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  1. #11
    Senior Member Duncan's Avatar
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    Bottas has clearly upped his game this season, and yet... it's still not enough. Not entirely Bottas' fault, of course. But given the status of the manufacturers, Hamilton's biggest rival is still Bottas, and so his (Hamilton's) priorities need to be:

    1. Don't have any DNFs
    2. Don't use up more PUs than allocated

    those two things are what could potentially hurt Hamilton with respect to Bottas, and given the state of Ferrari right now, I'm sure he's thinking about what happened in 2016, and what he can do that's under his control to avoid that scenario. That would include being careful to not thrash the power unit. There's no sense in using more peak engine modes than he needs to to take whatever points might reasonably be available in any situation. Managing might make for boring races, but it's Hamilton's best strategy given the circumstances.

    Since the beginning of the hybrid era, Hamilton has averaged 1.4 DNFs per season, mostly due to PU failures. A PU-induced DNF would bring Bottas right back into contention; he's only 29 points back.

  2. #12
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    That is a fair point, but how does one avoid using up additional power units or having reliability issues in general? There's only so much that a driver can do.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by N4D13 View Post
    That is a fair point, but how does one avoid using up additional power units or having reliability issues in general? There's only so much that a driver can do.
    By using lower power modes as much as possible. There’s no bullet proof way but looking after your engine, using less aggressive power modes, is the best way.

  4. Likes: Duncan (21st June 2019)
  5. #14
    Senior Member Duncan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Black Knight View Post
    By using lower power modes as much as possible. There’s no bullet proof way but looking after your engine, using less aggressive power modes, is the best way.
    Exactly what I was thinking. It's the only lever the driver really has.

  6. #15
    Senior Member journeyman racer's Avatar
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    I wasn't expecting so many posts about this topic since my last post.. There's are numerous questions and counterpoints to make, but it's take too much time atm.

  7. #16
    Senior Member journeyman racer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big Ben View Post
    He's just better than Bottas. I want to be wrong but I don't think I am. At the end of the season we'll keep talking about unlucky Bottas.
    It's alright saying he's better. But what is "better"? What does he do? Where does he have an advantage? You come across as quite dispirited.

  8. #17
    Senior Member journeyman racer's Avatar
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    I reckon Duncan has made a good summation so far.

    I'd put it to anyone here that can remember, that Hamilton's most assertive season has been 2015. With the relief of winning a second championship after an unexpected drought and being overshadowed by Vettel (Who produced stats Hamilton was expected to at that point), he lifted and really rammed home any advantage he had over Rosberg.

    Yet this season has been statistically superior to 2015. 5 wins to 4, 162pts to 151, and a championship lead of 29 over Bottas compared to 17 over Rosberg.

    He has been marginally better than Bottas overall. If all the other factors stayed the same (Ferrari pit strategies not being split for instance), If Hamilton had been the only MB this year, he'd have won all 7 races so far. Had Bottas been the only MB this year, accounting that he wouldn't have had to compromise his pit entry in Monaco and put himself in the ensuing collision, he'd have won 6 races and got a 3rd in Canada.

    That's a 10pt difference. This is what I think would be a fair reflection of the difference between the MB drivers so far. But it's blown out to 29.

  9. #18
    Senior Member journeyman racer's Avatar
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    Good pole for Hamilton, 0.286 ahead of Bottas. Who was .0360 quicker than 3rd placed Leclerc with a disadvantaged lap.

    I'd put this down primarily to the superiority of MB. Idk if anyone else agrees.

  10. #19
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    In the last two races, Hamilton has finished a net 1 place behind Bottas. Yet increased his title lead by 2pts.

    The genius of champions.

  11. #20
    Senior Member Jag_Warrior's Avatar
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    I'm one who believes that you tend to make your own luck. Apart from PU failures (which could come from having to dog the engine in races because you didn't qualify ahead of the competition), Hamilton has made fewer mistakes the past few years than most of his competitors. Poor old Vettel has hit everything but the safety car and made more unforced errors than Pastor Maldonado used to. And though Bottas has greatly improved since last season, I just don't think that he can sustain an attack against Hamilton over the course of a season. As was shown by Rosberg, that sort of effort is draining on the mind and body. Once Verstappen and Leclerc have more competitive equipment (or Mercedes loses a step), then there will be some real competition for Hamilton.
    "Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith

  12. Likes: journeyman racer (15th July 2019)

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