Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes

[Sharrowgirl]

A lot of talk yesterday about how poor the car is and Lewis ‘deserves better’.

But no one is talking about how well Russell is doing in comparison. He drove from 11th to 4th yesterday while Hamilton stayed stuck in 14th the whole race. He’s currently 21 points ahead of Hamilton, after 4 races. They’re driving the same car?

I’m wondering if Hamilton has just lost motivation after Abu Dhabi and his heart’s not in it anymore. Or is there another explanation?

Also, I read a story that said that George is having to do specific exercises to alleviate the pain that he is in with his back and head/neck from this porpoising. He doesn't think that they'll be able to continue to drive if they don't manage to get it sorted as they'll be in such pain.

Could be interesting to see the reserve drivers getting an opportunity if that is the case.

It makes me laugh really that so many Lewis haters on facebook are now coming out with the "see it was always the car and not the driver" rubbish.

Me too! I mean, of course the car's a huge part of it. If you put Hamilton on a pedal bike and me on a motorbike I'm going to win every race. But I could be in that Red Bull with Hamilton in the rubbish Mercedes and Hamilton will win despite his car because he's a brilliant F1 driver and I am not.

When you have two brilliant F1 drivers, of course the car makes a difference.

Christian Horner is literally the worst. I don't know how someone has given him a decent slap by now.

Hamilton will chase that 8th championship, remains to be seen if he can achieve it this year but with the Vegas race next year too, I don't think he'll be retiring anytime soon.

To be fair, I think almost every champion I can think of in 20+ years of watching, has been 'accused' by some of just being lucky in a good car.

I have specific memories of it being said about Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, and Seb Vettel.

New drivers are hungrier for glory - they just are. They also have fresh reflexes and less worry about consequences, on themselves, of crashing. Older drivers tend to have families and other interests and have become a bit more 'rounded' as people, making them just that bit more conservative in their drive and a bit less single minded in their need for the win. That said, they are also more experienced and so tend to spot and stay out of trouble better . Take Lewis holding steady to win the British GP on three wheels a couple of years back. Would a less experienced driver be able to manage that? Actually, would any other driver at all do it? It stands out as such a great moment and memory, for me.

I have loved watching Lewis' career and hope he gets his 8th. How great to have that record held by a British driver . But I don't think I shall feel much sorry for him if he doesn't (and I genuinely don't mean that it any nasty way). He is one of life's greatest blessed, he has had health and success beyond most people's dreams and maybe even beyond his own dreams. He is one of the lucky ones, 8th or not.

(I also don't mean to suggest he doesn't know that or is grateful or hasn't worked for it.)

It's going to be fun watching him try, though!

@Ferntastical I too have loved watching Lewis' career. Me and DH saw him many years ago in a couple of go kart races. One of our friends said to watch out for him as a future F1 champion.

I really do want him to win an 8th title but what will be will be. I will be sad when he does retire but will be interested to see what he does next

I love this thread. <3 It's so nice to see support for Lewis when so much of social media is utterly loving the struggle this year.

I belong to quite a few F1 groups on facebook and the hatred Lewis gets is awful. It's even worse this year because he is doing badly and all the "experts" are saying how they always knew he was an average driver at best!

The way I look at it is, if it wasn't for the cheating and rule bending Lewis would already have won 9 world championships.
Last year was so utterly, shabbily wrong and seeing Verstappen arrogantly swagger out alongside the odious Horner it makes me so mad! I also think that the year Rosberg won was not good, they were really pushing for him over Lewis in my book. German car, German world champion was always going to look pretty good and i think it is pretty telling that Rosberg never came back to defend. Come on Lewis!

Lewis Hamilton is such an impressive person IMO. All round, not just as an F1 driver.

@LookItsMeAgain I used to think that Vettel was such an arrogant prick and now he's the litter picking, gay rights campaigner and the nicest guy in the paddock. He's also a brilliant driver. When Sky F1 did a piece with Aston Martin and the James Bond car, his absolute skill and talent shone through whereas Stroll was hopeless and then left early (supposedly for a prior engagement and not because Seb was showing up his poor driving).

I used to feel the same way about Vettel. Now I think it was being at Red Bull that made him so unlikeable.

Placemarking. Also in the anyone but Verstappen camp!

Exactly the way I feel about Seb.

I couldn't stand him and used to say to my DH how he was so arrogant etc. Now I really like him. I now see him as down to earth and caring.

Also has a good sense of humour. Did you see him talking to Ted Kravitz about the cheese? He was really funny.

Not sure what it is about Red Bull that makes some of their drivers so unlikeable. I do think Horner is a horrible nasty piece of work and such a whinger too.

Red Bull is absolutely the common denominator for unlikeable drivers. I wonder what Verstappen would be like in another team.

I can't stand him, but I do feel sorry for his childhood.

Watch Drive to Survive and you'll see the toxic mess that is Red Bull. The way they spoke about Albon was awful. No management to improve his conference. Basically leaned on him to tell him he had to shape up or ship out. No hiding of their disappointment and frustration with him. No emotional intelligence to appreciate that if you put pressure on like that, most people will crack and if you want their talent to come through, you need to support them and not just shit on them. If you do, the only people who thrive in that environment are the guys who develop a fuck you attitude to everyone to survive it.

I blame Geri Halliwell ( joke before the feminist board decamp to tell me off).

*confidence not conference!

Meanwhile I wouldn't mind if Toto adopted me. I think he's really nice and I love his logical mind.

Oh Toto. I love him. And Susie.

Ah, Toto Wolff and Suzy, such a classy couple.

What a lovely thread! I love seeing the pro Lewis vibe here. I wouldn't consider myself a Lewis or a Mercedes fan, but I found myself absolutely horrified at what happened last year in the championship. I would now love to see him stay and win his 8th title. He deserves it. Anyone who has watched F1 for a long time knows the "it's the car" line is mostly rubbish.

I'm enjoying watching George do so well this year too.

I cannot stand seeing all the hate Lewis gets online though. Reddit has a sub called Formuladank which is supposed to be a F1 meme sub, it's 90% anti Lewis posts, Many of them racist or borderline racist. Facebook is dreadful too with some horrible anti Lewis pages filled with nasty posts. Makes me so angry seeing what he has to put up with.

Can’t stand Horner, every time his smug arrogant face and Verstappens come on the TV i want to scream.

is there ANY chance at all that Lewis could get his 8th this year?

I'm so happy to have found an active f1 discussion on MN

Only if Verstappen continues to have reliability problems, Leclerc continues to make mistakes and Mercedes get their issues sorted out ASAP. So yes, it's possible but it's a big ask.

@Ferntastical - I started laughing out loud (really) when I read this:
They also have fresh reflexes and less worry about consequences, on themselves, of crashing
That must be the Mazepin rule then?
You forgot to add the point about Daddy being able to pay for all of the components that he broke!