I say 2017 is pretty much wrapped up now and Hamy will become the fourth driver to become a four time WDC.
Drivers
Championship Points
Lewis Hamilton 331 Sebastian Vettel 265 Valtteri Bottas 244 Daniel Ricciardo 192 Kimi Raikkonen 163 Max Verstappen 123 Sergio Perez 86 Esteban Ocon 73 Carlos Sainz 54 Felipe Massa 36 Nico Hulkenberg 34 Lance Stroll 32 Romain Grosjean 28 Kevin Magnussen 15 Stoffel Vandoorne 13 Fernando Alonso 10 Jolyon Palmer 8 Pascal Wehrlein 5 Daniil Kvyat 5 Marcus Ericsson 0 Antonio Giovinazzi 0 Pierre Gasly 0 Brendon Hartley 0
Constructors
Championship Points
Mercedes 575 Ferrari 428 RBR 315 Force India 159 Williams 68 Toro Rosso 53 Renault 48 Haas 43 Mclaren 23 Sauber 5
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BU, add 2017 to the title please.
The Thug Vettel will come back
Seb needs to outscore Hamilton by 22 points per race average. If he wins in Mexico and Hammy finishes 6th then it's alive. Then just 2 Merc DNFs (🤞 and 2 wins from Seb and he wins by a point. The slimmest chance, but stranger things have happened. Forza Ferrari
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Mercedes was gracious enough to allow the appearance of a competitive season.
"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes."
-DNC
It is noticeable when the mercs run the next harder tire, beat RBR, and the Ferraris battle to match pace.
They have so much power in reserve that when it's used they can gain .5 second a lap quite effortlessly. Just look at the ease in which Lewis overtook Seb. He ran a higher engine setting, coasted past Seb, and then turned it down again to conserve the PU.
Ferrari has a similar power setting that is available for maybe 2-4 laps a weekend. But I think they've had to tone back power in general because they are really worried about reliability. If Seb has zero chance of WDC I'm sure Ferrari will up the wick on their engines just to get a win - even if it means they'll probably suffer PU issues.
Merc, as usual, keep doing a truly fantastic job on their cars. I was really hoping Ferrari had caught up but not quite, not quite.
Hamilton can finish 8th in the last 3 GP and still win the chip.
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I had a coach when I was playing tennis in college that said, "If you know you can beat someone, don't beat them 6-0 and embarrass them. They will work their ass off to beat you back. If you beat them 6-4 or 6-3 they will feel like they are close and then not put in the work needed"
I know that there are a lot of Hamilton haters here, but give him his due. A good part of Mercedes dominance is Hamilton. Bottas is a very good driver and has not come close to Hamilton for a few races now. When it's "hammer time", there is no better hammer. Vettel is also a fantastic driver but overly aggressive and does dumb things sometimes. Next year should be more interesting if Renault can be competitive and reliable. You will have Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Bottas, and Alonzo all competing.
Oh Lewis is fast - no doubts there whatsoever. It's one of the reasons he's such a great yardstick for the drivers I favor. If my driver can beat Lewis I know they are doing well.
I guess I go against the flow. I was a Prost fan and didn't like Senna and now I'm a Seb fan and don't like Lewis.
But since we're being fair here: Lewis has thrown his toys out of the cot far more times than Seb has. On track or off. And if we're going to talk about dumb aggression then you just have to look at any race where Lewis loses positions at the start of any race.
but yeah, I can see the "faults" in the drivers I don't support but those I do aren't whitewashed. I see them just as clearly.
Hartley and Gasly to compete for STR in all remaining 2017 races.
After FP1 and 2 it seems RBR has the race pace to match Merc with Ferrari languishing behind.
RBR/Merc front row and Ferrari 2nd or 3rd row. Ferrari is going to push their PUs hard because it's make or break time. Maybe they'll get front row but they won't keep it unless they seriously risk their PUs.
On a side note, Bernie is telling Ferrari has been helped by the FIA, himself, Max Mosley, not by Charlie Whiting, and by Mercedes Benz on their current engine. All teams have been helped one way or another, not just Ferrari. And he also said Ross Brawn was involved in the rules making regarding engines, and took that info from Ferrari to Mercedes....
Is he just looking to crap on Liberty Media for telling him to go eff somwhere??
Fun qualifying, Hamilton is such a sourpuss.
"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes."
-DNC
Disappointed for Verstappen, kid is legit.
"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes."
-DNC
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Fingers crossed Vettel keeps Hamilton behind him after the start, the Merc always builds a brutal gap on the opening gaps.
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