How many titles would Hamilton have if he stayed at McLaren?
Discussion
Bo_apex said:
Providing a bigger aperture for the driver's talent would improve the sporting context considerably IMHO
If talent does not come into it please can you explain why Alex is regularly 0.5 seconds per lap slower than Max, and quite how Lewis finished 25 seconds ahead of Valterri? This has to be down to the driver.
sparta6 said:
They should sack Bottas.
That was a shockingly poor performance in the best car.
In terms relative to his teammate, then perhaps it was. But he still came second and will likely end up second in the WDC.That was a shockingly poor performance in the best car.
Unlike Rosberg, his presence in the team is not disruptive and provides Mercedes the best opportunity to secure 1-2s in races, the WDC and secure the WCC.
Points are awarded on positions, the times between those positions is irrelevant.
If he were trundling home in 5th or 6th every other race and binning it at the others, then you may have a point. But he isn't. Right now, statistically speaking, he is the second best driver in the best team on the grid - his teammate is the best driver.
If you were Toto Wolff, what would be the motivation to change what you have? What would be the gain that would outweigh the risk of upsetting the apple cart?
sparta6 said:
They should sack Bottas.
That was a shockingly poor performance in the best car.
What should they sack him for?That was a shockingly poor performance in the best car.
He finished second, comfortably in front of Verstappen. He's second in the championship.
That's exactly what they want. If I were Toto, I'd be signing him up back-to-back with Hamilton's contract.
StevieBee said:
In terms relative to his teammate, then perhaps it was. But he still came second and will likely end up second in the WDC.
Unlike Rosberg, his presence in the team is not disruptive and provides Mercedes the best opportunity to secure 1-2s in races, the WDC and secure the WCC.
Points are awarded on positions, the times between those positions is irrelevant.
If he were trundling home in 5th or 6th every other race and binning it at the others, then you may have a point. But he isn't. Right now, statistically speaking, he is the second best driver in the best team on the grid - his teammate is the best driver.
If you were Toto Wolff, what would be the motivation to change what you have? What would be the gain that would outweigh the risk of upsetting the apple cart?
Quite. He would be stupid to do anything other than drive only as fast as is required to not tangle with Max and threaten his place.Unlike Rosberg, his presence in the team is not disruptive and provides Mercedes the best opportunity to secure 1-2s in races, the WDC and secure the WCC.
Points are awarded on positions, the times between those positions is irrelevant.
If he were trundling home in 5th or 6th every other race and binning it at the others, then you may have a point. But he isn't. Right now, statistically speaking, he is the second best driver in the best team on the grid - his teammate is the best driver.
If you were Toto Wolff, what would be the motivation to change what you have? What would be the gain that would outweigh the risk of upsetting the apple cart?
Lewis appears to eschew such safety to a degree and push a little harder once he already has the championship pretty much sewn up, which is fine - different drivers make different judgements about when to secure a position vs when to showboat a little.
To Sparta's brain (such as it is..) it perhaps looked as if Bottas was somehow half a second a lap slower than Lewis in terms of ability, which is absolute nonsense of course. He hasn't got Lewis' level of attack or defense or general race craft, but during an unhindered race, he's only fractionally behind in terms of lap time when they both need to push. As we see in quali where there a frequently only hundredths if not thousandths between the two of them. He's no world champion but he's bloody fast, accurate and consistent. Quite how a racing driver without the 'killer instinct' drives so well is something of a mystery to me - perhaps Finns simply can't help it
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