Despite an unusual race, and finishing just 9th, Lewis Hamilton ended the title fight by sealing his fourth F1 World Championship at Mexico on Sunday. With his third title at Mercedes, the Briton joins Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel in the club-of-four.
Him not fighting Verstappen in Malaysia says otherwise.
Him not fighting Verstappen in Malaysia was being smart. Smart in the sense he was ahead, his car was derating and he knew he had a young hot-head behind him who was clearly quicker (according to post-race interview by Hamilton and Toto, they knew by as much as 4 tenths down on RedBull). So when Max made a last second lunge, he didn't defend too hard because he was aware he was battling against someone who had nothing to lose and was going to get by eventually anyway.
With VET having to win and VER having no special respect for VET, the smartest thing, even if the WC wouldn't be on the line, is taking a backseat for the first half of the race. There is real pliability that those two will destroy each others race one way or the other (tires and/or bodywork).Phil wrote: ↑29 Oct 2017, 13:36Him not fighting Verstappen in Malaysia was being smart. Smart in the sense he was ahead, his car was derating and he knew he had a young hot-head behind him who was clearly quicker (according to post-race interview by Hamilton and Toto, they knew by as much as 4 tenths down on RedBull). So when Max made a last second lunge, he didn't defend too hard because he was aware he was battling against someone who had nothing to lose and was going to get by eventually anyway.
Right now, we know Hamilton is starting in 3rd, behind both Max and Seb. We don't know how the race pace stacks up, but Hamilton was extremely strong on the ultra-softs in FP2 which suggest the Mercedes may have some pace during the race. The question is; if Hamilton has the pace advantage over both Seb and Max during the race, will he just stick behind or will he actually make a move if the opportunity presents himself?
In my opinion, Hamilton will be cautious at the start. If he has a great start, he may go for it. After that, overtaking is going to be difficult, so who knows, maybe, assuming he has strong race pace, could do something on strategy. But overall, I don't think Mexico is the type of track that allows for many overtaking possibilities (despite the long straights). To successfully pull one off, you may need to be quite aggressive, something I'm not sure Hamilton will be willing to do. The start will be crucial though and perhaps present an opportunity to at least get by Max starting off the dirty side of the track. If it's him vs Seb, all bets are off and we may see more aggressive driving.
On the other hand though, the power issues Hamilton had during qualifying may mean he may just cruise the entire race not to hit any technical issues.
He could have fought at Malaysia if he had wanted. He instead he chose to pretty much wave Verstappen past.Phil wrote: ↑29 Oct 2017, 13:36Him not fighting Verstappen in Malaysia was being smart. Smart in the sense he was ahead, his car was derating and he knew he had a young hot-head behind him who was clearly quicker (according to post-race interview by Hamilton and Toto, they knew by as much as 4 tenths down on RedBull). So when Max made a last second lunge, he didn't defend too hard because he was aware he was battling against someone who had nothing to lose and was going to get by eventually anyway.
Right now, we know Hamilton is starting in 3rd, behind both Max and Seb. We don't know how the race pace stacks up, but Hamilton was extremely strong on the ultra-softs in FP2 which suggest the Mercedes may have some pace during the race. The question is; if Hamilton has the pace advantage over both Seb and Max during the race, will he just stick behind or will he actually make a move if the opportunity presents himself?
In my opinion, Hamilton will be cautious at the start. If he has a great start, he may go for it. After that, overtaking is going to be difficult, so who knows, maybe, assuming he has strong race pace, could do something on strategy. But overall, I don't think Mexico is the type of track that allows for many overtaking possibilities (despite the long straights). To successfully pull one off, you may need to be quite aggressive, something I'm not sure Hamilton will be willing to do. The start will be crucial though and perhaps present an opportunity to at least get by Max starting off the dirty side of the track. If it's him vs Seb, all bets are off and we may see more aggressive driving.
On the other hand though, the power issues Hamilton had during qualifying may mean he may just cruise the entire race not to hit any technical issues.
If he had, he might have risked a collision - a collision that happened in Singapore when Vettel was defending hard against Max.Restomaniac wrote: ↑29 Oct 2017, 15:20He could have fought at Malaysia if he had wanted. He instead he chose to pretty much wave Verstappen past.
I don't actually buy this. Hamilton wasn't on the outside because he had an amazing foresight of what was about to happen in front of him. He was there because he avoided Ricciardo who had a very bad start and the rest was determined by a lot of luck.Restomaniac wrote:Look in Singapore. Hamilton drove around the outside staying miles away from trouble. I'm picturing similar today. Let Vettel and Verstappen go nuts into turn 1 whilst Hamilton Keeps his nose clean.
That's my point. Wave Verstappen through or risk it all in Malaysia. The long game suggests letting Verstappen through. Which he did. Something Vettel didn't in Singapore. Don't get me wrong Verstappen was clearly quicker and would have gotten past but it could have required banging wheels if Hamilton wanted to stick his elbows out.Phil wrote: ↑29 Oct 2017, 15:30If he had, he might have risked a collision - a collision that happened in Singapore when Vettel was defending hard against Max.Restomaniac wrote: ↑29 Oct 2017, 15:20He could have fought at Malaysia if he had wanted. He instead he chose to pretty much wave Verstappen past.
I don't actually buy this. Hamilton wasn't on the outside because he had an amazing foresight of what was about to happen in front of him. He was there because he avoided Ricciardo who had a very bad start and the rest was determined by a lot of luck.Restomaniac wrote:Look in Singapore. Hamilton drove around the outside staying miles away from trouble. I'm picturing similar today. Let Vettel and Verstappen go nuts into turn 1 whilst Hamilton Keeps his nose clean.
If he has the pace, sure. I gather he's going for a 1-stop though, and perhaps V and S are 2-stopping? So maybe he'll be defending at the end.PlatinumZealot wrote: ↑29 Oct 2017, 16:42Hamilton will overtake both on track and take the win in style!
And If not, he will have waved them through or his car just wasn't good here. So the outcome doesn't really matter, Hamilton is always best. We all know that so why the need to prove that in every single post still exists is a bit of a riddle to me.PlatinumZealot wrote: ↑29 Oct 2017, 16:42Hamilton will overtake both on track and take the win in style!
