Celebrating Mercedes/Hamilton Dominance, 5th Year
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YEEEEEHAAAAWWWW!!! FANTASTIC!!! WONDERFUL, AMAZING, STUPENDOUS!!!!
as long as you’re a Hamilton or Mercedes fan.Ever since the 2013 power plant formula change, (an over-square turbo V6 electric-hybrid “race engine”, who chose that?), the competition has been abysmal. We’ve watched a mid-level driver (if he drove for any other team) reset every Formula One record on the books. Is Hamilton as good as Schumi? NO WAY! He’s just got a Mercedes F-16 fighterjet doing his work.
Now that some-other-team has made a showing the first few races, again, I suppose we’ll watch Hamilton/Mercedes win the rest of the races this year, (provided Hamilton doesn’t lock-up or get any more bad starts, like record setting drivers are prone to do?).
How many more years of dominance on this rediculous power plant are we in for? Do I have to become a Hamilton fan to enjoy a race win? Is this really the future of F1? Twenty second winning margins?
Or can we leave hybrids for Formula E and get on with a normally aspirated V-10 with an 18,000rpm limit like the old days? Remember, real MOTORsports?
Congratulations to all you Mercedes/Hamilton fans, I predict many, many more wins, and many, many more team/driver championships in your future. In fact, book your 2019 party accomodations as well, because we already know the results. Congrats!!!
Ferrari have led more laps and taken more pole positions.
It may well be that Mercedes have the best car but that doesn’t make them dominant, and it certainly isn’t borne out by what we’ve seen so far.
Ever since the 2013 power plant formula change, (an over-square turbo V6 electric-hybrid “race engine”, who chose that?)
The V6 hybrid engines that produce more power then N/A engines?
…the competition has been abysmal.
Sure, 2014-16 was a Mrecedes fest but Hamilton and Rosberg had decent battles in 2014 and 2016. Even in 2015 Vettel was close to them, even placing second before the end of the season and in 2016 Ricciardo and Verstappen where consistently putting pressure on Mercedes. Last year Ferrari were more then capable at fighting Mercedes in the first half of the season. And even if they pulled away from Ferrari in the second half the gap wasn’t much. This year the Scuderia have been a match for Mercedes before Spain, perhaps even better than them at some races.
We’ve watched a mid-level driver (if he drove for any other team) reset every Formula One record on the books. Is Hamilton as good as Schumi? NO WAY! He’s just got a Mercedes F-16 fighterjet doing his work.
Mid-level driver is far too harsh. I don’t like Hamilton one bit, but to say he is mid-level is wrong (in my opinion). He showed brilliant pace at times, not so much this year, but he still put in that mega quali lap in Australia, and kept in control in Spain plus he was great in 2007 and 2012. Is he as good as Scumacher? No, but the same can be said for nearly even single driver in the history of F1, bar Senna and maybe Fangio. And just because he’s in a dominant car, doesn’t mean it’s all of the cars work. Yes, it has over glorified his achievements but still, you need a good driver to win races even in the best car. It’s the same with Vettel, Scumacher, the Williams drivers of the 1990’s, and so on, the examples are endless. But they played a part in that, put Ericsson or Stroll in a Mercedes and I doubt they would do well.
I suppose we’ll watch Hamilton/Mercedes win the rest of the races this year
No, maybe they’ll win majority of the races if they really now have the best car, but I doubt it. Ferrari have arguably the same performance with the normal tyres and Red Bull have traditionally gone for aggressive strategies.
(provided Hamilton doesn’t lock-up or get any more bad starts, like record setting drivers are prone to do?).
Yes they are, drivers are only human after all, they will make mistakes and errors. There’s plenty of examples in the past, Scumacher on his return being quite rusty and Senna being a sore loser driving into Prost in 1990.
How many more years of dominance on this rediculous power plant are we in for?
The dominance finished in 2016, Spain was more the exception rather then the rule due to the new tyres.
Do I have to become a Hamilton fan to enjoy a race win?
As I said above, I don’t like Hamilton but I throughly enjoyed Baku where he won, as did many others.
Or can we leave hybrids for Formula E and get on with a normally aspirated V-10 with an 18,000rpm limit like the old days? Remember, real MOTORsports?
Formula E is electric, not hybrid. Hybrids also have an engine, just extra bits and pieces that make it more powerful. Technically speaking (as far as I know), a motor is something that can generate power to, for example, spin, do therefore the hybrids (and electric cars) have motors that spin the wheels. Also, motorsport is about cars racing each other, whether it’s a N/A engine, hybrid or electric. Also, if a new engine formula was to be introduced, chances are some other team would start to dominate and we’ll be stuck in the same situation we where on 2014. Leaving the regulations as they are allow teams to catch up to Mercedes.
I also fear Hamilton and Mercedes will win the title again, but to dominate is exaggerating. Ferrari and Red Bull are stronger then last year and will run them close. To say they will be champions for the next two years is a unlikely prediction this early.
@greenspyder 2014, not 2013.
-Hamilton is certainly not mid-level.
-Hybrid engines are certainly not bad at all. The fact they’re hybrid doesn’t influence the balance one bit, for that see 2000-2005, there was no hybrid.I think the only true bit in your comment is that 2014-2016 was rather predictable, but I very much enjoyed 2017.
I’m very much under the assumption this sunday was a one off (or it will just happen again at Silverstone and Paul Ricard due to the tyres. The four other races spoilt us.
@vettelfan17
Nice reply there gig fella, well played !!Big fella- sorry
@garns Thanks!
Well, I’m glad that you’re all so enamored with the league as-is. I wrote this piece to hopefully get the attention of the FIA (who occasionally monitor fan forums), in hopes that something can be done to improve the competition. While I understand that no one replying to my post agrees, my single voice here represents many of my local F1 fan friends, not just my own, so probably a percentage of the entire F1 fan-base.
So, in the traditional-forum-response-protocol-method, lets do this:
Keith Collantine:
[quote]”Ferrari have led more laps and taken more pole positions.”[quote/]
True, but only the first few races of the season. Isn’t this how many seasons have started, until Mercedues “turns up their power”, and totally dominates the rest of the year? Check it out. Overall, Ferrari hasn’t led laps or taken more pole positions at all, since 2014. It’s been an All Mercedes Show.
“It may well be that Mercedes have the best car but that doesn’t make them dominant, and it certainly isn’t borne out by what we’ve seen so far.”
Really? You don’t think Mercedes has been dominant? Are we watching the same F1 league? Maybe we have different definitions of “dominant”.Jere:
“2014, not 2013.”
Really? You’re going there? Proposed, planned, implemented…I think most of us got the basic idea. Thanks for your keen insight.FlatSix:
“-Hamilton is certainly not mid-level.”
This is popular opinion. Many of us Not-Hamilton-Fans believe that Vetel, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Raikkonen and maybe Alanso are all better drivers, and would have set as many or more records if given the Mercedes power dominance. Several of us would LOVE to see Ricciardo driving the number one Mercedes.“-Hybrid engines are certainly not bad at all. The fact they’re hybrid doesn’t influence the balance one bit, for that see 2000-2005, there was no hybrid.”
Well, I appreciate your opinion, but I disgree regarding hybrids. Yes, we all remember the 2009 to 2013 V8, and remember that lovely high-pitched, 18,000rpm tone and it will be missed. I THINK (my opinion) that the MGU-H & MGU-K provide too many “black-box” variabilties related to power expenditures, and probably accounts for Mercedes advantages. Many of my friends voice the opinion that hybrid power is European reaction to political correctness. We think the current ICE sounds like a well tuned lawnmower.Vettel fan 17:
I agree with Garns, nice job! And not just becasue I’m a huge Vettel fan also, but it appears we generally agree on many points.Yes, V6 hybrids do produce more power. But there’s more to it than that, right? Other venues in other times have seen diesel and even rotary power dominate. But few are as clean as an N/A V8 or V10.
Mid-level driver too harsh? Yeah, probably. But his drivng skills certainly aren’t Driver World Champion, and this would be proven if he were relegated to a (very good) Renault/Red Bull car. You mentioned “he is human after all, they will make mistakes and errors”, but isn’t this what separates the Vettels from the Hamiltons? Sure, Vettel makes a very rare mistake, as shown in Baku, but that was a desperation effort, not a typical lockup or bad start as we expect from Hamilton.
“Formula E is electric, not hybrid”…
“Technically speaking (as far as I know), a motor is something that can generate power to, for example, … that spin the wheels.”…
“Also, motorsport is about cars racing each other, whether it’s a N/A engine, hybrid or electric. “…
“Also, if a new engine formula was to be introduced, chances are some other team would start to dominate and we’ll be stuck in the same situation we where on 2014″…
Yes, I agree with everything you say. Especially your agreement that someone has dominated since 2014. Exactly my ORIGINAL POINT, thank you!“I also fear Hamilton and Mercedes will win the title again, but to dominate is exaggerating.”
Okay, that’s fair, but lets check back on gthis 11-26-18, and see how it went. I know where my money lies, and I’m not thrilled with the way the league is headed.–Also, I wish I had your mastery of forum reply protocol, very neat!
After Note:
On researching my replies, I see that possible changes for 2021 and beyond include “plug & play MGU units on the front axles. “Standardizing components and design parameters” may bring driver skill more to the forefront, which is my greatest hope. See below link for more:@greensypder
Well, I’m glad that you’re all so enamored with the league as-is. I wrote this piece to hopefully get the attention of the FIA (who occasionally monitor fan forums), in hopes that something can be done to improve the competition. While I understand that no one replying to my post agrees, my single voice here represents many of my local F1 fan friends, not just my own, so probably a percentage of the entire F1 fan-base.
Nice try, but I don’t think they’ll notice unfortunately (still possible though). Good thing however is that you’ve made a new debating point :).
this would be proven if he were relegated to a (very good) Renault/Red Bull car.
I didn’t watch F1 back in 2009 but could the McLaren from that year (at least early on) be compared to that type of performance. As far as I know, Hamilton did pretty good that year (notable exception being the liegate in Australia), winning two races. From what I’ve read though, that a bit of a debate point whether he dud do well or not, so it’s probably not exactly the best example. Apart from that, he hasn’t been in a midfield car (every car he has had was arguably at least the second fastest car). I agree with you, hopefully he does have a season with a Red Bull/Renault type performance, though I would think he would perform well.
You mentioned “he is human after all, they will make mistakes and errors”, but isn’t this what separates the Vettels from the Hamiltons? Sure, Vettel makes a very rare mistake, as shown in Baku, but that was a desperation effort, not a typical lockup or bad start as we expect from Hamilton.
This kind if goes into the strengths and weaknesses of the drivers, sort of. I agree, Hamilton is prone to small mistakes, and also the big off weekend (last Sochi, Monaco) but he makes up for that with his dominant performances, like in Spain. Put simply he is inconsistant, with his lows quite low but his highs quite high. Vettel is an interesting case. He has been generally consistent, but sometimes he can just get really angry, as we saw in Baku last year and most of 2016, particularly on Mexico. Also you have to look at times like Turkey 2010 where he hit Webber or the year before when he was annoyed because Webber supposedly got the favourable strategy. He makes his errors here and there, but for the general time he is quite consistent. Look at last year, bar Baku and Britain he was generally up there (don’t blame him for Singapore, but that’s another story). The problem is, he’s very sensitive to how the car reacts ie rear downforce and all that complicated stuff. Like when he got trashed by Ricciardo, I wouldn’t say that showed that he just got lucky with the Red Bull cars. Rather he couldnt adapt which is his main issue. Now he’s settled into the new cars he’s back at the top of his game. It’s interesting, seeing two quite different personalities and traits go up against each other.
lets check back on gthis 11-26-18
Um, forgive me but what does gtgis 11-26-18 mean?
I agree with Garns, nice job! And not just becasue I’m a huge Vettel fan also, but it appears we generally agree on many points.
–Also, I wish I had your mastery of forum reply protocol, very neat!
Thank you!
“Nice try, but I don’t think they’ll notice unfortunately (still possible though). Good thing however is that you’ve made a new debating point :).”
No, same point, still discussing the dominance of Mercedes power and how it’s hurting the competition.
___________
“I didn’t watch F1 back in 2009 but could the McLaren from that year (at least early on) be compared to that type of performance.”I think the cars were much closer in performance then, and left more of the outcome to driver skill.
____________
“lets check back on gthis 11-26-18”Sorry. “Lets check back on this 11-26-18”, the day after the season ends. Lets see how many victories Mercedes/Hamilton takes throught the season, check winning margins, and let my complaint about dominance be revisited then.
_____________
I just think that since the new power formula, Mercedes has had enough domination. I’d like to see better competition. I think The FIA does take note of fan feedback.No, same point, still discussing the dominance of Mercedes power and how it’s hurting the competition.
True, but also we where (sort of) discussing whether Hamilton is a good driver.
I think the cars were much closer in performance then, and left more of the outcome to driver skill.
So then that speaks well of Hamilton and Raikkonen, both who did quite well in the second part of the season (correct me if I’m wrong)
Sorry. “Lets check back on this 11-26-18”, the day after the season ends. Lets see how many victories Mercedes/Hamilton takes throught the season, check winning margins, and let my complaint about dominance be revisited then.
Sure.
I just think that since the new power formula, Mercedes has had enough domination. I’d like to see better competition. I think The FIA does take note of fan feedback.
I think they tried to do that by the new aerodynamic regulations, and now look at the competition. Ferrari could’ve/should’ve won last year, and this year they are even more competitive compared to the first four races. Looking back Spain isn’t their strong point traditionally.
@greenspyder
<blockqoute>Ever since the 2013 power plant formula change, (an over-square turbo V6 electric-hybrid “race engine”, who chose that?)
The V6 hybrid engines that produce more power then N/A engines?…the competition has been abysmal.
Sure, 2014-16 was a Mrecedes fest but Hamilton and Rosberg had decent battles in 2014 and 2016. Even in 2015 Vettel was close to them, even placing second before the end of the season and in 2016 Ricciardo and Verstappen where consistently putting pressure on Mercedes. Last year Ferrari were more then capable at fighting Mercedes in the first half of the season. And even if they pulled away from Ferrari in the second half the gap wasn’t much. This year the Scuderia have been a match for Mercedes before Spain, perhaps even better than them at some races.
We’ve watched a mid-level driver (if he drove for any other team) reset every Formula One record on the books. Is Hamilton as good as Schumi? NO WAY! He’s just got a Mercedes F-16 fighterjet doing his work.
Mid-level driver is far too harsh. I don’t like Hamilton one bit, but to say he is mid-level is wrong (in my opinion). He showed brilliant pace at times, not so much this year, but he still put in that mega quali lap in Australia, and kept in control in Spain plus he was great in 2007 and 2012. Is he as good as Scumacher? No, but the same can be said for nearly even single driver in the history of F1, bar Senna and maybe Fangio. And just because he’s in a dominant car, doesn’t mean it’s all of the cars work. Yes, it has over glorified his achievements but still, you need a good driver to win races even in the best car. It’s the same with Vettel, Scumacher, the Williams drivers of the 1990’s, and so on, the examples are endless. But they played a part in that, put Ericsson or Stroll in a Mercedes and I doubt they would do well.
I suppose we’ll watch Hamilton/Mercedes win the rest of the races this year
No, maybe they’ll win majority of the races if they really now have the best car, but I doubt it. Ferrari have arguably the same performance with the normal tyres and Red Bull have traditionally gone for aggressive strategies.
(provided Hamilton doesn’t lock-up or get any more bad starts, like record setting drivers are prone to do?).
Yes they are, drivers are only human after all, they will make mistakes and errors. There’s plenty of examples in the past, Scumacher on his return being quite rusty and Senna being an idiot driving into Prost in 1990.
How many more years of dominance on this rediculous power plant are we in for?
The dominance finished in 2016, Spain was more the exception rather then the rule due to the new tyres.
Do I have to become a Hamilton fan to enjoy a race win?
As I said above, I don’t like Hamilton but I throughly enjoyed Baku where he won, as did many others.
Or can we leave hybrids for Formula E and get on with a normally aspirated V-10 with an 18,000rpm limit like the old days? Remember, real MOTORsports?
Formula E is electric, not hybrid. Hybrids also have an engine, just extra bits and pieces that make it more powerful. Technically speaking (as far as I know), a motor is something that can generate power to, for example, spin, do therefore the hybrids (and electric cars) have motors that spin the wheels. Also, motorsport is about cars racing each other, whether it’s a N/A engine, hybrid or electric. Also, if a new engine formula was to be introduced, chances are some other team would start to dominate and we’ll be stuck in the same situation we where on 2014. Leaving the regulations as they are allow teams to catch up to Mercedes.
I also fear Hamilton and Mercedes will win the title again, but to dominate is exaggerating. Ferrari and Red Bull are stronger then last year and will run them close. To say they will be champions for the next two years is a unlikely prediction this early.
^Ignore that, a post that disappeared
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