"Missing Chunk" of Floor to Blame For Hamilton Pace

[samprince053]

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.

I dont think you understand my post, its not about the damage itself its about the knock on effect of it on balance and tyre wear. I'm not going to explain anymore because im pretty sure you just wont listen as you have your mind set on your explanation.

 

[Turk]

Yes they are finely tuned instruments but you can't honestly believe that that tiny piece can make 21 seconds or more diffrence.

But that's over the course of a race, 0.3s a lap.

 

[Ari Antero]

But that's over the course of a race, 0.3s a lap.

It’s not clear when the damage occurred. Only the Silver Arrows will know how much time lost it cost to Hamilton.

 

[Sasha Jednak]

Gap between Seb and Lewis, before Seb's pitstop was 3.8sec. Gap between Lewis and Valtteri before Lewis's pit was 3.8sec. That is the gap they use to keep out of dirty air and just cruise around while saving tyres.
Then, Seb and Lewis pitted, both pushed for few laps to attack/defend from each other, and as last season that also affected the tyres. They realized that and started saving them, on top of that Seb had engine issues and Lewis had missing part issues. So in the end, 21sec between Lewis and Valtteri is combination of tyre saving from Lewis, cruising from Bottas, missing part for Lewis. Which means, there is no way we can find out how much Lewis lost except maybe looking at fastest laps.
0.5sec faster for Bottas, he had newer tyres, no known damage and by Q he is 0.1sec slower than Lewis (to please Lewis's fans ). So he got 0.6sec with much better tyres and no damage. Knowing Pirelli, better tyres probably made more than half of this, meaning missing part could be 0.1-0.2sec, at most 0.3 as said above. Then we go through all the posts about Lewis, saying he is 0.5sec or more faster/better then Valtteri, meaning he should be able to overcome this difference. But, it doesn't happen and in the end we conclude that I just wrote a lot of text and didn't say anything.

 

[Turk]

Then we go through all the posts about Lewis, saying he is 0.5sec or more faster/better then Valtteri, meaning he should be able to overcome this difference. But, it doesn't happen and in the end we conclude that I just wrote a lot of text and didn't say anything.

I think the difference between Hamilton and Bottas is very minor, like less than 0.1 of a second if they are both at the top of their game. Bottas just seems to be in a better head space this year, last year he seemed to be having too many errors and a run of bad luck. I think Hamilton has the ability to just beat Bottas (by fractions of a second) in qualifying which puts him in the lead for the race. I think once one of those mercs is in the lead it will stay there bar some sort of problem no matter who's driving.

I still think Hamilton has the slight edge on Bottas, but it's only very slight. That's all it needs to be to win though.

 

[samprince053]

Heres a good insight into the damage and its effects for those still wondering

 

[mrbungle83]

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.

Lewis is a clever guy, if he didn't think the win was possible he wouldnt stress the car.

 

[Mike Kadlcak]

Why is F1 being followed so closely here, but WEC and IMSA are almost never mentioned?

Or Indycar. You could rename this site to F1Department.

 

[AJ McDaddy]

I'm pretty much a neutral, but think there are a lot of Lewis haters here being unnecessarily overly critical of him and Mercedes. They were right to publish the damage otherwise there would be constant speculation as to why Lewis was under-performing (questioning his preparation / motivation) which would not have been fair to their driver.

To those that don't believe that the damage would affect performance, just think about balance. If the car is unbalanced it will affect how both the car and the driver perform. I think Lewis did well to come second - holding off Max's charge. As for him complaining on the radio - doesn't every single F1 driver do that (Max and Seb are the worst IMHO)? So why when Lewis does it is he being called a baby etc?

Lewis was right - the race was lost in the first corner due to his bad start, but the racer in him would stillk have believed he could win it - he would never want to be 21 secs off the winning car.

 

[paracletus]

This is nothing new - many, many times before F1 drivers have had their race pace compromised by invisible damage / setup.
Similar turns of events were experienced by both mercedes drivers last year and the preceeding year, and the ferraris too. Rest of the pack also.

 

[muzikant]

Lewis ..look in your mirror for Leclerc and Max there is no escape I hope this season for more competition.

 

[Turk]

Lewis ..look in your mirror for Leclerc and Max there is no escape I hope this season for more competition.

If Leclerc does well this year it could spell the end for a lot of the older drivers. Modern F1 is too fast paced and technical for the old lads, need to let the young lads in there with their athlete thumbs.

 

[pjcforpres2020]

Good grief - Neither Lewis nor Mercedes is saying this broken piece is the reason Bottas won - Lewis flat out said Bottas beat him with the start, and a perfect race.

What they are saying is that Lewis was put onto a strategy to secure second - and with this damage and that strategy having him cover Vetels very early pit - Lewis was in pace control mode, and that's why it was a 20 second gap instead of 5 seconds.

Both Mercedes and Lewis are giving huge praise and credit to Bottas for taking Lewis to the woodshed on the start and then maintaining legit race pace that Lewis could match at best, but was never in a position (damage or not according to Lewis himself) to challenge for first, because Bottas delivered.

People need to stop ignoring reality / inventing their own reality when there is a massive amount of real statements and reactions to the contrary. Immediate post race and on Lewis and Mercedes have given Bottas full credit for earning his victory over Hamilton.

 

[mrbungle83]

Believe it now do you???

 

[mrbungle83]

Bottas on fire