TV coverage plays a major part in our perceptions of what a driver is like during the race. The majority of chitter-chatter across the radio is never played on air, just the bits the directors think the audience likes to hear. Only the juicy bits seem to get played, what conversation that took place before then which may be relevant to what is played on air is never broadcast, so it can give a totally different impression of what is said, hence your interpretation that Lewis 'moans' a lot over the radio. This is a knowledgeable forum, but it is not pro or anti any driver. There are several posters on here who will castigate a driver for no apparent reason, or think he 'moans' all the time, yet they will lavish praise on another where it would not seem to be merited and gloss over mistakes or flaws in that driver. This is a pretty balanced forum overall, there will always be contributors who take stuff to the extreme.
This is a really good point and maybe some drivers are a victim of their own success. I must reiterate though that my original comment was not an attack on Lewis; "Rosberg can't and probably won't be allowed to rattle or legitimately challenge Lewis, but Vettel can and hopefully will. As much as Rosberg has been mocked for his Radio communications, Lewis is often rattled when under pressure on track." I was simply pointing out that all drivers react under the pressures of the race, especially when they are not where they are expected to be on track - 20 seconds up the road with the engines turned down.
There is a huge difference between Hamilton and Rosbergs radio chatter. Hamilton does get whiney under pressure, questions the team, strategy etc but how often do you see that frustration translate into him locking up and going wide, losing a place etc? he whines but keeps driving away. Rosberg on the other hand is much more prone to a stupid lockup and on the radio, he asks truly ridiculous questions.... he sometimes gets called intelligent, but some of the things he asks makes me think he is thick as s***. As a racer, i actually think he is thick and there is plenty evidence to support it now. Let's not forget it was his chatter on the radio that brought in the ban on driver coaching. How many races has he won since that ban? where he can't get told what he needs to do against an opponent real time? zero. Not a coincidence. The guy can't work out that if he and the driver behind both need to stop once more and the driver behind overtakes him, he is behind him. He can't work out how to drive in the wet without being told where the grip is, showing no instincts. So even if Hamilton is "rattled", it has little effect on his driving overall, whereas Rosberg seems rattled even when it comes to basic racing.
I believe there is a substantial difference between requesting an engineer to remain silent where driver concentration is likely to be at a premium, and asking for advice about driving or what others may or may not be doing. This is the very reason the restriction on radio chatter was introduced. (I am not having a go at Rosberg here, but perhaps it's no coincidence that there is some belief that he was the biggest single cause for the introduction of the rule!). As I said earlier in response to a comment from dhel, I am not 'taking sides' here; rather, I saw elements in his comment which reflect my opinion – and I certainly did not intend to cause any ill-feeling or for anyone to become disheartened by my view. I believe this forum is one of the most well-balanced of its kind; but at the same time, different perspectives are an important invigoration.
Race edit is up http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/video.html?date=2015 Also a little video on Hamilton's 150 races over there as well. Probably best to give it a miss if you're too much of a Hammy lover or Hammy hater
But remember in the last race Lewis was also hearing Wolff talking about having him stop again which was not in the original plans and he was enquiring why would he have to stop again. That was reasonable because he had just stopped a few laps earlier and couldn't figure why he would have to make a 4th stop. That is when the engineer told him that conversation was not supposed to be relayed to him.. Wouldn't you be upset that that "private" confusing chatter is going on publicly for you to hear while you are flying on the track? HE responded at one point to say I don't know what I am supposed to be doing here...meaning what was the real strategy..because of the mixed up background talk on the pit wall. They way I view it is simple, Lewis new the following in the strategy meeting; They would pit under an early safety car The lengths of stints needed to make strategy A & B work His stint lengths were not on target laps due to degradation What tyres were new and used and in what stints they were to be used Even though Lewis knew that they had planned to pit early under an early safety car, I figure that was before they knew the Ferrari would have been so close to them in the race. Mercedes underestimated the pace of Ferrari and also they thought the other cars would have rushed into the pits also leaving clean air and a clear track to catch up with the Ferrari of Vettel but that didn't happen. Mercedes biggest problem was they couldn't think on their feet and I have seen this a few times last season when they got into a spot they didn't seem to know exactly what to do. While we know you have to have your stints correct in order to make your strategy A or B work, I think they should have split strategy in order to give at least one driver a chance to win, and they need to let the drivers know up front that if Plan A or B don't work there is always plan C if we are to try for the win. Yes, one driver or the other might not be too happy at the end but it's a race and Mercedes is in it to win. And he has a right to complain about not receiving information and also has the right to tell them not to give him the info while he is crucial corners or making an overtaking move. It happens a lot, not only to Lewis but to other drivers and they have a right to complain. I am sure that the engineers know exactly where they are on track and if they are in a battle for a place and should use more commonsense. I will never criticize Rosberg or any other driver for questioning strategy, but asking direction on how to drive the car is against the rules.. that what they pay you the big bucks for. Smitters, please dont pretend like Lewis doesn't get a lot of flack even here...remember all the talk about him not being a thinker and he is not technical and how he will the first to crack under mind games they were playing and all that? Oh by the way, I am happy that Vettel will be able to challenge Hamilton this year and I hope that Alonso, Kimi, Massa, Grosjean, Bottas, Ricciardo and others will be challenging too because I love racing and to me you are only racing when you have people challenging. Hope I havent offended you Smitthers..Peace.
....and yet you continue to fight to death in defending your idol with such passion and selection! I made one comment about Lewis being prone to being rattled when under pressure, as is most (if not all the other drivers) and yet all you post is 100's of words defending an attack that was never there in the first place.....I was just trying to balance what I viewed as unfair and over zealous criticism of Rosberg - who I have no loyalty or allegiance to - it was merely a point of balance! I'm not in any way offended and I respect your right to an opinion, regardless of whether I agree or not.
can't stand the guy, was a breath of fresh-air when he first came on the scene but he's a liar, a cheat and a whiney bitch. It's funny how people who made, and still make so many complaints agianst RBR and Vettel being 'cheats' despite it proven that they weren't, completely ignore his lying to the FIA, lying to the stewards (then blaming the words that came out of his own mouth on someone else so he could escape punishment) and lies to everyone so he can disguise himself and take part in knowingly illegal tests (hence the disguises and misleading tweets). people on here turn a blind-eye to all that and still try and claim to be 'neutral' I'd also point out that every season the FIA changed rules to hinder RBRs advantage, changing loads, nose heights, exhuast positions etc, yet now the media whore is WDC no one wants to do anything about his advantage. who is the hypocrite?
Whiney, yes. Annoying- for me definitely. A cheat? I think that's fiction. Whether Merc did an illegal tyre test or not to me stands at the feet of Brawn and those in charge at the time. Hamilton annoys me, but he is no cheat and is a very, very quick driver. If he had more composure he could be a real great but I think he will fall short of that, no matter whether he cruises to title no.3 this year. The British media love him of course because he is easy headline material. Cheating was in the 90s with 94's suspected traction control at Benneton-, Jerez 97, Ferraris 'great floor' (see Eddie Irvine on F1 Legends on Sky for the reference) at Malaysia 99, and the multi-team accusations of other flexing aero parts. Hamilton might be a bit of an idiot in the press, but the kid is quick and didnt have much luck when being given a ****-heap of a car in 2009 to defend his title with, and having reliability and pitting problems throughout the 2011/12 seasons. The sad thing at the moment is that he hasn't got the multi-team battle that would showcase his racing instinct, but perhaps we will get there next season.
I respect your views too Smithers.. I might not always agree but I respect your views.. If we all agree or like the same things this world would be a miserable place to be. I like the arguments and discussion and take it from me I don't ever take it personally except for the name calling by some here on the forum. I know you have your own views and I respect that even though I might counter those from time to time. For your information I like Lewis as a driver but I love good racing even better.
he lied to the FIA over ferrari data and only came clean because they threatened him with life time ban, maybe hearsay, maybe not, but he definitely and knowingly lied to the stewards to gain an advantage and then blamed it on someone else, but was forgiven due to his inexperience as, at 25, he was deemed to young by his fans to know that lying is wrong. top fella, pin-up for the 'someone else is to blame for my actions' generation.
I think that F1 is such a big business (huge sums of money involved and massive company reputations) that the people involved will and do break the rules on a daily basis. So when they get caught they try and minimise the damage in any way they can. That includes lying by not only drivers but also by the rest of the team. I don't really think any team is above lying to save their skins
