[Nothatspecial]

[my 5 cents worth]
Modern F1 cars are so close in performance that without these 'artificial' means to allow a car an advantage at times there'd be litle overtaking and probably a lot more accidents as attempts were made that came out badly.
People have, inded, been saying for years that the problem is to much aero' and not enough mechanical grip but even it that issue was addressed (yet again), it'd come back to the cars being closely matched again.
Personally, I think the current tyre spec' and rules is a pretty good idea - it gives the drivers and teams that can optimise tyre wear and degradation an advantage, those that burn them up, or don't use their qualifying options well, are penalising themselves.
Kimi should have come in as soon as he noticed any degradation as he'd have lost around 25 seconds rather than the 50 odd seconds by staying out and would have finished around 7th or 8th - by my estimate, of course - and possibly quite a bit higher as he'd've been on fresh tyres. That was, IMO, just a bad call, just like making the wrong call on a wet track.

Looking forward to this weekend to see who's going to be the first to get two wins this year - or if it's going to yet another driver to make 5 from 5