Lewis Hamilton - An objective look at his 2019 season.

[journeyman racer]

So since you can't talk about Bottas without validating Hamilton in the Bottas thread. I'm starting this thread to really get down in analysing his 2019 season.

So since the new points allocation was introduced in 2010. Lewis Hamilton has exceeded his own record of scoring the most points after 7 races, with 162pts. Leading team mate Bottas by a considerable 29pts.

But personally, I think he's done so without particularly doing anything remarkable?

He's leading the head to head qualifying with Bottas 4-3. But Bottas had the howler in Canada. Bottas is leading the PP stats 3-1, and most wouldn't have expected this prior to the season.

But even with his wins, there's nothing really that crash hot. China and Spain were just another MB processions. Monaco was alright. But the lead car has an advantage at Monaco, so him fending off Verstappen wasn't really a big deal.

He's leading Bottas 5-2 in the win column. But two of his wins have been inherited, Bahrain and Canada. That's 14 bonus points in the championship compared to where he objectively should've finished. A extra 10 points over Bottas in comparison to where he would've finished as well.

Then he benefits from the misfortune Bottas suffered in Monaco. Bottas should've had at least a 2nd place, so there's 3 points Hamilton benefits from.

Bottas was having problems with his car in Bahrain, and a mistake as a result of it was taken advantage by Hamilton.

So he's leading the championship by a comfortable margin. But he hasn't really done anything.

[Big Ben]

He doesn't need to be exceptional. He's team mate is no match for the WDC. The Ferraris are behind as well. It's going to be boring and it's going to be another "easy" one for Hamilton.

[journeyman racer]

Bottas has scored 133pts so far. At this point in the season since the new points allocation was introduced, 133pts would lead the championship in 5 of the 10 seasons, and be the leading MB in 17.

Bottas has suffered some misfortune in the races, and Hamilton has been fortunate a couples of time this year.

Hamilton has not obliterated Bottas at any stage this year. Bottas best this year has been better.

There's enough evidence this year to suggest that your sweeping generalisation is an incorrect interpretation. I have no idea what quality you think Hamilton has that you could be so definite.

[Nitrodaze]

I am sorry buddy, when it comes to Hamilton, you do not have an object view. You clearly don't like him. But like minded chaps as your self would have a great forum to be critical of him while pretending to be objective.

That said, it would make interesting reading. Hence l shall be reading the entries to this thread for its comedy value.

[journeyman racer]

Feel free to challenge any point of view of mine. When I say "objective", I wasn't just meaning of my own opinion. You can contribute to.

With the possible exception of the crucial PP at Monaco. Is there a performance where you can say he's definitely produced an performance to warrant such a big points lead?

In fact, I'd even encourage anyone to counter any points I make (Except N4D13)

[Big Ben]

There's enough evidence this year to suggest that your sweeping generalisation is an incorrect interpretation. I have no idea what quality you think Hamilton has that you could be so definite.
He's just better than Bottas. I want to be wrong but I don't think I am. At the end of the season we'll keep talking about unlucky Bottas.

[greencroft]

In any competition, you only have to (and in fact can only) beat what's put up against you. And Hamilton has done so, 5 times now.

You can argue until the cows come home that he was unlucky here and lucky there but it is his results that lead to points and he is the one with more of them.

I don't see that changing anytime soon.

I don't think there is anything other than objectivity in these comments, excepting my final sentence which may be totally wrong - I hope it is as F1 without predictability is a much more rewarding experience.

[Bagwan]

In any competition, you only have to (and in fact can only) beat what's put up against you. And Hamilton has done so, 5 times now.

You can argue until the cows come home that he was unlucky here and lucky there but it is his results that lead to points and he is the one with more of them.

I don't see that changing anytime soon.

I don't think there is anything other than objectivity in these comments, excepting my final sentence which may be totally wrong - I hope it is as F1 without predictability is a much more rewarding experience.

This , I think , is more about "who is the favourite son .

[Nitrodaze]

Bottas has scored 133pts so far. At this point in the season since the new points allocation was introduced, 133pts would lead the championship in 5 of the 10 seasons, and be the leading MB in 17.

Bottas has suffered some misfortune in the races, and Hamilton has been fortunate a couples of time this year.

Hamilton has not obliterated Bottas at any stage this year. Bottas best this year has been better.

There's enough evidence this year to suggest that your sweeping generalisation is an incorrect interpretation. I have no idea what quality you think Hamilton has that you could be so definite.

Ok, fair points, so here goes.

The Redbull shinanigans at Monaco has caused Bottas the most damage to his championship hopes this season but not necessarily putting him out of it. He was off the boil at Canada and failed to be on the podium which has caused further damage to his hopes. But still recoverable. He started the season well but Hamilton was always thereabout. I think there may have been some initial complacence from Hamilton at the start of the season, but that started to fall away as we approached the European races.

Even while Hamilton was not quite up to his usual level of performance, he was close enough to ensure that he was there to take full advantage of situations during the race. To say Hamilton was fortunate displays poor appreciation of how hard Mercedes had to work to ensure that the deficit of pace they have relative to the fearsome Ferrari engine was recovered and extended in the aero package of their cars.

Bottas is behind on points because he has not maximized his opportunities as Hamilton has. To be ahead, one has to also be there to grab any opportunities that come your way. Rosberg understood this very well which is why he managed to win the 2016 WDC. Hamilton was there to collect when Ferrari fumbled their opportunities to win. Be it the situation where Leclerc's engine had problems at the latter stages of what seemed like a clear win for Ferrari. Or the much criticized penalty that gifted Hamilton the Canadian GP win. It takes a great deal of effort to be in such a position.

On both occasions that Hamilton has taken a Ferrari win, you forget that there is the other Ferrari there which should be taking over a win if the leading car is in some trouble. That was not the case, but Hamilton in the slower but nimble Mercedes was there to ensure he got the bounty. That is not being fortunate. that is great racing.

When you say obliterate, what do you really mean? Do you mean speed off into the distance leaving Bottas 30 minutes behind? Or do you mean being ahead in the points. To say Hamilton should have obliterated Bottas , shows you have very little respect for Bottas and how well he has upped his game this season. In the Mercedes, Hamilton is not going to drive off into the distance, unless Bottas have issues which put him in the midfield pack. It happened in 2018 because Bottas lost confidence and hated the way things turned out for him. And the team orders did not help his motivation either. But it was what it was.

The fact that Bottas has stepped up his game does not mean Hamilton has become mediocre. I expect a close fight for each point between Hamilton and Bottas. Because Bottas pushed the bar up early in the season , asking Hamilton to step up. And Hamilton stepped up his game and we begin to see points gap increasing. The question now is, can Bottas recover from his 29 points deficit and take the fight back to Hamilton or not? How Bottas recovers would say a lot about him and his place in the second Mercedes car.

What you are seeing with Hamilton is greatness in motion. The unfolding of a brilliant historical moment which you and l are lucky to behold.

[The Black Knight]

In any competition, you only have to (and in fact can only) beat what's put up against you. And Hamilton has done so, 5 times now.

You can argue until the cows come home that he was unlucky here and lucky there but it is his results that lead to points and he is the one with more of them.

I don't see that changing anytime soon.

I don't think there is anything other than objectivity in these comments, excepting my final sentence which may be totally wrong - I hope it is as F1 without predictability is a much more rewarding experience.

More worryingly for Bottas is that Hamilto looks yet to peak this season, whereas Bottas appears to have peaked early on. Hamilton’s second half of the season is usually stronger.

For those that remember 2017, Bottas also started the season incredibly strong. I remember an interview with Damon Hill where he stated he reckoned Hamilton could step it up a gear against Bottas when he wanted. He did just that in the second half of the season amd Bottas challenge tailed off, it’ll be interesting to see if this happens again or whether Bottas impressive start to 2019 will carry through to the seasons end.

[Duncan]

Bottas has clearly upped his game this season, and yet... it's still not enough. Not entirely Bottas' fault, of course. But given the status of the manufacturers, Hamilton's biggest rival is still Bottas, and so his (Hamilton's) priorities need to be:

1. Don't have any DNFs
2. Don't use up more PUs than allocated

those two things are what could potentially hurt Hamilton with respect to Bottas, and given the state of Ferrari right now, I'm sure he's thinking about what happened in 2016, and what he can do that's under his control to avoid that scenario. That would include being careful to not thrash the power unit. There's no sense in using more peak engine modes than he needs to to take whatever points might reasonably be available in any situation. Managing might make for boring races, but it's Hamilton's best strategy given the circumstances.

Since the beginning of the hybrid era, Hamilton has averaged 1.4 DNFs per season, mostly due to PU failures. A PU-induced DNF would bring Bottas right back into contention; he's only 29 points back.

[N4D13]

That is a fair point, but how does one avoid using up additional power units or having reliability issues in general? There's only so much that a driver can do.

[The Black Knight]

That is a fair point, but how does one avoid using up additional power units or having reliability issues in general? There's only so much that a driver can do.

By using lower power modes as much as possible. There’s no bullet proof way but looking after your engine, using less aggressive power modes, is the best way.

[Duncan]

By using lower power modes as much as possible. There’s no bullet proof way but looking after your engine, using less aggressive power modes, is the best way.

Exactly what I was thinking. It's the only lever the driver really has.

[journeyman racer]

I wasn't expecting so many posts about this topic since my last post.. There's are numerous questions and counterpoints to make, but it's take too much time atm.

[journeyman racer]

He's just better than Bottas. I want to be wrong but I don't think I am. At the end of the season we'll keep talking about unlucky Bottas.
It's alright saying he's better. But what is "better"? What does he do? Where does he have an advantage? You come across as quite dispirited.

[journeyman racer]

I reckon Duncan has made a good summation so far.

I'd put it to anyone here that can remember, that Hamilton's most assertive season has been 2015. With the relief of winning a second championship after an unexpected drought and being overshadowed by Vettel (Who produced stats Hamilton was expected to at that point), he lifted and really rammed home any advantage he had over Rosberg.

Yet this season has been statistically superior to 2015. 5 wins to 4, 162pts to 151, and a championship lead of 29 over Bottas compared to 17 over Rosberg.

He has been marginally better than Bottas overall. If all the other factors stayed the same (Ferrari pit strategies not being split for instance), If Hamilton had been the only MB this year, he'd have won all 7 races so far. Had Bottas been the only MB this year, accounting that he wouldn't have had to compromise his pit entry in Monaco and put himself in the ensuing collision, he'd have won 6 races and got a 3rd in Canada.

That's a 10pt difference. This is what I think would be a fair reflection of the difference between the MB drivers so far. But it's blown out to 29.

[journeyman racer]

Good pole for Hamilton, 0.286 ahead of Bottas. Who was .0360 quicker than 3rd placed Leclerc with a disadvantaged lap.

I'd put this down primarily to the superiority of MB. Idk if anyone else agrees.

[journeyman racer]

In the last two races, Hamilton has finished a net 1 place behind Bottas. Yet increased his title lead by 2pts.

The genius of champions.

[Jag_Warrior]

I'm one who believes that you tend to make your own luck. Apart from PU failures (which could come from having to dog the engine in races because you didn't qualify ahead of the competition), Hamilton has made fewer mistakes the past few years than most of his competitors. Poor old Vettel has hit everything but the safety car and made more unforced errors than Pastor Maldonado used to. And though Bottas has greatly improved since last season, I just don't think that he can sustain an attack against Hamilton over the course of a season. As was shown by Rosberg, that sort of effort is draining on the mind and body. Once Verstappen and Leclerc have more competitive equipment (or Mercedes loses a step), then there will be some real competition for Hamilton.

[Nitrodaze]

I'm one who believes that you tend to make your own luck. Apart from PU failures (which could come from having to dog the engine in races because you didn't qualify ahead of the competition), Hamilton has made fewer mistakes the past few years than most of his competitors. Poor old Vettel has hit everything but the safety car and made more unforced errors than Pastor Maldonado used to. And though Bottas has greatly improved since last season, I just don't think that he can sustain an attack against Hamilton over the course of a season. As was shown by Rosberg, that sort of effort is draining on the mind and body. Once Verstappen and Leclerc have more competitive equipment (or Mercedes loses a step), then there will be some real competition for Hamilton.

Yea, the F1 generation game shall commence in earnest when Honda catch up to Ferrari and Ferrari sort out their aero issues. As we are seeing in Ladies tennis at the moment, F1 is set for a showdown of its own. It is happening now to Vettel to some extent, but an Alonso type fight with Schumacher for supremacy of the formula is yet to happen.

[journeyman racer]

I'm one who believes that you tend to make your own luck.
It'd be interesting to ever find out what this is regarding Hamilton's results? Between Bahrain, Monaco, Canada and Britain, I've worked out he's picked up 28pts on Bottas through random moments that have affected results in his favour.

Think about this. Leading in Monaco prior to the safety car being released was an advantage as Bottas was compromised during that sequence.

But in Silverstone trailing happened to be advantageous for a random moment the safety car came out.

[Nitrodaze]

It'd be interesting to ever find out what this is regarding Hamilton's results? Between Bahrain, Monaco, Canada and Britain, I've worked out he's picked up 28pts on Bottas through random moments that have affected results in his favour.

Think about this. Leading in Monaco prior to the safety car being released was an advantage as Bottas was compromised during that sequence.

But in Silverstone trailing happened to be advantageous for a random moment the safety car came out.

Pick any world champion at random and have a look at how many lucky moments contributed to their winning their title, you would find that being at the right place at the right time to benefit from low hanging fruit such as safety cars and opponents accidents or penalties is a common part of winning championships. Ask Rosberg, he would tell you a thing or two about it.

Hence, l think you make a very pointless statement. Luck is part of winning.

[journeyman racer]

Pick any world champion at random and have a look at how many lucky moments contributed to their winning their title, you would find that being at the right place at the right time to benefit from low hanging fruit such as safety cars and opponents accidents or penalties is a common part of winning championships. Ask Rosberg, he would tell you a thing or two about it.

Hence, l think you make a very pointless statement. Luck is part of winning.
You're the one saying it. You're going to have to come up with some examples?

[The Black Knight]

Pick any world champion at random and have a look at how many lucky moments contributed to their winning their title, you would find that being at the right place at the right time to benefit from low hanging fruit such as safety cars and opponents accidents or penalties is a common part of winning championships. Ask Rosberg, he would tell you a thing or two about it.

Hence, l think you make a very pointless statement. Luck is part of winning.

The safety car yesterday made no difference as Bottas was always going to two stop in the race. Hamilton’s simply much better at saving his tires than Bottas, it’s an area Bottas openly admitted a couple of days ago that Hamilton was better at and that he was learning from Lewis’s data on it. Again, this is something Rosberg did a lot as well to try keep pace with Hamilton and beat him. I think Lewis has learned to mask his pace more over the years though which is now why he suddenly jumps ahead of Bottas a lot in Q3. That’s the difference between 7 wins at this stage of a season and two. Bottas had improved lot this year, I just cannot see him beating Hamilton over the course of a season unless he has the luck of Rosberg in 2016.

There has been once or twice you might say luck was on Hamilton’s side, this year however, but yesterday was not one of them as Bottas was always two stopping and Hamilton was always on a one stop.

[journeyman racer]

Relative strengths and weakness can be acknowledged. That definitely was fortunate yesterday. It prevented forcing Hamilton to pass on the track (Something he hasn't done off his own accord to Bottas this year), which is a significantly different situation than just a freebie pit and an easy run front.

[Nitrodaze]

You're the one saying it. You're going to have to come up with some examples?

To make it easy for you, l gave you Rosberg as an example. Now go do your research before you write your comments.

[The Black Knight]

Mercedes decided on Sunday morning Bottas would be doing medium, medium and hard tire and that Lewis would go medium, hard. This was based on data from Friday’s run which suggested that Bottas’s strategy was optimal race strategy. So regardless Bottas had to pit twice, Hamilton didn’t. However even on hard tire and with Bottas on medium, Bottas could not keep up with him after the pitstop. This is why the safety car made no difference. He wouldn’t have managed to make up 17.5 seconds in that extra pitstop. No chance.

What Lewis did on the last lap of the race was quite astonishing on 30 lap old tires. Bottas fastest lap should have been completely out of reach.

[journeyman racer]

Yeah I know. Bottas has to win the title with a relative weakness to Hamilton. But when they hadn't split their strategies all season, MB now do and it favours Hamilton.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/07/16/bottas-regrets-discounting-one-stop-strategy/


Wolff confirmed that the plan was to split the strategies of the two Mercedes, although the team had expected to also bring Hamilton back into the pits at some stage.

“In our strategy meeting in the morning, actually the drivers brought up whether there was an offset strategy possible for the guy running second, because if you put them on the same tyre, this is probably how the race is going to end,” he explained.

“So picking up on the suggestion, we decided that the second-placed driver would run an offset strategy with the hard tyre in the middle.

“We weren’t quite sure whether one stop would make it, probably rather thinking it would be a two, also because of a lack of data on the hard, and this is exactly how it panned out.

“Obviously both of them drove a brilliant race, both of them would have deserved to win the race, and in that instance, the Safety Car swung in the favour of one driver.”


To make it easy for you, l gave you Rosberg as an example. Now go do your research before you write your comments.
I have.

https://www.motorsportforums.com/showthread.php?37079-Nico-Rosberg-World-Champion!/page10

[The Black Knight]

They split their strategies yes but Bottas chose to accept that strategy. As the car qualifying on pole position he gets to choose the primary strategy and it’s up to Hamilton to choose a strategy around it. Bottas could have easily chosen Medium, Hard as a strategy like Hamilton. Both drivers agreed to this approach in the morning strategy meeting. There was no favourtism, Hamilton simply outsmarted him, not alone in the strategy meeting but by also driving completely differently and more gently in Friday practice and then doing exactly the opposite on Sunday knowing Bottas would have studied his data on Friday to try find out how he preserved his tires. And he was still faster and able to save his tires more than Bottas was.

Anyway, if Mercedes really wanted to favour Hamilton they could just prevent the drivers from seeing each other's data. Bottas would be screwed then.

[airshifter]

Safety car.

Though Lewis overall is the better driver, that sums up how he made his move at this race. Bottas pitted first, and the undercut was working. He was putting a bigger gap on Lewis in his out laps. Lewis had the time advantage of pitting under the safety car, the easy laps on the new tires due to the safety car that let him run the tires even deeper, and the advantage that everyone had cool tires on the restart.

The fast lap was brilliant considering the tire age. But it's been confirmed that Bottas had the disadvantage of the battery issue, as well as having made his fast lap attempt when still heavier on fuel.

So overall, I'd say if anything Bottas stepped up to the level of Hamilton this race. It's one of the few times they went wheel to wheel on track and Lewis didn't come out on top. Lewis drove his usual great race, but luck played a large part in the win IMO.

[The Black Knight]

Safety car.

Though Lewis overall is the better driver, that sums up how he made his move at this race. Bottas pitted first, and the undercut was working. He was putting a bigger gap on Lewis in his out laps. Lewis had the time advantage of pitting under the safety car, the easy laps on the new tires due to the safety car that let him run the tires even deeper, and the advantage that everyone had cool tires on the restart.

The fast lap was brilliant considering the tire age. But it's been confirmed that Bottas had the disadvantage of the battery issue, as well as having made his fast lap attempt when still heavier on fuel.

So overall, I'd say if anything Bottas stepped up to the level of Hamilton this race. It's one of the few times they went wheel to wheel on track and Lewis didn't come out on top. Lewis drove his usual great race, but luck played a large part in the win IMO.

6 laps heavier fuel, on a tire which is approximately 1.5 seconds (at least) faster than the one Hamilton was on out of the box. Not to mention one with 30 laps on it... give me 6 laps extra fuel with the fastest F1 tire any day of the week. His battery wasn’t fully charged is all the issue was, that’s not much lap time. It doesn’t account for what should have been 3-4 seconds differential pace. And the only reason Hamilton didn’t pass him was because he went easy on him as it was his teammate- a Ferrari and he’d have gotten by at Brooklands.

Hamilton’s pace was much better throughout from the start and he was able to manage his tires better. Even without the safety car he’d have won the race. Bottas wasn’t even as quick as Hamilton was on the hard tire after the safety car. He was on medium tire and lost 3 seconds to him. He couldn’t even get close enough to attempt to overtake him on the faster tire and he had plenty of time to try.

Sorry mate, you’re cuckoo if you think Bottas was anywhere near Hamilton this race. Bottas is close to Hamilton in qualifying but in race pace he is nowhere near him.

[Nitrodaze]

Safety car.

Though Lewis overall is the better driver, that sums up how he made his move at this race. Bottas pitted first, and the undercut was working. He was putting a bigger gap on Lewis in his out laps. Lewis had the time advantage of pitting under the safety car, the easy laps on the new tires due to the safety car that let him run the tires even deeper, and the advantage that everyone had cool tires on the restart.

The fast lap was brilliant considering the tire age. But it's been confirmed that Bottas had the disadvantage of the battery issue, as well as having made his fast lap attempt when still heavier on fuel.

So overall, I'd say if anything Bottas stepped up to the level of Hamilton this race. It's one of the few times they went wheel to wheel on track and Lewis didn't come out on top. Lewis drove his usual great race, but luck played a large part in the win IMO.

Good point there, it is the first time that Bottas has come on top in a head to head with Hamilton. I probably would not go as far as to say he drove at the same level as Hamilton. Besides, Hamilton would have won the race without the safety car because his one stop strategy would have beaten Bottas' two stop strategy. This is mainly because, Bottas' tyre management was not as good as Hamilton's. We really never know what might have happened without the safety car. But based on Bottas' pace, there is a strong indication that Hamilton may have won without the safety car.

That said, Bottas drove a great race and a very impressive showing.

[airshifter]

6 laps heavier fuel, on a tire which is approximately 1.5 seconds (at least) faster than the one Hamilton was on out of the box. Not to mention one with 30 laps on it... give me 6 laps extra fuel with the fastest F1 tire any day of the week. His battery wasn’t fully charged is all the issue was, that’s not much lap time. It doesn’t account for what should have been 3-4 seconds differential pace. And the only reason Hamilton didn’t pass him was because he went easy on him as it was his teammate- a Ferrari and he’d have gotten by at Brooklands.

Hamilton’s pace was much better throughout from the start and he was able to manage his tires better. Even without the safety car he’d have won the race. Bottas wasn’t even as quick as Hamilton was on the hard tire after the safety car. He was on medium tire and lost 3 seconds to him. He couldn’t even get close enough to attempt to overtake him on the faster tire and he had plenty of time to try.

Sorry mate, you’re cuckoo if you think Bottas was anywhere near Hamilton this race. Bottas is close to Hamilton in qualifying but in race pace he is nowhere near him.


In this race, the pass was made in the pits, and retaining the pass was a strategy call. Fact. Lap time show that the only time Hamilton really made a gap of any significance was after Bottas made his final stop. And at that point, the best Bottas could do was secure the 2nd spot. He wasn't going to make up 20+ seconds in 7 laps, but pushing too hard and making a mistake could have easily put him into the grips of Leclerc, who was only about 6-7 seconds back.



You can call me cuckoo all you'd like, but your statements are based on speculation rather than facts.

[airshifter]

Good point there, it is the first time that Bottas has come on top in a head to head with Hamilton. I probably would not go as far as to say he drove at the same level as Hamilton. Besides, Hamilton would have won the race without the safety car because his one stop strategy would have beaten Bottas' two stop strategy. This is mainly because, Bottas' tyre management was not as good as Hamilton's. We really never know what might have happened without the safety car. But based on Bottas' pace, there is a strong indication that Hamilton may have won without the safety car.

That said, Bottas drove a great race and a very impressive showing.

The bolded is the only thing we know to be 100% true here, and those things we know to be facts before the safety car was deployed.

If they made the 1 stopper work without a safety car, there is a very good chance Lewis still would have won. But without that safety car advantage in the mix, it's really hard to say. Running faster laps in clean air is a different thing than catching and passing a car. And at race start, on equal tires, Bottas held the lead that he had due to the better qually.


As for the thread intent... as an objective view of the 2019 season I think Lewis is fairly well in control. Bottas has upped his game, and now Ferrari and RB have managed to at least get into the mix some. Though good fortune has at times helped his points gap, that happens with all drivers and is pure luck IMO. I've appreciated Hamilton's talent since he made it into F1. I'm just glad that here and there someone can still challenge him, and in this last race start it was Bottas. I'd like it even more if we could get 4-5 drivers fighting for the top podium step on a regular basis.

[journeyman racer]

See, the objectivity doesn't have to come from me

[journeyman racer]

So this advantage Hamilton has got over Bottas with the tyres? I find this very interesting. It would be good to have more knowledge as to why this occurs?

It's interesting because it's something to focus on when discussing drivers abilities. Previously people would refer to Hamilton as being some supreme being, but wouldn't really know why Hamilton was better than Bottas/Rosberg etc. But it's possible to study this and find out a techniques or learn something about driving.

Tyres are the only thing of the car that touches the road. It's great from Hamilton because even if he worse off in track position, this knack with tyres keeps him in contention in the race. Whereas Bottas would be a bit too far behind to keep pressure on the leader.

It'll be good if we ever find out what he does?

[journeyman racer]

Even though he didn't win, I thought his race in Belgium was pretty good. He was no chance to win throughout the race, yet was in a position to threaten to win at the end.