F1 2018

Ah well, the highlights might save a bit of time then.  I thought I might have to switch my allegiance to BTCC.

As for boring I am mindful of those days many years ago when the model train went  round the track, round again, and again, so that after 30 mins one gave up and then went out to play with one's mates.

F1 is very much of a similar mould so I guess that there may not be too long a future for it.

The excitement certainly seems to have diminished over the past few decades.

Well that's all wrapped up by Mercedes for this year. The flying Dutchman seems a little petulant, particularly as the season's almost over.

Can you blame him, the incident with Ocon lost him the race win! Quite an unusual race with two Red Bulls actually finishing the race!!!

David

No excuse David.

Max has had numerous incidents that were his fault and if he continues to drive without using more intelligence he will be the cause of a serious accident.

Ocon was two laps down, driving a faster car on fresher tyres and was unlapping himself not being lapped as some have stated. He was ahead of Verstappen around turn one and no threat to Verstappens lead. As Hamilton said he had more to loose and had no need to fight. 

Max was driving recklessly as usual and unwilling to allow anyone to pass him.

But the Race Stewards and Charlie Whiting don't agree with your assessment. All Force India had to do was to contact Red Bull and let them know that Ocon wanted to unlap himself and I am sure Max would have been happy to oblige at some safe point on the track. It is absolute folly to put the race leader at risk just to unlap yourself. There is now a conspiracy theory circulating suggesting it might been as innocent as first thought? There is of course form between the two drivers going back over the years. At least Max didn't do a Senna on him!

David

Just like he did when his team instructed him to let Ricciardo through when on a different strategy, look how that ended.

Not sure I have heard of a team asking another team if it was ok to pass, Verstappen knew Ocon was no threat and had a faster car yet chose to shut the door while there was a car alongside.

I recall many instances of drivers intimidating others into believing that they were to ruthless to tangle with.

Senna, Schumacher, etc now Verstappen. If you look at the regs, all drivers are required to leave enough space for an overtaking car when they are alongside. How many times did Max weave across the track under breaking to prevent someone passing in previous races. Almost all drivers were condemning Max last year for his driving style. He got away with it most times, but there will be a bad accident if he carries on this way.

As for the stewards and Charlie Whiting, why was Hamilton not penalised for the the incident that cost a driver a fast approach to his qualifying lap, which was a very near high speed miss, and why did Vettel not get some grid penalties when ignoring stewards at the weighbridge. According to the commentators the previous incident of a similar nature, the driver was disqualified from qualifying and had to start at the back of the grid.

As for the conspiracy theory, please review the incident if you can, it is clear that during the first corner, Ocon gave Max enough room but Max was the one who shut the door on Ocon as they moved into the second corner.

We have seen many overtakes of this nature between drivers willing to give others room and the racing has been all the better for it. If drivers who attempt to pass others are blocked or penalised in this way, the racing becomes a procession.

So I was sitting on the sofa on Sunday night wondering what to watch and then suddenly remembered the race was on , so switched over - with just 2 laps remaining!

Comes to something when the only interesting point everyone is talking about, is a minor bump between Ocon and Verstappen.

Yawnsville yet again.

No longer a fan #boredwithF1

This is what Charlie Whiting said about the incident. 

Whiting confirmed Ocon was within his rights to attempt to unlap himself, but said it was unacceptable for a lapped car to fight for position with the race leader. "[Drivers unlapping themselves] has happened many times in the past, but of course you expect it to be done safely," Whiting said. "More to the point, it should be done cleanly and absolutely without fighting -- you shouldn't be fighting to get past. "If he's got the pace then normally one would expect Red Bull to tell Max 'Ocon has got the pace, let him through', or that sort of thing. But it seemed he just went for it."It was just a bit unfortunate that he decided to fight for it, which was wholly unacceptable."

Whiting said the fact that the collision was with the race leader did not have a bearing on the severity of the penalty. "I don't think it makes any difference it was the leader," he said. "It makes it worse in a lot of people's eyes but as far as the stewards are concerned, that doesn't matter."

All instances are different so why others were not punished has to be down to the circumstances of that particular incident they can't really be compared with other instances. The people making the decisions are more more experienced than any of us and their judgement was that Ocon was in the wrong and that was the way that DC saw it in his commentary. All that aside it makes F1 a bit more exciting!

David

David

It makes no difference what opinions anyone may have, as the only one fighting for track position was Max. If he had allowed a pass of no importance to his position he would have won the race.

So the only one who lost out was himself, Ocon only lost about 35 seconds, and set a marker as Max has done that he is not willing to give in.

Max got what he deserved