2019 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 29 - 31

[Capharol]

Hamilton has more poles than the field put together , as in his total amount of poles. Not just in Bahrain.

that only shows how dominant mercs have been in the last few years ..... and that stat should be concerning for the sport

Nope. Hamilton is special.

oh maybe that aswell but without a good car he can't get poles or wins .... see alonso for example

[Schuttelberg]

I came here to discuss the race and I see people squabbling over some petty statistics.

In 2004, Michael's records seemed almost unfair. It felt like it would be impossible to replicate. By 2013, everyone was convinced that his protege would smash every record in the book in 5-6 years. At the time, he had four times the statistics of anyone on the active grid and was younger in age than his direct rivals. Now, Lewis has hammered everyone the past five years and suddenly he is invincible?

The truth probably is that records are meant to be broken. The one that breaks them is generally a great driver and the one who had set them was probably one too.

[search]

How does number 1 combine with number 3?

Hamilton has more poles than the field put together , as in his total amount of poles. Not just in Bahrain.

that only shows how dominant mercs have been in the last few years ..... and that stat should be concerning for the sport

it also shows that Bahrain isn't really one of Hamilton's best tracks though.

But let's see how it goes this weekend. Usually he excels when he's under pressure, and another defeat against Bottas wouldn't come handy.

[Just_a_fan]

that only shows how dominant mercs have been in the last few years ..... and that stat should be concerning for the sport

Nope. Hamilton is special.

oh maybe that aswell but without a good car he can't get poles or wins .... see alonso for example

He has had a pole every season he has been in F1 - no one else has done that for a very long time, not even Michael.

[dans79]

Nope. Hamilton is special.

oh maybe that aswell but without a good car he can't get poles or wins .... see alonso for example

He has had a pole every season he has been in F1 - no one else has done that for a very long time, not even Michael.

and a win every season!

[Jolle]

How does number 1 combine with number 3?

Hamilton has more poles than the field put together , as in his total amount of poles. Not just in Bahrain.

that only shows how dominant mercs have been in the last few years ..... and that stat should be concerning for the sport

If people look back in time and mention the “good times in F1” or naming their favorite years, it’s mostly during very dominant periods of one constructor. Don’t forget, McLaren won almost every title for a decade and Ferrari - Schumacher were on point for many years. Over time we tend to forget that most of the GP’s during those periods the winner was pretty obvious before the weekend.

[Capharol]

Nope. Hamilton is special.

oh maybe that aswell but without a good car he can't get poles or wins .... see alonso for example

He has had a pole every season he has been in F1 - no one else has done that for a very long time, not even Michael.

that's just a minor difference, since the hybrid era started how many poles did Merc get and how many of them done by Hamilton
I don't wanna change the fact that HAM is a exceptional driver, because he is, but would he have gotten those poles with a Williams, McLaren or a Haas or even a RB?
don't think so

[Artur Craft]

Okay, so Ferrari thinks the cooling system may have caused their poor Australian performance. Should be an easy fix....no?

If cooling means the car is slow around corners, has poor traction and is unable to cope with bumps.... then yeah an easy fix via cooling improvements

Ferrari was equal to Mercedes on T11-12 and T14, on Melbourne(all quick 260-225kph). Their problem is not downforce but car balance on medium speed corners, where they really lost by quite a lot. Curiously RB was a bit behind on high speed corners but equal to Mercedes on the medium speed ones(180kph), so the opposite of Ferrari.

My guess is that if RB was equal on a 180kph corner but a bit slower on a 260kph one, then, their aero suffers from pitch sensitivity(likely due to the rake) at higher speeds, diminishing their downforce on those speeds.

On Bahrain it can be better for Ferrari/RB cars but I still predict Mercedes to dominate. In a few hours we'll start getting some answers

How does number 1 combine with number 3?

Hamilton has more poles than the field put together , as in his total amount of poles. Not just in Bahrain.

that only shows how dominant mercs have been in the last few years ..... and that stat should be concerning for the sport

Not only that. Hamilton always drove fast cars during his entire career; something that has never happened on F1 before or after. Besides, only Vettel and Raikkonen have decent amount of poles. Most have 0 and Bottas got some too.

I think Montoya is the guy that was spot on about Hamilton:
https://youtu.be/A8nVcJfEnAY?t=3m21s

[Capharol]

I think Montoya is the guy that was spot on about Hamilton:
https://youtu.be/A8nVcJfEnAY?t=3m21s

get ready for a s***storm

[Artur Craft]

I know the forum is packed with LH fans nowadays. But we can all agree to disagree; some people think LH is an "exceptional driver", others don't. It's all a matter of respecting other people's views. But I know JPM got a lot of hate for saying that.... surprisingly, not on youtube comments, though. There people agree with him about those bits

[NathanOlder]

that only shows how dominant mercs have been in the last few years ..... and that stat should be concerning for the sport

Nope. Hamilton is special.

oh maybe that aswell but without a good car he can't get poles or wins .... see alonso for example

Vettel had a pretty good car for 5years 09-13. So i guess he should be up close to Hamilton......

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Lewis is nothing special at all, he only dominated every karting/junior series, got a lot of hype and deliverd even more than people thought he would. I was thinking last week how special it is that he was a champion in 2008 and still is champion and as relevant in 2019, 11 years later.

[NathanOlder]

Not only that. Hamilton always drove fast cars during his entire career; something that has never happened on F1 before or after. Besides, only Vettel and Raikkonen have decent amount of poles. Most have 0 and Bottas got some too.

I think Montoya is the guy that was spot on about Hamilton:
https://youtu.be/A8nVcJfEnAY?t=3m21s

And Vettel has equally had good cars. Interesting fact, every full year Vettel has competed in F1, he or his team mate have won a race except 1 season. 2016.

So he's had a car capable of winning for 10 years. And arguably the 2016 Ferrari should have won a race or 2. Certainly Spain after the Mercs went out.

So yes Hamilton has had good cars, and so has Vettel.

[Just_a_fan]

oh maybe that aswell but without a good car he can't get poles or wins .... see alonso for example

He has had a pole every season he has been in F1 - no one else has done that for a very long time, not even Michael.

that's just a minor difference, since the hybrid era started how many poles did Merc get and how many of them done by Hamilton
I don't wanna change the fact that HAM is a exceptional driver, because he is, but would he have gotten those poles with a Williams, McLaren or a Haas or even a RB?
don't think so

The best drivers get the best cars...Fangio swapped teams mid season to get the best car.

[Just_a_fan]

I know the forum is packed with LH fans nowadays. But we can all agree to disagree; some people think LH is an "exceptional driver", others don't. It's all a matter of respecting other people's views. But I know JPM got a lot of hate for saying that.... surprisingly, not on youtube comments, though. There people agree with him about those bits

JPM mentioned Alonso as better than Hamilton in that video. Hamilton beat Alonso in his rookie year. JPM was hyped and failed to deliver before slinking back to the US. How many title has JPM won? Erm...

Hamilton has raced three world champions in the same car and beaten them all on balance. Did Vettel, Michael, Senna do that? Enough said.

Anyway, my posting of the interesting points wasn't intended to start a Ham-fest. The haters have done that on their own.

Let's move back to the race, shall we?