f1316 wrote: ↑12 Jun 2022, 01:57
t I think Hamilton isn’t used to and doesn’t cope well with uncompetitive machinery.
This is typical downplay, makes you wonder what drives it? I've heard plenty of people in the paddock and pundits say the same thing, that he can't drive an uncompetitive car. Quite frankly top drivers don't usually end up in second-rate cars in the last 20-years, the exceptions I can think of are Vettel and VER and that's just how the Red Bull pipeline works. Was Leclerc in 2018 brilliant? Alonso in the Minardi? Max drove the heck out of the STR in 2015 but he was still 12th in WDC and best finish was 4th.
If you distill the question to making the most of what you have, I'd say every year of his (Hamilton) career bar 2011 and 2016 he's achieved results near the potential of the machinery.
It's so strange...most of drivers in the paddock have had top equipment there entire driving careers; usually F1 is the exception. People like Sainz, VER, Latifi, none of them struggled for kart tires. Ham's dad used to buy used engines from Jenson Button's dad, the ones that he didn't consider good enough for Jenson. M.Schu couldn't afford new kart tires a lot of times, so he ran some of his races on take-offs from prior heats discarded by competitors.
A lot of people talk about Senna/Toleman or M.Schu/Jordan but I think general level of talent in the paddock was not that consistent at those times, nor was the advantage of the top teams so assured in consistency, such that someone could drive through the field. We certainly haven't seen that in a while...hmm.
There are currently only two drivers on the grid who have won a race from falling to last place at some point. IIRC that has only happened 7-times in F1 ever. And given that Hamilton's win came on a sprint race weekend with a subsequent grid penalty in the feature race, technically he had to overtake more cars than any of those others.
It's funny how many times this trope 'he can't drive a bad car' comes out. It was all the rage in 2011. There's also been 'he's too flashy'.
And none of this is technical, at all.
In terms of actual differences between RUS and HAM pushing the machinery, it's not really clear. There were times in Spain when HAM was flying. There's been times when he looked nowhere. The same has been true for RUS but generally the other way round. I don't think anyone is disputing that right now George is doing a better job driving the Mercedes.
However concluding that HAM can't drive 'bad' cars after 7 races (including one podium and only one finish outside points) seems to be something only he is subject to. I don't recall anyone honestly saying M.Schu had lost it when ROS was equaling him and I don't hear anyone saying that about Alonso with OCO matching him either.
