[Nibbles]

Originally Posted by 73henny

Given the car advantage now Bottas should easily finish 2nd to Lewis in every race. He's definitely been on the wrong side of some questionable strategy calls but I would really like to see someone worthy of that seat next to Lewis. Disappointing from Mercedes.

That's never going to happen in a team. Botas is pretty much the same as Rubens Barrichello was to Schumacher. A good driver, seemingly happy to be the teams number 2 but can also win a grand prix on his day if he needs to. The last thing Mercedes wants is his own team mate pushing Hamilton too far and too fast and causing crashes or failures.

Schumacher had all the same allegations thrown at him about, it's the car/team/no team mate to challenge him when he was dominating. It's only after these guys retire that they really get the respect they deserve for what they've achieved.

[Ennoch]

Originally Posted by Nibbles

That's never going to happen in a team. Botas is pretty much the same as Rubens Barrichello was to Schumacher. A good driver, seemingly happy to be the teams number 2 but can also win a grand prix on his day if he needs to. The last thing Mercedes wants is his own team mate pushing Hamilton too far and too fast and causing crashes or failures.

Schumacher had all the same allegations thrown at him about, it's the car/team/no team mate to challenge him when he was dominating. It's only after these guys retire that they really get the respect they deserve for what they've achieved.

In total agreement with you there. A lot of people also forget the role of the driver in building the team, and car around them. Look at Alonso; an outstandingly talented driver but clearly not suited to life at Ferrari (although it seems that post Schumacher not many drivers are), a team he was almost forced to after the fallout of his time at McLaren with Hamilton. The last seven years of dominance has come about because both Mercedes and Hamilton work well together as a team. If they didn't then they may have had success, but I very much doubt it would be to the same degree that it is now. I think a lot of people also forget Schumacher's impact on the original setup of that team, and what Brawn managed to do out of the Honda ashes. The ability to setup and aid the development of a car throughout a season is really critical to ongoing success and this is where experience and an innate ability come in, and Hamilton has that in spades.

I said in another post that I wasn't originally a Hamilton fan, and I really wasn't. Schumacher, Vettel, Kimi....even Alonso, but never Hamilton. That changed 3 or 4 years ago when I originally wanted Rosberg to win the title but then saw how he simply destabilised the team, much like Vettel did with Mark, and lost a lot of respect for him. Hamilton as far as I am concerned is just working on a higher plane than all the other drivers at the moment, both with his on track work, and off. I think his radio message after the win was pretty poignant and proof that he's trying to inspire the next generation and really make a difference to the world. That he has capacity to be involved in all the projects he is in addition to getting the race results he is I find utterly remarkable.

[JustChris]

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Nibbles

That's never going to happen in a team. Botas is pretty much the same as Rubens Barrichello was to Schumacher. A good driver, seemingly happy to be the teams number 2 but can also win a grand prix on his day if he needs to. The last thing Mercedes wants is his own team mate pushing Hamilton too far and too fast and causing crashes or failures.

Schumacher had all the same allegations thrown at him about, it's the car/team/no team mate to challenge him when he was dominating. It's only after these guys retire that they really get the respect they deserve for what they've achieved.

I agree Bottas isn't good enough to challenge Hamilton and I'd also agree there are other drivers who'd almost certainly get closer if they were in the other Mercedes (Verstappen and Leclerc to name but two). Pairing two top drivers in the same team certainly has happened before but history has tended to show it creates problems (two bulls in a field as Frank Williams used to describe it); Williams had it with Piquet and Mansell, McLaren had it with Prost and Senna and Mercedes had it to some extent when Rosberg was alongside Hamilton.

Therefore, while it would be nice for us neutrals to see (say) Verstappen paired with Hamilton at Mercedes, the reality is it gives the team management a much easier life if they have a competent number two who's capable of scoring enough points to help secure the constructor's championship but isn't fast enough to ruffle the feathers of their number one driver. Viewed in that context Bottas arguably fits the bill very well; he's fast enough to help Mercedes win the constructor's title each year but he isn't fast enough to worry Hamilton - the result for Mercedes is they win both the driver and constructor titles each year without lots of internal tension to manage!

That said I can still see Bottas being out of Mercedes after next season - I just think it's unlikely a top line driver like Verstappen will replace him if Hamilton's still in the other car.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

I think Hamilton would have gone at the end of this year if Ferrari had still been as competitive as previous seasons. He would have had the self belief to win another title in a reasonable car.

As it stands now though, no one is close to Mercedes and if he wants title number 8 he has to stay.

[Techno 9000]

My view was similar a year or so back. Thought that there was a chance Lewis would look to the prancing horse to round out his career.

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

I think Hamilton would have gone at the end of this year if Ferrari had still been as competitive as previous seasons. He would have had the self belief to win another title in a reasonable car.

As it stands now though, no one is close to Mercedes and if he want title number 8 he has to stay.

Although he hasn't done the deal yet realistically I don't think he's any option other than to stay at Mercedes for next season; Red Bull are the only decent team where both seats aren't already taken but they've said they're not interested in Hamilton (which probably means they can't afford both him and Verstappen!).

So with Toto Wolff now having confirmed he's staying I suspect it won't be too long before Hamilton's new contract with Mercedes is announced. The interesting thing will be how many seasons he commits to; he certainly has the ability to help turn-around an under-performing team (as Schumacher did with Ferrari) but that's potentially a multi-year project and if he does, say, another three years with Mercedes I'm not sure he'll race for anyone else before he retires. However, Senna always said he wanted to finish his career in a Ferrari even if it was the slowest car on the grid so if Hamilton's of a similar mindset who knows?

[Tengocity]

It's fascinating to think where he will finish up in terms of the stats. Not unreasonable to think he could go another 5 seasons, in which case you'd say he's more likely than not to make it to 8 world championships, if not even 9 or 10.

If he were to do that then he will go well over 100 race wins, and maybe somewhere 110 to 120 perhaps?

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

It's fascinating to think where he will finish up in terms of the stats. Not unreasonable to think he could go another 5 seasons, in which case you'd say he's more likely than not to make it to 8 world championships, if not even 9 or 10.

If he were to do that then he will go well over 100 race wins, and maybe somewhere 110 to 120 perhaps?

Mercedes have been the best team throughout the hybrid era - and dominant for most of it - so if Hamilton does another 3 seasons with them you'd have to say he could quite possibly have 9 or 10 titles and around 120 wins to his name. It's certainly hard to see any team bridging the performance gap for next season so, with Bottas as a relatively tame team-mate, for me Lewis is already looking a shoe-in for the 2021 title...

[JNW1]

Proof if ever it were needed that motor racing is a dangerous sport. Grosjean had a truly awful accident today, great to see he's ok but a minor miracle he wasn't killed outright....

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by JNW1

Proof if ever it were needed that motor racing is a dangerous sport. Grosjean had a truly awful accident today, great to see he's ok but a minor miracle he wasn't killed outright....

Minor miracle?! How he has just walked away from that is quite beyond me.

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

Minor miracle?! How he has just walked away from that is quite beyond me.

You're right, major miracle is more like it! Just seen some more footage and, as well as surviving a major impact, he was in the flames for a while as well - if he'd been knocked unconscious and hadn't been able to get himself out of the car I reckon he'd have suffered some awful burns even with the fire protective overalls they have nowadays.

ETA: Sounds like the halo saved him - seems like that hit the barrier first and parted it, without that Grosjean would have literally been into the barrier head first...

[strike4A]

Unreal he walked away from this

https://twitter.com/adityaabraham7/s...198843904?s=21

[SteveChester]

I wasn't a massive fan of the halo when it was first introduced - but I am now. Saved his life undoubtedly!

[Ennoch]

That was an incredible accident, and quite astounding that he walked away from it even with minor burns. The safety of the modern is something else.

On the flip side I was gutted to see Perez go out in the last few laps. He is a driver who more than deserves a seat in F1, and what's worse was seeing the underachiever Albon inherit third in his place. One of them deserves a seat next year and it's not Albon!

[Wills2]

Albon is a good driver, Perez deserves a drive and what they have done at RP has lead to this situation.

I would like Perez to go to RB if only to see Max under pressure although I feel the system there seems to be set up for one driver, I think Max would prefer Albon to stay.

[jackstrath]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Albon is a good driver, Perez deserves a drive and what they have done at RP has lead to this situation.

I would like Perez to go to RB if only to see Max under pressure although I feel the system there seems to be set up for one driver, I think Max would prefer Albon to stay.

I think Albon is a good driver, better than Perez, im not so sure... Id love to see Russel in a decent car... he 100% has skill but not the car!

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by jackstrath

I think Albon is a good driver, better than Perez, im not so sure... Id love to see Russel in a decent car... he 100% has skill but not the car!

Yeah Russel deserves a better car, I'd like to see him in the Mercedes as the coming man as I think Bottas isn't adding anything in that role.

Perez is better than Albon in terms of experience and race craft but has had his fair share of incidents as we can recall, but there is something about the RB team set up that doesn't seem to suit anyone other than Max.

[Techno 9000]

Originally Posted by SteveChester

I wasn't a massive fan of the halo when it was first introduced - but I am now. Saved his life undoubtedly!

+1. Saw the benefit, but didn't like the way they ruined the looks.

Would I be correct that the Halos were hastened in development after Grosjean went over Alonso at Spa?!

[zofinger]

Whilst I’m sure this will all come out but there’s much being said about Grojean’s car going through the barrier and how it had ‘failed’.

In my view that barrier is not designed to be hit essentially what was head-on. It’s designed to bend and deflect a glancing blow by being hit from an angle (as would be predicted on a straight). They replaced it with a concrete barrier. If Grojean hit that I’m not sure he’d have survived.

I think what would be more appropriate (for next weekend) is to change the angle of that Armco barrier so it doesn’t jutt out towards the track.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Looks like Lewis has tested positive for coronavirus and is out of this weekends Grand Prix. An annoying way to stop one of his driving records. He hasn’t failed to start a single race since his debut, 265 races in a row, 60 more than anyone else. Now Covid has ended that.

[zofinger]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Looks like Lewis has tested positive for coronavirus and is out of this weekends Grand Prix. An annoying way to stop one of his driving records. He hasn’t failed to start a single race since his debut, 265 races in a row, 60 more than anyone else. Now Covid has ended that.

But fortunately didn't prevent him from equalling 7 WCs or most GPs won. It could have - easily.

Contrary to reports, perhaps he did celebrate a little more after winning in Turkey and in the lead up to the last GP. He's always maintained that he doesn't go anywhere and at circuits confines himself to the trailer. Let's hope he's not badly affected as he's not asymptomatic.