Belgian GP: Hamilton takes 6th straight pole

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

Ooh, Albert Park was only used since 1996!

Exactly. They'll got bogged down where there is no track

 

[Darth]

Tigerkart if Hamilton doesn't win tommorow i'll eat a ton of mars bars to celebrate.

 

[Milos]

Tigerkart will eat a ton of Mars bars regardless

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

Tigerkart will eat a ton of Mars bars regardless

True

I'll eat a tonne in celebration of he doesn't win
I'll eat a tonne to comfort me if he wins

 

[Joel]

Twix.... Mmm.....

I mean honestly, I was expecting that Q3 to be interesting, but it just wasn't. And now the press has exploded again on Twitter and oh my god does it drive me crazy. Hoping for drama tomorrow, at least GP2 was exciting.

 

[Blkout]

let me re-phrase that:
Damn you Lewis for having the best car on the field!






In other words, you forgot Fernando.

There's always someone on the internet that's go to throw in their favorite. Easy to blame the car rather than just give credit to the driver. Lewis is the best driver today, like it or not. The car is certainly PART of it but Ferrari has a very good car this year also, and Rosberg has the same car as Lewis and consistently comes up short.

 

[Blkout]

yes true, they seem to be quite evenly matched.
But my point was about Mercedes. It's by far the best far, Ferrari have done well to close the gap but it's still not competitive enough. Rosberg doesn't seem to be a threat to Hamilton this season (somehow.. strange imo), so these combined make a season where you can easily predict the champion(s).

Not really strange when you're ready to admit that Lewis is the best driver in the field.

 

[Milos]

I am not starting a argument over who is the best. But let's face it, if you put Lewis in any other car, he wouldn't be champion, simply because the car is too slow.
About Nico, I am not sure what happened to him between the seasons, there must be something as both in 2013 and 2014 he was closer to Lewis on pace than he is right now.

 

[Blkout]

I am not starting a argument over who is the best. But let's face it, if you put Lewis in any other car, he wouldn't be champion, simply because the car is too slow.
About Nico, I am not sure what happened to him between the seasons, there must be something as both in 2013 and 2014 he was closer to Lewis on pace than he is right now.

We don't have to debate who's the best today, that much is obvious but you mentioned Alonso and I'm curious why you feel that way when he's only won two championships and the last one was 2006 which was 9 years ago. He's certainly a good driver, but to claim that he's the best in the field today is really reaching.

 

[Steve Bird]

Amazing......... I remember another dominant period of F1 whereas a certain German driver rompt home with 7 championships out of 11. Now that was truly yawn inspiring to the point where I binned watching F1 for a few years......pretty much like the Mercedes team are making me feel now. YAAAAAAAAWN.

1994 Michael Schumacher[24] 25 Benetton Ford G 6 8 10 8 92 Race 16 of 16 1
1995 Michael Schumacher[24] 26 Benetton Renault G 4 9 11 8 102 Race 15 of 17 33
2000 Michael Schumacher[24] 31 Ferrari Ferrari B 9 9 12 2 108 Race 16 of 17 19
2001 Michael Schumacher[24] 32 Ferrari Ferrari B 11 9 14 3 123 Race 13 of 17 58
2002 Michael Schumacher[24] 33 Ferrari Ferrari B 7 11 17 7 144 Race 11 of 17 67
2003 Michael Schumacher[24] 34 Ferrari Ferrari B 5 6 8 5 93 Race 16 of 16 2
2004 Michael Schumacher[24] 35 Ferrari Ferrari B 8 13 15 10 148 Race 14 of 18 34

 

[Steve Bird]

We don't have to debate who's the best today, that much is obvious but you mentioned Alonso and I'm curious why you feel that way when he's only won two championships and the last one was 2006 which was 9 years ago. He's certainly a good driver, but to claim that he's the best in the field today is really reaching.

Isn't this the same old boring argument? To win in F1 nowadays you have to have the best car and the best team. Your comment is just ridiculous when you seem to think that a driver can win a championship in an inferior car. Hamilton is a fantastic driver who has won in every formula he's raced in, including karts. Don't get me wrong here, I'm no Hamilton fan, but I can't believe people on here think that he's only winning because of the car.....which I think is complete and utter rubbish.

 

[Blkout]

Isn't this the same old boring argument? To win in F1 nowadays you have to have the best car and the best team. Your comment is just ridiculous when you seem to think that a driver can win a championship in an inferior car. Hamilton is a fantastic driver who has won in every formula he's raced in, including karts. Don't get me wrong here, I'm no Hamilton fan, but I can't believe people on here think that he's only winning because of the car.....which I think is complete and utter rubbish.

Did you quote the wrong person or were you agreeing with me and addressing some other people in this thread at the same time?

 

[LacSlyer]

We don't have to debate who's the best today, that much is obvious but you mentioned Alonso and I'm curious why you feel that way when he's only won two championships and the last one was 2006 which was 9 years ago. He's certainly a good driver, but to claim that he's the best in the field today is really reaching.

I don't understand how you can judge a driver by the number of championships in a league where the car they're in is much more relevant than the majority of other motorsport. I'm much more impressed by the drivers who are able to take obviously inferior machines and be competitive with them (Alonso in 2014, Raikkonen in 2012). I'm not trying to take away from Hamilton's accomplishments, but can you really say he'd be so dominant if the entire field were in a Mercedes? Surely not when last year Rosberg challenged him up to the final race, yet I wouldn't put Rosberg in the top 5 current drivers.

I do find it comical though that people are so defensive of Hamilton being the best due to his own skill and not the car when for 4 years we heard people criticizing Vettel's skill. Not saying you were a culprit.

 

[Blkout]

I'm baffled that people think former top drivers don't fade at some point in their careers. Every few years or a decade a new top driver comes along and an older top driver starts to slip, however I suppose you can blame it on the car or the team or whatever else if it makes you feel better. I'm not saying all of those things don't play a role, but I think its rather silly that people claimed Vettel was only a winner because of Red Bull yet, he's done quite well with Ferrari this year given how bad Ferrari was last year. Hamilton has done quite well with Mercedes, much better than anyone else has ever done with Mercedes. Its fine with me if some people don't want to give Hamilton his due, I suppose you will when he goes on break most of the Formula 1 records if he continues at the pace he's going.

 

[LacSlyer]

I'm baffled that people think former top drivers don't fade at some point in their careers. Every few years or a decade a new top driver comes along and an older top driver starts to slip, however I suppose you can blame it on the car or the team or whatever else if it makes you feel better. I'm not saying all of those things don't play a role, but I think its rather silly that people claimed Vettel was only a winner because of Red Bull yet, he's done quite well with Ferrari this year given how bad Ferrari was last year. Hamilton has done quite well with Mercedes, much better than anyone else has ever done with Mercedes. Its fine with me if some people don't want to give Hamilton his due, I suppose you will when he goes on break most of the Formula 1 records if he continues at the pace he's going.

I agree that drivers do fade over their careers, but from last year's performance I'd say it's hard not to consider Alonso as one of the best drivers currently.

My point is more to accept that F1 above most other forms of motorsport is highly uncompetitive for the majority of drivers, especially in its current form. But even beyond that, consider that over the majority of its existence typically no more than two teams were ever competing for the title by the last 4-6 races, and very often a single team dominated enough to the point where only their drivers were competing. That says it all, and should be highly considered when judging these drivers because most of them won't have a chance in any way of being competitive for the championship simply because of the team they're on. F1 has been and will continue to be far more about the performance of the car you're in than most, if not all of, the other leagues and is more of a factor than a lot of people consider. That's not blaming the car for drivers not being competitive, it's being realistic about the way the sport is regulated.

 

[Chris]

Absolutely astonishing middle sector from Lewis!

 

[Joel]

But every driver on the grid in a Mercedes and see who gets pole and wins. I bet you it isn't Hamilton.

 

[the_sigman]

Amazing......... I remember another dominant period of F1 whereas a certain German driver rompt home with 7 championships out of 11. Now that was truly yawn inspiring to the point where I binned watching F1 for a few years......pretty much like the Mercedes team are making me feel now. YAAAAAAAAWN.

1994 Michael Schumacher[24] 25 Benetton Ford G 6 8 10 8 92 Race 16 of 16 1
1995 Michael Schumacher[24] 26 Benetton Renault G 4 9 11 8 102 Race 15 of 17 33
2000 Michael Schumacher[24] 31 Ferrari Ferrari B 9 9 12 2 108 Race 16 of 17 19
2001 Michael Schumacher[24] 32 Ferrari Ferrari B 11 9 14 3 123 Race 13 of 17 58
2002 Michael Schumacher[24] 33 Ferrari Ferrari B 7 11 17 7 144 Race 11 of 17 67
2003 Michael Schumacher[24] 34 Ferrari Ferrari B 5 6 8 5 93 Race 16 of 16 2
2004 Michael Schumacher[24] 35 Ferrari Ferrari B 8 13 15 10 148 Race 14 of 18 34

1994: FIA helped this, but it was a thrilling season.
1995: Benetton was not even the best car.
1996: Yes, MS was in the Ferrari. That dominant car. And he took wins.
1997: In that Ferrari, with such a Williams, MS managed to make a great finale to the season.
1998: Big Mika vs MS battle.
1999: Hakkinen vs Irvine till the end.
2000: Mika vs MS battle until the end
2001: MS took it relatively easily but still 5 drivers won a race
2002: MS dominant. (3 teams won)
2003: MS vs JPM vs Kimi. Great season.
2004: MS dominant. (4 teams won)

As you can see it was not boring at all. Not yawn at all.

Oh, and btw, never an F1 team and driver has dominated a championship so much (take every pole except from one, all but five victories) for two consecutive years. Always there was a break between such dominancies.

 

[Milos]

We don't have to debate who's the best today, that much is obvious but you mentioned Alonso and I'm curious why you feel that way when he's only won two championships and the last one was 2006 which was 9 years ago. He's certainly a good driver, but to claim that he's the best in the field today is really reaching.

Since 2008 he hasn't had a competitive car capable of winning championships, yet he got close to winning 2 (2010 and 2012)
Lewis meanwhile has a car a full second faster than the others last season and maybe 7 tenths this season. I mean.. put Karthikeyan in a Mercedes and he'll finish 1st or 2nd overall.

You mentioned Hamilton as the best, but imo Alonso is the best. I don't want to start an argument due to that so I'll leave it there. Opinions only.

 

[the_sigman]

Lewis meanwhile has a car a full second faster than the others last season and maybe 7 tenths this season. I mean.. put Karthikeyan in a Mercedes and he'll finish 1st or 2nd overall.

Well, when a mediocre driver (nevermind a bad one) is driving a fast car, things don't go very well. Just see Webber, he didn't even finish second in the championship.