing on female team members and spectators and show the race. The TV director comes across as a creepy old pervert.

  42. 6/10 for race quality, +1 for the crowd reaction on the podium, -1 for ending the championship in September.

    Monza’s crowd is phenomenal. It has to stay on the calendar, it’s F1 history, home race of an F1 historical team, the crowd is awesome. And there’s no better track where engine performance of teams can be precisely observed as this track.

    After all, we have Monaco and Singapore, Spa and Monza should be there to equal it out.

  43. It was a dull race. Not much action to see apart from Kimi’s recovery and few overtakes that Max did.
    Probably I was over expecting from the race since pre race everyone was saying- how close Ferrari’s are and they will keep Hamilton honest.

    Gave it 4.

    1. Probably the post race drama was much more thrilling than the race itself. Also would like to point out the amazing crowd’s reaction when podium ceremony was taking place. It will be stupid to lose Monza.

  44. 6. Some interesting moves.
    What will be the excuse for Raikkonnen now?

    1. Tv coverage was awful, really, really awful

      1. Now imagine commercials and commentators talking about football during team radio. That’s German RTL coverage..

        1. German RTL coverage is the worst in the developed world.

      2. That’s a good excuse for Raikkonen.

    2. He finished fifth, and doesn’t need to give excuses.

  45. 5/10.

    Ho-hum race, Hamilton racing into the lead, Vettel consolidating, Raikkonen/Ricciardo/Kyvat providing the bulk of the race, Williams best of the other non manufacturer teams.

    Interview: 3/10
    They can’t just push any celebrity up just because they are famous. Worst interview by some margin so far, ever since they changed the format. Happy New Year?

    1. That was a particularly baffling opening comment @goondu86. New Year on Tatooine? Coruscant?

  46. 6/10 (and that’s being a bit generous). Not nearly as exciting as some earlier races, but still a good race.. hampered by the TV coverage, I’m afraid.

    Highlights for me were watching Kimi climb from last place to finish well within the points, Bottas and Massa battling for the last podium spot (not covered well by the broadcast sadly) and some more brilliant passes from Verstappen.

    Based on the results in Quali, I was hoping for more from the Scuderia, but second place isn’t bad.. and it’s nice seeing three different teams on the podium.

  47. It wasn’t great (still enjoyable though), very average for the year I’d say. The media love calling it the ‘cathedral of speed’ and such but apart from one camera in the kerbs at Ascari, the FIA didn’t do a whole lot to emphasise the sense of speed, most of the onboards I saw didn’t have the telemetry on etc either. However I did enjoy the tyre pressure drama, even if some thought it was as a whole a stupid situation, it definitely added suspense to the final few laps.

  48. Worst podium interview ever.
    Lucas hardly asked a question, and when he did (Vettel) it was not answered.
    If you want a famous person to be onscreen during the race, fine. Cut to a shot of whatever pompous Johnny-come-lately F1 “fan” happens to be in the audience that weekend.
    But please. If you persist in doing the podium interview thing, get someone who knows what an “interview” is.

  49. It may have been more fun had both Ferrari’s jumped Hamilton, but such was Mercedes’ pace advantage today that he could easily undercut one or both and overtake the other if necessary. Some decent battles further down, but there weren’t any ballsy overtakes that make you sit on edge.

    To be honest the post race drama was more encapsulating than the race itself.

  50. The race was more exciting afterwards, on the forum, following deflate gate :)

  51. A standard 6 for me, certainly not the worst race in the world but not the best. I don’t like total domination even if it is from the driver who I want to win.
    What made me mark it low was drs overtakes, stupid penalties, seeing Mclaren as they are now and a pretty awful tv management, why they suddenly show a garage full of people during a battle is beyond me, I tune in to watch racing not to see pretty girls in garages. Saying that there were elements of the race I enjoyed. I will probably give DOTW to Massa.

  52. 6/10 for watching Kimi scything his way through the field, and for Verstappen’s bold late braking overtake at the first chicane. Also, it was very entertaining to see the podium celebrations and then to watch Lewis sweat out the “inflategate” moment. I swear it made his hair turn white.

  53. I think Mercedes/Hamilton were lucky that Rosberg’s lump gave up the ghost. He would have had a tough time passing Vettel, but if he had, Ferarri would have been ALL OVER those tire pressures and may have pushed for penalties. But that didn’t happen.

    As a result, however, the driver’s championship is now over and that always lets air out of a season when it happens this early. I like the sport, and I enjoy the races on their own merit, but the last handful of races are going to need to be extra special to keep me involved. I like Mercedes and I’m already ready for 2017.

  54. I rate 6/10, it was very boring again.

  55. The whole race depended on what happened in the first corner…and thanks Kimi’s mess up, we didnt get any surprises!

    6/10 for me..some good racing throughout the field.

    Another race ruined by DRS. I would have loved to see Jenson try to keep faster cars behind him when he was up to 9th, and he did that for the first 5 laps. Once DRS was enabled, he was a sitting duck!

  56. 2 – a taste of reality

  57. 5/10 for me.

    The only real excitement occurred post race.

    And while I would hate to see it lost it F1, the reality is that this track has rarely provided interesting races in recent times.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      7th September 2015, 9:49

      @tdog – Same goes for Spa and lots of the other classic tracks. The only tracks that work with DRS are the ones where overtaking is very difficult like Hungary or previously, Valencia.

  58. I am a true racer. I give it an 8.

  59. I personally don’t think that a race is boring just because number one guy got their easily (even Lewis panicked in the end). Almost all other drivers had interesting moments, good or bad for them but intriguing never the less. I have seen the ‘actual boring races’ in F1 before. This was a bit better. 7/10 seems exact.

  60. petebaldwin (@)
    7th September 2015, 9:48

    4. It’s a good track that allows overtaking so with modern day F1, it turned into a boring DRS fest. My highlights were the drama at the end with Hamilton, the brilliant Italian fans and the podium. I can’t think of much that happened in the race though other than Kimi’s non-start.

  61. This race was easy to remember for only one thing – the tifosi. Great atmosphere, hearing the crowd on TV when Raikkonen overtook Ericsson and Perez for example. I enjoyed that.

    On another note, Ricciardo did a fantastic job with his awful car to reach P8. All in all, this race was 8/10 for me because I’m Swedish and Ericsson did a pretty decent job this weekend. Reaching Q3 with a Sauber is impressive, and battling the Hulk for the majority of the race was strong even though he didn’t have that final speed needed.

  62. 3/10 for me, no race for the win, barely a race for 2nd, most passes done with DRS. Monza isnt the same when cars arent screaming round there, they merely hum around the fastest track on the calendar nowadays

  63. If one thing is very clear from the Monza race (decent show, by the way), it’s that DRS is strong enough by far.

    In the early 70’s when the first rudimentary wings were used, there were 20 or so changes of the lead in Monza. Slipstreaming was so effective that a way slower car could overtake a way faster car. One lap you’re 1st, the next you’re 8th.

    In current slipstreaming (DRS) this does not happen. You still need to be faster then the car in front to be able to overtake. If we want something like the old spectacle back, slipstreaming (DRS) must be made a lot stronger.

    1. it’s that DRS is not strong enough by far

  64. 6 out of 10

    Mostly normal, apart from a few asides.

    Not bad, but not great.

    Great come back from Kimi!

  65. Dull. The winner was decided by 2 secs into the race and the rest was all a bit of DRS passing.

    Only drama was a breakdown and a poor start, there is no tension, that’s what’s I think is missing. I get there isn’t drama every lap or every race but there is no tension of an undecided race. If Hamilton had not slowed it would have easy been a 35 second win…but I also understand you can’t make the field artificially even.

  66. Who on earth rated that race a 7 or 8 out of 10?!?!
    Compare yesterday’s race to Nurburgring or Suzuka in 2005 …


    There are loads of races that deserve 7 or 8/10 … what a I saw yesterday was 6/10 maximum.

  67. 7/10
    Much better than usual. Rosberg’s weak engine certainly helped, with him pushing Bottas first, beating both Williams on strategy and finally closing in on Vettel. Raikkonen dropped to last, recovered to 5th. Ricciardo, Kvyat, Sainz, Verstappen all made solid drives with several overtakes. Hamilton had it easy but the last laps were thrilling with anything ready to happen, Bottas finally caught Massa and we missed what was (emotionally) the most thrilling part for me. I’m pretty satisfied, if this is were the average race I’d be happy with F1.

  68. I, for one, felt the tension all the way through the race. I was bummed by Nico so easily carving his way through the field after that bad start, but just as it got boring they radioed Hamilton to put the hammer down and not ask questions.

    Would have been nice to see more of the Bottas/Masa battle, especially on the last lap. I don’t need to see Hamilton and Vettel celebrating after crossing the line. Overall, I was pleased with the race!

  69. I gave the race a 6.

    While yet again there wasn’t any real excitement at the front as a Hamilton victory never really seemed in doubt there was still some action further down the field, including Raikkonen recovering after his poor start.

    Regarding the issue of the tyre pressures on the Mercedes cars I believe the correct decision was reached in the end but I was surprised that such a situation was allowed to develop in the first place

    Even I know that tyre pressure changes with temperature, if the tyre pressures were correct when the tyres were fitted of course they would different when the tyres cooled down.

    I didn’t watch the race live only via the BBC highlights show so I don’t know if more information was actually given out during the Grand Prix or not, but when Mercedes told Hamilton to increase his pace late in the race I couldn’t work out why they would do this.

    If they had a mechanical problem or had to make another stop then surely pushing the car by going quicker wouldn’t have been that wise.

    Then I thought perhaps Mercedes were worried about a penalty and so wanted to increase the time gap to Vettel in second, which is what it turned out to be, but I could not recall any messages on screen about any investigations regarding Hamilton or any mentions in commentary, so I didn’t think that was the case either.

    As soon as the cars had crossed the finish line I checked the news headlines, as I always go on a news blackout when the BBC don’t show the race live to make sure I don’t find out the result before I watch the highlights, and I was surprised to see it headline read ‘Hamilton wins after investigation’, and then obviously then what had actually happened was covered during the rest of the highlights show.

Comments are closed.