Hamilton deserves more respect

In 21’ I do believe Max was better, but won due to FIA. I believe MB still had the better car and good enough driver in Ham.

 

Verstappen didn't have a completely competitive car until 2021.
As soon as he had, he started winning and threatening Hamilton, with the final outcome at Abu Dhabi.
2021 was a transition year, with both Mercedes and Hamilton making mistakes under pressure from Red Bull and Max.

 

Not necessarily. Teams still favour one driver in their pit stop strategy.

 

That's true. Max clearly has favoritism at Red Bull. However, It seems Lewis and George have even status at Mercedes and I can't see any glaring favoritism. I think it's possible but we are talking hypothetical anyways. It will never happen.

 

we're forever being told that the only possible reason Lewis got beaten last year was because he was developing the car...so I think the Merc by definition should be Lewis spec by now.

 

Haha so true. Lewis has been loud about the 2022 and early 2023 cars not being to his liking, and of course Mercedes have developed and Lewis seems much happier. I would say it's safe to say Mercedes have developed towards Lewis' preferences, but I do not think they are screwing over George. He doesn't seem to be unhappy with the car.

 

They seemed to get the design for the new aerodynamics regulations wrong and were obstinate in sticking to the failing zero sidepod design that was fast on paper but didn't work in the real world. They seem to be a little faster and more stable now.

Hamilton is skilled enough to win races in a competitive car and the car hasn't been competitive. Relative to George, I'm sure age comes into it... young George is going to be a lot more resilient and less sore than middle-aged Hamilton after a whole race of porpoising down every straight. This year, that's less of a problem and he's outscoring George (a very decent driver) by a hefty margin.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I'm just having some fun at the reasons used

 

George this year has been very good at screwing over George

 

There’s no “seems” to it…Mercedes clearly got the design wrong in 2022

 

And they got it right the 8 years before that.....just to confirm that in elton's case it's the car, not the driver...

 

Yep. Hamilton was just plugged into the car via the OBD port. No skill involved. No doubt YOU could have won with that car...
You should really do some research on this, your notion that it's ALL car (in Hamilton's case) shows how little you know about racing. But I guess I shouldn't expect anything more from a teenager.

How about now?...is Red Bull's total domination the result of Max's brilliance or is it the CAR?
Be careful how you answer as your answer will show how much you know or don't know about racing.

 

LOL

 

Mercedes has always been Team Lewis. Since 2013 when they ordered Rosberg to stay behind Ham, despite his faster pace.
But George is beginning to help Mercedes understand that Lewis is not as great as they once believed.

BUT - they've called some lousy strategy for George this year, and Ham is currently ahead on points.

 

Look at the laptime gap between Ham v Bottas.

Then look at the laptime gap between Max v Perez

 

There's a reason that Perez is the #2 driver....
Just as there's a reason that Bottas was the #2 at Mercedes.
Who cares about "laptime gap" (other than you), what counts is who's in first at the checkered flag...Winning by 1 second or 40 seconds doesn't matter, only that you won.

 

Go back to watching Fast and the Furious and keep telling yourself that.

 

The laptime gap is useful for a team to assess their #2; I would think.
At Red Bull, they measure constantly the gap between Max and Checo.
When Checo falls too far behind, they start putting pressure on him.
The same happened at at Mercedes with Bottas, etc ...

 

What’s the job of a #2?
Protect the #1
If Max is winning, Perez better be in second and he better be making his car BIG.
Of course, right now Max doesn’t need protecting and Perez is fighting for his Red Bull life.

 

There, there.....

 

Laptime gap reveals the talent gap.

Bigger gaps are also useful when building up a pitstop window.

 

Lol !! Vettel had a "talent gap" with Webber too LOL!!

 

Again we can see why Lewis is a 7 WDC.
He delivers and maximize results during races.
Russell is a Leclerc lookalike driver.
Flamboyant but this isn’t enough.

 

Yes, Russell is a very good racing driver but sometimes he cracks under pressure like today. He needs more experience.

 

A less successful and a far less likable Leclerc copy.