As I said before, I appreciate excellence so I don't generally look down on Mercedes' success, also that HAM has been a good ambassador for the sport as WDC. With that said, I am ready to see a legitimate challenge for the top spot (both drivers and constructors). So with Mercedes accusing Ferrari of deliberately hitting their drivers and HAM continuing to act like a little b!tch when the race doesn't go his way (typical HAM pattern: start with a raft of excuses until his engineer can get his head back in the game and he returns to being the fastest car in the field and then continue to pout at the end if it doesn't turn into a win) it occurs to me that individually and as a team Merc. are ill-equipped to deal with legitimate competition after the un-challenged success they've enjoyed.
F1 - 2018 British Grand Prix
- Thread starter gofast182
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Quote:
Had the Haas speared him, that would have been more evidence of a Ferrari conspiracy against him.
I've nicknamed Magnusson "the U-boat Commander", he kinda looks the part, and haven't decided whether he's just a dirty driver or works a little too hard at establishing intimidation to put others off being too aggressive around him. With a famous racer father (and doesn't it seem there isn't much mention of that vis-a-vis Verstappen for instance) I tend to think the latter but the jury's still out. In any event he's no dirtier than, say, Schumacher was. As far as spearing Hamilton? I think Magnusson would do it for fun. And if others get involved, well, shoot them in the water. No prisoners!
Had the Haas speared him, that would have been more evidence of a Ferrari conspiracy against him.
I've nicknamed Magnusson "the U-boat Commander", he kinda looks the part, and haven't decided whether he's just a dirty driver or works a little too hard at establishing intimidation to put others off being too aggressive around him. With a famous racer father (and doesn't it seem there isn't much mention of that vis-a-vis Verstappen for instance) I tend to think the latter but the jury's still out. In any event he's no dirtier than, say, Schumacher was. As far as spearing Hamilton? I think Magnusson would do it for fun. And if others get involved, well, shoot them in the water. No prisoners!
Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
Quote:
Had the Haas speared him, that would have been more evidence of a Ferrari conspiracy against him.
I've nicknamed Magnusson "the U-boat Commander", he kinda looks the part, and haven't decided whether he's just a dirty driver or works a little too hard at establishing intimidation to put others off being too aggressive around him. With a famous racer father (and doesn't it seem there isn't much mention of that vis-a-vis Verstappen for instance) I tend to think the latter but the jury's still out. In any event he's no dirtier than, say, Schumacher was. As far as spearing Hamilton? I think Magnusson would do it for fun. And if others get involved, well, shoot them in the water. No prisoners!
I'm a big MAG fan. I started following him when it became clear McLaren was getting ready to promote him to F1. He's a talented driver with a no-nonsense old-school racer's attitude. He pushes the limits of what's possible with his racecraft but, other than criticism from pundits, he mostly drives within the regulations. I'd rather have a grid of all MAGs and VERs who push the limits than a grid of all BOTs and VANs who play it safe to a fault.
Quote:
Had the Haas speared him, that would have been more evidence of a Ferrari conspiracy against him.
I've nicknamed Magnusson "the U-boat Commander", he kinda looks the part, and haven't decided whether he's just a dirty driver or works a little too hard at establishing intimidation to put others off being too aggressive around him. With a famous racer father (and doesn't it seem there isn't much mention of that vis-a-vis Verstappen for instance) I tend to think the latter but the jury's still out. In any event he's no dirtier than, say, Schumacher was. As far as spearing Hamilton? I think Magnusson would do it for fun. And if others get involved, well, shoot them in the water. No prisoners!
I'm a big MAG fan. I started following him when it became clear McLaren was getting ready to promote him to F1. He's a talented driver with a no-nonsense old-school racer's attitude. He pushes the limits of what's possible with his racecraft but, other than criticism from pundits, he mostly drives within the regulations. I'd rather have a grid of all MAGs and VERs who push the limits than a grid of all BOTs and VANs who play it safe to a fault.
Originally Posted By: Brad_C
.. spared us all being exposed to his petulant whining in the post race press conference and interviews (the ones he turned up for anyway).
But, but, Lewis was so exhausted and dehydrated from the race, complaining he lost 3 kg. Of course, the weather and race conditions conspired against him. Everyone else's race was 20% shorter and they were all 15 degrees cooler in their cars.
Originally Posted By: gofast182
As I said before, I appreciate excellence so I don't generally look down on Mercedes' success, also that HAM has been a good ambassador for the sport as WDC
That's true in the respect that he has crossover appeal. He's not like many racers who just want to race and have little interest or appeal elsewhere. He's a great ambassador for the sport, but not for sportsmanship. His attitude has been better over the last number of years than earlier in his career, but in retrospect, that attitude improvement is tied to success. He's forgotten how to handle adversity. I give Alonso a lot of grief. However, how would Hamilton be behaving if he was strapped in a McLaren seat the past few years?
DeepFriar: If MAG speared Lewis, he would have need a U-boat to navigate away from the flood of tears. As for Max, well, I think it's served him well to keep his management team, and more pointedly, his father, out of his hair a few weekends. Marko can be enough of a distraction, without everyone else.
.. spared us all being exposed to his petulant whining in the post race press conference and interviews (the ones he turned up for anyway).
But, but, Lewis was so exhausted and dehydrated from the race, complaining he lost 3 kg. Of course, the weather and race conditions conspired against him. Everyone else's race was 20% shorter and they were all 15 degrees cooler in their cars.
Originally Posted By: gofast182
As I said before, I appreciate excellence so I don't generally look down on Mercedes' success, also that HAM has been a good ambassador for the sport as WDC
That's true in the respect that he has crossover appeal. He's not like many racers who just want to race and have little interest or appeal elsewhere. He's a great ambassador for the sport, but not for sportsmanship. His attitude has been better over the last number of years than earlier in his career, but in retrospect, that attitude improvement is tied to success. He's forgotten how to handle adversity. I give Alonso a lot of grief. However, how would Hamilton be behaving if he was strapped in a McLaren seat the past few years?
DeepFriar: If MAG speared Lewis, he would have need a U-boat to navigate away from the flood of tears. As for Max, well, I think it's served him well to keep his management team, and more pointedly, his father, out of his hair a few weekends. Marko can be enough of a distraction, without everyone else.
So I haven't looked at the rule book to answer myself, but is there a requirement for press availability? I know in NASCAR if you are in the top 5 you have to make yourself available to media immediately after the race for a certain amount of time. Then the top 3 are usually required to go to the media center for questions from any media as a whole.
I'm not sure about the rule book off hand, but I know the teams enforce availability at times and it's probably part of drivers' contracts, too. I'm pretty sure there are rules about media availability, given all the press conferences, and on air people have hinted at there being a requirement.
Look at it this way. How often would Kimi make himself available to the media voluntarily? If Lewis wasn't in the mood to answer questions, take a page out of Kimi's book. A couple one word answers, and the interviewer will move onto someone else.
Look at it this way. How often would Kimi make himself available to the media voluntarily? If Lewis wasn't in the mood to answer questions, take a page out of Kimi's book. A couple one word answers, and the interviewer will move onto someone else.
Bah, I'm picking Vettel.
Of course, they all have their crybaby aspects. Kimi can get pretty visibly (or audibly, I guess) frustrated from time to time, though he is pretty laid back. Ricciardo's famous smile disappears completely if he feels he got shorted by the team and is quick to throw them under the bus, too.
There is a lesson to be learned as to how much of an issue can be manufactured in F1 with respect to what radio messages get played on TV. Remember when there was a big hew and cry over all these complex steering wheel procedures being read off to drivers to perform? The racing media was complaining how it was the team helping drive the car. FIA clamped down on instructions over the radio from teams. Then, those directives got rolled back, but we don't hear too many complex radio instructions on TV now, just on occasion. Did the teams voluntarily cut back radio instructions (I highly doubt it) or has selective play of team radio made this no longer an issue, and overstated the issue in the first place? Vettel having a few meltdowns over the air over the past couple years, or is that how he normally is on the radio and they don't play it? Grosjean's brake complaints - were they normal, or did they just play every radio message where he mentioned brakes? Maybe Lewis does a lot of griping over the air as a matter of habit and even when things are going well, but it's selectively chosen for broadcast when he gets jumped in a pit stop or is subjected to a strategy error. Alonso certainly plays off of radio broadcast on TV, constantly selling himself.
There is a lesson to be learned as to how much of an issue can be manufactured in F1 with respect to what radio messages get played on TV. Remember when there was a big hew and cry over all these complex steering wheel procedures being read off to drivers to perform? The racing media was complaining how it was the team helping drive the car. FIA clamped down on instructions over the radio from teams. Then, those directives got rolled back, but we don't hear too many complex radio instructions on TV now, just on occasion. Did the teams voluntarily cut back radio instructions (I highly doubt it) or has selective play of team radio made this no longer an issue, and overstated the issue in the first place? Vettel having a few meltdowns over the air over the past couple years, or is that how he normally is on the radio and they don't play it? Grosjean's brake complaints - were they normal, or did they just play every radio message where he mentioned brakes? Maybe Lewis does a lot of griping over the air as a matter of habit and even when things are going well, but it's selectively chosen for broadcast when he gets jumped in a pit stop or is subjected to a strategy error. Alonso certainly plays off of radio broadcast on TV, constantly selling himself.
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