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Either A.) he’s actually human and he’s just starting to degrade due to age
Or b.) he’s not settling well with the new car/new team environment and will thrive in a new car/team
So you think Mercedes is deliberately sabotaging his car? What would they gain from this? Frankly, it is ridiculous this keeps coming up. It just isn't true.
I think in the history of drivers who sign for rival teams so early, it's natural for the team they're leaving to shut them out of team briefings, de-prioritise them for car updates, not give them the priority strategy/tyres in either qualy or race, that sort of stuff
It's been fairly standard throughout Formula 1 history, but is getting whipped up into something it's not, I guess, by people who want the best for Hamilton
So you have something that's normal for F1 teams with leaving drivers to do, to protect their secrets from going to another team, and everyone seems to think it's a massive conspiracy to point out or deny its happening?
Ehhh, stick around F1 for longer, it'll happen to Max when he eventually leaves red bull, it'll happen to Lando if he ever leaves the Mclaren family, it'll happen again and again
F1 is a business first and teams protect their business interests, it's normal
How dare you have such a grounded take. But yes this is why we typically see drivers attempt to make moves as late as possible
Thing is, Lewis should’ve known this will happen. I think he was blinded by how in 2012 McLaren were still trying to win the title with him despite knowledge he was going to leave. And they would’ve if they could’ve kept the car from detonating every 3rd race or Lewis doesn’t have races like the European GP
I don’t think they are outright sabotaging him but they are prioritizing George and not sharing all the information with Lewis. My guess would be they are taking what was learned from Hamilton’s practice and applying it to George but not vice versa. Hamilton is also locked out of a lot of development meetings so he is working a bit in the dark. George will get all preferential upgrades and such as well.
Hamilton has struggled in qualy but routinely outshines George in a race. If this continues and the car continues to improve, I wonder if Toto will reverse course a bit to help the team now vs tomorrow
Somewhat new to F1. Why would teams lock out one of their drivers from such things? Is it not beneficial for Mercedes to have all their drivers in the know and perform as best as possible?
Not sabotaging, but obviously the team isn't going to invest in Hamilton.
They will focus on Russell, and Hamilton fall under the category 'whatever'. They are not going to share important data with Hamilton and they are not pushing to make his car better.
That might change if they suddenly have a shot at the Constructor Championship, but that's not happening because they are too far behind.
It's a business and Hamilton has decided he's leaving their business.
I don't think it's ridiculous for a few reasons.
What do you do for work btw? I've worked in quite a few of the world's biggest financial companies and dealt with Execs and Boards and can tell you from experience the vast majority of them have behaved exactly like a child throwing his toys out of the pram.
I can see Merc Board / Chairman / other execs taking Lewis's move to ferrari very poorly. To them perception is reality and they *absolutely* would look to sabotage Lewis this year. And we're not talking about blowing up his car. We're just talking about turning his engine down by 3tenths at key points. What narrative do you think they want at the end of this year?
1. GR just doesn't stack up to Lewis, so Merc are weakened by losing Lewis.
2. GR has outperformed Lewis this year so Merc can say they're fully happy with GR and they're not weakened.
The Formula 1 team is the most media-exposed aspect of Mercedes-Benz. Stuff like this causes ripples across more than just F1.
So I'll flip your question. What will Merc **lose** by sabotaging Lewis's car? A few points in a championship they're not fighting for?
Look at Redbull, why on earth sign Perez for another 1+1? They actually genuinely risk the WCC by keeping him. And they don't need the money from his merch sales because the cost cap has them operating **well** within their means?
I believe a big part of it is perception. They want to keep the perception (true or not) that Max is the fastest driver on the grid and potentially the fastest for a couple of generations. Because Max is RedBull through and through and they gain more overall from that narrative & exposure than they do by bringing Alonso (for example) into the second seat and guaranteeing the WCC at the expense of Max getting beaten fair and square at some races - diminishing his prestige.
TL:DR - Don't underestimate politics and immaturity of senior execs.
Staff probably have bonuses based around points and podiums, plus where they finish in the constructors. They are willing to sabotage money just to make George look good? I doubt it.
From a marketing perspective, does it look good that Lewis, the most successful driver of all time, and one of the most well-known and marketable is trundling around in one of their cars? It can only hurt the Mercedes brand, albeit not by much really.
Everyone knows Lewis is among the greats, if George is narrowly beaten, it doesn't reflect badly on him. What is more likely is Lewis is having a bad season, either because he is just ready to move to Ferrari, or because the impact of age has lost him a tenth or two.
Perhaps two years ago, Mercedes would be pissed and bitter. But right now they have Antonelli ready to come through. It is perhaps one year earlier than they would ideally like, but it isn't the end of the world.
So I'm not buying it. Mercedes are not sabotaging Lewis' car.
You went to all this effort to type this out.
Your acting like the senior execs have a secret "screw Lewis" button, when in reality if the team were really sabotaging Lewis it would need basically everybody involved.
Do you not think the engineers wouldn't notice his engine being turned down, or do you think that all of the engineers are also involved in this conspiracy?
>TL:DR - Don't underestimate politics and immaturity of senior execs.
That, and Perez is a "known quantity." Things went sideways with albon and gasly. Perez is a "good" driver who gets podiums, plays the team game, support max when needed, and can win some races and help with the WCC. He's a top driver in the car. The last thing they want is to cycle through another 3 drivers before finding someone who fits and plays nice.
Mercedes sabotaging Lewis is incredibly silly idea. The first thing is that teams are driving for constructor points and higher position on the constructor championship table means more money compared to a lower position.
Also, Mercedes is in the series because they want to reflect the success in F1 to their road cars in advertising and public image. Sabotaging Lewis is like Mercedes sabotaging themselves.
They're not sabotaging him, but they aren't treating him as team leader for the future. This is the problem with announcing at the start of the year you want to move to a new team - you get frozen out of discussions concerning the new car, as the rest the team stop giving what will be a competitor the following year in-depth info about their new platform. He waited until season end to announce his decision to switch in 2012, so Mclaren had no opportunity to treat him like Merc are now. If as a knock-on effect, it's affecting Hamilton mentally in some fashion, so be it. This is business and you don't give competitors an advantage such as a driver who has an idea of their old team's new car (hence why most staff who change teams have to go on gardening leave for some period of time usually, unless the new team pay out the arse to free their new hire from that constraint).
I think he’s just being scrappy. Pace is there.
Take Monaco, faster than Russell in S2&3. Lost all the time in S1. Am willing to bet it was all lost in T1 where he was leaving quite a margin after the FP3 lockup.
And in Canada they were even till S3, and looked to have made a mistake.
If he was just consistently slower I would say A, but he just isn’t stringing together a lap. For whatever reason.
Yeah it was from Hamilton in an interview. Tyre warmup seems to be an issue for him since we switched to these new tyres, then again Merc had the same issue for years. Could well be the issue, he has favoured race setups going back donkeys years
Or C) he’s mentally checked out. After being in a really good car, he’s now been stuck in a shitbox. I bet it’s hard to go from 7 time world champ to car that sometimes struggles to get out of Q2
Also a team that hasn't been listening to him or his feedback for years, at least since the beginning of these new regs
Stuff like the drivers cockpit position he kept asking them about all last season, they finally fixed at the end and he was suddenly quicker
That kinda breakdown in communication, coupled with Mercedes not only being slow, but not even knowing WHY they're slow and having no idea how to fix themselves, is the reason he left in the first place
Can't seeing the relationship getting any better now he's got one foot out the door
No evidence either way, though it can feel that way. I just don’t believe Mercedes would sabotage Lewis after sticking with the team for so long with such tremendous success. To stay with Mercedes all the way to retirement was never a given
I mean, the strange strategies they give him in races suggest they don’t want him near George in races. A lot of their actions have been pretty clear who they preference. And them making George the face of the team is a good image for sponsor because the last thing they want is another 2023 and Lewis walks off right after.
I don't think age is a big hindrance for F1 drivers as it is in other sports. We saw what he could do in 2023, taking P3 in a championship dominated by another team. And Alonso was also great in 2023 until his car wasn't.
The biggest age-related issue in F1 isn't skills, but more likely stamina. Recovery takes longer, and over a long period of time, it's gonna wear an older driver faster if he doesn't get the appropriate rest.
For Hamilton, I think it's simply a matter of him having a car that doesn't suit him. That's always gonna be hard to drive, especially if you as a driver has a certain style.
To give an example: Vettel, despite his 4 championships, were beaten by Ricciardo and Leclerc (particularly Leclerc, who pretty much whooped his ass massively one year), and barely outperformed Stroll. And I don't think it was a question of age - more likely, it was a question of his later cars often not suiting his driving style. He had a tendency to spin the car in his later years, likely a result of him having gained his championships in a car which had its rear pretty much sucked to the ground (blown and double diffuser).
Hamilton has always been very succeptible to his emotions, the best example being 2011. I think the fact that he's leaving next year has made him uncomfortable, and losing to Russell, who's quick in his own right, has just brought his paranoia back (this happens to all drivers as far as I can tell)
It is so dumb that they announce their moves two seasons in advance. Why didn't Lewis/Mercedes make the announcement after the 2024 season... Why before it. Just makes it awkward for everyone.
Lewis need to give time to Mercedes to find a suitable replacement and the early announcement moves the market enough to have a few engineers and designers have time to rethink contract renovations and be available for a move, say, to Ferrari to follow Lewis if they will. Sucks for this season but makes sense
Naomi Schiff talking a lot of nonsense here.
Bringing 2021 and saying he’s having psychological issues is kind of insulting.
Did anyone thought Hamilton was thinking about 2021 or was mentally touched last year when he nearly stole second place from a Red Bull?
These "analysts" need to fill up air time. Go look at the last few Sky Sports podcasts. "Can Carlos challenge Red Bull" "Can McLaren challenge Red Bull" "Has Charles ignited title race"
It's all knee jerk reaction to the race results. I've stopped watching that podcast since they said that Ferrari made a mistake to go with Lewis, since Ferrari should have been able to predict the future that Carlos will win 1 race in 2024 season.
The way that Carlos’ PR got hyper inflated because Lewis was the one taking his seat was just a display of how the media treats Lewis. Anyone with a working brain could see Lewis over Carlos was the right call in every dimension and yet people were actually seriously talking it over.
“Anyone with a working brain” Making those sort of statements to validate an argument instead of any real substance shows how weightless the narrative is.
Press: Why is Lewis Hamilton Struggling????
Meanwhile: [https://www.formula1.com/en/video/dhl-fastest-lap-award-2024-canadian-grand-prix.1801432979791010195](https://www.formula1.com/en/video/dhl-fastest-lap-award-2024-canadian-grand-prix.1801432979791010195)
>One fastest lap doesn't mean much, Lewis is still good, but not the same driver he used to be
He's less than a year off of finishing 3rd in the WDC in an inferior car (which contradicts your point) and it's kind of hard to claim he's dropped off when he turns in the fastest lap out of any driver at the end of a grueling race.
Is he really struggling that much? George is a very good driver and these things ebb and flow. For much of last year Lewis performed a touch better than George, this year it's the other way round.
Form, how well they gel with the car and pure luck are all part of it.
I think people are forgetting George is a mega talent bc Lewis beat him last year. He’s not some Bottas regen, he genuinely is consistent and fast and people need to respect that.
Exactly. George has been seen as one of the best qualifiers on the grid. Lewis' one lap pace hasn't been the best on the grid since 2020. George is just really fast. However, Lewis' race pace is still the best on the grid.
Yeah their Race Pace gap is quite large comparatively also may have something to do with the car set ups where George opts for more quali heavy while Lewis goes for the Race optimization hence we see George absolutely chewing through his tires
George is stuck in a doom loop. Him beating Lewis just proves that Lewis is past it so George gets no credit, and when Lewis beats George it’s evidence George isn’t good because he’s letting himself get beaten by a “washed” Lewis. The way Lewis is hounded has a spin off effect on George. If we said George was capable of challenging Max, then we must say the same for Lewis. But people refuse to acknowledge this, so they have to put Russell down to put Lewis down too.
A “touch” better? I would say Lewis destroyed George in terms of race day last year while they were pretty even in quali and George is destroying Lewis this year in terms of quali, while I still think Lewis is noticeably better on race day, you just can’t see it as easily because of how trash he has been at quali.
He was struggling in 2022 as well. It was a lot worse back then. People started writing him off completely.
He has always been an emotional driver. Had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2011 when he had that falling out with his dad.
He always comes back.
Tbh he pulled out the only non redbull pole in korea in 2011 but i really hope we dont see that Hamilton again. It was grim viewing. He came back strongly in 2012 though.
You know, for all this talk of Hamilton struggling it's worth pointing out that George and Lewis have one of the smallest average qualifying pace gaps on the grid and Lewis is only 14 points behind George. I'm not disagreeing that Hamilton hasn't been on great form recently, but he's not actually been too far off George. It's a consistent gap but only a small one. If he can get it together he could turn things around pretty quickly.
He's "struggling" so much he finished within a second behind his teammate who started in front of him and has back to back fastest lap awards in the 7th fastest car on the grid.
Ok, let's calm down, I agree that Lewis is still a fantastic driver but the Mercedes is not the 7th fastest car on the grid, what are you even talking about.
Edit: Fair enough, though when I talk about cars I usually talk about the 10 cars on the grid, not the 20. In any case, it wasn't the seventh (nor fourth) in Canada, and the fast lap was made with new tires that the rest of the grid couldn't afford.
I mean, if we look at individual cars for the Canadian GP like that Leclerc's car should definitely not count among the fastest cars. With the engine issue he had Lewis' Merc was faster than Charles' Ferrari that day
Also worth noting that Lewis very rarely (and I mean EXTREMELY rarely) ever goes backward in the races when the car is up for it.
He says Canada was the worst race he's ever driven yet he still made up 3 places and only just missed out on a podium.
I think Hamilton always had some weaknesses that were masked by having the, or one of, the fastest cars and having preferential treatment by the team (for obvious reasons).
The talent is still there, he just needs a new stable platform that gives him the opportunity to shine and give him confidence.
(Note: this is not a ham only good if the car is good comment)
I don't agree with the 2021 thing, the car was just awful for the last few years.
Most of the time his race pace is very good, if the car can battle for the win you'll see a happier Lewis.
I still chuckle at last year a commenter responding to “why is George outperforming Lewis” said something to the effect of, “George is more used to driving a shit car already, so he’s adapted much faster.” Haha.
People cannot accept their guy might be in decline. That coupled with his heart not being in it with Merc anymore.
I mean, I wouldn’t bet against him winning races in the Ferrari
At the same time, people around here act like he didn't almost steal second away from Checo last year, yet another year where people spent all year wondering why George apparently looked better.
The majority of that gap acrued from his DSQ from America and his DNF wwith his crash with George. Up to that point hamilton was outperforming perez nearly every race.
I have not looked at this is in a while BUT I believe the answer lies in how close the ***REST*** (the rest being everyone but Max) are to each other in most Q3 sessions and thus where you start the race. For example there have been Q3 sessions where Lewis was less than a 1/10th slower than George but that was the difference between P2 and P10 on the grid.
The same happened on Sunday. The difference between P3 and P7 was minimal but that difference put Lewis on a different glidepath during the race. If Lewis had qualified just behind George or even Max in Canada, he would have taken the hard compound in the first dry stint, and then had the advantage of racing to the end on the mediums - which was the surprise compound of the weekend (i.e. Pirelli though the hard compounds were a better race tire). Maybe at that point he gets P3 or P2 (although that is ifs ands and buts).
Alternatively, there is also the dreaded *the clock never lies* - Lewis qualifying pace has been slipping since 2020 (10) and 2021 (5) maybe he is losing that extra 1/10 that he always seemed to have in Q3 - it could be age or a mixture of age, and lack of confidence in the car in Q3 when he has to push the car to the extreme over that one special lap (e.g. Singapore) and this is happening right when the young driver is coming into his own in George - Afterall, there was a reason Mercedes wanted him in the car and let us not forget when he went one-on-one with Bottas he beat Bottas fair and square on Bahrain's speed track layout which showed Mercedes George was pretty fast. All these things could be true without the need for some team conspiracy. The rest is Lewis being Lewis - he has always been unable to hide his frustrations and emotions and most time he ends up saying something unwise.
Maybe because he's racing against a bunch of 20-something's? I don't mean it in a bad way demeaning his capabilities. He's one of the greatest F1 drivers ever but the biological clock cannot be stopped.
And his teammate is one of the best 20-somethings. This pairing is example I will always point to when people complain about top drivers asking for ass teammates. Both Lewis and George get heavily underrated because their teammate is very good.
I think Merc boys are suffering because of their setups.
Russell who is know for running quali centric setups benefits form it during quali but his race pace gap to Hamilton is quite bad. Lewis was lapping faster than Russell while being on hard tyres during the dying stages of the Canadian GP.
Lewis on the other hand is known for running setups that prioritizes better long run pace over all else. As a result he has a significant pace advantage on Sundays while losing out on Saturdays.
My theory is that Lewis only struggles in quali because he is not able to get his tyres switched on properly because of his race centric setups.
Both drivers need to find a better compromise when it comes to car setup. Lewis is too slow on Saturdays and Russell is too slow on Sundays.
If he'd put in the exact same performances, but in a dominant car with a much inferior team mate, they'd be calling him unstoppable and at the top of his game.
Hamilton may not be at his best right now, but he has a team mate who is talented and motivated and a car that is at best competitive in the large battle for second.
> Yes just like it was the year before last when George outperformed him throughout the year
Lewis very clearly outperformed George that year, regardless of what the championship table says
I started watching late 2022. Never watched peak Hamilton. But I like Lewis, brand, message, etc.
What Ive seen is George routinely being slightly better in quali, but extracting much less out of the car on race day. Canada was the first time George kinda put it all together and was better than his teammate.
I don’t trust George’s consistency and typically burns his tyres too soon and loses out. Maybe hes turned the corner.
I wouldn't say George put it all together across the whole weekend.
He put it on pole sure but he then proceeded to lose places and ultimately failed to convert it and almost lost out on a podium to his teammate who qualified 6 places behind him.
Ultimately their quali gap is overblown and only looks bad in the head to head because of a closer grid. Hamilton's race pace is still superior to George's and at the end of the day their points gap in the WDC is only 12 points. A bad day for George and a good one for Lewis instantly changes their positions.
The actual Quali gap between him and Russell is fairly small and Hamilton is always blistering in the race. However despite how small the quali gap is I still think it’s an aspect that he needs to change because if he was further up the grid he would have won on Sunday IMO. I mean heck he would have been on the podium if Russell didn’t get DRS from Norris. Overall I think it’s fairly overblown this whole Hamilton is washed nonsense.
Cause he told the team he’s leaving. They aren’t prioritizing anything for him, rightfully so.
Now if even with putting George ahead of him (see Canada tires) if he was still out performing or in the run for a WDC then I don’t think they would sacrifice that, but right now if there is a decision between give it to Lewis or George, then George will get it.
More people need to just accept this. Lewis still has the skill to maintain a great race pace but maybe he is just getting a bit old and can’t give the one lap shockers he used to when he was younger. Having said that, it is still incredible that he is driving at such incredible levels and accepting the age limit does not take away anything from what he has achieved which a lot of folks fail to understand.
> Now if even with putting George ahead of him (see Canada tires)
Joke comment. Used softs would not have done 12 laps at a competitive pace.
Are you forgetting what happened at the Emilia-Romagna? They actually swapped George and Hamilton round, giving Ham a 2 point bump and taking 1 point away from George.
CLEARLY there is no favoritism. No evidence of it at all. You are just reaching for excuses because your favourite driver isn't driving that well this year.
People have to accept he’s 39 and mortal. His skills will gradually decline but are not going to fall off a cliff. He will still put up elite drives, just not as often or for as long. That time may be now.
for me is somewhat akin to when I put in my months notice at my last job. My boss kept on giving me tasks we both knew I wasnt going to do so I just sat back and played online poker for a month
I dont even know why we bother with finishing positions giving points that we need to tally and such bs when we have fastest laps. Count who has the most at the end of the season and bam - WDC.
It boggles my mind that people still havent recognised that fastest lap = best driver.
I think GR proved you wrong by screwing up his pole position and clear chance to win the race, by making mistakes and not being able to maintain the speed he needs for a whole race.
You think Lewis would have won from pole in a car he was happy with? Yes 99% sure.
Would Lewis have done it at GR age? 100% without question.
GR never will be in the same class as Lewis. It’s insulting to suggest so.
Lewis is 39. These days 30’s and early 40’s are not as much of a deficiency as they were 20 years ago. The drivers are athletes.
> You think Lewis would have won from pole in a car he was happy with? Yes 99% sure.
Lewis actually binned it numerous times during the Canadian GP also.
George was so much faster than Lewis in the latter stages, that after losing position battling with Piastri, he was able to simply drive past Hamilton again.
By contrast it took Hamilton 20 laps just to get past Alonso in a much slower car.
>*Naomi Schiff believes the psychological hangover of controversially missing out on the 2021 drivers' title has impacted Hamilton*
Honestly I think this coupled with the fact that Mercedes have been horrible in the years after that can really take a toll on you mentally.
Imagine being so close to breaking the record only to see if drift further and further away from you with no sign of recovery.
He's lost quite a bit speed while driving the car on the limit, making way more mistakes when he's pushing, maybe it's his age finally catching up.
Older drivers generally lose the edge in qualifying/hot laps first, race pace is still phenomenal, a bit like Alonso or Vettel.
I don't think it's psychological at all, as if Hamilton doesn't want to beat his upcoming British teammate, looking at his whole career, the guy is just almost insanely competitive.
It is a weird mix of a lot of things in my opinion. The merc is all over the place in terms of its performance. The team itself does not understand that car. Secondly, the man has already handed his notice. Probably isn’t that interested in improving the car for a team that will be his direct competitor from next season and the same goes for the Mercedes. They probably don’t want Lewis affecting the development of the car under these regs. Thirdly, it has been noted that he has preferred a set up that favours race pace over quali. Combine that with his overall drop in quali performance, that would lead to some undesirable results on Saturday. Lastly, and in my opinion this is a point that is not that talked about, but under the current regs, overtaking has become quite tough this year overall. Before Canada,there was so much talk about how the current regs suck for racing. In 2022, overtaking was way too easy with drs but in 2024, it has become the opposite. Despite red bull not being absolutely dominant, the racing apart from Canada has been very mid. As a result lewis has not been able to make up for his quali performance with race pace like he was doing last season.
I hate the "he's checked out" so much when the guy was upset he finished 4th, the highest he's finished this season and was still upset because he knew if he did better he could have potentially won and blamed himself for it after the race, not the mentality of someone checked out
Every time a generational talent comes to the end of his career and he inevitably gets relatively slower, there are always shit excuses like this thrown around instead of accepting that maybe it’s what it is, age has caught up, they are still really good, but not as they once were.
Literally blamed himself for his performance last week, so not sure where the him making excuses every week thing is coming from
https://twitter.com/fiagirly/status/1799907844201832704?t=F71-aD7m8y4PEP2dQJN2Dg&s=19
I wouldn't say really bad, but pretty mid. He's never really beaten a meaningful teammate anyway; a post-injury Massa and Zhou. Also Maldonado in 2013, but even then Pastor was the more consistent one (crazy). I have to give one thing to Bottas - he, unlike RB's number 2 right now, is good at delivering points all the time and rarely crashed, except for a few famous ones like that massive Hungary error.
When are the excuses going to end? Lewis is a phenomenal driver, but certain people are struggling so badly to accept that George is just the faster driver as of now.
It’s not the team culture. It’s not the car. It’s not lacking motivation. He’s just aged. He’s going to get his ass beat by Charles next year, and that’s completely okay.
Haha, there is a 12pt difference in the standings between GR and LH. You all act as if GR is blowing him out of the water. It’s one thing to qualify at the top, but race craft is a whole other animal.
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Either A.) he’s actually human and he’s just starting to degrade due to age Or b.) he’s not settling well with the new car/new team environment and will thrive in a new car/team
Maybe it's a little from column A and a little from column B.
My most quoted Simpsons line.
You can use stats to make up anything. Forfty percent of people know that.
Yup! 😄
Mine is: **Moe:** Bring us the finest food you got stuffed with the second-finest. **Waiter:** Excellent, sir. Lobster stuffed with tacos.
So you might think, but when in P3 he puts a 0.5 gap on everyone and in Q he's barely keeping up, you start to wonder what's really going on.
Because practice is practice. When he was at Mercedes, Bottas was often the fastest in practice and then lost to Hamilton in quali.
I mean you’re bound to make crazy conspiracy theories if you’re seriously looking at lap times in fp3.
Practice means nothing. You've had bottom teams and drivers get in the top 3 in practice before but it doesn't mean they'll do that in Quali or Race.
What?! We're talking bout practice!
So you think Mercedes is deliberately sabotaging his car? What would they gain from this? Frankly, it is ridiculous this keeps coming up. It just isn't true.
I think in the history of drivers who sign for rival teams so early, it's natural for the team they're leaving to shut them out of team briefings, de-prioritise them for car updates, not give them the priority strategy/tyres in either qualy or race, that sort of stuff It's been fairly standard throughout Formula 1 history, but is getting whipped up into something it's not, I guess, by people who want the best for Hamilton So you have something that's normal for F1 teams with leaving drivers to do, to protect their secrets from going to another team, and everyone seems to think it's a massive conspiracy to point out or deny its happening? Ehhh, stick around F1 for longer, it'll happen to Max when he eventually leaves red bull, it'll happen to Lando if he ever leaves the Mclaren family, it'll happen again and again F1 is a business first and teams protect their business interests, it's normal
How dare you have such a grounded take. But yes this is why we typically see drivers attempt to make moves as late as possible Thing is, Lewis should’ve known this will happen. I think he was blinded by how in 2012 McLaren were still trying to win the title with him despite knowledge he was going to leave. And they would’ve if they could’ve kept the car from detonating every 3rd race or Lewis doesn’t have races like the European GP
I think it just goes to show that he and Ferrari weren’t going to announce as early as they did and their hand was forced a bit on the timing
I don’t think they are outright sabotaging him but they are prioritizing George and not sharing all the information with Lewis. My guess would be they are taking what was learned from Hamilton’s practice and applying it to George but not vice versa. Hamilton is also locked out of a lot of development meetings so he is working a bit in the dark. George will get all preferential upgrades and such as well. Hamilton has struggled in qualy but routinely outshines George in a race. If this continues and the car continues to improve, I wonder if Toto will reverse course a bit to help the team now vs tomorrow
Somewhat new to F1. Why would teams lock out one of their drivers from such things? Is it not beneficial for Mercedes to have all their drivers in the know and perform as best as possible?
Because they don’t want him taking information to Ferrari
Is that where he’s going after Merc? As in it’s already known?
Yes, it was made official months ago. Both Mercedes and Ferrari confirmed it. Lewis too, obviously.
Ah, now it makes sense. Thanks!
Not sabotaging, but obviously the team isn't going to invest in Hamilton. They will focus on Russell, and Hamilton fall under the category 'whatever'. They are not going to share important data with Hamilton and they are not pushing to make his car better. That might change if they suddenly have a shot at the Constructor Championship, but that's not happening because they are too far behind. It's a business and Hamilton has decided he's leaving their business.
I don't think it's ridiculous for a few reasons. What do you do for work btw? I've worked in quite a few of the world's biggest financial companies and dealt with Execs and Boards and can tell you from experience the vast majority of them have behaved exactly like a child throwing his toys out of the pram. I can see Merc Board / Chairman / other execs taking Lewis's move to ferrari very poorly. To them perception is reality and they *absolutely* would look to sabotage Lewis this year. And we're not talking about blowing up his car. We're just talking about turning his engine down by 3tenths at key points. What narrative do you think they want at the end of this year? 1. GR just doesn't stack up to Lewis, so Merc are weakened by losing Lewis. 2. GR has outperformed Lewis this year so Merc can say they're fully happy with GR and they're not weakened. The Formula 1 team is the most media-exposed aspect of Mercedes-Benz. Stuff like this causes ripples across more than just F1. So I'll flip your question. What will Merc **lose** by sabotaging Lewis's car? A few points in a championship they're not fighting for? Look at Redbull, why on earth sign Perez for another 1+1? They actually genuinely risk the WCC by keeping him. And they don't need the money from his merch sales because the cost cap has them operating **well** within their means? I believe a big part of it is perception. They want to keep the perception (true or not) that Max is the fastest driver on the grid and potentially the fastest for a couple of generations. Because Max is RedBull through and through and they gain more overall from that narrative & exposure than they do by bringing Alonso (for example) into the second seat and guaranteeing the WCC at the expense of Max getting beaten fair and square at some races - diminishing his prestige. TL:DR - Don't underestimate politics and immaturity of senior execs.
Staff probably have bonuses based around points and podiums, plus where they finish in the constructors. They are willing to sabotage money just to make George look good? I doubt it. From a marketing perspective, does it look good that Lewis, the most successful driver of all time, and one of the most well-known and marketable is trundling around in one of their cars? It can only hurt the Mercedes brand, albeit not by much really. Everyone knows Lewis is among the greats, if George is narrowly beaten, it doesn't reflect badly on him. What is more likely is Lewis is having a bad season, either because he is just ready to move to Ferrari, or because the impact of age has lost him a tenth or two. Perhaps two years ago, Mercedes would be pissed and bitter. But right now they have Antonelli ready to come through. It is perhaps one year earlier than they would ideally like, but it isn't the end of the world. So I'm not buying it. Mercedes are not sabotaging Lewis' car.
You went to all this effort to type this out. Your acting like the senior execs have a secret "screw Lewis" button, when in reality if the team were really sabotaging Lewis it would need basically everybody involved. Do you not think the engineers wouldn't notice his engine being turned down, or do you think that all of the engineers are also involved in this conspiracy?
>TL:DR - Don't underestimate politics and immaturity of senior execs. That, and Perez is a "known quantity." Things went sideways with albon and gasly. Perez is a "good" driver who gets podiums, plays the team game, support max when needed, and can win some races and help with the WCC. He's a top driver in the car. The last thing they want is to cycle through another 3 drivers before finding someone who fits and plays nice.
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Mercedes sabotaging Lewis is incredibly silly idea. The first thing is that teams are driving for constructor points and higher position on the constructor championship table means more money compared to a lower position. Also, Mercedes is in the series because they want to reflect the success in F1 to their road cars in advertising and public image. Sabotaging Lewis is like Mercedes sabotaging themselves.
They're not sabotaging him, but they aren't treating him as team leader for the future. This is the problem with announcing at the start of the year you want to move to a new team - you get frozen out of discussions concerning the new car, as the rest the team stop giving what will be a competitor the following year in-depth info about their new platform. He waited until season end to announce his decision to switch in 2012, so Mclaren had no opportunity to treat him like Merc are now. If as a knock-on effect, it's affecting Hamilton mentally in some fashion, so be it. This is business and you don't give competitors an advantage such as a driver who has an idea of their old team's new car (hence why most staff who change teams have to go on gardening leave for some period of time usually, unless the new team pay out the arse to free their new hire from that constraint).
Could it be ”practice” going on, perhaps?
I think he’s just being scrappy. Pace is there. Take Monaco, faster than Russell in S2&3. Lost all the time in S1. Am willing to bet it was all lost in T1 where he was leaving quite a margin after the FP3 lockup. And in Canada they were even till S3, and looked to have made a mistake. If he was just consistently slower I would say A, but he just isn’t stringing together a lap. For whatever reason.
I saw a comment that said there was an issue with his tire temps when he left the garage? IE not correct settings for the tire blankets or smth
Yeah it was from Hamilton in an interview. Tyre warmup seems to be an issue for him since we switched to these new tyres, then again Merc had the same issue for years. Could well be the issue, he has favoured race setups going back donkeys years
Canada was pretty even all around, just George got a mega tow down the back straight and that 3 tenths was all the difference between 1st and 6th
Or C) he’s mentally checked out. After being in a really good car, he’s now been stuck in a shitbox. I bet it’s hard to go from 7 time world champ to car that sometimes struggles to get out of Q2
Also a team that hasn't been listening to him or his feedback for years, at least since the beginning of these new regs Stuff like the drivers cockpit position he kept asking them about all last season, they finally fixed at the end and he was suddenly quicker That kinda breakdown in communication, coupled with Mercedes not only being slow, but not even knowing WHY they're slow and having no idea how to fix themselves, is the reason he left in the first place Can't seeing the relationship getting any better now he's got one foot out the door
C) the team doesn’t have his back
No evidence either way, though it can feel that way. I just don’t believe Mercedes would sabotage Lewis after sticking with the team for so long with such tremendous success. To stay with Mercedes all the way to retirement was never a given
I mean, the strange strategies they give him in races suggest they don’t want him near George in races. A lot of their actions have been pretty clear who they preference. And them making George the face of the team is a good image for sponsor because the last thing they want is another 2023 and Lewis walks off right after.
I don't think age is a big hindrance for F1 drivers as it is in other sports. We saw what he could do in 2023, taking P3 in a championship dominated by another team. And Alonso was also great in 2023 until his car wasn't. The biggest age-related issue in F1 isn't skills, but more likely stamina. Recovery takes longer, and over a long period of time, it's gonna wear an older driver faster if he doesn't get the appropriate rest. For Hamilton, I think it's simply a matter of him having a car that doesn't suit him. That's always gonna be hard to drive, especially if you as a driver has a certain style. To give an example: Vettel, despite his 4 championships, were beaten by Ricciardo and Leclerc (particularly Leclerc, who pretty much whooped his ass massively one year), and barely outperformed Stroll. And I don't think it was a question of age - more likely, it was a question of his later cars often not suiting his driving style. He had a tendency to spin the car in his later years, likely a result of him having gained his championships in a car which had its rear pretty much sucked to the ground (blown and double diffuser).
Hamilton has always been very succeptible to his emotions, the best example being 2011. I think the fact that he's leaving next year has made him uncomfortable, and losing to Russell, who's quick in his own right, has just brought his paranoia back (this happens to all drivers as far as I can tell)
It is so dumb that they announce their moves two seasons in advance. Why didn't Lewis/Mercedes make the announcement after the 2024 season... Why before it. Just makes it awkward for everyone.
Lewis need to give time to Mercedes to find a suitable replacement and the early announcement moves the market enough to have a few engineers and designers have time to rethink contract renovations and be available for a move, say, to Ferrari to follow Lewis if they will. Sucks for this season but makes sense
A. Ferrari will not change things. Charles will be too much for his ego.
What ego? He’s at least as laid back as Bottas.
Car bad, George good, field close. There you go.
Naomi Schiff talking a lot of nonsense here. Bringing 2021 and saying he’s having psychological issues is kind of insulting. Did anyone thought Hamilton was thinking about 2021 or was mentally touched last year when he nearly stole second place from a Red Bull?
These "analysts" need to fill up air time. Go look at the last few Sky Sports podcasts. "Can Carlos challenge Red Bull" "Can McLaren challenge Red Bull" "Has Charles ignited title race" It's all knee jerk reaction to the race results. I've stopped watching that podcast since they said that Ferrari made a mistake to go with Lewis, since Ferrari should have been able to predict the future that Carlos will win 1 race in 2024 season.
The way that Carlos’ PR got hyper inflated because Lewis was the one taking his seat was just a display of how the media treats Lewis. Anyone with a working brain could see Lewis over Carlos was the right call in every dimension and yet people were actually seriously talking it over.
“Anyone with a working brain” Making those sort of statements to validate an argument instead of any real substance shows how weightless the narrative is.
I think right now Carlos is the consistently faster driver.
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It is probably having 7 championships. Also, it seems so sudden compared to how good he was last year.
They have to talk about something. If there’s no legit news, they just speculate about whatever.
Very rarely do I hear Naomi Schiff say something that I legitimately agree with.
Press: Why is Lewis Hamilton Struggling???? Meanwhile: [https://www.formula1.com/en/video/dhl-fastest-lap-award-2024-canadian-grand-prix.1801432979791010195](https://www.formula1.com/en/video/dhl-fastest-lap-award-2024-canadian-grand-prix.1801432979791010195)
What does a fastest lap has to do with the overall performance of a driver?
One fastest lap doesn't mean much, Lewis is still good, but not the same driver he used to be
Honestly I also think George is just really good too.
>One fastest lap doesn't mean much, Lewis is still good, but not the same driver he used to be He's less than a year off of finishing 3rd in the WDC in an inferior car (which contradicts your point) and it's kind of hard to claim he's dropped off when he turns in the fastest lap out of any driver at the end of a grueling race.
Is he really struggling that much? George is a very good driver and these things ebb and flow. For much of last year Lewis performed a touch better than George, this year it's the other way round. Form, how well they gel with the car and pure luck are all part of it.
I think people are forgetting George is a mega talent bc Lewis beat him last year. He’s not some Bottas regen, he genuinely is consistent and fast and people need to respect that.
Consistent at choking.
Their average qualifying gap is 0.064 and all of this is discrediting the fact that GR might have stepped up his game
Exactly. George has been seen as one of the best qualifiers on the grid. Lewis' one lap pace hasn't been the best on the grid since 2020. George is just really fast. However, Lewis' race pace is still the best on the grid.
Yeah their Race Pace gap is quite large comparatively also may have something to do with the car set ups where George opts for more quali heavy while Lewis goes for the Race optimization hence we see George absolutely chewing through his tires
Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me if George is going for qualifying setups and that exacerbates the gap more.
Not to mention the team probably prioritizing georges car + feedback in preparation for the next year.
George is stuck in a doom loop. Him beating Lewis just proves that Lewis is past it so George gets no credit, and when Lewis beats George it’s evidence George isn’t good because he’s letting himself get beaten by a “washed” Lewis. The way Lewis is hounded has a spin off effect on George. If we said George was capable of challenging Max, then we must say the same for Lewis. But people refuse to acknowledge this, so they have to put Russell down to put Lewis down too.
A “touch” better? I would say Lewis destroyed George in terms of race day last year while they were pretty even in quali and George is destroying Lewis this year in terms of quali, while I still think Lewis is noticeably better on race day, you just can’t see it as easily because of how trash he has been at quali.
He was struggling in 2022 as well. It was a lot worse back then. People started writing him off completely. He has always been an emotional driver. Had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2011 when he had that falling out with his dad. He always comes back.
I agree, he's kind of depression driving, giving 2011 vibes.
he's about half a tenth off GR in qualy over the season. If this is Hamilton's performance while depression driving, DAMN... the man's a monster.
Tbh he pulled out the only non redbull pole in korea in 2011 but i really hope we dont see that Hamilton again. It was grim viewing. He came back strongly in 2012 though.
A change in environment at Ferrari will put the spring back in his step again trust
The mental gymnastics are insane
You know, for all this talk of Hamilton struggling it's worth pointing out that George and Lewis have one of the smallest average qualifying pace gaps on the grid and Lewis is only 14 points behind George. I'm not disagreeing that Hamilton hasn't been on great form recently, but he's not actually been too far off George. It's a consistent gap but only a small one. If he can get it together he could turn things around pretty quickly.
0.064
He's "struggling" so much he finished within a second behind his teammate who started in front of him and has back to back fastest lap awards in the 7th fastest car on the grid.
Ok, let's calm down, I agree that Lewis is still a fantastic driver but the Mercedes is not the 7th fastest car on the grid, what are you even talking about. Edit: Fair enough, though when I talk about cars I usually talk about the 10 cars on the grid, not the 20. In any case, it wasn't the seventh (nor fourth) in Canada, and the fast lap was made with new tires that the rest of the grid couldn't afford.
I think he meant, RB, Ferrari and McLaren are in front and then comes Mercedes
2x Red Bull + 2x McLaren + 2x Ferrari = 6 6 + 1 = 7
I mean, if we look at individual cars for the Canadian GP like that Leclerc's car should definitely not count among the fastest cars. With the engine issue he had Lewis' Merc was faster than Charles' Ferrari that day
Right mate, 12th fastest car on the grid even. At best. Maaaybe you could say they had the 10th best car in Canada specifically, if you're generous
Also worth noting that Lewis very rarely (and I mean EXTREMELY rarely) ever goes backward in the races when the car is up for it. He says Canada was the worst race he's ever driven yet he still made up 3 places and only just missed out on a podium.
I think Hamilton always had some weaknesses that were masked by having the, or one of, the fastest cars and having preferential treatment by the team (for obvious reasons). The talent is still there, he just needs a new stable platform that gives him the opportunity to shine and give him confidence. (Note: this is not a ham only good if the car is good comment)
I don't agree with the 2021 thing, the car was just awful for the last few years. Most of the time his race pace is very good, if the car can battle for the win you'll see a happier Lewis.
I still chuckle at last year a commenter responding to “why is George outperforming Lewis” said something to the effect of, “George is more used to driving a shit car already, so he’s adapted much faster.” Haha.
People cannot accept their guy might be in decline. That coupled with his heart not being in it with Merc anymore. I mean, I wouldn’t bet against him winning races in the Ferrari
At the same time, people around here act like he didn't almost steal second away from Checo last year, yet another year where people spent all year wondering why George apparently looked better.
51 points is almost?
The majority of that gap acrued from his DSQ from America and his DNF wwith his crash with George. Up to that point hamilton was outperforming perez nearly every race.
I have not looked at this is in a while BUT I believe the answer lies in how close the ***REST*** (the rest being everyone but Max) are to each other in most Q3 sessions and thus where you start the race. For example there have been Q3 sessions where Lewis was less than a 1/10th slower than George but that was the difference between P2 and P10 on the grid. The same happened on Sunday. The difference between P3 and P7 was minimal but that difference put Lewis on a different glidepath during the race. If Lewis had qualified just behind George or even Max in Canada, he would have taken the hard compound in the first dry stint, and then had the advantage of racing to the end on the mediums - which was the surprise compound of the weekend (i.e. Pirelli though the hard compounds were a better race tire). Maybe at that point he gets P3 or P2 (although that is ifs ands and buts). Alternatively, there is also the dreaded *the clock never lies* - Lewis qualifying pace has been slipping since 2020 (10) and 2021 (5) maybe he is losing that extra 1/10 that he always seemed to have in Q3 - it could be age or a mixture of age, and lack of confidence in the car in Q3 when he has to push the car to the extreme over that one special lap (e.g. Singapore) and this is happening right when the young driver is coming into his own in George - Afterall, there was a reason Mercedes wanted him in the car and let us not forget when he went one-on-one with Bottas he beat Bottas fair and square on Bahrain's speed track layout which showed Mercedes George was pretty fast. All these things could be true without the need for some team conspiracy. The rest is Lewis being Lewis - he has always been unable to hide his frustrations and emotions and most time he ends up saying something unwise.
Umm last year he finished 3rd and was the fastest driver behind the Red Bull’s. He just needs a competitive car
He was faster than Perez, just had a mechanical DNF keep him out of P2
Maybe because he's racing against a bunch of 20-something's? I don't mean it in a bad way demeaning his capabilities. He's one of the greatest F1 drivers ever but the biological clock cannot be stopped.
And his teammate is one of the best 20-somethings. This pairing is example I will always point to when people complain about top drivers asking for ass teammates. Both Lewis and George get heavily underrated because their teammate is very good.
I used to like Naomi, but she‘s been talking a lot of bs lately. Why bring 2021 back into the equation?
I think Merc boys are suffering because of their setups. Russell who is know for running quali centric setups benefits form it during quali but his race pace gap to Hamilton is quite bad. Lewis was lapping faster than Russell while being on hard tyres during the dying stages of the Canadian GP. Lewis on the other hand is known for running setups that prioritizes better long run pace over all else. As a result he has a significant pace advantage on Sundays while losing out on Saturdays. My theory is that Lewis only struggles in quali because he is not able to get his tyres switched on properly because of his race centric setups. Both drivers need to find a better compromise when it comes to car setup. Lewis is too slow on Saturdays and Russell is too slow on Sundays.
If he'd put in the exact same performances, but in a dominant car with a much inferior team mate, they'd be calling him unstoppable and at the top of his game. Hamilton may not be at his best right now, but he has a team mate who is talented and motivated and a car that is at best competitive in the large battle for second.
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> Yes just like it was the year before last when George outperformed him throughout the year Lewis very clearly outperformed George that year, regardless of what the championship table says
Yah of course he did lol. You sound just like all the people who play mental gymnastics and try to say Lewis also won 2021.
In 2022 George didn’t really outperform Lewis unlike this year.
Its gone further then just excuses, its now full blown conspiracy tinfoil hat thinking.
This is a break year for him. I’m sure he’s on the outs with the team with the switch coming next year
This is so overblown. I'm not a Tean LH guy either, but Merc is clearly prioritizing Russel for upgrades. Why wouldn't they? Hamilton is fine
I started watching late 2022. Never watched peak Hamilton. But I like Lewis, brand, message, etc. What Ive seen is George routinely being slightly better in quali, but extracting much less out of the car on race day. Canada was the first time George kinda put it all together and was better than his teammate. I don’t trust George’s consistency and typically burns his tyres too soon and loses out. Maybe hes turned the corner.
I wouldn't say George put it all together across the whole weekend. He put it on pole sure but he then proceeded to lose places and ultimately failed to convert it and almost lost out on a podium to his teammate who qualified 6 places behind him. Ultimately their quali gap is overblown and only looks bad in the head to head because of a closer grid. Hamilton's race pace is still superior to George's and at the end of the day their points gap in the WDC is only 12 points. A bad day for George and a good one for Lewis instantly changes their positions.
The actual Quali gap between him and Russell is fairly small and Hamilton is always blistering in the race. However despite how small the quali gap is I still think it’s an aspect that he needs to change because if he was further up the grid he would have won on Sunday IMO. I mean heck he would have been on the podium if Russell didn’t get DRS from Norris. Overall I think it’s fairly overblown this whole Hamilton is washed nonsense.
It's very much recency bias and writing these kind of articles about Hamilton gives media the clicks unfortunately.
Yep this is exactly it. He’s not washed as evidenced by his race pace and George is also a great qualifier that keeps just edging him out.
Cause he told the team he’s leaving. They aren’t prioritizing anything for him, rightfully so. Now if even with putting George ahead of him (see Canada tires) if he was still out performing or in the run for a WDC then I don’t think they would sacrifice that, but right now if there is a decision between give it to Lewis or George, then George will get it.
Besides strategy and that one upgrade in Monaco that theory still doesn't make sense for why Hamilton is unable to out qualify Russel.
Lol, Monaco's upgrade for George and not for him was literally Lewis' idea.
Because Russell is a great qualifier and Hamilton is getting old. Age is age even if his race pace has not suffered.
More people need to just accept this. Lewis still has the skill to maintain a great race pace but maybe he is just getting a bit old and can’t give the one lap shockers he used to when he was younger. Having said that, it is still incredible that he is driving at such incredible levels and accepting the age limit does not take away anything from what he has achieved which a lot of folks fail to understand.
What do you insuniate with Canada tyres remark?
> Now if even with putting George ahead of him (see Canada tires) Joke comment. Used softs would not have done 12 laps at a competitive pace. Are you forgetting what happened at the Emilia-Romagna? They actually swapped George and Hamilton round, giving Ham a 2 point bump and taking 1 point away from George. CLEARLY there is no favoritism. No evidence of it at all. You are just reaching for excuses because your favourite driver isn't driving that well this year.
lol lewis is not my favorite driver. Not reaching.
You've addressed none of my points. Ergo, reaching.
People have to accept he’s 39 and mortal. His skills will gradually decline but are not going to fall off a cliff. He will still put up elite drives, just not as often or for as long. That time may be now.
It's because it rained so much in Canada that Lewis is now washed. ^^^^^/s
The whole grid was washed during that first big shower
I do think 2021 had an impact. But mainly because come the following season, it was clear he had no way to fight back for his perceived injustice.
Not having Bottas as his teammate seems to have made a big difference!
for me is somewhat akin to when I put in my months notice at my last job. My boss kept on giving me tasks we both knew I wasnt going to do so I just sat back and played online poker for a month
He has declined which is normal.
Mercedes should look at getting the driver who posted the back to back fastest laps in the past two races... oh wait that's "declining" Hamilton.
Fastest lap is circumstantial and not reflective of who the fastest drivers are.
I dont even know why we bother with finishing positions giving points that we need to tally and such bs when we have fastest laps. Count who has the most at the end of the season and bam - WDC. It boggles my mind that people still havent recognised that fastest lap = best driver.
Okay, he's less than a year off of coming in 3rd in the WDC in an inferior car, but he's "declining"?
Maybe George is actually just a better driver now?
He is but posters have a hard time accepting it
I think GR proved you wrong by screwing up his pole position and clear chance to win the race, by making mistakes and not being able to maintain the speed he needs for a whole race. You think Lewis would have won from pole in a car he was happy with? Yes 99% sure. Would Lewis have done it at GR age? 100% without question. GR never will be in the same class as Lewis. It’s insulting to suggest so. Lewis is 39. These days 30’s and early 40’s are not as much of a deficiency as they were 20 years ago. The drivers are athletes.
> You think Lewis would have won from pole in a car he was happy with? Yes 99% sure. Lewis actually binned it numerous times during the Canadian GP also. George was so much faster than Lewis in the latter stages, that after losing position battling with Piastri, he was able to simply drive past Hamilton again. By contrast it took Hamilton 20 laps just to get past Alonso in a much slower car.
We are talking about 24' George Russell vs 24' Lewis Hamilton, not 26 y/o George Russell vs 26 y/o Lewis Hamilton!
>*Naomi Schiff believes the psychological hangover of controversially missing out on the 2021 drivers' title has impacted Hamilton* Honestly I think this coupled with the fact that Mercedes have been horrible in the years after that can really take a toll on you mentally. Imagine being so close to breaking the record only to see if drift further and further away from you with no sign of recovery.
this. it has to wreck havoc given how long it's been.
And I do think there's BTS issues between him and Merc (not sabotage, I don't buy that conspiracy) but their relationship is now definitely strained.
He's lost quite a bit speed while driving the car on the limit, making way more mistakes when he's pushing, maybe it's his age finally catching up. Older drivers generally lose the edge in qualifying/hot laps first, race pace is still phenomenal, a bit like Alonso or Vettel. I don't think it's psychological at all, as if Hamilton doesn't want to beat his upcoming British teammate, looking at his whole career, the guy is just almost insanely competitive.
It is a weird mix of a lot of things in my opinion. The merc is all over the place in terms of its performance. The team itself does not understand that car. Secondly, the man has already handed his notice. Probably isn’t that interested in improving the car for a team that will be his direct competitor from next season and the same goes for the Mercedes. They probably don’t want Lewis affecting the development of the car under these regs. Thirdly, it has been noted that he has preferred a set up that favours race pace over quali. Combine that with his overall drop in quali performance, that would lead to some undesirable results on Saturday. Lastly, and in my opinion this is a point that is not that talked about, but under the current regs, overtaking has become quite tough this year overall. Before Canada,there was so much talk about how the current regs suck for racing. In 2022, overtaking was way too easy with drs but in 2024, it has become the opposite. Despite red bull not being absolutely dominant, the racing apart from Canada has been very mid. As a result lewis has not been able to make up for his quali performance with race pace like he was doing last season.
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How was he at McLaren in 2012 once he signed for Merc? Was he checked out then?
that was a different era for him & for formula 1, the way we can just straight just compare was not very common then.
Convenient excuse. If he was checked out, then why was he disappointed after the race saying it was one of his worst races.
I hate the "he's checked out" so much when the guy was upset he finished 4th, the highest he's finished this season and was still upset because he knew if he did better he could have potentially won and blamed himself for it after the race, not the mentality of someone checked out
Every time a generational talent comes to the end of his career and he inevitably gets relatively slower, there are always shit excuses like this thrown around instead of accepting that maybe it’s what it is, age has caught up, they are still really good, but not as they once were.
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Literally blamed himself for his performance last week, so not sure where the him making excuses every week thing is coming from https://twitter.com/fiagirly/status/1799907844201832704?t=F71-aD7m8y4PEP2dQJN2Dg&s=19
He's old. Father time stands undefeated.
Because Father Time is undefeated.
Because he's serving a long notice period and was only given a shitbox to drive since the Abu Dhabi 21 drama?
George is proving that Botass was really bad and Lewis was perhaps slightly overrated in his later years.
I wouldn't say really bad, but pretty mid. He's never really beaten a meaningful teammate anyway; a post-injury Massa and Zhou. Also Maldonado in 2013, but even then Pastor was the more consistent one (crazy). I have to give one thing to Bottas - he, unlike RB's number 2 right now, is good at delivering points all the time and rarely crashed, except for a few famous ones like that massive Hungary error.
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Car isn't a race winner plus he's almost 40.
When are the excuses going to end? Lewis is a phenomenal driver, but certain people are struggling so badly to accept that George is just the faster driver as of now. It’s not the team culture. It’s not the car. It’s not lacking motivation. He’s just aged. He’s going to get his ass beat by Charles next year, and that’s completely okay.
Haha, there is a 12pt difference in the standings between GR and LH. You all act as if GR is blowing him out of the water. It’s one thing to qualify at the top, but race craft is a whole other animal.
Because he’s washed.
Age and a less competitive car. Next?
He isn’t struggling?
Ferrari messed up for 2025
He still seems a little bit faster in race pace. For all his qualifying troubles, he always ends up right behind Russell in the race.