FORUMula1.com

[The Ram]

TRACK GOD!!!

Utter manhandling of the race by Hamilton!

Button? Ha I laugh in his face!

[The Ram]

The most important question that no one has raise about Lewis this week end is WTF is going on with his beard!?!?!!?

Beard?! Heck, I've been monitoring his ever receding hair line. For such a young chap, he's losing that battle fast. He may soon have to pull a "Jordan" and shave it to a perpetual shine. Poor lad. No worries Lewis, we love you just the same. We'd rather you win races and lose your hair than the other way around.

Baldness is a sign of Hamilton getting wise beyond his years!

[Jabberwocky]

For some reason Button is very inconsistent this year. Maybe it is because the tires are so hit and miss, and I think everyone will agree that Jenson can not carry a misbehaving car as well as Lewis.

[geetface9]

For some reason Button is very inconsistent this year.

He's been consistent at not getting on the podium after his first win

[Hammer278]

Well, hopefully Melbourne was the highlight of his 2012 season.

[bud]

Having had to climb through the field from the back of the grid in Spain, Lewis Hamilton expects McLaren's luck to change this season.

Initially on pole position, Hamilton was excluded from qualifying after he failed to make it back to the pits at the end of the session under his own steam. It transpired that an error by a team member had led to fuel being taken out of the car instead of added ahead of his final run and the team then advised him to stop on track. Hamilton admitted that the errors were preventing him from currently leading the championship but said his focus was on recovering from this position.

"I'm not looking at the bigger picture at the moment, I'm just looking at the season, and I want to win the world championship," Hamilton is quoted by the Daily Mail. "Of course, these last five races with the situations I've been in has not helped. We could have a healthy lead in the championship right now if we had capitalised on the performance we've had in qualifying."

Despite the errors made by the team, Hamilton reaffirmed his belief that McLaren would get it right later in the season to match his current performances.

"We've just been unfortunate, and at some stage things will come together for our team and we'll get the points we deserve. That's bound to happen at some stage. At least I can say I was happy with my race. It shows the strength within the team, and shows that I'm on form."

Echoing what i said earlier, I like Hamiltons attitude this year. He hasn't let the bad luck get to him and therefore affecting his performance. He is in a good position for the rest of the season.

[LewEngBridewell]

Having had to climb through the field from the back of the grid in Spain, Lewis Hamilton expects McLaren's luck to change this season.

Initially on pole position, Hamilton was excluded from qualifying after he failed to make it back to the pits at the end of the session under his own steam. It transpired that an error by a team member had led to fuel being taken out of the car instead of added ahead of his final run and the team then advised him to stop on track. Hamilton admitted that the errors were preventing him from currently leading the championship but said his focus was on recovering from this position.

"I'm not looking at the bigger picture at the moment, I'm just looking at the season, and I want to win the world championship," Hamilton is quoted by the Daily Mail. "Of course, these last five races with the situations I've been in has not helped. We could have a healthy lead in the championship right now if we had capitalised on the performance we've had in qualifying."

Despite the errors made by the team, Hamilton reaffirmed his belief that McLaren would get it right later in the season to match his current performances.

"We've just been unfortunate, and at some stage things will come together for our team and we'll get the points we deserve. That's bound to happen at some stage. At least I can say I was happy with my race. It shows the strength within the team, and shows that I'm on form."

Echoing what i said earlier, I like Hamiltons attitude this year. He hasn't let the bad luck get to him and therefore affecting his performance. He is in a good position for the rest of the season.

He badly needs a win sometime soon, and what better place to do it than Monaco. I have my fingers crossed.

[What's Burning?]

For some reason Button is very inconsistent this year. Maybe it is because the tires are so hit and miss, and I think everyone will agree that Jenson can not carry a misbehaving car as well as Lewis.

The masters at that are Alonso and Hamilton.

[The Second Coming]

For some reason Button is very inconsistent this year. Maybe it is because the tires are so hit and miss, and I think everyone will agree that Jenson can not carry a misbehaving car as well as Lewis.

The masters at that are Alonso and Hamilton.

One could argue the "hit or miss" nature of the tires is across the grid so Jenson really has no excuse. Lewis has no problem making the back work, nor does he have problems getting heat into the fronts and "struggling with massive understeer" the way Jenson does. Same car in which both gave adequate input based on their individual style/needs. I'm not sure what to make of a World Champion who sang praises of how good the car was in pre-season and here we are after race five, not having a clue how to figure out the car.

I agree...Alonso and Lewis are the two best when it comes to squeezing the best out of a troubled car and getting good results from it. For the last two years Vettel looked like a complete driver until we saw him/the Red Bull on it's back leg—he didn't look so well rounded then. He too functions best when the car is perfect (or very near it).

Lewis should and will do well in Monaco but I won't be putting a lot of stake in that race in terms of apples to apples comparison because of the circuit's unique nature but Canada, Valencia and Silverstone will be real tests for Jenson against the best at the front.

[acosmichippo]

It could very well be the lack of downforce from the EBD is hurting Lewis less than Jenson. Less rear downforce would lead to more oversteer, which we know Lewis prefers and Jenson doesn't. Problem with this theory is Jenson has been complaining about understeer rather than oversteer.

[Jabberwocky]

When you think back to Jenson talking about the last Honda car, he said his problem was rear stability under braking. Something the EBD would of given them

[The Second Coming]

It could very well be the lack of downforce from the EBD is hurting Lewis less than Jenson. Less rear downforce would lead to more oversteer, which we know Lewis prefers and Jenson doesn't. Problem with this theory is Jenson has been complaining about understeer rather than oversteer.

Jenson is always going to struggle with understeer as long as the Pirelli mandate is to make tires with a short operating window and where the driver has to figure out when to cycle the tires though their operating curve. Everyone thought he was the technical mind. Not so...at least to the great degree he was promoted to be. Worst yet, Jenson suffered miserably on both the soft and hards in Bahrain and Spain. I think he's in trouble and he knows it.

Conversely, Lewis is less dependent on massive downforce and prefers to trust his butt (the way he did in karting). If the car is loose, he can adjust. Has anyone noticed he is driving more using the brake bias like Schumi and Alonso? Suits him well when tire management is the name of the game.

[Hammer278]

It could very well be the lack of downforce from the EBD is hurting Lewis less than Jenson. Less rear downforce would lead to more oversteer, which we know Lewis prefers and Jenson doesn't. Problem with this theory is Jenson has been complaining about understeer rather than oversteer.

Like he said himself, its about finding the 'balance'. Unfortunately, the balance is not going to remain constant throughout a race thanks to those insane tyres. Let's say you put on a 55:45 weight distribution to accomodate more oversteer (faster way around the circuit) and then when tyre wear takes place the car becomes something else. Adaptation is the name of the game right now, and some drivers are finding it tough. It's funny how Button was fine with the car on Friday, and then qualifying came and it all went to hell. Shows how much there is to learn for these teams, and why we have the 5 individuals on the top step in 5 races so far.

[racechick]

After Friday Jenson switched to the brakes that Lewis uses, the ones that come on harder rather than gradually. He did it in a bid to get more heat into his front tyres from the brakes. Jamie Aguelari .(cant ever remember his surname) was commentating at the time and he said changing those brakes would make a huge difference to the handling and feel of the car. So that will not have helped with the balance. Since his Friday times were good I wonder why he made that change? maybe his Friday times were flatered by low fuel? But then Lewis was picking him for pole at that point. Was Lewis playing games? Maybe Lewis is learning how to do that.
But it seems a strange decision from Jenson on quali morning when he'd run well the day before.

[Hammer278]

Nevermind, the more confused he gets about setups the more fun it is for me.