The F1 Thread

[PuntsWolf]

Why should I like him as a Briton?

Well you don’t have to like him. But to actively dislike for no real reason is bizarre (not saying this is you btw). But as I said, people who don’t even follow the sport don’t like him and I don’t know why. And I think it’s fair to say that is probably disportionate to other sportspeople

 

[The Bear]

 

[The Bear]

A good point I heard is, what if Sainz had fancied a crack at Verstappen at the restart? He was denied that by the back marker.

 

[sycophantia]

It's a British trait to build their stars up and then knock them down, also in individual sports, it doesn't take long before someone who is a serial winner loses their appeal....its not like team sports where tribalism is rampant. Now he's lost the championship, don't be surprised if his popularity builds up again.

 

[BillyDee]

Certainly round here people dislike him because of the whole "deprived upbringing in Stevenage" narrative, when he was from Tewin and his dad was an
IT manager.
(Not me, I think he's GOAT)

 

[Tredman]

It’s fair to say we are unlikely to see any drivers breaking through who aren’t from a very wealthy or privileged background for a good while. Even Max had to overcome having a wifebeater as a father.

 

[t3ch]

Phew well that was quite a bit more discussion to read through than usual after a race. :icon_lol:

Pretty crazy end. Agree the FIA was kinda screwed no matter what they did, though I wouldn’t claim to have the rule book memorized well enough to know whether it was proper or not. Feels harsh on Lewis. Nice to see a non-Merc winner but the way it happened feels a bit gross.

Also agree that Merc really screwed him over with the overly conservative strategies though. He clearly had the better of Max and trying to push so long on those tires, which requires hanging your hat on “everything will go perfectly without interruption for the rest of the race”, really shot themselves in the foot. Some arguments here that they didn’t want him and Max tussling but there obviously would’ve been clear opportunities to pass on the straights.

 

[t3ch]

Never understood the hatred. Don’t get what he’s ever done to piss people off.

Fair enough if you’re not British. I didn’t like Schumacher or Vettel because they won all the time, and Schumacher was a cheat. But I don’t dislike them now they aren’t winning whereas people genuinely dislike Hamilton, and if you’re British I don’t really understand why. People who don’t even like F1 dislike him too.

I’m more indifferent. Certainly don’t hate, but:

1) not british
2) serial winners always have a target on their back. top-players at every sport have detractors. ronaldo, Lebron, Brady, mayweather, armstrong, etc... obviously some are more deserving of the hate than others, and surely some people dislike ham for the wrong reasons, but it also shouldn’t be a surprise given his dominance.
3) god he’s just so boring. Feels fake and overly-measured. I understand why he does the whole middle-ground, constant-praise-deflection, rarely-go-out-of-his-way-to-say-anything-too-controversial, thing. But it’s uninteresting and repetitive.

hell of a driver though.

 

[t3ch]

Also it was really cool to see Matt Doherty lifting max onto his shoulders after the race

 

[AndyWolves]

Whoever made the point about bottas was spot on. The time Lewis lost to Perez was probably enough to make a stop

 

[MARKakaJIM]

The Bottas criticism is quite funny though because as shit as people claim him to be, he still beat Perez so it's not like Verstappen had a wingman advantage.

 

[Nando]

He lost 6.5s. You need around 23s to make a stop.

 

[AndyWolves]

He lost more than that, he was pulling away from max so he lost the gap + any gap he would have gained.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I’m more indifferent. Certainly don’t hate, but:

1) not british
2) serial winners always have a target on their back. top-players at every sport have detractors. ronaldo, Lebron, Brady, mayweather, armstrong, etc... obviously some are more deserving than others, and surely some people dislike him for the wrong reasons, but it also shouldn’t be a surprise given his dominance.
3) god he’s just so boring. Feels fake and overly-measured. I understand why he does the whole middle-ground, constant-praise-deflection, rarely-go-out-of-his-way-to-say-anything-too-controversial, thing. But it’s uninteresting and repetitive.

hell of a driver though.

Boring is exactly how I'd describe him, whenever I've seen him interviewed he seems almost devoid of personality. Maybe it's just media training as he's obviously quite fiery at times when you hear him on the team radio but he just comes across incredibly beige when he's out of the car.

Think it just makes all the flashy clothes, scootering about and everything else he does just seem a bit weird. Is he really an eccentric who covers it up for the camera or is he a dullard trying really hard to make it look like he's anything but? There's something in there that just doesn't feel very genuine to me.

 

[AndyWolves]

The Bottas criticism is quite funny though because as shit as people claim him to be, he still beat Perez so it's not like Verstappen had a wingman advantage.

Did you watch the race?

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Did you watch the race?

I'm talking season wide rather than today, this isn't the first time Bottas has been slated as a waste of a seat at Mercedes.

 

[AndyWolves]

I'm talking season wide rather than today, this isn't the first time Bottas has been slated as a waste of a seat at Mercedes.

He helped secure the constructors but did nothing to help Lewis with the drivers championship.

 

[PuntsWolf]

I'm talking season wide rather than today, this isn't the first time Bottas has been slated as a waste of a seat at Mercedes.

Off the top of my head Perez has been pretty unlucky with various things throughout the season. And also is new to the team so you’d expect him to take time to adapt

 

[Donegal Wolf]

Boring is exactly how I'd describe him, whenever I've seen him interviewed he seems almost devoid of personality. Maybe it's just media training as he's obviously quite fiery at times when you hear him on the team radio but he just comes across incredibly beige when he's out of the car.

Think it just makes all the flashy clothes, scootering about and everything else he does just seem a bit weird. Is he really an eccentric who covers it up for the camera or is he a dullard trying really hard to make it look like he's anything but? There's something in there that just doesn't feel very genuine to me.

I was thinking about this alot today as I have never took to him at all, and I should because everything I love about sport he has done, the bloke who came from nowhere and his background made it as one of the all time greats in the sport which is more dependant on money and who you are then any other sport and today afterwards he was absolutely magnificent after what went on in the last lap.
Think Mark and t3ch has nailed it a bit, think maybe because he came straight in at one of the top teams and nailed it straight away rather then fighting his way up but to be honest completely at a loss as to why.

 

[Wolfmania]

Not sure whether Mercedes will be successful with their appeal. That article 15.3 reference looks extremely broad and seems to give enormous power to the race director to manage the safety car process as he sees fit. I think article 15.3’s broad wording, the absence of any rule preventing the race director from dealing with unlapped cars as part of his 15.3 powers and the comment of “all parties wanting to end under a green flag” gives the FIA enough cover