I thought Honda left due to the economic melt down of 2008? Oh well. Of the top drivers that swtiched teams: Sainz looking good, Perez doing OK but probably not at the potential of the car but still ahead of the last few RB#2, Ricciardo seems the worst. I'm willing to bet RIC will come back stronger the rest of the year. VET, geeze, who knows, you'd think a 4 time champ in last year's Racing Point car would be in the points regularly, so did McLaren and Ferrari improve that much this year? Regarding HAM and his damage, well, I don't know if it adds up, after the two weeks in Austria hearing how one minute Mercedes has adapted BOT to HAM' set up, then they get out qualified by NOR and PER, then HAM has damage. Either way HAM started 4th and ended 4th. I think bottom line Mercedes can't figure out where they're losing to RB.
F1 setting bad precedent with over-regulating on-track passes - Brown By: Jonathan Noble Jul 7, 2021, 4:22 AM Formula 1 has set a bad precedent where drivers may have to ‘pull over’ and let rivals past if they now get alongside them, warns McLaren CEO Zak Brown. In the wake of the penalty handed out to Lando Norris at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Brown fears that it has opened up a world where hard racing is no longer allowed. And he especially fears that if Norris had to give way to Perez simply because the Mexican had got alongside him on the entry to the corner, then it completely changes the rules of engagement. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.tv, Brown said: “The alternative now is you've set the precedent for all you have to do is get up alongside someone, and then they've got to pull over for you. And I think that will become very difficult to go racing that way.” Brown said he still does not understand why Norris was deemed to acted in an unfair manner in the incident, and says he has not found many drivers who agree with the FIA stance. “I thought it was nonsense,” he said. “I think ever since I've been in motor racing, which is about 35 years now, when you go to make a pass on the outside, certainly on an opening lap, I think it's ‘passer be aware’. “For 50 years, it's been great wheel to wheel racing. But you put yourself at risk of potentially running out of room on the exit. “I thought it was great, firm, hard racing. And I think sometimes, we need to let the drivers race. We need to make sure they're doing safe stuff and they are driving within the limits. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-setting-bad-precedent-with-over-regulating-on-track-passes-brown/6626939/
Narrative lol. He did not specify what they might do. We do know what RedBull has done. Allison said they had some upgrades awaiting after Toto said they were stopping the focus on this car's development. So a small clarification. Not a narrative. Mercedes are not worrying about this car at all. Simple Public Relations is all. The cake tin was damaged. I posted a pic of what that structure is earlier on a Mclaren. Good luck finding that damage. Its hidden by the wheels. Mercedes specified where it was. Enough useless conspiracy about things that are so simple. We will know what Mercedes bring soon. They have also been very open about their focus now. Its not this car.
Well they already have upgrades coming in the very next race... And anyone believing a word that comes from Mercedes and believes anything about their ''openness''...just how new are they to F1?
For what it's worth, Max a couple of upgrades on his car at Austria round 2 that Sergio did not have. That doesn't explain Perez' driving off track or getting penalties, but likely helped Max to pole position. Perez had the upgraded diffuser one race later than Verstappen, and might get the front wing and bargeboard area updates for Silverstone. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.the-two-key-upgrades-that-helped-verstappen-pull-even-further-ahead-of.4Nx4gzxo7E2svtogyxSEth.html
It certainly does not. A boneheaded performance by Checo he looked like Maldonado out there. Get it together man!
Yep. Poor Checo thinks he can get a title at RedBull with Max on the team LOL. Max is getting ALL updates before Checo. Fact lol. WINGMAN!
Prime Schumacher was in a class of 1. Hakkinen was a whisker behind in consistent race pace. Prime Hamilton it's been tight with Rosberg, Alonso, Button, Vettel, Kimi. Fortunately for Hamilton Wolff gave him Bottas since 2017
Nothing wrong at being wingman in the best car of the moment, IMO. Perez must know that if he makes demands about parity, or challenge Verstappen too strongly, his contract won't be renewed. Same scenario for Bottas when Mercedes was dominating. Fights among team mates are entertaining among lesser teams with no title ambition, but disastrous for top teams. Horner certainly doesn't wish a repeat of the Vettel/Webber or Verstappen/Ricciardo eras, not more than Toto Wolff the Hamilton/Rosberg period.
How is this a surprise at all? You are aware Perez was hired for exactly that? Previous teammates of Max all had the same goal, be within around 3 tenths or so of Max or pack your bags. Perez knew what was up. It's been made public ffs. Where are you getting it from that Perez expect to win titles?
Schumacher got beat multiple times, buy Villinueve, arguably Hill, Hakkinen, Alonso. All with the luxury of never having a WDC team mate as Senna and Hamilton did. All of Schumacher's ex team mates know the stats of both Hamilton and Schumacher. Yet they still say in some ways Hamilton is better.
Schumacher never got beaten by his team mate. And always ended way ahead. Hamilton did get beaten. And finished ahead with a very small margin many times. Sure you gonna say Schumachers teammates were crap while Hamilton’s are the best ones out there. That doesn’t take away that you would expect more from the GOAT he is supposed to be.
Hamilton had the upperhand on every team mate he's had. Including WDC's. Competing against the best is a mark in my book, Schumacher had it easy in that regard. If he beat Alonso for example as team mate it would be different. Hamilton, Senna, Prost, among other champions are proven against the best in the same machinery. Schumacher is not. No doubt he had the luxury of having weak team mates.
Mercedes reveals extent of Hamilton’s Austria damage The Mercedes Formula 1 team has revealed that the damage to aerodynamic parts in the rear-left corner of Lewis Hamilton’s car during the Austrian Grand Prix cost six-to-seven tenths of a second per lap. Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained in the latest Mercedes grand prix debrief video that this led to the loss of 30-40 points of downforce. This is in line with team principal Toto Wolff’s initial estimate after the race of 30 points, although he was unable to put a time loss to it on Sunday night. Damage, Triple Headers & More | 2021 Austrian GP F1 Race Debrief Hamilton picked up the damage hitting the exit kerb at Turn 10 on lap 30 of the race, which Wolff stressed wasn’t down to a driver error. Hamilton’s onboard footage also did not show an obvious error that led to him hitting the kerbs in a problematic way, or straying wider than is normal. The damage led not only to a loss of performance but also worked the rear tyres harder, accelerating degradation and forcing him to hand second place to team-mate Valtteri Bottas, before being passed by McLaren’s Lando Norris and then making a second pitstop on his way to fourth place. Asked how much the damage affected Hamilton’s car, Shovlin replied: “A lot. The bit that got damaged is some of the winglets that sit on the rear uprights, so the carbon-work there. “It’s quite intricate aerodynamic parts that generate an awful lot of the performance on the car actually, it is a very sensitive area and we are measuring the pressures in those areas and from that, we can calculate the performance. “Now, the estimates that are coming in were around 30 to 40 points of downforce. That translates to around six or seven tenths of a second per lap, so quite a substantial amount. “But even worse here, it all came off the rear axle so Lewis had a lot of oversteer on that stint. “The back end of the car is sliding around, it’s heating the tyres and wearing the tyres and that problem starts to compound itself with higher rates of degradation. “So ultimately it cost Lewis the P2 position, it also meant that we decided to stop for another set of tyres just to make sure he could get to the end.” Shovlin was also asked to explain why Hamilton was put onto hards at that stop when he had a set of medium Pirellis available. However, these were not race-worthy having picked up a cut when they were used during qualifying, meaning hard was the only available option. Although Hamilton also had used softs available, these would not have been considered given their short lifespan. “During the qualifying session, the set of medium that we would have fitted in the race got a cut and this is just were a stone or a kerb is able to cut through the tyre rubber,” said Shovlin. “Pirelli had a look at this and they said it was OK to do laps to the grid but it wasn’t going to be OK to fit for a race stint. “So, unfortunately that set of tyres wasn’t available therefore we defaulted to the hard tyre.” https://the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-reveals-extent-of-hamiltons-austria-damage/
Okey; Alonso - Hamilton Both 109 points, both 4 wins. Hamilton more Pole’s but Alonso more fastest laps. Hamilton finished ahead because he had one more second place that season. Beating Alonso sounds a bit hars. What you don’t mention is that Hamilton broke an agreement between both drivers resulting eventually in Alonso blocking Hamilton resulting in a 6 place grid penalty for Alonso. Which ruined his race. Did this not happen, had Hamilton played it fair it’s most likely Alonso not only ended with more points, but also as champion. Not to mention the action resulted in a very bad relation between Alonso and Dennis. For sure influencing his results. Button - Hamilton Three seasons together. 1 season clearly for Hamilton. One season Button way in front and one season both drives almost the same amount of points. 190 vs 188. Overall Button even scored more points. You mention Button as a WDC, and he is but you and I know it had a lot to do with the Brawn GP rear diffuser. Kovalainen - Hamilton. Finally someone who Hamilton clearly beat. Rosberg - Hamilton Again a real WDC that Hamilton beat. Did however only had to beat Hamilton because of the dominant Mercedes. Hamilton won 2 to 1. Funny fact is Rosberg won as soon as he received Hamilton’s engineers. Something happening again in 2019 when Bottas received Hamilton’s engineers and won the first races. Have to give to you. Taking out the engineers part Hamilton did beat Rosberg. Bottas - Hamilton Think this one is clear. You skip a lot of these details, just to pick the data you need. I think it’s fair if you take these statistics in account. They show within those statistics a far more fair picture how it actually went. And to be clear, I think Hamilton is a great driver, and his year against Alonso was very impressive. I think he had WDC written al over him when he started and it showed. Nevertheless his results this far don’t do others justice. It had been an unfair game the last couple of seasons and let’s be happy this era ended.
Hungary 2007--> Qualifying. Lewis "blocked" Alonso from a qualifying lap. Race-->Alonso responded in kind by holding up Lewis during a double stack pit stop by like 5sec.
I don't have time to check, but I'm pretty sure that Hamilton has more poles, more podiums, more GP wins and more WDC than Alonso, Kovalainen, Button, Rosberg and Bottas ALL PUT TOGETHER !! And no, he didn't win all the races, not every year, but so far he is the MOST SUCCESSFUL F1 DRIVER.
Many things happen every season, with every champion. That's why I don't nitpick every incident in every season because its never ending. If Senna had not died, Schumacher would probably have 3 championships at best. Schumacher too have benifited off of others misfortunes, and sometimes his own. If i were to nitpick every season, Hamilton would have 10 championships by now. Schumacher beat his team mates, except Rosberg, and have won against Hakkenin and others, I'm not gonna nitpick all his seasons, I just congratulate him. Same with Hamilton. All we can do is take the results as they are.
Agreed, given the rules and regulations of the turbo-hybrid era that have given Lewis and MercedesAMGF1 dominance.....until 2021. Had those rules and regulations not stymied or stagnated PU development, could Honda have closed the gap to Mercedes a year or two earlier???
1. Lewis had stats before hybrid era. 2. Where are the other Mercedes drivers Rosberg and Bottas records?
It wasn’t during the race but at qualifying that Alonso blocked Hamilton as an reaction to Hamilton’s refusing to let him pass. This passing was a rule within the team and Hamilton refused to do so. Alonso took pole but, due to Hamilton’s dad complaining got a six place penalty ruining his race.
I am responding to the claim Schumacher had an easy task with bad team mates while Hamilton beat multiple WDC’s. And nobody is claiming he isn’t the most successful F1 driver.