Spoiler alert!- German GP

[banzai]

The season is far from over and the championship will undoubtedly swing back and forth a few more times before the checkered flag falls. At least Ferrari is now in a position to somewhat control their own destiny and claw their way back on their own merit. Mistakes can and will happen from everyone, especially when you are relentlessly pushing the edge. Kudos to Vettel for manning up, looking his interviewers in the eye and admitting his mistake.

Mercedes is still a little on it's back foot, their once impenetrable advantage is eroded. I'm sure both teams will throw their full resources into the fight and it should provide an exciting, unpredictable battle with surprise and drama.

[stubeck]

Am I the only one to think that Hamilton crossing over, not just the line, but 2 yards of grass and a kerb deserved some punishing?

Crofty and Brundle had a lively debate about this during the race and came to the conclusion that there's nothing in the rules that prevents a driver from doing what Hamilton did. It might have been dodgy but he didn't break any rules.

Paul

He did break some rules. He got a reprimand for it.

[JamesB]

Yes, that's the point. And yes it's quite dangerous. Sure it was with SC and fortunately the car following him was slow and far, but I think there are recent examples (in both senses) of different punishments.
Whiting's excuse seesm dumb. "Excusatio non petita, acusatio manifesta" they say...

[stubeck]

Theres nothing about penalties in F1 which shows any sort of consistency or frankly intelligence. The penalty he got should have been handed out before the safety car was finished, not 3-4 hours after the race.

[lep]

I am quite frankly getting tired of the Mercedes antics. The latest one from Toto Wolf: We have to trust Ferrari power unit is legal....

They have been winning for the last several years and now that they have some competition are sore loosers. From 2 weeks ago in Silverstone to this. I am not impressed.....

You show what calss you have and Lewis talking about love..... They are beaten on the track now. Get back to the plant and figure it out as have Ferrari.

The battle is great on the track this year.

[Alex_Kung]

It has been a roller coaster year.

I am a Ferrari fan but not a Seb fan. I used to hate Lewis but like him a lot more these days.

In past years Ferrari seems to fade as the year goes on. They would seem to start off strong but politics, errors, lack of development would creep in.

It pains me to see Kimi's race being compromised to benefit Seb.

Although I liked that Lewis kept his win the trip across the grass should have had a penalty.

[biercemountain]

He did break some rules. He got a reprimand for it.

I wasn't aware. Thanks for pointing that out.

Paul

[Seiiki]

Vettel is on the way to loose a second champioship because of his own mistakes.
Hope Ferrari will contract Leclerc for next year. May be we will see a second chapter of Ricciardo vs Vettel

Leclerc will be the future star. However, I believe that another year of seasoning in a midfield team like a Renault, Force India or even Mclaren would build up his confidence to the big time.

That being said, when a top team like Ferrari is asking him to join. It is hard not to turn that down. But the pressure would be immense to beat a talent like Seb. However, if he can do it in 2019. Then the world is his oyster.

[Seiiki]

A nice display of "mistakes and their consequences". That said, I crashed my palms on my forehead in despair when I saw Vettel out
HAm made a great race, surely also helped by SC. So Vettel's off was easily an almost 40 points worth blow up.
Am I the only one to think that Hamilton crossing over, not just the line, but 2 yards of grass and a kerb deserved some punishing? besides it was not a mistake (a driving one) but a case of "stay stay, no: in, in! no, stay stay!" as radio clearly showed.
I do that in a roundabout and I'll get a ticket!

A couple of observations. Vettel was caught out by the conditions as he knew well beforehand that he would be screwed either way. 1. Had he slowed right down by easing on the throttle, then there was literally no heat in the tyres to grip for the stadium turn. Now he just might get lucky by gently playing his brakes with throttle delicately to keep his car on the outside turn where there was more grip than the racing line.
2. He could keep the regular speed so the increase tyre pressure might be able to keep the momentum for making the turn.

He took option 2 with the completely wrong tyre at the wrong conditions. That just compounded the problem as the ice cold tyres literally were skating on the track and right off to the gravel trap. Seb was just no more than an innocent passenger along for the ride.

Champions are made by circumstances, luck, but mostly by skills. Sure, the rain helped Lewis but he still had to master the changing conditions to take full advantage of the situation. Just like Senna at Donington '93, Schumi at Barcelona '96, Rubens for his first win at this track in '00 and Lewis' win last weekend.

There is always a fine line by being aggressive and going beyond that line. Seb had done it twice already with Baku and now this. As it is, the difference is now 24 points heading to the Summer Break. There are still 9 races to go and anything will happen. Seb did not have a mechanical failure in his car and Lewis had one. Lewis also had a poor start at Silverstone which Kimi tapped him to the back. But he still finished second not to dropping points too far back. Perhaps skills wise, there is not a lot to choose from between the two. However, Lewis has the upper hand on the mental focus and the intangible. That might just be the slim margin between one of them winning or losing.

[stubeck]

The biggest problem for Vettel is that he went off at one of the few corners in F1 which actually has consequences. Most tracks have such huge run offs that what happened would have cost him 2 seconds and that's it.