It would be about the 60th Hamilton win where he just extends the first stint and keeps enough tyre to stay clear until the end.
Lord Sir Lewis Hamilton of Stevenage
Max Verstappen
Evil Daniel Ricciardo
Less Evil Sebastian Vettel
There was something in the air that night Fernando
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It would be about the 60th Hamilton win where he just extends the first stint and keeps enough tyre to stay clear until the end.
I've got quite into the first corner game theory. In all the scenarios I can imagine (short of protagonists being really slow off the line), the most chaotic outcomes come from Perez getting off to a flier from behind, crossing over to the right and making a super-aggressive sweep into 1. I expect Max to do the same from ahead, but Perez doing it could be carnage.
I don't know what I'd do as Hamilton. You can't be too cautious or you could end up in 7th or something.
Last year, RB pitted Max on lap 11 from mediums to hards, and he ran them to the end of the race. With the course changes, this might not be viable, but that's a mega stint on one set to the end of the race, so he might try to make it work this time around.
None of this will matter when Max yeets it into the pitlane wall.
I reckon HAM may retire if he wins it today.
I guess he want may to try to "new era" cars, but I just have a little feeling.
Assuming we get away from Turn/Lap 1/2, I think we're on for a repeat of Austin, with Lewis having to close and pass in the final laps to win it.
Qualy was a bit of a re-do from Max. This is what it would have looked like last week had he not binned it. FP2 and Q2/3 suggest the Mercedes is not so happy on the softs here, but does seem to have the advantage on the yellow tyres.
If I had to pick, I'd lean Max right now. Track position with the way he's been defending lately would make him a mighty tough guy to pass. I just hope whoever wins, it's through skill on track. None of those season long gremlins(Red Bulls rear wing, Mercs engine) popping up to deny someone.
I don't think Lewis will retire if he wins or not. Those 2022 cars will be a lot of fun if they work as intended. And that's the stage he's approaching now. He already has all of the records bar the outright titles. I think he's giving himself the year to see if they work and if Mercedes nail the new regs yet again. He may yet even extend into his 40's.
Since the woman left, he's kept to himself seemingly, so there's no family for him to be leaving the sport for.
One more year to show Russell the ropes and then he's out. The only thing that could stop him is his health. He's shattered after some races.
I don't see him leaving for a year or two even if he wins today, although it is interesting to wonder who they'd get if he did a Rosberg this evening. Who is even available?
As for the race, if you look at the speed trap results for qualy the Red Bull was awfully fast in a straight line. They put a very skinny rear wing on for Verstappen which would help him defend but could also put extra wear on the rears. My guess is they'll both try for a one stop but Hamilton will extend his first stint to try and have a grip advantage on the hards later in the race but he's probably going to have to make the pass on track.
Mazepin out with Covid, only one Haas will start. They were supposedly down to their last two chassis so lol if this is cover for them running out of bits.
They'll have development drivers. Stoffel Vandorne and Nick de Vries. They could even dip in for Piastri probably.Originally Posted by Disco
Ocon to Mercedes, Piastri to Renault would be my guess.
It's genuinely amazing, watching these parallel interviews on Sky, that people think Lewis Hamilton is the dickhead of the two.
George Russell is the biggest dickhead of all. Him getting more airtime from next year
"Biggest race of their lives".
Maybe for Max, not so sure for Hamilton.
It's very interesting mentally. This is Lewis' 11th proper title challenge. He's 7/10 and the 3 he lost were all final day deciders, albeit in '07, '10 and '16 the damage was really done before the final race.
If Lewis doesn't win, I imagine it'll annoy him, but not for too long. He's got 7 done and can still go on to another one or two.
For Max, not winning from where he was, with the ego and toxicity that seems to now surround him, might set him back a bit.
I make it equal 9th for Hamilton, he's been in this position a comically large number of times.
Newb here, so real talk please?
Why have Verstappen's team picked a tyre strategy that everyone says is shit and what does the man himself do that pisses people off so much?
And if Mercedes have to dip into FE for a driver (a jump which nobody has made) they might as well pack it all up. Throw money at Icon, Norris or even Verstappen before that, christ I'd get Hulkenberg on a plane before I looked at the milk float lot.
I'm afraid to say I am in some agreement on Russell, he seems too keen to play up the rich boy knobhead look (even though it's promotional this weekend) for there not to be some truth to it. Went on holiday with Lance Stroll too
They didn't pick it, he meffed up in Q2 and had to take the softs to make sure he wasn't starting from 10th [and thereby out of it].
His medium tyre (often the better one to start on so that you only need to stop once in the race) was botched during qualifying, so he only has used ones of those and new softs (quicker, but faster degrading). He is therefore boxed into one strategy option whereas Hamilton is probably more flexible.
Martin Brundle stalking the pit lane like a pervert in a nightclub looking for a girl drunk enough to rape is a bit odd to say the least.
He's extremely talented, but he's surrounded himself with people who wont say no to him. Think rich parents with only child who can do no wrong. Every now and then they hire "the help" to drive the other, somehow inferior but the same, car.
His team wanted him on the other tyre, but he ruined his last new set of them with a lock up. So they switched him. Those red soft tyres should degrade quite quickly, forcing Max into 2 stops, or a 1 stop with bad tyres at the end of the race.
If they do not degrade as expected by Mercedes, then it's going to be tough for Lewis to reel him in later on.
Did Martin Brundle just completely blank Robbie Williams whilst b-lining for Stormzy?
They have to start on the same set of tyres that they used in the second part of qualifying, Verstappen initially set a time on a set of mediums but then had a lock up and potentially ruined that set so he went back out and set a time on the softs. Debatable if this was by accident or design as the RB tends to prefer the softer compound compared to the Mercedes.
On Max himself, he is incredibly uncompromising in his driving style, he is also quite combative out of the car too which both attracts and repels fans in equal measure. There's quite a good article on the beeb about how his dad trained him through karting etc (minus the domestic violence and restraining orders).
His dad was a shit driver in the late 90s. Very Haaland vibes about the whole thing.
I’m nervous.
I haven't seen that level of maturity that usually comes from drivers. Max has been on the grid for six years and he hasn't learned how to settle for a result. Hamilton's back in the fight because of the long game. If anything, this season he's got more aggressive. Maybe that's the measure of what he's up against but he really hasn't come on much since punting Leclerc for the win in Austria 2018.
I think anyone with half a clue are well aware that they’re both dickheads. Hamilton is just far more media polished.
Mon the dirty tax-dodging BLM doing a Senna.
Because they’ve no other choice. It’s not a great strategy to win this race but it was the best choice of a bad lot. There’s a big gap between both cars (and both drivers imo).
Is Mazepin a DNS or have Sky just left him off their graphic?
Put £10 on Norris to be leading at end of lap 1. Verstappen to be too worried blocking Hamilton off and Norris through on the inside
DNS. Haas just running the one car.
Covid, and you need to have done a session to take part in the race so they can't put anyone else in.
Is the fear that he infects everyone as they lap him?
Given it's supposedly the 'preferred tyre' there aren't a lot of people starting o the medium.
What a fucking start.
Go on then.
What happened there? Didn't Verstappen run him off the road?
Not sure I agree with Sky on this.
Max pushed him off there straight away.
I wasn't even sure it was the two leaders and how the hell did they end up still in first and second if it was them?
Do you even need to ask.
Dirty as fuck.
Fantastic start from Hamilton. That’s the winning of it there.
Brundle talking utter shit, which is unusual and had me worried for a moment.
How shit was Max off the line.
All clear from the replay. No investigation necessary. I'm fapping myself silly here.
Door was open.
No way that place should go back either, Verstappen tried to clip him.
No investigation, get fucked Dutchies.
I hope Hamilton wins by like two minutes.
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