turbof1 wrote:bonjon1979 wrote:turbof1 wrote:
I disagree on 'stuffing' Bottas. Bottas needs the time more than Hamilton. A WCC is still won by 2 drivers, not one. You could argue Hamilton was too passive/indifferent towards the running, although given it is largely unrepresentative running in the damp conditions. Bottas however can use the time to get more used to the handling charasteristics of the Mercedes.
Maybe they had a problem, maybe not, but they finished testing early having screwed up an afternoon of possible dry testing for the other teams. if it was a choice not to run then it wouldn't be Hamilton choosing. That's incredibly ignorant and naive to believe he'd do that. I fear that there's a lot of confirmation bias going on here. Those who want to believe the worst of Hamilton are soooo desperate to think that it's all his doing. It's really such a ridiculous notion, it's laughable that the whole team would stand around waiting while he refuses to go out in the wet. It's nonsense. But go ahead people, believe what you will...
That's speculating. All we know is that Hamilton himself stated he did not saw the purpose of driving in these conditions. In my opinion, that's more realistic than trying to believe in some sort of elaborate scheme where Mercedes decided for him and where they made him tell it was his idea.
You don't have to believe that, but I also find it blatantly disrespectful to put people who have a different opinion down as Hamilton haters. I personally think Hamilton made a good call as the conditions really were not representative at all and that there was nothing to gain for Hamilton out of it.
A bit more reasoning and trying to look it from a rational side would be nice for a change in this discussion. Too many people are acting way too emotional about it.
I'd love to see where I referred to anyone as a 'hater'. (As a moderator of some repute, i'd expect better from you)
It's irrational to think that there aren't lots of us on here who have bias to our posts. Confirmation bias is natural and common place. Ferrari doing well - they always run light in testing, mclaren in the garage - it must be Honda have screwed up again, red bull off the pace - we're waiting for newey to put all his magic on the car.
In this instance, I think it far more likely that Merc didn't fancy spending too much time running in the wet due to lack of components and understanding how little they'd actually gain from it. Those discussions were had within the team, Hamilton echoed them the night before. They saw some merit in bottas running a few laps but not much so called time early.
Or they had an electrical problem....
Do we really think that Hamilton just saying no is more likely than any of the above?
But maybe this is my confirmation bias?
Look at it logically tho - 8 days testing. 1500 employees. Do we really believe that they wanted to go out and it was just Hamilton saying no? Why did they let bottas go out for 20 minutes before lunch? Why didn't they let him go sooner if Hamilton didn't fancy it?
Hamilton IS a prima Donna. People, including myself, don't appreciate that about him. But we have to be serious, would Mercedes really allow that to derail a days testing, which they knew would be wet tyre testing weeks in advance? Come on...its just not logical...
