2019 United States Grand Prix - Austin, 1-3 November

[Just_a_fan]

You still can't grasp the fact that Bottas still had to go a fair distance on the mediums and pass Hamilton to get the victory.

You do know that Hamilton was likely quicker on the hards because he had fresher tyres whilst they were running them at the same time?

1. Bottas had to go a much shorter distance on the C3 and was going up against a C2 that had already done a good number of laps.

2. Bottas was never quicker than Hamilton on the C2, even though he had to run them much shorter and thus could have pushed them harder. So Hamilton went much further on the C2 than Bottas did and was quicker than him on that tyre for almost the entire stint. So much for Bottas's speed and tyre management skills being better than Hamilton's.

[sosic2121]

Also, I get it when it raises hairs when someone says "the car/team is just very good". On some point that is diminishing the result of the driver but it is also simply stating a fact. If it weren't for Lewis Valtteri would be WDC this year. I think Lewis is on a whole other level then Valtteri.

Of course the team and car make it possible - no driver has won titles in cars that aren't one of the best or with teams that are shoddy/poorly managed etc. Drivers in less than the best cars can win races - Seb in Monza, Hill almost in Hungary etc., but neither was ever going to win a title in those cars. Both needed the best cars to do that.

The thing that the "it's only the car" people forget, is that the driver still has to go out and do it time after time to win titles. Hamilton has done that better than his team mates almost every year (one season against Button, one against Rosberg are the two times when he didn't manage that feat). It's the ability to keep doing it at that level which is impressive.

Indeed and he managed it against a 2 time WDC in his rookie year!

Yea right

Lewis, Ron and FIA menaged to tie against Fernando and his physiotherapist.

[Wass85]

1. Bottas' C3 tyres were 11 laps fresher than Hamilton's C2, he still had to catch him and make the pass despite being in his dirty air for a number of laps.

2. He was never quicker than Hamilton on the C2 because his tyres were 10 laps older.

3. Bottas had amazing pace and great tyre management.

[Just_a_fan]

1. Bottas' C3 tyres were 11 laps fresher than Hamilton's C2, he still had to catch him and make the pass despite being in his dirty air for a number of laps.

2. He was never quicker than Hamilton on the C2 because his tyres were 10 laps older.

3. Bottas had amazing pace and great tyre management.

1. Fresh C3 are quicker than old C2.

2. Bottas was never faster on C2 than Hamilton on C2 even when Bottas's C2 was new. Bottas did fewer laps on C2 than Hamilton and all of his laps were slower than Hamilton's except at the end of Hamilton's stint when he was defending against Verstappen.

3. Bottas's pace was good and his tyre management was good. Neither were "amazing" nor "great".

[Wass85]

1. 21 lap old C3 tyres are not fresh, in fact they were only 11 laps older than Hamilton's C2's.

2. What do you mean by faster, if you mean average laptime then it's no surprise really as Bottas was carrying more fuel than Hamilton for most of his stint on the C2.

3. Both were amazing yesterday.

[Just_a_fan]

1. They were always fresher than the C2. Always. And always by the same margin. Thus they were always going to be quicker.

2. The pace difference was bigger than that for fuel weight.

3. Nope.

[214270]

BOT even botched what should’ve been simple DRS pass for the win needing 2 stabs at it.

[basti313]

1. They were always fresher than the C2. Always. And always by the same margin. Thus they were always going to be quicker.

You know what C2 and C3 means in terms of soft-medium-hard? Usually the C2 has up to double livtime than the C3...
i do not think it is needed to go to stupid arguments, to obvious argument is clear: The hard tire did not work on this particular track and everyone who got rid of them quickly profited.

2. The pace difference was bigger than that for fuel weight.

As you are just a fan...why do you not just enjoy the WDC instead of posting nonsense? No need of denying the obvious, a short stint is of course faster than a long one. Fuel load corrected Bottas was at the beginning of the second stint one second faster than Ham at the beginning of his second stint. On average exactly 0.5sec for the first 10 laps after the stop.

[NathanOlder]

If the hard tyre didn't work on this track, how did Hamilton do so many more laps than the others and still get within a few seconds of the win.

[PlatinumZealot]

For the average punter it's a bit harder to see when Lewis gets 4-5 more laps from the tyres than another driver as most people are just fixated on laptimes. It doesn't always translate to a win, but it's indicative of greater skill and control.
And in the early days he did rag the tyres pretty hard. Now he's the opposite.

Yes!
It was amazing how he had like "20% performance" on the rear tyres and you could literally see the rears sliding out in the essess but he carried on for two more laps with it.

[Just_a_fan]

If the hard tyre didn't work on this track, how did Hamilton do so many more laps than the others and still get within a few seconds of the win.

Oh that's easy - he had worse tyre management than the guy on the faster strategy that used those tyres for fewer laps and still only just caught and passed him.

[dans79]

I think one member that's been posting in this thread very regular just needs to admit they're not a Hamilton fan and a stealth Bottas fan!

[ENGINE TUNER]

For the average punter it's a bit harder to see when Lewis gets 4-5 more laps from the tyres than another driver as most people are just fixated on laptimes. It doesn't always translate to a win, but it's indicative of greater skill and control.
And in the early days he did rag the tyres pretty hard. Now he's the opposite.

By the time HAM was against BUT at McLaren HAM was already better on the tires. Incredible adaptability.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Actually, something on the race then.

The whole Mercedes team was standing ready, "Lewis Box Box Box", the tires already removed from the heaterblankets. Lewis ignores the team instruction "I feel I can extend"and stays out one more lap. Lewis ends the race on 1 lap fresher tires and has kept Bottas up during 2/3 of a lap increasing his chance of staying in front at the end of the race. Eyebrow raiser for me.

That 1 extra lap on the first stint is what could have been the difference between 2nd or 3rd, and also gave him more opportunity to win. He defended hard, but fairly and cleanly unlike the new young pups.

[zibby43]

For the average punter it's a bit harder to see when Lewis gets 4-5 more laps from the tyres than another driver as most people are just fixated on laptimes. It doesn't always translate to a win, but it's indicative of greater skill and control.
And in the early days he did rag the tyres pretty hard. Now he's the opposite.

By the time HAM was against BUT at McLaren HAM was already better on the tires. Incredible adaptability.

Well said. And agreed.