GTgears

Vettel's Italian was priceless.

rockitman

Yes Italian with a German accent...interesting...

My993C2

Does Vettel actually know Italian? In other words can we expect him to begin conversing with his race engineer during the race in Italian like Ferrari used to do with Alonso?

Coochas

Great drive by Vettel and smart pit strategy. As I recall there were 5 cars that did not pit during that early safety car so they were all thinking the same thing. How Kimi came back to 4th after having lost a tire is amazing.

I don't particularly favor any team in F1 but I'm glad to see someone other than MB on the top step.

rockitman

That was key in addition to Ferrari having less tire wear than the Mercs.

Nizer

One in particular

https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...el-lovers.html


.

PPo

Great job to the Ferrari team! Forza Scuderia Ferrari!

I think it will quickly be realized that heading into the pits when a safety car comes is just not a strategy that works in F1 racing. Track position trumps all in F1, and if anybody stays out, you lose if you come in for tires. I bet Rosberg could have had 2nd if they decided to stay out. Could the tires last? I have no idea... but let Ferrari pass on track, it's a lot more difficult.

The Mercedes strategy was overconfident and cocky today, and they got beat because of it... I think there was also question of why they put Hamilton on the hard compounds for his second stop. Even Hamilton said: "Wrong tires man" after he came out of the pits.

I also enjoyed how the Mercedes race engineer was so confident that Rosberg was only racing Hamilton, and that Vettel would eventually be caught and passed with ease by both Mercedes drivers. He then later ate his words when the team realized they where beat by Vettel...

I don't think the results for today will be repeated often this year... Mercedes still have the entire package, they where just outsmarted and outraced by the Ferrari team today.

Al Pettee

It's still Mercedes' championship to lose...BUT, to summarize the day, to respond to Rosberg's suggestion to Vettel after Australia that F1 would be alot better off if the other teams could compete against Mercedes more effectively this year: "Nico, be careful what you wish for...."

consolidated

Alonso must be on suicide watch, he seems to have a knack for dodging top cars. While Hamilton and Vettel look like Nostradamus.

fjpdds

Unexpected and interesting results. Promising season in the works.

Matt Lane

Thought most everyone was saying F1 is crap, one single race into a long season???

Nothing to see here, move along...

Larry Herman

THAT is what you call a consummate team effort! Starting with a producing a very competitive racecar, to giving Vettel stellar pit stops, to unmatched strategy, Ferrari won one for the books. IMHO there were 2 keys to the race, and both were critical calls. The first was to not stop during the safety car period to change tires. They had the fastest tires on the car, and they were only one lap into the race. I thought that Hamilton would run him down, but he didn't. The second was to pull Vettel in at exactly the right time for his 2nd pit stop. One more lap would have seen him exit behind Rosberg, and we all would have been talking about how Vettel gave Hamilton a good fight.

Mercedes will certainly come back from this, but they will not be taking their lessening performance advantage for granted any more. As to why they didn't put Hamilton on a set of mediums? He didn't have a good set left from qualifying. Now they won't waste them in case on race day the qualifying tire proves to be the one to stay on.

ilko

Great race, thank you Marcus Ericsson for beaching the Sauber at T1

Mercedes all along believed the hard compound was the better tire. It wasn't. And the early pit stop did them in with having to go through all the traffic.

Also goes to show how confident Ferrari were with their own strategy and decided not follow the leader in the early pit stop. That car certainly has pace and not just when it's in the lead, as shown by Kimi.

Another interesting thing to note is that Mercedes split their tire strategy for the first time it seems. I don't remember them doing that before.

And thanks to all the other teams for letting their drivers really race each other - good stuff!! Loved seeing Toro Rosso beat Red Bull, good job!

Regarding Alonso, it's too early to tell whether he made the right or wrong call. Clearly switching teams to relative underperformers worked for Hamilton and it seems to be working for Vettel so far. Have to give McLaren more time. One thing is clear, you have to be in the "works" car to have a chance to win. McLaren as a customer team were never going to pull it off. Honda is a long term strategy, this season is written off. Problem is for them that both of their drivers are getting up there in age. But looking at some of the young guns this season they won't have a problem finding talent in the future.

pontifex4

Those Toro Rosso drivers had a heck of a race! So did Kimi, all things considered. I wish he'd got on the podium.

Rossberg seems to need a Personality Unit swap.

Did anyone else find how much brake dust was coming from the front of the Red Bulls a bit unnerving?

pontifex4