Smiffy
Grand Slam Winner
Great race yesterday, felt sorry for Lando but he should have listened to his team.
Yep, total lack of experience. That said maybe the pit wall should have been a bit more insistent, particularly when it became obvious Merc weren't just throwing a pitlane dummyGreat race yesterday, felt sorry for Lando but he should have listened to his team.
Great for Russell to out qualify Lewis again, I really do hope that's a sign of things to come.
And I really hope that Russell is allowed to race Lewis next year and not just be another Bottas.
Bottas most recently followed team orders in this year’s British Grand Prix, when Hamilton was recovering from his time penalty, allowing the seven-time world champion through en route to a late victory over Charles Leclerc.
Reflecting on the 2018 race in Russia, Bottas said that it was a different situation and that while it was difficult to take at the time, he has since moved on and grown from the call.
“That’s a few years ago, but at least now I can be fine with things,” Bottas said.
“At that point, yes, it was painful. And for me, it was hard to accept.
“But we’ve obviously moved on since, and also I’ve grown a lot since. Things are a bit different now.”
There's been a few times when Mr Wolff has told Bottas to support Lewis.
Back in 2018, Bottas was told to let Lewis pass. The inference is that Mercedes have been prioritising Lewis and his aim to win multiple championships.
Bottas would accept team orders to support Hamilton’s title bid - On Digital Shop
It's clear that Bottas does have pace and experience - the Netflix documentary shows that he actually aims to qualify in third so that he has the slipstream into the first corner. Although saying that, he does balls things up more often than not and loses positions at the first corner too.
Strategy decisions from Mercedes do seem to benefit Lewis more than Bottas though. I've seen plenty of times where Lewis benefits from a pit stop and Bottas just goes backwards.
I agree generally with what you say, but I do not quite get the "snowflake" reference? Maybe his fashion sense does not quite meet your eye, but so what. Calvert Lewin the Everton player has an interesting dress sense, but I doubt Everton fans use that against him when judging him as a footballer (or even a person).Going to be an interesting run in to the end of the season that's for sure.
I'm not keen on either driver to be honest, but if I had to pick one I'd choose Hamilton, (just), because I'd like to see him go into the history books.
I like Verstappens aggressiveness, he's a racer through and through. But with him, it always seems to be somebody else's fault when things go wrong, and I hate the way he is mollycoddled by Horner.
Hamilton is a brilliant racer, full stop. He possesses fantastic race craft, and a maturity that only comes with experience. But I cannot get my head around his public persona. The clothes he wears, some of the tripe he comes out with. He leaves himself open to ridicule.
He doesn't meet most F1's fans expectations of a true F1 driver. Would you have seen Prost, Senna, Mansell etc. walking around dressed the way Hamilton does, or riding down the pitlane on a scooter???
Each to their own, but I look on him as a snowflake driver, ideal for the snowflake generation that we live in today.
So maybe he came along at the right time????
It is going to be very interesting next year to see how he handles the partnership with Georgie boy.
Going to be an interesting run in to the end of the season that's for sure.
I'm not keen on either driver to be honest, but if I had to pick one I'd choose Hamilton, (just), because I'd like to see him go into the history books.
I like Verstappens aggressiveness, he's a racer through and through. But with him, it always seems to be somebody else's fault when things go wrong, and I hate the way he is mollycoddled by Horner.
Hamilton is a brilliant racer, full stop. He possesses fantastic race craft, and a maturity that only comes with experience. But I cannot get my head around his public persona. The clothes he wears, some of the tripe he comes out with. He leaves himself open to ridicule.
He doesn't meet most F1's fans expectations of a true F1 driver. Would you have seen Prost, Senna, Mansell etc. walking around dressed the way Hamilton does, or riding down the pitlane on a scooter???
Each to their own, but I look on him as a snowflake driver, ideal for the snowflake generation that we live in today.
So maybe he came along at the right time????
It is going to be very interesting next year to see how he handles the partnership with Georgie boy.
I agree generally with what you say, but I do not quite get the "snowflake" reference? Maybe his fashion sense does not quite meet your eye, but so what. Calvert Lewin the Everton player has an interesting dress sense, but I doubt Everton fans use that against him when judging him as a footballer (or even a person).
Hamilton is a bit "offish" at times, a bit short in his answers when things do not go his way. He certainly is not the bubbly character of someone like Riccardo. So, I can see why some might not quite take to him in that sense (although many love Raikkonen and he can certainly come across as extremely dreary and miserable). However, I've nothing against him if he wants to raise awareness about certain issues outside F1. He is lucky enough to be in a position to have that platform, and whether we agree with him or not, he will say what he does as he feels it could make a positive change.
I've always supported Hamilton, primarily as I'm naturally drawn towards supporting the Brits. And, he is that good, I'd love him to continue building his legacy. It does not go unnoticed that he gets a terrible reception when he races outside the UK, well at least around continental Europe. I feel sorry for him, as it never really feels deserved. It is not like he tries to barge people off the tracks like Schumacher did in his prime. So, the more booing he gets, the more I support him and want him to win.
On the other hand, I can't stand Verstappen and pretty much agree with your assessment. He is an excellent talent, but he is like a ridiculously sulky teenager, anything that goes wrong is always someone elses fault. He'll happily ram someone off the track, and expects everyone just to get out of his way. Spoilt kid syndrome. I'm happy in a way, as I always find F1 is more interesting when there are drivers you really support, but also drivers you love to hate.
The end of the season will be an interesting one.
I'll admit my dislike of Verstappen is purely down to what I see in F1, particularly over recent events. Yeah, there is a lot of Hype over Alonso, but he has not exactly given any prolonged domination. I think he showed early promise that he could be a great, but never fulfilled on that. He is like the Paul Pogba of F1.I'm with you on Hamilton. I actually quite like Verstappen though, maybe like isn't the right word, but I've a lot of respect for him. He's a very talented driver in raw speed terms, but he's one of the few that also have the mentality to back that up. In my opinion he's very similar to Hamilton, if you think back to the kid that arrived in F1 back in 2007.
The one I find a bit tedious is Alonso, not him personally, but the level of smoke that gets blown up his bottom by commentators and others over his ability. He might be fast, I don't doubt that, but seems to me that he's missing a certain something. I think he could have won at least one more world titles (probably 2) if he was as good as Hamilton.
I don't really see how any F1 driver can be described as a snowflake. They all have balls the size of grapefruits to drive in the way they do.
You're comparing Hamilton with drivers from a bygone era
Maybe "snowflake" was the wrong term to use. And I agree, all F1 drivers have balls the size of grapefruits, their skills and bravery are to be admired.
But maybe it's just me being born in the wrong era. Being a "child of the 60's" I grew up watching a different kind of sportsman than we have today.
Footballers were tougher then. You had "hard men" like Ron Harris, Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter, Tommy Smith etc. who were admired, and feared, for their tenacity and grit. Not pretty, but it was effective.
Then you had the more skillful players. Best, Bowles, Osgood, Marsh, Greaves. These guys were legends, but as well as being supremely skillful, they could take the knocks. Watch old videos from the 70's and these players would have seven shades of shite kicked out of them, but they never complained. They just got up, wiped the mud off of their hands, and got on with it.
Nowadays?? A player has only got to be brushed against and he goes down like a sack of spuds, writhing in agony, like he's been poleaxed. I've got no time for it. I'm not advocating the rough play of the 70's by the way, but get annoyed that there are so many "mamby pambies" around in sport nowadays.
And whilst supremely skillful, Lewis Hamilton does not fit into my idea of a "hero". He's not a "man's man" which is a shame.
So I guess it's me......