Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Nurburgring, 2020

Hamilton and Schumacher surprisingly similar in the car, quite different out of it – Shovlin

2020 Eifel Grand Prix

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Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin described how Lewis Hamilton compares to the driver he replaced at the team seven years ago – Michael Schumacher – now the pair share the record for most wins in F1 history.

Speaking after Hamilton had equalled Schumacher’s tally of 91 wins at the Nurburgring on Sunday, Shovlin said he suspects Hamilton’s rivals underestimate the effort he puts into sustaining his success.

“He works very hard,” said Shovlin. “He’s a driver that I think, perhaps, his rivals like to think is just fast in the car but doesn’t put the hours in. But he’s one of the hardest working drivers we’ve ever known.”

Shovlin said Hamilton’s continued evolution and “relentless” search for improvement with his race engineer Peter Bonnington and performance engineer Marcus Dudley are what has driven him to new successes over his career.

“It’s the more he can understand about the tyres, about how the car works, about how to use all the available tools – he’s able to take that and build it into his driving.

Schumacher ‘could drive whatever balance was quickest’
“It’s just in this relentless way: Every missed opportunity is something that needs fixing before the next race goes. He goes off and works with Bono and Marcus, his engineering crew and with the wider team trying to understand the issues.”

Even in his 14th season of Formula 1, Hamilton is still “constantly building his skillset”, said Shovlin. “So long into a career, you think drivers would sort of top out their skillset but Lewis keeps finding new and different things to do and how to get the most out of the car and the tyres.”

Shovlin worked with Michael Schumacher at Mercedes before the seven-times world champion retired and was replaced by Hamilton. Although Shovlin says “the two characters couldn’t be more different”, the pair share some key traits which set them apart from their rivals.

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The first is an obsessive focus on pursuing every last hundredth of a second. “If you look at how they drive, when Michael arrived in our team, the things that stood out about him were the way he would always go after the marginal gains. It doesn’t matter if it’s one hundredth of a second, he’d try and do it and he’d collect those up.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Nurburgring, 2020
Hamilton’s pursuit of performance is relentless, says Shovlin
The drivers’ adaptability also set them apart from others, said Shovlin. “Michael also had an ability to drive whatever balance was quickest; if it was an understeering car that you needed, he’d to do it, if you needed to move the work onto the front tyres, he could so he was very, very adaptable in his driving style.”

“Those are certainly two characteristics that Lewis very much has,” he added. “A lot of the good drivers don’t have a particular style, it’s just whatever’s quick, they’ll adapt to do it.”

Schumacher and Hamilton were also able to apply whatever engineering advice they were given, no matter how complex the instructions.

“[With] Michael, it doesn’t matter how many things you told him to do on a lap, whether it was moving the brake bias, where to look after tyres, what he needed to do to get them in the right window, he’d be able to sort of put them all together.

“And again, that’s one that Lewis does – quite quietly, often – you don’t need loads but you can just keep layering one thing on top of another and he doesn’t forget it. He just does it and then if you give him more things to do, he adds that on top.

“So I think just in terms of that way they are in the car, they’re actually more similar than you might believe. It’s just that out of the car they’re two quite different people.”

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154 comments on “Hamilton and Schumacher surprisingly similar in the car, quite different out of it – Shovlin”

  1. The difference between Hamilton and Schumacher is that only one of them was capable of a drive like Spain 1996. Dominating in a mediocre car.

    If you give Hamilton and Schumacher the best car car, they will both dominate.

    If you give them a mediocre car, Schumacher will shine more than Hamilton. There is no equivalent to Barcelona 1996 from Lewis. He does not have a drive at that level.

    I can accept that Hamilton was more of a sportsman than Schumacher, but Schumacher was the greater talent. He could drive any car fast. Hamilton has a narrower operating window.

    1. Ah, the conviction of the armchair pundit!

      1. Armchair pundit? The whole point of a Formula 1 comment page or forum is so that ordinary fans can voice their opinion.

        If you dislike my opinion, that’s fine. I don’t really care about yours.

        1. There wouldnt be a reply button if it wasn’t about engagement. What a rediculous comment from M7!

        2. @kingshark

          So try and say it a little more like it is an opinion rather than a blustering statement as if its fact.

          Luckily we have people like Shove who actually have knowledge, rather than subjective armchairing

        3. I’ll trust Shovlins assessment over yours all day long and twice on Sundays.

        4. You never stated that it was your opinion did you?

      2. Utter rubbish Kingshark

        2008;Silverstone is just one of many let alone 2009 Hungary in a total dog of car

        1. 2009 Singapore and 2010 Belgium too

        2. yes I agree the 2009 McLaren was absolutely rubbish at the beginning of the season but Hamilton adapted to it and won numerous poles and to race wins.

    2. W (@vishnusxdx)
      14th October 2020, 8:16

      Ah yes, a lot more convincing than the engineer who actually knows how these two drivers managed their cars.

      1. @vishnusxdx
        Shovlin never actually worked with prime Schumacher. He worked with a 42 year old Schumacher who suffered a serious neck injury in 2009.

        But beyond that, I have given my opinion on why Schumacher is better in my view. It’s not that Hamilton isn’t a great driver, it’s just that peak Schumacher impressed me more.

        1. I think the cars impressed me more in Schumachers era.
          There are a very different set of skills required now, with the drivers very rarely flat out in a race.
          When Lewis is flat out, he is untouchable – but we very rarely see that during a grand prix. The rules don’t allow that kind of racing.

          Which is why comparing is utterly pointless.

        2. @kingshark

          Shovlin never actually worked with prime Schumacher.

          Whereas you did? How much hot air have you got for us today?

          1. he can’t help but embarass himself a little more with every comment. what a character!

        3. @kingshark

          You’re more impressed with Shui, because you’ve decided to chose the facts that suit your argument only

          For instance, Hamilton was equally impressive in getting that 2009 Mclaren onto the top step at Hungary – a car which Eddie Irvine described as possibly the worst one Mclaren had ever produced

          Amazing how some simply airbrush away facts that don’t suit them

        4. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          14th October 2020, 20:08

          @kingshark, do you know who did work with Schumacher at his peak. Ross Brawn and James Allison. They also say the same things as Shov. Who worked with Lewis at McLaren? Mark Priestley. Check out his opinions on F1Elvis You Tube channel. See, there are opinions, and then there are informed opinions. If you had said for example, “I know all the experts say they are both very similar but I believe Schumacher was the best” you’d probably get a couple of “yeah right” responses but not much more. If your opinion is not swayed by evidence, facts or expert testimonials, then its more of a dogma. That’s when you invite ridicule. No one will ever know which is the best but at least admit, in the modern era which I consider to be the early or mid 90’s when aero and car development really took off, there’s only two drivers in the conversation. (Save Senna who sadly wasn’t given his deserved career length.) Be objective enough to admit the similarities then state your opinion. I’d be fine by that. I’ll freely admit Hamilton has weaknesses. Can you do the same with Schumacher?

    3. Silverstone 2008 wasn’t bad either though: a 68 seconds gap to n°2…

      1. @paeschli
        Silverstone 2008 was a great drive but I rate it below Spain 1996 for a couple of reasons:

        1. The 2008 McLaren was a far better car than the 1996 Ferrari. I mean, Kovalainen was on pole…
        2. Raikkonen was actually faster than Hamilton in the opening stint, but Ferrari strategy completely ruined his race

        Put it this way: Hamilton drove a great race, Schumacher drove an impossible one

        1. They’re nice words, but factually, if it was impossible, he wouldn’t have done it, the fact that he did it, means it was possible, if it was possible for him, it was possible for someone like Hamilton

          People also forget Hamiltons Australia 2009 drive because of the ‘lie gate’ nonsense, which was a drive, from the back of the field, onto the podium, in a car that at the start of the season was miles off the pace and had terrible handling issues.

          1. If they “forget a drive” it did not made a lasting impression.

          2. Or maybe it’s because certain members of the community try to deflect attention from the performance by talking about other aspects of that weekend.

        2. Completely agree with your opinion Kingshark.
          Schui would’ve possibly got a 9th crown if it wasn’t by the injuries he suffered (leg and neck)

    4. I don’t think Hamilton has been in that situation to show that in an inferior car, maybe in 2009? The 1996 Ferrari was bad, but it wasn’t a Toleman.

      Personally I put Schumacher and Hamilton and probably now Verstappen on equal footing when it comes to wet weather drives. Schumacher also pronged it at Monaco in the wet that year too @kingshark.

      1. There are a bunch of race where Hamilton had driven cars his teammates couldn’t drive. In korea 2011 he drove a car that had a broken roll bar. In 2012 Canada the car was on the edge of balance Button could not handle it.

      2. Hamilton and Schumacher are in the same league as Senna that is now certain. However it is much too early to talk of Verstappen in this league. He is a talent no doubt there but so is Ricciardo they can drive the wheels of their cars on a given weekend. But both have yet to prove that they can mount a fully sustained world championship campaign, race after race to win a title.

    5. Don’t forget Spa 97. Pulling out at 7 seconds per lap. Monaco that year he had 20 second lead after 5 laps in what was a very ordinary Ferrari.

    6. @kingshark Lol Spain 1996. Pretty much identical to Monaco 1996 where Panis won after only 6 cars remained. So yes Schumacher is just as great as Panis.

      Schumacher in the Ferrari was a decent wet weather driver. Not great but decent. In the Benetton Schumacher wasn’t that great in the wet at all.

      Schumacher still made tons of mistakes. Like for instance the same Monaco 1996 where he planted his car in the wall on lap 1.

      2008 Silverstone was much more a proper race with most cars making it to the end. Otherwise add Germany 2018. Where he started from P14 and won the race. Or look at qualifying Styria 2020 where he put Verstappen on 1.2s. Or Hungary Q3 2018 where he put Vettel on 0.6s behind when Vette; had a car that was easily 0.6 faster than Hamilton’s.

      The list with Hamilton’s wet weather exploits goes on and on

      1. You never watched the race if you claim Spain 1996 is somehow like Panis’s win. It was complete dominance.

        Conditions were as treacherous as you’ll ever see in an F1 race. The race would be red flagged today.

        Silverstone 1008 was as much about the right tyre strategy as Hamilton’s driving, while Spain 1996 was pure dominance.

        Apart from Silverstone 2008, his other memorable wet drives are in his rocketship Merc.

        1. Not sure about that. Fuji 2007 wasn’t a bad showing.

        2. It wasn’t complete dominance any more than Panis was. Besides, Schumacher himself explained that he was helped by the engine having an issue and therefore producing less power. Which gave him less wheelspin.

          Hamilton had a bigger gap to the whole field than Schumacher had and that was a field that was still on track

          1. @f1osaurus
            Monaco 1996? You mean the race that Hill was leading easily before car failure?

            Spain 1996 was one of the greatest drives ever, and it was done in a much worse car than Silverstone 2008.

            Also, Hamilton was outpaced by Raikkonen in the opening stint

          2. Schumacher was well and truly ahead when his main rivals retired. Something that is already different with the Panis win.

            Yeah, Schumacher binned it at Monaco 96. He was also brilliant in 20 other wet-weather races. It’s not like Hamilton never made a mistake in the rain either. China 2009 and Hungary 2011 come to mind quickly, there just wasn’t a wall along side him to crash into.

            “In the Benetton Schumacher wasn’t that great in the wet at all.”

            Schumacher was second in Spain 92, he won Belgium 92, he was second in Japan 94.

            He crashed in the first lap with Senna in France 92 and spun off in the wet in Europe 93 (but was leading after a tyre gamble). Apart from the fact that Schumacher was very young, his performances in the rain were usualy pretty good.

          3. @kingshark Yes Monaco 1996 where Schumacher binned it on the opening lap. Not sure how Hill was involved in that.

            But perhaps you mean it’s also similar to how Hill lost the lead in Spain? Ther is not much reason in your posts to be honest.

            Check again how poor Schumacher was in the Benetton in the wet and how he suddenly performed much better in a Ferrari and then (without bursting into laughter) say that his car was worse …

          4. @f1osaurus

            Check again how poor Schumacher was in the Benetton in the wet

            Why do you continue to embarrass yourself with terrible opinions?

            Schumacher’s drives in mixed conditions at Nurburgring 1995 and Spa 1995 are easily on par with Hamilton’s best drives.

            Schumacher was lapping 4 seconds quicker than the 2nd and 3rd place cars (Alesi and Villeneueve) with a far worse than anything Hamilton has ever driven in his career.

          5. Panis won because everyone else crashed out.

            Spain 1996 was total in terms of lap speed and making no errors.

          6. Even Senna made mistakes in the wet.

            Schumacher’s few wet weather mistakes were made in twitchy 90’s cars. His Benetton didn’t have all the electronic aids that Senna had in 1993 for instance.

          7. @kingshark Schumacher had a terrible track record in the wet. Well he had a faster car and hardly any opposition, but still. I mean, Hill, seriously? or Villeneuve?

            Funnily enough, Alesi had a great wet driver track record at Ferrari and after he moved to Benetton he also wasn’t so great in the wet anymore.

          8. @f1osaurus
            Schumacher’s drives in mixed conditions at Nurburgring 1995 and Spa 1995 are easily on par with the best drivers of Hamilton’s career.

            And yes, those were done in a Benetton

          9. @kingshark So what? He might have had a decent result now and then, but more often he just wasn’t that good in the wet.

        3. Silverstone 1008 was as much about the right tyre strategy as Hamilton’s driving

          Wow, careful, you almost inadvertently admitted Hamilton is an exceptional driver.

          1. Strange those “blind fans”, he already stated Han is an excellent driver. It’s just that Schum. was better.
            That seems hard to swallow.

          2. erikje, so you’re his protection detail? Cute. But why would I find it difficult to accept his opinion? Nothing he writes leads me to conclude he is either informed or balanced, so his ‘opinion’ is basically worthless to me. My problem is with this relentless trolling after any mention of Hamilton’s name and an obsessive need to devalue F1s only black driver through what in any other walk of life would be labelled harrassment.

          3. @david-br
            It has nothing to do with race, some people just don’t like Hamilton. Why is it so hard to accept that not everyone is a Hamilton fan?

            Not to mention that the hate Hamilton receives pales in comparison to what Schumacher used to receive. I remember when people on online forums openly wished that he had died at Silverstone 1999.

          4. @kingshark Because even if we’re opposed to racism, we have a responsibility to not be part of the problem. Persistently posting something that downplays Hamilton’s achievements on every single article on this site may not be intended to target him as a black driver, but it has precisely the same effect as someone who does wish to attack him for that reason: relentless, unbalanced, apparently motivated by ill will only. If you’ve ever been the target of systematic abuse or harassment, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not, try empathy.

        4. There’s some toxicity on this thread. Hamilton and Schumacher have both had amazing drives, it’s sad when highly selective facts are used to discredit either. Thought this website was better than this.

          It’s almost as if the 2017 and 2018 seasons didn’t exist the way Hamilton is portrayed as only winning because of his “rocketship.” It’s really sad.

        5. Spa 2008, Monaco 2008.

        6. @f1osaurus
          “Decent result”?

          Spa 1995 and Nurburgring 1995 are legendary drives, easily on par with the best drives of Hamilton’s career.

          That’s more than just “decent results”

          1. @kingshark Yes I know when Schumacher wins it’s an epic result. When Hamilton wins a wet race from P14 or laps almost the entire field (which is more than just 4 other cars) it’s meh .

            Either way, Schumacher was abysmal in just as many races as that he was “epic”. That’s the point.

          2. @f1osaurus
            If you’re going to only look at the bad races, I can easily make an argument that Hamilton was mediocre in the rain at McLaren. After all, he had plenty of mediocre wet races from 2007-2012.

          3. @kingshark Nope Hamilton has very little poor ones in the wet. Schumacher had more poor races than decent ones.

          4. Let’s see the facts again…

            2007 Europe GP: Went off
            2007 Japanese GP: Won
            2007: Shanghai GP: Went off
            2008 Monaco GP: Acutally went in to the wall, but that lucked him into the right strategie, so won.
            2008 British Gp: Won
            2008 Brazilian GP: Actually a poor drive in to 5th
            2009 Malaysian GP: 7th
            2010 Melbourne: Never even close to his teammate and eventually finishing 6th, could have been 4th.
            2010 Korean GP: 2nd after Vettel retired, never in contention for the win.
            2011 Canadian GP: Crashed with Button
            2012 Malaysian GP: finished 3d

            Maybe I have missed one… Belgium 2008, it rained in the final few laps but they never switched to inters… he would have won that one without a penalty. Apart from that, he only won 3 from the list. His teammates actually won another 3 of those, so it wasn’t impossible to win more. It’s only since his Mercedes-days he’s been consistently performing better in the rain. Perhaps because his teammates, both Rosberg and Bottas, were never really that good in the wet.

          5. @f1osaurus
            Let’s analyze every Hamilton drive in the wet at McLaren

            Europe 2007 – went off
            Japan 2007 – won
            China 2007 – went off
            Monaco 2008 – crashed into the wall and then got luck with the SC
            Britain 2008 – won
            Brazil 2008 – mediocre drive
            Malaysia 2009 – seventh
            China 2009 – sixth and spun several times, finished behind Heikki
            Australia 2010 – sixth while Button won the race
            China 2010 – second while Button won the race
            Belgium 2010 – won
            Korea 2010 – lucked into second place thanks to accidents ahead of him, his pace was average
            Canada 2011 – spun Webber around and then crashed
            Silverstone 2011 – fourth
            Hungary 2011 – spun
            Malaysia 2012 – third
            Brazil 2012 – unlucky with Hulkenberg

            This is what you call a great record in the rain? Schumacher’s record at Benetton was superior.

          6. @kingshark So indeed Hamilton did a lot better than Schumacher in the wet

          7. @f1osaurus
            Schumacher won 4 wet weather races (Belgium 92, Europe 95, Belgium 95, Japan 95) in 4 full seasons at Benetton.

            Hamilton won 4 wet weather races in 6 seasons at McLaren.

            Schumacher at Benetton > Hamilton at McLaren in the wet

          8. @kingshark Sure but Schumacher crapped up twice as many races as Hamilton did.

          9. Besides, your list is nonsensical of course and you know it.

          10. @f1osaurus

            Sure but Schumacher crapped up twice as many races as Hamilton did.

            Please provide evidence for this claim

          11. @kingshark You know damn well since you left out all the wet races in 1993 and 1994 for a reason. Probably the same for the remaining ones in 1995 or 1992.

          12. @f1osaurus
            Did Schumacher do any worse in those than Hamilton did at Nurburgring 2007, China 2007, Brazil 2008, Malaysia 2009, China 2009, Canada 2011, Hungary 2011?

          13. Schumacher wet races before Ferrari:

            Spain 1991: Schumacher finished 6th, teammate Piquet a lap down on Schumacher 11th
            Adelaide 1991: Schumacher went off (race was stopped after 14 laps)
            Spain 1992: Schumacher 2nd
            France 1992: Schumacher crashed with someone else, having already crashed with Senna on the opening lap, before it rained
            Belgium 1992: Schumacher won
            Brazil 1993: Schumacher 3d
            Europe 1993: Schumacher went out from the lead, having not pitted for wets
            Japan 1993: Schumacher was out before it started to rain
            Japan 1994: Schumacher 2nd
            San Marino 1995: Schumacher went off after switching to dry’s
            France 1995 (if you want it to count, because it was some drizzle): Schumacher won
            Spa 1995: Schumacher won
            Europe 1995: Schumacher won
            Japan 1995: Schumacher won

            Then he went on to Ferrari. Before his first wdc with Ferrari:
            Brazil 96: 3d
            Monaco 96: crashed
            Spain 96: Won
            Monaco 97: Won
            France 97: Won
            Spa 97: Won
            Silverstone 98: Won
            Belgium 98: Dominating, but crashed out after famous Coulthard-crash
            France 99: Leading in the wet, dropped back due to car issues, 5th
            Europe 2000: Won
            Canada 2000: Won
            Germany 2000: Retired before rain began
            Belgium 2000: 2nd

            I don’t think his record was that bad. It’s hard to compare those records without looking into context, but saying Schumacher was actually poor in the wet before Ferrari… Well wen you win over 50% of your races in the wet in a Ferrari, probably everything is going to look poor prior to that. But he wasn’t bad at all.

          14. @kingshark re you kidding me, yes Schumacher did much much worse. Schumacher starting from pole and binning it or Hamilton starting from P10 and having a small spin and still finishing P9. Are you utterly mental or something?

          15. @f1osaurus

            or Hamilton starting from P10 and having a small spin and still finishing P9

            His finished P9 while his teammate won the race.

            China 2009… spun numerous times and got beat by Kovalainen

          16. @kingshark You are holding every fart Hamilton let out against him. While Schumacher had a DNF in all those other races.

          17. @f1osaurus
            Not DNFing didn’t stop Hamilton’s drive at China 2009 from being any less abysmal did it?

          18. @kingshark Schumacher drove the best car of the field, started from pole and binned it. Hamilton was in a slow car with poor grip, started from P9 and finished P6.

            What is wrong with you anyway? Did they dribble you as a baby or something?

          19. @f1osaurus

            Schumacher drove the best car of the field, started from pole and binned it.

            Sounds like Hamilton at China 2007 to me

            Or Hungary 2011, where he spun out to the lead and got himself a penalty for the dangerous way he rejoined.

          20. @kingshark Ehm China 2007 they left him out till you could see the inside of the tyre come through. There was no rubber at all! How was that anything else but a team blunder? Besides, how was that a wet race?

            Hungary 2011 Hamilton finished P4. So no.

            Seriously dude. You are delusional.

          21. @f1osaurus
            I don’t care how worn his tyres were. He had enough grip to make the pitlane entrance. All he had to do was to take a slightly less speed into the entry. Then McLaren would have put him on a new set of tyres and he would be 2007 world champion.

            Besides, how was that a wet race?

            Well, given that a large portion of that race was driven on intermediates, I’d call it a wet race.

          22. I’ve litterlay seen drivers come in to that pitlane no problem with 3 tyres, yet Hamilton couldn’t make it on worn tyres? It was a clear and stupid mistake, but hey… That’s hard for you to admit.

            Same with China 2009. Hamilton spun mulitple times, yet there was tarmac at every place he spun, you can’t say the same for any of Schumachers spins in his Benetton-years. That’s why comparing is stupid.

      2. So, you’re bringing to the table 2008, 2018, 2020… when HAM raced the best car from the pack?! The 1996 Ferrari wasn’t the best car at all. The comparison doesn’t stand. In 2018 Ferrari had a good car in the dry, but it was worse in the wet. I find it hard to remember when Ferrari had a good car in the wet (I mean at least to match the dry performance; 2008?!).

        1. In 2018 Ferrari had a good car in the dry, but it was worse in the wet.

          Nonsense. Ferrari had the best car overall in 2018 and performed well in the wet.

          1. Mercedes had 7 front row lockouts to Ferrari’s 1.

            Vettel found himself in the lead of the championship because of Mercedes and Hamilton own goals in the first half of the season.

            Mercedes quickest in Australia with Vettel jumping into the lead with a fortunate VSC allowing him to pit, Bahrain had Bottas all over the back of Vettel at the end with Vettel doing well to hold him off despite being much slower, China Hamilton got outqualified by Bottas with Bottas leading the race when safety car came out Mercedes didn’t pit the RBRs did gifting them the win.

          2. Yes Ferrari had/has horrible drivers.

    7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMuV3srY6Do

      Silverstone 2008 – Ranked 6
      Barcelina 1996 – Ranked 5

      Considering how Shovlin compared both I believe either driver would’ve coped and outshone in both respective races.

    8. @ kingshark
      Here we go again not another Hamilton basher. Don’t you remember 2010 when McLaren had a dog of a car yet still won a race in it
      So Hamilton has won more than a few times in slower car.
      Please take a visit to the YouTube site and watch videos like
      click
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUfXX1ig_1U

    9. The difference between Hamilton and Schumacher is that only one of them was capable of a drive like Spain 1996. Dominating in a mediocre car.

      Can someone explain to me how a car that was 2nd in the 1996 WCC, is mediocre?

    10. Here is a good reason why you should never ever discredit or diminish Hamilton”s success
      click
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GBg8jxJlv4I

  2. The adaptability is what sets them apart. Look at Vettel struggling if the car doesnt fit his driving style. Good insights presented here. No idea whether Alonso has these skills, it seems so. Max clearly does as well, extracting the most out of that under par RedBull and therewith one of the reasons of the gap between him and his team mates,

    1. But but but the car is specifically designed to suit Max his driving style, no?

      1. People who think that in this day and age, teams still design cars specifically to cater to one driving style are clueless.

        Teams just design cars that they think will produce the maximum amount of grip and downforce. Then depending on the philosophy of the team, the car can have different handling characteristics.

        Ever since the beginning of 2019, the Red Bull cars have had an unstable and twitchy rear end. This is because the 2019 aerodynamic rule changes simplified the front wings. Then cars with high rake (like Red Bull) round it more difficult to stabilize the airflow at the back of the car. Mark Hughes wrote an article about this on Motorsport Magazine.

        The reason why Verstappen is so much quicker than Gasly and Albon is not because Red Bull are sabotaging them. It’s because Verstappen is immense at controlling a car with an unstable rear end. Gasly and Albon cannot dope with similar levels of oversteer.

        1. The same sabotage teammates conspiracy theories we heard about Schumacher’s teammates we are now hearing about Verstappen’s.

          Both guys would be better off beating their teammates by lesser margins like Hamilton because then you can claim that you’re teammates are relatively stronger.

          Verstappen would be 11-0 in qualifying against Bottas.

          1. Bondo, every comment doesn’t have to refer to you putting Hamilton down you know.

          2. @john-h. What he and a few others leave out of this ‘no teammate sabotage’ theory is it doesn’t apply to Hamilton’s teammates. From Alonso through to Bottas. All being sabotaged in some way.
            Bozo will be pushing that theory again shortly.

          3. Dave (@davewillisporter)
            14th October 2020, 20:28

            @Bongo. Not in a Merc that Bottas knows well and has got progressively better at driving by seeing Lewis’s telemetry and driving style for 4 seasons. We saw the same with Nico. By 2016 Lewis was getting narked off with just racing his teammate because any advantage he gained would be shared with Nico. There is a simplicity to your rationale that belies a crap understanding of team dynamics. Here’s a tip. Read books. You get better as a result. If Lewis retired and Max replaced him, Bottas would wipe the floor with Max the first season because he has greater knowledge and experience of that car and that team. Not saying he wouldn’t come back and beat Bottas because I believe he is a better driver but base your opinions on reality. When was the last time a driver joined a different team and completely owned the other driver who had been there longer? Alonso Massa probably? But then Massa wasn’t the same after that spring hit his head. Not the same at all. Vettel Kimi. Kimi’s lost his McLaren blistering pace by that stage. This is the closest Bottas has ever got to Lewis in qualy. Hundreds, or thousands of a second. Personally I believe Lewis has lost a bit of speed but has gained a lot of guile. There’s no nuanced opinion to your statements. Guess that’s why you are “Bongo” to me.

        2. @kingshark The teams say so. They like a planted front or rear. Or balance.It’s not about sabotaging either, don;t be ridiculous. It’s about focus on the #1 driver only.

          Clueless are people like you who don’t want to hear the actual truth because it hurts his feelings.

          1. Real “no1 drivers” do not need a “valtteri, this is james” message. They just deliver.
            Accept that all topteams have a number 1. Both cars are build the same. And the best driver will do the best with the material available.

          2. Have I understood you correctly? So Ham, Alonso, Vettel, MS, etc are not real drivers?

    2. Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton are the true greats currently driving in F1.

      1. Greats as in being able to drive fast any car any conditions. Hamilton does have a great trophy warehouse aswell.

        Talent wise Leclerc and Verstappen look more impressive.

        But it is easy to hide talent when your car is as impressive as Hamiltons.

        1. What a load of tripe.

          Lewis has had a dominant car for 4 seasons, at best, in his entire career, he’s won multiple races in every season, one could very easily reel off many races where it was extremely close and Hamiltons ability got the job done, you can even mention the races and seasons where his car wasn’t even the best, and won.

          What people like you are doing, is making it seem like Hamilton walked into F1, into this Merc and has only won in that machine ever since.

          It’s becoming very tiresome.

          1. Hamilton has had the best car every year since 2014 and will have the best car in 2021. It’s just differing degrees of dominance. He came into F1 in a McLaren as well. He’s always had cars capable of winning races or championships (2009 the only weakish car he’s had). 2010-12 he was outscored by his teammate.

            Ferrari won 5/20 races in 2017, 6/21 in 2018. Mercedes were clearly the superior car.

          2. Lol, you’re funny.

            1. Hamilton has not had the best car every season since 2014.
            2. He came into McLaren when Ferrari were stronger, and won in 2008, again, when Ferrari where stronger.
            3. He has not always had cars capable of winning Championships.
            4. 2009 was ‘weakish’. LOL. It was almost 2 seconds off the pace in the early season, if you think Verstappen is doing a good jog against Merc that is what .2 to .6 faster this year, god knows how you’d be frothing at the mouth if Verstappen won in Hamiltons 2009 car.
            5. He was outscored by Button, because Hamilton having a DNF from 1st in Singapore, for example, is not equal to Button DNF’ing from outside the points in Monaco. You know, kind of like how Albon was able to out qualify Verstappen last year? Are you going to pretend mechanical failures don’t effect results now? :]
            6. Ferrari won 5 and 6 races in ’17 and ’18, because Vettel isn’t as good as Hamilton.

            Feel free to use any of your accounts to respond.

          3. Bondo strikes again!

          4. Dave (@davewillisporter)
            14th October 2020, 20:33

            The people who say “Yeah but Hamilton went straight into a race winning McLaren” forget that Michael raced a Jordan for a total of one race before moving to a race winning Benneton. COGNATIVE DISSONENCE! Bongo!

        2. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          14th October 2020, 22:02

          Race wins and battles are one thing but ask any sports person and they will tell you, you only get tested when you are going for the big prize. In that, none of the young drivers have been tested and you can only speculate as to their likely performance. Hamilton has gone done to the wire so many times you just can’t discount the fact he can deal with that pressure. Young drivers? Dunno till it happens.

      2. @paeschli Leclerc really?

        Even Verstappen is a stretch seeing how he hasn’t actually shown anything yet, but at least he has shown some skills. Still is too inconsistent, but at least talented.

        Leclerc just seems to be showboating and setting his car up for Q3 to score a good quali result and then driving a poor race.

        1. @f1osaurus If you think Leclerc is poor in races, what does that say about his 4-times world champion teammate? 63 vs 17 points… 2 podiums and a fourth place vs a 6th place as Vettel’s best result…

          1. @paeschli Yes Vettel is even worse. So what?

            You can see Leclerc’s results right? He tends to move backwards during a race.

          2. @f1osaurus Or maybe he is just a very good qualifier?

          3. @paeschli You can clearly see he switched focus during 2019. Forgot which race it was exactly, but At some point he mentioned that he understood how to set the car up for Q3. Ever since that weekend he’s been better in Q3 and poor at race pace.

        2. @f1saurus

          Even Verstappen is a stretch seeing how he hasn’t actually shown anything yet,

          You obviously miss a lot during a season.
          That must be the reason for your fantasy world.

          1. Well did Verstappen maintain a season long WDC battle? No.

            At best we can see him win a race here and there if he has the fastest car. Even if he has the fastest car he only wins 1 out of 2 races.

            This season he had 2 races where he couldn’t find a working setup (Hungary and Monza) and as a result suddenly lagged 1s in pace. Two races where he messed up (broken front wing in Styria and crash in Hungary). In the other races he pretty much cruised to the finish. Did I miss anything?

          2. @f1osaurus You just missed the fact he ended on the podium in every race he’s finished this year and that he has utterly destroyed his teammates for the past two seasons.

          3. @paeschli Exactly, getting a podium in the second fastest car is not really an achievement. The fact that he couldn’t beat Ricciardo until Ricciardo was given a car that would not reach the finish shows that beating noobs like Albon and Gasly doesn’t mean much.

        3. LEC hasn’t shown anything and inconsistent?! What did you expect, win the champ in 2019 and 2020 with those cars?!
          OK, he doesn’t seem to have the raw speed of VER, but he seems a lot better overall than VER in 2016, 2017, even 2018. LEC is without doubt in top5 F1 drivers at the moment, at least as good as RIC, ROS etc (better than BOT for sure).

          1. @mg1982 Yes, Leclerc got 7 poles and converted only 2 of those in race wins. That’s just poor. This year he’s also showing the car is fast enough, but he just can’t make a strategy work.

            And actually yeah the 2019 Ferrari could have won the championship if Hamilton was at Ferrari. Bahrain, Baku, Canada, Austria, Russia, Japan, Mexico should all have been won by Ferrari. Spa, Monza and Singapore they did win. That’s 10 wins they should have had. A true racer would have gone beyond that and also won some races where they weren’t so likely to win upfront. Like Hamilton does often enough.

        4. LEC comprehensively outdrove VER in Silverstone last year and was doing it again in Astria last year until VER crashed him off of the road. LEC is just as good, if not better than VER.

          1. @megatron Leclerc was driving a car that should have been competing for the WDC in 2019. It was good enough for 7 poles, but he got only 2 wins!

            In both Silverstone and Austria he had a faster car and started ahead of Verstappen. If anything, the fact that Verstappen beat Leclerc in Austria shows he isn’t that great.

          2. Your argument is just stupid. You keep repeating that Leclerc offers up racepace for qualipace, yet qualifying on pole means he should have won the race. It could just as well be the other way around: Verstappen and Mercedes focusing on race-pace so it’s only natural Leclerc would lose out.

            If you pull that logic, Hamilton shouldn’t be considered that great… After all he did manage to lose the race from pole position 39 times in his career.

            Mostly people talk down Hamilton and put it down to the car. You apply the opposite. Everybody has a better car, except for Hamilton, with him it’s pure down to the driver. But if you actually look at the statistics, it doesn’t add up.

            Back in 2013, for example, Hamilton had 5 poles and converted only 2 into wins. Mercedes actually had 8 and converted only 3 in wins. Was that because Vettel was so great? Or maybe it was because Mercedes had a car that had a better qualy-pace then racepace. Yet when Ferrari has the same statistics (9 poles and 3 wins) it’s because Hamilton was that great.

          3. You keep repeating that Leclerc offers up racepace for qualipace, yet qualifying on pole means he should have won the race.

            Yes funny right? I reverse the argument they give for Mercedes having the dominant car. When Verstappen clearly has the better race pace, his lovers still pretend he beat the almighty Mercedes.

  3. Go Lewis go!

  4. “In a bad car, he is the best driver in the world because he is unbelievably quick and makes no compromises” -Nicky Lauda (2012)
    “I think we’ve seen that Lewis is still a potential winning driver even in a substandard car” – Martin Brundle (2009)
    @Kingshark (@kingshark) Yes we are armchair Pundits, but we shouldn’t undermine each other’s intelligence with fallacies.

    1. Even Alonso had echoed similar. I think King Shark chomped down a beer can too many.

      1. (@david-beau)
        Every one here is entitled to have an opinion. Do not mock people when they do not agree with you.

        1. Says Erica just two minutes after insulting another poster for having a different opinion.

        2. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          14th October 2020, 21:32

          Everyone’s not entitled to their own facts though or claim their opinions are fact. I’m happy with mocking people who make statements based on a tiny slice of history as opposed to the whole picture. That’s fair game.

  5. Jeffrey Powell
    14th October 2020, 11:21

    Lewis-Prost …Schumacher-Senna. that for me is a more favourable comparison ,I’d take the first two. Please remember this is just what you would describe as a gut feeling having been following F1 since 1964.

    1. Hamilton is much more like his idol Senna. Great at qualifying and fiercely competitive. Schumacher and Prost were more focused on fastest race laps and dirty politics.

      1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
        14th October 2020, 20:38

        @f1osaurus Actually the Lewis of 2020 is a perfect combination of Senna Prost on the track. Both fast and furious and measured and judging. In the team he is Schumacher. On front of the cameras, he is Lewis Hamilton. An individual who wants to use what he has earned to improve problems he sees. He is both as similar to the other greats and as different from them as you can get. In his own words. I am different.

        1. @davewillisporter Senna was much more measured during a race. Exactly like Hamilton. Save the equipment when you can attack only when needed and the rewards outweigh the risks.

          Prost was the guy of the fastest laps and fluctuating laptimes. More like Schumacher.

  6. We’ve all been sold the “natural talent” line, like it is so easy for him to be fast with no brain input involved and other drivers have to work harder. Brundle does that a lot, a natural talent. Who is ever born with a natural talent for driving a car.
    You need a good brain to drive any of these cars fast and cope with all the information you process.

  7. I admire the persistence of those of you who have spent 14 years arguing that Lewis Hamilton is actually very bad at driving. It is the only thing I admire about you though.

    1. Yes, terrible and the 99% of the drivers, former drivers, team bosses and engineers who say otherwise know nothing.
      I guess Schumacher being surpassed was always going to be a testing time for them.

      1. Testing time indeed. Particularly given that they spent half his career knocking down anyone who rated Hamilton with the rejoinder ‘the statistics say otherwise, the stopwatch never lies’. But for some reason they seem to have given up on that argument.

      2. (@david-br) it took ham almost a full season of races longer then schummi. But still a great accomplishment.

    2. Comment of the Day, that :)
      Bravo

      G

  8. Perfectly said!

  9. the comments section of this site turns into a complete disgrace whether it envolves someone praising hamilton. incredible.

    these kids are a plague to the future of the sport. nobody anywhere needs people like this.

    1. No, it turned into a disgrace when someone praised someone other than Hamilton. As happens every time.

    2. You could say the same when some one criticises him too.

      I dont care for the personal attacks on any driver, but their racing records are up for debate.

  10. In the lead photo Lewis could be saying “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him.”

  11. Amusing that no-one has spotted that the headline doesn’t really match the story, tabloid style.

    They’ve won the same number of GPs, so obviously they are both both great drivers, we all know that.

    Twice Shovlin says they’re different out of the car but fails to elaborate, isn’t that the half of the story that we don’t know and just might be interested in? Politically sensitive though, best he says nothing..

    1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
      14th October 2020, 20:45

      @fraser Having listened to and read a lot of interviews and background, I am pretty confident that Shov meant what Lewis has done in his free time is completely different from a family quiet life orientated Schumi did. I am also pretty confident that this emerging Lewis who wants to influence the world is fully supported by the team. You can say it out loud mate.

    2. Dave (@davewillisporter)
      14th October 2020, 20:49

      For reference, when Lewis wore the T shirt with “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor” on the podium, did you see the team looking up at him on that podium? Did you see their faces? Did you see Toto’s? Did you know that Toto Wolff’s first entrepreneurial venture was to sell candles to protesters in Vienna who were protesting against a far right shift in Austrian politics? Hmm. I think they’ve got his back!

  12. One of Schumacher’s main strength is adapting his impossible to replicate driving style to whatever material at his disposal. This required a lot of feedback and input from his side to adjust the car to whatever necessary for him to drive it on the limit.

    Nowadays, thanks to the computational capabilities, advanced simulations, artificial intelligence… teams arrive at racetracks needing a little running in free practise sessions to adjust the car which narrow the window on which the driver can make a difference unlike the era of Michael Schumacher.

    I think the comparison on that aspect isn’t exactly fair because both eras required different sets of skills. Still, Hamilton lagged in the technical departments against Alonso & Button. While one could argue that in 2007 Hamilton was still a rookie and Alonso was the reference driver in the paddock at the time. However, during their times together at McLaren, Jenson was more influential than Lewis on development path for the car for the 2011 & 2012 seasons and was often credited for his quality feedback. Monza 2010 and Spa 2012 are good examples where Jenson has chosen the set up that proved to be the right one for the race while Hamilton not.

    As for the work ethic, Shovlin is just comparing a prime Hamilton to a 41-43 years old Schumacher. From what I’ve read and heard from engineers at Benetton and Ferrari that worked with a prime Schumacher (Chris Dyer, Andrea Stella, Stefano Domenicali, John Barnard… and the list is long) the guy is just a beast for the quantity/quality of his work.

    In his years at Ferrari with the unlimited testing and the enormous budget that the team enjoyed, Schumacher used to test the car till late at nights and then continue debriefing with the engineers. He was the driver doing most Kilometers of tests than the rest of the drivers yet he lived in Fiorano in Enzo’s house and no Ferrari driver before him ever lived there. A complete physical fitness studio has been installed for him there and you it was very common to see the lights still on even after midnight.

    It was already known that Michael Schumacher has raised the bar already raised by both Prost and Senna with regard to the work ethics of a F1 driver and he was even more data driven than both of them. Hamilton and any other driver can work as hard as they can and I don’t doubt Sholvin’s statement about Hamilton being a very hard working driver. However, I don’t think that none of them will have the same impact Schumacher have on the teams he worked with for the simple fact that F1 won’t be the same as it was when the drivers have a more open window to make the difference.

    Below is a very insightful article written by Willem Toet about Schumacher working out driving an F1 car :
    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/driving-formula-1-michael-schumacher-some-background-willem-toet?trk=portfolio_article-card_title

    1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
      14th October 2020, 20:57

      @tifoso1989 You have some good measured opinions. There is one thing I need to correct you on. Actually a couple. First this is Lewis 2020. He has learned and progressed a huge amount as admitted by Button earlier this year. “This is not the Lewis I raced against. He is just a winning machine.”
      Everybody and I mean EVERYBODY who has worked with Lewis whether in McLaren has testified to his huge effort and hard working ethic. Mercedes top people speak of him the same way Ferrari spoke of Michael. He is the inspiration for 2000 odd people at Mercedes to be better than anyone else. That is what the people who work at Mercedes say.
      Finally, Schumi wasn’t great at developing a car because he could drive anything with a pointy front end. (Source Byrne / Irvine) Lewis has gone away from that (same at the beginning of his career) and guess what? Two drivers can drive that car well. It’s a better car.

      1. @davewillisporter

        Everybody and I mean EVERYBODY who has worked with Lewis whether in McLaren has testified to his huge effort and hard working ethic

        I didn’t say otherwise, I said he lagged behind Button at the time in the technical department. That doesn’t mean he is not a hard working driver, but Button’s sensitivity to the car lead McLaren to rely on his input more than Hamilton and follow his preferences whenever there was a divergence of opinion on Friday over which direction to follow.

        A prime example of how sensitive Button to the car was in the qualifying session of the 2010 Bahrain GP. Paddy Lowe revealed that when both Hamilton and Button started their final runs, the wind suddenly changed direction in turn 5 and 6 and there was momentarily less grip than before. Button immediately suspected something was wrong with the car and backed off a bit in the next few cars and his lap was gone. Hamilton felt nothing and continued attacking throughout the lap. After examining the loadings on the cars and the data as well, McLaren noticed that both cars were affected in the exact same way, though the drivers reacted differently. That time it worked well in Hamilton’s favour.

        Lewis has surely developed very well in Mercedes and was clearly a better technical driver than Rosberg who you used to copy his set ups and was carefully studying his telemetry which annoyed him btw because that was part of his speed.

        Finally, Schumi wasn’t great at developing a car because he could drive anything with a pointy front end. (Source Byrne / Irvine) Lewis has gone away from that (same at the beginning of his career) and guess what? Two drivers can drive that car well. It’s a better car.

        According to Paddy Lowe, Hamilton’s ease with oversteer lead McLaren down a development path of more aggressively pointy cars. Since Jenson’s arrival, that wasn’t the case anymore and that was obvious with the neutrality of the 2011/2012 cars. The W11 is an astonishing car to drive, I think that’s more down to the ridiculous amount of resources and engineering capabilities at Mercedes Benz disposal.

        With regard to Schumacher not being great at developing cars according to Byrne & Irvine. I invite you to watch this recent interview of Rory Byrne himself in which he explains Micheal’s quality feedback and the role he played in developing the Ferrari F2002 (and probably contradicting himself !) :
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP3zPf6qrws&feature=emb_title

        1. @tifoso1989
          Stop, just stop. Don’t make things up. Go back to 2010-2012 and see just how many times Button had to copy Lewis’ setups after flailing around going nowhere.

          1. I so agree!

            To use 2012 as some form of great year for Button when he spent ages flailing away at the back of the grid while his team mate stuck it on the front row regularly only to have the resource lightened button focussed remaining pit crew screw up all around. Then having reverted to LH setup we get Spa… Button one single and only pole…

        2. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          15th October 2020, 20:04

          @tifoso1989 You may be right on his years at McLaren. Certainly Button agrees with you. Button started in 2000 and openly admits he got a rude shock when he transferred to Benneton and realised he couldn’t drive on skill alone. What Button also admits is just how much Lewis has improved over the years. On Sky Sports he said that this is not the Lewis I raced against. He’s just a winning machine. Lewis himself admitted when watching his races back with Brundle he had the car way too oversteery. 2020 Lewis can tell that the car ahead is burning tyres as in Nurburgring, can maintain speed and pressure while conserving tyres, fuel and PU life, can consistently perform at close to 100% race in race out season in season out and has a huge amount of experience of the pressure of trying to win a WDC and WCC, often against a team mate that can see all these tricks on the telemetry. It’s one thing to fight a different team. It’s entirely different when your main competitor has access to all your info. Lewis himself said that he would whip Lewis 2007’s butt! Point being. This Lewis of 2020 is deserving of that 91st win and record equalling tally. This Lewis is as good if not better than Michael in 2005 2006. This Lewis will definitely be the all time wins record holder and will have earned it. He will also likely be the all time WDC record holder and he will have earned it because his hard work and dedication has allowed him to consistently improve year on year (except 2011 for personal reasons.) He keeps improving. Every year. You could argue Michael was a stronger driver at the beginning, but Lewis is proving to be the stronger driver towards the end. My biggest hope is that in 2022 at least the top three teams are on par with each other. I’ll be betting on Lewis for the 2022 WDC.

    2. Still, Hamilton lagged in the technical departments against Alonso & Button.

      This has to be the most uninformed opinion I have ever come across on this issue.

      Lewis Hamilton was a rookie who went up against a double world champion with 5 years more experience, and he STILL came out on top. In 2012, Jenson Button led McLaren down a development blind alley in 2012, that they only started winning when they reverted back to Hamilton’s setup.

      These are both incontrovertible facts. So, how on earth can these examples be used to support your assertion that he has lagged behind in the technical departments against both these drivers?

      Only if you are making it up, of course.

    3. Great post.

      I think all drivers work hard including Hamilton, but none are as dedicated as a prime Schumacher.

      Rosberg basically let F1 consume his life in 2016 to win the championship and couldn’t go on with it. Schumacher lived that for over a decade.

      If not for the pandemic Hamilton would be back in LA between races. It’s a different approach to prime Schumacher.

      1. David Dimbo, you have no idea what Schumacher did between races. Just like I don’t know what you do between races, but I’d hazard a guess it’s not much.

      2. Dave (@davewillisporter)
        15th October 2020, 20:16

        Schumi was like Vettel is today. Lewis on the other hand can design a fashion brand between seasons, go to the launch in NY and fly to Singapore after the weekend and blow the competition away as he did in 2018. Mercedes themselves were blown away by that quali lap. Their own data said the car wouldn’t do that speed. It’s whatever works for each individual. Bottas went home after Austria 1. Lewis stayed at the track and worked on data with the engineers. Result? Bottas got whipped. Lewis knows what Lewis needs. Of Michael, Eddie Irvine has stated that he didn’t know how to set up or develop a car because he could just drive it. Ross Brawn credits Barrichello as being amazing at car set up and development. Lewis started his career in a similar fashion to Michael. Button admires how Lewis has grown beyond that instinctive stuff. There is no denying Michael was an extraordinary talent, as is the case with Lewis. But Michael in 2006 is looking less extraordinary than Lewis in 2020. Lewis has continued to grow and develop in whichever sphere he considers necessary. His is the opinion that matters. He doesn’t care what you think!

        1. Schumacher’s input into car development and setup was second to none. His approach was revolutionary.

          Why Barrichello was so valuable for development was because he was able to prove whether updates worked or not since he wasn’t able to drive around car problems like Schumacher was able to.

  13. The adaptability we’ve heard before with Alonso, but somehow the story has been established by pundits that both Schumacher and Hamilton wanted their car a certain way to go fast (pointy nose and whatnot).

    1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
      14th October 2020, 21:11

      @balue That is no longer the case. Watch Brundle and Hamilton’s secret cinema, Silverstone I think. Lewis addresses this very point and the Merc is much easier to drive than say the Redbull. Lewis has gone through that curve and helps develop the fastest possible car as opposed to one that suits a particular style. Redbull have yet to do this because Max is in the same place as Lewis was some years ago.

      1. It’s like you didn’t read the article but just grabbed some keywords in order to construe a bash against Verstappen.

        1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          14th October 2020, 21:48

          @balue It’s like you didn’t read my comment and just interpreted it as a bash against Max. Quote “but somehow the story has been established by pundits that both Schumacher and Hamilton wanted their car a certain way to go fast (pointy nose and whatnot).”
          I replied by stating that your perception is no longer the case. That is not what pundits currently think.
          Here’s the problem. Pundits initially create a narrative which viewers pick up and hold as truth. Pundits adapt their thinking but viewers don’t because they are less informed and aren’t keeping up with the changes.
          So no. It is no longer the opinion of pundits that Lewis wants his car a certain way. Why do you think otherwise?

          1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
            14th October 2020, 21:52

            And just to emphasise, Max doesn’t have the same development skill yet because he still has the ability to drive a vicious Newey creation that snaps like a mad dog. Difference is Lewis has been through that and can contribute to a car that lesser drivers can drive. It’s just experience. Max will get there.

  14. Reading this made me happy that I’ve been a fan of F1 to see the careers of both Schumacher and Hamilton in their entirety.
    I’m a lucky boy :)

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