2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

[darkpino]

Maybe it was just wishful thinking but it looked to me, as if Hamilton already gave up yesterday. He wasn’t angry on the radio after the race, said he had fun racing at the press conference. Like he lost his believe the win the championship.

Maybe after this weekend he knows he is powerless in Mexico and Brasil and his powerunit is fried, when he starts the final races in the Middle East.

I get an opposite vibe from Ham and Merc. Ham just knows this is his first real fight in years. Neither Ham nor Merc are giving up. This goes down to the wire. RB had a perfect weekend and darn near did not win. I would not bet half of a Canadian penny on the outcome of this year's WDC...5 races to go and only 12 points separating is nothing with all the worn out ice's and Mazespins!

I agree, Lewis was pretty calm yesterday so it seemed. For me it didn’t feel at all as if Lewis gave up.
Only thing that surprised me was Lewis making a couple of mistakes in the final laps where he used to be pretty deadly in these scenario’s

[PlatinumZealot]

Maybe it was just wishful thinking but it looked to me, as if Hamilton already gave up yesterday. He wasn’t angry on the radio after the race, said he had fun racing at the press conference. Like he lost his believe the win the championship.

Maybe after this weekend he knows he is powerless in Mexico and Brasil and his powerunit is fried, when he starts the final races in the Middle East.

He closed in more on the last lap. That's definitely not giving up!

[Mogster]

Maybe it was just wishful thinking but it looked to me, as if Hamilton already gave up yesterday. He wasn’t angry on the radio after the race, said he had fun racing at the press conference. Like he lost his believe the win the championship.

Maybe after this weekend he knows he is powerless in Mexico and Brasil and his powerunit is fried, when he starts the final races in the Middle East.

I get an opposite vibe from Ham and Merc. Ham just knows this is his first real fight in years. Neither Ham nor Merc are giving up. This goes down to the wire. RB had a perfect weekend and darn near did not win. I would not bet half of a Canadian penny on the outcome of this year's WDC...5 races to go and only 12 points separating is nothing with all the worn out ice's and Mazespins!

I agree, Lewis was pretty calm yesterday so it seemed. For me it didn’t feel at all as if Lewis gave up.
Only thing that surprised me was Lewis making a couple of mistakes in the final laps where he used to be pretty deadly in these scenario’s

I don’t see how Hamilton could have done anymore, the tyres were dead.

After the first stint with Verstappen following close so casually I genuinely thought the event was dead rubber, expecting Max to win by a pit stop. Max was saying on the radio how the rear of the Merc was moving around, it was quite an achievement for Merc to actually make a race of it, although I never really thought Hamilton overtaking was likely.

[Zynerji]

I don't think enough people picked up on what a good decision it was to pit Verstappen when they did. It meant they only had to go through the traffic once, compared to Hamilton having to go through them twice.

I could see what Red Bull were attempting to do with the early pit stop, get track position and then encourage Max to keep the tyres alive in the final stint to fend off a charging Lewis. It was perhaps the most mature drive we've yet seen from Max to date and a reminder that Red Bull can pull off sublime Pitstops that start out as a gamble but translates into race wins. I'm enjoying the title battle, don't actually mind who wins.

I hope the title is decided by ontrack action, not reliability issues. But it's F1, reliability will come into it somewhere in the last few races.

I agree. 2006 was an absolute heart-stopper until Michael's engine expired in Japan..

[Sieper]

I don't think enough people picked up on what a good decision it was to pit Verstappen when they did. It meant they only had to go through the traffic once, compared to Hamilton having to go through them twice.

I could see what Red Bull were attempting to do with the early pit stop, get track position and then encourage Max to keep the tyres alive in the final stint to fend off a charging Lewis. It was perhaps the most mature drive we've yet seen from Max to date and a reminder that Red Bull can pull off sublime Pitstops that start out as a gamble but translates into race wins. I'm enjoying the title battle, don't actually mind who wins.

I hope the title is decided by ontrack action, not reliability issues. But it's F1, reliability will come into it somewhere in the last few races.

I agree. 2006 was an absolute heart-stopper until Michael's engine expired in Japan..

Max already experienced a season killing reliability issue in Baku. For now we are still in heart stopping territory.

[codetower]

I agree, Lewis was pretty calm yesterday so it seemed. For me it didn’t feel at all as if Lewis gave up.
Only thing that surprised me was Lewis making a couple of mistakes in the final laps where he used to be pretty deadly in these scenario’s

To be fair, it's not often (at least in the last year or two) that Hamilton is chasing down a car that is as quick, or possibly quicker than yours. There are only a small handful of drivers on the track today that would have been able to keep up like like that without a single mistake... as well as maintain that lead from that car/driver combo without mistakes. I think they both had incredible drives yesterday.

[Ryar]

stop attacking another poster for your own inability to read correctly. he doesn't want a DNF for max, he's only saying how max has a comfortable lead for the championship

i mean for real, really uncalled for behaviour.

Ringo has said it multiple times on race threads and in Mercedes threads. Not sure what you are defending. The right thing to ask for, is for both Lewis and Mercedes to stop making silly mistakes, not wishing bad luck to Max and RB.

Ringo is saying that in order for Hamilton/Mercedes to have a chance, Max has to suffer a DNF. He's not saying he wants a DNF. He might want one, but that's not what he's saying in his posts.

In someone else's view, it is wishing that way. Let's agree to disagree. The point is, Max has already suffered enough misfortune to then keep wishing to have more on his part. What kind of championship would it be to see one driver suffering such misfortune and the other team is in championship fight while making loads of mistakes. Clearly an undeserving one and can only please a certain, unfair narrative. In my opinion, Lewis is due a couple of DNFs, to be on level playing field in terms of misfortune. That would be a fight on equal footing. But that's detrimental to the show.

[Hammerfist]

Ringo has said it multiple times on race threads and in Mercedes threads. Not sure what you are defending. The right thing to ask for, is for both Lewis and Mercedes to stop making silly mistakes, not wishing bad luck to Max and RB.

Ringo is saying that in order for Hamilton/Mercedes to have a chance, Max has to suffer a DNF. He's not saying he wants a DNF. He might want one, but that's not what he's saying in his posts.

In someone else's view, it is wishing that way. Let's agree to disagree. The point is, Max has already suffered enough misfortune to then keep wishing to have more on his part. What kind of championship would it be to see one driver suffering such misfortune and the other team is in championship fight while making loads of mistakes. Clearly an undeserving one and can only please a certain, unfair narrative. In my opinion, Lewis is due a couple of DNFs, to be on level playing field in terms of misfortune. That would be a fight on equal footing. But that's detrimental to the show.

If Max has another DNF the orange army will be so mad it will be unbearable for Hamilton supporters to have to sip through their posts. I as a Hamilton fan myself don't want this championship decided by a DNF on either side. Right now I feel that whoever wins will have deserve it, but max has been slightly stronger overall. Max is in a great position, but this championship so far has always provided unexpected twists, so for sure it' s not over until it's over.

[PlatinumZealot]

This track is big and open but there weren't that many overtakes were they? A few squabbles in the midfield but drivers basically were barging their way past.

[darkpino]

I agree, Lewis was pretty calm yesterday so it seemed. For me it didn’t feel at all as if Lewis gave up.
Only thing that surprised me was Lewis making a couple of mistakes in the final laps where he used to be pretty deadly in these scenario’s

To be fair, it's not often (at least in the last year or two) that Hamilton is chasing down a car that is as quick, or possibly quicker than yours. There are only a small handful of drivers on the track today that would have been able to keep up like like that without a single mistake... as well as maintain that lead from that car/driver combo without mistakes. I think they both had incredible drives yesterday.

I think “yours” should be “his”? Otherwise I want to make clear there is no car of mine on the grid nor does it feel like that

I agree they both had incredible drives which shows by the gap to their team mates (which are both in my opinion no slouches either)

[ringo]

stop attacking another poster for your own inability to read correctly. he doesn't want a DNF for max, he's only saying how max has a comfortable lead for the championship

i mean for real, really uncalled for behaviour.

Ringo has said it multiple times on race threads and in Mercedes threads. Not sure what you are defending. The right thing to ask for, is for both Lewis and Mercedes to stop making silly mistakes, not wishing bad luck to Max and RB.

Ringo is saying that in order for Hamilton/Mercedes to have a chance, Max has to suffer a DNF. He's not saying he wants a DNF. He might want one, but that's not what he's saying in his posts.

Exactly!! They are trying to create an argument when there is none. Even Toto and Horner are saying it. Reliability is a part of F-1. It is a team sport. It's not only about the drivers. And I for one do not mind if other factors outside of the drivers add depth to the sport. If a car is faster than another and both cars are driven at their expected speeds it's very obvious that the faster will win all the time.
If Honda are pushing their engine, and Newey is pushing the chassis side, which can indirectly stress the engine and suspension, and this gives them a pace advantage then it's only natural if the car breaks that it is part of the sport and part of the competition. I think some people are missing the essence of what F-1 is all about.

If Max drives like he drove in Austin, even in the first stint, where he was so relaxed as to be within DRS of Hamilton and took his sweet time to talk on the radio that he has much more pace and he is only waiting...
Then clear this guy does not have to push hard and will simply make no errors and just waltz to victory..

Therefore it's perfectly logical to think if Lewis is to win in a car that has less downforce, is harder to setup, and is overall not the best car on average it would take some kind of deficiency on the other aspects of the sport which are the engine, the ERS, the pitstops, the strategy, the tyres, the weather ect. It's all part of the game.

I am not calling down bad luck on Max, I am just saying that he will only not become champion if there is some kind of failure. At this stage he will not make errors or crash into anyone. I think he knows he has a very good machine under him that he is fully in tune with.

[ringo]

Ringo has said it multiple times on race threads and in Mercedes threads. Not sure what you are defending. The right thing to ask for, is for both Lewis and Mercedes to stop making silly mistakes, not wishing bad luck to Max and RB.

Ringo is saying that in order for Hamilton/Mercedes to have a chance, Max has to suffer a DNF. He's not saying he wants a DNF. He might want one, but that's not what he's saying in his posts.

In someone else's view, it is wishing that way. Let's agree to disagree. The point is, Max has already suffered enough misfortune to then keep wishing to have more on his part. What kind of championship would it be to see one driver suffering such misfortune and the other team is in championship fight while making loads of mistakes. Clearly an undeserving one and can only please a certain, unfair narrative. In my opinion, Lewis is due a couple of DNFs, to be on level playing field in terms of misfortune. That would be a fight on equal footing. But that's detrimental to the show.

Who are you to determine what's enough misfortune?
If the car fails its because the team didn't do a good enough job and the other team did a better one.
There is no undeserved Champion. Lewis has been driving the nuts off his car, and it's clear he is no slouch. He deserves to be champion if he does indeed have more points at the end of the season.
Remember it is the team that gave Max the best pitstops and the best setups and the best car. If the team falters one day and something happens that give Mercedes both championships, you cannot say Mercedes did not deserve it.

[Gillian]

Hamilton does not have any "old" PU and I am not disputing that second part of your comment.

yes he does, he has the one introduced in Spa!

That one did a little over 3 race distances. Not what I call old. Certainly not as an argument in this discussion. But if you disagree then that's no problem.

What we are seeing is almost entirely about PU. Not because the Mercedes PU is better, but because Mercedes has decided to go all in and force Honda's hand. Honda is sticking to their own plan and not biting... Yet.

"However, we knew that we were running the PU quite turned up at that point. So that was flattering us, and also we could see that Max [Verstappen] didn't really get a lap in properly, he had a lot of issues with traffic and things. So we were probably overly... optimistic is the wrong word, but we thought we'd started the weekend well.

https://racingnews365.com/mercedes-admi ... t-practice

Like Ringo is saying, reliability is key to beating Red Bull and it seems Mercedes know it too. They are trying to force Honda to turn the PU up too, hoping it will fail.

[Just_a_fan]

Ringo has said it multiple times on race threads and in Mercedes threads. Not sure what you are defending. The right thing to ask for, is for both Lewis and Mercedes to stop making silly mistakes, not wishing bad luck to Max and RB.

Ringo is saying that in order for Hamilton/Mercedes to have a chance, Max has to suffer a DNF. He's not saying he wants a DNF. He might want one, but that's not what he's saying in his posts.

In someone else's view, it is wishing that way. Let's agree to disagree. The point is, Max has already suffered enough misfortune to then keep wishing to have more on his part. What kind of championship would it be to see one driver suffering such misfortune and the other team is in championship fight while making loads of mistakes. Clearly an undeserving one and can only please a certain, unfair narrative. In my opinion, Lewis is due a couple of DNFs, to be on level playing field in terms of misfortune. That would be a fight on equal footing. But that's detrimental to the show.

Someone else misunderstood ringo. Easy to do sometimes.

As for "undeserving" - you have to keep yourself in contention so that you can benefit from any dropped points. Is Rosberg's title in 2016 "undeserving" because Hamilton suffered two DNFs to his own single DNF? No - he had to work bloody hard all season to be close enough to benefit from it. Likewise if Max has another DNF and Lewis wins the title, it'll be because him and his team worked bloody hard to stay close enough to Max and Red Bull.

The whole "undeserved title" idea is most unbecoming. To win a title over a season as long as the modern seasons are means lots of hard work by lots of people for a very long time. There are no gimmes in F1.

Whoever wins the 2021 title will deserve it.

[Wouter]

"However, we knew that we were running the PU quite turned up at that point. So that was flattering us, and also we could see that Max [Verstappen] didn't really get a lap in properly, he had a lot of issues with traffic and things. So we were probably overly... optimistic is the wrong word, but we thought we'd started the weekend well.

https://racingnews365.com/mercedes-admi ... t-practice

Like Ringo is saying, reliability is key to beating Red Bull and it seems Mercedes know it too. They are trying to force Honda to turn the PU up too, hoping it will fail.

Mercedes always drives with conservative settings on Fridays, they can go much faster.
Why have they now for the first time "running the PU quite turned up."? What was the use/purpose of that?