2023 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 31 - April 02

[PlatinumZealot]

It seems Max was just driving to nurse the tyres and bring the car home yet on the outside he was a rocket ship. This reminds me of the Schumacher era so much. I am used to this type of F1 so I will still watch even if its just "how fast can he lap" but it's difficult with these heavy busses called F1 cars.

[chrisc90]

Is there any real reason that laps done behind the SC cannot be added on at the end of the race increasing the race distance by up to say 6 laps maximum?

I literally cannot see any reason why they cant do it as you would only need a small additional amount of fuel. And it would give the teams the change to play with the risk of slightly underfuelling the car at the risk of having no safety car to cover the race distance rather than a potential race distance + 6 laps. That risk would also be massively reduced when the sport turns to more hybrid power units.

It would also greatly reduce the chance of the race finishing under the safety car aswell, as the laps done behind the SC are effectively voided by increasing the race distance.

It works perfectly fine in other race series. There is absolutely no reason it wouldnt work in F1 (I can see)

Fuel. Engine mileage etc. The teams would burn fuel in anticipation to have 1 liter left in the tank at the end of the race. If the laps are extended by 5 more.... After say two laps from the end gery likely a car would run out of fuel within tge five laps.

5 laps is hardly anything for engine mileage. There would be no guarantee either of laps being added on.

With the fuel - just risk you take. Same for everyone

[mendis]

It seems Max was just driving to nurse the tyres and bring the car home yet on the outside he was a rocket ship. This reminds me of the Schumacher era so much. I am used to this type of F1 so I will still watch even if its just "how fast can he lap" but it's difficult with these heavy busses called F1 cars.

It does remind me also of Schumacher era, albeit only couple of those years (2002, 2004). Also the Red Bull/Vettel era (2011, second half of 2013). We will have to see if any team can ever reach the unimaginable dominant margin that Mercedes had in the V6 era. I doubt.

[AR3-GP]

It seems Max was just driving to nurse the tyres and bring the car home yet on the outside he was a rocket ship. This reminds me of the Schumacher era so much. I am used to this type of F1 so I will still watch even if its just "how fast can he lap" but it's difficult with these heavy busses called F1 cars.

It does remind me also of Schumacher era, albeit only couple of those years (2002, 2004). Also the Red Bull/Vettel era (2011, second half of 2013). We will have to see if any team can ever reach the unimaginable dominant margin that Mercedes had in the V6 era. I doubt.

They'll be hoping so

[Wouter]

There was another alarm in the final kilometer: "I lost power for a brief moment. The gears were no longer synchronized. But then the power came back and I was told to park the car immediately after the finish."

Two hours into the race, it was clear that Hülkenberg was very lucky to reach the finish line at all. The MGU-K had given up the ghost. That's why the car was still under power when Hülkenberg parked it in the area of the first corner. Alarm bells should also be going off at Ferrari. The MGU-K caused problems four times last year at Haas alone.

Translated with www.DeepL.com

[PlatinumZealot]

It seems Max was just driving to nurse the tyres and bring the car home yet on the outside he was a rocket ship. This reminds me of the Schumacher era so much. I am used to this type of F1 so I will still watch even if its just "how fast can he lap" but it's difficult with these heavy busses called F1 cars.

It does remind me also of Schumacher era, albeit only couple of those years (2002, 2004). Also the Red Bull/Vettel era (2011, second half of 2013). We will have to see if any team can ever reach the unimaginable dominant margin that Mercedes had in the V6 era. I doubt.

The Mercede era were nothing like schumacher era because you had a challenger most of the time. The Vettel had challengers too but half of the time. Schumacher was unchallenged most of the time.

Same here with Max. Unchallenged most of the time since early 2022 season.

[PlatinumZealot]

There was another alarm in the final kilometer: "I lost power for a brief moment. The gears were no longer synchronized. But then the power came back and I was told to park the car immediately after the finish."

Two hours into the race, it was clear that Hülkenberg was very lucky to reach the finish line at all. The MGU-K had given up the ghost. That's why the car was still under power when Hülkenberg parked it in the area of the first corner. Alarm bells should also be going off at Ferrari. The MGU-K caused problems four times last year at Haas alone.

Translated with www.DeepL.com

Those alarm bells are also school bells. The engineers will be off finding a new design for "reliability"

[mendis]

It seems Max was just driving to nurse the tyres and bring the car home yet on the outside he was a rocket ship. This reminds me of the Schumacher era so much. I am used to this type of F1 so I will still watch even if its just "how fast can he lap" but it's difficult with these heavy busses called F1 cars.

It does remind me also of Schumacher era, albeit only couple of those years (2002, 2004). Also the Red Bull/Vettel era (2011, second half of 2013). We will have to see if any team can ever reach the unimaginable dominant margin that Mercedes had in the V6 era. I doubt.

The Mercede era were nothing like schumacher era because you had a challenger most of the time. The Vettel had challengers too but half of the time. Schumacher was unchallenged most of the time.

Same here with Max. Unchallenged most of the time since early 2022 season.

No. From a car advantage perspective, nobody has come close to the advantage Mercedes had. I don't think anyone ever will. I don't know what challenges you talk about. Lewis was unchallenged in 2015, 2017 and 2018 (second halves), 2019 and 2020. Lewis' ignorance to new clutch system cost 2016.

2003, Schumacher didn't have the fastest car! It was the unreliability of McLaren that cost them the title. Michael won by just 2 points against Kimi!
Just like 2017/18, 2001 had challengers in the first half before reliability broke their backs. Similar situation for Vettel in 2010 and 2012. He only had a free run in 2011 and second half of 2013. I understand having such a dominant car puts Lewis'records in easy peasy category, which makes his fans push back. But facts can't be denied.

[Sevach]

It does remind me also of Schumacher era, albeit only couple of those years (2002, 2004). Also the Red Bull/Vettel era (2011, second half of 2013). We will have to see if any team can ever reach the unimaginable dominant margin that Mercedes had in the V6 era. I doubt.

The Mercede era were nothing like schumacher era because you had a challenger most of the time. The Vettel had challengers too but half of the time. Schumacher was unchallenged most of the time.

Same here with Max. Unchallenged most of the time since early 2022 season.

No. From a car advantage perspective, nobody has come close to the advantage Mercedes had. I don't think anyone ever will. I don't know what challenges you talk about. Lewis was unchallenged in 2015, 2017 and 2018 (second halves), 2019 and 2020. Lewis' ignorance to new clutch system cost 2016.

2003, Schumacher didn't have the fastest car! It was the unreliability of McLaren that cost them the title. Michael won by just 2 points against Kimi!
Just like 2017/18, 2001 had challengers in the first half before reliability broke their backs. Similar situation for Vettel in 2010 and 2012. He only had a free run in 2011 and second half of 2013. I understand having such a dominant car puts Lewis'records in easy peasy category, which makes his fans push back. But facts can't be denied.

The thing about the Merc era of dominance, they often turned it down(Paddy Lowe went further and said they avoided ever turning it up) and cruised just like Max did in Melbourne yet they still finished races 40s in front of the next car.
Rosberg drove granny style the final races of 2016 he still had second place in his pocket everytime, to have a close finish it took Hamilton deliberately driving as slow as possible, still didn't work.

[PlatinumZealot]

It does remind me also of Schumacher era, albeit only couple of those years (2002, 2004). Also the Red Bull/Vettel era (2011, second half of 2013). We will have to see if any team can ever reach the unimaginable dominant margin that Mercedes had in the V6 era. I doubt.

The Mercede era were nothing like schumacher era because you had a challenger most of the time. The Vettel had challengers too but half of the time. Schumacher was unchallenged most of the time.

Same here with Max. Unchallenged most of the time since early 2022 season.

No. From a car advantage perspective, nobody has come close to the advantage Mercedes had. I don't think anyone ever will. I don't know what challenges you talk about. Lewis was unchallenged in 2015, 2017 and 2018 (second halves), 2019 and 2020. Lewis' ignorance to new clutch system cost 2016.

2003, Schumacher didn't have the fastest car! It was the unreliability of McLaren that cost them the title. Michael won by just 2 points against Kimi!
Just like 2017/18, 2001 had challengers in the first half before reliability broke their backs. Similar situation for Vettel in 2010 and 2012. He only had a free run in 2011 and second half of 2013. I understand having such a dominant car puts Lewis'records in easy peasy category, which makes his fans push back. But facts can't be denied.

You are twisting the argument towards one of car advantage but my original point was about a driver being able to sail away unchallenged and how he is able to "drive" focusing on himself and the car.. Basically "turning down" and making it to the finish as elegantly as possible.

If you have a dominant car but a teammate to challenge you wont be able to do this. (Hamilton, roseberg, Senna, Prost). A fight will be on your hands.

[mendis]

The Mercede era were nothing like schumacher era because you had a challenger most of the time. The Vettel had challengers too but half of the time. Schumacher was unchallenged most of the time.

Same here with Max. Unchallenged most of the time since early 2022 season.

No. From a car advantage perspective, nobody has come close to the advantage Mercedes had. I don't think anyone ever will. I don't know what challenges you talk about. Lewis was unchallenged in 2015, 2017 and 2018 (second halves), 2019 and 2020. Lewis' ignorance to new clutch system cost 2016.

2003, Schumacher didn't have the fastest car! It was the unreliability of McLaren that cost them the title. Michael won by just 2 points against Kimi!
Just like 2017/18, 2001 had challengers in the first half before reliability broke their backs. Similar situation for Vettel in 2010 and 2012. He only had a free run in 2011 and second half of 2013. I understand having such a dominant car puts Lewis'records in easy peasy category, which makes his fans push back. But facts can't be denied.

You are twisting the argument towards one of car advantage but my original point was about a driver being able to sail away unchallenged and how he is able to "drive" focusing on himself and the car.. Basically "turning down" and making it to the finish as elegantly as possible.

If you have a dominant car but a teammate to challenge you wont be able to do this. (Hamilton, roseberg, Senna, Prost). A fight will be on your hands.

You didn't read the post at all. 2015 Rosberg was nowhere to challenge, same with Bottas who was nowhere in 2017, 18, 19 and 20. Vettel challenged a few races in early parts of 2017 and 18, but when Mercedes turned the wick up (read Sevach's post above), Hamilton would sail away in 2/3rd of the season both years.

Mercedes' rules of engagement gave priority strategy to lead driver, which means, all that Hamilton had to do was to qualify ahead and the race was his as following was so difficult. He could open a small gap and then be done with the race. Where was the challenge? In Schumacher era, the margin was around 3 tenths to other teams that he was fighting with, other than 2004. So it was his brilliant driving, combined with Brawn's strategy master strokes that made that dominance possible. Whether Barrichello was a factor or not Williams, McLaren and Renault were all contenders for wins in most of those years.

[langedweil]

It seems Max was just driving to nurse the tyres and bring the car home yet on the outside he was a rocket ship. This reminds me of the Schumacher era so much. I am used to this type of F1 so I will still watch even if its just "how fast can he lap" but it's difficult with these heavy busses called F1 cars.

It reminds me even more of the Mercedes era tbh ..

[Hammerfist]

No. From a car advantage perspective, nobody has come close to the advantage Mercedes had. I don't think anyone ever will. I don't know what challenges you talk about. Lewis was unchallenged in 2015, 2017 and 2018 (second halves), 2019 and 2020. Lewis' ignorance to new clutch system cost 2016.

2003, Schumacher didn't have the fastest car! It was the unreliability of McLaren that cost them the title. Michael won by just 2 points against Kimi!
Just like 2017/18, 2001 had challengers in the first half before reliability broke their backs. Similar situation for Vettel in 2010 and 2012. He only had a free run in 2011 and second half of 2013. I understand having such a dominant car puts Lewis'records in easy peasy category, which makes his fans push back. But facts can't be denied.

You are twisting the argument towards one of car advantage but my original point was about a driver being able to sail away unchallenged and how he is able to "drive" focusing on himself and the car.. Basically "turning down" and making it to the finish as elegantly as possible.

If you have a dominant car but a teammate to challenge you wont be able to do this. (Hamilton, roseberg, Senna, Prost). A fight will be on your hands.

You didn't read the post at all. 2015 Rosberg was nowhere to challenge, same with Bottas who was nowhere in 2017, 18, 19 and 20. Vettel challenged a few races in early parts of 2017 and 18, but when Mercedes turned the wick up (read Sevach's post above), Hamilton would sail away in 2/3rd of the season both years.

Mercedes' rules of engagement gave priority strategy to lead driver, which means, all that Hamilton had to do was to qualify ahead and the race was his as following was so difficult. He could open a small gap and then be done with the race. Where was the challenge? In Schumacher era, the margin was around 3 tenths to other teams that he was fighting with, other than 2004. So it was his brilliant driving, combined with Brawn's strategy master strokes that made that dominance possible. Whether Barrichello was a factor or not Williams, McLaren and Renault were all contenders for wins in most of those years.

I think he read your post just fine. His point is that verstapoen fir nearly a year now has been more unchallenged than in any year hamilton had during his dominant years. If Checo doesnt show us anything this year and repeats his 2022 level and lets max disappear the rest of the season then Zealot will have been right.

Hamilton didnt have it as easy as youre trying to force feed us. Even in 2019 he had to fight for wins with leclerc, max and seb. 2020 was the only year he could have won every race but Turkey would have been hard to win regardless. Noone has the ability nor the tools to fight max for wins since pretty much the second half of last year. That was the point.

[organic]

You are twisting the argument towards one of car advantage but my original point was about a driver being able to sail away unchallenged and how he is able to "drive" focusing on himself and the car.. Basically "turning down" and making it to the finish as elegantly as possible.

If you have a dominant car but a teammate to challenge you wont be able to do this. (Hamilton, roseberg, Senna, Prost). A fight will be on your hands.

You didn't read the post at all. 2015 Rosberg was nowhere to challenge, same with Bottas who was nowhere in 2017, 18, 19 and 20. Vettel challenged a few races in early parts of 2017 and 18, but when Mercedes turned the wick up (read Sevach's post above), Hamilton would sail away in 2/3rd of the season both years.

Mercedes' rules of engagement gave priority strategy to lead driver, which means, all that Hamilton had to do was to qualify ahead and the race was his as following was so difficult. He could open a small gap and then be done with the race. Where was the challenge? In Schumacher era, the margin was around 3 tenths to other teams that he was fighting with, other than 2004. So it was his brilliant driving, combined with Brawn's strategy master strokes that made that dominance possible. Whether Barrichello was a factor or not Williams, McLaren and Renault were all contenders for wins in most of those years.

I think he read your post just fine. His point is that verstapoen fir nearly a year now has been more unchallenged than in any year hamilton had during his dominant years. If Checo doesnt show us anything this year and repeats his 2022 level and lets max disappear the rest of the season then Zealot will have been right.

Hamilton didnt have it as easy as youre trying to force feed us. Even in 2019 he had to fight for wins with leclerc, max and seb. 2020 was the only year he could have won every race but Turkey would have been hard to win regardless. Noone has the ability nor the tools to fight max for wins since pretty much the second half of last year. That was the point.

Ahh come on...

Merc fought for wins at Silverstone, zandvoorte, mexico, cota & did win at Brazil last year in the 2nd half as did Ferrari compete at singapore. And as already acknowledged, Ferrari ran rb close in the first half of the season. So really RB have only been uncontested for about 4 races, if we can consider 2019 a contested year

[Hammerfist]

You didn't read the post at all. 2015 Rosberg was nowhere to challenge, same with Bottas who was nowhere in 2017, 18, 19 and 20. Vettel challenged a few races in early parts of 2017 and 18, but when Mercedes turned the wick up (read Sevach's post above), Hamilton would sail away in 2/3rd of the season both years.

Mercedes' rules of engagement gave priority strategy to lead driver, which means, all that Hamilton had to do was to qualify ahead and the race was his as following was so difficult. He could open a small gap and then be done with the race. Where was the challenge? In Schumacher era, the margin was around 3 tenths to other teams that he was fighting with, other than 2004. So it was his brilliant driving, combined with Brawn's strategy master strokes that made that dominance possible. Whether Barrichello was a factor or not Williams, McLaren and Renault were all contenders for wins in most of those years.

I think he read your post just fine. His point is that verstapoen fir nearly a year now has been more unchallenged than in any year hamilton had during his dominant years. If Checo doesnt show us anything this year and repeats his 2022 level and lets max disappear the rest of the season then Zealot will have been right.

Hamilton didnt have it as easy as youre trying to force feed us. Even in 2019 he had to fight for wins with leclerc, max and seb. 2020 was the only year he could have won every race but Turkey would have been hard to win regardless. Noone has the ability nor the tools to fight max for wins since pretty much the second half of last year. That was the point.

Ahh come on...

Merc fought for wins at Silverstone, zandvoorte, mexico, cota & did win at Brazil last year in the 2nd half as did Ferrari compete at singapore. And as already acknowledged, Ferrari ran rb close in the first half of the season so really RB have only been uncontested for about 4 races, if we can consider 2019 a contested year

Silverstone isnt in the second half last i checked and max had damage.
Zanvoort noone had the pace to beat max.
Cota only ended up close because of a bad pit stop by max and rbr. He was cruising before that.
Mexico artificially brought the merc closer because of the altitude but a win was never going to happen either.
Brazil: rbr messed up the setup and thats the only race max could not have won on merit. True.
Only maxs penalty stopped him from winning singapore.

Point is he has had zero genuine challenger since the second half of last year started.