Italian Grand Prix 2014, Monza - Race 13/19

Makes you wonder what Webber could have done if they were allowed to race instead of team obviously favouring one guy.

Nothing much. Vettel was so dominant for two reasons - Red Bull had by far the best car and, even more importantly, the dynamics of the blown diffuser perfectly suited his driving style.

That's all unravelling now. It's not that Red Bull are struggling per se but rather that, without the blown diffuser, the car just doesn't suit his driving style. Unlike the truly great drivers (Alonso, Schumacher), he can't wring the best out of whatever he has - give him something that's not perfectly to his liking and he struggles (Button).
 
Its going to be an uphil struggle for Lewis if Merc follow form and every Hamilton win means a Rosberg 2nd. Hamilton needs Rosberg to finish significantly behind him a few times.

This was said in Canada when people were saying the title was over etc etc. Yet Rosberg has finished outside the top 2 twice since then, it's just for whatever reason Hamilton has not been able to capitilise on that. Rosberg will be out the top 2 plenty more times this season. People seemed unable to accept in the Canada thread Rosberg would get anything other than a second.

It's far from over.
 
I'm not talking about today, more the season overall so far.

Well this is the other downside of having two closely competitive racers.

Would either car have failed in Canada if they were both cruising around at 0.5seconds faster a lap than 3rd place, rather than going around 1-2seconds faster because they were fighting over the lead.

A lot of times you have cars which say even pushing can't really gain on the guy in front and don't need to push 100% to stay ahead of the guy behind. The car ends up in a given race say racing for 5th and turns things down. Massa has barely pushed Bottas, Vettel has barely pushed Riccy, Kimi hasn't pushed Alonso. The only team in which the team mates are pushing each other to the cars limit is Merc. Simply put they are the only cars right on the limit due to the nature of the fight in the team.
 
Nothing much. Vettel was so dominant for two reasons - Red Bull had by far the best car and, even more importantly, the dynamics of the blown diffuser perfectly suited his driving style.

That's all unravelling now. It's not that Red Bull are struggling per se but rather that, without the blown diffuser, the car just doesn't suit his driving style. Unlike the truly great drivers (Alonso, Schumacher), he can't wring the best out of whatever he has - give him something that's not perfectly to his liking and he struggles (Button).

Pretty much hit the nail on the head there, his failure to adapt to the car this year is quite shocking seeing as he is a 4 times world champion and people were comparing him to Schumacher when he wasn't even close to being the best driver on the grid never mind one of the greats.

I am a Ferrari fan but Alonso is probably the best driver i have ever seen i love the way he just gets on with the job even though he knows he's been given a **** car for the last few years at Ferrari.
 
I am a Ferrari fan but Alonso is probably the best driver i have ever seen i love the way he just gets on with the job even though he knows he's been given a **** car for the last few years at Ferrari.

Impossible as it is to compare directly of course, I think Alonso is bordering on the best driver of all time in many ways. Not the most talented, but the best. He combines Mansell's determination and doggedness with Clark's consistency and Fangio's strength of character.

He's not got the flair of Senna or the silky-smooth speed of Clark, and he's developed an Alesi-like ability to seek out teams on the backfoot, but he's got a combination of talents that I've never witnessed in F1, in either my lifetime or from what I've seen before it.

His ability to drive at the top pace he can make a car go and do it to such a consistent standard has not been done in the recent past and in my opinion, ever before.

He is utterly and ruthlessly relentless.

His only blot is Hamilton upsetting the applecart early in 2007 which resulted in McLaren jumping on Hamilton's side (which wasn't without precedent at McLaren). While crashgate was potentially another blot, his performance all that weekend was God-like, only blighted by a fuel pump failure in qualifying.

Likewise Schumacher had a fantastic array of talents, but against it he never had a top team mate (a Piquet on the decline being the closest thing, but in my opinion Piquet is one of the weaker champions, yet somehow managed to win 3 of the things) and the unsavoury on-track incidents.
 
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Impossible as it is to compare directly of course, I think Alonso is bordering on the best driver of all time in many ways. Not the most talented, but the best. He combines Mansell's determination and doggedness with Clark's consistency and Fangio's strength of character.

He's not got the flair of Senna or the silky-smooth speed of Clark, and he's developed an Alesi-like ability to seek out teams on the backfoot, but he's got a combination of talents that I've never witnessed in F1, in either my lifetime or from what I've seen before it.

His ability to drive at the top pace he can make a car go and do it to such a consistent standard has not been done in the recent past and in my opinion, ever before.

He is utterly and ruthlessly relentless.

His only blot is Hamilton upsetting the applecart early in 2007 which resulted in McLaren jumping on Hamilton's side (which wasn't without precedent at McLaren). While crashgate was potentially another blot, his performance all that weekend was God-like, only blighted by a fuel pump failure in qualifying.

Likewise Schumacher had a fantastic array of talents, but against it he never had a top team mate (a Piquet on the decline being the closest thing, but in my opinion Piquet is one of the weaker champions, yet somehow managed to win 3 of the things) and the unsavoury on-track incidents.

Get a loada this guy

He aint even close to been the best of all time.
 
Alonso is pretty special, he was so unlucky to not have 3 world championships in the bag after that race in Brazil. I couldn't believe how lucky Seb was after he got thudded by Senna.
 
Impossible as it is to compare directly of course, I think Alonso is bordering on the best driver of all time in many ways. Not the most talented, but the best. He combines Mansell's determination and doggedness with Clark's consistency and Fangio's strength of character.

He's not got the flair of Senna or the silky-smooth speed of Clark, and he's developed an Alesi-like ability to seek out teams on the backfoot, but he's got a combination of talents that I've never witnessed in F1, in either my lifetime or from what I've seen before it.

His ability to drive at the top pace he can make a car go and do it to such a consistent standard has not been done in the recent past and in my opinion, ever before.

He is utterly and ruthlessly relentless.

His only blot is Hamilton upsetting the applecart early in 2007 which resulted in McLaren jumping on Hamilton's side (which wasn't without precedent at McLaren). While crashgate was potentially another blot, his performance all that weekend was God-like, only blighted by a fuel pump failure in qualifying.

Likewise Schumacher had a fantastic array of talents, but against it he never had a top team mate (a Piquet on the decline being the closest thing, but in my opinion Piquet is one of the weaker champions, yet somehow managed to win 3 of the things) and the unsavoury on-track incidents.

I have only seen a bit of Schumacher as when he was in his prime i was still just a kid, he really is a special driver like u said there is something about him that makes him so consistent.

His decision making is also very good he rarely makes a wrong move on track. He really should have more drivers titles it's a shame really.
 
If merc were to come unhinged by engine reliability towards season end.. It really could all end in tears

Not I any form saying it will

But who knows of you keep having to have another engine
 
Why would you think they would have more problems that the others? Look at the data here. They're solidly in the middle pack, Ferrari are doing a bit better, and the Renault engined cars a bit worse.

Use doesn't tell us much. Ideally you'd want a fresh engine at Monza and maybe Spa and Montreal if you can afford it, but you don't have to run them in order or anything. While driver A might have used 5 engines, this might be its first race, and his 4th engine might only have Montreal under its belt while his 3rd might have done Monaco, Barcelona, Hockenheim, the Hungaroring and the practice sessions at Spa.

The usage is worthless without knowing the mileage or worthiness of the individual parts, which we're unlikely to ever never know.
 
I've seen by reading around the net that if Lewis want's to stay with Merc he will have to take
a 15-20ml pay cut(over 3 years) and do more work for Merc.

No wonder Ferrari and McLaren are playing the waiting game.
 
Why would you think they would have more problems that the others? Look at the data here. They're solidly in the middle pack, Ferrari are doing a bit better, and the Renault engined cars a bit worse.

I was looking for that

Yeah I'm not saying they will (it is probably Renault cars that will have the issues) but you never know.

It would be really interesting to see revs used per engine per unit time
 
Odd that both the teams he's been at have been keen to give him a pay cut. Both teams seemed happy enough to risk losing him over a small amount of money over the contract.



McLaren offered him more money. But don't let facts get in the way...oh dear.
It's to do with Nico on a 3 year 40ml contract, they want Lewis to do the same.
 
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