Hamilton not giving up after championship setback

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says he “won’t give up” despite falling 52 points behind in the championship battle.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Hamilton not giving up on drivers’ title (BBC)

“I won’t give up. I’ll keep pushing to the end. Of course, it makes it that bit harder.”

Traffic takes toll on Raikkonen’s title challenge (Reuters)

“We were definitely faster than Michael [Schumacher] and Nico [Rosberg] but we ended up stuck behind them for most of the race which was frustrating.”

Fernando Alonso: "We were not very competitive this weekend…” (Adam Cooper’s F1 Blog)

“I think the safety car arrived in the worst moment for us, because we have stopped and changed the tyres five laps before the safety car, so we didn’t have the pit stop for free like the others did. So, it was, I think with all these difficulties, if we put altogether, arriving third in our difficult weekend is for sure a fantastic result in terms of points.”

Singapore GP – Conference 4 (FIA)

“For about three or four laps it was spraying gearbox oil. I thought it was the backmarker at the time, and then I saw Lewis pull over so I knew that was from his car.”

Senna ‘using racing line’ in Massa clash (Autosport)

“The stewards believed that Senna had not done anything wrong because he had not appeared to deliberately move across.”

Timely result for di Resta (Sky)

“I like to think that I’m capable of stepping up to one of these bigger teams. There’s some drivers about – I’ve raced against some of them at the top, I’ve had great battles with them and I’ve beaten them.”

Red Bull RB8 – new brake discs and ducts (F1)

“Made from a new material, CER, they lose only 1mm of thickness by the end of the race in comparison to the 4mm worn away on the older CCR discs.”

Tooned – Episode 6: Gone With The Wind (YouTube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yVDDXr2EzU

Tweets

Comment of the day

@JerseyF1 says there’s still life left in the championship battle:

Plenty of championships have turned around more than the points differences we have at the moment, I think that the new points system is still fooling people – with arguably the three fastest cars in reverse order in the championship this is shaping up for a tight finish if the main contenders run to form over the next few races without car failures or other incident.
@JerseyF1

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On this day in F1

Recently-crowned champion Emerson Fittipaldi hit trouble in the 1972 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport, having to pit with wing damage after a battle with pole sitter Peter Revson for third.

Ronnie Peterson led the opening laps for March before being passed by Jackie Stewart, who went on to win ahead of the McLarens of Revson and Denny Hulme.

Image © Singapore GP/Sutton

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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68 comments on “Hamilton not giving up after championship setback”

  1. 52 points in 6 races – Very tough but plausible. Vettel is Alonso’s real primary rival ATM IMO.

    1. Sure it’s possible but it will take a perfect streak. Looking at current form, if there’s someone capable of winning all 6 remaining races it’s Lewis Hamilton but I don’t see it happening. However, Hamilton should not even think about giving up.

      I think it’s Alonso’s championship to lose, both Vettel and Kimi will need to win at least 3 races and kep Alonso off the podium at least twice and that’s hard to materialize because 2012 Red Bull is not dominant and McLarens are still there…

    2. Alonso won, I beleive two races where Hamilton had DNFs. Look at the points gap. A curious coincidence. Alonso has really got some kind of secret amulet—even when he gets taken out at the start, so does Hamilton. But this run of fortune is not guaranteed.

      Hamilton obviously has the car to win every remaining race. But he doesn’t even have to do that. Alonso knows that if Button is on form he will finish no better than third even with a perfect race now, and he has still got to worry about Vettel and the Lotuses and Webber. So Alonso has some pressure now.

  2. Good to hear! Fight to the end.

  3. Let’s hope that Byron Young is right about the revised track layout. The track is so lacking in character, that after 4 years, the layout of the Marina Bay circuit still isn’t particularly obvious whilst the race is in progress. The very slow 2 hour races are not something I relish at this track.

    This image shows the section of the track around the cricket ground. It includes the dreadful turn 10 chicane and seems to be there only to increase the overall number of corners. They could either reroute the track so that it cuts across between turns 8 and 15 or just cut it down the road on the near side of the cricket ground (Connaught Drive, if it’s wide enough), so it would cut from turn 8 to turn 12. Both options are an improvement in length terms, but neither will really make the track that much more exciting from a TV viewers perspective. As it stands though, the track serves from the same “corner creep” that has blighted recent circuit designs.

    1. The track is so lacking in character […] The very slow 2 hour races are not something I relish at this track.

      Singapore is usually hot and humid. It’s a long, tiring race, and the circuit places a lot of demands on the car. Energy levels and concentration start to fade after a while, which we saw in action last night. Massa nearly lost control on the Anderson Bridge, Schumacher rear-ended Vergne and Hulkenberg got into scrapes with the Saubers. We even saw it at the front; Martin Brundle pointed out that the difference between Vettel and Button kept changing because it was so difficult to string together a perfect lap of the circuit, much less do it consistently.

      It’s the closest thing Formula 1 has to an endurance test. Isn’t that character enough for you?

      the layout of the Marina Bay circuit still isn’t particularly obvious whilst the race is in progress

      I would argue that that’s actually a good thing. If it looks like a labyrinth to us, then imagine what it must look like to the drivers, particularly as the race wears on an concentration levels start to slide. We tend to see more driver errors more often at Singapore than at any other circuit.

      1. The location and track conditions have character, the circuit itself does not, so should be improved if possible. They can increase the number of laps to keep it as a test of endurance if the track is shortened. The thing I would change most is reduce the number of 90 degree corners in the run to the final corner, and reroute around the stupid chicane if possible.

        1. Surely by virtue of being a road/city circuit means its incredibly hard to find corners that aren’t sharp angles, because that’s how cities are built?

          Personally, I’d do away with turns 17-20 and that tunnel – it seems designed to cause safety cars by virtue of brain fade due to the track endurance.

    2. Connaught Drive is pretty narrow (unless they’ve widened it since I was there last). It may be just wide enough for a race circuit, but it would be an very narrow piece of track.

      1. Was at the race last night. Connaught Drive was being used a spectators walkway. Definitely much too narrow in its current state. Width would need (at the very least) to be doubled.

        1. I dunno, looking on Google Street View, a lot of it is 4 lanes wide, same as much of the rest of the track (like Raffles Blvd, a pretty fast part). Theyll definitely have to widen the entry to it, and move a lot of the lamp posts and pavements back slightly, but I think its not as insurmountable a task as you think. Was there a lot of food stalls and such on it yesterday? That may have made it seem much smaller than it its.

          Also, The track goes under a shopping centre? They masked that pretty well.

          1. I mean the track as defined by the white lines is less than 4 lanes at that point.

    3. I think that removing those corners would improve the circuit. The turn 10… umm… chicane? Double chicane? Whatever it is, it’s one of the worst corners in F1. I would think of Singapore much more highly if it didn’t have that stupid corner which really doesn’t add anythings to the racing; all it does is destroy cars every once in a while.

      1. Strange how many hate that turn 10 Singapore Sling. I always look at how cars/drivers are having their work cut out taking that one fluently and enjoy the sight of that. To me it would be one of the significant and stand out features of the track being cut out. If they want to shorten it, get rid of the criss-cross around and under the grandstand later in the lap.
        Not to mention that shortening the race takes away that other stand out feature of having a race that is really tough on the drivers for a full 2 hours.

        1. artificial racer
          24th September 2012, 19:04

          That turn is horrible… it’s somewhat of a challenge but it’s narrow as hell and taking it fast (-ish) requires bouncing over high kerbs. It functions equivalently to speed bumps/sleeping policemen.

          No chance of overtaking there. Also looks stupid seeing the cars bounce through.

          1. artificial racer
            24th September 2012, 19:24

            I like the character of the following turns though… 12, 13, the hairpin at turn 14, and turn 15 are all interesting corners. Cutting out the entire sector there wouldn’t be nice…

    4. marina bay makes me remind the original layout of the houston street circuit in CART. too many 90 degrees turns.

  4. was singapore the first race where “tooned” appears on the rear wing? they’re not bad, and a million times better than i feared. i laughed out loud at the mayoress and her monster trucks :D

    CER is carbon enhanced reinforcements – plastic or graphite loaded with carbon nanotubes.
    the old junk – RCC, or CRC or C-C is carbon fiber reinforced composites – plastic or graphite loaded with chopped carbon fiber.
    carbon fiber is basically fishing line drawn through a huge oven until everything but the carbon has cooked off.
    CCR is credence clearwater revival and i would have thought those discs were terrible for brakes.

    regarding the CER material, i found this:
    http://www.compositesworld.com/articles/nanotechnology-into-the-realm-of-real

    From the beginning, says Dr. Tushar Shah, ANS’ chief technology officer, the focus of the research has been on development of a robust manufacturing technology. “Our main purpose was to determine how to produce high-value, low-cost materials, under reasonable conditions,” he recalls, noting that the emphasis was on practicality. “That was the breakthrough. We’ve developed a drop-in, multifunctional technology for composites processors, with performance built into the reinforcement.”

    The technology, known as CER (carbon-enhanced reinforcements), is now under consideration for a number of applications. Electronics applications, such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding or lightning strike protection, are the initial targets, but others are in the sights. CNS-infused glass fiber is the “most mature” at present, says Shah. HPC got an exclusive first look at the process and the product’s potential applications during a recent tour of the pilot plant.

    Nanotech background

    Nanotechnology involves the creation and manipulation of particles at the nanoscale, that is, particles that range in size from 1 to 1,000 nanometers (nm), where 1 nm equals 1 billionth of a meter. Nanomaterials include single-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are long, thin cylinders of carbon atoms arranged in a graphitic lattice structure, and multiwall carbon nanotubes, which are concentric cylinders of carbon atoms in a similar graphite structure held together by weak intermolecular forces. These carbon-based particles have aspect ratios that range from 100:1 to 10,000:1.

    1. was singapore the first race where “tooned” appears on the rear wing?

      Nope. They had it for several races.

    2. thanks for the part about the materials there @F1Yankee

      1. My nephew, always interested in anything scientific, pointed out to me a handful of years ago from an article he read, that a nanometer is the distance a whisker on a man’s face grows in the time it takes for him to bring the razor up to his face.

  5. I thought Di Resta had a lot of fans @f1fanatic, why have we heard so little all weekend (he was virtually invisible in the race till the last few laps) about such excellent results by PdR and FI at a track that is not all about top-speed, he will be my DOTW.

    1. Of course the car is the star, I suppose, with little to change next year we should have a really good championship battle, especially so if LH moves to Mercedes or even Force India.

    2. @HoHum Agreed, Di Resta had an anonymous, yet very strong race. He certainly deserves to be at a better team next year. If Ferrari drops Massa, Hamilton goes to Mercedes and Raikkonen leaves F1 again, then I would love to see Di Resta at McLaren, Perez or Hulkenberg at Ferrari and Kovalainen at Lotus.

      1. @girts – He’s had one really good race, and suddenly he’s deserving of a better drive next year? What about the likes of Perez and Grosjean, who have regularly had good results?

        1. If I were a in a top team, I think I’d hesitate before getting Grosjean. He is very fast, but I’d at least want to see if he’s learnt his lesson and calms down over the remaining races this season.

        2. @prisoner-monkeys I already mentioned Perez as someone I would like to see in a better car next season. As for Grosjean, he already is with a very competitive team. I believe that a Lotus is exactly what Romain deserves at the moment.

          I don’t think that di Resta’s performance at Singapore is the only reason why he deserves promotion. In my opinion, this was rather a reminder of how strong he can be, when given the right car. This is what Edd Straw, one of my favourite journalists, writes about him after the Singapore GP:

          The Force India was flattered by di Resta in Singapore, who turned in the superb weekend’s work required to remind any big teams that might have a vacancy that he should be at the front of the queue.

          And this is what he wrote a few weeks ago:

          Both [Hulkenberg and di Resta] deserve promotion. Both are excellent drivers. We will only know for sure just how good when they finally have cars worthy of their ability under them. Both will win races, no question, and the pair could well turn out to be world championship calibre.

  6. Why would he give up? He is so freaking fast, together with Vettel. And for the same reason why Alonso is actually leading the championship, everything can change dramatically. I’d imagine there are a lot of finger crossing all the way across the pit lane with Ferrari leading the way by a large margin :)

  7. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    24th September 2012, 2:41

    I posted this in another article, a little late so nobody commented this later :P :
    1 Fernando Alonso 231
    2 Mark Webber 220
    3 Lewis Hamilton 210
    4 Sebastian Vettel 206
    (Note: 2 races remaining)

    That was 2010, so this championship is still open. Even for Kimi, maybe for Hamilton. An if I was Alonso, I wouldn’t be so sure that the third championship is mine. He lost it that 2010 with 2 races to go, now there are still 6, McLaren or RedBull will have the WDC with Vettel or Hamilton, … but I don’t think Alonso can make more miracles in that ferrari, that currently is looking one step behind. They have reliability now, but if they try to get more performance they will step into the brink of reliability.

    1. The difference is that in 2010 RedBull had THE fastest car and when it didn’t retire with technical problems, it surely won. The teams’ performances vary a lot from circuit to circuit this year. At Monza Alonso could have easily get pole while in Singapore Ferrari were barely the 3rd fastest. Two races ago RedBull couldn’t even get through Q3 so who knows – Ferrari may be looking a step behind but could be the fastest in Japan. Consistency will win this Championship.

      1. @klaas – I have the strangest feeling that Adrian Newey designs the cars specifically for the Japanese Grand Prix because it is the point where the championship battle (if there is one) really comes alive, and so everything the team introduces is to get the car to the point where it can be competitive at Suzuka.

        I wonder what would happen if Suzuka was brought forward, perhaps run in conjunction with the Chinese Grand Prix in April.

        1. Doubt it. Designing a car specifically for a single track near the end of the season to the detrement of all the tracks prior to this would almost certainly lose the title before you’ve even got to Japan

      2. @klaas

        I dont see too much of a difference between Hamilton this year and Vettel in 2010. Mclaren are the fastest this year, at least at this stage of the championship it is. Button is a bit fussy, but in Hamilton’s hands, the car is the fastest. So, in the last 4 races, Lewis finished twice and he won twice…I think Lewis is still in with a great shout. Ferrari need another half a second in qualy at least, if not Alonso will miss another shot at his 3rd WDC.

    2. For me Alonso is in great position to claim his 3rd WDC. I think Hamilton will need to win the last 6 races unless Alonso scores at least one DNF.

      Vettel doesn’t have a dominant car to win 3 or 4 races. Despite being relagated to 4th and 52 points behind Alonso,Hamilton is still the one who can steal it from Fernando Alonso, IMHO I don’t think he will but I wish he wins the next 5 races and we go to Brazil for a dramatic finale.

      1. @jcost I don’t think Hamilton needs to win EVERY race. With the Ferrari how it is at the moment, I think we can expect Alonso to score around 12 pts per race. If this is the case, Hamilton will need to score 124 out of a possible 150. That’s definately possible with the car he has. 3 wins, 2 2nds and a 3rd would do it. When you put it like that it doesn’t sound quite so unlikely.

        1. As long as he does’t have a single retirement. Stringing 6 finishes together shouldn’t be problematic, but given his luck this season it certainly isn’t a given. I just don’t want to see Vettel get a 3rd championship. At least not yet. Much though I don’t really like Alonso, a 3rd championship is long overdue for him, and Hamilton has driven incredibly well this year and in 2010, so is also fully deserving if he gets his 2nd.

          1. @matt90 I agree about Vettel. I don’t think he’s driven as well as Alonso and Hamilton this year and therefore would rather one of them won the championship. In my opinion Lewis and Fernando have proved themselves the class of the field this year, and I would be happy if either of them won the championship, as both of them are long overdue another.

        2. Button is not so bad, even in Marina Bay he could have challenged Lewis. JB will not let Lewis pass, it is a problem for MC Laren that Alonso does not have. If Massa drives as usually he is not a problem and if he does better he can (with a lot of luck) slow Lewis. Vettel Webber will be the same, Webber is out of contention, must act as a number 2 if he is a little smart.

        3. What if both his 2nds are 2 wins for Alonso? 6/6 is not the only combination but it’s the safe bet. Actually I think Lewis Hamilton can do it as long his bad luck doesn’t strike again.
          Looking at McLarens recent form (quali pace, race pace and pit service) Hamilton could’ve won every race since Hungary if had picked the right rear wing I’ve no doubt he’d be the one to beat at Spa, discounting his gearbox failure in Singapore when he was leading and “cruising” he could have two more win to his name.
          Winning six in a row? Possible.

    3. Vettel is in a better position to win the championship than Alonso presently.
      For Mclaren, it is not points lost at the recent races, but points lost early on that haunts them.
      It will be very difficult for Kimi to win from where he is.

      1. Yeah if one of them wants to steal the title from Alonso, they’d need to start winning quite a few races to slash down Alonso’s lead.

        1. Most of the remaining circuits should suit Lotus quite well. Fast to mid-fast corners (with a couple of exceptions of course) and if they get their new DRS systemtogether finally in Suzuka their straight line speed should be better as well.

          I wouldn’t rule Kimi out just yet.

  8. It`s going to be very difficult for both Hamilton and Button to catch up with the two guys ahead, specially Alonso ! ;( I think Mclaren should now just focus on the constructors !

    Ps – As for Lewis and his future : I reckon if he stays at Macca on low wages, it will be only under short term contract ( 1 – 2 years ) until there is a vacancy elsewhere ( Mercedes ? Red Bull ? ).

    1. But you are funny is saying Mclaren should focus on the constructors.
      How can they achieve that if their cars don’t finish ahead of the others or finish at all.
      The WDC and the WCC are the same championship held on the same day.
      What is good for the WDC is good for the WCC.

      1. What I meant with “focus on the constructors ” is that, McLaren should not give special treatment to neither of their drivers ! There have been talks about using Jenson to help Lewis win races.They should help both drivers win races, instead of just one driver for the sake of WDC !

        1. But that’s the point, there can’t be one without the other. If McLaren double-down on making sure both cars perform, rather than using one car as the wingman for another, they stand a better chance of winning both championships.

          Basically, if Jenson is leading a race, Hamilton should help him and vice-versa. That way, McLaren get 1-2s (or whatever) and both drivers move up the standings.

          This whole idea of one driver supporting the other is rubbish unless one driver is mathematically out of the running – a) its unsporting and b) you end up with a situation like at Ferrari where they’ve munted their constructors challenge for 3 years running by throwing most of the support to one side of the garage.

          1. I think in one more race we will know a lot more about what Mac should do, but I think as it is JB is almost mathematically out of it right now, at least in terms of the odds even if not literally the math. And if LH is saying he won’t give up, implying that it is almost not possible for him to win the WDC (unless extreme circumstances arise like a couple of DNF’s for FA and SV), then JB’s chances are even less due to his 23 points behind LH.

            I think the team will see how the next race unfolds, and may have to make ‘a call’ during the race, depending on how it goes, and if that happens I won’t consider that unsporting nor Ferrari-like.

            Ultimately, of course Mac will be aiming for both cars to place as high up as possible for the WDC and the WCC. If Button can keep points away from the key players they will have him do that. Nothing says he will have to help by literally letting LH pass him, but of course that is possible too. If JB is in a winning position and LH is running 4th, I think LH will be too far back for JB to do anything but take the 25 points that FA or SV won’t get.

            Bottom line though for me, I doubt they are seriously thinking of JB as a WDC hopeful at this point in the season at this point in the standings. But that doesn’t relegate him to a position where he is not helping in their WCC effort. All teams always need both their cars as high up as possible for the WDC, the WCC, and the team’s sponsors and it’s morale, for pride, and for momentum going forward.

  9. I really am not that much a fan of shortening this track, to show why not, I quote Seb Vettel (after race press conference):

    Obviously it’s a long race, a lot of laps – we did the full two hours again – but it’s fun in a way, you are excited, a bit nervous before the race starts, knowing there is a little bit of a marathon coming, but I think that’s what makes this race so special: not just racing at night, it’s also the circuit with a lot of corners, a lot of bumps, making it extremely difficult. It’s a great challenge for us.

    1. @bascb Absolutely agree.

    2. @dirgegirl @bascb I also agree. I’m not interested in appeasing the drivers if they complain. If it’s genuinely unsafe, fair enough, remove parts of the track. But it’s not unsafe, that chicane is a terrific pain in the backside (literally!) for the drivers and I want to see them pushed.

    3. absolutely agree

  10. Lewis Hamilton says he “won’t give up” despite falling 52 points behind in the championship battle.
    I have a feeling that Hamilton will be instrumental to the title fight, but he himself will not actually win it – rather, I think Vettel and Alonso will have to race him rather than each other to try and catch the other up/keep the other at bay.

  11. Sources tell me Singapore circuit will be shorter next year. Part around the cricket club will be done away with.

    I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Despite having such a long timed lap, Singapore is actually only 5km long. Cutting out the section around the cricket club would probably shorten the circuit to under 3.5km, which is the minimum circuit length the FIA will accept.

    1. Skipping only turns 16-19 would fix that and also create a second overtaking spot. But I’d still prefer to leave it as it is, the main reason this track is so special is because of the extremely long lap time. Of course the drivers nag that the race is too long for them, but other than discomfort (and maybe unsafety due to fatigue — yawn) they have no reasonable argument to force the FIA to shorten the GP.

  12. The Championship is over for Lewis. We’ll be crowning a triple world champion this year.

  13. I would think it’s extremely early to call the WDC fight over. Alonso does have a really good reliability history, but there are 6 races coming, and he only needs a DNF at one of them and a 5th-or-so place behind McLarens, Red Bulls or Lotuses at another, and at least 1, if not 2 or 3 drivers will have caught up with him, and at the last race even 3rd or 4th might not be enough for him to win if the wrong person wins.
    If Vettel, Hamilton and Räikkönen share the podium and the points at even 2 races, they might all be within 25 points of Alonso, so its looking like a great end of the season coming up.

  14. Di Resta banging on about his days when he used to beat Vettel again?

    Vettel is good but he’s not an unbeatable opponent. It’s becoming pretty tiresome from Paul that he rolls that line out all the time. How many comparisons can he draw between now and then? I’m sure if he finds himself in a top team he will be able to beat Vettel, but he will also be beaten by Vettel by the same measure. Swings and roundabouts.

    1. Well this season many have bit Vettel so what is the point ?

      1. Exactly. I think his driving is actually on a par with, if not better than last year, he just doesn’t have the vehicle underneath him.

  15. Fans new to F1 might think the championship is all but over, but long time F1 fans know better. This Championship is wide open and all to play for. Anything might happen over 6 races.

    One DNF for Alonso might bring Vettel within 4 points or Hamilton within 27 points. One win by either Vettel or Hamilton with Alonso in P4 will bring Vettel within 16 points or Hamilton within 40 points. And there will still be 5 races to go and 125 points to be handed out. Alonso would not have been on the podium in Singapore without Hamiltons retirement and the Safety Cars.

    Alonso has one big advantage though, he can have a bad weekend and still be in the fight for the WC.

    Vettel better not have a bad weekend unless Alonso`s got one too, but can still come back from it if he wins races. The upside for Vettel is, he`ll probably have a faster car than Alonso.

    Hamilton can not afford a bad weekend. Even if the others have one too it will eat into his ability to reduce the gap to Alonso. The upside for Hamilton is, he`ll probably have the fastest car.

    Seems like a perfect recipe for a very exciting end to the season to me.

  16. Hamilton scored 10.1 points on average so far. He has to bring down a gap of 8.7 points per race towards Alonso who, excluding his belgian DNF and his three victories scored on average about 12 points per race. Not an easy task by any means…

  17. I think Alonso is dreaming about the safety car being a disadvantage for him. Di Resta was probably looking good for 3rd without it.

  18. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
    24th September 2012, 21:54

    Not sure how reliable a source it is, but Essclestone apparently says Hamilton will join Mercedes.


    http://blogs.bettor.com/Bernie-Ecclestone-says-Lewis-Hamilton-has-decided-to-join-Mercedes-Formula-1-news-a189869

    @keithcollantine

    1. I see a vast amount of material from that particular site when I’m researching stuff for the round-up and I’m not convinced any of it is particularly well-sourced.

      1. @keithcollantine I’m suspicious of that site as well, but that quote from Ecclestone (about Hamilton’s mind having been made up at one point, although possibly not anymore) is also in this article in the Guardian:

        http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/sep/24/mclaren-lewis-hamilton-mercedes

        1. Eddie says Wednesday ;]

  19. must say my heart sunk on lap 23, its Alonoso`s to lose, its not over till the fat lady sings.

  20. If Hamilton wins every race from now on, and take at least 9 pts out of Alonso’s lead at every race, and keep Vetel behind, he would still win the title 2 pts ahead. But this would be really very tough. He needs to make sure that he does not have any problem with the car, and his team must not make any mistakes.

    Red Bull does not have the straight-line speed with the weaker Renault engine, as compared to the stronger Mercedes and Ferrari engine which Hamilton’s and Alonso’s car have, they are most likely going to struggle if they do not do any massive improvements to the car. Suzuka, Korea, Buddh, Yas Marina, Austin, and Interlagos all have at least one high-speed straight which would cost the Red Bulls time and speed.

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