IIRC Max ran wide Lewis was on his gearbox and saw a opportunity to make a pass stick, not high risk, but risky as in the grand scheme of things he doesn't really need to. They went wheel to wheel without touching, he got in front and left a lot of room for Max to attack back, in doing so he got on to the marbles of rubber and went off track, but no spin and no contact!. Lewis was probably erring on the side of caution, and understandably so, but a good trait IMO for the position he now finds himself in, he has increased the points gap to Seb. Max starting 18th and Kimi did well on worn tyres, but I still maintain the Merc cars appeared to be eating rear tyres up at an alarming rate, compared to Redbull n Ferrari's. I said it before I'll say it again, Hams biggest future nemesis will be Max not Vettel..
No. Kimi says 'Did you win the championship, or no?" Lewis says no and people start laughing. Kimi replies with he really didn't know. youtu.be/Z5NMiZ6ym_w?t=3026
I said it before I'll say it again, Hams biggest future nemesis will be Max not Vettel..[/QUOTE] +1 absolutely
It's NOT an excuse. Lewis was trying hard to get by and simply was scrapping to get by, even if that meant driving off-line. But since there were no other cars around him, no-harm, no-foul if he couldn't pull the move off (i.e. situational awareness/racecraft). In the case with Seb and Danny Ric, Danny Ric was on the very extreme outside when Seb slightly understeered into him, hence the contact.
I see so your saying he is at fault because he crossed the line ahead of his rival, increased his lead and survived to race another day...
What are you reading into my posts??? I said Lewis did not "play safe" and the marbels are there for everyone and Lewis knows... so it is his fault for running wide and not the one of the marble, because they are just lying around by habit Nothing else was said no matter how hard you try to read something into it...
So help me out, Lewis now needs what ? 5 points over 3 races to achieve what only two other men in the history of F1 have achieved. And Seb needs to win 3 in a row without Lewis getting 5 points over 3 races? I’d call today “smart” for trying to stick his nose in, but safe for backing off (or having the run off room when he did take a run at Max) and waiting another week to become only the third five time champion in F1 history.
The Mercedes F1 team races under a German licence though, just like Red Bull (also based in UK) races with an Austian licence, and the Renault team (also based in UK) races Under a French licence. It's the licence that matters, not the location. I thought you knew that!!!
But again: why was that smart as there is absolutely no need to get by Max when leading the WDC and Vettel behind him anyway? Why risking a maneuvre "trying hard"? Seb was accused in the past for trying although he knew it is Max and everything could happen and Seb certainly needed getting past Max much more than Lewis did today. I do not see how he drove "smart" and "saw the bigger picture"... he just went for it an gave a **** about the "bigger picture" at that time. And to make it clear: I think there is nothing wrong with it, even with a crash he would not loose the WDC... but then one does not need to make it sound like he was doing a Prost. This sounds like a desperate attempt to make his drive even then something special when he did not win. And this is what some guys do not understand here what annoys a lot, this constantly putting a slant on the story that no matter how the outcome was "Lewis was doing great". Furthermore: if Lewis would have come from 18th to 2nd and fending off the championship leader on old worn US I can only imagine the excitement over here, but now it is because of the evil Mercedes eating tires and the marbles off the race line that Lewis did not win....and not simply because Max did drive better today
He was not backing off, he went off track because he was obviously to fast... how can you not see the difference???
Going off the track when you have 100 yards of pavement is a risk you can take with no penalty if you back-out and swing wide, Lewis tried to pass but had situational awareness and race craft to bring it home ahead of Seb and not push so hard that he was in any real risk of hitting Max or a wall or a gravel trap. Gave it a shot, played it safe by his standards and now needs 5 points to be 5 time champion.
Wow, if you call that already "smart"... everybody knows there is no passing of Max without risk but that certainly does not apply to Lewis. He just shows his nose and thinks Max might either dissappear or if not he simply has a drive in the countryside because nothing is lost...
"Smart" would have been coasting to the finish and not even trying to put a move on Max. He went for the win of the championship right there and wanted it to all be over, but he couldn't make the move stick. Nothing wrong with that, but its his own fault he couldn't get it done, twice, and to say he didn't even push and was smart about it is laughable. He's a top racer racing for a championship, of course he has race craft and skill, but he still wants to win. Why risk a DNF next race when you can get it done now? He tried and failed. No biggie. That's racing, but lets call a spade a spade here and not sugar coat his moves as some sort of genius forethought and calculated excellency. He went for it, and blew it. Now he has to clinch it next time. If he doesn't DNF....
When you blow a pass in Texas and the track is as wide as a 8 lane highway, what have you risked? I did not see Lewis with his typical killer instinct, I saw a guy run wide on the widest track I’ve ever seen. We all decide on what risk we take in a pass attempt, Lewis had room to avoid Max today, seemed extra safe (given paved runoff area) compared to other risky moves I’ve seen him make early in the season.
I agree Ham went for it, he couldn't pull it off, no big deal. He passed Kimi in Italy for the win, embarrassed Vettel countless times this year, has passed Verstappen. He has a 70pt lead, he has nothing to prove
So you say it was a half-hearted attempt... why is that smart when you know that a half-hearted attempts does not work with Max anyway??? Why an attempts at all if your highest priority is not to risk anything and "play it safe"? That does not make sense, and reading the post above yours I am obviously not the only one looking at this the way it is...
