Stop The Rot Hamilton...

[ACiD303]

Interesting article on hamiltons biggest mistake it Brazil it now appears - F1-Live.com

And then Ron says not so:

Formula 1 : News HAMILTON - F1-Live.com

Then Lewis says he doesn't want the appeal to go ahead (not the way he wants it), then McLaren saying they're going ahead with it anyway.

The whole thing is a joke.

[this_is_gav]

It's not a gearbox problem, he presses the bloody neutral button on the wheel!

Onboard video replay of the problem: YouTube - Was it an error?

And a picture of the wheel: ImageShack - Hosting :: diapoa630wn0.jpg

Seems Ron is still desperate to protect his star to me.

[Alex Berry]

Quote:
"RUBBISH RUBBISH RUBBISH!

If he'd come in to the pits a lap earlier in China, and lost a couple of places but still won several points, he'd have won the drivers championship this year."
End quote.

Actually my point regarding Hamilton needing to be in a ferrari or needing something to change with the cars if he is to win a world championship refers to current standings.
I.e. If the cars REMAIN the same (or mostly the same) as in the last few races (especially regarding reliability) then no one will touch ferrari.
My greater point is that the discrepency between the relative quality of the cars far outweighs the difference between the relative skills of the drivers.

What I love though is the thought of those insipid, self-serving speculators, the business/advertising men, who are now probably busy scrubbing out from their posters, computers, adverts, T.V. shows, etc.. the words:
LEWIS HAMILTON. F1 WORLD DRIVERS CHAMPION 2007.
Written just below a picture of Hamilton next to a MaClaren and just above the words:
"Buy our crap. Lewis Hamilton does!"
And all printed up BEFORE any victory was assured.

If Hamilton really did put his own car in neutral and therefore throw his chance away with no excuses, I hope at least those motherf.....r advertisers lost their shirts.
Don't think much of Hamilton agreeing to all this advertising BEFORE he achieved the championship either.

[charleski]

If the cars REMAIN the same (or mostly the same) as in the last few races

Anyone who's followed F1 for more than a couple of months knows that is incredibly unlikely. That hasn't happened since the depth of the dark days of Schumacher domination a few years ago, and even then was limited in scope.

[schmunk]

Anyone who's followed F1 for more than a couple of months knows that is incredibly unlikely. That hasn't happened since the depth of the dark days of Schumacher domination a few years ago, and even then was limited in scope.

I reckon that Toyota and Honda will be MUCH better next year, as they won't want to be humiliated next year as they have been this year.

[ACiD303]

I reckon that Toyota and Honda will be MUCH better next year

Thats not hard.

But back to their peak, ala past peak performances, there will be a huge deficit to fill.

[this_is_gav]

It's too simple to just say "right, we're going to be better next year!". Toyota have been trying that for several years now, and they've still continually under-achieved. They need a driver who will push them, and I don't feel any of their 2007 drivers (or any in the past) could have - this is why I suggested (in the 2008 thread in the Automotive section) that if they could land Alonso, they'd move forward rapidly.

Honda are in a different situation. They could be much faster if they knew exactly where their 2007 car went wrong, and given there total lack of progress last season, I don't think they do. It's blatantly related to the aerodynamics (you can see that from the tracks they struggle most on), and therein lies the problem. Aerodynamics (in terms of downforce) in F1 have been evolving for 40 years now, so if you lose your way for 1 season you'll be spending a lifetime coming back at the opposition. Unless they can prise away a high-up aerodynamicist away from a top-level team, they're not suddenly going to be challenging for pole-positions again. I'll stick my neck on the line and say they'll never get another pole-position in 'standard' (read: dry without any really weird) circumstances while Jenson Button stays in the team, and that could be another 5 years or more. That's how much ground they've lost.

[TiG]

Honda have landed some fairly big names in the Aerodynamics world though....

Loic Bigois and Francois Martinet from Williams
Zörg Zander and John Owen from BMW Sauber

Two sets of chief aero people should be better than 1 i think the theory goes

TiG

[whisperer]

I think there will be a huge shake-up in the cars and drivers if they continue with the plan to scrap traction control and give each car a standard electrical control unit.

Each team will have to adapt the cars and each driver will have to adapt their style of driving. It might be like the start of this season where the teams and drivers who had to change to bridgestone tyres struggled for the first half of the season.