2015 Mexican Grand Prix - Mexico City, Oct 30 - Nov 1

[dans79]

There's no way a 7 race old engine is only 0.1 seconds slower than a fresh engine around Monza, this is downright nonsense to anyone who understands this sport. Lowe probably said so because he wanted to make it seem that the result would not have been any different regardless of whether or not Mercedes's reliability failed Rosberg.

I think you underestimate the complexity of the engines, It could easily only be down 0.1 seconds in normal race modes, but not capable of the higher performance modes. I don't think it's a coincidence that the motor lasted all race, and then blew a few laps after they told him to turn it up.

[Hammer44]

I would hope not, because there is no such thing as a perfect lap and no driver every achieves them, but this one was close:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Ttzm_lo70

Well, if we count oversteer before the long straight and a well missed apex close to a perfect lap...

There were seasons in F1 when missing an apex in Q in the best car meant to be P2. The last one was 2010 when Vet and Web had some incredible close battles in Q3 with not a single obvious fault in the lap for P1.

I would really appreciate to see such a battle between Ros and Ham and I thing both would be capable for that if they would have a more or less good season.

In 2010 Vettel and Webber were not always perfect in qualifying unlike what you are saying. If you watch some of there pole laps you will see that they also missed some apexes and had some oversteer moments as well even if The RB6 was probably the car with the most downforce in the history of F1. You can't compare the W06 with the RB6.

[i70q7m7ghw]

So to get this straight... we are saying Lewis Hamilton is 3x WDC by luck?

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Yes, Lewis did top FP1 and FP2, as if that means anything. He also topped FP3 and each qualifying session, probably because his teammate was in a very old engine, and he had a very dominant car over the rest of the field.

Absolutely no reason to count Monza in favor of Lewis. At best it was a non-score, like Russia.

I would say that so far this season, Rosberg has been faster than Hamilton on 5 or 6 weekends. Spain, Austria and Mexico are the obvious ones. In Russia, he tonked Lewis in qualifying but never got a fair chance in the race. USA he was clearly faster but messed up and the SC gifted the race to Hamilton. I'm also inclined to say he was faster in Silverstone, although Lewis did win fair and square.

You missed blaming Aliens and black magic as reasons that stopped Nico from winning the title this year. At this rate, you need a new dictionary of excuses to defend Nico next year.
At first, when I read the comments, I thought I am reading my friend Iotar's post.

[A-Bap]

Nico often comes in second while driving the best car in the field, so he's frequently asked, rather pointedly, "what happened?" So the man answers. Consequently, he (unfairly) becomes known as a whiner/baby. If one listens to what he actually says, he doesn't complain or wine all that much. So I find Nico to be rather straightforward. He says it like it is.

Also, I am sure he knows that he doesn't have a strong fan following. He actually gets booed for crying out loud. So for me it was really great to see him get some love from the Ventiladores...Mexico's answer to the Tifosi. Must have meant a lot to him.

[Jordan44]

I'll still take Paddy Lowe's word for this over yours and Sky, until you show me the evidence from the video, baring in mind Lowe also knows how much they supposedly turned down Lewis's engine.

There's no way a 7 race old engine is only 0.1 seconds slower than a fresh engine around Monza, this is downright nonsense to anyone who understands this sport. Lowe probably said so because he wanted to make it seem that the result would not have been any different regardless of whether or not Mercedes's reliability failed Rosberg.

Btw, when Wolff said after Brazil 2014 that Rosberg had the race entirely under control, I called bull as well, because Lewis was clearly faster; and just because a teamboss said otherwise does not erase the truth.

And in Silverstone, Nico was faster than him for what, 10 laps out of the 50? Why should that be included?

He was stuck behind the Williams cars for about 35 laps. As soon as he got passed, he was clearly faster than Hamilton and everyone else. He ate into a 10 second gap and turned it into almost nothing just before Lewis pitted. Just because Hamilton won that race does not mean he was faster.

I would hope not, because there is no such thing as a perfect lap and no driver every achieves them,

Hamilton did not lose any time to Raikkonen on the straights because his engine was supposedly detuned. He gained time down the straights, and lost some time to Raikkonen through the corners where he made some mistakes and had a scruffy lap in general.

A fresh engine maybe not, but a fresh engine that has been detuned, potentially. Hamilton dominated the weekend from the very beginning and should receive credit.

He was faster because Hamilton went off the track at copse and his tyres lost temperature. As soon as Hamilton got onto the inters he opened a gap again. And secondly if you want to use stuck behind the Williams as an excuse, then we must also discount Rosberg's win in Spain, because Lewis was stuck behind the Ferrari and could only make a pass in the pit stops.

[basti313]

In 2010 Vettel and Webber were not always perfect in qualifying unlike what you are saying.

I am not saying they were always perfect. I am saying they were much closer to perfection, than what we see from the Merc drivers this year.

If you watch some of there pole laps you will see that they also missed some apexes and had some oversteer moments as well even if

Examples? There are some for sure...but I do not find them.

You can't compare the W06 with the RB6.

Why not? A clean lap is a clean lap.
And I do not really get your combination of arguments...first you say that the laps are as good as in the former, close seasons and now you say the car is responsible?

By the way: I see it the other way round. Now we have the modern engines with sophisticated ERS deployment which reduces the torque in the right moment and stable aero. On the other hand the old cars had aero dependent on the engine speed.
But maybe this is the difference: Whereas Vettel was sitting days in the simulator to improve the usage of the blown diffusor until it was perfect, the Merc drivers are even skipping test days and are on vacation between the GPs.

So to get this straight... we are saying Lewis Hamilton is 3x WDC by luck?

Who is "we"?
I would say, that both Ham and Ros could do much better this season. I think with that performance Hakkinen would not have one a single WC, Schu, Vet and Alo not more than half of their WC.

For me it is a classic Hamilton season. Some years he performs incredible (like his rookie season for example) and some years he is mediocre. But of course he is not the first one throwing away a possible WC (2010) by several mediocre performances...Vettel (2009) and Alo (2010) have done the same.

[i70q7m7ghw]

For me it is a classic Hamilton season. Some years he performs incredible (like his rookie season for example) and some years he is mediocre. But of course he is not the first one throwing away a possible WC (2010) by several mediocre performances...Vettel (2009) and Alo (2010) have done the same.

15 podiums out of the 16 races he's finished. 10 of those were victories, 4 were second place, and 1 was third which was Monaco, should have been a victory.

What part of this season has been mediocre?

[Kingshark]

A fresh engine maybe not, but a fresh engine that has been detuned, potentially. Hamilton dominated the weekend from the very beginning and should receive credit.

If Hamilton's car had a car problem in Russia which forced him to slow down in the race right after the safety car, but not retire, you would have gave the entire weekend to Nico, right?

And as Austin proved, FP1 and FP2 mean very little. Hamilton looked untouchable in the rain, until Rosberg actually got going.

Rosberg was only 0.3 seconds behind with an engine that had done 6 races more of mileage, and unlike Hamilton, he didn't mess up the second chicane. With equal engines, pole was clearly for the taking.

He was faster because Hamilton went off the track at copse and his tyres lost temperature. As soon as Hamilton got onto the inters he opened a gap again. And secondly if you want to use stuck behind the Williams as an excuse, then we must also discount Rosberg's win in Spain, because Lewis was stuck behind the Ferrari and could only make a pass in the pit stops.

Rosberg also went off the track at Woodcote during the same period of time, that didn't seem to effect him. When Lewis was "opening the gap" to Rosberg on inters, Rosberg was what, 10 seconds behind with 5 laps left to go? Very little purpose to push. Hamilton couldn't find a way past the Williams cars in Silverstone either, he only got passed through the undercut. The only time in that entire race where Rosberg was in clean air and he was pushing, he was miles faster than Hamilton.

I don't recall seeing Hamilton cut down an over-10 second gap to nothing on sheer pace in Barcelona. In fact, the race closest to Barcelona with the roles reversed was probably Suzuka.

[PlatinumZealot]

Hamilton cannot win them all. Even Heikki out qualify him a few times. He is human. Not even Senna had a 100% beating of his teammates.

[WaikeCU]

For me it is a classic Hamilton season. Some years he performs incredible (like his rookie season for example) and some years he is mediocre. But of course he is not the first one throwing away a possible WC (2010) by several mediocre performances...Vettel (2009) and Alo (2010) have done the same.

15 podiums out of the 16 races he's finished. 10 of those were victories, 4 were second place, and 1 was third which was Monaco, should have been a victory.

What part of this season has been mediocre?

I just don't understand why we are still questioning his 3rd WDC. This guy just finishes 2nd behind Rosberg after winning the title and we immediately start questioning his 3rd WDC win. Can't we just close this Hamilton discussion we are on about? It's becoming absurd.

Back on topic:
I would support Mexico in building more stands for the fans for 2016. It would be cool if they could further upgrade the stadium section and fully enclose it like a true stadium. It would be pretty spectacular to see a packed stadium.

[Phil]

For me it is a classic Hamilton season. Some years he performs incredible (like his rookie season for example) and some years he is mediocre. But of course he is not the first one throwing away a possible WC (2010) by several mediocre performances...Vettel (2009) and Alo (2010) have done the same.

I find that an extremely unfair assessment. It's like you are giving more credit to a team dynamic where one is clearly better than the other and wins 95% of all inter-team-battle to conclude he did the best job hands-down - but in reality, he only beat a weaker team-mate - versus - 2 very strong team-mates, both driving at their best of their career with one coming out marginally on top and then concluding that "it was a classic season, but he should/could have done better".

I personally think it's extraordinary that Lewis prevailed in that many races vs. a team-mate that is as strong as Nico Rosberg. I find that a lot more impressive, than i.e. Hamilton beating Button, or Vettel convincingly beating Webber in 2011, or Alonso beating Massa and Kimi, Schumacher beating Barrichello etc.

[PlatinumZealot]

For me it is a classic Hamilton season. Some years he performs incredible (like his rookie season for example) and some years he is mediocre. But of course he is not the first one throwing away a possible WC (2010) by several mediocre performances...Vettel (2009) and Alo (2010) have done the same.

15 podiums out of the 16 races he's finished. 10 of those were victories, 4 were second place, and 1 was third which was Monaco, should have been a victory.

What part of this season has been mediocre?

I just don't understand why we are still questioning his 3rd WDC. This guy just finishes 2nd behind Rosberg after winning the title and we immediately start questioning his 3rd WDC win. Can't we just close this Hamilton discussion we are on about? It's becoming absurd.

Back on topic:
I would support Mexico in building more stands for the fans for 2016. It would be cool if they could further upgrade the stadium section and fully enclose it like a true stadium. It would be pretty spectacular to see a packed stadium.

It would be great if they had more big screens in there too. i feel sorry for them that the ones in the middle cannot see the rest of the track.

[PlatinumZealot]

My only gripe with HAM's last two WDC is the cars he won them with.

These generation of cars are too stable. They can't be driven fast by manhandling them... you gotta be geeenttlee.. ugh. boring driving to watch..

Oh I missed the boy Hamilton tossing his Mclaren over the curbs and powersliding his way through the field!

We need cars that can do that again man!

[zeph]

These cars can do all of that. But the tires won't let them.

That, and they need to be mindful of fuel flow and consumption.