I'm surprised Lewis can fit in through the halo with the size of his head. What an epic race though. 

wratterus:

 

I'm surprised Lewis can fit in through the halo with the size of his head. What an epic race though. 

 

Yes and yes. On the piece with Fangio's car, he was similar.

I'm amazed he managed to win 4 titles with that crap Mercedes, no one else could have achieved that.......  

Jaxson:

niallm90: We need to stop giving the cars bigger tires and more downforce.

Goes both ways unfortunately.  More downforce often means more reliance on clean air, which simply favours whomever is out front and prevents others from following too close behind.  That in turn leads to less overtaking as you aren't close enough and don't get the old school slipstreaming benefit etc.

 

Allowing others to develop more is probably a bit part of the equation now.  The funding model/distribution of wealth is mental, and favours those who are already winning.  

 

I think it's very telling how the netflix Drive to Survive TV series is still extremely interesting, even though they didn't have access to some of the top teams.

There are stories to be told, and exciting racing in the midfield, where the teams are more even.  Take the big 3 out of the equation and it's pretty exciting stuff in the middle.  Occasionally we've seen this in the coverage, where they cut to the winner only at the end because the leaders were boringly miles out ahead and the action was going on down below.

 

Funny that Mercedes allowed netflix in to just one race, and it turned out to be this one 😂
https://jalopnik.com/netflix-just-filmed-behind-the-scenes-of-mercedes-worst-1836771381 

Bugger, but a good race. Weird how Hamilton gets all the accolades, despite questioning the strategy, just as well he doesn't manage that. It was a strategists win

Basically, there was nothing RB could do (according to RB and Max). If they stayed out, then Lewis pits and do the undercut and RB does not have the HP to overtake if then responded by pitting instead of staying out. They chose to stay out and see what happens.

If RB pitted, Lewis would go to the end and Max had to chase and pass, which is not easy as Lewis with all the HP could not pass.

In a different universe, Max should win, but Lewis was just too good. 

Unfortunately like him or hate him there is no doubt he's the top dog in the competition. I did not for one second in the pre season expected anyone else to win the title, because the Merc team has the best technology, the best strategsist. If you put Vettel in the Merc I don't think he could beat Lewis. Alonso could not beat Lewis. Nico beat him by the skin of his teeth and it took so much out of him he retired.

The only way Lewis could be beaten I think is if you put Max in a Merc.

Batman:

 

Basically, there was nothing RB could do (according to RB and Max). If they stayed out, then Lewis pits and do the undercut and RB does not have the HP to overtake if then responded by pitting instead of staying out. They chose to stay out and see what happens.

 

If RB pitted, Lewis would go to the end and Max had to chase and pass, which is not easy as Lewis with all the HP could not pass.

 

In a different universe, Max should win, but Lewis was just too good. 

 

Unfortunately like him or hate him there is no doubt he's the top dog in the competition. I did not for one second in the pre season expected anyone else to win the title, because the Merc team has the best technology, the best strategsist. If you put Vettel in the Merc I don't think he could beat Lewis.

 

The only way Lewis could be beaten I think is if you put Max in a Merc.

 

Lewis was too good? He is in a faster car. In that race the strategist won it, pure and simple. As far as Lewis and Max, Lewis had a no risk choice, as he could not get past Max. Why not??? If he's so good. No risk move that Lewis would not have chosen. They were lucky that Ferrari were too far behind, so risk free. Tyres and time, easy. 

I agree ,Max vs Lewis in a Merc, Max wins.  Max vs Lewis in the same car, Max wins. Remember that lewis has had the best car, gets favoured (as Max also is) Check out the Mercedes car in the hybrid era. Any decent driver would be winning as much.

i have never had so much excitement from watching a race due to lack of overtaking

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

that guy is good!

even when he made that one mistake he managed to stay ahead and then merc unleashed the second sleeping dragon and he also managed to stay ahead.

my spine is tingling

I'm still trying to comprehend the absolute farce that was the final 2 minutes of Q3!

Yeah that qualifying was a mess, with no one wanting to lead and miss a slipstream benefit.

Race wise, LeClerc weaved around a bit as well as the eventual squeeze on Hamilton.  Showed he had a bit of grit and did a good job to hold on to the lead without being penalised.

Vettel had a shocker and this years car just isn't suiting him.

End of the day a home win for Ferarri will do wonders for the F1 Tifosi

I feel Vettel is broken. Same happened when Danny Ricc was there, went off the boil. Happy as when he had a wingman. 

Unsure why Hamilton was complaining about Ferrari's top end speed.He did that last week too, weird   :-)

He whines about everything. But he's good. Stuck to LeClerc gearbox like glue. Illegally blocked from passing twice. Bothas can't even get close.

tdgeek:

 

I feel Vettel is broken. Same happened when Danny Ricc was there, went off the boil. Happy as when he had a wingman. 

 

Unsure why Hamilton was complaining about Ferrari's top end speed.He did that last week too, weird   :-)

 

Vettel is a great driver - but it's been years since he's had a car that suits his driving style. He was amazing at Red Bull but then they changed the rules and car design and he's never been the same.

I just get the feeling looking at some of the older drivers that they're simply unable to adapt their driving style to the current car designs, meanwhile some of the newer younger drivers out there have done a great job. I love watching Albon and Lando Norris in particular.

Some of the comments Hamilton have been making recently about Ferrari are interesting, he's also complemented Leclerc numerous times in recent weeks. Before Ferrari and Mercedes confirmed contracts it did make me wonder if Mercedes had been chasing him to replace Bottas.

Batman:

 

He whines about everything. But he's good. Stuck to LeClerc gearbox like glue. Illegally blocked from passing twice. Bothas can't even get close.

 

Stuck to gearbox a few corners, mostly he was well behind, got a few car lengths closer at the chicane. If you have a Mercedes and you have your letterbox open, and you have the tow.....

No penalty so it was marginal. Note he was never in front, but he was given minimal room but not illegal room. If Lewis was the driver in front on that incident its NEVER a penalty

sbiddle:

 

tdgeek:

 

I feel Vettel is broken. Same happened when Danny Ricc was there, went off the boil. Happy as when he had a wingman. 

 

Unsure why Hamilton was complaining about Ferrari's top end speed.He did that last week too, weird   :-)

 

 

Vettel is a great driver - but it's been years since he's had a car that suits his driving style. He was amazing at Red Bull but then they changed the rules and car design and he's never been the same.

 

I just get the feeling looking at some of the older drivers that they're simply unable to adapt their driving style to the current car designs, meanwhile some of the newer younger drivers out there have done a great job. I love watching Albon and Lando Norris in particular.

 

Some of the comments Hamilton have been making recently about Ferrari are interesting, he's also complemented Leclerc numerous times in recent weeks. Before Ferrari and Mercedes confirmed contracts it did make me wonder if Mercedes had been chasing him to replace Bottas.

 

 

 

I dont really agree. he has nailed quali and raced awesome many times in the hybrid era. For this rule change, its harder to tell as he has a propensity to fail when under pressure by a top driver, this is exactly like Ricciardo. Less with Webber as Webber as muffled. he is a great driver, that hasnt changed for me, but his brain can't ,manage heavy competition in his team

They are all pro drivers, supposedly the best in the world, they need to adapt, end of story

Lewis has in the last year or so been very PC with his comments. Im sure his manager told him to suck it up as he will affect his legacy. he says Ferrari is too fast, well at least they arent 2 seconds per lap faster as Merc was when the hybrid era started and a large gap existed for years

I agree re Bottas, Vettel can fight Lewis for a title if Lewis retired first he could have a sniff at another after that. Right now though he is well placed. They realised that tyres are an issue so the hard resolved that, albeit they had to compete against medium, but they have the advantage

sbiddle:

 

Vettel is a great driver - but it's been years since he's had a car that suits his driving style.

 

Several of the older drivers have complained about this over the years.  The cars are more akin to managing a space shuttle now, and the overall balance of the car design does often tend to favour one team member over another.

Agree they're all supposed to be top drivers, but you're in a good position where it all feels like what you want vs adapting your driving style to suit the car.

It's also interesting to see how drivers handle pressure.  In recent years we haven't seen the drivers competitions go down to the wire, but when that happens we really see what a driver is made of.

It's easy for Lewis to be so nice and complementary when he's sitting pretty. 

I love this table by the way, especially the last few columns which show when the drivers championship was clinched and how close it was overall.

In recent years, Vettel has definitely had the most dominant (could be read as easiest) championship wins in 2011 and 2013.