Those boys just can not play nice.

Bad move on Nico's part. If he wanted to successfully defend he should have ran Lewis wide on the exit not the entrance.

What an ending? Amazes that both cars actually made it to the end.

Nico still can't handle the psychology of racing Hammy.

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Bad move on Nico's part. If he wanted to successfully defend he should have ran Lewis wide on the exit not the entrance.

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Nico should have just blamed bad brakes and tires. Its obvious to anyone with a brain that he was trying to DNF. For him to try and blame Lewis is a ***** move.

Another view of Rosberg forgetting to turn at the corner.

I just have no issues at all with that block. It didn't turn out well for him but he gets to defend. I still don't really know how the car got crippled.

Good race and exciting overtaking. The radio rules suck and running tons of laps behind a safety car when the cars have wet tires is lame.

Also I think I said this a few weeks ago, but Daniel Ricciardo is in trouble and in danger of being Mark Webbered!

Difference being I think Ricciardo is more talented than Webber. We'll see.

Hamilton now one point back but the engine penalties loom, how far ahead doe he need to get to hold off Nico.

I agree the radio regs are a bit silly. I understand why, but if they're going to put these guys in friggin space ships then sometimes they need to know how to fix them.

Yeah, the radio regs are silly. Mercedes obviously knew what they were doing was flirting with the line at the very least, since they told Hamilton in Baku that they couldn't tell him how to fix his issue.

What drove me nuts was qualifying on Saturday and the "exceeded track limits" stuff. It seemed so arbitrary on how they enforced that. Magnusson got one lap erased in Q1 for going off the track, but then his last lap was allowed to stand, despite putting all 4 off again, knocking Button out, but causing McLaren to think maybe he'd be in Q2 afterall for a while. Then in Q2, lots of people were putting all 4 off, and I didn't see any times deleted. Then Hamilton's first fast lap was deleted in Q3, but his second, which again looked like he could have put all 4 off in the same spot as his deleted lap, counted.

Either enforce the track limits strictly, or don't do it at all.

I agree. I think Ricciardo is better than Webber, however he needs to fight back soon!

Lewis finally didn't blow a start and it paid off for him. Even when Rosberg was closing the gap late, I never thought Hammy wouldn't win. Pretty exciting start, really. Wanted to see Ricciardo hold onto second a bit longer, see how he could do holding off a Merc, but Nico made a nice move to get around him quickly.

Kimi had a really nice drive, and should have gotten around Verstappen. No idea what the stewards were looking at, as young Max clearly made two moves defending, which is supposed to be a no-no.

Good to see a McLaren up there in the points. Wish Jenson hadn't had problems, the car seems to be getting better every week. Hopefully they'll be back fighting for podiums next year.

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Nico made a nice move to get around him quickly.

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That was really good. I feel like I never see Rosberg do anything that can't be chalked up to having a superior car. That was the right tactical move at the right moment, and some really good driving to pull it off.

Can anyone lay out how many races Hamilton can realistically make it before he has to start taking grid penalties due to engine regs? What kind of lead does he need to build up to have a shot at holding off Nico?

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/10500316/lewis-hamiltons-2016-engine-plight-are-grid-penalties-heading-his-way

pretty good explanation. I thought he would have to take the penalty every time he entered the race with a 6th unit. I guess that's no longer the case

Rosberg is a championshipcaliber driver in the best car. Unfortunately he's going against an all time great in the same car.

Hammy is just a bad ass.

Vettel better pick up his game and that's hard to say seeing he's 4 time champ. But, the more that drivers like Ricciardo and Max shine the more it looks like Newey had a bigger hand in this championships.

As always have to love on the ice man. He's gotten downright *****ly in his old age.

Also count me as one happy to see McLaren starting to get serious.

Rosberg is done. I didn't see the race, just reading about it. I suppose mechanical fate could intervene but it appears to me that Nico is defeated. It's Hamilton's championship to lose now I think.

It'll take mechanical intervention for sure. Which does loom. Wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton blows an engine trying to push out that penalty

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It'll take mechanical intervention for sure. Which does loom. Wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton blows an engine trying to push out that penalty

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i'm guessing they are going to take a double penalty in one of the next 2 races. get it over with.

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It'll take mechanical intervention for sure. Which does loom. Wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton blows an engine trying to push out that penalty

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i'm guessing they are going to take a double penalty in one of the next 2 races. get it over with.

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I wouldn't be surprised if they choose to take the penalty at Spa. Lewis gets a fresh engine on a power circuit, and one that has ample opportunities to pass and get up to the front.

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It'll take mechanical intervention for sure. Which does loom. Wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton blows an engine trying to push out that penalty

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i'm guessing they are going to take a double penalty in one of the next 2 races. get it over with.

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I wouldn't be surprised if they choose to take the penalty at Spa. Lewis gets a fresh engine on a power circuit, and one that has ample opportunities to pass and get up to the front.

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with 9 races left? He's done 4 on this unit?

It's my understanding that he can still use this current PU later on down the road, correct me if I'm wrong. I figured that Merc would bring in a fresh engine to counter the round of engine upgrades coming at Spa and then he has an engine for Monza that has only been used in 1 previous GP.

Lewis is on his last Turbo and MGU-H, but still has at least one (sometimes 2) of the other engine components left. When he goes to a 6th of any one component, it's a 15-spot penalty, with each further 6th of a different component being an additional 5-spot penalty. So, if he were to take a new Turbo and MGU-H at Spa, it would be a 20-spot penalty. The same rules apply for 7th, 8th, etc, new components.

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It's my understanding that he can still use this current PU later on down the road, correct me if I'm wrong. I figured that Merc would bring in a fresh engine to counter the round of engine upgrades coming at Spa and then he has an engine for Monza that has only been used in 1 previous GP.

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I just read that Lewis thinks they'll do exactly that. He expects it to be Spa or Monza.

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It's my understanding that he can still use this current PU later on down the road, correct me if I'm wrong. I figured that Merc would bring in a fresh engine to counter the round of engine upgrades coming at Spa and then he has an engine for Monza that has only been used in 1 previous GP.

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I just read that Lewis thinks they'll do exactly that. He expects it to be Spa or Monza.

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I have a sneaking suspicion that the coming engine upgrades will cause Merc to have to push a bit in order to maintain their advantage. In doing so, Lewis must choose to push at risk of blowing the PU, or run normally and feel the pressure from the RB's. I'm a big fan of Dan and am keen on seeing him win the race for the 2nd time in 3 years.

Haryanto out at Manor. Rossi says no thanks to taking his seat for the rest of the season, so Manor signs Esteban Ocon to fill the seat for the rest of the year.

Good for Rossi. As much as I want to see him in an F1 car again, I'd rather it not be in a Manor. Rumor his he has an offer for 2017 from a different F1 team. We'll see.

Anybody headed to COTA for the USGP? Any interest in an Aggie Tailgate? I was lucky enough to marry a woman that bought tickets for me and my Dad for all three days. (I should mention the race is the weekend of our first anniversary!)

Racing is back this weekend fellas. Been a long lay off. I'm ready for some more race day magic.

Merc announced Hammy will take a penalty this weekend. They haven't clarified if he'll take 2 at once but have said he'll be racing from nearly the back of the grid.

Spa. Righteous track.

Confirmed 30 place grid penalty for Hamilton.

I wonder how much difference it'll make that he can focus entirely on race setup instead of qualifying.

Righteous indeed.
Eau Rouge.
So Hamilton's engineers could use more fresh components, incur more grid penalties and he'd still start 22 or whatever the car count is? And have a fresher power unit.
Seems to me like that should carry over to subsequent races.

I could definitely be wrong but think they changed things when McLarwn was getting hammered last year.

Easy drive by Rosberg. Nice charge from Hamilton and Alonso. Glad Magnussen is OK. Verstappen drives too erratically and gets away with too much. I wonder if Vettel is starting to feel the way Alonso did all of those years at Ferrari...

The beginning of that race looked the last lap of a restrictor plate NASCAR race.

I'm still a little baffled how Hamilton ended up in 4th after the red flag.

Side note, I stumbled across the movie Grand Prix this weekend, just as it was starting. I'm about halfway through and it's pretty cool. The opening scene has better shots of Monaco than today's broadcast.

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I'm still a little baffled how Hamilton ended up in 4th after the red flag.

Side note, I stumbled across the movie Grand Prix this weekend, just as it was starting. I'm about halfway through and it's pretty cool. The opening scene has better shots of Monaco than today's broadcast.

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i think the broadcasters were baffled. it was like Hamilton has moved up to 14th. oh wait, he's 5th now!

i don't know how it happened so quickly either.

BTW, someone should make a Kimi app so you can listen to his radio feed during races.