It appears that is what’s going to happen and honestly, given how well he drove and how little difference it would have made, especially given that the team in question is a developmental team, there was no point in making this a lasting memory. Toro Rosso is supported by a conglomerate with enormously deep pockets…

A developmental team would necessarily be a means to an end, the end being moving on to a bigger team. I just think that this is a team sport and given the outcome of the race, it would have made no difference to him to give up position. That being said, I do believe it should always be done under the condition that…

This is not make and it’s not a hero mentality. I don’t care if Sainz was nipping at his ass, Verstappen wasn’t gonna let him past. I don’t think Max deserved to be flogged for ignoring the order. It made no difference in the outcome, but I highly doubt Verstappen was letting him past regardless of where Sainz was and…

But had he foregone his third stop and they had undercut him, wouldn’t that have put them back in the lead? He’d have been on fresher tires but the car just didn’t have the pace all weekend so I don’t think he would’ve caught them. There was no way he was running two stops, so at some point, they would have overtaken…

We’re talking about Ferrari here. That should say all that needs to be said about how seriously the FIA was going to punish them. They may have matured this year in terms of their attitude toward the rules, but to think they’re going to let rules from the FIA stop them from doing anything is laughable.

I won’t argue that Verstappen has been better this year, even brilliant at times. If Verstappen isn’t to blame for ignoring the team order, then the team is to blame for issuing a completely pointless order to begin with a la Williams at the British GP.

That’s entirely possible, or he realizes it’s just not worth making a big deal over a team order that really would have made no difference in the race outcome. Both drivers finished. Max DID drive an excellent race. They were both in the points and given that the order was given so late in the race, the gap to Perez…

Exactly, the order has to have come from the pit wall, presumably Tost. I wouldn’t say it makes the team look bad but it’s just like what the hell was the point of giving the order in the first place anyway? Surely they wanted him to give the place to Sainz, they repeated the order and it sounded urgent the second…

Absolutely. I was honestly very surprised when I was looking at the leaderboard and he had made up so many places. He drove a very good race, but I thought Sainz did too and he was on fresher tires. I just don’t think it was make or break to ignore those team orders. If it was for higher places or Sainz was seriously…

Your right, Toro Rosso isn’t one of the most successful teams on the grid, but RBR undoubtedly is and hence I said Toro Rosso holds the key to his future with one of the most successful teams on the grid. Look, I think he’s a great driver and he’s shown some brilliance this season but I think in this case, it may not…

Then why did the team issue the order in the first place? Is it just stupidity on the part of the pit wall? I stand by my opinion. Obviously, Tost isn’t going to come out and rip Verstappen a new one publicly regardless of what he actually thinks. This sport is as political as anything else.

I said it in another thread, and I’ll say it here. This was incredibly foolish by him. It’s only a few points and making that swap would’ve gone a long way to establishing himself as a team player, which is always a good reputation to have, especially considering it’s basically a guarantee that at some point, one of…

How about Verstappen ignoring team orders? I get that he wants to get as many points as possible but the fact is that ignoring team orders during your debut season with a team that, let’s be honest, holds the key to your future with one of the most successful teams on the grid... not smart imo. He needed to swallow…

That’s hugely doubtful. I understand that they may have data his speed and tire degradation would have allowed him the opportunity to win, but there was no way he was getting past Kimi, then Riccardo and then Seb. Vettel had it under control for basically the entire race. I don’t think there was ever doubt about who 1…

I think this just goes to show how much of Merc’s dominance is down to that engine. I knew it wasn’t possible that their chassis was that much better than Red Bull’s given that their design staff is led by one of, if not the finest engineer/designer/aerodynamicist the sport has ever seen. Certainly he’s the best doing…

Agreed 100%. Red Bull knows that being a customer team is far from ideal. Realistically, as much as they tout having been Renault’s customer team as evidence of the fact that they can win as a customer, two things must be considered:

I call no Oddjobs! It was cheating playing as him!

He had an unassailable lead. There’s no doubt they would’ve won regardless and even Vettel said Lewis deserved the win. It was a safety issue but I feel like that would’ve seriously tarnished the season if he had been disqualified because of that or even if he had gotten a penalty that demoted him. I believe that…

He drove well to salvage fifth but I’m sure he would’ve been in the podium battle had he not stalled.

Good race overall. Nico put in a good drive so that engine meltdown had to just be a kick to the nads. I would love to know why Mercedes was urging Lewis to put his foot down. They sounded deadly serious especially given that he already had an enormous lead over Vettel in second. I wonder if they realized there was an…