[Official] Chinese Grand Prix 2019: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 3 of 21

[ApexTurtle]

Hamilton did "ok" when the McLaren and Mercedes cars were not championship winning material. But he's never actually had to endure a truly bad car.

[S griffin]

Well he did at the beginning of 09 and managed a few good performances in it

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Well he did at the beginning of 09 and managed a few good performances in it

He started the 2009 being disqualified at Melbourne and didn't get his first win until Hungary, followed by a 2nd place at Valencia. He subsequently won at Singapore and got two 3rd places at Japan and Brazil.

[S griffin]

He also got a fourth place in Bahrain in a car that had no right being up there. And he was fabulous in the wet in China, although made a few mistakes which cost him

[Akrapovic]

2009 was the 'old' Lewis, who made silly errors on and off track. He had quite a large hand in his 2009 Australian GP disqualification. He was as guilty as everyone else in that mess.

But the current Lewis doesn't make those kind of mistakes. In 2009, had you put him in a mid-rear car, I do think he'd have struggled. 2019 Lewis wouldn't have those issues.

[ApexTurtle]

Seeing as how badly he handles anything not going 100%his way there would be a LOT of entertaining radio messages though Alonso yelling GP2 engine would look reasonable in comparison!

[chillibowl]

imo LH is a proper professional who doesn't take days off. for me i see that work ethic continuing even if he found himself in a weak car. for sure he would moan over the team radio (although i do find the radio religiosity more difficult to stomach) but like Alonso he would also get on with the program.

but i also think we wont ever see him in a truly bad car so we will never know for sure.

i suspect he learned a lesson from Schumi's last act in F1 and from what Alonso is doing now. if faced with a bad car/lack of better ride options he goes off to race in other categories...after all this is the path to greater popularity! #blessed

side question...why didnt Schumi pursue the triple crown? ultra competitive guy, every major F1 record, need for speed, super fit...seems like this should have been TGF's post F1 career path as well.

was there ever a stated reason?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

side question...why didnt Schumi pursue the triple crown? ultra competitive guy, every major F1 record, need for speed, super fit...seems like this should have been TGF's post F1 career path as well.

was there ever a stated reason?

Of course he raced at Le Mans pre F1, so I believe he might have returned if circumstances were different. As for ovals he had always said he would not be interested due to the danger. However he felt that F1 was the pinnacle of motorsport.

Edit: In fact I found this quote from MS made at the Indy GP in 2001....

Schumacher, on the eve of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, said: "I have never really looked into it and thought about it because I simply don't see a point in it."

"There's two reasons," he added. "First of all, I feel it is too dangerous from my point of view.

"The second point is I feel Formula One is the highest challenge you can have in motor racing.

"So obviously, I'm doing well here and I don't see a point to prove anything in an Indy race, IndyCar or ChampCar or whatever."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...chumacher.html

[chillibowl]

nice pull E.B.!

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

but i also think we wont ever see him in a truly bad car so we will never know for sure.

Burnouts were Hamilton's solution to a bad car...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_British_Grand_Prix

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

But your comment suggested that in a lesser car he would be pretty average.... That's how I read it? I don't think anyone would necessarily suggest he would start winning races in a current Toro Rosso or a Renault, I was merely postulating that he would show his undoubted ability in a lesser car. So if his performance would allow a reassessment of the midfield drivers, that suggests that you don't think he'd be fairly average then?

I read it something like that, not that he would necessarily be average, but wouldn't amaze people. Perhaps it is true that we would reassess the performance of some midfield car drivers and see them as capable of top seats, but I would say you could apply that to pretty much everyone in F1 nowadays. The average level is strong. There was a greater disparity in ability 30 or even 2 years ago, in my opinion, a positive thing about contemporary F1.

However, given the competitive nature of the midfield battle in terms of car performance (which includes the perceived difficulty by teams of finding the 'sweet spot' at a circuit accounting for tiny but significant differences in results), perhaps an exceptional driver (I would include Hamilton in here) does make the difference and you would see it strikingly so in the midfield.

Raikkonen and Giovinazzi as team-mates is a good example. I don't really know how to rate Giovinazzi, but even if he is not that bad, he is not going to look like he's setting the world on fire with Raikkonen as his team-mate who is consistently fast and reliable (albeit not as out-and-out fast as a few). Also, it was mentioned earlier about temperament. Raikkonen's is perfect for a move to a midfield team, because he's so phlegmatic that he just accepts the situation for what it is and is going to drag his best results out of the car. I read something he said recently which was along the lines of how the reason he doesn't look that excited when he wins is because that is what he is there to do, so if he does, it's job done and if he doesn't, the job hasn't quite been done (equally, though, his temperament means he is not going to take it too badly!). That was from the race programme to the Australian Grand Prix on the Formula 1 website.

[Aysedasi]

Kimi is a completely different kettle of fish to everyone else though isn't he? There's no wearing of the heart on the sleeve there. Which is of course one of the reasons he so endears himself to those who get bored with hotshoes and primadonnas.....

[Born Racer]

I suppose he is, Ayse. I've never seen such nonchalance in a racing driver and it may be one of his strengths. I mean, how often has he made a mistake due to hot-headedness or losing his temper under pressure? It would be difficult to know, perhaps, as he doesn't outwardly exhibit it.

Having said that, we did get quite a few mildly heated or pumped-up messages on the radio over the last couple of years, so the fire is there.

[S griffin]

I think Alfa will benefit in the long term him being there

[Aysedasi]

I guess that's the plan.