do you know what the protest was about and when? 

Hard to say, they have the best overall package. Mercedes seems to have peaked. They dominate FP but cant finish it off by getting pole and these days, grid position is very dominant. But like a tennis player who has difficulty closing out a game, falters under pressure

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/new-fuel-worth-over-20-percent-of-ferrari-engine-gains/3164463/

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/138409/ferrari-engine-legality-case-completely-closed

Was about Ferrari's hybrid system, its been on going all year, FIA looked at it but

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/138409/ferrari-engine-legality-case-completely-closed
"Ferrari considers the issue of the legality of its 2018 Formula 1 car to be "completely closed" following the checks conducted by the FIA earlier this season.

During the Monaco Grand Prix weekend in May, the FIA said it had completed a complicated investigation into Ferrari's hybrid system and reiterated its satisfaction last month amid suggestions of ongoing discontent from Ferrari's rivals.

Its engine gains are such that Mercedes believes it no longer has F1's benchmark engine, while last weekend in Belgium Lewis Hamilton said his team needed to be able to match Ferrari's "tricks".

I see Kvyat is back in. I rate him. I dont rate Gasly, or Giovanatti, or Hartley. Norris is there but I favour Russell. Lando Norris is another Grosjean, whine whine whine when its going his own way

Definitely not a fan of team orders :-(

I can appreciate the requirement for it (from a championship perspective) but it still leaves a terrible aftertaste.

I think the team orders where necessary for Mercedes today, they have too much to lose against Ferrari to not get a 1-2 finish.  Hamilton seemed faster than Bottas most of the weekend and with Hamilton needing the win to extend his lead over vettle, Merc had two choices; duke it out and risk them crashing or team orders as bottas is over 100 points behind and out of the championship battle for 1st.

In the past few seasons, the merc was so much faster that they often had tied the constructors up well in advance and so rosberg/hamilton could race close and they could deal with the issues but Ferrari have really closed the gap and so they have to be more tactical in their support.  I'd imagine that if Bottas was much closer in the champtionship then they might have ordered Hamilton to stay put but as it stands Bottas has done very little over the season to support preferential treatment.

What happened to Max and the redbull?  I thought it would Hypers and gun ho but it seems like he didn't try after the stop?

I don't think it was ever a question of the Mercs duking it out or not.  It was all about insulating Hamilton from Vettel's attack.

According to a Hamilton interview (so you can take it with a grain of salt), he didn't ask for the re-order, and he didn't want it.  Apparently over the radio he said, "Just ask him (Bottas) to speed up a bit"

I can actually live with the re-order in that scenario - it's almost the same as the Force Indias swapping position to each have a go at attacking Magnussen - just in a defensive sense rather than offense. I just would have preferred for them to revert to their original positions before the end of the race once the threat from Ferrari was gone.  (But I grasp why they didn't)

F1 is a funny sport. Its my favourite motorsport, but it has and has often had the worse racing by far. MotoGP, Moto3, Moto2, GP2, all are a far better watch, they actually race. Team orders go way back. How many races did Barrichello and Massa win? Add back the many handovers. Its legal match fixing.

But, its a 100% Constructors Championship. You can argue they have one entry made up of two cars, they can and should do what they want with their one entry. Add to this, if you got pole, its pretty much over. Do what you can to gain or defend positions on the first few laps, then put the car on fuel saving mode and grab a latte and check your email while doing a good many laps. Following a good car? Forget it and give up.

What I want to know is this. Ferrari made recent gains, to the point where it was very very clear they are pulling more HP, and the car is more stable, and generally has an easier window for the tyres. Its a faster car. Hamilton said they have "tricks". FIA checked and all ok. Now the car has gone backwards speed and HP wise. Conspiracy tells me FIA found something, and as its Ferrari, the only team that MUST stay in F1, told to turn it off and we will say nothing, so we go back to when its a step behind Mercedes.

Mercedes fully deserve the title, so well done. Hamilton will win the Drivers as he is the favoured one, so a non event.

tdgeek:

F1 is a funny sport. Its my favourite motorsport, but it has and has often had the worse racing by far. MotoGP, Moto3, Moto2, GP2, all are a far better watch, they actually race. Team orders go way back. How many races did Barrichello and Massa win? Add back the many handovers. Its legal match fixing.

But, its a 100% Constructors Championship. You can argue they have one entry made up of two cars, they can and should do what they want with their one entry. Add to this, if you got pole, its pretty much over. Do what you can to gain or defend positions on the first few laps, then put the car on fuel saving mode and grab a latte and check your email while doing a good many laps. Following a good car? Forget it and give up.

What I want to know is this. Ferrari made recent gains, to the point where it was very very clear they are pulling more HP, and the car is more stable, and generally has an easier window for the tyres. Its a faster car. Hamilton said they have "tricks". FIA checked and all ok. Now the car has gone backwards speed and HP wise. Conspiracy tells me FIA found something, and as its Ferrari, the only team that MUST stay in F1, told to turn it off and we will say nothing, so we go back to when its a step behind Mercedes.

Mercedes fully deserve the title, so well done. Hamilton will win the Drivers as he is the favoured one, so a non event.

 

And, the other farce, grid penalties for engine, gearbox etc changes. Its a 20 race season, but lets race 15 and use the others to replace parts. LeClerc got his best quali result? No he didnt, 5 top drivers were at the back of the grid. Had RBR been 5th and 6th in quali, could have been a great race. The points payments and engine numbers need to be revised so we can watch a race and make it a race. Aero needs to be reduced, allow more diffusing to add mechanical grip so the cars can follow and race.

Batman: I saw a procession, a switch, and a mad max charging up like a red bull on fire. But then unable to catch the top 4.

So we have six cars racing for the final 5 races and likely Merc winning the lot. they have 2 drivers pushing each other to the max and a team that gets things right

I think Ferrari have really stuffed up Vettel, many times snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Learnt nothing from last year.

I agree. Except Mercs two drivers don't push each other they are managed. Yes, Vettel has faltered big time. Not helped by Ferrari's strategies. They stole points early on when there were a distant second on pace. Mistakes mid season. Advanced the car big time and failed to use it, then magically that new pace has gone since the FIA said it was legal.

When Hamilton clinches his title, Bottas will have some great results. "I'm driving really well at the moment" :-) 

When Hamilton gets his title, put your mortgage on a Bottas win forst up, that will be payback for last weekend. Seen that before

Batman:

Interesting theory. I don't know much about this but sounds plausible.

Its a silly theory, but not in F1, sadly. Makes no sense, Ferrari were too quick. Merc would close it up on last run on Q3, so they maxxed their party mode, but Ferrari too fast. Thats all gone, a little bit crazy TBH

Yeah Ferrari looked like they were coming on strong and we had an exciting time ahead, but that's now fallen away.

Red Bull looked close, especially with Verstapps overtaking in Sochi, but even then I think it's just a case of cars making their way back into position. 

We seem to have a field that's very much at different levels, very much like this where there's a big roar at the start, before it all settles down to the natural (predictable) order.