Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020Formula 1

[PaMu1337]

Has anybody else had their Driver of the Day vote changed from their original choice to Hamilton? I have. Very weird.

Does it actually display your own vote, or the overall winner? Mine also says Hamilton, though I didn't vote for him

 

[PeterJB]

The problem with not fully appreciating Hamilton's achievements is right there. The only driver he's had to outshine for the last three years has been his team mate who, let's be honest, is mid-field material at best. In his career Bottas has partnered Maldonado (whom he barely beat), post-injury Massa (whom he beat with a slightly bigger difference) and Hamilton. Nobody in their right minds rates Maldonado or Massa, especially in his late career form, as top drivers and Bottas is a hair above their level. Hamilton himself ran pretty much neck to neck with Button in their McLaren years and very few people would rate Button at the absolute top either.

Cruel but true: given Hamilton's seat, any of the mentioned drivers would have won at least the last three world championships with the Mercedes. That's how good the car is. Last year F2 driver Nikita Mazepin drove the Mercedes for his first time in Barcelona testing and was 1,3 seconds faster than anyone else that day, including full time race drivers. That's how good the car is.

And it's exactly why it's hard to appreciate what Hamilton is doing with it because very nearly everyone on the grid would be able to do the same. The only man to beat would be Bottas, with less than stellar pace and a naive belief that he has the same support from the team as Hamilton, and that would be it.

In fact I have a very strong feeling that the only reason they keep renewing Bottas' contracts is that nobody else would buy the stories about having a fair chance and keep smiling when everyone with a brain can see that the only fair thing he gets from the team is his paycheck. He's the ultimate fool for the job - capable enough of bringing the car home in one piece while posing no actual threat and apparently dim enough to not question all the "alternate strategies" in races while he's leading, being refueled awfully conveniently a bit too much for the last Q3 qualifying run, or after topping the timesheets in FP1 and FP2 the car mysteriously losing a few tenths of pace for the qualifying and nobody knowing what caused it.

Hamilton has had a very unusual career arc. He made his debut in the fastest car on the grid, which has almost never happened before, and were it not for two mistakes in wet conditions he could've won the title while Alonso was squabbling around trying to play mind games. The only genuinely un-competitive car he's had was in the first half of 2009, then the team brought mid-season upgrades and bam he started winning races again. Alonso allowed internal management issues to get to his head when he should've steam rolled his rookie team mate, Kovalainen was clearly not in the same league though he shone we he was dragging the Lotus cars around at the back. Button basically had the better of him in their three years together as he was cool, calm and collected and Hamilton was completely reckless. They more-or-less had the fastest car in 2012 but dropped the ball due to poor reliability and numerous accidents. Nobody has pushed him harder than Rosberg, though it did help that they could concentrate on each other as no-one else could keep up. What we're seeing now is similar to those three years only far less entertaining because they don't/can't race with each other for the lead because Bottas isn't fast enough and/or keeps messing up and Toto won't let them because after the handful of collisions Hamilton and Rosberg had I guess he's scared they may wrap both titles up with only three races to spare.

Vettel on the other hand spent a year and a half in midfield cars, drove the socks off them and then got promoted to a front-running team. Webber clearly wasn't as good a driver as him, I've lost count of the amount of times he stalled when the lights went out compared to Vettel's almost full-proof reliability at getting himself out of DRS range at the start. However as is the Red Bull way he was helped by the fact that he was clearly being given preferential treatment over Webber. For two of his four championships he clearly had the fastest car, but 2010 and 2012 went right down to the wire, and had he not crashed out of the first two races of 2009 he could have and should have won that championship too. Ricciardo has the makings of a champion and walked all over him in 2014, though it's quite clear Vettel's driving style doesn't suit the modern cars. He had three years trying to beat Hamilton in a car that was slower and with a team seemingly going out of their way to bottle every strategy call they could, which has left him feeling defeated in a car that he can apparently barely keep on the track, whereas the Mercedes is on rails and the team does perfectly executed double-stacked pit stops.

This has the makings to be Hamilton's easiest championship challenge, as now he doesn't even have a team mate that can challenge him.

 

[Tired Tyres]

I thought about this for a while... but didn't Hamilton deserve a penalty for driving a damaged car and not get a safety inspection? They hammered LeClerc in Suzuka for that.

"By not bringing car #16 into the pits at the end of lap one, immediately after the incident for a safety inspection when there was damage clearly visible and then by telling the driver to remain out for an additional lap after telling the race director otherwise, the team created an unsafe condition on the circuit which only narrowly avoided being a major incident and also increased the likelihood of additional incidents after the one noted."

This seems similar, given that the carcass could have come off, causing a dangerous situation for Lewis or another driver. I'm just going on precedent.

You seriously think a driver in the LEAD on the LAST lap should go into the pits instead of taking the chequered flag? Really? I've read some interesting posts today.

 

[Jubby]

You seriously think a driver in the LEAD on the LAST lap should go into the pits instead of taking the chequered flag? Really? I've read some interesting posts today.

I'm trying to find a replay, but I swear he was driving towards the last lap when it went down.

 

[McLaren]

I'm trying to find a replay, but I swear he was driving towards the last lap when it went down.

He had just passed the pits when it went down.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Does it actually display your own vote, or the overall winner? Mine also says Hamilton, though I didn't vote for him

I thought it usually displayed my vote, maybe I'm wrong

 

[Famine]

He had just passed the pits when it went down.

The old pits by BRDC - about half a lap left.

 

[McLaren]

The old pits by BRDC - about half a lap left.

Ah, okay. I heard the announcer say, "as he crosses the line" & got confused then.

 

[NotThePrez]

I'm trying to find a replay, but I swear he was driving towards the last lap when it went down.

He was at the old start/finish line when it happened. You might be thinking of Bottas, as his tire went down right after the modern pits.

 

[Liquid]

Second time I can think of that Silverstone was a sniper range (2013, I think).

Any particular reason? Abrasive curbs?

 

[PeterJB]

Second time I can think of that Silverstone was a sniper range (2013, I think).

Any particular reason? Abrasive curbs?

It has the fastest corners. Monza is the fastest circuit overall but most of corners are slow and tight which hurt the brakes more than the tyres.

 

[AshenGraey]

The problem with not fully appreciating Hamilton's achievements is right there. The only driver he's had to outshine for the last three years has been his team mate who, let's be honest, is mid-field material at best. In his career Bottas has partnered Maldonado (whom he barely beat), post-injury Massa (whom he beat with a slightly bigger difference) and Hamilton. Nobody in their right minds rates Maldonado or Massa, especially in his late career form, as top drivers and Bottas is a hair above their level. Hamilton himself ran pretty much neck to neck with Button in their McLaren years and very few people would rate Button at the absolute top either.

Cruel but true: given Hamilton's seat, any of the mentioned drivers would have won at least the last three world championships with the Mercedes. That's how good the car is. Last year F2 driver Nikita Mazepin drove the Mercedes for his first time in Barcelona testing and was 1,3 seconds faster than anyone else that day, including full time race drivers. That's how good the car is.

And it's exactly why it's hard to appreciate what Hamilton is doing with it because very nearly everyone on the grid would be able to do the same. The only man to beat would be Bottas, with less than stellar pace and a naive belief that he has the same support from the team as Hamilton, and that would be it.

In fact I have a very strong feeling that the only reason they keep renewing Bottas' contracts is that nobody else would buy the stories about having a fair chance and keep smiling when everyone with a brain can see that the only fair thing he gets from the team is his paycheck. He's the ultimate fool for the job - capable enough of bringing the car home in one piece while posing no actual threat and apparently dim enough to not question all the "alternate strategies" in races while he's leading, being refueled awfully conveniently a bit too much for the last Q3 qualifying run, or after topping the timesheets in FP1 and FP2 the car mysteriously losing a few tenths of pace for the qualifying and nobody knowing what caused it.

I never mentioned Bottas in my earlier post because in my mind, I don't see him as anything particularly special . he is fast but I don't think he is fast enough to beat Hamilton. He makes too many mistakes and when he's had the opportunities to really shine and make a difference, he completely botched them. Could this also be as result of some internal team conspiracy crap? Perhaps but I won't speak to that because for one thing, I refuse to go there. Second, I'm not there in the team so I don't know anything about any of those details. I will only speak to what I see when the drivers are racing on the track and based on that, Bottas is clearly not a match for Hamilton. The way things are going right now, this will probably be an easy championship for him, that is if nothing happens to him on or off track.

And to your point about the car being so good, if that's the case then, every single drivers who managed to win championships as a result of a dominant car (Ferrari, Mclaren, Red Bull etc) in F1 should be discredited as well and we should not appreciate any of their achievements? Because, surely there were plenty of other drivers on the grid, given those seats, would have also been able to achieve the same feat. You don't really believe that, do you?

 

[andrea]

 

[evldave333]

The problem with not fully appreciating Hamilton's achievements is right there. The only driver he's had to outshine for the last three years has been his team mate who, let's be honest, is mid-field material at best. In his career Bottas has partnered Maldonado (whom he barely beat), post-injury Massa (whom he beat with a slightly bigger difference) and Hamilton. Nobody in their right minds rates Maldonado or Massa, especially in his late career form, as top drivers and Bottas is a hair above their level. Hamilton himself ran pretty much neck to neck with Button in their McLaren years and very few people would rate Button at the absolute top either.

Cruel but true: given Hamilton's seat, any of the mentioned drivers would have won at least the last three world championships with the Mercedes. That's how good the car is. Last year F2 driver Nikita Mazepin drove the Mercedes for his first time in Barcelona testing and was 1,3 seconds faster than anyone else that day, including full time race drivers. That's how good the car is.

And it's exactly why it's hard to appreciate what Hamilton is doing with it because very nearly everyone on the grid would be able to do the same. The only man to beat would be Bottas, with less than stellar pace and a naive belief that he has the same support from the team as Hamilton, and that would be it.

In fact I have a very strong feeling that the only reason they keep renewing Bottas' contracts is that nobody else would buy the stories about having a fair chance and keep smiling when everyone with a brain can see that the only fair thing he gets from the team is his paycheck. He's the ultimate fool for the job - capable enough of bringing the car home in one piece while posing no actual threat and apparently dim enough to not question all the "alternate strategies" in races while he's leading, being refueled awfully conveniently a bit too much for the last Q3 qualifying run, or after topping the timesheets in FP1 and FP2 the car mysteriously losing a few tenths of pace for the qualifying and nobody knowing what caused it.

wow you are so deluded

 

[-Fred-]

You seriously think a driver in the LEAD on the LAST lap should go into the pits instead of taking the chequered flag? Really? I've read some interesting posts today.

Isn't it against the rules to cross the finish line in the pits since Schumacher did so in '98? Granted he was serving a drive through, but I vaguely remember the rules changed to prohibit such a thing...

 

[ScottPuss20]

Silverstone is the Phillip Island of Formula 1. Tyre blowouts seem to occur on both tracks regularly, and the aggressive camber angles don't help. At least it made for some drama... If Red Bull didn't pit Verstappen, Hamilton would've lost the race. That was probably their only chance to get a win this season, unless something crazier goes down.

Mercedes: So dominant that not even a puncture can stop them from winning.

 

[-Fred-]

If Red Bull didn't pit Verstappen, Hamilton would've lost the race.

Or his tires would also have blown up and he would have finished outside the points.

https://www.racefans.net/2020/08/02/verstappens-tyre-had-50-cuts-in-it-horner/

 

[ScottPuss20]

Or his tires would also have blown up and he would have finished outside the points.

https://www.racefans.net/2020/08/02/verstappens-tyre-had-50-cuts-in-it-horner/

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

In an era with the most parity between the cars in F1’s history, where even midfield and backmarker teams could realistically score podiums. Yeah. Alonso’s performance in that era was more impressive.

Is that the bloke Hamilton beat in his rookie season. They both put in some impressive performances within those years. I think Hamilton peaked at Mercedes, but he certainly got off to a great start in 2007/8.


Regarding the race, I wonder if they will scrap the softer tire plan.

 

[Frank McGank]

Is that the bloke Hamilton beat in his rookie season. They both put in some impressive performances within those years. I think Hamilton peaked at Mercedes, but he certainly got off to a great start in 2007/8.


Regarding the race, I wonder if they will scrap the softer tire plan.

Tied*, because the team almost inarguably gave him preferential treatment. He was Ron Dennis’ pet project, after all. Something like a decade’s worth of personal investment in Lewis by 2008, right out of Ron’s pocket.

 

[Roo]

Hulkenberg's DNS was caused by clutch bolt failure.

Qualifying 13th for his first race since Abu Dhabi 2019, Hulkenberg was unable to take the start when Racing Point was unable to fire up his car, with investigations revealing a clutch bolt had failed and come loose within the drivetrain.

"It looks like a bolt sheared within the clutch housing," said team boss Otmar Szafnauer.

"And that bolt got caught and therefore wouldn't allow the internal combustion engine to turn over.

"So where the bolt fell off, it got jammed, and we couldn't turn the engine over.

"I think it's a bit early to understand why, but it did shear off so it could be a material issue, it could be an over-torque issue, I don't know.

"I'm sure all of those bolts are torqued to a certain specification, say the torque ratio isn't set right and you over-torque it, it could shear it.

"It could be a material issue in manufacturing, but until you look into all of those things - was the bolt brittle for example, I don't know - so we'll have to understand the root cause and make sure we fix it."

Szafnauer confirmed that the bolt was part of the package provided by Mercedes.

"It's not a Racing Point part, that's a part we get from either HPP [High Performance Powertrains] or MGP."

 

[ShiftingGears]

Thought Red Bull shouldve rolled the dice.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Thought Red Bull shouldve rolled the dice.

They did. For the fastest lap.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Isn't it against the rules to cross the finish line in the pits since Schumacher did so in '98? Granted he was serving a drive through, but I vaguely remember the rules changed to prohibit such a thing...

Wasn't that penalty because he served his drive-through penalty on the finishing line? As in, not completely being affected by the time penalty of one because he didn't complete his penalty throughout the entire pit lane?

I'm happy to see Ricciardo so high up there, and happy for Renault overall. Great to see them squabbling it out with Mclaren!

 

[Jimlaad43]

I think they usually let people finish the race if it's the last lap if the car is still driveable, they do it with front wings all the time. I think the only time they've done something to stop a driver finishing was in Australia 2009 when Vettel tried to do the last few laps behind the Safety Car with his front left wheel hanging off. Although that was most likely a covered up penalty for causing a collision. Hamilton had nothing to fear from penalties. The teams are allowed to replace damaged components before being weighed, so they tyre and front wing could be put back on because obviously damage and bits falling off will bring them below the minimum weight. Also, with the massive brown line following the car around the lap, they would likeoly waive the plank wearing rule because that's what a car with a puncture runs on.

 

[BrainsBush]

Yesterday post race the analysts/experts said that it is allowed to cross the finish line with a flat tire as long as there is enough rubber on the wheel/rim. It seems to be forbidden to cross the line (and finish for a position) with only the metal rim.

 

[MatskiMonk]

And to your point about the car being so good, if that's the case then, every single drivers who managed to win championships as a result of a dominant car (Ferrari, Mclaren, Red Bull etc) in F1 should be discredited as well and we should not appreciate any of their achievements? Because, surely there were plenty of other drivers on the grid, given those seats, would have also been able to achieve the same feat. You don't really believe that, do you?

More like...

"if that's the case then, every single drivers who managed to win championships as a result of a dominant car (Ferrari, Mclaren, Red Bull etc) in F1 should be realistically appraised as well and we should reasonably appreciate any of their achievements? Because, surely there were other drivers on the grid, given those seats, would have also been able to achieve the same feat."

 

[ShiftingGears]

They did. For the fastest lap.

Penny wise and pound foolish as they say

 

[McLaren]

Is that the bloke Hamilton beat in his rookie season. They both put in some impressive performances within those years. I think Hamilton peaked at Mercedes, but he certainly got off to a great start in 2007/8.

Regarding the race, I wonder if they will scrap the softer tire plan.

My thoughts as well. That or Pirelli gives significant notice to all the teams, "Hey, based on last week's race & our research, we strongly advise you do not use the softer compounds beyond 'x' amount of laps for safety".

I have seen some "blame" though that the tire failures came as result of that first pit stop everyone did during the SC, where the hard compounds would be pushed to the limit if they finished on them on at Silverstone.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Penny wise and pound foolish as they say

Nope. They'd need to see the future to know Hamilton would have a problem. Additionally Horner confirmed cuts in the tyres taken off the car in the pitstop.