This is the right stance. Mercedes and Bottas both knew he was never going to be given preference and win the hierarchy of team orders over Lewis. Bottas did an exceptional job following team orders, remaining competitive and getting along well with Lewis.

Exactly. It would also be beneficial for Merc as it would raise (or restore) the profile of a client team.

And what happens if next years Williams is actually fast? No one knows what those cars are yet.  I agree Russell couldn’t be ignored anymore but damn I sure would loved to have seen what he could do with an apparently resurgent Williams team in 2022.  

Agreed. I honestly thought they’d push off the deal for another year because 2022 brings in a new car era, so keeping Russell at Williams would give him race hours in that car while Bottas could serve as a benchmark. But the latter wanted a multi-year contract and the former could not be ignored any longer.

Did Bottas not win enough in a pretty unbeatable Merc? Yes. Did he have an opportunity to win? Not really.

Yep. It’s called the Streisand effect, and it’s very real. It will actually draw people to your address to see what the big deal is.

but it’s likely that the team was attempting to avoid a late-race blowout

Yeah, the team without any pit problems is the cause of the problems, sure

There is no wood. If you’re talking about the frame of the hatch opening, it’s just an anti-corrosion coating on the painted white aluminum.

That mid section of the race, when Hamilton and Bottas were chasing max, screwed up the tires of all 3 of them. Perfect call to pit max and let Perez drive on. Mercedes should have pitted one of the 2 to copy max’s strategy. Perez was now cruising behind them preventing them from slowing down to much while max could…

“Smacking a seagull with your walking stick is not an appropriate way to deal with the winged menaces...”

Counter-point:

True, hadn’t caught that but that’s wrong. It’s the ones you set your fastest lap on. Also, drivers who don’t make it to Q3 have free choice of compound for the race.

Hmm, apperently you’re right, didn’t expect that, always assumed they would start on fresh tyres.

The rule for tires in Q2 is that they need to use the tire type on which they did their fastest lap. So yes Hamilton starts on reds, but he can change to new ones (iirc). And also their fastest lap, at the end of Q2 Max will do a run an red most of the times but will pit if he sees that he will go trough to Q1 with…

Basically: electricity is generated through a magnet.

What a horrible design, it looks for someone of 4 feet high.Can you straighten your leg on the down stroke? It looks so uncomfortable... And why is the backwheel so far back? Design choice.

Well I had been going to this mechanic for years and thought he was pretty solid. A lot of other people went there too, but after awhile his work went downhill. It was gradual so it took awhile to realize the reason I was going was to talk to the other customers in the waiting room. In the end we realized he was just…

Jalopnik just pushed the opposite opinion yesterday. Y’all need to talk: https://jalopnik.com/i-cant-believe-i-have-to-say-this-but-its-totally-fine-1846302894

I had no idea you could catch it via Tweet. I really need to avoid social media now.

“With a full gas tank I can do the quarter mile but with batteries? I’ll have to recharge half way.”