5 From Suzuka
- Richard Baxter
- Oct 15, 2019
- 3 min read
Another Grand Prix, and plenty more to talk about. Here’s my 5 talking points.
1 – Ferrari throw it away again.
Ferrari stormed a delayed qualifying and sealed a 1-2, in what was a manic Sunday. It was looking like we would have a real race on our hands in Suzuka. But in the first 30 seconds it all fell apart for Ferrari. Vettel crept forward in his grid slot before stopping again just as the lights went out, ruining his start. Leclerc also didn’t get a great start. Coming through turn 2 he had a rather daft collision with Verstappen – he just ran wide in to the side of him.
I say ‘Ferrari throw it away’, but really it was driver errors. With the quality Vettel and Leclerc possess you would expect them to not make such silly mistakes.
They both recovered well to get some strong points, but a post-race penalty for Leclerc dropped him another place.
The team and drivers need to cut out mistakes if they are to stop Mercedes dominance next year.
2 – Strategy Struggles.
Ferrari made it quite clear from the start they were planning to two stop during the race. Everyone could see the tyres weren’t lasting as hoped and it would have to be a two stop strategy to get to the end safely. No one really wanted to use the hard tyres – because of the significant difference in speed in comparison to the medium and soft tyres. And yet Mercedes tried to give Hamilton a one stop strategy and get him to the end on the medium tyres. Why were they so scared go for the two stops? They seemed to really struggle to determine the best strategy. Hamilton made his feelings clear on the team radio. In the end they changed plans and committed to the two stops. But I don’t get why the teams struggle to choose a two stop strategy. Fans want to see the drivers flat out, not looking after tyres. So let the drivers use the tyres if they’re available!
3 – Slow Stewards.
Not for the first time this season the stewards made a bit of a mess of things. It wasn’t until several hours after the race that they gave Leclerc his penalties.
Ok, I know the stewards are trying to take in all the evidence; they don’t need to rush a decision and make a mistake. But if it’s something that is quite clear then they really should get on with it.
With the sad loss of Charlie Whiting, it’s going to be a steep learning curve for his replacement.
4 – Renault Rejuvenated, but are they legal?
Renault had quite a bad qualifying, but both cars stormed through the field to gain points in the race. Ricciardo with an especially strong sixth place, partly due to Leclerc’s penalty. After the race though Racing Point protested to the stewards over the Renault car. Still being investigated, it isn’t known yet if this result will stand. Personally, I expected a lot more from Renault this season. For them to be behind McLaren in the constructor’s championship is disappointing. And they’re only 18 points ahead of Toro Rosso, and 23 ahead of Racing Point. If they have points deducted they could yet drop further down the standings, and gain less of the highly sought after prize money.
5 – Mercedes’ Big Six.
It is official. Mercedes are six times Constructors Champions. They are also guaranteed to win the Drivers’ Championship with only Bottas or Hamilton able to win it - and the first to win both titles six consecutive times.
Congratulations to them, it is an incredible feat and a fitting way to say goodbye to Niki Lauda.
I am hoping that next year it will be much closer and they will be given a real challenge, but I’m sure they will be putting full effort in to make it seven.
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