Why hamilton is so good at overtaking

[ajdavison2]

Indeed. He spends a lot of time and effort working out the overtakes. People talk about Button being a thinking driver because he's supposedly good at race strategy but he doesn't seem to be as good at thinking racecraft.

If you could distil both in to one driver you'd have someone very special...

Ahh the perfect driver, if only haha. Just for laughs, I'd had Vettel's one lap pace, Hamilton's aggression, overtaking skills, and sheer raw pace, Button's cool head and ability to outclass most in changing conditions, Webber's ausy grit.. and let's see, Kobayashi's flair perhaps? haha

[beelsebob]

Indeed. He spends a lot of time and effort working out the overtakes. People talk about Button being a thinking driver because he's supposedly good at race strategy but he doesn't seem to be as good at thinking racecraft.

If you could distil both in to one driver you'd have someone very special...

Ahh the perfect driver, if only haha. Just for laughs, I'd had Vettel's one lap pace, Hamilton's aggression, overtaking skills, and sheer raw pace, Button's cool head and ability to outclass most in changing conditions, Webber's ausy grit.. and let's see, Kobayashi's flair perhaps? haha

Alonso's Championship craft missing there. Not sure he needs anything from Kobayashi – Kobayashi is mostly just the number 2 overtaker in F1.

[HampusA]

Yea Alonso should definitely be in the mix, he´s way more focused on track and championship then anyone else. Almost Prost-like.

[ajdavison2]

Yeah I've got to agree with you there lads, my bad

[N12ck]

My perfect driver :
Hamiltons overtaking skills
Buttons ability to preserve tyres/ manage to make good tyre calls
Vettels one lap pace
Alonso's racecraft

[PlatinumZealot]

You mean RedBull's one lap pace! lol... I think Vettel's strength is not pace, but actually composition - He is very composed on a one lap run. That calmness in qualifying is confidence that his machine is the best. IMO, If your car is slower you are not going to have that calm confidence - you would be ragging the car and over-driving.

[N12ck]

You mean RedBull's one lap pace! lol... I think Vettel's strength is not pace, but actually composition - He is very composed on a one lap run. That calmness in qualifying is confidence that his machine is the best. IMO, If your car is slower you are not going to have that calm confidence - you would be ragging the car and over-driving.

well yes, i suppose you could have said the same about hamilton in 2007 when he had probably the fastest car he could have been seen as the qualifying man, but as hes in a car thats slower or equal to the fastest car (not fastest) now we see he is a brilliant overtaker,

...See what I did there, sneakily brought it back on topic

[HampusA]

Vettel is the hotlap king no doubt about that.

See what i did there? Just moved it off-topic again

[PlatinumZealot]

You mean RedBull's one lap pace! lol... I think Vettel's strength is not pace, but actually composition - He is very composed on a one lap run. That calmness in qualifying is confidence that his machine is the best. IMO, If your car is slower you are not going to have that calm confidence - you would be ragging the car and over-driving.

well yes, i suppose you could have said the same about hamilton in 2007 when he had probably the fastest car he could have been seen as the qualifying man, but as hes in a car thats slower or equal to the fastest car (not fastest) now we see he is a brilliant overtaker,

...See what I did there, sneakily brought it back on topic

Yeah, but he had a 2XWDC to fight over pole against. That now turns into the question of confidence in ones self. You know wondering, "Am I really faster than this guy? Can I beat him today?" Vettel doesn't have to worry about that aspect because he already knows he has Webber in his pocket when it comes to qualifying. A shining example of this was Kimi Raikkonen in 2009: Massa was dominating the qualifying and Kimi was lost at sea in the races in the first half of the season. However as soon as Massa fell out.... Kimi was back to full confidence and performing very well. So yeah, I think Having a fast if not faster driver in the other seat can cause you to over drive especially if that driver is not well composed or has some mental issues. And yes, Webber could be fast, but because Vettel is faster, Webber is more likle the one who is going to have to muster all his confidence and composure to put together a competitive lap - seems he just can't do that consistently nowadays.

[PlatinumZealot]

Vettel is the hotlap king no doubt about that.

See what i did there? Just moved it off-topic again

I agree with this 100% !!

I just don't attribute it to speed... because why? Alonso is Fast, Trulli is fast, Rosberg is fast, Hamilton is fricking fast, Button is fast, Di Resta is fast, Maldonado is fast...

I can't see speed, what I can see and hear is that Vettel is a very composed fellow and I also think he is very reasonable and INTELLECTUAL...Monaco is the best example for me. The Boy has common sense, which is not so common these days.
Maybe he can lose his composure with Alonso in the other seat? Or Di Resta?

[HampusA]

The place where hotlapping comes into play in races is where?
When your first and got clean air. All you do is focus on the track.
Perfect scenario for a guy like Vettel.

Although it seems our speculations on Vettel cracking under pressure is true.
Could be an age thing though, but i can't ever imagine him being a "fighter" on track.

[PlatinumZealot]

You mean RedBull's one lap pace! lol... I think Vettel's strength is not pace, but actually composition - He is very composed on a one lap run. That calmness in qualifying is confidence that his machine is the best. IMO, If your car is slower you are not going to have that calm confidence - you would be ragging the car and over-driving.

Christian Horner read my post!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93725

[raymondu999]

I'm sorry, which statement are you talking about? He doesn't anywhere say Vettel's strength is not pace

[N12ck]

Vettel is the hotlap king no doubt about that.

See what i did there? Just moved it off-topic again

I know Vettel is the hotlap king because he can stay composed, but in the fastest car hamilton would be composed and would be the hotlap king

See what I did again? moved it back on topic again

[speedsense]

If you would like to see Hamiltons and other drivers overtaking stats by race, season try this website... The stats on Hamilton are pretty huge

http://cliptheapex.com/community/pages/ ... vertaking/