The above comment has been made by pundits, and repeated by people that listen to pundits, but what is the proof that his driving style has resulted in poorer performances because he is âhard on his tyresâ? Looking back at his races he makes the same number of pit stops as everyone else. He stops at the same time as everyone else. His lap times do not seem to fade away before anyone else. He can flat spot but carry on. So chaps â lets hear it from you fellow observers. Please feel free to join the debate and provide examples of being hard on his tyres has been detrimental to Lewis Hamilton in any race. (employees of Pirelli are welcome on this thread)
read the link below -- mark hughes can probally explain hamiltons indifferent performances on the pirelli"s better than we can on here -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/15926791.stm
Well at the start he was locking up more than others at the front and it took until China to take a different approach to qualifying. Before the season even started he was making comments that he hates these tyres and that he can't keep the momentum going. You can't blame him since he was brought up on the bridgestones and was able to go heavy footed in every corner without shooting himself in the foot. But sadly for him F1 made it harder for drivers by adding another obstacle in their way with tyre managment. Most people knew before this that Lewis liked to lock up more than others in the braking zones. It's not that he can't maintain the tyres for the whole race, (he's done it a few times already) , it's that he can't go 110% without destroying them within 3 laps. The mindset of F1 has shifted from a multiple 100m dash to a single 1,000m marathon and it was obvious to see from past seasons that Lewis (and his driver mindset) would suffer the most from this change, while other drivers looked to be far more flexible as they didn't lock up half as much as Lewis did with the Bridgestones.
Well if its not a tyre issue, does that mean that one of the fastest GP drivers on the grid is now the 5th?
When comparing drivers, the number of pit stops made by a driver is not a major part of the equation. They can both do the same number of stops but have very different tyre wear. I hope the following explanation will make this clear: It is possible to run around on poorer tyres for a long time if necessary, so long as the overall time is still less than would be required from an extra pit-stop (usually around 20 seconds depending upon the circuit). For this reason, there can be significant differences between the tyre wear experienced by two drivers in the same team with the same number of pit stops. Indeed, the 'shot' tyres are usually worth hanging on to until the time difference exceeds as much as 1 second per lap and sometimes even more! What is more important, is the way in which a tyre wear evolves over time, since tyres can be damaged quickly if 'over-exerted' early, and can also suffer if not up to full operating temperature (without going beyond it) quickly. The above factors should serve to illustrate how difficult it is for a driver to optimise his tyres. So, to the subject of this thread⦠Lewis Hamilton He is the only driver of modern era F1 who is completely at ease in a four-wheel drift - something which is almost impossible for most people in an F1 car, which I will explain in a later if asked. This is significant but I do not would prefer to put it to one side for the moment. Hamilton has improved his tyre management hugely over the past couple of seasons, reigning in his natural 'hang-it-all-out' oversteer style on both turn-in and power-out; and I hope that it is reasonably obvious that this style (which can often induce a four-wheel drift - almost unheard of in modern day F1), is very tyre hungry and contributed significantly to costing him a World Championship in his first year! Jenson Button Button usually manages to control his aggressive tendencies (all drivers have these tendencies; not just Hamilton), such that he tends to optimise his tyres for a longer period over the whole stint. This tends to result in a slightly quicker average lap time, rather than a few very punchy laps followed by 'nursing' to the tyre change. It follows that one style is more likely to result in better qualifying, but usually at the expense of consistency over longer periods, which Button manages better than anyone else on the grid (including Alonso who prefers understeer rather than the 50 50 dead-neutral preferred by Button). It might also be worth mentioning that most drivers prefer one or the other: either a tendency for oversteer or underteer, but very few can manage a completely neutral balance, which in F1, is almost exclusively Button's domain at the moment, and also goes some way to explaining why set-up is so critical for him. I will return to this thread to see how it develops. It is an interesting question. But ultimately Hamilton has not yet quite matched Button's tyre management, which is so important without re-fuelling which makes a bit of a nonsense of it because a driver can drive as hard as possible with far less concern for tyres.
i did comment about hamiltons locking up trait on a different thread silver , it would seem you have also noticed this about his style , as quick as he can be at times his style i believe can be a little crude and one dimensional as you said he could get away with it with the coffin nail durability of the bridgestones in the fuel stop era , the pirelli"s with a heavy fuel load are a completly different kettle of fish ---
what exactly is " four wheel drift " it sounds like go kart driving to me , i have little doubt any F1 driver could do it as most of them are accomplished kart drivers , maybe the other drivers have come to grips with the fact that formula 1 is not karting - as for button not liking understeer and prefering a neutral chassis --- i think you will find the opposite is true -- http://www.worldcarfans.com/110072827638/schumachers-car-designed-for-me---button
I think the difference is that understeer tends to be far more predictable than oversteer, and therefore as a characteristic of a car, maybe easier to remove to get a neutral set-up? He may want a car designed to understeer, but that may not be his preference in race trim.
Fantastic explanation as usual Cosicave Silverarrow are you seriously suggesting Webber has had a better year than Hamilton? Yes he finished higher in the standings than him in a better car. Did Felipe Massa have a better year than nico Rosberg?
Didn't Alonso love understeer in his Renault days? (and still I assume). Thats one way to save your rears I guess
The 'opposite' of understeer is oversteer. Perhaps my statement of Button's preference as "50 50 dead-neutral" is a slight exaggeration, but it is very close! However, I was hoping not to be taken too literally, but simply to illustrate a comparison between him and his team-mate. My point is that Button prefers a more neutral car to anyone else currently in F1, particularly Hamilton; the subject of this thread. Four wheel drift is when all four wheels slide and can be achieved in any four wheeled vehicle. It is very easy to achieve in a kart but very difficult to achieve in F1 due to the level of grip (especially aerodynamic grip). A kart is very very easy to drift and slide predictably because the tyres give up gradually, allowing the driver to feel what is happening very early, and make the necessary adjustments. This is due to the relatively high cM (centre of mass), the very 'square' wheelbase and the very small contact patch of each tyre. Most people with any ability can achieve a controlled four-wheel drift in a kart after a relatively short time. However, in F1 the tyres give the most phenomenal grip all the way until they suddenly let go. Indeed, they 'let go' so suddenly that most drivers can never even begin to feel it until it has already happened. Bear in mind also that it happens at far far higher speeds in every circumstance, meaning that it is not only more difficult to detect and correct, but far more critical in terms of safety!
Lewis is really fast, like Seb, like Alonso, like Jenson, etc...obviously. As martial agrees with me, Lewis does the same lockups, not minor lock ups, but major ones that will leave a flat spot the size of a human head in the past more so than others ever did. He has though improved this area towards the end, but with softer tyres coming in it could become a repeat process. I would see this as a weakness more than it being Sebs (saying he needs to lead the race or he starts to panic trying to get infront of others) as Lewis never wants to wait. Is it really do or die? Or overtake now or suffer at the end if I don't? Where as Seb is considerd to bide his time just like Jenson. With the Bridestones around in the past I reckon it made up for this "weakness", but now with the Pirelli's he is in level 10 panic mode at every race and he has a major disadvantage to fight long distance with another real top flight car. I guess he believes other drivers will do better than him towards the end and that he must overtake them early on to make a gap big enough to control, which has lead to many rash overtakes this year. Just like to repeat myself Lewis can manage his tyres, but I believe not to the equal "speed level" to the other top 3 drivers and he will likely need another season to catch up as even Webber a very experienced driver has just finally got to grips with, yet Seb is still looking like the king on them when he pulled a full second on Mark in the first lap. If this is really a major chink in his armour I must commend Lewis for his controlled win at Abu Dhabi, even if it was a Low degradation track since Alonso was keeping him honest the whole way. I would rate it better than China IMO...
In certain corners I find a 4 wheel drift the quickest. This was in a cart though and I wouldn't like to try it at 150+
He may not have won as many races as Lewis this year, but he DNF'd and got into less scraps than Lewis did. I guess our views differ on defining a "better year". Without looking I believe Webber finished on the podium maybe, 2-3 more times than Lewis and lets be honest the McLaren was no slouch for most of the season yeah?
There speaks a realist. Some people cannot even achieve a four-wheel drift on a skid pan - which is the absolute opposite extreme to F1. But even in F1, most drivers have no wish to tread there either!
Dam nice write up silver your points are spot on especially when your talking about Lewis going into panic mode when behind another car . Not all the time but if He knows there tyre management will come back to bite him latter on in the race Then this is a valid reason as to why he has his do or die moments . Another thing Im wondering for next year is driving styles affected with the ban on blown diffusers ?
still not sure how button can like a more neutral chassis than anybody else when he stated his preference is for understeer and as he said himself in the link i provided the 2010 mercedes was built around him with strong understeer tendancies -- no matter as for your four wheel drift theory -- why would the other drivers even bother doing it , i have no doubt any world class driver as any F1 driver is could get any car to drift if they had the mind to do it , however a car drifting is a car losing time not to mention it probally would not do the tyres alot of good - cant really see why any F1 driver would even want to do it --
