Lewis Hamilton

marktan

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Explained in a previous post. After 2016 he turned into Schumacher. Before that, he had two similar seasons in '14 and '15 but followed those up by losing to the same guy he destroyed the previous two years, in the same cars. And before that he was brilliant, a genius, but inconsistent, not unlike Max(to be clear, he was a young driver so it's to be expected that he wasn't the most consistent)
Fair enough, I was in uni back then so didn't really have much time to follow anything other than footy, would've been interesting to see some different match-ups
 

Zen

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I’d be interested in the debate if F1 was an interesting sport.... it’s been dead since like Button won , ever since it’s just one set of mechanics ahead of the game....

But yeah I get he generally smashes his teammates... but even then his teammates generally aren’t great and I include Rosberg in saying that, his head to head with Alonso was the last great F1 season, proper old school politics and two teams at the top...
 

Leg-End

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2, to rosberg's 1(that one where they took each other out iirc) Hamilton wasn't unlucky, he was beaten. By a guy who really shouldn't have come close. For half the season he was a shadow of the driver who'd dominated the previous two seasons. And he'd always been like that, great but not the most consistent of drivers. I mean he was beaten by Button too when they were in McLaren...
I find some opinions on the 2016 fascinating, like we just forget everything that happens before the races. Hamilton won 10 races in 2016, he had 2 DNF's (1 via a 50/50 with his team mate and 1 via a complete engine blow up).

Rosberg beat him fair and square in the openers, he also did in Japan which proved to be crucial. But he was let down mechanically multiple times:
  1. China - ERS failure in Quali, started 22nd
  2. Russia - ERS failure in Quali, started 10th
  3. Engine issue in European GP, started 10th
  4. Missed the whole of FP2 in Singapore due to hydraulics which put him on the backfoot at a place where you ramp up speed all weekend
  5. Engine failure whilst leading in Malaysia
With Mercedes so dominant it allowed Rosberg to do massive damage any time there was a slip up, he was awesome at capitalising on everything and that's why he was champion. Hamilton's level was still excellent throughout 2016 and he got within 5 points, I think most people that watched the season and enjoy the sport would say he was unlucky. I definitely look back on that season with different views now, I massively respect Rosberg for taking his chance and I'm looking forward to reading about more behind the scenes when either inevitably release their books.

But I agree 2016 changed Hamilton too, I read the quote the other day that after that season he vowed to never not be at 110% for all races and since then he's had very few off days, an amazing run.
 

sglowrider

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I find some opinions on the 2016 fascinating, like we just forget everything that happens before the races. Hamilton won 10 races in 2016, he had 2 DNF's (1 via a 50/50 with his team mate and 1 via a complete engine blow up).

Rosberg beat him fair and square in the openers, he also did in Japan which proved to be crucial. But he was let down mechanically multiple times:
  1. China - ERS failure in Quali, started 22nd
  2. Russia - ERS failure in Quali, started 10th
  3. Engine issue in European GP, started 10th
  4. Missed the whole of FP2 in Singapore due to hydraulics which put him on the backfoot at a place where you ramp up speed all weekend
  5. Engine failure whilst leading in Malaysia
With Mercedes so dominant it allowed Rosberg to do massive damage any time there was a slip up, he was awesome at capitalising on everything and that's why he was champion. Hamilton's level was still excellent throughout 2016 and he got within 5 points, I think most people that watched the season and enjoy the sport would say he was unlucky. I definitely look back on that season with different views now, I massively respect Rosberg for taking his chance and I'm looking forward to reading about more behind the scenes when either inevitably release their books.

But I agree 2016 changed Hamilton too, I read the quote the other day that after that season he vowed to never not be at 110% for all races and since then he's had very few off days, an amazing run.
That's how I remembered 2016.
 

UnofficialDevil

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I'm not anti Scottish, I just wanted Moyes out.
No. The best drivers would win.

I rate myself a pretty decent driver. Went to a track day, beat my whole company. Got in a hot lap with one of the instructors and he beat my lap time by many seconds.

I was better than average. He was in a different league.

He would have been smashed out of sight by professional F1 drivers.

The further up the pyramid you go, the closer the margins. But identical cars would still see the best drivers noticeably quicker.

Having said that, I don’t think the same driver would win every race. Different tracks would no doubt suit different top drivers.
 

Zen

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No. The best drivers would win.

I rate myself a pretty decent driver. Went to a track day, beat my whole company. Got in a hot lap with one of the instructors and he beat my lap time by many seconds.

I was better than average. He was in a different league.

He would have been smashed out of sight by professional F1 drivers.

The further up the pyramid you go, the closer the margins. But identical cars would still see the best drivers noticeably quicker.

Having said that, I don’t think the same driver would win every race. Different tracks would no doubt suit different top drivers.
The same few probably would though. But in this case, you are basically putting the classic ride safe 2nd-3rd happy all year vs the born winner who'll DNF always wanting to win..... if you had them all in the same car in the post-Schumacher era, I'd still say Hamilton is the leader, marginally over Alonso, then Vettel..... Button would have no title. Alonso monumentally fecked up his own legacy with the shambolic handling of the Dennis/Lewis shit, which obviously was a tremendously tough place to be + he did have insanely bad luck in that Ferrari....