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Thread: Donkey of the Italian GP
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4th September 2016, 21:24 #1
Donkey of the Italian GP
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!"Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith
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5th September 2016, 07:58 #2
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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.Last edited by The Black Knight; 5th September 2016 at 08:01.
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5th September 2016, 08:41 #3
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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.
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5th September 2016, 08:44 #4
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5th September 2016, 11:00 #5
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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.
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5th September 2016, 14:04 #6
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5th September 2016, 22:27 #7
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."Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith
- Likes: MrJan (9th September 2016),The Black Knight (6th September 2016)
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6th September 2016, 07:10 #8
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7th September 2016, 15:25 #9
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."Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith
A nice analysis from the rally: https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/what-we-learned-from-rally-italy-sardinia-2024/
[WRC] Rally Italia Sardegna 2024