Roger Wright94 said:The erosion started during qualifying. 👏
There is a chance for something more here.
This is the first serious threat to Lewis Hamilton.
It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. 🙂 Whether Ferrari's supposedly better long runs on soft tires prove significant enough to secure yet another victory remains to be seen.
It will be difficult for Sebastian Vettel to beat Lewis Hamilton, who is clearly in high spirits. Personally, I would love to see them go wheel-to-wheel in a direct battle at some point; if Vettel manages to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton, he will be biting like a madman to overtake him again.
People often forget Kimi Raikkonen, who had a better race pace than Sebastian Vettel in the last two races. His attack on the German was only thwarted by Max Verstappen and a safety car.
A duel between the two Ferraris would be interesting, and Nico Rosberg also put himself on fresher tires compared to Lewis Hamilton after the Second Qualifying Session.
The race could end with the top four within ten seconds of each other. Of course, that depends on the start; if someone from Williams finishes ahead of one of the Ferraris or Mercedes, it will be hard to neutralize them if they don't settle things within the first two laps.
The race pace at the start will be insane, I am certain of that. Whoever falls behind early will likely never recover.
And perhaps a safety car might emerge mid-race, in which case anything could happen.
Lewis Hamilton is obviously the primary favorite, and Sebastian Vettel must hold second at the start. Nico Rosberg absolutely cannot get ahead of him, because if he does, Lewis Hamilton will pull away.
One must watch Kimi Raikkonen very closely as well. If Kimi gets a good start, he is, in my view, a greater threat than Sebastian Vettel, given that his race pace was slightly superior in the previous two outings.