Webber said that the front runners are very strong but the number of pay drivers weakens the grid. I have to agree. I used to defend Maldanado a lot but when a driver like him crashes as often as he does; causes huge repair bills to a financially struggling team and still doesn't learn his lesson I'm afraid one too many incidents are just too much. The guy has a government sponsoring him. An entire government! No wonder he feels untouchable!
Ok, Let me first disclose by saying that I am indeed an Elton fan however I do know that he is no Senna, no Schumacher etc. Comparing Hamilton to Senna is like this big ordeal recently of comparing Lebron James to Michael Jordan. You cannot really compare two greats from different generations. Just as there were different drivers, personalities and cars in the late 80's early 90's, there were different players and personalities on the court too. So it is almost impossible to compare. With that being said, I do think that F1 cars were a lot different animal back in the late 80's therefore I think that a driver that can master an animal like that would indeed be the better driver. Back to Hamilton though, he has some great drives and the one that comes to mind is SPA 2008. In the closing laps of the race, the battle with Kimi just as it starts raining. He was on dry tires if my memory serves me correctly, he was sliding all over the place battling the Ferrari. Back and forth with Kimi, Ham slides off the track and gains position (gives it back in my opinion) and eventually Kimi lost it and Hamilton wins the race.(after soon losing it by the stewards) That was the best race I have seen since the Hamilton era IMHo. However, im not sure which year it was recently but Alonso had an amazing race at Monaco where he started all the way in the back and if I remember correctly, score a podium finish.
The only part I'll slightly disagree with you on is about the RB cars. I think Vettel's car was set up better and let's not forget how problem free his car was over webbers. Webbers car failed on and on again and the performance whether mechanical or aero was less than Vettel's. The last two years at MB have been a toss up I believe, with rosberg last year having the more reliable car, yet hamilton still won. This year I think it's easy to see hamilton is getting the better car, a la, vettel over webber. Just the way things go.
He didn't BEST Alonso in his rookie year, he never beat him either. He is a fast driver, but no star, end of
....Plus i can't stand the way he treats animals, i'm an animal lover (ok, i wacked a snake last week but she started it!) but wearing a dead squirrel on your head is where i draw the line!!!
oh and might I add I do not remember the 2008 McLaren car being that particularly dominant. Ferrari won the constructors that year and there were plenty of other cars that were competitive with McLaren.
Setup is driver related. The team don't setup a car and tell the driver ''enjoy, that's what you'll have to deal with''. As for ''how much more reliable'' Vettel's cars were, when this was a frequent discussion point I've debunked it many times. Webber only had a few more issues than Vettel. Vettel lost far many points compared to Webber because of breakage too. Sorry, but it's something that annoys me a lot when people keep saying that Webber broke all the time and say Vettel rarely did. A lot of these people saw the facts multiple times but always ignored it...
His biggest competition was Massa and he barely won. Not exactly his best year. A Jacques Villeneuve-esque title IMO.
Bottom line, in terms of dominance the Merc W05 and W06 are more dominant than any of Seb's cars as well as more dominant than anything Schumacher drove except for MAYBE the F2002. I'll say it again, the W05/W06 is the most dominant 2 year run in the history of F1.
And why did Ferrari won the WCC? Most likely because Kovallainen was the worst of the four drivers. And as even he won a race and had pole in another the McLaren can not be that bad...I guess the Ferrari and the McLaren were very much equal and this is why it became so close at the end... It is funny how small things could change so much. Just imagine Glock would have brought his dry tyres over the finish line in front of Hamilton (as there was not much Hamilton could do about that) and todays story would be very different as Hamilton would one have won a WDC in a very dominant Mercedes...He would not be worse or better because of this but all these arguments about winning in different teams would be obsolete and he would be regarded just as every other WDC...
Difference between Vettel and Hamilton era is that Vettel has number one status. If you read webbers book parts were literally taken off his car and put on sebs car when Seb ruined them. Seb given everything first and received preference for pit stops. Schumacher also given preference in his era of domination. That makes a huge difference. Rosberg and Hamilton treated equally. Moreover, I am of the personal opinion that rosberg is a better driver than webber (and most would probably agree with me).
Vettel had an edge with the blown diffuser where he was much more comfortable holding the throttle through mid corner compared to Webber from what I recall. Webber was a solid driver and reference for Vettel... Rosberg is/has been very capable qualifying across his career, but sometimes struggled with race pace (especially if you look at races at MB with MSC there). He had that edge last year over Hamilton, but Hamilton seems to have found the extra speed this year, which is making look very one sided. I haven't really been that high on Hamilton in the past, but he's beginning to make me a believer, he's had good teammates for reference and has solidly competed year in and year out. Hard to question his ability; however he is not Senna and he is not MSC, not even close to either.
I agree. That goes for every record that's being broken too. Every year there are more races. Drivers start younger. ...and in Lewis' case, for example, don't even drive in lower ranked teams and work up the field.
Yep Senna saddled with some real winners back in the day that he simply willed into the points or victories.
While there is little doubt that Schumacher had a dominant car, at times, there were times when he was just as dominant in a car that was clearly NOT the fastest. His championship in 95 racing the B196 against the much better Willimans driven by Hill and DC... 1997 the Willimans was clearly faster ... the day at Jerez... won't say more. 1998 came within 1 race of the WDC against a clearly faster McLaren. He would have been WDC in '99 had it not been for a broken leg....Exactly when has Hamilton had more than 1 true rival in which he consistently beat them in equal or an inferior car..the answer, never. Great driver but not an all time great.
Come on now, how can you speak so poorly of that Toleman? It almost carried him to victory in Monaco. It had nothing to do with treacherous rain conditions that only Senna would dare drive aggressively in.
Webber lost a tonne of points due to his terrible starts, week in, week out. That was driver error and he only has himself to blame for the massive gulf in results between him and Vettel. Great personality though.
+3 Furthermore, they now giveaway points like confetti! 'Twas a lot harder when it 9-6-4-3-2-1. Cheers, Ian