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What has happened to Hamilton? I thought he was the GOAT?

How is it that the GOAT is 5th, when his teammate, running the same chassis is, um, 2nd?

I don’t think even the best F1 drivers can pit during a closed pit lane and get away with it without being penalised. Hamilton is driving pretty well this year despite the difficulties with the car. Mercedes are finishing higher than they should be and have had a bit of luck in a couple of races with retirements from Red Bull.

My advice to you is watch the races and you will have a better overall scope on each drivers finishing position. Races are more complex than where drivers finished. For example Max Verstappen isn’t rubbish despite failing to complete two Grand Prix this season. So many variables to consider.
 

Toto had better be neutral in this. George deserves it, and has earned it.

Is that “article “ anything more than an opinion piece based on a race summary and a tweet from Mr Hill? It doesn’t even mention nor involve Toto.
 
Wow.

The author's grasp on English is shaky at best...

Looking at their name I don't think English would be their first language either?
Anyway George only grabbed third cause of bad timing and luck on Lewis. Still he is keeping up with Lewis alright, not the fight between them that we expected though.
 
Not sure why Damon felt it necessary to weigh in via that Tweet. It is no secret that Lewis tends to complain to the team when a strategy call or race event (Safety Car) does not go his way so that he did so in Melbourne when he was caught out by the Safety Car period should have been surprising to no one. And for the record, that's not a slam at Lewis as all the drivers do it to various extents.

Russell benefiting from the Safety Car was down to luck of his position on track at the time, not to any skullduggery by the team or the FIA and Lewis knows that - and so does Damon.
 
Not sure why Damon felt it necessary to weigh in via that Tweet. It is no secret that Lewis tends to complain to the team when a strategy call or race event (Safety Car) does not go his way so that he did so in Melbourne when he was caught out by the Safety Car period should have been surprising to no one. And for the record, that's not a slam at Lewis as all the drivers do it to various extents.

Russell benefiting from the Safety Car was down to luck of his position on track at the time, not to any skullduggery by the team or the FIA and Lewis knows that - and so does Damon.

I’d be more concerned if Lewis didn’t question his team on those sorts of situations I think. I think the likes of Hill would be saying ‘he’s lost his fire and will to win’ as any radio communication from drivers seems to be blown up these days by the press and online commenters.
 
I’d be more concerned if Lewis didn’t question his team on those sorts of situations I think. I think the likes of Hill would be saying ‘he’s lost his fire and will to win’ as any radio communication from drivers seems to be blown up these days by the press and online commenters.

Yeah it's really annoying - when Lewis does well, the British press crow how he is the GOAT and when he does not, they speculate if he will even finish out the season. :mad:

That being said, I do love listening to the comedian Bill Burr rip on Sky's presenters losing their minds when Lewis does well on his podcast after every GP. :D
 
Yeah it's really annoying - when Lewis does well, the British press crow how he is the GOAT and when he does not, they speculate if he will even finish out the season. :mad:

That being said, I do love listening to the comedian Bill Burr rip on Sky's presenters losing their minds when Lewis does well on his podcast after every GP. :D
I’m afraid we love to knock a guy down as much as we like to build them up in the press. It’s really quite frustrating.
 
Yeah it's really annoying - when Lewis does well, the British press crow how he is the GOAT and when he does not, they speculate if he will even finish out the season. :mad:

That being said, I do love listening to the comedian Bill Burr rip on Sky's presenters losing their minds when Lewis does well on his podcast after every GP. :D
Bill Burr is a fan of F1?
 
It makes no sense why that one blurb from Lewis' radio was let out. Just makes no sense.
 
Max has been criticised by the FIA for complaining about the safety car being too slow last weekend and calling it a turtle, now usually I'd put it down to the usual driver moaning.
But... he made an interesting comment which was they should just stick to the Mercedes' safety car as it's faster.

That raises an interesting point as the FIA now use two safety cars, the AMG Mercedes and the Aston Martin. This must be very difficult for the teams as you will have different sector times from these two cars at the tracks, and F1 cars as we know have a tiny optimal operating window. Perhaps it should be asked of the FIA why are they using two totally different cars?
How can the teams make the cars still work with two different paces to plus the race pace? Obviously the sector with the incident demands careful slow speeds, but in the other sectors the timings will be different between the two different cars.

I never thought of the two different cars before being an issue?
 
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The two different safety cars seems to be something new this year, I think? I haven't read anything explaining why they are doing this but it seems like it may be an effort to give both Mercedes and Aston Martin some exposure, which suggests there may be a financial aspect to this . . .

In any event if there is a significant difference in the capability of the two cars to lead the field at a reasonable pace, then that seems to me to be a legitimate issue. And Max is not the only one to comment on this, several of the other drivers also have similar comments, perhaps a bit less aggressively than Max?


 
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The two different safety cars seems to be something new this year, I think? I haven't read anything explaining why they are doing this but it seems like it may be an effort to give both Mercedes and Aston Martin some exposure, which suggests there may be a financial aspect to this . . .

In any event if there is a significant difference in the capability of the two cars to lead the field at a reasonable pace, then that seems to me to be a legitimate issue. And Max is not the only one to comment on this, several of the other drivers also have similar comments, perhaps a bit less aggressively than Max?



Thanks for the link to that story, this may be one to watch throughout this season with the new F1 cars and tyres, they may be more affected by the slower safety car? 5 seconds a lap though is like a week in F1. I'm not surprised some drivers have complained. Plus the Aston does look like a turtle lol.
I'd luuurve to see a Ferrari safety car, it could be a V12 back in F1 then ?
 
Thanks for the link to that story, this may be one to watch throughout this season with the new F1 cars and tyres, they may be more affected by the slower safety car? 5 seconds a lap though is like a week in F1. I'm not surprised some drivers have complained. Plus the Aston does look like a turtle lol.
I'd luuurve to see a Ferrari safety car, it could be a V12 back in F1 then ?

I thought that the FIA response to the drivers criticism was (to say the least) dismissive of the point they were making:

"The FIA would like to reiterate that the primary function of the ... safety car is, of course, not outright speed but the safety of the drivers, marshals and officials,"​

The effect of a slower vs faster safety car is going to be equally felt by all of the drivers in the field, so it's not providing any advantage or disadvantage one way or another, but putting drivers in a position where the restart is made on cold tires does present a challenge that will be less present for the faster Mercedes safety car.

I also think that the FIA argument regarding safety is overlooking that the final lap (at least) done under the safety car will be on a clear track so there is no safety issue with respect to others on the track, and the race will benefit if the cars are able to bring their tires as much up to temperature as possible during the final safety car lap, so that the race resumes competitively.
 
I thought that the FIA response to the drivers criticism was (to say the least) dismissive of the point they were making:

"The FIA would like to reiterate that the primary function of the ... safety car is, of course, not outright speed but the safety of the drivers, marshals and officials,"​

The effect of a slower vs faster safety car is going to be equally felt by all of the drivers in the field, so it's not providing any advantage or disadvantage one way or another, but putting drivers in a position where the restart is made on cold tires does present a challenge that will be less present for the faster Mercedes safety car.

I also think that the FIA argument regarding safety is overlooking that the final lap (at least) done under the safety car will be on a clear track so there is no safety issue with respect to others on the track, and the race will benefit if the cars are able to bring their tires as much up to temperature as possible during the final safety car lap, so that the race resumes competitively.

Yes, they were more concerned with the word turtle used?? Then the point being raised by several drivers.
 
Yes, they were more concerned with the word turtle used?? Then the point being raised by several drivers.

I presume because it was disparaging to Aston Martin, which is owned by one of the F1 teams.

I expect we would have seen the same if the Aston was "fine" and it was the AMG that was "slow".
 
I'm old enough to remember some of the crazy 'safety cars' they had in the past. Little economy cars and the like
 
I remember Alfa Romeo’s and Opel’s acting as the pace car 30 odd years ago too.

Back then they must have had a fleet of Alfa's as they'd all break down or rust away after being used once? I like the new Alfa's these days though, nice designs.
 
Here is an interesting but not complete list. Some interesting cars on here. I seem to remember a Ferrari Mondial at one race, man econoboxes

Chronology of Formula One safety cars[edit]​


Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG safety car during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix

Mercedes-Benz AMG GT S safety car during the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

Mercedes-Benz AMG GT R safety car during the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

Aston Martin Vantage safety car
 
Difficult qualifying conditions, Max did well and I'm not sure if Charles could have done better than his time. Still, it is only for the sprint race, right? I'm still not familiar with how these weekends are run, are the starting positions on Sunday based upon finishing position in the sprint race??
 
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