Lewis saying 'where ever I have to start' sounds like he will be changing components and receiving a penalty! When are we going to get a race with both Mercs and both Ferrari starting at the front?
Nico so confident of his time he's out of the car. I really hope Kimi does an amazing lap and gets pole.
Well, over the past 2 seasons the bad luck has pretty much been shared between Nico and Lewis. Lewis is getting it all this time around though.
Gets a clean get away, then it'll be a stroll in the park for Rosberg. Given the cars ahead of Hamilton.. and assuming he doesn't get anymore bad luck.. can't see him finishing higher than 4th... Bloody shame, don't care who wins but I wanted to see some decent racing!
I think with the advantage Merc has at this track he will cruise to a podium and I expect 2nd. Nico flat spotted his tyres on the first lap and was dead last after an immediate Pitstop, finishing 2nd to Lewis and only a dozen seconds off the lead.
No points on Saturday and no way of telling yet whether this will have any impact on tomorrows results. Will probably still come second given the Merc pace advantage here. Vettel's going to have a much tougher time getting to 3rd/4th I think.
In many ways I kind of feel sorry for Rosberg here. He has driven pretty much faultlessly since he dropped out of the title last year but yet he's not been able to show that plainly this season. I feel he'd be ahead in the title regardless of Hamiltons issues but yet at the moment it's more about Hamiltons bad fortune giving Rosberg a huge advantage. I'm sure he almost certainly won't care, but how you are perceived does mean something to a lot of drivers, and you often see the lengths Rosberg goes to in order to be 'liked'
yeah, they have a big advantage here by the look of it, only Vettel got within a second of Rosbergs scrappy pole. That said, the Merc is not a good car in dirty air, the Williams could hold them at bay, at least until their inevitable strategy fail. I can't see past Rosberg getting his 7th win in a row.
I don't want to say another terrible race is on the cards because the racing's actually been pretty good this year (doesn't stop people making ridiculous suggestions about the technical regulations they incapable of understanding, and how they need to be changed to spice up the racing), but it's frustrating that four races in and there hasn't really been a fight for the race win. If Hamilton can keep his nose clean it's going to be a straightforward Mercedes 1-2. Probably going to be Monaco before anyone's in a position to threaten Mercedes, I can genuinely see Ricciardo winning that race.
I wouldn't feel too sorry for him, he's always been consistent, but never fast enough to look like a champion in his own right. I don't see any evidence he's upped his speed, and I don't think this run has really changed anyone's opinion of him. He's patently in this situation because any challenge has faded away and so he's been able to stroll to victory under no real pressure repeatedly - can you honestly say that given he finished the last 6 races that anything other than a mistake should have stopped him, that he's overcome any challenge to put this run together? When Hamilton eventually gets out of this cycle of low motivation/compromised qualifying/mistake and puts a couple of wins together back to back, he'll retreat back into his number two role until coupled with the inevitable DNF that's coming sometime this season he'll fall behind again and whimper his way to another subservient second place. If somehow he does get fortunate enough that Hamilton never pulls it back together or at the end of the year he's suffered significantly less DNFs, then he will be champion and achieved something most F1 fans would have considered extremely unlikely - but who will remember that in 20 years time, he'll still be a WDC in the record books.
Well put. Danny Ric is the standout driver of this year for me. If only he'd been in the second Merc for the last two years, we'd probably remember those seasons much more fondly.
These are largely my thoughts too. At the end of last season he was in great form but I haven't really felt that this season. He's losing the quali head-to-head 2-0 and has been completely unchallenged in the races. His race pace hasn't been particularly impressive, it hasn't had to be and he's obviously had more in the tank, but you're never going to receive plaudits for coasting to the flag. Not sure what happened with his pole lap today but the fact he lost at least 6/10ths and was able to sit out the end of the session speaks volumes for the kind of season he's having. If he cares about the way he's perceived, confident he's driving at a high level and wants to send a statement, he could go out there tomorrow, let it rip and finish a minute clear of the field. He won't though, understandably, the points are the most important thing right now and he won't want to overstress the car.
He'll deserve it if he wins the wheel to wheel battles they will inevitably have, atm hes walking to it. He will probably have a 2 race cushion in points by then, the sort of thing that gives you the confidence to 'leave it in'
Not sure what you guys mean by deserve. Nico has been faultless in the 3 races so far. Where Hamilton has fluffed them. The only encounter between the two so far this season ended in Hamilton being jumped and pushed aside.
I'd summarise it as, he's not driven well enough in the last two seasons to deserve the title (or really shown any signs of that level in his career before). He's not really driving any better this year, but has found himself in a sizeable lead - and has only had to keep his nose clean to do so. Maybe he will win the title, but if things continue as they are, no one is going to consider it hard earned.
Just spotted an article on the BBC, where Hamilton says he feels "almost helpless". Another example of poor pun management from him - clearly should have gone with "powerless".
He's winning races... he really can't do any more than what he's doing really. It's down to others to stop him and nobody is really stepping up.
