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Formula One

Danza91 said:
He was not in the strongest car yesterday yet still managed to go over 50 laps on a set of tyres he turned into slicks, win by 30 seconds and lap his teammate. Hamilton has proven once again he is the best in the world, and arguably of all time.
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Who had the strongest car then?
As soon as he could use full power, he made his way through to the front.
His team mate cocked up his own race.
It isn't much of a race at the front anymore, most overtaking takes place in the pits, or using a silly button, and I don't mean Jenson.
 
rob666 said:
Who had the strongest car then?
As soon as he could use full power, he made his way through to the front.
His team mate cocked up his own race.
It isn't much of a race at the front anymore, most overtaking takes place in the pits, or using a silly button, and I don't mean Jenson.
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This weekend - Red Bull. It was Verstappen's race to lose but like many other drivers in this GP, he threw it away with a key mistake. Mercedes had been nowhere all weekend struggling with the low-grip surface and cold temps. It was supreme tyre management by Hamilton which allowed him to wring a 1 stop strategy out of the tyres whilst maintaining the pace needed to win. For reference, Bottas wasn't just slow because he spun a lot, he was also well down on race pace, at least 2 seconds per lap. He just couldn't make the car work in those conditions whilst Hamilton could. It's not like Bottas is a bad driver either. He gets a lot of stick but realistically he's one of the fastest on the grid in terms of raw pace. Weekends like the one we've just had highlight how good Hamilton's racecraft is.
 
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I wouldn't argue that Hamilton is a great driver, but the greatest of all time? I wouldn't say so.

I think if Rosberg had stuck around Hamilton wouldn't have had the same amount of championships. I was chatting to my dad too (Use to be a engineer for Mclaren for years) and it was a well known secret that Ron Dennis would put everything into Hamilton and his car and Alonso would miss out.

My issue with Hamilton is his attitude. He isn't a team player. A lot of the drivers would visit the factories to understand why an engine went wrong and be very hands on. Whereas Hamilton just races and if the engine fails hes not interested in why.

He also speaks of how we all need to go vegan to save the planet. Yet he takes his private jet around the world. When there was a typhoon in Japan and all the drivers were stuck in the hotel, he took his private jet to Tokyo instead.
 
Tibble said:
My issue with Hamilton is his attitude. He isn't a team player. A lot of the drivers would visit the factories to understand why an engine went wrong and be very hands on. Whereas Hamilton just races and if the engine fails hes not interested in why.
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Are you being serious? Wow. He isn't a team player? I guess all of the Mercedes staff must be outright lying in interviews when they speak about all the work he does for the team in helping to develop the car.

It's also worth considering why Rosberg did not stick around. Beating Hamilton over that one season clearly took so much out of him, and I can only assume he did not have it within himself to do it again for another season. Yes he wanted to go out on a high but he was still a top driver and young enough to continue for a number of years if he had wanted to. I think he knew he could not win again, or he just completely lost the desire to continue to race. Of course, Hamilton would probably have won that title had his engine not blown in Malaysia, but that's F1!
 
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I will say for Hamilton though, the hot lap with sir frank was something special
 
A horrific crash. The fact Grosjean is alive belongs to decades of work improving the safety of the sport. Even just a few years ago, before the halo system, surviving a crash like would have probably been unthinkable.
 
That crash tested a very large number of "what if" scenarios, and remarkably it all just worked. The medics, notably with open face helmets, just ran at the scene with seemingly little concern for their own safety. Thankfully Grosjean was able to extract himself from the car.

The engineering belief reported during the red flag, was that that was about 2-3 litres of fuel that went up in flames rather than the main fuel tank being compromised. Just insane how all the safety systems work, even on car that's been ripped in two and set on fire.
 
I've never seen an F1 car ripped in half like that before. I've been watching the sport since about 2002, and this was probably the most terrifying accident I've ever seen. This is exactly why the medical car follows the field around for the first lap.
 
I've been watching F1 since 2007 and although there have been some pretty awful crashes in that time I have never seen anything quite like that. Got to admit that when I first saw the ball of fire I went a little numb and feared the worse.

It is quite remarkable that Grosjean was able to walk away from that with relatively minor injuries. I never even considered that an F1 car could become wedged between a barrier like that and ripped in half. The halo certainly saved his life, and I am amazed that he managed to get out of the wreckage so quickly.
 
So, erm, double-bill of Lewis Hamilton news this morning. He’s tested positive for coronavirus and will be missing the SAKHIR GP this weekend, which I think makes this the first race he’s missed since his début in 2007. He’s also unsurprisingly the first announced nominee for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. His replacement for Sakhir will be announced in due course.

Also in F1 news, Nikita Mazepin has been confirmed to be racing for Haas from next year after signing a multi-year deal with the team.
 
George Russell is going to be replacing Lewis this weekend in the Mercedes. I'm really pleased about that, looking forward to seeing how he gets on. It won't be easy getting used to a new car so quickly but his performance in the Williams, especially in qualifying, has been very good.
 
George has been so close to getting that Williams into the points on a number of occasions this season, but he just hasn't quite managed it for one reason or another. It feels wrong that Haas have more points than Williams! Despite the Mercedes W11 being an unfamiliar car, I'd be VERY surprised if George doesn't get into the points, barring some huge mechanical issue - which I don't really foresee, given Merc have only had one retirement this year for a power unit failure for Valtteri at the Nürburgring. And that's their only retirement! Depending on how he gets on in the car, I think a podium should be within reach for him. Q3's quite probable as well.
 
I always expected Grosjeans F1 career to finish with him being carted off track in an ambulance, just thankful after that it wasn't a hearse instead. I hope for his own sake he doesn't try to return. He might not be too physically broken but he never came across as mentally strong in the first place.

I was astounded recently to find he brings no money to the team and is one of the better paid drivers. Why?! Based on his abilities in always assumed he was a pay driver.

Great opportunity for Russell, i think he'll do pretty well, seems to seriously outperform his current car. Got to feel for Vandoorne though, when you are a teams reserve driver but you don't get a drive even when a seat is available for a weekend or two is a bit if a kick.
 
What a race yesterday! Gutted for Russell; he got everything right from the start, manaing the opening stint on the tyres, pulling out a gap over Bottas, saftey car re-starts and even some good overtaking when put down the field (albeit in a faster car on faster tyres).

However, I am equally delighted for Perez. He deserves an F1 win and I would love to see him in the Red Bull next year over Albon who just fails to deliver every single race.
 
If Checo isn’t in that Red Bull next year, something is seriously wrong. He’s proven exactly why he deserves to be in F1 (a number of F1 drivers & personalities openly said so), and you can tell how much yesterday meant to him.

As for George? He’s heading to Mercedes full-time in the future, let’s be honest. The weekend showed just how good he is. Stepping into an unfamiliar car, having to wear shoes a size too small, squeezing into a cockpit that can’t fit him perfectly...and he qualified 0.026s off his teammate on pole, leading for large parts of the race. If it weren’t for Mercedes screwing up the pit stops, chances are he may have even won, but that puncture may still have happened. If he’s in the Merc for Abu Dhabi, I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do.

I think we all wanted George to win yesterday, but I’m equally as delighted for Checo finally winning a race.
 
It is rather ironic that it was Russell's replacement in the Williams that ultimately caused the events that led to him losing the race.

I would be shocked if he was not in the Mercedes in 2022 though. Hopefully Williams have a more competative car next year as well.
 
We now have confirmation that Checo will be partnering Max at Red Bull next year, with Albon moving to a test/reserve driver role. Can't say I'm overly surprised at this news, and whilst I'm sad for Albon, I'm equally as delighted that Checo is staying on the grid.
 
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