Motorsport

Actually, yeah. I completely forgot Max skipped quali so he'll still start P20 and behind Bottas. So they've changed the engine purely to hold him up. Wow.

It's been funny watching them act holier than thou for the last 7 years only to completely contradict themselves as soon as someone steps up to their level (like they claimed they really wanted).

What a low move. It almost makes breaking the seal on Massa's gearbox look acceptable.

Of course if Bottas didn't need more components in his pool then this is a lot more cynical. I genuinely don't know which is the case, but I had in my head that Bottas was two engines and/or gearboxes down this season so the one grid penalty he's taken wasn't sufficient.

I don't think taking the penalty makes any strategic sense at all if he didn't need the components? 

Why would Bottas be any more likely to prevent Max scoring points by finishing in front of him starting 17th than 7th?  I don't believe for a second that Bottas will be told to do anything other than "try and score as many points as you can and don't let Max overtake you".  Isn't that the exact same game plan as at every grand prix?

Bottas starting lower down also doesn't relegate Max any further back or promote Lewis higher up either.  The only material benefit is the new components.

I edited my above post after thinking about it more, before I saw your reply.

Are you sure they meant tactical in a 'fuck over Max way' and not in the exact same way that Red Bull, are taking a 'tactical' penalty i.e. it's a good time to minimise the damage by bringing a likely grid penalty forward?

They are quite obviously doing it to try and hold up Max. We can dress it up however we want but that's what they are doing.

Yeah but that's normal. Get in front, don't let the others by, especially direct championship rivals. That's literally what racing is. It's what Bottas was supposed to do in France and in Holland and failed miserably at.

Doesn't change the fact that taking a grid penalty probably makes it harder for him to finish in front of Max rather than easier. Let's at least see what happens and what the strategies are before assuming agent Bottas is out to do something unsporting rather than simply being Merc doing what every team does, and take engine penalties when they think it will incur the least overall damage to their championship.

No one's assuming he's trying to do something shady like take him out. He's trying to hold him up during a very important first stint in the faster car on a track that's quite difficult to overtake. There's no point being willfully ignorant of what they are trying to do.

Breathless start. Jesus.

Yeah totally, bit dodgy considering he even practised that move on the formation lap.

Well, Bottas is clearly going as fast as he can, so that theory was nonsense.  Also Bottas is rubbish.

Haha bottas doesn't give a fuck

It's not a conspiracy, it's tactics. Which failed.

Good work production team. That was only for first place.

What are Mercedes playing at here?