"Missing Chunk" of Floor to Blame For Hamilton Pace

[Durge Driven]

I don't think Mercedes would need to come up with excuses for Hamilton, they're just stating what happened.

More interesting is why they said it ?

How does it do anyone any good to deflate one of their drivers with speculation

Would it not be a better tactic to hide this from Val so not to affect his new found confidence

 

[Kaygeeoh]

More interesting is why they said it ?

How does it do anyone any good to deflate one of their drivers with speculation

Would it not be a better tactic to hide this from Val so not to affect his new found confidence

With the drive Valteri has, i dont think anything could dent his confidence. If this info actually makes him question himself, then he has not the right mental fortitude.. His very excellent drive has nothing to do with the failures or lack of pace of Lewis.

 

[Luca Antinori]

More interesting is why they said it ?

How does it do anyone any good to deflate one of their drivers with speculation

Would it not be a better tactic to hide this from Val so not to affect his new found confidence

If I were Bottas I would prefer to be aware of anything going on. He can evaluate better with his team where he is against Hamilton. Bottas has a lot to do to be at the same level of Hamilton yet, if he can. This was just one race, the season is long. I hope Bottas will be up to the challenge as we don't know if Ferrari and Red Bull will be able to Mercedes at all this year. It may be just Bottas vs Hamilton...

 

[JO Simracing]

If he needs a little bit of floor on the car to be there for the car to be on pace then it proves how much the car is EVERYTHING about success in F1....

Spot on!

 

[F1Aussie]

View attachment 297102 There's a picture for everyone calling bs

Wow, there is your 21 seconds right there.

 

[Freaky]

Yeah, a tiny bit of floor causes Hamilton's pace to go 25 seconds down, I think they forgot that April Fool's day is on 1st April.

 

[Turk]

Spot on!

But the things is every single part of an F1 car is necessary, they don't put superfluous parts on these cars, if any part breaks no matter how small it affects the cars performance. I would guess that floor sections around the tyres are especially important.

Hamilton came 2nd, Mercedes got a 1/2, they've nothing to be covering up here, it's an ideal result all things considered.

 

[nolimit2k6]

He did this all last season as well when Bottas was showing him up. We now have the most quoted radio transmission in history, "Valtteri, this is James..." and $20 says Toto would've had them swap in Baku if it wasn't for that puncture. The dude just can't accept the fact he lost, we've all seen cars with more damage either win a race or fight for the win. Hamilton is just a sore loser and his body language showed that.

 

[JO Simracing]

But the things is every single part of an F1 car is necessary, they don't put superfluous parts on these cars, if any part breaks no matter how small it affects the cars performance. I would guess that floor sections around the tyres are especially important.

Hamilton came 2nd, Mercedes got a 1/2, they've nothing to be covering up here, it's an ideal result all things considered.

It was a good result for Mercedes indeed. The issue here is that, not taking anything away from Bottas, you could have put any other driver from the grid on Bottas' car and it would have beaten Hamilton. Thus making the car a deciding factor. And it can be argued this is the norm in F1. The rear thing in F1 is to have two or three teams at the same level with car and drivers... But that's what really makes the races interesting for the wider audiences. Otherwise we are actually watching multiple competitions between two drivers in each team... and the parafernalia of the circus... But that's not really that exciting.

 

[Turk]

The dude just can't accept the fact he lost,

That's probably true of champions in general. They tend to be very much focused on winning and 2nd place is as good as last in their mind. I don't think Hamilton is special in that regard, it's just the way their (top level athletes) brains work.

 

[samprince053]

Wow, there is your 21 seconds right there.

Are you serious? Cant tell if youre a troll or just a hater. Air is micro managed to such a degree that a tiny chunk like that makes a huge difference, this disrupts the flow of air around the tyre which increases wear as you could hear on his radio. Every single piece of aero has a knock on effect which has a huge effect on balance, this chunk effects the air around the back of the car, under the car leading to the diffuser and the tyre which effects tyre wear and has a massive effect on balance. Hamilton literally said over his radio he was struggling with rear balance and tyres.

 

[apex11]

So basically Merc have now shown the picture to the world to appease Lewis.
"look everyone Lewis would of beaten Bottas were it not for the floor damage"

Nice..... nice for Bottas......
If this bit of floor can lose 25 secs imagine how much a better engine map (boost) can give you...

The fact a 5 times WDC has such a fragile mental state as to need to tell everyone he only lost due to damage says it all really...
Do we think that had Bottas got same damage and Lewis had beat him by 25 secs Merc would desperately be trying to tell people it was damage that did it?
Lewis is such a deeply hard individual to like....I am English and i love his brother... i have tried....i really have, but he is such a cry baby.

I guess it'll go back to Lewis having more engine boost than Bottas like last season again...

 

[apex11]

That's probably true of champions in general. They tend to be very much focused on winning and 2nd place is as good as last in their mind. I don't think Hamilton is special in that regard, it's just the way their (top level athletes) brains work.

That's a generalization, but a fair point....were it Vettel that beat him I am with you.... that way both Merc and Lewis can play mind games with Ferrari.......
But your own team and team mate?
How hard would it of been considering how much of a wing man Bottas was last year to Lewis, to of just given Bottas some respect?

 

[NikiGouda]

Sure it can have an effect on the performance of modern F1 cars.
But the question is how much did it in this case? I am sure the
following applies:
Lewis hater = absolutely nothing without any doubt.
Lewis fanboy = all of that 21 sec gap without any doubt.
Neutral observer/fair Lewis fan = everything in between because WE just
can't know it for sure and have to calculate in some other factors like
early pitstop, better than ever Bottas and MAYBE even a "not the top of
his own" Lewis Hamilton. Yes, it happened before because he's just a
human being even though some don't want to believe it.

 

[snyperal]

That's a generalization, but a fair point....were it Vettel that beat him I am with you.... that way both Merc and Lewis can play mind games with Ferrari.......
But your own team and team mate?
How hard would it of been considering how much of a wing man Bottas was last year to Lewis, to of just given Bottas some respect?

Yeah, he really missed the boat here. Should've given Bottas massive kudos because his start was perfect. He didn't even need an excuse, they pitted him early to cover the Ferrari undercut and then had to go easy on the rubber to make sure they last the distance, and have a little life in them for if max comes a knocking.

The whiny stuff on the radio is one of his biggest issues. Put a lid on it, don't transmit that negativity. Go for positive stuff like Bottas .. I want that lap point. Ooozes confidence that.

 

[apex11]

Are you serious? Cant tell if youre a troll or just a hater. Air is micro managed to such a degree that a tiny chunk like that makes a huge difference, this disrupts the flow of air around the tyre which increases wear as you could hear on his radio. Every single piece of aero has a knock on effect which has a huge effect on balance, this chunk effects the air around the back of the car, under the car leading to the diffuser and the tyre which effects tyre wear and has a massive effect on balance. Hamilton literally said over his radio he was struggling with rear balance and tyres.

Indeed.... so unless you are in the best car with the best aero / engine package and with no damage, you are the race winner.....basically.
What the hell is the point in supporting individual drivers then rather than the teams?
What you have just explained is the genius of engineers / car designers....... NOTHING to do with the drivers skill set.
If all it takes is one slight disruption to the aero and the car is not a race winning car..... brilliant... no wonder its so exciting...

Lewis is a cry baby...end of in my opinion and nothing will change that.

 

[Turk]

That's a generalization, but a fair point....were it Vettel that beat him I am with you.... that way both Merc and Lewis can play mind games with Ferrari.......
But your own team and team mate?
How hard would it of been considering how much of a wing man Bottas was last year to Lewis, to of just given Bottas some respect?

I feel like I'm missing something here? I don't see how he disrespected Bottas. I don't see how he or the team was playing mind games , it's not like Bottas knows what Hamilton is saying during the race.

Bottas won the race at the first corner, I don't think Hamilton had any damage at that point and it would have been very difficult for Hamilton to take that place back. So Bottas won fair and square. Hamilton was under pressure from Vettel and Verstappen and complaining about the speed of his car is totally understandable. Unless he said something after the race I just don't see where your coming from.

I don't see any of his radio talk as whining, I think we could listen in on any driver and they'd be saying similar stuff if their car performance wasn't as expected. Hamilton just gets more air time as the reigning champion. I'm not a Hamilton fanboy, I just really don't understand why every race there's people calling him out on minor stuff that just doesn't matter.

 

[samprince053]

Indeed.... so unless you are in the best car with the best aero / engine package and with no damage, you are the race winner.....basically.
What the hell is the point in supporting individual drivers then rather than the teams?
What you have just explained is the genius of engineers / car designers....... NOTHING to do with the drivers skill set.
If all it takes is one slight disruption to the aero and the car is not a race winning car..... brilliant... no wonder its so exciting...

Lewis is a cry baby...end of in my opinion and nothing will change that.

It is very much an engineering race and I can understand why people dont like that but thats kinda the nature of the F1. Theres plenty of things you might enjoy like IMSA or GTE in WEC where the cars have BoP to balance them so its more or less up to the team strategy and drivers to get the most out of the car. I still think the driver plays a key role in F1, just not as much compared to other forms or series in motorsports. Youre very welcome to your own opinion and mine is that if you dont like it then dont watch it, try IMSA if youre looking for the most fair fight out there or spec series like Indycar might be good if you like open wheel racing.

 

[mrbungle83]

He's such a baby! "Put out a report my car had issues so I don't look bad!" What a dupe! He always looks like he's gonna cry when he doesn't win. Boo Hoo Hoo, it wasn't your day, grow some and be a man!

I recently watched my wife push a baby out her muff I'd definitely say that 'be a man' statement is all together wrong. It should read 'get some p*££? Flaps'

 

[F1Aussie]

Are you serious? Cant tell if youre a troll or just a hater. Air is micro managed to such a degree that a tiny chunk like that makes a huge difference, this disrupts the flow of air around the tyre which increases wear as you could hear on his radio. Every single piece of aero has a knock on effect which has a huge effect on balance, this chunk effects the air around the back of the car, under the car leading to the diffuser and the tyre which effects tyre wear and has a massive effect on balance. Hamilton literally said over his radio he was struggling with rear balance and tyres.

Troll? Don't think so, never been accused of that before, Lewis hater? No, I would have thought the same regardless of who the driver was. Yes they are finely tuned instruments but you can't honestly believe that that tiny piece can make 21 seconds or more diffrence. It is barely anything, if the other was missing as well then you are looking at 40 something seconds or half a lap over the course of the race from something barely the size of a matchbox, I just don't believe it.