Was Overtaking too Easy at Silverstone?

[guidofoc]

Surely it was easier than on some other tracks but as there are 21 races on the calendar this is only one of the races.
Of course if you are not really racing Hamilton for position (i.e. you are not a Ferrari or a Red Bull) there is no point in trying to resist on a track like this one.

 

[Piotr]

I hope this provocative thread title is just a joke, not a seriuos question... ;-)

I don't think Vettel got it easy to pass Bottas, or same for Kimi/Max duel.

Let's not look at Lewis "I must have lost half the floor" Hamilton, passing drivers who were in completely different race than him.

 

[apex11]

Problem is Lewis fanboi's think its him and not the car anyway.....pointless arguing.

 

[Knoxstar]

I vote no DRS for the top 3 teams and an Independents cup for driver and team of a non-works team.

I realize Red Bull isn't a works team but more than 1 win or 3 podiums and you are promoted to the A division.

....and yes it was at times too easy.

 

[Spinelli]

Renault and Honda need to try and really find something. They are so behind. I think their power deficits to Merc and Ferrari are usually masked by running lower drag - with the possible exception of McLaren - than the Ferrari and Merc runners. It seems like this race (Silverstone 2018) may have had closer drag levels between most cars compared to other races which made it more visibly obvious just how much Renault and Honda engines are behind.

 

[LEDzZzEPP]

Its just like when you pick your favorite game/sim, choose a (good) car & put in back of the grid...& almost 3 laps you are in first position, that good dm AI!

....that seems yesterday, as big gap between Mer Fer....and the rest of the teams, including RB

 

[Jozsusz]

Problem is Lewis fanboi's think its him and not the car anyway.....pointless arguing.

Where was Bottas? In the same car with much better tyres ( he didn't have to push). Where Bottas finished in last years championship? How many races did Bottas win? By how many secs he qualified last year lower than Ham at Italy?
The car is good, yes. But there is also the Hamilton factor, and you can't argue about that.

 

[Damage Inc]

Overtaking in F1 is a complete joke, farcical. either too easy or too hard.

Where was Bottas? In the same car with much better tyres ( he didn't have to push). Where Bottas finished in last years championship? How many races did Bottas win? By how many secs he qualified last year lower than Ham at Italy?
The car is good, yes. But there is also the Hamilton factor, and you can't argue about that.

Many times when a race vehicle is built and designed around a driver/rider the team mate with a different driving/riding style can suffer. Also like with MS in Ferrari, LH will get preferential treatment at MB over his teammate.Maybe not so much with Nico, but I get the feeling Bottas is a complete no.2 the way Barrichello and Massa were at Ferrari.

 

[TheMaroon47]

You guys aren't getting the point. Like Martin said, it was delaying the inevitable. Why would you even waste your time, battery energy and tyre degradation to race a car that you clearly can't beat around a single lap, much less 52? I believe everyone here has forgotten the implications placed upon a driver to race against a much faster car. Why fight the guys at the front while getting so much tyre wear that you have to pit again and add another 20 seconds to your race time instead of chasing and defending against someone you should be fighting?

 

[TwanV86]

There are only 6 cars in F1. The rest are extras to fill the grid.

This is nothing new, the same happened in the past, watch slow-starter Prost outdo the field in '89, now that was a snooze. Currently it is Merc, Ferrari and RB but history has shown that the winning teams tends to change.

 

[Tberg]

Have you guys seen Days of Thunder? In order to reach top speed you have to press pedal to the metal! It's got nothing to do with stronger Mercedes or Ferrari engine. All the joking aside I really have no idea where drivers outside top 3 teams are finding the motivation to compete with such huge deficits in top speed.

So if you were in F1, you would not be motivated to drive if you weren't in a top 3 team?

Well, the obvious reasons for motivation is money. Maybe not so much for the driver as for the team. Next comes the chance of getting your reputation up by doing well, paving the way to a top team, which is very hard. Last, everyone in F1 wants to be champion if you ask them, but if you can't get to a top team, my guess is it is still a pretty awesome dayjob to be among the 20 drivers on the grid, hence why the lesser drivers hang on as long as they can till thrown out. The publicity alone earns them money, even if they don't need it.
That said, this season is among the best in a looong time.

Teams are only in F1 as long as they can afford it, in many ways motorsports is epitome of arrogance, spending all those resources on racing

 

[Richard Dastardly]

This is nothing new, the same happened in the past, watch slow-starter Prost outdo the field in '89, now that was a snooze. Currently it is Merc, Ferrari and RB but history has shown that the winning teams tends to change.

Not just that, it seemed the red/white cars won literally everything for half the 80s. I know they actually didn't, but F1 felt almost as dull as it is now for a lot of the time. Admittedly that was coming after Keke/Alan Jones vs turbo cars.

For some reason I remembered JB's drive in Canada 2011 - 6 times into the pits iirc, last at some point & won it on the last lap? that was a strange race and an astonishing drive to watch.

 

[NDG]

I thought Fernando had a hard time trying to get passed Grosjean? and Sergio Perez VS Gasly?Ultimately, you'll just realize how over powered the top 2 teams are. Red Bull just have a great chassis to keep them up front, But Renault power is third only, not last because of Honda. Mercedes power is amazing to say the least. It doesn't show now for Force India and Williams but I remember Bottas when he was in Williams taking the fight to Mercedes themselves.

 

[Simon Gardner]

It was easy because the midfielders didn't defend and rightly so, there would be no benefit to defending from a car with so much more speed, better to not lose the time and focus on who you are really in a race with.
As for the midfield teams not being motivated, as has been said it has always been the case that 1 or 2 teams or in a good year 3 are in contention for the title and the rest its a case of picking up what points they can, finishing 4th in the constructors is still a massive achievement and worth a lot of money.

 

[Tberg]

Not just that, it seemed the red/white cars won literally everything for half the 80s. I know they actually didn't, but F1 felt almost as dull as it is now for a lot of the time. Admittedly that was coming after Keke/Alan Jones vs turbo cars.

For some reason I remembered JB's drive in Canada 2011 - 6 times into the pits iirc, last at some point & won it on the last lap? that was a strange race and an astonishing drive to watch.

I remember that one also, ridiculous race. 6 safetycars, rain and a huge delay, JB putting both Alonso and Lewis outta the race while a few others in front of him also collided. Stars were placed right that day for JB

 

[SAGY31]

So if you were in F1, you would not be motivated to drive if you weren't in a top 3 team?

Imagine all the hard training... being in top physical form and knowing that you can't even demonstrate that on track because of "GP2" engine Alonso used to comment.

Ofc all of them are hoping that one day they'll be able to race for top team and knowing that day may never come, that's a killer for motivation. I guess they must never allow themselves this line of thinking, but surely it must be at the back of their mind.

I think also Hamilton and Vettel must sometimes ask themselves the question how difficult it would have been in championship winning years if they competed with more than just 1, 2 or 3 other drivers / teams. With this I of course don't mean anything disrespectful towards HAM or VET.

 

[Tberg]

Imagine all the hard training... being in top physical form and knowing that you can't even demonstrate that on track because of "GP2" engine Alonso used to comment.

Ofc all of them are hoping that one day they'll be able to race for top team and knowing that day may never come, that's a killer for motivation. I guess they must never allow themselves this line of thinking, but surely it must be at the back of their mind.

I think also Hamilton and Vettel must sometimes ask themselves the question how difficult it would have been in championship winning years if they competed with more than just 1, 2 or 3 other drivers / teams. With this I of course don't mean anything disrespectful towards HAM or VET.

Even Alonso has stayed in F1 for long, considered missing podiums for ages.
No, I don't think that drivers in F1 get demotivated by not being in the top teams.
Ask Grosjean if he's demotivated. Frustrated yes, but it takes a lot to get demotivated.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

I remember that one also, ridiculous race. 6 safetycars, rain and a huge delay, JB putting both Alonso and Lewis outta the race while a few others in front of him also collided. Stars were placed right that day for JB

IIRC the longest grand prix & the slowest average speed for a winner ( 45mph or something ) - none of the people JB collided with blamed him, so yes I guess he just got lucky that they went off & he kept going. The drive towards the end of the race was quite something, he was just ridiculously faster than anyone. Vettel screwing up helped

 

[Slowdive]

Most ridiculous part is always when Hamilton specifically came from behind, there are wide open doors and no defensive lines from the mid field contenders.

It's gotten so ridiculous that the drivers in the "best of the rest" category refuse to even try to race the top 3 teams. How stupid is that? F1 is broken.

 

[carlton999]

View attachment 259017
Lewis Hamilton passed pretty much the entire grid today at Silverstone, but was it too easy, and why?

Lewis Hamilton performed a remarkable comeback from his lap one accident at Silverstone, however the ease at which the Mercedes managed to overcome his rivals on track leads to an interesting question - has overtaken been made too easy at Silverstone, or is the Mercedes really just that much better than the other cars in Formula One?

Passing is usually a game of driver skill and bravery, however the passing displayed by Lewis Hamilton for the most part didn't need either, the W09 Hybrid easily making light work of the cars ahead, leaving one to wonder if the challenge of passing another car at Silverstone is too easy, thanks in large part to not one but three DRS zones on the British circuit.

Do you think the ease of passing for Hamilton was down to a too generous application of DRS, or is that Mercedes that much more competitive than the current F1 grid?

Let us know in the comments section below!

You have two drs zones, a wide track, and a car thats faster than all of the others except for 3 of them. Passing is a lot easier at Siverstone than people think. Stop trying to make something out of nothing. Lewis has always been fast at that track.