In Austria, Nico Rosberg finally did something he’d threatened to do since the season began but hadn’t quite managed: he took a win off his team mate.
Yes, there was Monaco, but that one fell into his lap after a strategic blunder. And in Spain pole position meant he started the race with the upper hand over Lewis Hamilton.
The significance of this result was its rarity in the content of the contest for the championship which has been fought almost exclusively between these two drivers since the beginning of last year. On several occasions in 2014 Hamilton came from behind to take victory off his team mate. Now that Rosberg has shown he can do the same, the finely-poised championship battle between the two suddenly looks a lot more competitive.
Rosberg wrests lead from Hamilton
Hamilton may have started the race from his sixth pole position in seven races, but this one had come against the run of play. He’d looked unsteady in practice, didn’t head Q1 or Q2, and spun off during his last lap in Q3. Fortunately for Hamilton, his team mate then went and did the same.
Twelve months ago at the same circuit Rosberg started brilliantly but couldn’t hold on to the place he gained on the long blast up the hill. This time he took the place and kept it – but Hamilton fought him hard.
Having beaten him to the apex of turn one, Rosberg guarded his advantage as they arrived at the second tight right-hander, picking his line with care to impede Hamilton’s acceleration out of the turn. Again Hamilton drew alongside as they arrived at turn three, and once more Rosberg judiciously positioned his car to thwart his team mate.
Now they were into the flowing middle part of the lap and Hamilton finally had to cede the place, tucking in behind his team mate. Just as he did that, the Safety Car lights began to flash.
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Raikkonen and Alonso crash
Back on the straight leading away from turn two Fernando Alonso’s McLaren was perched on top of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari. The pair were unhurt, but how the fleet Ferrari had managed to tangle with a slower car which had started five places behind it was something of a surprise.
Raikkonen had been delayed getting away from the grid as Marcus Ericsson got away slowly having stopped his car after jumping the start. Pastor Maldonado was also slow to react, and as Raikkonen picked his way around them Alonso was making up ground on the outside.
Then at the exit of turn two Raikkonen, running the harder soft compound tyres, appeared to lose control of his car, collecting Alonso’s as it snapped left. Alonso had been penalised for spoiling Nico Hulkenberg’s race with an error on lap one in Monaco, so it was something of a surprise to see the stewards issue no sanction for Raikkonen despite him ending Alonso’s involvement in the race.
It was an elimination McLaren did not need, as they have a hard enough time finishing races under any circumstances. Shortly after the race resumed a fault developed on Jenson Button’s car.
“Nothing was broken on my car,” he explained, “but something was wrong – and the switch-changes didn’t make any difference. So the team took the decision to retire the car – we’d fitted a brand new engine this weekend, and we didn’t want to unnecessarily damage it, so we decided to stop.”
Button’s precautionary stop made him the race’s fourth retirement. Will Stevens’ Manor had ingested debris, damaging the radiator and causing an oil leak, and he was told to immediately pull over and stop the car.
Vettel loses touch
After the Safety Car pulled in on lap six it quickly became apparent this was going to be a two-horse race at best. Ferrari had shown good pace in Raikkonen’s hands on Saturday, but as he had flat-spotted a set of super-soft tyres in that session, and gearbox trouble disrupted Vettel’s running, much of their running had been done on the soft tyre. Running on the super-softs at the start of the race, Vettel initially lost up to seven tenths of a second per lap.
Both Toro Rosso drivers had started well, Max Verstappen demoting Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz Jnr gaining three places. Romain Grosjean tried to reclaim a spot from the latter but was rebuffed at the outside of turn three, and Sergio Perez grabbed the opportunity to make up a place.
Perez, the highest runner on the harder soft compound tyres, was losing around a second per lap compared to his team mate on the super-soft rubber. Anxious to regain his lost position, Grosjean ran wide in the last two corners of the lap, caught out by the new strip of artificial grass laid there before this weekend’s race.
Shortly afterwards his race engineer made the helpful suggestion that he overtake the Force India ahead of him, in case that hadn’t occurred to his driver. His frustrating race eventually ended with gearbox failure.
Soon Bottas was making a serious attempts to re-pass Verstappen. He got down the inside at turn two, and although the Toro Rosso driver lined him up nicely to get a run at the exit of the corner, Bottas had already triggered his DRS, and that put an end to the matter.
Hamilton’s pit bid fails
Rosberg’s lead over Hamilton in the first stint peaked at 4.29 seconds on lap 25. Hamilton then began regularly chipping away at the gap. The Safety Car period had made the race a clear-cut one-stopper, and the time was approaching.
By lap 32 the gap was down to 2.2 seconds and there were signs Rosberg was beginning to ask too much of his ageing super-soft tyres. He ran very wide at turn two, locking his inside front-right tyre. He smoked his tyres again as he braked desperately late for the pit lane speed limit.
After a clean stop Rosberg rejoined the track just as Felipe Massa was passing by. Hoping he might get held up behind the Williams, Hamilton’s engineers kept their man out for another lap. It was a reasonable gamble – Massa was not under pressure from behind and could have stayed out longer. But he chose to come in on the very next lap, and with that went Hamilton’s slim chance of getting ahead.
As Hamilton headed for the pit lane exit Rosberg had already flashing past. What remote chance he had of coming out ahead was finished off when he strayed across the pit lane exit. This once would have meant a drive-through penalty costing him some 20 seconds, but the stewards instead chose to levy the more lenient five-second time penalty introduced last year.
In previous races Vettel might have been close enough to take advantage, but not today. For the second race running he was delayed by a slow Ferrari pit stop, and this time it cost him well over ten seconds and handed his third place to Massa. Vettel closed on the Williams at the end of the race, but not quickly enough to keep Massa from his first podium of the season.
Bottas regains fifth
Behind Vettel, Bottas had to pass Hulkenberg twice to put a lock on fifth place. He got the job done the first time with a tidy move around the outside at turn three. But the Le Mans 24 Hours winner headed straight for the pits, was treated to the fastest stop of the race by his Force India crew, and crucially rejoined just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull.
That meant when Williams took too long over their stop for Bottas, Hulkenberg reclaimed his position. It took until lap 35 for Bottas to regain his lost place, and by then his hopes of finishing higher than fifth were done.
Verstappen’s hold on seventh place slipped with two laps to go as his tyres began to fade. He was being pressed hard from behind by Pastor Maldonado, who at one stage nearly lost his Lotus at turn one, and then caught an even more lurid skid as he finally dodged past the Toro Rosso with his DRS open.
However a litany of misfortunes had wrecked the other Toro Rosso driver’s race. Sainz stayed out initially when he was called into the pits, as he was stuck behind Nasr and saw the Sauber driver make for the entrance.
But when Sainz did come in, his stop was slow. He then broke the pit lane speed limit, earning a penalty. And that became moot entirely when his car lost power. He had been running in front of Perez, who finished ninth ahead of Ricciardo – like Maldonado, both saved their super-soft stint until the end of the race.
Brake trouble hobbled Nasr for the second race in a row, while his team mate’s car cut out twice and he also had to serve a drive-through penalty for his jump start. Daniil Kvyat damaged his front wing on the first lap, pitted for repairs, but was still carrying some damage until he took the flag in 12th. “It was like hell,” he reported on the radio. Behind Ericsson, Roberto Merhi brought his Manor home 14th.
Rosberg masters the Ring again
In the final laps there were worried exchanges between Rosberg and his engineer as he reported a vibration that was “getting stronger” on his front right wheel. “All eyes on that,” he urged his team.
The problem, caused by graining, began to subside, but a cautious Rosberg eased off by two seconds on his penultimate lap. “It sort-of stabilised so it was not a problem,” he explained. “It just came from the tyre wear and just feels a bit uncomfortable when that happens.”
The second F1 race at the Red Bull Ring since its return was not much more memorable than the first, but Rosberg’s track record will give him little cause for complaint. At this stage in the contest last year he was leading Hamilton by 29 points.
Now he is ten behind, but on the strength of this performance he knows he can take points off Hamilton even if he doesn’t start ahead of his team mate. That is something he all too often failed to do last year, and it may open up an intriguing new phase in the championship contest.
2015 Austrian Grand Prix
- Strong run wins Hulkenberg Driver of the Weekend
- F1 continues to underwhelm in 2015
- 2015 Austrian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix
- 2015 Austrian GP Predictions Championship results
F1 race reviews
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- Verstappen denies Leclerc as F1’s Las Vegas spectacular lives up to its billing
- Verstappen on song with Sao Paulo win as Alonso prevails in podium photo-finish
- Perez breaks hearts, Verstappen breaks record in Mexico
- Verstappen beats Hamilton for third year running before disqualification drama
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
21st June 2015, 23:44
The ultimate test for Rosberg is whether he can overtake Ham on the track. Yeh he seemed a bit better today on pace than Ham but where would he be without the gift he got at the start? His engineer won him that one, or rather Ham’s engineer lost it.
Samhainhell
22nd June 2015, 0:07
The engineer?!
Rosberg simply did what Hamilton have been doing..
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
22nd June 2015, 8:21
Every driver releases the clutch the same way during the first phase. I don’t consider reaction time a big variable. As for car positioning, it wasn’t possible because start was lost so quickly. If anything starting on the left side with first turn going right is a disadvantage for pole sitter.
bag0 (@bag0)
22nd June 2015, 9:20
@ivan-vinitskyy
No, it isn’t. The racingline goes on the left side, and drivers lay on more rubber on the course of the weekend on that side. So starting from few meters ahead on the side with more grip is not a disadvantage. You would have a case if it was raining sunday, because the rubber on the track would have been a disadvantage.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
22nd June 2015, 9:32
@bag0, you’re talking theory… in practice racing line has not helped provide more grip. If I remember correctly the rest of the field also didn’t see any benefit. What it did was allow Rosberg have the corner when they were side by side with ham.
Charles King (@charleski)
22nd June 2015, 10:42
Hamilton moved right in an attempt to block Rosberg then went back to the left to find the racing line for the corner. He might actually have had a better chance if he’d stayed on the left and sprinted to the corner.
Mike (@mike)
23rd June 2015, 11:02
@ivan-vinitskyy
Of the top 8, as far as I can see, all drivers behind Hamilton got a better start than the man to his right, further more, of the 8 only Rosberg got ahead of the man to his left.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
22nd June 2015, 1:04
Gift? What gift? He was better, for once.
ColdFly F1 (@)
22nd June 2015, 10:23
+1
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
22nd June 2015, 1:27
@ivan-vinitskyy so when Hamilton wins it’s raw talent, but now it’s Nico and you start a Neweyesque excuse?
I’d rather keep my opinion about yours just for me before I get banned for life!!!
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
22nd June 2015, 8:41
@omarr-pepper,
Where did I talk about talent? I did give Nico the credit for staying in front in way he did and when it’ll come to vote for DOTW, I’ll give it to him. That however still doesn’t change the way he got in front, I won’t be applauding Nico for it and it’s not a way to discredit 1 driver in favor of another. Bad starts are mostly down to the car these days and until I see Rosberg overtake Ham on the track, he won’t be considered a great driver.
And yes if your opinions are full of emotion rather than objective analysis then keep it to yourself.
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
22nd June 2015, 14:27
He just did!
And Lewis demeanor on the podium when he’s not wining is not the right one.
He should have been more gentlemanly, lose the sour loser childish attitude, and congratulate the winner.
Even M. Brundle had to remark where Lewis was when they were spraying the champagne.
Samouri (@samouri)
22nd June 2015, 19:37
I wondered if M. Brundle noticed that Lewis went over and greeted, and congratulated Nico on his win, after they exited their cars in the Parc Ferme. Not once did Nico act in the same manner with any of Hamilton’s wins this season, not once. Rosberg just took straight off to have himself weighed, and at times looked over at Lewis. Martin Brundle had never noticed that, but I did.
Edgar
22nd June 2015, 0:18
A track that suits Rosberg way better than Hamilton.
But i wouldn’t change anything about the championship. Hamilton still winning more races confortably.
What i wanna see now is if Raikkonen finishes the year, and his F1 career ahead of both Williams drivers.
David BR
22nd June 2015, 1:35
Maybe. At the start of the season I’d have said Monaco and Austria were potential Rosberg-win tracks, actually won through luck and skill respectively. So what about what’s left? If Rosberg keeps this form, it wouldn’t be impossible to imagine him winning Spa, Monza, Singapore and Japan, say, plus Brazil (a Hamilton bogey track), leaving Hamilton the UK, Hungary, then Russia, US and Mexico. That would leave it 5-5 and a showdown in Abu Dhabi. Not going to happen like that obviously! but just as a rough measure of their relative chances at each track, it could be more evenly balanced than it seems. Then again Rosberg may wilt again and go back to how he was at the start of the season.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
22nd June 2015, 0:44
I like the odds of Rosberg raising his game and doing what he did today more often. It was the first time he had the upper hand after being beaten in qualy, and one of those rare ocassions when he’s just faster than Lewis and that’s that.
Hopefully that’ll make the rest of the championship a bit trickier for Lewis. I say this as a racing fan, that understands that this year’s WDC is LH’s to lose and I just want him to have a harder time getting it… like last year. Be it reliability or whatever… much better if it’s Rosberg getting him on true pace.
Also, as I said before, I’m liking the odds of Williams, Force India and Lotus making gains on Ferrari and Red Bull in the WCC. Ferrari’s hesitating a bit with the upgrades, do they work? is it because of the tracks we’ve visiting (two fast ones)? But even if they do work, Kimi being such a question mark at this stage really plays into Williams hands. If they can keep scoring top 5’s and benefiting from Ferrari’s errors, it’s going to be tight between them. To think Ferrari were doing the same with Merc not long ago… now it looks like they might look a bit more behind them.
And Red Bull. Penalties already, reliability not getting any better and very poor performance… and Force India is yet to debut the newer car. And Lotus is getting better, with Maldonado finally staying on track. And we know how fast that guy can be, like it or not. It’s just a given that one of Red Bull’s Renault engines will explode and they’ll suffer another round of penalties. So that leaves them in a VERY bad position. They are just 24 and 26 points ahead of those Merc engined teams. Tight too !
evered7 (@evered7)
22nd June 2015, 5:42
Ferrari don’t have to worry about the ones behind. Vettel was pulling away from Massa before Massa pit for softs. Their last laps before Massa pit was of .7 difference in Vettel’s favor.
And the fact that Vettel could hunt down a 4.2sec gap to Massa and hound him for the last few laps shows that Ferrari are still ahead comfortably. But they need to get their pitstops right and reliability fixed. This being a power circuit might have helped Williams but they still were lagging behind Ferrari.
I think the PU upgrades have worked but the results just don’t show that. Massively disappointing couple of weekends for Ferrari at Canada and Austria.
faulty (@faulty)
22nd June 2015, 18:25
Check the DHL Pitstop Awards. If that doesn’t show consistency and reliability in favor of Ferrari’s crew I don’t know what does.
Vettel’s woes seemed to be a faulty air gun, not human error.
evered7 (@evered7)
23rd June 2015, 5:32
@faulty Faulty air gun or human error or cross threaded nuts. It doesn’t matter.
The fact is that the pitstops in Canada and Austria were bad and cost the team. Kimi suffered from it in Australia.
I am not questioning their ability to do 2.2s pit stops. But I would rather take 3s ones all the time than have 2.2s/10s ones thrown around random.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
22nd June 2015, 1:21
..well Formula Mercedes becomes a bit more exciting!
We all know how it will end, but lets hope Nico and Lewis can scrap all the way to the last race!
Trido (@)
22nd June 2015, 1:23
The penalty rules are absolutely crazy at the moment. The penalties are far too strict for having an unreliable engine, and are far too lenient for safety breaches. Red Bull and McLaren incur absurd numbers of grid penalties for something that is out of the hands of the team, yet Hamilton and Sainz break SAFETY rules are are given a 5 second time penalty. What the hell is wrong with this sport at the moment?
Pat (@patcee)
22nd June 2015, 10:50
I agree Trido, it must be very disheartening for Mclaren and Red Bull and I can’t imagine how Button and Alonso must be feeling at the moment. Martin Brundle said during the commentary that these penalties must be revised to make more sense. They are spoiling the show for the fans and sending the drivers into deep depression. I am surprised that you are the only person on this forum that has made a comment about this. There should be a huge outcry about this. So good comment.
DaveW (@dmw)
22nd June 2015, 15:52
There is nothing wrong with the penalty rules. RBR and McLaren are racking up ridiculous penalties because their preparation for the races has been ridiculous. No one thought that the agreed-upon penalty rules would result in the simultaneous aggregation of multiple penalties for power-unit component change violations because none of the top teams believed that a team would fail so spectacularly in the preparation of their race cars. Especially not two of the teams who reap a lion’s share of the sport’s income, presumably, because they most reliably bring competitive cars to the show. It has been a long time in this sport, to my mind dating to the 90s, when a team and engine supplier did such a terrible job in preparation with so many major systems failures in races. They get no sympathy from me, and should get no sympathy from anyone by complaining about the rules. Similarly, in American Football, if a team gets 5 delay of game penalties in a row and thus face first-and-60 before even snapping the ball once—because the players failed to learn their signals and plays—it’s not the fault of the rules. Does F1 suffer because of this? Possibly. But the finger of blame has to land on the people vacuuming up an outsized share of the sport’s income but yet failing to provide cars that can consistently actually participate in the races.
Samhainhell
22nd June 2015, 16:09
You shouldn’t be looking at the rules, but at Teams.. McLaren is doing an awful job on their cars.. You can´t want to have power if you don´t have reliability, which can be dangerous.. That means penalties are well applied..
YellowFlash (@iceman241086)
22nd June 2015, 5:34
I really hoped I would not say this, being an ardent “Iceman” follower, but I think his time is up. At least, Ferrari has given him up. Arrivabene has been talking “We have to trust Kimi’s words for this incident” meaning he doesn’t. Last two races have been really bad for him. I always hoped after all Practice sessions, “Man! he’s fast here. He really got a chance to get row 2.” But disappointed always. There may be a hundred reasons why he could not nail it, but fact is he is not the Kimi we now. He is not the speed demon now. Maybe he may get contract till 2016 but that’s only 10% probable. So all Iceman followers, this may be well be his last season.
manas
22nd June 2015, 9:00
Rosberg’s next victory will be brazil.
Eric Morman (@lethalnz)
22nd June 2015, 10:16
last year we watched Ham hunt down Rosberg a few times and pass him,
but on this track and cars very similar on pace and speed neither could pass each other, including Ferrari an Williams with similar tire wear…
that is how it used to be no one in the top cars could pass each other, so unless you get the jump at the start or the car infront makes a mistake your stuck for the remainder of the race to follow the leader,
yes those that want battles at the front would do well to shut up about DRS because it can be the only thing that allows passing and adds some spice to the race.
believe me i have been watch F1 for over 40years and it works but then i agree the odd track makes it too easy but at others it makes for a great show.
so it needs looking into and sorted to make it a little harder and a little easier depending on the track format.
alilane4 (@alilane4)
22nd June 2015, 11:14
Looking at the pace of both during the whole weekend I would have been more surprised to see Lewis keep pace with Nico. Nico seems to like this place and has been better than Lewis the last two years.
Moving onto Silverstone I am wondering if Nico will go well again. With Lewis’ tire issue in 2013 and Nico’s engine problem in 2014 we’ve not seen them in a relatively even battle there.
Lets hope for a classic.
RL
22nd June 2015, 11:20
I’m a bit more worried now of Nico’s challenge – I suppose that’s good for the overall excitement of the championship. Regardless of the Monaco result he’s been able to be on par with Hamilton compared to when it looked like a procession for no. 44.
Woody (@woodyd91)
22nd June 2015, 12:57
Interesting race, Well done to Nico he was the faster driver over the weekend so a well deserved win for him. Which is something he needed, The track for whatever reason isn’t a good one for Hamilton, that’s no big deal of course all drivers have tracks that they aren’t as quick at. Hamilton never looked completely comfortable out on track, whether that is something that can be fixed mechanically i.e feel on the brakes or the front end or if its a more of a physiological issue Hamilton needs to fix for next year we’ll have to see. What’s interesting though is it seems on track where Hamilton hasn’t won before he makes mistakes, most likely because he is trying to hard to put that right, maybe he needs to step it back and treat it like a track he has won before.
I’m not sure if it’s because Hamilton regularly beats Nico or if it’s something else but the media do go abit OTT when Hamilton doesn’t win, he cant and wont win every race but the media seem to think he can and will, so when he doesn’t we have to spend 2 week talking about “has Hamilton cracked under pressure” which is just crazy. I mean look at the podium celebration, Hamilton was having a drink off camera with the guy sent up by Mercedes and Brundle straight away was asking so where’s Hamilton in that shot? I know this is Sky who tend to relentlessly try and make a headline out of things that don’t need a headline but Brundle is normally one of the more sensible out of the group with Ted being the worst.
I’m also surprised at the surprise from some media outlets that it’s going to be a tight championship, it was always going to be a tight championship. Because if you main competitor is almost always going to finish directly behind you never mind what mistakes they make the championship lead will take a while to open up.
Yes Hamilton start wasn’t great and without the bad start it may have turned out differently but that would’a, could’a, should’a. The big issue that this race highlights was the completely ridiculous situation F1 has gotten itself into with penalties, sending cars to the back of the grid and then given them drive thru’s on top. That’s crazy, I understand why they do it in order to stop teams taking an advantage of a new engine but it’s getting out of hand now.
Woody (@woodyd91)
22nd June 2015, 12:59
Psychological* (It appears Google think it knows what I want to say better than I do)
gazzap
22nd June 2015, 13:46
If ever Hamilton needed a good start it was Austria but he didn’t get one. It was clear to see he never got to grips with the track all weekend. I would really like to understand WHY he didn’t get to grips with this circuit. What kind of corner is it where he loses time to Rosberg? Why can’t he fix that over the course of a GP weekend? I don’t suppose anyone other than Mercedes have that kind of data. but it does make you wonder about sweeping statements that say Hamilton is the best out there or whatever. Surely the best drivers don’t have consistent weaknesses like this.
Young Gun
22nd June 2015, 14:07
Hamilton is pretty much over hyped by the British media, that’s all. Imagine what other drivers could do in that Mercedes such as the likes of Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and maybe even Button or Bottas. Lewis wouldn’t stand a chance against these drivers and I think he would be beaten hands down come the end of the season.
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
22nd June 2015, 15:19
not “hands down” (give Hamilton some credit) but at least I agree with you, Hamilton and Nico are not so evently matched regarding skills (Ham is better), and given Mercedes is light-years ahead of the rest, the battle is always just between them. So maybe Hamilton doesn’t need to be the best this year, just better than Nico. I agree with you that a stronger driver in car Nº 6 would unbalance Lewis more, even off the track (tantrums on Twitter such as telemetry, saying “we WERE friends but not anymore”, etc).
Alonson1
22nd June 2015, 16:47
lol weve seen Lewis vs them he as beat 2 WC. Lol young gun.
Woody (@woodyd91)
22nd June 2015, 17:00
– Double World Champion
– 37 Career F1 Race Wins
– 45 Career F1 Poles
– 76 Career F1 Podiums
– 1639 Career F1 Points
– Beaten his teammate in every single year bar 1 (Button 2011) including Button & Alonso on your list.
– Most successful British driver ever in terms of laps lead
– Most successful British driver ever in terms of pole positions
– Won at least one race for every year his had been in F1
– Youngest ever F1 driver to lead the world championship
Yes, It’s all the just the British media hyping him up.
David-A (@david-a)
22nd June 2015, 20:46
– Most successful British driver ever in terms of wins
Woody (@woodyd91)
23rd June 2015, 7:21
+1 , Thanks, forgot that one.
Johanness
22nd June 2015, 23:56
@woodyd91 – my grandmother could be double WDC in that Merc. His stats (as a result) aren’t a true reflection of his talent.
Woody (@woodyd91)
23rd June 2015, 7:18
@Johanness Well your grandmother sounds interesting, one problem with your point though, much of those stats weren’t delivered in the Merc but rather the past Mclaren’s, given he has only had a Merc of that speed for 18 months. So even when you take away the wins, points, poles & podiums that were delivered in the 2014/2015 Merc his stats still put him in very good sted…but hey, it’s always nice to ignore that facts when they get in the way of your opinion.
Johanness
24th June 2015, 7:42
Very good stead?? You mean for a brit? Or what ground-breaking stat are you talking about? He won ONE race every year he’s been in F1? Sorry, but the bulk of his poles / laps led etc have come due to both his last two mercs being one second clear per lap of the rest of the field. His accolades come as a RESULT OF HIS CAR. And yes, that’s my opinion. If you take the jabber SV had to go through for years until he shut everyone up… It’s a small – but accurate – thing to say about Lewis.its high time to put this in the correct light. He ain’t all that
Woody (@woodyd91)
24th June 2015, 12:36
Ah so this is nothing more than a Hamilton bashing session, ignore all that facts. Never mind then.
Yes, something no other driver on the grid has achieved.
Unfortunately if you actually do that maths that simply isn’t the case, the bulk come from Mclaren.
Of course they do, as they do with every single driver in F1 history, do you think Vettel, Senna, Prost, Mansell, Schumi, Luada, Fangio etc… would of been world champions sitting in a Manor? A driver doesn’t become a world champion without “HIS CAR” and without it being a quick one at that.
Really have no idea what you mean here? Although I haven’t mentioned Vettel at all I will follow your logic, by which you are saying that Hamilton isn’t “all that” he has just found himself in the right cars, well if we continue on with that logic then surely this will have to apply to Vettel as well. Where the actual bulk of his results were achieved in a dominant car. So this would mean by your own logic that you classify Vettel & Hamilton’s achievements at the same level, i.e you don’t rate them at all. in fact in a % ratio Vettel would be rated even lower than Hamilton given the ratio of wins & poles achieved in a dominant car vs a non dominant one.
This of course in completely wrong, Vettel is a fine driver but we are simply following your own logic on this one.
This is of course your opinion, of which you are entitled to, however the history books do show a different story.
Johanness
25th June 2015, 9:51
ill make it simple for you – the field has never been this lopsided in recent years, not even during RB’s ‘dominant’ period. I don’t feel LH has had to do much to win – and thus, isn’t the 2nd coming some people give him credit for. When he even BEGINS to nip at the heels of SV’s records, we can chat again.