Donkey of the Italian GP

**Jag_Warrior** · 4th September 2016, 21:24

Driver of the Day at Spa is my nom for Donkey of the Italian GP. Wear it with pride, Lewis.

You're still my boy and all that... but dang, dude! I've seen 8 year olds in Junior Dragster who could do better starts than you!

**The Black Knight** · 5th September 2016, 07:58

Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior

Driver of the Day at Spa is my nom for Donkey of the Italian GP. Wear it with pride, Lewis.

You're still my boy and all that... but dang, dude! I've seen 8 year olds in Junior Dragster who could do better starts than you!

Not really that appropriate given that it was out of his control. Initially Wolff had said it was Lewis's fault but apparently Lewis just said that over the team radio so as to manage his team and they wouldn't be worrying about it during the race. Mercedes need to get on top of their starts. It has cost both Lewis and Nico a lot this year on different occasions.

My donkey would be Mercedes for not getting on top of their bad starts.

**N4D13** · 5th September 2016, 08:41

Blaming Hamilton or Mercedes for a bad start is premature (albeit incidentally, I don't recall many people blaming Merc whenever Rosberg had a slow getaway). If I had to pick a donkey, it would probably be Nasr.

**The Black Knight** · 5th September 2016, 08:44

Originally Posted by N4D13

Blaming Hamilton or Mercedes for a bad start is premature (albeit incidentally, I don't recall many people blaming Merc whenever Rosberg had a slow getaway). If I had to pick a donkey, it would probably be Nasr.

Not really. They have had start issues all season and not had any issues. Hamilton has said he doesn't know what happened so it's unlikely that it was his fault. It's up to the team to sort out the mechanical part of it.

**The Black Knight** · 5th September 2016, 11:00

So actually turns out Lewis wasn't to blame for the bad start:

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...berg-closes-in

It's a clutch issue. Since it's Mercedes clutch, I'd say really the team are at fault collectively rather than individually.

**N4D13** · 5th September 2016, 14:04

Originally Posted by The Black Knight

Not really. They have had start issues all season and not had any issues. Hamilton has said he doesn't know what happened so it's unlikely that it was his fault. It's up to the team to sort out the mechanical part of it.

My point was that we shouldn't be calling Lewis a donkey, as Jag_Warrior did above, until we knew for certain whom was to blame. Sorry I didn't make that clearer before.

**Jag_Warrior** · 5th September 2016, 22:27

In the article that I read when I posted that, Lewis said that he thought that he had excessive wheel spin when he dumped the clutch.

My contract with Motorsport Forums.com requires me to have my Donkey pick or vote in by a certain time. Sorry, I had to call it like Lewis (initially) claimed it.

**The Black Knight** · 6th September 2016, 07:10

Originally Posted by N4D13

My point was that we shouldn't be calling Lewis a donkey, as Jag_Warrior did above, until we knew for certain whom was to blame. Sorry I didn't make that clearer before.

Nothing to apologize for

Many things get lost in translation in forums.

**Jag_Warrior** · 7th September 2016, 15:25

As they probably have the power unit with the most torque, it's quite possible that the Mercedes clutch is particularly finicky. I am in the Hamilton court, whether he wins or loses. I've followed his career since he was in F3. But I can also accept that he has weak points. It used to be his tire management. He's matured well and gotten on top of that. Now it seems to be his starts. Rosberg identified this as far back as Canada. While accepting that he had also had some start issues, he believed that Lewis seemed more prone to having start issues and he seemed keen to seize on that - and he and others have.

What Wolff has tried to do post Monza is to make sure that no one person in the team gets tagged with the blame for what happened off the line. Toto doesn't see that as productive (done publicly), and I agree with that. But he disagreed that Lewis played no part in the bog down or wheel spin.

"The reason we changed the rules last year was to give more responsibility to the driver and make it more variable. But it's just what happens, you have good starts and bad starts, and I think our system has improved a lot. But obviously today machine and driver got it wrong."

I don't look for Mercedes or Wolff (or Lewis) to clarify it much more than they already have. But the Donkey nomination was made based on Lewis' initial admission - so fair play (and it's in fun anyway). And it seems that he did play some part in blowing it, since he no longer can have an engineer's assistance in setting the clutch bite point... and that's what apparently got him. I would just hate to see this be the deciding factor in the championship battle if Lewis doesn't get it right from here on out.