2018 Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, 27-29 July

[i70q7m7ghw]

Kinda irrelevant but I saw Hamilton changing gears upwards when he had his right hand raised (right at the finish) and I wonder; can they change gears both directions by both hands?
I thought traditionally that left hand is downwards and right hand is upwards. Can someone enlighten me?

It's a rocker type paddle, so you can use either hand to change up/down gears.

Thank you very much. Was it always like this?

I've seen it on various steering wheels up and down the grid throughout the years. McLaren has had it for quite some time, and I think it's one of the things Hamilton requested when he first joined Mercedes.

[f1316]

This race was the championship in a nutshell. Steady HAM, sloppy VET, frustrated BOT, DNF VER and smiling RIC

Ha ha, you’re right actually - that is pretty much it!

All of which actually really makes me wonder who’s been the driver of the first half of the season?

Hamilton’s been better than Vettel in my view but more through consistently than any massively standout performances, and I still think he gets sulky and despirited when things go against him; we’ve seen a few of them this year.

The RB’s have shown a burst of two each but they’re both handicapped by either a car that breaks down, a teammate who outshines the other, and a tendency to do something silly (VER more then RIC but don’t think he’s blameless for bad qualis or the Baku clash).

I kinda think, of the top three teams, I’d probably give it to Bottas - he could potentially be leading the championship if things had gone his way. Most improved player at any rate.

[Big Tea]

Kinda irrelevant but I saw Hamilton changing gears upwards when he had his right hand raised (right at the finish) and I wonder; can they change gears both directions by both hands?
I thought traditionally that left hand is downwards and right hand is upwards. Can someone enlighten me?

It's a rocker type paddle, so you can use either hand to change up/down gears.

While on the subject, on TV they mentioned buttons behind the gelcoat on the Ferrari steering wheel.
Any more news of this come to light?

[TAG]

My view is that, pending balance shifting updates, the difference this year is that the majority of upcoming races will favour Ferrari - Spa, Monza, Russia and Singapore should all be in their favour now, so if they execute the whole game could flip on its head.

Hope it doesn't rain.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Did anyone notice, Vettel got a less than average start off the line? Of course, he was on harder tire, aka Mercedes cars in France and Austria. And Mercedes played the box game perfectly after getting good start, at least as good as Kimi if not better.

[TAG]

Germany- Only one race where Vettel takes the car to the wall under difficult changing weather condition. Tough call but everyone makes mistakes. So this is the 25 points which separates Vettel from Ham.
Under the present points system its fine, not a big deal.
Hungary- Under wet qualifying its not unusual that the fastest car is not on pole. As the track does not offer much overtaking coming 2nd from P4 on the grid is not that bad.
So to sum up Vettel behind Ham by 25 points in a faster car is partially luck and some driving errors which is not very big deal. Happy that all this happened now than later like last year.
Also just looking back into history Ham led Ros by 19 points going into the 2nd half of 2016 at Belgium GP. Everyone know how 2016 turned out at the end of the season.

I love your "summary"

Yet I couldn't agree with you more, Vettel is lucky he's not behind more than 24 points despite having the faster car. Hamilton's mechanical DNF in Austria would have been 36 points.

Funny you mention how 2016 turned out since it was a Mechanical DNF that was the difference in the end. Hamilton is one tough guy to beat on a level playground.

[NYGIANTS]

lol... not good teammates? the only one was maybe kovalainen, but alonso, button and rosberg all world champions.

say what you want about button and the brawn double diffuser but he was the modern day prost, he could've won another or multiple championship in a redbull or the merc. mclaren was just to inconsistent form 2010-2012 to make a real run and "one" of the reasons why they lost lewis in 2012.

rosberg i have to admit i didn't think he was going to be able to match lewis, but he did from 2014-2016, and whether it was data sharing, class leading cars, studious, he was always there 90% of the saturdays and sundays. unlike bottas that needs help on sundays race pace.

alonso... enough said. say what you want but the guy can drive and F1 would be so much better if he was in a competitive car.

id like to see a kart championship at the end of the season, 3 races in 3 different tracks between all the current drivers.

yess alonso is good the rest not so much and he did loose to rosberg how on earth and button how can you say button is good ?
button and rosberg are in my book the worst champions .....still champions ofcourse.
prost/senna/mika/schumi/ are far beter, and maybe other where to but i was to young then

the boardradio of lewis just says enough, the best don't talk like that, they will tell you the opposite what he is telling

You are aware that Team radio has moved on and so we have no idea what was being said to this degree right?

never said that button or rosberg were better than other world champions, but the fact they are world champions shows Lewis didn't have it easy like other current WC on the grid.

yes lewis lost the title in 2016 but we all know what could've happened if he didn't have the blow up in Malaysia.

bottas as much as he hates being called a wingman needs to drive better fast, because if his race pace doesn't get better, he will be branded as a #2 driver not just from fans but Mercedes.

[Bill_Kar]

Did anyone notice, Vettel got a less than average start off the line? Of course, he was on harder tire, aka Mercedes cars in France and Austria. And Mercedes played the box game perfectly after getting good start, at least as good as Kimi if not better.

Yeah that's why I think that the whole "starts are Ferrari's strength" is -not bull- but at least without foundation. Mercedes is pretty good as well, we're talking equal terms (like you said, tyres). It was only Hami in GB having a bad start and it was much more he did something wrong rather than Ferrari done something supreme. that's the only recent data we got.

[NYGIANTS]

Next four races should favour Ferrari, that is vital for Vettel to close back on Hamilton

agree, the races after break will favor Ferrari. I can't wait to see what updates both teams bring and spec 3 power units, but the championship will come down to consistency and adaptability.

[Restomaniac]

Did anyone notice, Vettel got a less than average start off the line? Of course, he was on harder tire, aka Mercedes cars in France and Austria. And Mercedes played the box game perfectly after getting good start, at least as good as Kimi if not better.

Indeed they did.

I called it pre-race. Ferrari and others need to figure it out because every 1-2 start by Mercedes is going to see another team’s car hemmed in to maintain the 1-2 like that. In fact I can see other teams eventually playing the same game.

[TAG]

Hamilton’s been better than Vettel in my view but more through consistently than any massively standout performances, and I still think he gets sulky and despirited when things go against him; we’ve seen a few of them this year.

This is actually a good way to put Lewis. Difference being is that he tends to bounce back with a vengence, where Vettel simply falls to pieces and compounds his mistakes... and sometimes throws his car at other drivers for it or curses Charlie Whitting out or hits another car AFTER the race on the cooldown lap or causes a collision at the start with his teammate.

Hamilton and Vettel combined have won a staggering 55% of the races since 2007, whatever factors one wishes to point out are clearly beyond luck, but a marked difference between the two careers is that Hamilton has been paired with 3 world champions in their prime, so sulkiness or not, it's working out for him.

BTW you wouldn't call a win starting from 14th on the grid a career highlight drive? You're a tough guy to please.

I kinda think, of the top three teams, I’d probably give it to Bottas - he could potentially be leading the championship if things had gone his way. Most improved player at any rate.

Bottas drive this weekend was phenomenal, nearly held on with those soft tires.

[Restomaniac]

This race was the championship in a nutshell. Steady HAM, sloppy VET, frustrated BOT, DNF VER and smiling RIC

Ha ha, you’re right actually - that is pretty much it!

All of which actually really makes me wonder who’s been the driver of the first half of the season?

Hamilton’s been better than Vettel in my view but more through consistently than any massively standout performances, and I still think he gets sulky and despirited when things go against him; we’ve seen a few of them this year.

The RB’s have shown a burst of two each but they’re both handicapped by either a car that breaks down, a teammate who outshines the other, and a tendency to do something silly (VER more then RIC but don’t think he’s blameless for bad qualis or the Baku clash).

I kinda think, of the top three teams, I’d probably give it to Bottas - he could potentially be leading the championship if things had gone his way. Most improved player at any rate.

The problem is that Bottas pretty much torpedoed himself in the first race of the season. He has been chasing ever since. When it’s as tight as it is he was always going to lose in the shuffle (as much as I hate it!).

[NYGIANTS]

I feel like, over the course of this half of the season, Ferrari have dropped the ball more than Mercedes but that we mustn’t also forget Mercedes’ own mistakes.

- Australia and Austria were the big two races that slipped through their fingers, but arguably Silverstone as well, given they started from pole. Lots of dropped points for Bottas that they can feel aggrieved about and both teams will likely claim China as one they ‘should’ have won

- but Ferrari certainly has more: China, Baku, Germany and Hungary were all guilt-edged chances and, given Mercedes’ issues in Austria, they’ll also feel they should have done more to capitalise but for a silly mistake in Qualifying


Nevertheless, what this shows is how easy it is to make mistakes when things are so finely poised and that both teams have can easily outscore the other based on minuscule margins.

My view is that, pending balance shifting updates, the difference this year is that the majority of upcoming races will favour Ferrari - Spa, Monza, Russia and Singapore should all be in their favour now, so if they execute the whole game could flip on its head.

Unless it rains.

People can argue all they like about who is the best driver in the wet but the facts speak for themselves. The last 9 wet races have all been won by the same driver. It’s not vettel

Which could mean, that the car he had in all this races is very good in rain. I don't say that that is the case but in this discussion you people leave out the most possible solutions because it suits your favorite driver. If you have a neutral look on things there always are multiple explanations and the better car is even more possible than the theory that Hamilton is so much better in rain than every other driver. I think it is a mix of all that. Verstappen on Saturday showed that "a god in rain" (not from me, from some people here and the media) fails if the car is not good in rain or mixed conditions. It's all about the mix car and driver where the car has more of the part.

yes it can't just be the driver but when it does rain it is well known that it is an equalizer, and the torro rosso Honda showed that.

another factor that posters don't talk about is, experience. we all talk about the driver or the car, what about all the data the driver has collected over the years from every car he's driven.

another factor that people don't place a premium on how great a driver is in wet conditions, race pace on sundays compared to his teammate or other cars in the field. case example Brazil 2016.

[NYGIANTS]

Which could mean, that the car he had in all this races is very good in rain. I don't say that that is the case but in this discussion you people leave out the most possible solutions because it suits your favorite driver. If you have a neutral look on things there always are multiple explanations and the better car is even more possible than the theory that Hamilton is so much better in rain than every other driver. I think it is a mix of all that. Verstappen on Saturday showed that "a god in rain" (not from me, from some people here and the media) fails if the car is not good in rain or mixed conditions. It's all about the mix car and driver where the car has more of the part.

Ha, ok. The last time he didn’t win a race in the rain was 4 years ago in Hungary. We are told constantly that rain equalises things and the better drivers shine through. I think that even the most ardent anti-Hamilton fans would say that 9 out of 9 races in the wet, where we all know how easy it is to make a mistake is an extraordinary statistic.

I never believed that rain equalizes things. I never did. That's a myth built by driver fans, I think. I might be wrong but I think I am not. It does not equalize, it moves some things.

I don't say, that Hamilton had no part in these victories and I don't say that it was luck and I don't say that every other driver would have achieved the same. But it's not all him that's very clear for someone who is not a driver fan or hater.

next time it rains where ever you're at, shut off stability and traction control in your car, find an empty parking lot, picture a set of straights and apexes, and drive it at 8/10th and do it for 4-6 laps. then tell us how it was, and imagine these guys are doing it with close to a 1000hp with throttle and brake pedals that's nothing like our road cars, with camber and elevation changes.

there's a reason they red flag certain Saturdays and Sundays because of rain. they never red flag a race cause it was too hot and sunny. there's a reason why other drivers are better than others in the wet.

[Phil]

I never believed that rain equalizes things. I never did. That's a myth built by driver fans, I think. I might be wrong but I think I am not. It does not equalize, it moves some things.

The 'equalizer' in rain is down to various factors; On a typically dry track, the difference between drivers is pretty small as the biggest differentiator is the car. A good car will be quicker, even if it is driven by a mediocre driver vs a slower car with a better driver.

On a wet track, the weakest link is no longer the car, but the driver. Yes, the car is still important, as downforce, traction and tire temperatures are key elements in how much a driver can shine or not. But overall, the driver has a much bigger influence under such conditions. Mainly though, in the rain, it's all down to confidence and perhaps the drivers ability to naturally adapt to the changeable conditions. Arguably throughout Hamiltons career, he has always been said to be one of those drivers (other drivers not excluded). It doesn't mean Hamilton is faultless or that he is always the fastest under such conditions, but that he has a certain talent under those conditions is pretty undisputed.

Of course, the opposite holds true too; If a driver lacks that confidence under those conditions, it can compound the problem; He might be more cautious than necessary and thus lose more heat in the tires. That will then lead to less grip to the point he loses even more confidence. A driver on the opposite spectrum might not get to that point, as he might be still more aggressive and thus suffer less from the above.

I think Schuttelberg made a terrific post on this; I think the key element was that the shunt in Hockenheim most probably dented Vettels confidence (under such conditions). He had the win in his hands before the rain fell and went from 25 points to zero within a lap. Obviously, with how tight the WDC is this year, every mistake could be very costly. He then finds himself in another wet qualifying session with the pressure high and it comes down to a question "risk vs reward". It was a fantastic drive by him to finish 2nd and minimize points loss to Hamilton. I think looking up ahead at the next 4 races, Ferrari are going to be difficult to beat, but I don't think Mercedes will be that far behind.