[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by 73henny

Hamilton has been really lucky this year I think. In the last two races he could have finished 5th in both without him doing anything different.
Singapore - How far back do you need to go for the last time the first 4 cars to go out within the first few corners?
KL - Both Ferraris are faster than Hamilton but both are out of contention before the start.
And what hasn't really been mentioned is how pretty pathetic Bottas has been. He's been really disappointing and clearly not up to challenging at the front. Hamilton is lucky that Rosberg isn't still around to take points off him.

You think Bottas is slow?! That may be so but he's quicker than Raikkonen!

Kimi might have some sort of cult following but he is an utterly mediocre driver living off past glories.

At least half the grid would be quicker than him in that Ferrari.

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by 73henny

Hamilton has been really lucky this year I think. In the last two races he could have finished 5th in both without him doing anything different.
Singapore - How far back do you need to go for the last time the first 4 cars to go out within the first few corners?
KL - Both Ferraris are faster than Hamilton but both are out of contention before the start.
And what hasn't really been mentioned is how pretty pathetic Bottas has been. He's been really disappointing and clearly not up to challenging at the front. Hamilton is lucky that Rosberg isn't still around to take points off him.

Or unlucky that he doesn't have a better partner to help with race strategy like Kimi is to Vettel.

Agree Lewis has been lucky at times but that's Karma. He only lost out to Rosberg last year on bad luck mechanical DNFs.

Don't forget Vettel this year scrapped a finish on flat tyres too after terrible Ferrari tyre strategy. I think Kiki got a puncture that last lap too was it?

Good last few races coming up.

[NISFAN]

Originally Posted by JustChris

Rules are rules though, and F1 has plentttty of them. Surely it's a grid penalty or is it under review?

This is the driveshaft ripped out of the gearbox issue? If he changes gearbox, it is a definite 5 placer. I'm sure the steering wheel and lift back issue will be dropped, or a reprimand only.

[73henny]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

You think Bottas is slow?! That may be so but he's quicker than Raikkonen!

Kimi might have some sort of cult following but he is an utterly mediocre driver living off past glories.

At least half the grid would be quicker than him in that Ferrari.

I don't think Bottas is slow necessarily. But he doesn't seem to be able to drive the car quickly unless its exactly how he likes it. So either he can't adapt or isn't great at setting is car up. There is no way Rosberg would be 60 odd points behind Hamilton. I think Bottas has only failed to finish in 1 race yet trails Lewis by a long way. Remember last year it seemed like every qualifying finished with a very close battle between Lewis and Nico. When was the last time that happened this year with Bottas? He says himself he's not performing as he should.
Kimi on the other hand seems to be able to get closer to Vettel in qualifying at least.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by 73henny

I don't think Bottas is slow necessarily. But he doesn't seem to be able to drive the car quickly unless its exactly how he likes it. So either he can't adapt or isn't great at setting is car up. There is no way Rosberg would be 60 odd points behind Hamilton. I think Bottas has only failed to finish in 1 race yet trails Lewis by a long way. Remember last year it seemed like every qualifying finished with a very close battle between Lewis and Nico. When was the last time that happened this year with Bottas? He says himself he's not performing as he should.
Kimi on the other hand seems to be able to get closer to Vettel in qualifying at least.

I don't disagree with any of that, yet Bottas has 2 wins and Kimi has none.
So either he is utterly mediocre or he's constantly racing to support Vettel. Or both.

[73henny]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

I don't disagree with any of that, yet Bottas has 2 wins and Kimi has none.
So either he is utterly mediocre or he's constantly racing to support Vettel. Or both.

If I remember correctly both of Bottas's wins were on weekends that Hamilton was having one of his odd races. I think Vettel was right behind Bottas too so not comfortable wins but wins none the less. Its likely that Kimi is more of a support driver than Bottas is, and perhaps gets a less than optimum race strategy.
I still think Kimi does better in the Ferrari than Bottas does in the Merc. On another day in each of the last two races Kimi could easily have led into the first corner. Don't remember Bottas being aggressive and 'racy' on many starts this year either. He just appears passive rather than active to me.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by 73henny

If I remember correctly both of Bottas's wins were on weekends that Hamilton was having one of his odd races. I think Vettel was right behind Bottas too so not comfortable wins but wins none the less. Its likely that Kimi is more of a support driver than Bottas is and perhaps gets a less than optimum race strategy.
I still think Kimi does better in the Ferrari than Bottas does in the Merc. On another day in each of the last two races Kimi could easily have led into the first corner. Don't remember Bottas being aggressive and 'racy' on many starts this year either. He just appears passive rather than active to me.

I honestly can't believe you think Kimi has shown himself to be a better driver than Bottas this season. He's the only one of the top 3 team drivers not to have won a race and his points tally is woeful in comparison to Vettels, on a car which has championship potential.
Bottas could actually still win the title and isn't too far behind Vettel... aggression isn't be all of being a great driver- just look where it's got Vettel.
Anyway I'm not saying Bottas is a great driver, I think he's a level below the top ones, but I don't think Kimi is even in the top half of drivers now.

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by JustChris

Rules are rules though, and F1 has plentttty of them. Surely it's a grid penalty or is it under review?

Yes, not disputing the rules are the rules, just making the point I'd rather see the title decided by a straight fight on the track rather than hoping Hamilton would be given an advantage as a result of the bizarre coming together between Vettel and Stroll.

I actually don't think Hamilton would want to win that way either; I'm not a great fan of his persona out of the car but he's undeniably a racer in it (and a fair one IMO) and in a head to head contest my money would be on him every time over Vettel.

[73henny]

Bottas has won two races but only when his team mate has had an off day. I just think Kimi hasn't had that set of circumstances. He's had 4 retirements to Bottas's 1.
Perhaps its just that I find Kimi more interesting than Bottas who seems devoid of personality. He comes across as a man who perhaps knows he shouldn't be in the Merc. Would love to see Max or Alonso in there next to Lewis.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by 73henny

Bottas has won two races but only when his team mate has had an off day. I just think Kimi hasn't had that set of circumstances. He's had 4 retirements to Bottas's 1.
Perhaps its just that I find Kimi more interesting than Bottas who seems devoid of personality. He comes across as a man who perhaps knows he shouldn't be in the Merc. Would love to see Max or Alonso in there next to Lewis.

You don't win races against just your team mate. I'm not disputing personalities, nor that Bottas is a great driver, only that Kimi is utterly ordinary and not getting the most out of his car by a long way, and more than Bottas. The objective facts speak for themselves- wins, podiums, points.

[SteveChester]

Apparently Vettel doesn?t need a gearbox change for Japan which is a shame...... Should be a good race pretty it?s on so early......

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by SteveChester

Apparently Vettel doesn?t need a gearbox change for Japan which is a shame......

Why? It's meant to be a race so wouldn't you prefer to see Hamilton win in a straight fight rather than being handed or helped to a victory? Bet Hamilton himself wouldn't really want to win races or titles as a result of his opponents either not finishing or being given handicaps through grid penalties....

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by JNW1

Why? It's meant to be a race so wouldn't you prefer to see Hamilton win in a straight fight rather than being handed or helped to a victory? Bet Hamilton himself wouldn't really want to win races or titles as a result of his opponents either not finishing or being given handicaps through grid penalties....

I bet he couldn't care less. He's smiled enough on camera about Vettels issues already. He lost last year partly down to bad luck and mechanical difficulties, I doubt he'd be upset if the same fate befell Vettel.

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Alex440

I bet he couldn't care less. He's smiled enough on camera about Vettels issues already. He lost last year partly down to bad luck and mechanical difficulties, I doubt he'd be upset if the same fate befell Vettel.

I realise the history books will show him as world champion either way but I suspect he'd get a lot more satisfaction from proving he's quicker then Vettel on the track. Hamilton's a racer at heart and I don't think winning due the unreliability of his rival's car is the way he'd want to do it (although I'm sure he'd still take it in preference to not winning at all!).

[simon.]

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...crash-released

Vettel needs to stop doing things like this. I imagine the pressure to perform in a Ferrari is massive but he's not helping himself, is he!

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by simon.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...crash-released

Vettel needs to stop doing things like this. I imagine the pressure to perform in a Ferrari is massive but he's not helping himself, is he!

I'm not particularly anti-Vettel but he does seem very quick to blame others when things go wrong only for the facts to often show he was at least partially at fault.

Even at Ferrari there's no pressure to perform on the slowing down lap once a race has finished so what was he thinking about there? The fact he blamed Stroll for the coming together just makes it worse!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by simon.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...crash-released

Vettel needs to stop doing things like this. I imagine the pressure to perform in a Ferrari is massive but he's not helping himself, is he!

I think most people can accept that mistakes get made, but what winds folk up is that Vettel (and he's not alone) can't hold their hands up and just say "sorry, yeah that was my fault".

[Tengocity]

Hamilton showing his class in Japan today and yesterday, wet or dry.

[F20MAW73]

That was a great Pole. Hope he can do it in the race tomorrow.

[SteveChester]

Combination of Merc being able to turn the motor up and class from Hamilton. Pity about the penalty from Bottas otherwise he could have played a useful role tomorrow....

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by SteveChester

Combination of Merc being able to turn the motor up and class from Hamilton. Pity about the penalty from Bottas otherwise he could have played a useful role tomorrow....

Agree, gutted, when I turned it off I thought they were 1 and 2 and Bottas had truly done his bit to support Lewis.

Never mind might not matter and damn yes I might just get up at 5:30 do the start

Anyone else insane enough to watch live?

[SteveChester]

I?ll be up to watch - only because it?s such a great track... Wouldn?t do 6am to watch Baku or some of the other new soulless races...