2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, 29 - 1 November/December

[izzy]

Great article on Hamilton's performance this year:

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opin ... s-mercedes

"The Mercedes has been on pole in only 47% of the races so far this year. Its average qualifying advantage over the Ferrari is less than 0.15sec. Its advantage over the second-fastest car, in other words, is only around one-tenth of that enjoyed by Senna/Prost in 1988 or Mansell/Patrese in ’92. Those cars had about the same pace advantage over the second-fastest car that Hamilton’s Mercedes has over this year’s McLaren or Renault, cars that the Merc and Ferrari routinely lap before the end of the race."

Should help some gain a better perspective on how impressive his performance was this year (as opposed to the car's).

yes if you play What-If with Lewis, Max, Seb and Charles and swap the cars while keeping the mistakes, Lewis wins 2017 and 2018 and quite likely 2019 too. He's the most complete driver ever. And that has all kinds of knock-on effects in the team as well, when they have that driver to focus on and know their car will hardly ever be wasted

[Pyrone89]

Great article on Hamilton's performance this year:

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opin ... s-mercedes

"The Mercedes has been on pole in only 47% of the races so far this year. Its average qualifying advantage over the Ferrari is less than 0.15sec. Its advantage over the second-fastest car, in other words, is only around one-tenth of that enjoyed by Senna/Prost in 1988 or Mansell/Patrese in ’92. Those cars had about the same pace advantage over the second-fastest car that Hamilton’s Mercedes has over this year’s McLaren or Renault, cars that the Merc and Ferrari routinely lap before the end of the race."

Should help some gain a better perspective on how impressive his performance was this year (as opposed to the car's).

yes if you play What-If with Lewis, Max, Seb and Charles and swap the cars while keeping the mistakes, Lewis wins 2017 and 2018 and quite likely 2019 too. He's the most complete driver ever. And that has all kinds of knock-on effects in the team as well, when they have that driver to focus on and know their car will hardly ever be wasted

Id like to see that tested. Remember it is easier to make less mistakes and be more consistent if you have the best car. You can drive at 98% vs right on the limit like others. When at the front there is also less liklihood to get tangled into a mess.

[Just_a_fan]

Great article on Hamilton's performance this year:

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opin ... s-mercedes

"The Mercedes has been on pole in only 47% of the races so far this year. Its average qualifying advantage over the Ferrari is less than 0.15sec. Its advantage over the second-fastest car, in other words, is only around one-tenth of that enjoyed by Senna/Prost in 1988 or Mansell/Patrese in ’92. Those cars had about the same pace advantage over the second-fastest car that Hamilton’s Mercedes has over this year’s McLaren or Renault, cars that the Merc and Ferrari routinely lap before the end of the race."

Should help some gain a better perspective on how impressive his performance was this year (as opposed to the car's).

yes if you play What-If with Lewis, Max, Seb and Charles and swap the cars while keeping the mistakes, Lewis wins 2017 and 2018 and quite likely 2019 too. He's the most complete driver ever. And that has all kinds of knock-on effects in the team as well, when they have that driver to focus on and know their car will hardly ever be wasted

Id like to see that tested. Remember it is easier to make less mistakes and be more consistent if you have the best car. You can drive at 98% vs right on the limit like others. When at the front there is also less liklihood to get tangled into a mess.

Bottas: 5 poles, 4 wins
Hamilton: 5 poles, 11 wins

Same car.

[El Scorchio]

Were they 5kg over the 110kg limit?

As far as I know they all start well under that. then do the fuel saving to get to then end of the race

Interesting also that Vettel was asked to switch to fuel saving mode in the race but didn’t understand why...

Engine 4 isn't really a fuel safe mode, he got others labeled FS2, FS4, FS6, FS8 for that.
It has more to do with power, engine 4 is often the lowest mode used during races, for sure it also consumes less fuel than the higher modes (engine 1 & 2). Also his PU was at the end of it's life anyways and maybe some sensor reading triggered them to turn it down a little which no driver likes.
Wouldn't interpreted too much into that.

Could be! Although as someone else said, they could have just told him that it was for reliability. But then it’s the last race of the season. He’s not winning the race, the engine isn’t needed again and it’s not going to affect the WDC. Why not just go full beans and if it gives up it gives up?

Ah well. It’s all whispers anyway.

[Pyrone89]

yes if you play What-If with Lewis, Max, Seb and Charles and swap the cars while keeping the mistakes, Lewis wins 2017 and 2018 and quite likely 2019 too. He's the most complete driver ever. And that has all kinds of knock-on effects in the team as well, when they have that driver to focus on and know their car will hardly ever be wasted

Id like to see that tested. Remember it is easier to make less mistakes and be more consistent if you have the best car. You can drive at 98% vs right on the limit like others. When at the front there is also less liklihood to get tangled into a mess.

Bottas: 5 poles, 4 wins
Hamilton: 5 poles, 11 wins

Same car.

Yes? Only probes my point. Bottas is not in the class of Max, Lewis, Charles. Why did Lewis lose 4 wins to him?

[Shrieker]

No DRS "Technical Issue" cough TEST

Exactly what I thought. Cost Bottas third probably. He spent so many laps trying to clear a couple cars.

[Pyrone89]

True, we got shown how important DRS is, for all the hate we sometimes give it.

[izzy]

it was great today anyway, better than I was expecting tbh, some good racing down the field (thanks to the tyres...) everybody being nice and that podium, that's next year's excitement in a nutshell isn't it? 3 teams and an amazing collection of talent, plus a female Board member

I do wish they'd widen the chicanes tho, so they can race through them more

[Wass85]

yes if you play What-If with Lewis, Max, Seb and Charles and swap the cars while keeping the mistakes, Lewis wins 2017 and 2018 and quite likely 2019 too. He's the most complete driver ever. And that has all kinds of knock-on effects in the team as well, when they have that driver to focus on and know their car will hardly ever be wasted

Id like to see that tested. Remember it is easier to make less mistakes and be more consistent if you have the best car. You can drive at 98% vs right on the limit like others. When at the front there is also less liklihood to get tangled into a mess.

Bottas: 5 poles, 4 wins
Hamilton: 5 poles, 11 wins

Same car.

Exactly, if Bottas can do all that then Verstappen and Leclerc would do even more.

[smellybeard]

Ok so am I right in thinking something like

(example figures)

the teams use around 95kg fuel. they report that figure at the start, then after the race the cars are weighed and the FIA calculate that they all used roughly 93kg in the race.

Ferrari say the same "we have 95kg in the car". If they told the truth and said 100kg, then the other teams would be very suspicious that using that amount is odd and unlikely.

Ferrari can use the extra fuel by tricking the fuel flow sensor somehow, and because they are claiming they are using the same amount of fuel as the rest, no one really has their suspicions.

Because they were caught out just before the race start, both cars were over fueled to what they claimed.

Both cars then had to run in different engine modes to make sure they didnt use that extra fuel that they had onboard.

Obviously its speculation, but it add more fuel to the current Ferrari PU.

I think you're right. If they are doing on on a regular basis, it's a sign that they're up to something. However, it's not proof of what they're up to.

It should be taken as a pointer as to what to investigate.

[browney]

I was a bit disappointed to not see more of some of the mid-field battles. There were times where the Renault/Mclaren part of the field would seem to have been more exciting.

There have been quite a few times this year were they have seemed to prefer to show cars at the front running in clean air instead of cars that are very close in the mid-field.

[Just_a_fan]

Id like to see that tested. Remember it is easier to make less mistakes and be more consistent if you have the best car. You can drive at 98% vs right on the limit like others. When at the front there is also less liklihood to get tangled into a mess.

Bottas: 5 poles, 4 wins
Hamilton: 5 poles, 11 wins

Same car.

Yes? Only probes my point. Bottas is not in the class of Max, Lewis, Charles. Why did Lewis lose 4 wins to him?

How do we know Bottas is not in the class of Max, Charles?

[Wass85]

Bottas: 5 poles, 4 wins
Hamilton: 5 poles, 11 wins

Same car.

Yes? Only probes my point. Bottas is not in the class of Max, Lewis, Charles. Why did Lewis lose 4 wins to him?

How do we know Bottas is not in the class of Max, Charles?

Because I think anyone with a bit of sense about F1 will know he's not.

He's hardly been hot property has he?

[Just_a_fan]

Yes? Only probes my point. Bottas is not in the class of Max, Lewis, Charles. Why did Lewis lose 4 wins to him?

How do we know Bottas is not in the class of Max, Charles?

Because I think anyone with a bit of sense about F1 will know he's not.

He's hardly been hot property has he?

The only certain comparison is between team mates. The rest is whistling in the wind.

Hamilton has only lost two seasons to his team mates in 13 seasons. He's had three champions as team mates. And on balance beat them all.

And people question his talent.

[Wass85]

How do we know Bottas is not in the class of Max, Charles?

Because I think anyone with a bit of sense about F1 will know he's not.

He's hardly been hot property has he?

The only certain comparison is between team mates. The rest is whistling in the wind.

Hamilton has only lost two seasons to his team mates in 13 seasons. He's had three champions as team mates. And on balance beat them all.

And people question his talent.

You are going off tangent here.

It's not about Lewis, we all know how talented he is. This is about Verstappen and Leclerc, if either of those were partnered against Bottas then they both beat him let's face it.