43 replies to this topic

[LH44Fan]

So after what was a controversial race (argument still very much brewing) when you can, please rate it based on what you saw, not who you support:

 

Best Driver:

Worst Driver:

Best Team:

Worst Team:

Best Overtake:

Best Moment:

DRS + Tyres:

 

Finally please rate the race in a sentence  

 

For me the best moment was in the cool-down room  - 

 

 

I was literally in stitches, to lie to a world leader so blatantly was absolutely hilarious - you know it was you!  Loved how security also learned from last year and quickly shuffled shorty out the way before the champers was sprayed again - seriously if I was you Lewis i'd have the ol' jet checked over for suspicious white powder (on every surface) before travelling home this evening!

[MikeV1987]

3

The Vettel and Hamilton scrap was the only interesting battle. Verstappen was impressive, but we know how quickly the top 3 teams can carve through the field, so it wasn’t a magical drive or anything to me.

Leclerc would have my vote for best driver, considering it was his first time around here. Nobody stood out as the worst.

Edited by MikeV1987, 30 September 2018 - 20:38.

[P123]

Best Driver: Leclerc/ Max
Worst Driver: Nobody stood out as terrible
Best Team: Mercedes
Worst Team: Mercedes
Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel
Best Moment: errrr

DRS + Tyres: Tyres were rubbish.

6/10

[WonderboyF1]

Car park race track, hasn’t produced a good race yet don’t know if it ever will, surprising considering that long run to T1, similar to Valencia and we all know how **** that was as a track to and they couldn’t overtake there either!

[scheivlak]

Car park race track, hasn’t produced a good race yet don’t know if it ever will, surprising considering that long run to T1, similar to Valencia and we all know how **** that was as a track to and they couldn’t overtake there either!

Except for 2012..... 

[Bloggsworth]

Car park race track, hasn’t produced a good race yet don’t know if it ever will, surprising considering that long run to T1, similar to Valencia and we all know how **** that was as a track to and they couldn’t overtake there either!

 

They could if they were driving F2 cars - It's not the track...

[scheivlak]

Best Driver: Max Verstappen / Charles Leclerc
Worst Driver: Sainz looked terrible but apparently he had an excuse
Best Team: Mercedes 
Worst Team: Mercedes. OK, I forgot Toro Rosso.....
Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel. Brilliant, almost as good as Markelov on De Vries earlier today
Best Moment: Hamilton on Vettel, Perez having to let Ocon pass again
DRS + Tyres: DRS strangely ineffective, Tyres puzzling again.

6/10, not bad for a Sochi GP......

Edited by scheivlak, 30 September 2018 - 20:55.

[Spillage]

Best driver: Leclerc, he won the Formula 1.5 category easily. Also a shout-out to Verstappen, whom I'm increasingly convinced is the best driver on the grid.

Worst driver: Hard to say. Ericsson was miles off his teammate, but his teammate is good. Ricciardo was lacklustre but had a damaged car. Otherwise there are no obvious candidates.

Best team: Mercedes. They messed up their strategy, but their car advantage bailed them out in the end.

Worst team: Toro Rosso. Long way to go not to make lap ten.

Best overtake: Hamilton on Vettel, I guess. It's the only one I can actually remember.


Best moment: Bottas having a good look at Hamilton's rear tyres to see if the blister thing was a lie. I suspect it was.

DRS/Tyres: The soft tyres were fantastic. Everything else was hopeless. It's difficult not to conclude that Pirelli don't really know what they're doing. I don't think they'd last long in a tyre war.

And the race in a sentence: a straightforward 1-2 where 2 wasn't allowed to challenge 1. 4/10.

[P123]

They could if they were driving F2 cars - It's not the track...

F2 did have wildly crap tyres given how awful the SS were, and the soft runners picked them off with ease.

[Laster]

Best Driver: Leclerc
Worst Driver: Vandoorne maybe? No one really stood out.
Best Team: Mercedes
Worst Team: Williams/Mclaren
Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel
Best Moment: Hamilton on Vettel
Tyres: Hypersofts are kind of a joke.
And the race in a sentence: Better than any previous Russian grand prix, helped somewhat by cars being out of position, and Merc not stopping Hamilton at the right moment. 7/10

[ThadGreen]

I scored it an 8. Verstappen and to lesser extent Ricardo moving through the field made it enjoyable and the team orders from Mercedes added a little bit of drama. It was a much better race than the doom and gloomers were predicting in the build up thread.

Can someone please tell the person responsible for what we see on the tv that we would much prefer to see the race and not constantly be subjected to images of feet, fingers and faces. If you want to get artsy can you do it during the practice sessions, during the race I would really prefer to keep the cameras on the cars racing.

[zanquis]

Best Driver: Verstappen, Leclerc
Worst Driver: No real stand outs, who ever finished the furthest behind his teammate
Best Team: Mercedes
Worst Team: STR
Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel
Best Moment: Hulkenberg’s surprise when hearing a RedBull is leading the race.
DRS + Tyres: DRS was fine, did what it needed to be without being overkill. Tires require a rule change. No alternating tires but 1 tire type per race, u Q on hyper, u race them, u want to fo R on softs, u need to Q on them.

[Atreiu]

Great result, average race with dissapointing - but fair and reasonable - team order call.

6

[RacingGreen]

Posted Today, 07:17

Best Driver: Max for his great first stint.

Worst Driver: possibly Ericsson who was certainly not at the same standard as LeClerc or possibily Sainz who was too far of Hulkenberg as well.

Best Team: Mercedes

Worst Team: Toro Rosso, even worse than McLaren and Williams, and that's pretty bad.

Best Overtake: LeClerc around the outside of Magnessun

Best Moment: The podium celebration - only joking

DRS + Tyres: I suppose the best you can say is everyone had equally rubbish tyres. DRS remains an abomination.

The Race in a Sentence : The best team won.  3/10

[AnR]

Best Driver: Max or Leclerc, the younger generation stepping up

Worst: -

Best Team: -

Worst Team: Mercedes

Best overtake: Leclerc on Magnussen (The Vettel overtake took advantage off Vettels empty battery and he was a sitting duck)

Best Moment: Start

DRS + Tyres_ -

The Race in sentence: Boring

[Piif]

As always, disgusted to see Putin the rat at the room with the drivers. 

 

Boring race with an unsportsmanlike result. 

Edited by Piif, 01 October 2018 - 05:35.

[messy]

I'm surprised at the high scores, I thought it was terrible. 

[Nonesuch]

Best Driver: Bottas

Worst Driver: Didn't see anyone on the highlights that did something particularly out of order.

Best Team: Mercedes

Worst Team: Toro Rosso, they seemed to sort of implode.

Best Overtake: Leclerc, roll on 2019!

Best Moment: There was a brief scrap between Hamilton and Vettel, which is rare enough, so... I guess that's the one to pick.

DRS + Tyres: -

 

Rated it 4/10. Looked fairly dull even in the summary.

[Pimpwerx]

Wow! Others also thought it was a 7/10, like myself. I'm surprised, because most fans are quite jaded. I get that it wasn't a classic race, but it had some action. Max was stellar, and provided one of the best opening 3 laps in F1 history (I don't think that's an exaggeration). He also forced a strategic conundrum for Ferrari and Merc, which resulted in Lewis losing a position. That then created an exciting overtake to recover position. Then drama about Lewis' tires, and more drama later on. There was some action elsewhere on the grid, in the early to middle stages. It was a decent race by modern F1 standards. Plus, it had an overtake for the win (total exaggeration).   I've seen far worse races, and this one actually had me quite tense at times, as I'm a Lewis fan. I really don't get the hate for the circuit, other than it lacks any real "character." Turn3 is a fun corner. I'd love to see a wet race here sometime. I think it might prove a really interesting circuit in wet conditions.

 

Best Driver: Max

Worst Driver: None...No one did anything terrible.

Best Team: Mercedes

Worst Team: Toro Rosso...FFS, fire the QA department.

Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel

Best Moment: Leclerc on KMag

DRS + Tyres: Surprised the track evolved to the point HS was irrelevant.

Leclerc had the best drive you never saw.

Edited by Pimpwerx, 01 October 2018 - 07:41.

[stenovitz]

Best Driver: Leclerc
Worst Driver: Sainz Jr.
Best Team: Mercedes
Worst Team: Williams
Best Overtake: LeClerc on Magnussen
Best Moment: Vettel vs. Hamilton's pit exit.

DRS + Tyres: Overall I do not like the concept. What I like: No DRS + a maximum of 3 types of tyres: Slicks, Wet, Intermedium.

Rating: 4/10. A dull race, except for a few duels and Max' move up the field.

[Signori]

3

The Vettel and Hamilton scrap was the only interesting battle. Verstappen was impressive, but we know how quickly the top 3 teams can carve through the field, so it wasn’t a magical drive or anything to me.

Leclerc would have my vote for best driver, considering it was his first time around here. Nobody stood out as the worst.

 

Come on, some of those overtakes were quite good 

[Gareth]

The two guys at the top of the WDC had an on track battle, resulting in an overtake. One driver came from the back of the grid to be leading the race for a decent chunk of time. There was some tension with the question of how the tyres would last. So some good stuff there that would normally see a race get a decent rating. For Sochi, it was quite exciting!

 

But it has to be said the team order sucked a lot of the air out of the race. So I voted 5/10.

 

Best Driver: Max (honourable mentions to Leclerc, Bottas and Hamilton for the overtake).

Worst Driver: No one stood out.

Best Team: Sauber

Worst Team: Toro Rosso

Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel

Best Moment: Hamilton overtaking Vettel

DRS + Tyres: Tyres were rather odd - looked like the S tyre was the best one to be on, even at the start of the stint. Max lapping slower on US was a big disappointment, was really hoping he would be hunting down the pack ahead in the closing laps. DRS seemed ok, especially given how tough it was to get into DRS range round here - getting within 2s seemed a big challenge.

[Beri]

Best Driver: Max Verstappen
Worst Driver: Bottas
Best Team: Mercedes
Worst Team: STR
Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel
Best Moment: Max' entire race
DRS + Tyres: Will never applaud DRS. And tyres should become easier to undestand. Soft, Medium and Hard should be the only names used during any Grand Prix weekend.

[Ivanhoe]

Worst driver Bottas? Care to explain?

[Beri]

To me, giving in on team orders is really not done. I dont care what anyone says about "it is part of the game", because it is not. It is ruining the sport. Clear and simple as that.

[RPM40]

Best Driver: Verstappen & Lewis

Worst Driver: No one really.

Best Team: Merc

Worst Team: Ferrari

Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel

Best Moment: The end

DRS + Tyres: Far too little tyre deg.

[Gareth]

To me, giving in on team orders is really not done. I dont care what anyone says about "it is part of the game", because it is not. It is ruining the sport. Clear and simple as that.

 

Hi Beri - so as to not drag the thread off-topic, I replied to you here: https://forums.autos...n-gp/?p=8544318

[Beri]

Hi Beri - so as to not drag the thread off-topic, I replied to you here: https://forums.autos...n-gp/?p=8544318

Not dragging it off topic. Just underlining motivation to name Bottas the worst driver.

Edited by Beri, 01 October 2018 - 09:45.

[BuddyHolly]

I would normally rate that race at a 7 or 8/10 however the team orders forced me to give it 1/10.

[Gareth]

Not dragging it off topic. Just underlining motivation to name Bottas the worst driver.

I know - no issue with your post at all Beri

 

My reply would have dragged the thread off topic, which is why I put it in a different thread.

[Ivanhoe]

To me, giving in on team orders is really not done. I dont care what anyone says about "it is part of the game", because it is not. It is ruining the sport. Clear and simple as that.

And still you rate Mercedes as the best team?

[Beri]

And still you rate Mercedes as the best team?

Yes, because Mercedes was the best team. Simple. My rating on Bottas was not about giving out the team order, which was done by Mercedes and is totally understandable but idiotic in my point of view, it was about giving in on it that marked Bottas as a weak driver in my book.

[FLB]

Best Driver: Charles Leclerc
Worst Driver: Nobody stands out
Best Team: Mercedes
Worst Team: McLaren. Oy...
Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel. He did what he had to do
Best Moment: Understanding even before the start what Mercedes would do in regards to Bottas/Hamilton. A complete no-brainer, as Vettel as said
Tyres + DRS: Inconsistent. DRS played no role whatsoever

 

And the race in a sentence: Toto may be unpopular, but he made the right call, IMHO

[milestone 11]

Best Driver: Leclerc

Worst Driver: N/A

Best Team: Mercedes

Worst Team: Toro Rosso

Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel

Best Moment: Hamilton's overtake of Vettel

DRS + Tyres: Only tyre that was of any use was the soft. I expected Max to have been able to challenge for a podium after bolting on the Ultras, it didn't happen. There was no time, even when the tyre was first put on, where Max was able to take anything whatsoever out of Kimi. 

[Redzone]

Best Driver: Max (the only reason I gave the show a rating of 4, instead of a minus 1

 

all the rest, I say none-Too boring except for the team orders .

 

If Max had stayed out instead of pitting, he had an excellent chance for a victory, plus the potential fireworks between him and Hamilton in the last laps battling for the lead, where passing on this track is almost impossible, might have made it an excellent race.

 

But instead   

[milestone 11]

Best Driver: Max (the only reason I gave the show a rating of 4, instead of a minus 1
 
all the rest, I say none-Too boring except for the team orders .
 
If Max had stayed out instead of pitting, he had an excellent chance for a victory, plus the potential fireworks between him and Hamilton in the last laps battling for the lead, where passing on this track is almost impossible, might have made it an excellent race.
 
But instead   

Absolute madness! Why bring him in, he had the race won didn't he?

[Nemo1965]

Best Driver: Max - despite the fact that Renaults, Haas, Saubers, and other cars are no match for the Red Bull and that sometimes some drivers take the tactical choice of not fighting Red Bulls when they come storming through the field... I think the way he overtook on the outside of turn 13 was special every time. 

Worst Driver: Ricciardo. Sorry, it may be harsh, it may be that he had a problem with his wing. But he was hesitant at the start, not impressive after the nose-change, not impressive anywhere, anyhow. And then: if Verstappens constant overtaking of cars is not impressive because the Red Bull is SO good... why was Ricciardo so much less decisive in overtaking?

Best Team: Red Bull. Not the strongest team, that was Mercedes... but I really liked that Red Bull just effed up Mercedes race strategy and thus they had to give a team order. Quite a psych-job...

Worst Team: Renault. What was that tactical decision about of not setting a lap in Q2?

Best Overtake: Verstappen on Ocon... turn 13 again.

Best Moment: Verstappens start.

DRS + Tyres: Meh. 

[RECKLESS]

Best Driver: Max (the only reason I gave the show a rating of 4, instead of a minus 1

all the rest, I say none-Too boring except for the team orders .

If Max had stayed out instead of pitting, he had an excellent chance for a victory, plus the potential fireworks between him and Hamilton in the last laps battling for the lead, where passing on this track is almost impossible, might have made it an excellent race.

But instead

You might wanna check the tyre rules again.

[Ramon69]

I'm surprised at the high scores, I thought it was terrible. 

I gave it a 5 to be honest, but was also surprised that so many gave it a 7 lol!

[Joe Bosworth]

I voted a 3.  Normally I would have given it about a 6 or 7 but contriving the winner is such a p*ss off that it really can't go better than 3 when the race for first is such a fix and the true winner is required to play tail gunner to impede the third runner from competing.

 

If a team is really going to plan that way run the whole race to the plan so that we the public don't see the disagreements that can be carried out in the team offices before the race and at least the denied driver isn't driving his guts out for a win.

 

[Damsel]

Pretty decent race I thought: some fantastic performances, some drama, nothing wrong with that one.

 

Best driver: Verstappen was fantastic. Even with the much stronger car he made his way up like lightning, and to get into a position to be in the lead for so long, AND mess with the frontrunners strategy: pretty impressive. Leclerc was really good as well.

Worst driver: No one was really bad, but quite a lot of people were pretty invisible (was Kimi even in this race?)

Best team: Merc did what they had to do, but man, the way they did it! Why didn't they just tell Bottas up front that he would be in wingmanmode...? So harsh. Also RB was pretty funny screwing with the frontrunners for no apparent reason, since they made Max save the engine in the second stint and were apparantly never planning to hunt down Kimi.

Worst team: Renault. Great strategy guys

Best overtake: Hamilton on Vettel

Best moment : "The Red Bull is leader???? How the heck did that happen..?" I laughed out loud . But the first stint-Verstappen show was pretty awesome to. And Vettel undercutting Hamilton was great for a moment, made me think the championship might get some spark again, but unfortunately that didnt last long.

DRS + tyres: I never know what to say here, unless there was tyre related drama

[Ramon69]

Leclerc's overtake on Magnussen was sensational, I must say!

[LH44Fan]

 

Leclerc's overtake on Magnussen was sensational, I must say!

 

 

Considering who it was done on and the danger level absolutely, I watched it again on YT earlier and he was not intimidated, the lad looks like the guy who delivers our Newspapers (young and innocent) but underneath that helmet he showed balls of steel - even Crofty's shouting didn't stop me cheering for him when he overtook the 'guy who likes his balls sucked' around the outside. If this is a sign of things to come then the future is bright for the Scuderia 

[LH44Fan]

OT I voted the race a 3, would've been a 7 or 8 (for the overtake on Vettel) but I switched off when Team orders were initiated, the life was sucked out the race for me (even though my fave Driver won) and I had to rate it down as such...