2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[SuperCNJ]

The way I see it is, forget who is under the crash helmet, if the driver is performing at the highest level and is consistently delivering in quali and race then who cares if the driver is young, old, male or female etc. Imo Lewis is still driving as well as he has ever driven, some may argue he is driving the best he's ever driven - even against the younger generations. So for me, as long as Lewis still wants to drive and is still hungry to win, why should he retire?

[Big Tea]

The way I see it is, forget who is under the crash helmet, if the driver is performing at the highest level and is consistently delivering in quali and race then who cares if the driver is young, old, male or female etc. Imo Lewis is still driving as well as he has ever driven, some may argue he is driving the best he's ever driven - even against the younger generations. So for me, as long as Lewis still wants to drive and is still hungry to win, why should he retire?

Not a good idea to replace a known 'good' with anyone not believed to be at least almost as good.
That does not leave many contenders in Lewis' case.

[Just_a_fan]

The way I see it is, forget who is under the crash helmet, if the driver is performing at the highest level and is consistently delivering in quali and race then who cares if the driver is young, old, male or female etc. Imo Lewis is still driving as well as he has ever driven, some may argue he is driving the best he's ever driven - even against the younger generations. So for me, as long as Lewis still wants to drive and is still hungry to win, why should he retire?

Not a good idea to replace a known 'good' with anyone not believed to be at least almost as good.
That does not leave many contenders in Lewis' case.

Basically Max or Fernando in the current group. Charles and Lando also, perhaps. Otherwise...

[Morteza]

[NL_Fer]

The way I see it is, forget who is under the crash helmet, if the driver is performing at the highest level and is consistently delivering in quali and race then who cares if the driver is young, old, male or female etc. Imo Lewis is still driving as well as he has ever driven, some may argue he is driving the best he's ever driven - even against the younger generations. So for me, as long as Lewis still wants to drive and is still hungry to win, why should he retire?

Not a good idea to replace a known 'good' with anyone not believed to be at least almost as good.
That does not leave many contenders in Lewis' case.

There is not much reason to believe George will not be good enough. He still has to prove he kan keep his performance in a championship winning car, but he has shown so much good things last 5 years.

Like is said earlier, Mercedes will hire another Bottas if Lewis decides to quit.

[Big Tea]

The way I see it is, forget who is under the crash helmet, if the driver is performing at the highest level and is consistently delivering in quali and race then who cares if the driver is young, old, male or female etc. Imo Lewis is still driving as well as he has ever driven, some may argue he is driving the best he's ever driven - even against the younger generations. So for me, as long as Lewis still wants to drive and is still hungry to win, why should he retire?

Not a good idea to replace a known 'good' with anyone not believed to be at least almost as good.
That does not leave many contenders in Lewis' case.

Basically Max or Fernando in the current group. Charles and Lando also, perhaps. Otherwise...

If it is age related you can not really count Alonso for the same reason. I am not even sure Charles and Lando are in that group either. They may join it, as may George, but that is a future decision, leaving a shortlist of...1.

[CHT]

Not a good idea to replace a known 'good' with anyone not believed to be at least almost as good.
That does not leave many contenders in Lewis' case.

Basically Max or Fernando in the current group. Charles and Lando also, perhaps. Otherwise...

If it is age related you can not really count Alonso for the same reason. I am not even sure Charles and Lando are in that group either. They may join it, as may George, but that is a future decision, leaving a shortlist of...1.

When a driver has a championship-winning car year after year, it will be difficult to think about retirement until he has broken all the records there are left to break. For Lewis, 2022 is a completely new season as this is the first time since 2014 that he has driven a car that is struggling for poles, wins and WDC. Prior to 2014, it was RBR and Vettel era where they won 4 consecutive WDC. And if history is going to repeat itself, we are most likely going to see RBR and Max dominating and winning the WDC for a few years until there is a major rule change in 2026.

So the challenge for Lewis is if he can maintain that same motivation to hang around and go through the motion of turning up for 23 race weekends a year just driving for points instead of wins. Many F1 WCs have walked the same path and eventually, they will start to reconsider their priority in life.

[Cs98]

Lewis will be 38 years old next year, and in modern F1 terms, he should be considered relatively old. For comparison, Michael Schumacher won his 7th and last WDC in 2004 at the age of 35. Historically those F1 drivers who won WDC at age of 38 and older were from the early 90s and earlier.

I think the greatest challenge for LH is to maintain the hunger even when he is not competing for wins or not having a championship-winning car. Guess for LH, there is only 1 prize left in his career, which is the record-breaking 8th WDC.

Based on what we are seeing now, it's very unlikely any of the above will happen next year. So unless miracle happens, I think it's likely we will see LH career mirror that of Valentino Rossi, where he will face more challenges from the younger generation of drivers, making mistakes, losing his motivation and going on a slow decline.

Alonso doesn't seem to struggle. I wouldn't expect Hamilton to either. Age is only a number. Michael would have won 2007 and 2008 if they didn't sack him.

To struggle is one thing, to not be at the top is another. I don't think Fernando could compete against someone like Max at this age. I mean, he's not exactly knocking Ocon out of the park who is not even considered a top talent currently.

Similarly George (who is a top talent) is giving Lewis a massive challenge. So you have that challenge within the team and then you have the much greater challenge still of beating Verstappen for the championship. And then you have Ferrari lurking in the wings, taking wins and podiums, complicating the picture. Lewis won't struggle (I think), but the route to another championship is becoming increasingly complex.

[SuperCNJ]

Lewis will be 38 years old next year, and in modern F1 terms, he should be considered relatively old. For comparison, Michael Schumacher won his 7th and last WDC in 2004 at the age of 35. Historically those F1 drivers who won WDC at age of 38 and older were from the early 90s and earlier.

I think the greatest challenge for LH is to maintain the hunger even when he is not competing for wins or not having a championship-winning car. Guess for LH, there is only 1 prize left in his career, which is the record-breaking 8th WDC.

Based on what we are seeing now, it's very unlikely any of the above will happen next year. So unless miracle happens, I think it's likely we will see LH career mirror that of Valentino Rossi, where he will face more challenges from the younger generation of drivers, making mistakes, losing his motivation and going on a slow decline.

Alonso doesn't seem to struggle. I wouldn't expect Hamilton to either. Age is only a number. Michael would have won 2007 and 2008 if they didn't sack him.

To struggle is one thing, to not be at the top is another. I don't think Fernando could compete against someone like Max at this age. I mean, he's not exactly knocking Ocon out of the park who is not even considered a top talent currently.

Similarly George (who is a top talent) is giving Lewis a massive challenge. So you have that challenge within the team and then you have the much greater challenge still of beating Verstappen for the championship. And then you have Ferrari lurking in the wings, taking wins and podiums, complicating the picture. Lewis won't struggle (I think), but the route to another championship is becoming increasingly complex.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see George as giving Lewis a "massive" challenge. George is a brilliant driver and a stark contrast to his predecessor but I do think George has had the lion's share of good fortune this year, particularly in the races which is reflected in him having more points than Lewis so far. Lewis has also sacrificed his car for experimenting and testing during quali and the races for the first half of the season which when he stopped doing, he immediately out-qualified George consistently and has generally been ahead in the races. So whilst George is a more challenging teammate than Bottas was, I don't think he is actually giving Lewis much to worry about. I genuinely think, looking at Lewis's demeanour, he isn't concerned about George at all.

George is a bit of an uncut diamond at the moment, I think as he develops and matures, we will see him as a worthy successor to Lewis when he eventually calls it a day but is he currently as good a driver as Lewis? Definitely not imo.

[DGP123]

Completely agree. George has been consistent, but in no way, shape or form, has there been evidence to suggest he’s got superior race pace to Lewis, and even Lewis is out-qualifying him.

He’s been incredibly consistent, ridiculous so, but boy has he benefited from luck this season. Australia, Miami & Zandvoort examples of him basically leapfrogging Lewis, due to the SC deployment. Once Lewis stopped experimenting, and porposing came under control, Lewis endured a clean run during the middle of the season, and beat George comfortably for like five or six races in a row, and he had no answer

George is consistent, but you never get the feeling he’s going to actually challenge for a race win, in the way Lewis does. If the safety car had not come out in Zandvoort, Lewis would of scored three second place finishes this season, to George’s zero.

[Cs98]

Alonso doesn't seem to struggle. I wouldn't expect Hamilton to either. Age is only a number. Michael would have won 2007 and 2008 if they didn't sack him.

To struggle is one thing, to not be at the top is another. I don't think Fernando could compete against someone like Max at this age. I mean, he's not exactly knocking Ocon out of the park who is not even considered a top talent currently.

Similarly George (who is a top talent) is giving Lewis a massive challenge. So you have that challenge within the team and then you have the much greater challenge still of beating Verstappen for the championship. And then you have Ferrari lurking in the wings, taking wins and podiums, complicating the picture. Lewis won't struggle (I think), but the route to another championship is becoming increasingly complex.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see George as giving Lewis a "massive" challenge. George is a brilliant driver and a stark contrast to his predecessor but I do think George has had the lion's share of good fortune this year, particularly in the races which is reflected in him having more points than Lewis so far. Lewis has also sacrificed his car for experimenting and testing during quali and the races for the first half of the season which when he stopped doing, he immediately out-qualified George consistently and has generally been ahead in the races. So whilst George is a more challenging teammate than Bottas was, I don't think he is actually giving Lewis much to worry about. I genuinely think, looking at Lewis's demeanour, he isn't concerned about George at all.

George is a bit of an uncut diamond at the moment, I think as he develops and matures, we will see him as a worthy successor to Lewis when he eventually calls it a day but is he currently as good a driver as Lewis? Definitely not imo.

It's not as if George is barely keeping up with some extra luck, he's 35 points ahead, which is far from insignificant. Both drivers have had perfect reliability, with a large chunk of Lewis' problems having been self-inflicted. Like Spa, which then snowballed into Monza.

George's results are metronomic, always top 5. Not the sign of an "uncut diamond". It's like the roles between the drivers are the complete opposite of what you might expect going into the season. George has had the consistency of a world champion and Lewis has been quite peaky. I do agree Lewis' peaks in the races have been slightly higher than George, but that hasn't made up for the lows. And how many years have we been praising Lewis' consistency? George should get the same favour when he delivers consistency.

And let's remember this is his first season in the team. People were saying he was gonna get outclassed going into this year. He clearly isn't, and he is clearly posing a big challenge for Lewis. This will only serve to complicate any future title challenge.

[Just_a_fan]

It's not as if George is barely keeping up with some extra luck, he's 35 points ahead, which is far from insignificant. Both drivers have had perfect reliability, with a large chunk of Lewis' problems having been self-inflicted. Like Spa, which then snowballed into Monza.

There have been some safety car lottery wins for George earlier in the season. That Lewis was also hampered by running the experimental stuff meant he was out of position early season too. Since they stopped doing that, Lewis has out qualified George and, before Spa, was out resulting him too.

He was done by George changing strategy on him towards the end of the Dutch GP too. Interestingly, that wouldn't have happened in previous seasons because Lewis would have been ahead of Bottas, so it's another indication that Lewis doesn't get the preferential treatment that some people say he gets. I thought it a little harsh on him because he did the ball-ache stuff early in the season which George benefitted from, and it was a bit of a stab in the back. Certainly, Lewis wasn't impressed.

Spa was a simple mistake from Lewis and he did put his hands up to that. Monza was a double punishment for Spa, of course, but also showed that he's still got the drive in him as he fought back to 5th, only two places behind he team mate who, of course, finished lower than he started the race. Without the Spa moment, Lewis would have likely finished ahead of George in Spa and Monza based on the pace they showed during the weekends.

Looking at the actual situations rather than the headlines always highlights the reality.

[Cs98]

It's not as if George is barely keeping up with some extra luck, he's 35 points ahead, which is far from insignificant. Both drivers have had perfect reliability, with a large chunk of Lewis' problems having been self-inflicted. Like Spa, which then snowballed into Monza.

There have been some safety car lottery wins for George earlier in the season. That Lewis was also hampered by running the experimental stuff meant he was out of position early season too. Since they stopped doing that, Lewis has out qualified George and, before Spa, was out resulting him too.

He was done by George changing strategy on him towards the end of the Dutch GP too. Interestingly, that wouldn't have happened in previous seasons because Lewis would have been ahead of Bottas, so it's another indication that Lewis doesn't get the preferential treatment that some people say he gets. I thought it a little harsh on him because he did the ball-ache stuff early in the season which George benefitted from, and it was a bit of a stab in the back. Certainly, Lewis wasn't impressed.

Spa was a simple mistake from Lewis and he did put his hands up to that. Monza was a double punishment for Spa, of course, but also showed that he's still got the drive in him as he fought back to 5th, only two places behind he team mate who, of course, finished lower than he started the race. Without the Spa moment, Lewis would have likely finished ahead of George in Spa and Monza based on the pace they showed during the weekends.

Looking at the actual situations rather than the headlines always highlights the reality.

George opted for the correct strategy whilst Lewis opted for something that was never going to work. He didn't stab anyone in the back, he made the correct call.

Spa was a costly mistake, which then resulted in Monza. And you can't credit Lewis with those races based on some theoretical pace. He crashed and ruined the engine, simple as. Keeping it clean is just as important as speed. George finished where he should've based on the pace of the car. Lewis had a nice recovery, though he was aided by Lando being held in the pits and the late SC holding off Perez. Speaking of "actual situations" that is. Though I struggle to see you will be receptive to any fortune that goes in the way of Lewis.

George is posing a challenge in his first year, no point pretending otherwise. Lewis can still obviously beat him (next year), but George's presence can complicate a potential title challenge. You have to beat him AND the even more diffcult challenge in Max.

[Just_a_fan]

It's not as if George is barely keeping up with some extra luck, he's 35 points ahead, which is far from insignificant. Both drivers have had perfect reliability, with a large chunk of Lewis' problems having been self-inflicted. Like Spa, which then snowballed into Monza.

There have been some safety car lottery wins for George earlier in the season. That Lewis was also hampered by running the experimental stuff meant he was out of position early season too. Since they stopped doing that, Lewis has out qualified George and, before Spa, was out resulting him too.

He was done by George changing strategy on him towards the end of the Dutch GP too. Interestingly, that wouldn't have happened in previous seasons because Lewis would have been ahead of Bottas, so it's another indication that Lewis doesn't get the preferential treatment that some people say he gets. I thought it a little harsh on him because he did the ball-ache stuff early in the season which George benefitted from, and it was a bit of a stab in the back. Certainly, Lewis wasn't impressed.

Spa was a simple mistake from Lewis and he did put his hands up to that. Monza was a double punishment for Spa, of course, but also showed that he's still got the drive in him as he fought back to 5th, only two places behind he team mate who, of course, finished lower than he started the race. Without the Spa moment, Lewis would have likely finished ahead of George in Spa and Monza based on the pace they showed during the weekends.

Looking at the actual situations rather than the headlines always highlights the reality.

George opted for the correct strategy whilst Lewis opted for something that was never going to work. He didn't stab anyone in the back, he made the correct call.

Spa was a costly mistake, which then resulted in Monza. And you can't credit Lewis with those races based on some theoretical pace. He crashed and ruined the engine, simple as. Keeping it clean is just as important as speed. George finished where he should've based on the pace of the car. Lewis had a nice recovery, though he was aided by Lando being held in the pits and the late SC holding off Perez. Speaking of "actual situations" that is. Though I struggle to see you will be receptive to any fortune that goes in the way of Lewis.

George is posing a challenge in his first year, no point pretending otherwise. Lewis can still obviously beat him (next year), but George's presence can complicate a potential title challenge. You have to beat him AND the even more diffcult challenge in Max.

Lewis followed the team's strategy, George didn't. Lewis felt let down.

Yes, Spa was a mistake. But you can see that the relative pace of the two drivers is not what the points awarded suggests. That was the point I was making. Some are saying that George is "destroying" Lewis when it's not actually the case. George is ahead in the points standing because he's done a cracking job this season, but there is the simple point to make that Lewis took on the shitty job and let George get himself settled in. George has definitely benefitted from that.

I said right at the beginning that I think George is the real deal. I fully expected him to be a challenge and I didn't expect the team to give Lewis special treatment and he isn't getting it (although I think the usual "ahead after the last pit stops keeps position" rule that the team has run for years for both sides of the garage should have applied recently too and it didn't). He's never had special treatment before unlike some star drivers.

[chrisc90]

George single handed-ly got the team a podium by making the right call for the tyres. As I’ve said before, Mercedes’ are clueless in situations like that for choosing the faster tyre for a few laps but would rather stay on a slower tyre and hope the car behind doing quali laps at the end isn’t able to overtake. They just constantly think it’s a 1 car width wide track like Monaco and others are unable to overtake. Basic errors.