Manoah2u wrote: β22 Aug 2020, 23:51
Well, i vastly disagree on Hamilton not having a number two driver. Bottas has been a clearly purpose shaped number two driver from the moment he stepped into a Williams seat, and got a Merc seat to be Hammy's lapdog after the Rosberg saga. Sure - Alonso, Rosberg and Button clearly never were number 2 drivers. But Kovalainen? Hamilton had his fair share too.
Yes, Schumacher had his lap dogs. But so did Hamilton.
How long was Kovalainen at McLaren? A driver who was very highly rated before he stepped up to a big team, as I'm sure you recall.
Who replaced him? Another number 2?
If your defintion of a 'number 2 driver' is 'non-World Driver Championship driver' then shall we count up other people's 'fair share'?
Hamilton has had 2 in thirteen years.
Schumacher had 9 in fifteen years (his only WDC team mate was there for part of one year only).
Vettel had 7 in fourteen years.
Verstappen has had 6 in six years.
There's an odd one out in this pattern, I just can't quite put my finger on who...
Moore77 wrote: β23 Aug 2020, 10:16
You can find hundred ways to justify what happened there and it doesn't change a thing that,
Context is important, is it not? For instance, I remember watching Irvine beating Schumacher in Monaco, 1998. It was then that I knew Schumacher was the number 2 in the Ferrari team. It was always clear. Same with Barrichello in Spain, in 2000. Just more confirmation of Schumacher's lapdog status. Sure, Schumacher managed to scrape a few lucky World Driver Championship wins when at Ferrari, but...
Moore77 wrote: β23 Aug 2020, 10:16
Bottas and Rosberg were lapdogs for a great driver, except Rosberg was lucky to scrap a championship as the other cars were were miles behind.
I don't recall 'number 2 drivers' being allowed to win championships? It rather defeats the point of having a number 2 if they are allowed to win the season over the number 1, does it not?
Moore77 wrote: β23 Aug 2020, 10:16
I still remember Malaysia 2013, when Brawn issued team orders in favor of Hamilton. It was always clear as who was No. 1 and who is No. 2.
To be clear, one race that was their best chance of a good result at that time, not only trumps the two wins later in that season that Rosberg had, but also the WDCs that went down to the wire, the clear bad blood between Rosberg and Hamilton (why be angry at someone you can just order moved out of the way?), and the WDC that Rosberg won?
Or, by 'Number 2' do we actually mean 'worse driver than'? In which case, I've got awful news for people about all of Hamilton's team mates (real or potential)...