Sports Articles: Formula 1: Austria Talking Points

Image from: thisisf1.com

Formula 1: Things To Think About After Race 9 In Austria

1. What on earth happened to reliability? Seems the fast pace of improvement is catching up with some teams, as the cars, usually so bulletproof, dropped like flies. A real shock to see both Mercedes drop out due to reliability issues.

2. Renault's engine upgrade showed little sign of affecting anything. They still look to have a crap engine, though someone should tell Fernando Alonso to stop crying before he is hit. His constant whining on radio is tiresome. Mind he does have something to cry about tonight, despite a decent result for McLaren.

3. Mercedes still get the calls wrong. When something happens to change things, they are always far too slow to react and do what is needed to alter their strategy to give themselves the best chance. Would Hamilton's Merc have blown up if he had been cruising at the front as he should have been if they had just made the obvious call to bring him in when the virtual safety car was called. How have they not learnt their lesson yet? Heads really need to roll there now.

4. Did the stewards just look at the wrong moment when they investigated Verstappen? They called a turn 3 incident to investigate, even though the shunt seemed to be at a different corner. Would Verstappen have taken a penalty if they looked at the right one?

5. Dodgy tires that blister for no apparent reason certainly makes for a random element, but it did just turn it from a skill challenge to just pure luck. I am not sure I would like that to be the way races are decided every time, but it is exciting when it is a rare event like that.

6. Are Mercedes missing a trick by not having an aero piece on their halo? I noticed there was one other team that does not have one, though I forget which one. Is it a mistake to not put one on there or is it of no consequence?

7. How did Ferrari not push Verstappen earlier? Their car is meant to be suited to Austria, while the Merc is not, but it never seemed that way. They only seemed to have the odd burst of pace. For a car that has shown itself to be so kind to the tires this season, surely thay could have pushed them harder today?

Written by Tris Burke July 01 2018 17:55:07