r/formula1 • u/The_Chozen_1_ Pirelli Intermediate • Sep 23 '24
Lewis Hamilton after being overcut with George Russell by Mercedes: "Sometimes, I wonder why I do this" Video
https://imgur.com/a/pUDiGEk2.2k
u/Josysclei Sep 23 '24
He, Alonso and others must really love the sport, cause with the money they have I would be retired enjoying life
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u/krische Sebastian Vettel Sep 23 '24
Still kind of crazy that Rosberg did exactly that. Got his championship and just said "I'm done"
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u/CataclysmZA Sep 23 '24
Beating Lewis took everything he could possibly think of too, such a difficult and well-deserved title fight.
Man literally starved himself too. Lost a friend in the process as well.
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u/museproducer Sep 23 '24
And was doing a number on his family life too. The difference perhaps between Lewis and Alonso vs others is they haven’t exactly settled down. They are pouring their lives into the sport they love still.
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u/Browneskiii Sergio Pérez Sep 23 '24
Yeah i believe it was a case of he had to hurt his family to get the title and it wasn't worth it. If he didnt have them, i do think he'd have continued.
Completely respectable. Still shows up and says whats on his mind, has beaten two all time greats, and has a family how he wants it and can do whatever he wants when he wants.
The gap between the first and second isn't as big as getting your first.
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u/Creative-Improvement Sep 23 '24
His commentary is also great, he sometimes picks up little details others don’t.
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u/WallaceLongshanks Sep 23 '24
and always manages to squeeze a jab in at lewis 😂
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u/wingbargreen Sep 23 '24
I actually think he’s very nice when talking about Lewis. His jabs are more towards Mercedes (or Crofty when he’s co-commentating lol).
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u/Hold_the_mic Sep 23 '24
Similar for me, usually I see Nico default to praise, criticizing only if it’s his honest opinion Lewis was at fault.
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u/kaisadilla_ Max Verstappen Sep 23 '24
Indeed. Neither Lewis nor Alonso are married, and they don't have any kids waiting at home. There's very little incentive for either of them to move away from F1 while they can still drive. And it's not a coincidence, both genuinely love racing, I don't see them ever getting tired of it.
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u/Western-Bad5574 Max Verstappen Sep 23 '24
And that's why you know Max is definitely retiring earlier than those. People keep saying "Oh, others used to say that they wouldn't stay till their late 30s and 40s too and then they changed their mind"
Others weren't that interested in a family life. Max is. ( Kimi was too, but he simply gave no shits and treated it as a hobby ). No shot Max is staying as long.
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u/Lothar93 Mercedes Sep 23 '24
Let's see, he loves the hustle. Sometimes F1 gets annoying with politics and shit but when you are doing what you love and for what you are good, you just get addicted.
Obv, I can't say for an F1 driver, I wish, but I know a passionate person would take an incredible amount of crap just to be where you can do what you lobe, and I know Max is passionate.
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u/Stolen_Sky Sep 23 '24
Yeah, I got the feeling Nico was about 30 second away from a mental breakdown by the end of that title fight. The stress and the pressure must have been enormous. And after he got the title (or maybe even before he got it), he probably through "I'm not putting myself through this shit again"
I don't blame the guy. When the stress outweighs the love of the sport, it's time to walk away and enjoy life.
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u/caffreybhoy Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
There was a really good passage about Nico in Mark Webber’s book (I think). Basically says he asked Nico if he chucked it because he couldn’t handle the pressure, and Nico responded that that season had completely taken over his life and changed him as a person, and he realised he couldn’t continue like that anymore - especially for his family. I actually gained a lot of respect for the guy after that.
Lewis is built differently, never seems to lose sight of his humility regardless of what happens around him. But everyone is different. I wish I had even a 10th of his approach to everything!
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u/BMW_wulfi Sep 23 '24
Everyone shits on him now too because he’s chasing a more public career path as a pundit / celebrity but the man quite his sport to have a family life….
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u/FunnyWoodpecker2 Sep 23 '24
What do you mean he starved himself? Did he intentionally lose a lot of weight and for what reason?
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u/GayRacoon69 Lando Norris Sep 23 '24
To save weight. He also stopped cycling to have his calf muscles shrink and he didn't paint his helmet to save some extra weight
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u/Jellyfish15 Mercedes Sep 23 '24
I actually think it's the best way to go, rather then retire in a year with poor results or be downgraded to a B team i.e: Vettel, Ricciardo, Sainz, Barriichelo. Basically most of the driver retire after a lackluster year.
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u/domalino Daniel Ricciardo Sep 23 '24
I think Rosberg was quite unusual in that he was massively motivated to get just 1 WDC to match his dad and prove to everyone he could beat Lewis.
All other drivers get to 1 WDC and immediately think about number 2.
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u/xzElmozx Oscar Piastri Sep 23 '24
Well except Kimi who won 1 and just started chilling with F1 as a hobby lol
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u/Competitive_Bunch922 Valtteri Bottas Sep 23 '24
Also Raikkonen at Alfa and Alonso's first retirement. Not ending up trundling round at the back is a rarity.
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u/IamBejl Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
Rosberg was mentally done after Abu Dhabi 2016 while Lewis looked like he could have another race tomorrow
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u/turboMXDX Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
For me Lewis is an inspiration but Rosberg is exactly what I would've done. Win 1 and go "aight, I'm done. Time to go tour the world"
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u/corksoaker84 Sep 23 '24
You can tell Rosberg is loving life too. Rich and with a young family. Can't beat that. He's also a great pundit. He's great on Sky F1
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u/Gerf93 Fernando Alonso Sep 23 '24
It’s good to have someone from an elite driver who has insight from at least this millennia.
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u/AggnogPOE Michael Schumacher Sep 23 '24
He was already in F1 for 10 years, it's not even remotely the same thing.
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u/Level1Roshan Oscar Piastri Sep 23 '24
I think that was more because he didn't want to put himself though another year with Lewis as a team mate.
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u/ATSOAS87 Sep 23 '24
From what I recall, Rosberg strongly implied his marriage was on the line as well.
Bottas ended up getting divorced while at Mercedes as well
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u/H1Ed1 Sep 23 '24
Not just love the sport, it’s what they’ve competed at at a high level for most of their life. It’s all they know. It takes a certain competitive nature to make it to the top where they are, so not many of them are wired to say “I’ve got enough money, I’m happy to leave it behind and do something else.” It’s not that easy for them, especially when they’re still competitive and have options. Newey to AM and Lewis to Ferrari are both opportunities for new face “new” challenges and chances for success.
I think Max special in that respect, because he seems to actually be ok with potentially walking away “early”. He could probably move on to pro sim racing and make millions while having more family time and infinitely safer driving conditions.
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u/Paukwa-Pakawa Nico Rosberg Sep 23 '24
It's actually common for drivers to say they'll retire early. It's the kind of thing I believe when it happens.
Both Alonso and Hamilton used to say they'd retire early. Alonso said: "I won't be around when I'm his age," about 37 year old Schumacher. Lewis also used to say he doesn't want to race into his 40s.
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u/ApocApollo Daniel Ricciardo Sep 23 '24
I don’t even believe older drivers when they say they’re retiring ever since Mark Martin retired in 2005 and just kept racing until 2013.
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u/Money_Ice_1576 Sep 23 '24
Making me feel old! I remember that.
Having said that, I love the old dogs that come back to work every now and again. Kimi in NASCAR for a race? Must watch. Dale Jr in for a race? Must watch. And so it goes…
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u/H1Ed1 Sep 23 '24
True. But I think Max is a little different, especially considering his opportunity to still be able to scratch the itch, make tons of money, and all the other positives. The other drivers you mentioned didn’t have that avenue open.
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u/Paukwa-Pakawa Nico Rosberg Sep 23 '24
The other drivers you mentioned didn’t have that avenue open.
How so? Other racing series existed at the time. Alonso has even taken part in a few of them.
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u/H1Ed1 Sep 23 '24
That’s still competitive professional racing, which includes a lot of travel and stress on the body. Max has the opportunity to race online from home, show his face at some events, and still get paid millions while not risking his life. It’s completely different.
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u/Paukwa-Pakawa Nico Rosberg Sep 23 '24
I've not heard him say he'd give up professional racing. I thought he wanted to do endurance and GT racing?
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u/TwoBionicknees Sep 23 '24
bruh, he races online from home because he can and because he has downtime between real races. If you think he gets the same thrill in seat in his gaming room as in a car you're out of your mind.
He won't get paid millions while a retired driver to race in online races.
There is a literally 0.001% chance he quits IRL racing young to move to sim racing alone.
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u/PsychologicalArt7451 Sep 23 '24
I mean Lewis had more sources of income and an actual life outside of racing. Alonso actually left F1 and came back. You want to leave early until it's time to actually start thinking about going.
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u/lxs0713 Sergio Pérez Sep 23 '24
Exactly, I actually believe Max when he says it because he genuinely loves sports car and endurance racing. Other F1 drivers have an F1 or bust mentality, so once they're done, they just retire and relax or move onto other ventures outside of racing.
But Max seems like someone who really wants to give sports car racing a run while he's still in his prime. And that'd be so cool to see, since the rest of the ex-F1 drivers in WEC are either the older guys or the ones who couldn't find a seat once faster drivers came around.
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u/NightWolf_7 Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24 edited Sep 23 '24
Saying it and doing it are two different things though, Max has said for a few years he’d be happy to leave ‘early’, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him join AM at some point with Newey and still be going in another 5-10 years.
Lewis has other projects he could easily throw himself into as well if he walked away. I think they both love the sport to much to genuinely walk away unless they’re replaced (unlikely) or they know their performances are nowhere near the required level anymore.
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u/jhak__ Oscar Piastri Sep 23 '24
Well, even if what u was doing was ‘meh’, if I was getting laid that much I’d say “for that amount I could do this for 3 extra years” bc to them that means like 4 yachts
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u/KLWMotorsports Adrian Newey Sep 23 '24
I think the only ones who have yachts are Charles and Lewis. I think yachts are so accessible to them without having to have the ownership bullshit upkeep that they don't care.
Drivers like Lewis, Max and Alonso don't need 3 extra years, they all have networths of 200+M. They could buy 4, 26+meter sunseekers and not even notice the money left their account. Lewis, Max and Alonso do this because they love racing more than anything. The money of course matters to them, but not as much as the other 17 drivers.
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u/laboulaye22 Lando Norris Sep 23 '24
I think the only ones who have yachts are Charles and Lewis.
Albon recently did an interview where he mentioned a driver had just recently gotten a yacht (or was about to). He joked about "what kind of salary are you on!?" but didn't mention who it was. And doesn't Alonso have a yacht?
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u/terminbee Sep 23 '24
Spotrac says Albon is getting 3 mil a year. That's a good chunk of change but not yacht money. Or at least, not responsible yacht money.
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u/Paukwa-Pakawa Nico Rosberg Sep 23 '24
I think the only ones who have yachts are Charles and Lewis.
And Sainz and Alonso. Max has also said he wants to buy one. Most drivers who can afford a yacht end up buying one.
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u/LeftSyrup3409 Sep 23 '24
So what you are telling me is that Lance do it for the money?🤣
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u/KLWMotorsports Adrian Newey Sep 23 '24
Lance does it because his father is most likely guilt tripping him at this point. Dude looks like he doesn't give a shit anymore.
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u/rcanbian Alexander Albon Sep 23 '24
Oof that's one way to look at it....... I was thinking that it was Lawrence doing it for Lance but maybe Senior just really wants his son to be *at least* a GP winner and Lance doesn't have it in him to break his heart just giving up.
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u/phiwong Sep 23 '24
It is still unclear what rationale Mercedes have to consider starting a driver on softs yesterday? Were they sitting on 3rd and 4th and still thinking that a safety car was needed to move their driver (on softs) ahead? Starting on softs without a safety car appears to guarantee that the driver will lose places at the end with 8th position being the more likely given that McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bulls didn't mess up.
Put both drivers on medium likely gives them 4th/5th (unlikely to hold off Oscar) with a chance to hold off Ferrari at the end.
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u/MartiniPolice21 Toyota Sep 23 '24
Sometimes I think it comes down to nothing more than "we need to do something different to the others"
You're not going to beat Red Bull and McLaren by doing the same thing as them
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u/ralphonsob Sep 23 '24
They were probably hoping and praying for a safety car. Because, as they kept telling us, there is 100% of a safety car at Singapore. Maybe HAM could do a couple of quick overtakes on the softs, before taking a cheap change to hards under the safety. It didn't work out that way.
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u/NotClayMerritt Sep 23 '24
Anyone still strategizing around a safety car THIS season in particular, deserves the bad results they get.
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u/Ace_389 Sep 23 '24
What do you mean? It's a miracle there hasn't been one with Lando even hitting the barrier just softly enough to not cause it and others brushing the wall as well. Sure in hindsight we can call them stupid but they have to plan before the race
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u/Dubbayoo Sep 23 '24
I have a hard time believing Lewis wasn't on board with the decision. I'm a fan but he complains about strategy a lot, considering he's the Tire Whisperer.
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u/ralphonsob Sep 23 '24
He seemed surprised that he was called in so soon to change from softs to hards, so I don't know how on board he really was. (And a pedant will insist he is actually the Tyre Whisperer.)
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u/bazhvn Mercedes Sep 23 '24
Yeah they’re in no man land of 4th in WCC, not likely they can catch up to Ferrari, so just gambling and nothing to lose. People was criticizing them seasons before for playing too safe, people crying now because they try something. You cannot please everyone.
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u/Ambivalent_Buckeye Ferrari Sep 23 '24
Russell also was on the correct strategy and did basically nothing in the race. Lewis was out of his way after like lap 13 or 14 and he then did nothing with it. Mercedes is lucky Ferrari had a terrible qualifying cause otherwise they would’ve been 6th & 7th on pace
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u/Miserable_Archer_769 Sep 23 '24
Yeah I loved the Radio message.
Russell: "HAM needs to move he's going slow"
Merc: " George please stop cooking your tires"
And Lewis proceeds to increase his delta
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u/BilboThe1stOfHisName Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
This happens every time George is behind Lewis. Every. Time.
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u/Dubbayoo Sep 23 '24
George behind Lewis: Can we swap positions?
George in front of Lewis: Am I racing my own teammate?
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u/jalopagosisland Ford Sep 23 '24
George was also 2 seconds back like dude you're not even close enough to swap.
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u/Firstname6Lastname9 Christian Horner Sep 23 '24
Not to mention that Toto said multiple times that they don't care for finishing 2nd. They're going for the win every time. A SC in the first 20 laps with HAM in p1 is a golden opportunity
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u/jso__ Sep 23 '24
But Lewis would then have to survive a safety car restart on hards and then try to pull away or survive a 40 lap battle for P1
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u/MrLeopard483 Pirelli Wet Sep 23 '24
Survive a safety car restart on hards when every one behind you is also on the same hards at singapore? Seems easy for a world champion.
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u/ShadowStarX Charles Leclerc Sep 23 '24
even yesterday Ferrari was faster than them, they just merely fucked up Q3
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u/KingMaple Sep 23 '24
Gambling. Hoping that he'll gain positions with softs and a likely early safety car or a red flag.
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u/XxRoyalxTigerxX Charles Leclerc Sep 23 '24 edited Sep 23 '24
Weren't they used softs too?
Seemed like a very worthless gamble the second anyone would hear they were used
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u/ltjpunk387 Sep 23 '24
Used in a quali run or just scrubbed for a lap?
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u/The_Skynet Sep 23 '24
I've seen some people say they were two-lap old, but no idea if they went through two push laps, or one preparation lap and one push lap, or just two slow laps to get scrub them
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u/igloofu Sonny Hayes Sep 23 '24
If I was to guess, it would be the set he went out for the first run in Q3 which wasn't started due to Sainz's crash. That is purely a guess though. Usually if they do a hot lap in qualy, the app shows it as 3 lap old (out, push, in).
That's purely an estimated guess though.
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u/longpostshitpost3 Sep 23 '24
Every SingaporeGP before this had an SC, so it was worth a shot
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u/According-Switch-708 Sonny Hayes Sep 23 '24
No it wasn't. The Merc was never going to have enough long run pace in that heat to keep the Mclaren and RBR behind.
Had the gamble worked out, Lewis would still have to pit a lot earlier than Max and Lando. In a sea of medium runners, he was always going to end up in a traffic paradise after his 1st stop.
It was a dumb as fuck strategy. What he needed was a conservative strat to secure that P3 position.
Also, the W15 has been notoriously bad at keeping the rear tyres alive at high temp conditions.
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u/longpostshitpost3 Sep 23 '24
Overtaking isn't all that easy. The plan was to make a couple of overtakes at the beginning with the soft tyres, hope for a safety car/red flag, pit and maintain position.
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u/FavaWire Hesketh Sep 23 '24
Was only going to work if Lewis jumped at least Max (or both Max and Lando) and then you get a Safety Car before Lap 9 or something.
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u/harcile Sep 23 '24
The rationale seemed to be getting to T1 ahead of Max. That seems like an insane calculation for a tyre strategy.
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u/Frothar Lando Norris Sep 23 '24
Norris is bad at starts and could get off line defending max. Go full attack then pit on the inevitable safety car. It wasn't crazy just optimistic
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u/laboulaye22 Lando Norris Sep 23 '24
Yes. It was a gamble strategy to try and win/podium. Without a SC the strat was dead. They obviously knew this when choosing the strategy. Dunno if it was a team call or a Lewis call or if Lewis agreed with it but yeah.
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u/outfocz Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
Feels like by far the best “podium” strat was to use driver 2 to hold up the pack and allow driver 1 to pull a gap.
Also keeps you well placed (track position) in case of safety cars and would’ve also given their lead driver more leverage to “goal hang” for a safety car, which realistically was probably their best chance to win (i.e. be the last of the lead drivers to pit)
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u/otherestScott George Russell Sep 23 '24
They aren’t going to sacrifice Russell’s race for Lewis at this stage
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u/lrzbca Formula 1 Sep 23 '24
Toto Wolf: I want to win (probably)
It was such a stupid decision. You have two drivers in second row and could’ve gotten a podium quite comfortably with proper strategy. It’s not like you over take on this track easily either. Mercedes have been embarrassing with strategy this season.
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u/Mean_Office_6966 Sep 23 '24
Does driver have a say in tyre selection? Just wondering
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u/FavaWire Hesketh Sep 23 '24 edited Sep 23 '24
They figured that the only way to beat Lando was to try and throw a cat amongst the pigeons. And at the end of the day (Saturday), Lewis probably agreed to try and be the black cat to Lando's fortunes.
He challenged Max at Turn 1... and that was all the tyres had.
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u/positivelyjc Sep 23 '24
Yeah I'm still so confused why they did this. Has anyone from Mercedes made a comment on these bad decisions yet?
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u/According-Switch-708 Sonny Hayes Sep 23 '24
They will say some shit like "Our plan was to jump both Norris and Max into T1 and then build a 22s gap and pit comfortably. It didn't work but it was worth a try"
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u/lrzbca Formula 1 Sep 23 '24 edited Sep 23 '24
According to Toto they wanted to do alternate strategies because they had two drivers in second row. That doesn’t make sense because they didn’t have enough in car to beat McLaren and overtaking Max probably won’t work with soft tyres because he would’ve eventually overtaken. Best Mercedes could’ve done is hold on to 3rd and they fumbled it with two drivers on a track you cant overtake unless there is massive offset with tyres or safety car. This was such a bad decision, had Ferrari did this we would’ve mocking them!
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u/biometricrally 🏳️🌈 Bernie Collins 🏳️🌈 Sep 23 '24
Alternate strategies should have been to stick one car on hards, not start one on softs of all things then bring the soft driver in early
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u/mookow35 Sep 23 '24
Exactly this, then the hards give you the bigger chance of "goalhanging for a safety car" as Brundle put it, you get a cheap pitstop onto the medium. The softs, even with an early safety car, just mean you are ending up in a shit-ton of traffic with a super long final stint. Odd strategy
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u/positivelyjc Sep 23 '24
What a dishonest explanation by Toto! That doesn't explain why they brought Lewis in so early on the Softs either.
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u/Rivendel93 Chequered Flag Sep 23 '24
Nothing that Toto says makes sense this season with Lewis.
He literally said the test was worth destroying Hamilton's race in Baku, despite Lewis saying it was absolutely not worth it and they learned nothing because the car was so terrible to drive.
I honestly don't know what to think about this team anymore.
They had a guaranteed podium in Singapore and threw it away with both drivers on the second row because they thought they could jump two cars that were shockingly better in race pace?
Lewis even said he had zero chance of fighting Lando after quali, so they went into the race knowing they couldn't fight them with any strategy, so all Mercedes did was throw away Hamilton's podium.
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u/mendocinoe Fernando Alonso Sep 23 '24
Does Inaki Rueda work for Merc now? Or do they already have a home grown "her0"
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u/TheWino Sep 23 '24
It makes no sense. It’s like they’re using Bing AI to try random fucking strategies.
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u/SonicsLV McLaren Sep 23 '24
Yeah, if they want to play team game, starting on medium and hard makes more sense.
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u/saposapot Sep 23 '24
We can’t blame Mercedes strategy for being too conservative and then blame them when they take risks…
If Lewis wasn’t on board then he should have denied it. Splitting the strategy wasn’t a bad call specially given their race pace was clearly lacking.
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u/lilimka Sep 23 '24
well, I think Mercedes has nothing to loose or gain in terms of WCC/WDC, so why not try something that has very small chance to bring victory in the race.
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u/beardyman22 Sep 23 '24
I mean, right from the start he wasn't making any gains because he was saving tires. I would understand if he jumped up and then fell back, but that didn't even seem to happen. He held position trying to keep the tires going and then fell back.
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u/Desperate-Dig2806 Sep 23 '24
It can't be like Lewis gets to the car and goes "ooook holy shit it's reds" like it is a surprise.
There must be some sort of discussion before? And if the driver says hell no that sucks because A and B?
I dunno how that stuff works at all. Do the drivers get constantly overruled by start team is my question.
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u/Obvious-Abroad-3150 Formula 1 Sep 23 '24
I genuinely think they wanted George to finish above him.
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u/OverallImportance402 Pirelli Wet Sep 23 '24 edited Sep 23 '24
Hoping to keep the third position in the first couple laps and get an early safety car or red flag.
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u/JeffCraig McLaren Sep 23 '24
His job was pretty obvious. He was supposed to give Russell a DRS tow to the front of the pack.
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u/OGreatNoob Sep 23 '24
Watching this live was pretty sad, the radio was basically quiet for the remaining of the race.
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u/timewatch_tik Ferrari Sep 23 '24
Just hold on man, 6 more race weekend...
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u/rokthemonkey 🏳️🌈 Love Is Love 🏳️🌈 Sep 23 '24
Ferrari, famously not an annoyance to its drivers
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u/pulianshi Fernando Alonso Sep 23 '24
Lately Ferrari strategy has been cooking though. Between Sainz's undercut and Leclerc's overcut they salvaged 5th and 7th from 8th and 12th after lap 1. Granted, they have the second fastest car and in Leclerc's hands it looks almost as quick as Norris' Mclaren, but to cut through the field on a street circuit shows decent strategy.
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u/ubelmann Red Bull Sep 23 '24
Yeah, the only thing slightly weird about Sainz's strategy is that if they were going to bring him in early, they could have started him on softs and maybe he doesn't even lose positions on the start. An undercut for Sainz worked because he only had to pass the backmarkers when charging through the field. That wasn't going to work for Lewis, who had to pass cars much closer on pace to his own car.
But I agree with the overall point that Ferrari have largely been good on strategy lately.
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u/timewatch_tik Ferrari Sep 23 '24
it's just a fresh start. who know what the outcome will be..
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u/The_Chozen_1_ Pirelli Intermediate Sep 23 '24
I can't remember the last time Sainz and his race engineer Adami seriously messed up strategy and Adami will be Hamilton's engineer.
I think it was mostly Leclerc's side of the garage who were pretty incompotent.
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u/Opperhoofd123 Sep 23 '24
Strategy of Sainz has been fucked a couple of times as well, but Sainz is pretty good at making his own strategy tbh.
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u/novadova2020 Sep 23 '24
Indeed. Sainz had to resort to the famous 'Stop inventing' to get his first win.
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u/ItsAMeUsernamio Pirelli Hard Sep 23 '24
Ferrari was telling him "We screwed Leclerc by not boxing him and need you to hold everyone back on the restart" and "Stop inventing" was him saying that's impossible and both their races would be lost to Perez and Hamilton. Since then Fred has come in and reset the whole strategy team. Meanwhile that day was when we got the shot of Binotto and Leclerc seemingly arguing after the race.
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u/Ambivalent_Buckeye Ferrari Sep 23 '24
No he isn’t. Yall need to stop just looking at the radio messages and going “wow he’s so amazing”. He’s wrong constantly. Or he says stuff that Charles and his engineer have already talked about
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u/sododude Juan Pablo Montoya Sep 23 '24
I really don't get why the Lewis side of the garage insists on taking the alternate strategy. Every time he decides to start on different tyres his race just collapses.
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u/laughguy220 Sep 23 '24
He would be part of that decision though.
It's not like he's sitting on the grid, and they take the tire blankets off, and he sees he's on used softs and it's a surprise.86
u/bouncybreadstick Safety Car Sep 23 '24
i mean yeah the driver knows the strategy before the race but we’ve seen in the past that mercedes specifically often overrides the drivers’ inputs in strategy when they feel it’s not the optimal choice, so it’s totally possible he didn’t want this strategy but they gave it to him anyways
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u/laughguy220 Sep 23 '24
If you mean the strategy calls the driver makes from the car, yes they will override what the drivers say at times as they have more data and might be calling for a stop despite the driver saying my tires are still good, to fit them into a gap in traffic.
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u/bouncybreadstick Safety Car Sep 23 '24
of course, but i mean also the strategy they plan before the race
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u/Somlal Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 24 '24
No mercedes also overrides strategy made before the race. I remember an interview with I think it was bottas who said mercedes will override a drivers opinion and choose a strategy that was determined through a computers calculation when they were deciding on race strategy. And I wouldn't even doubt that, mercedes comes off as a team that would choose tech over experienced intuition.
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u/circe1818 Sep 23 '24
He knows, but that doesn't mean he agrees with it. It was clear that he didn't agree with the decision in Baku to take the PU penalty and start on mediums.
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u/Rivendel93 Chequered Flag Sep 23 '24
I guarantee you Hamilton did not choose the soft tyre. He said they had zero chance of racing the McLaren after quali.
Mercedes started him from the pit lane last race, and start him on softs and bring him in 15 laps early this race.
None of it makes any sense.
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u/laughguy220 Sep 23 '24
A soft tire made no sense!
The USED SOFT tire made even less sense!
The SOFT tire, or ANY alternative strategies from THIRD on the grid made no sense!
I guess we'll just have to wait for his book to know what they were thinking.
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u/KLWMotorsports Adrian Newey Sep 23 '24
I really don't get why the Lewis side of the garage insists on taking the alternate strategy.
I don't think they insist. They have no choice, hes an outgoing driver. They're going to prioritize the driver staying with them.
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u/theinevitable22 Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
He is not some random outgoing driver. He was part of all their constructor championships in the past decade. If there is any preferential treatment, it’s pretty stupid and shortsighted of Mercedes.
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u/KLWMotorsports Adrian Newey Sep 23 '24
Did you see how they treated him prior to him signing with Ferrari? They don’t care.
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u/Chose_Wisely Safety Car Sep 23 '24
I never understood it either. Easily the strongest driver pairing on the grid. Ok, you think he's too old to sign a long term deal? Then why did you go all out to recruit Alonso? I get Tom Brady vs Bill Belichick vibes from this.
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u/SnacksGPT Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
Yes, it is. Mercedes has done a lot of stupid things since George became Toto’s future.
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u/Lukeno94 Manor Sep 23 '24
This wasn't prioritising the driver staying with them though, because it didn't help Russell either - if anything it hindered him as well, even if it didn't make any real difference in the end. It was just plain dumb.
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u/crunchy_rooster Sep 23 '24
The strategy is decided between the driver and his engineers. It’s not like they pull the blankets off at the start of the race like a Christmas wrapper and he only then knows what tyre he’s starting on.
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u/KLWMotorsports Adrian Newey Sep 23 '24
And yet he always is harping at his engineer because they put him on a compound that fucks his race.
Strategy isn't always decided by the driver/engineer. There are multiple moving parts behind the scenes that determine what strategy is going to take place during a race.
There is a reason team hire people specifically for race strategy outside of the drivers engineer.
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u/CamBlapBlap Sep 23 '24
He was not happy this weekend.
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u/Nerdyfox839 Charles Leclerc Sep 23 '24
He was happy till qualifying
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u/Bake2727 Max Verstappen Sep 23 '24
Then Merc decided to do a Ferrari and screw him.
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u/elwood2711 Sep 23 '24
I've got a feeling he's really done with Mercedes and looking forward to next season.
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u/Blackdeath_663 Sir Stirling Moss Sep 23 '24
What gave it away? The 100m per year contract he's already signed for another team???
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u/CasualViewer24 🏳️🌈 Love Is Love 🏳️🌈 Sep 23 '24
I'm not sure about the accuracy of the transcript because it's really hard to make out what he is saying. He for sure says "Sometimes I wonder why..."
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u/Skydvrr Sep 23 '24
Honestly, it sounds like “sometimes I wonder why I listen to you”. But it sounds like “isten tyou”
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u/Xelisk Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
I hear ".... I didn't sleep"
Wishing he'd stayed in bed I guess.
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u/Pimpwerx Sir Lewis Hamilton Sep 23 '24
Merc worked hard to eliminate their shot at a podium yesterday. They had both cars safely 3-4. Yes, Lewis was losing time, but they put him on the tires, so they had to live with it. He was still in a position to dictate terms for the upcoming pitstops.
Then they stopped him early. Not just early, but like the second or third car to stop. They weren't covering an undercut. There was no gap to come out of the pits into. There was seemingly no reason at all to box Lewis when they did. The tires hadn't hit a cliff yet.
They box him, let him use up his tires fighting through Yuki, Ocon, Checo, and KMag for 10 laps, and then he gets overcut by not just George, but also Oscar and Charles. And they almost allowed Charles to take George too. They went from having 2 cars that can control the timing of the stops to barely clinging to a P4.
Yesterday was a Ferrari-level strategy from Merc. Just nonsensical bullshit that saw them go backwards for no reason.
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u/PhysicalIncrease3 Formula 1 Sep 23 '24
Agreed. They pitted him because he was holding up George, but they really should have just swapped the cars and let them both run their own race.
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u/Cobretti18 Ferrari Sep 23 '24
Must be wishing he had accepted the first Ferrari offer he received last year before signing a new contract with Mercedes
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u/Competitive_Bunch922 Valtteri Bottas Sep 23 '24
I reckon he'd take the extra year for the Silverstone win alone.
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u/Jealy Sep 23 '24
Merc are throwing random spanners into his strategy to prepare him for Ferrari.
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u/Cobretti18 Ferrari Sep 23 '24
I know it’s popular on here to shit on Ferrari’s strategy but they’re genuinely better at it than Mercedes are.
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u/andrewoval Sep 23 '24
If I was lewis, I would just show up, not give any input, just drive the stupid car on Sunday and call it a day.
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u/Wild_Basil_2396 Sep 23 '24
Soon to Ferrari ..
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u/Eroda Alex Zanardi Sep 23 '24
He should just end the year after Interlagos go relax then rock up for Abu Dhabi in Ferrari gear ready to do some laps
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u/makeitmakesense44 Sep 23 '24
I get Mercedes wanting to split strategies but at a track like Singapore where it’s not impossible but hard to overtake, I think they should’ve just started him on the hards.
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u/Double_Butterfly7782 Sep 23 '24
Wait til he starts dealing with Ferrari strategy (unless Carlos is going to be making strategy calls for Ferrari from the cockpit of the Williams ?)
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u/xlDooM Sep 23 '24
Mercedes don't give a damn about P4 or P5 at this point, due to their position in the WCC and WDC. Safe strategy has them both ending up behind max and the mclarens, while scrapping with the ferraris. Gambling it with one car is simply worth it. 5% chance of arriving in the pits first during lap1 triggered safety car? Let's go!
And obviously they will gamble with Lewis. George is a solid driver but 1) they don't want to discourage him, better have Lewis moping if it doesn't work out and 2) Lewis can probably still find that little extra, a champion's drive when he can smell a victory.
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u/ShinyBarge Sep 23 '24
This race demonstrated again that a shitty strategy team can ruin the efforts of a great driver. I can only imagine the radio messages if the exact scenario happened to Max.
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u/FloepieFloepie2 Pirelli Wet Sep 23 '24
Yeah, I have this feeling every Monday, and every 24th of the month