2018 French Grand Prix, Le Castellet, June 22-24

[Sieper]

Wow, Max is still butt hurt about the press.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13700 ... ttel-crash

butt hurt ? Seems a clear explanation of how the media works , as they have nothing else to write about between races they will come up with stories especially paid sites like auto sport , can already see the article "Should Vettel drive less aggressive to become WDC"

Now we know the angle that a fierce competitor will use to get into MV's head and break him IF he is ever in a title fight.

Not good to expose your true thoughts like this, as it is a psychologically exploitative attack vector, and now every single driver is informed.

Hamilton already used that to his advantage this year, even knowing he could take a bit more risk in their on track clashes (Bahrein, china) as max would then be on the defensive anyway. This is also Hamilton's prerogative as he is already in/at the very top of racing for years, and he is smart in his ways of psychology (as well as a super race driver). But on the other hand, you need to fight for your place in the top, also with words. He is just saying "I will not change my approach" although he clearly does, you see him every race approaching things slightly different. He lucked out a bit here as Vettel had a super start (whilst he himself had a normal start) and thus could very cleverly avoid the carnage, because this is something that I think he had thought up before hand, I can stick to the inside as there is room to escape a crash or somebody simply swerving. Max will also learn how to deal with press competitors better, he will never be a psychological warrior but imho he doesn't need to be, just drive. For now I am happy he is now having very solid weekends, I myself believe the start of the season was not THAT poor as some would like you have believe, but he certainly needs these kind of performances he is delivering.

[Zynerji]

Hamilton seems to have learned something from Rosberg then, afterall!

[Sieper]

Hamilton seems to have learned something from Rosberg then, afterall!

I think he was always way better at that then Rosberg ever was. Rosberg can bite but at his core he is a almost to sweet guy imho, and sometimes his analysis is clouded by emotion (though most of time spot on). I really like him. Although I rooted for Hamilton (as I feel Hamilton is the more deserving driver) I was in the end glad for Rosberg that he could take a WDC title, he also deserved at least also a title (having to battle with Hamilton his whole career). I think him quitting after that suits how I see him.

Hamilton is an interesting character, In his core I think he also is a nice guy, but he has learned to deal with people not liking him (you can sometimes still almost see he get hurt/mad though when people disrespect him) he is streetwise, he knows how to deal with people challenging you psychologically, thinks forward and is subtle when he needs to be, planting seeds, and can be very hard when he needs to deal a blow. Already at very young age you could see he had put up a wall around him (did you ever see that interview as a young boy having beat everybody at RC racing). But Hamilton is a fighter, he will keep going to the max, don't count him out for years to come. Once he gets the new deal sealed with Merc (after they grant him his part of the hilfigger money) he will remain the man to beat.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Hamilton seems to have learned something from Rosberg then, afterall!

Yeah, sure! That there are drivers who drive you off the racing track to avoid being overtaken, which people like Alonso, Massa, Button and Vettel did not teach.

[Zynerji]

Hamilton seems to have learned something from Rosberg then, afterall!

Yeah, sure! That there are drivers who drive you off the racing track to avoid being overtaken.

I could only conjure the thought of Alonso pushing Seb into the grass in Monza, and Seb being made to give the place back for violating "track limits" when reading your post. Is there a more clear example with Nico/Lewis?

PS: Hamilton looked shook by Nico by the end of the 2016 mind game, but he's far more relaxed now that he has no inter team competition.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Hamilton seems to have learned something from Rosberg then, afterall!

Yeah, sure! That there are drivers who drive you off the racing track to avoid being overtaken.

I could only conjure the thought of Alonso pushing Seb into the grass in Monza, and Seb being made to give the place back for violating "track limits" when reading your post. Is there a more clear example with Nico/Lewis?

PS: Hamilton looked shook by Nico by the end of the 2016 mind game, but he's far more relaxed now.

Spain and Austria 2016 springs to mind immediately.

If not the for the engine blow out in Malaysia, people would be talking of 2016 differently. Despite having reliability issues and THE ONLY ENGINE BLOW OUT suffered of all the factory and customer engines and a trouble making team mate, whom the team boss called "The Vicious One", it was that one blow out that makes people talk differently as if Nico beat Hamilton in every which way.

[Zynerji]

That comment by Toto is what tells me Nico played hard ball mind games in 2016.

[atanatizante]

Some interesting stats compared to last year after 8 races.

2017:
Vet - 3 wins, 6 podiums, 153 points
Ham - 3 wins, 5 podiums, 139 points

2018
Ham - 3 wins, 6 podiums, 145 points
Vet - 3 wins, 4 podiums, 131 points

So what`s yr point:
1. Last year Vet was 14 points ahead and now they are on a reverse order or
2. After 8 races there are the same 14 points between them?

That this year Lewis is ahead for the same reason Vettel was last year, consistency and staying out of trouble. Imo unless Ferrari has something up their sleaves, Vettel is going to have a hard time. He is already behind and entering the part of the season where Mercedes should be at their strongest.

I`m with you about consistency and stay out of trouble in Lewis`s case, but not with the latter part. This year Ferrari has upped their game for they solved their weaknesses from last year when they also have had the better race pace, at least in the first half of the season.

More of that, this year they are on par with PU and also with the qualy pace, forcing Merc to alter more and more their setup towards the qualy in order to catch the pole, and then with obvious side effects on race pace.

This is getting worse than last year and the reason is that RB upped their game too and when Merc has a poor weekend, like China or Canada, due to either wrong/poor setup or being behind PU/aero upgrades, they were loosing much more points than last year. Therefore, they should be more careful this year cuz RB is going to be a referee in their battle with Ferrari.

This situation reminds me that of the year 2003 with Schumi and Ferrari struggling both with WDC and WCC. This year had they win both championships will be the best since 2014, as Lewis said ...

From my point of view, the years are passing they have fewer areas of development with big gains and the reason is the law of diminishing returns and their rake philosophy. One development area remaining is the bargeboards & mid car area and the other area is fuel consumption plus drivability & traction out of the corners, particularly of the slow ones. With this 2.1 PU upgrade, I think they addressed drivability & traction with both benefits on lap time and tyre management. Now I wait for their Petronas fuel upgrade, which unfortunately couldn`t be such an important factor like the years before, cuz this year they have only 3 chances for doing that.

And as you said I hope they will have a step also in that mid-car aero area in the second part of the season. My understanding, regarding this matter, is that they are lacking behind cuz they are trying to learn both form 2018 tyre generation and their opponents' upgrades, something like Force India is doing successfully for some years ...

[Schuttelberg]

Your boy just loses control everytime when the pressure is on and tries to take out the whole field.
He needs to get a black flag and sit at home and watch a race maybe.

I know. The guy needs to get a grip specially considering how he performed under pressure he had on him in 2010 and 2012 in the last race.

Not positive, but I detect a hint of sarcasm. Unless I’m mistaken readjust those rose tinted glasses for Brazil 2012.

With ref to the penalty, imo did not warrant anything more severe. Have seen similar go unpunished on opening lap numerous times, was surprised to see a penalty awarded. As others have said, clipping RoGro I think was a worse offence.

This isn't the place for it so I won't argue further.

[atanatizante]

What a coincidence: drivers wear their overalls with respects to the France flag "Tricolore" at the press conference after the race ...

[Sieper]

but it is! Second left, First mid and Third right. I applaud you for noticing though Bravo et Merci!

[Sierra117]

Hamilton sings pretty well.

[djos]

I'm definitely not a Vettel fan, but that penalty was harsh, it was a first lap incident - they happen.

I was wondering why Danny was so slow at the end but the RedBull topic has some shots of Dan Ric's front wing, it was missing half the cascades on both sides! Quite bizarre!

[atanatizante]

On Sky interview after the race Lewis said at least 2 interesting facts:

1. He was turning down the PU almost all the time and make up the difference with his driver's skills ... and even admitted quietly halve mouth when Brundle said that he was just coasting all race ...
2. He should have won even with a fresh 1.0 spec PU, so superior was Merc chassis (or should I say tyres ) on this track

[tinvek]

He should have won even with a fresh 1.0 spec PU, so superior was Merc chassis (or should I say tyres ) on this track

that's a good point, canada fogged the issue due to the milage on lewis' engine and the cooling issues, it would have been interesting to see a race pace of the car with a brand new 1.0 spec unit there compared to the ferrari