Cs98 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2024 9:27 pm
GrizzleBoy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2024 8:53 pm
If Lewis had one or two better qualis, George would only move up one WDC place this year and the teams prospects politically/sponsor wise/optics wise would be looking dim.
So you are pondering if Hamilton had done "one or two better qualis" and how that would have impacted the standings? Mind you, nothing stopped him from performing better in quali. Wouldn't a far more fair and realistic thought experiment be, "what if we count Russell winning Spa, and finishing top 4 at Silverstone"?
The truth is Russell hasn't been a little bit better this year, he's been significantly better. It's 17-5 in quali and 12-6 in the races (where both finish). The only thing that has kept it close in the WDC is Russell having bad luck at their two best tracks where Hamilton ended up winning. Just that was 50 points in the driver battle, all of which has been overcome by George since then. On just performance George should be leading by 60+ points by now.
Better than what though??? Important context is left out for some reason when that statement is made. I'll get back to that.
I don't see how getting lucky with strategy and team not telling Lewis (despite him asking multiple times) that George was not stopping again, and having an illegal car should be counted to the tally. Lewis was easily faster than George that weekend and showed what happens when Lewis qualifies near or ahead of George. With a strategy that kept his car legal and getting a lucky strategy that was only possible due to his relative lack of pace to other cars, he wasn't looking at any big points that race. He was getting passed by everyone.
Silverstone is balanced out by Lewis' own mechanical DNF in Australia. Also in Silverstone, George's pace once the track got slippery for most of the race had him going backwards immediately (which is how Lewis got first pit priority and got to take and hold the lead of the race).
And again, talking so much about how much better George had done, always leaves out how much worse Lewis has done and therefore leaves out the context required to judge just how much better George has actually done.
Because when you add the context of Lewis' massive slump, it kind of just shows that it's simply the fact that he's ahead of Lewis that makes people think he's been so good.
If Lewis finishes this season 10 points behind George despite having an absolutely abysmal season, why does that mean George's extra 10 points makes his performance amazing?
If Lewis miraculously outscored George by the end of AbuDhabi, would this still have been judged as such an amazing season for George?
It surely wouldn't?