Turkish GP - *spoilers*

[devilmaster]

What. A. Race.

Kinda happy that he won his 7th with a race like this. If it was just another 'normal' dry race and he won on the trot of course there would be more derision that it was all car and not him.

We laud Senna because of his wet weather ability. Today's race, always wet, on a slippery track(even when it was dry), only one true racing line, Lewis was able to keep it on the track, facing forward, while even his teammate spun 6 times.

[SteveH]

Lots of fun. The track was slick to begin with. Add rain and entertainment breaks out. :thumbup:

[Kiwifan]

Felt sorry for Lance. He did everything right but that last set of tyres......

Not a huge Lewis fan but he deserved that win today with some awesome driving in trying conditions. Fun race, :)

[TravelGal]

Major ups. It was one of the few races I've watched without taking my eyes off it for even part of lap. As you say, Rusty, I'm not a huge Hamilton fan but his decision to keep with the tires (tyres?) and drive that thing til it ended was absolutely crucial and showed me that he deserved the win, the championship, everything. Factoring in the car, the track, what was happening in the race to the others, what he's done in the past, it as a racer's decision, not just a driver's. :thumbup:

[SteveH]

When are rain tires no longer rain tires?

https://d3cm515ijfiu6w.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/16075804/Mercedes-W11-celebration.jpg

[WickerBill]

*rain on the parade*

Hamilton was nowhere until the car livened up (finally got the tires warm). I always felt like Senna could drag his car way beyond its ability and I don't get that feeling with Lewis.


*joining the parade*

On the other hand, his horrible, bottom-quarter-of-the-grid teammate never could get them to fire up. Good job to Lewis - won it without a fortunate pit stop, took advantage, was patient, and as usual - no mistakes. I think that's the aspect of Lewis that's most overlooked. He just doesn't do the stuff like Max did, Bottas did, Albon did, etc. His drives are like 99% perfect. Despite his dominant car, you also have to not mess up.

Also, outstanding drives by Sainz, Perez, Vettel... and after the first lap, Norris. I thought Albon was going to come true and I was REALLY rooting for him.

Not what I expected from Verstappen, Bottas, and Ricciardo.

[pfc_m_drake]

Great race. Felt bad for Stroll.

Lewis Hamilton right now kind of reminds me of how I felt about Alex Zanardi in CART during the '97-'98 seasons. Zanardi literally could do no wrong, and got the lucky breaks whenever he needed the. Consequently, I didn't like Zanardi very much during his first CART stint. Nothing personal...I met him at an impromptu fan event (3 of us caught him behind his transporter..LOL) during his rookie year in 1996. He was a great guy (obviously).

Point of the story is that I think a lot of people feel similarly about Hamilton.
And for the record, I still think Senna was better :)

[pfc_m_drake]

On the other hand, his horrible, bottom-quarter-of-the-grid teammate never could get them to fire up.You and I have never agreed about Valteri. Just keep this in mind - he was being aggressive because he had to be. This was literally his last stand.

Also don't kid yourself into believing that Lewis' 44 million pound contract that he's about to sign (and the one he's currently on) doesn't have a clause that says, 'All Lewis, All the time.'

[WickerBill]

Also don't kid yourself into believing that Lewis' 44 million pound contract that he's about to sign (and the one he's currently on) doesn't have a clause that says, 'All Lewis, All the time.'

It must, or Russell would already be his teammate.

In my mind, the only blemish on Hamilton is losing a title to Rosberg. But after seeing Bottas, maybe I'm too hard on Nico. Was he better than I think he was? I know he was always outdueling Schumacher at Mercedes, but Michael was old. And also, Hamilton had some pretty crappy DNFs that year that he had nothing to do with.

Bottas was way better than his teammate his first season (Maldonaldo), but only marginally better than Massa, who sadly was not the same driver he was before his accident. I just can't put my finger on anything that makes him decent, except a willingness to capitulate to the team/teammate. He can't pass cars, he's hard on his tires, and (unlike Alonso, Button, Rosberg) he's just very, very rarely a threat to Hamilton in an equal car.

Change my mind! I'm happy to listen.

[Hard Driver]

Hamilton has never had a teammate that could quite match him. Bottas isn't Hamilton or Verstappen. I think Bottas is pretty good, even in the company of only F1 drivers. What I would like to see is Hamilton vs Verstappen in equal equipment. Right now Hamilton has the equipment. But Verstappen has also never had a teammate that could match him, even close.

[WickerBill]

Eh, come on.... Button outpointed Hamilton over their lifetime as teammates. Button.

Ricciardo was every bit the equal of Verstappen, even when Helmut Marko was clearly favoring Max. And I think Verstappen's dominance over his teammates since proves as much about Ricciardo as it does Verstappen.


Edit: they're both awesome. Don't get me wrong. But I think they could both do with having major teammate upgrades.

[Gopeddle]

I think Nico gave Lewis a run for his money and Carlos was pretty equal to Max.

[indyfan31]

I feel Lewis is an excellent driver. A great one? Meh. He hasn't shown the benchmarks of "great". Considering that the team has taken him to 6 WDCs he still questions every order that comes over the radio; and his whining over problems that can't be solved or avoided is just grating. That said, no one was anywhere even near his league this year.

I was screaming at the TV for Racing Point to come in for tires every time someone would pit and get faster times.

Fun race. Rain on the last 2 or 3 laps would have added some wonderful chaos.