2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[DGP123]

Lewis drove like he checked out for the season races ago. To fight verstappen next year in a near equal car his current level isn’t good enough imo.

How on earth can anyone, who’s not in a dominant RB, showcase a level of driving, on a par with MV? Hamilton has been the best of the rest over the entire season, what more could he have done?

Hamilton’s level of performance this season has shown to be still very high. He raises his game once the car gets better. No worries from me regarding going up against Max. As with anyone at the front, take away that car advantage, and suddenly they don’t look invincible. Max would be no different.

[CHT]

I think you’re all a bit unkind to GR. He’s obviously going to try a little harder. Singapore was a real high profile mistake. The merc has been a real handful at times. Yes he’s got lots to learn but his innate speed is there. Race craft and tyre knowledge will come

Totally agree. LH didn't have a fantastic or flawless year either and being 7WDC, no one will fault him. like today he finished behind Yuki in a car that is good to finish on the podium. When LH was 25 years old, I remember him making many mistakes too, which is why LH himself never scored very well in terms of most race win in a season.

Afterall Toto is an investor and owner, and LH is his most valuable asset. If LH wins that world record 8xWDC, Toto himself and the Team will also become record holders and they might even get a billion-dollar payout from Merc to secure perpetual marking rights to have LH as a brand ambassador. Hypothetically if GR wins a championship next season, it will not move the scale for the team.

Which is to say, GR is in a position where he will not be in a position to challenge LH when there is a prize at stake.

[Spoutnik]

It's very funny Lewis made George look like Stroll for most of the season.
His last podium was... in Spain... seriously. He's acting like he brought P2 in the WCC for Merc today but in reality he almost cost them this place.

[mkay]

Lewis nearly lost Mercedes P2 today. He was truly awful, absolutely no pace in the last stint.

it's lewis that won that P2 with 70% of his points cry somewhere else

Lewis only won 57% of Mercedes' points for starters.

He's done very well most of the year but he was notably absent with the WCC P2 on the line. He's lucky Sainz chose to disappear at the same time, and that Perez collided with Norris.

[Luscion]

It's very funny Lewis made George look like Stroll for most of the season.
His last podium was... in Spain... seriously. He's acting like he brought P2 in the WCC for Merc today but in reality he almost cost them this place.

Well yes and no, he did secure Merc second in the constructors today, sure Lewis is the main factor for them being able to do it but he was out of position and lacking pace today, if Russell didn't secure p3 today all that effort would have been for nothing

[Hammerfist]

Lewis drove like he checked out for the season races ago. To fight verstappen next year in a near equal car his current level isn’t good enough imo.

How on earth can anyone, who’s not in a dominant RB, showcase a level of driving, on a par with MV? Hamilton has been the best of the rest over the entire season, what more could he have done?

Hamilton’s level of performance this season has shown to be still very high. He raises his game once the car gets better. No worries from me regarding going up against Max. As with anyone at the front, take away that car advantage, and suddenly they don’t look invincible. Max would be no different.

Lewis has too many off weekends nowadays. If we go back to 2019-2020 when max did not have the best car and try to find verstappen off weekends you will not find any. Yes Lewis is still driving at a high level overall, close to Norris and Alonso imo, but not at the verstappen level. I do expect him to tighten the screws if the car is there, but I am not overly confident.

[mkay]

Lewis drove like he checked out for the season races ago. To fight verstappen next year in a near equal car his current level isn’t good enough imo.

How on earth can anyone, who’s not in a dominant RB, showcase a level of driving, on a par with MV? Hamilton has been the best of the rest over the entire season, what more could he have done?

Hamilton’s level of performance this season has shown to be still very high. He raises his game once the car gets better. No worries from me regarding going up against Max. As with anyone at the front, take away that car advantage, and suddenly they don’t look invincible. Max would be no different.

Lewis has too many off weekends nowadays. If we go back to 2019-2020 when max did not have the best car and try to find verstappen off weekends you will not find any. Yes Lewis is still driving at a high level overall, close to Norris and Alonso imo, but not at the verstappen level. I do expect him to tighten the screws if the car is there, but I am not overly confident.

In fairness to Hamilton, this year's Merc has been on a knife edge particularly in qualifying. Feels to me like the Aston and McLaren have been more "predictable" though their form has also varied throughout the season (mirror opposites really).

The 2019 Red Bull was a completely different beast.

[Spoutnik]

[j_ste]

Lewis drove like he checked out for the season races ago. To fight verstappen next year in a near equal car his current level isn’t good enough imo.

How on earth can anyone, who’s not in a dominant RB, showcase a level of driving, on a par with MV? Hamilton has been the best of the rest over the entire season, what more could he have done?

Hamilton’s level of performance this season has shown to be still very high. He raises his game once the car gets better. No worries from me regarding going up against Max. As with anyone at the front, take away that car advantage, and suddenly they don’t look invincible. Max would be no different.

Lewis has too many off weekends nowadays. If we go back to 2019-2020 when max did not have the best car and try to find verstappen off weekends you will not find any. Yes Lewis is still driving at a high level overall, close to Norris and Alonso imo, but not at the verstappen level. I do expect him to tighten the screws if the car is there, but I am not overly confident.

People said this pre 2014, too.

Ultimately, there has never been a season where Lewis has had a title contending package and at the very least, hasnt taken it to the last race of the season with a chance of winning.

The man told you all year how much he was struggling with this car. And every week, people are wondering what happened.

[Spoutnik]

He finished P3 in the WCC, while his teamate finish P8... He was driving arguably the 3rd/4th fastest car over the season... And yet there's still criticism

[denyall]

People are afraid of Hamilton and a winning Mercedes.

[Spoutnik]

People are afraid of Hamilton and a winning Mercedes.

I don't know really because they are criticism from Merc supporter/fan apparently, which is a bit weird given how Lewis carried the team this year.

[denyall]

People are afraid of Hamilton and a winning Mercedes.

I don't know really because they are criticism from Merc supporter/fan apparently, which is a bit weird given how Lewis carried the team this year.

Fair weather fans can be like that...

[Incognito]

Totally agree. LH didn't have a fantastic or flawless year either and being 7WDC, no one will fault him. like today he finished behind Yuki in a car that is good to finish on the podium. When LH was 25 years old, I remember him making many mistakes too, which is why LH himself never scored very well in terms of most race win in a season.

Hamilton had a couple of nigh-flawless seasons at his peak. The reason he never scored the sort of race win numbers Verstappen has is because Hamilton almost always had a WDC in the other car who had a free licence to race him, rather than going up against a midfield wannabee or a bunch of RBR academy failures who have to leap out of the way from the first race onwards. And, despite the mistakes, I don't remember him being dumpstered by a Ricciardo-level driver for multiple seasons

[Incognito]

Sad

Agreed, it is very sad to resort to outright sabotaging the competitor for a P2 in the WCC. Toto gets the profit percentage as the team shareholder, so I get why the 20 mil is important to him. Still a sad thing, yeah...

Outright sabotage?