The 2019 Season - Your Verdict

[airshifter]

But l also agree that luck is not a big part of it as well. But it is a part of winning more times than not. Like Hamilton driving his tyres for a longer run than would otherwise be ideal with the hope for a safety car situation that materializes against the odds, giving him a win that would have otherwise been a win for Bottas that had driven a flawless race but to be deprived of the win due to the safety car. This is what l mean by making luck.

I've always seen this more as a roll of the dice. If the deciding factor is the "luck" of the safety car, it's just luck. In this example without a safety car the strategy of going long doesn't work. And IMO to some extent pure luck plays a part in many a drivers standings as far as results. Ricciardo at RB is a good example. I personally don't buy into any of the theories that they were intentionally allowing his car to fail, but his bad luck at RB with reliability was just that.... bad luck.

You also say that machinery is a big part of it. But Ferrari had the fastest car this season and last. And probably for some time now since 2017. Yet Mercedes has won both driver and constructors title inspite of it. Which disproves the argument that better machinery has alot to do with success. Unfortunately, that statement undermines the immense amount of work that Mercedes has put into finding a solution to overcome Ferrari and their mighty engine.

I'm glad you further clarified your context in a follow up post on this one, because I don't think for a second Ferrari had the fastest car in either season unless we count only straight line speed. But based
on your follow up post, sure they are all constantly fighting to keep a superior car. And in my view this year showed that in some aspects both Ferrari and RB made up some ground on Mercedes this year. Since all cars are a compromise hoping to suit the overall season, the characteristics of certain strengths and weaknesses are most apparent on specific tracks that exploit both strengths and weaknesses within the grid.

The level of excellence that brings a driver and a team above a competitor with a superior machinery is not ordinary by any means. It is that bit above what even the best of the time can produce. That l say is superhuman.

In terms of Schumacher and Hamilton, is not ordinary talent that makes a driver win more than 5 F1 driver's title. Having a superior car is not the full answer either because there is another driver in a similar car racing against him. It is that very special talent that separates that driver from the rest. Because not all drivers on the grid can be world champions in that car. Be it a Mercedes or a Ferrari. If that was the case, the other driver would win just as much titles as the him [Schumacher, Hamilton, Prost].

I would not go as far as to say GOAT, as l find such terms unequivocal, but l certainly think it is not ordinary talent. And you can see how it separates the up and coming from their peers. Verstapenn and Leclerc stand out immediately because we could see that very special quality in them.

The reason we are having this discussion is the comparison of Bottas to Verstapenn and Leclerc as implied by Hakkinen. Bottas is fast but lacks that very particular quality that we associate with Verstapenn and Leclerc.

In my view the total effort of any team can only set the bar higher, but I can't consider it superhuman. It is a combination of the great driving talent and the great efforts of the teams to provide that driver the best possible chance to win races or otherwise gain as many points as possible on that day. And without doubt some rise to the top of both sides of the equation, that we can agree on.

As for driver pairings, IMO often all the outside factors along with team factors make it a lopsided comparison to say that there was equal chance to win titles and such. If all the teams always got the driver they wanted, and always opted to pick what they felt the two strongest drivers were, we [i]might[i] see a better comparison there. But only one team can get any driver, and often teams choose to allow a #1 driver and "wingman" status within the team. Though we agree that Bottas lacks that special talent we often see in the very top level drivers, he has upped his game. But Lewis has continued to refine his game as well, so there is no real challenge there. But I think we could probably agree that Seb, Leclerc maybe even Ricciardo and a couple others would have made for a much tighter battle at Merc if they were paired with Lewis. Vettel was proven to not be as strong as some think by the up and coming Leclerc, but not without some team tensions and problems due to the fact that they have two very solid drivers.