Hamilton wants no more data sharing with team mates

2017 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton wants Mercedes to stop his team mates from being able to study his data.

Hamilton, who has a new team mate for 2017 following world champion Nico Rosberg’s retirement, said the free availability of data between drivers makes it easy for them to identify and “copy” each others’ secrets.

“I go out, do my laps, do all my homework, the other guy can see everything,” said Hamilton in an interview for a Mercedes sponsor. “I don’t think they should do.”

“I have asked my team. I don’t want to see my team mate’s… I don’t feel it’s fair that he brings his A-game and I should be able to study his A-game on a computer.”

“For example when we’re driving we’re picking out braking points, bumps, tyre rubber marks on the track, all these different things to help get you through the corner quickest. And the other driver probably naturally may be able to do more or less than you are.”

“But because of this data they can just copy you. ‘Oh he’s braking five metres later there, I’ll go out and I’ll try braking five metres later’. So that’s what I really dislike. Because it enables them to get closer. That’s what I loved about go-karting, you weren’t able to do that and that was where just your raw talent is able to shine.”

Some drivers “don’t deserve to be there”

Hamilton vs Rosberg; The result after four years
However Hamilton still feels it is necessary to have some flow of information between the two sides of the garage.

“Because we only have a limited amount of time, we have all these things we can change, sometimes you just decided to go the wrong way,” he explained. “You start on the wrong foot and unless you go back, go in the direction the other car’s going, then you’re lost. There’s just nothing you can do.”

“So those are sometimes things you have to do. “And I think for a team moving forwards that’s not a bad thing. I’m not against the team engineers sharing data but I think the drivers shouldn’t be able to study each others’ data.”

“I think it should be ‘you hired me because I am the best, because I’ve studied, because I’ve won every class that I’ve been in – I’ve not missed one in terms of winning. And you’re hiring whoever the next person is because they’ve hopefully won some things along the way as well and you’re hiring them for their ultimate skill all round. They should be able to go out there on their own and find it all themselves own without you.”

He suggested some drivers who rely too heavily on their team mates’ information don’t belong in Formula One.

“You could take a young kid from Formula Three, have them just go on a simulator and drive every single day and try and get to my lines. And eventually they’d probably get to my lines. He should have to discover that himself.”

“You’ve got to find the limit yourself, that’s the whole challenge of being a racing driver. When I get in this new car it’s seeing what the limit of it is. And if I can’t do it on my own then I’m not good enough and I don’t deserve to be there. And there are some drivers that don’t.”

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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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280 comments on “Hamilton wants no more data sharing with team mates”

  1. Especially if Red Bull are closer to Mercedes next year, that’ll never happen. They need the constructors points, so if one guy gets a good setup and is in a good rhythm, why wouldn’t they show it and try it with the other guy to see how it works with them? It makes sense to do that, they’re a team. It’s not Hamilton AMG, it’s Mercedes AMG.

    1. Setup sharing shouldn’t be a problem. It’s every little detail as entry point, brake point that bothers him. And I can understand that.
      I don’t think Lewis has any problem sharing a setup, especially not when his teammate is on the back foot because of bad luck.
      But setup + every brake point and every detail on how he attacks every corner is indeed a big big inside into a champions secrets.
      Many will dislike his remarks, but he has a big point, in todays digital age, you can see so many details.

      1. Yeah, well, but the moment you start hiding things like that from either teammate, it is the start of the path down the drain @solidg.

        And saying “setup sharing shouldn’t be a problem” when say Bottas would maybe be able to work out a great setup using information showing where Hamilton was doing laps better than Valtteri during the friday, is just nonsense. That setup is arrived at by cooperating inside the team using data from both drivers.

        In reality what Hamilton is saying is that he fears Bottas can beat him, by studying what he does right. He is saying he wants in effect to be the no. 1 driver.

        I get why he tries to put his stamp on the team like that (especially since the organisation of the team has changed a bit, this is the moment to have a go at it), but to me the reason why Mercedes has been able to operate on such a high level is because they use ALL data to their advantage. They would be stupid to stop doing that now.

        1. @bascb Nonsense. Schumacher never shared his data with team mates, so your whole ‘but to me the reason why Mercedes has been able to operate on such a high level is because they use ALL data to their advantage” – is nothing but nonsense.

          1. Schumacher DID share his data with his teammates. Maybe not all the time (he was no. 1 driver afterall) but just look up interviews where we hear the likes of Herbert talkign about being confronted with Schumi doing things in the same car that they were astonished when the engineers showed them.

            Massa didn’t learn a lot from Schumacher be not being shown any data, he learned by watching very carefully and trying to improve his own driving too. And I am sure you can find interviews with Rosberg where he mentions the differences between having Schumacher in the other car and Hamilton and their approaches.

          2. @bascb Nonsense: Why Massa only a year? you really meant was Barricello?

            If you share your data with a rookie who just jumped on F1 boat, it would probably be ok… But sharing your driving data (not setup) with a teammate who you raced with whole your career? Come onnnn… It is like asking Senna to share data between him and Prost. Yeah it is a bit extreme, but you dont just advertise your talent to your teammate!

          3. One of the things McLaren (and others, by observing it) learnt from that whole episode was that had these two shared more data between themselves, it would have improved relations inside the team @mysticus. And it is quite possible that it was Prost who was the less reluctant of the two to share his data, afraid that Senna would profit from his studious work on the setup.

          4. @bascb “these two” who are you referring to? Prost Senna? You think sharing your driving data: aka YOUR EXPERIENCE! would improve relations? is this your observation and personal opinion? We are not talking about science project team! we are talking about two guys fighting for championship for themselves as well as team… your job is to win to get max points, not lecture or improve your teammate’s driving skills! Showing your car set up or driving video is not same as showing your driving data/telemetry! You learn it and adapt it through out your career… you dont tell your teammate how you drive… it is his responsibility to know how to drive! They are driving both separate cars, not driving the same boat!

          5. Look, @mysticus, I have never in my life done a “science project”. I was talking about reality within a team there.

            But if you ask about personal experience, let’s talk about leading and coaching groups of people, more often than not with conflicting targets of their own and almost inevitably a lot of animosity to get results done. Things like big contracts, getting almost hopeless seeming projects back on the rails and going from big losses to very satisfying profits.

            Stop theory crafting and start doing something. Sure, most of us have not been racing drivers, or pro sporters in any sport for that matter. But those of us with some life experience might have learnt that helping others can help yourself forward as well.

          6. “But those of us with some life experience might have learnt that helping others can help yourself forward as well.”

            Are you sure you are not talking about football or baseball or any other team sport rather than racing? In all other sports you have to work together but everyone has different roles. Racing is different! Sure you can help your teammate during the race, but come on, you are not gonna coach your teammate on how to drive? You are not gonna do that motivational talk to your teammate when both of you trying to race to win the championship. Team spirit is one thing but teaching your teammate who happens to be also your competitor your skills? Come on, you cant see the difference between a teacher/lecturer vs a competitor. Just because you are driving mercedes cars, doesnt mean you should teach other driver how to do his job that you learnt through out your career? This is one sport you have to be selfish, and keep your talent to yourself…

        2. Absolute rubbish ,what is the point of one driver pushing the car to the max ,risking himself and his car to then have his teammate having a cup of tea waiting for said driver to give him the perfect line ,brake points ,traction points etc .This is F1 the pinnacle if you can’t do it yourself ,adiós someone else will .

          1. SevenFiftySeven
            19th February 2017, 14:44

            The perfect theoretical racing line is known to all race drivers and even motorsport enthusiasts. It is the shortest distance from the start finish line back to the start finish line for a given average speed. In practice, how well you can get to the theoretical best lap time depends on the car, how it is set up, the track surface, grip levels, braking points, wind, feel for the car and how the driver responds to all those factors and more to get the best time. Sometimes the best racing line may not be the best line for a particular driver or team based on driving styles, evolution of the track and car characteristics among others.

            Information about how a driver is negotiating a track can be gathered and studied with great detail. The skill to then drive the car identically to another driver, or even go beyond it, cannot be copied. Skill, itself, can’t be copied. It’s great to have wide skill sets, however.

            One can very easily, and by just using onboard footage of the car, analyze a great deal of driver input and car performance. One just needs some programming experience, and the simplest of tools like Adobe After Effects (to monitor head, steering and chassis movements) and another simple tool like Adobe Audition to analyze the sound from the footage. With a few more scripts and algorithms, one can create a very, very detailed graphical interpretation of what the driver and car are doing. Then, you can plot that against the known characteristics of a track and get even more data. An enthusiast can do this. Teams who monitor their competitors have more sophisticated means to do this. They know a great deal about other drivers. They just don’t know what’s in the car that makes them do what they do with regards to what’s in the car and hidden. You can still come up with hunches on the basis of how either teammate is handling the car. There’s a lot of info that can be gathered even if you don’t have direct access to a team’s data. Which is why, being first and ahead is the name of the game in F1 before others catch up.

            I do understand that if a driver has figured out the best way to get around a circuit, he should reap the rewards of it. And, drivers that do that get pole and win races most of the time. So, special abilities do get rewarded. The data will inevitably be studied. That’s the nature of the sport. The ideal way would be to have no pit to radio com, nor any sensors on the car, but I don’t think we’ll be getting there. If they did decide to do that and make the cars 100% mechanically operated, I’d like that.

          2. Lets not forget that Mercedes is paying the bills here. Not Hamilton. They make the calls about equipment and own the data. Hamilton needs to quit whining and get on with driving. If he doesn’t like it let him find another team to drive for and see if he is anywhere nearly as successful. I think Mercedes management needs to sit Hamilton down and let him know he is the driver and is well compensated but they will be making the calls of what the team policy is. End of story.

          3. Mark from Toronto
            19th February 2017, 21:14

            There is an enormous amount of setup work to be done on each weekend, so to optimize the performance of the TEAM both teammates are needed on track to try and set the car up. One driver may be better on one segment then the other and vice versa. The goal is to maximize the result for the TEAM. That is who is paying the bills. If one teammate beats the other the team could not car less as long as one of them wins the race..and the other finishes 2nd.

      2. Sure, and how convenient to bring this up now.. He was happy to share data with Rosberg as Rosberg had been in the team longer and knew the team and traits of the Mercedes well.
        But now when he’s getting a new team-mate and should have an advantage himself he wants to stop sharing..

        Maybe he really is a little bit concerned about Bottas. It’s going to be interesting as I think the more physical cars might suit Bottas very well, he’s built like a brick and is physically strong. Furthermore Bottas seems to be at his best in high speed corners, with more downforce we’ll get more flat-out corners.

        1. @kimiwillbeback Not correct. Lewis has complained about this a few times when Rosberg was his teammate.
          He saw Nico study his data a lot and learned some of his secrets.
          Data sharing in a team is a must have.. but I can understand it shouldn’t be everything between drivers.

    2. This is just the start of Lewis’ attempts to justify why he lost to his teammate. It can’t possibly have been a combination of his arrogance, mistakes and (finally) some bad luck, oh no. It just *has* to be that his teammate was a cheat. Pathetic.

      1. Guybrush Threepwood
        19th February 2017, 1:17

        I think this isn’t an excuse just for his last team mate.

        Quiz: Who is the only driver on the grid that has failed to outscore all but one of his team mates in at least one season together since joining F1?

        I also find it disingenuous that he is happy to benefit from the work done on the other side of the garage in some respects (Setup) but doesn’t want them to benefit from things that are happening on his side of the garage. Yes, hard for some to understand, but F1 is a team sport. It’s not just driver v driver.

        However… I do agree with him. If there was a way (other than single car teams) to limit the information swapped between drivers it would be good. I think this was probably why the good drivers 20 to 30 years ago seemed so much faster than the rest of the field.

      2. Nobody said cheat. Stop the drama.

      3. He only lost because of Malaysia. If he had won that race instead of being of a dnf then he would have won by 20 points. And if you are talking about Catalunya, anyone on their right mind would see that rosberg closed the door and the stewards got it wrong. All of that aside Hamilton raced better than roster and deserved the championship. So Hamilton saying this shows his sportsmanship and his ability to be the bigger man.

        1. I totally in agreement with you there. Luck was on his last team with in very large part. In straight fight there is only one driver who can go all the way with Lewis, he is young and drive for Red bull.

        2. Sure, just like he only won 2 championships, 30 wins and about 30 poles ONLY because he drove a mercedes during the 2014-2016 seasons………

        3. Mark from Toronto
          19th February 2017, 21:10

          If Nico had refused to let him pass in Monaco it would not have mattered. Also if Lewis had not lost the first 4 races of the year it would not have come down to that would it?

        4. Nonsense. If he deserved the championship, he’d have won it. He didn’t, because he didn’t.

      4. That’s not what Hamilton had said at all. He hasn’t called anyone a cheat, he hasn’t blamed losing on this he’s just expressed his frustration that a competitor is given his methods. The team mate dynamic is an odd one, teams guard their secrets from each other, but amongst driver team mates you have the equivalent of the entire car schematics being freely given.

        Whilst I understand Hamilton’s frustration, for the record I don’t agree with him. But there’s no need for the biased slant against him.

      5. Oh Mr Hamilton you are a sad little man (and a very sore loser), Rosberg won last year on Merit & Consistancy not because he copied your data.
        Also Lewis you have a very short memory, I can remember Mr Alonso getting a bit miffed when you used to copy his data then beat him, the point is, it’s been going on for a very long time!!

        1. @Rich 77fan The first fake Bottas fan is a fact i see, just like these fake Rosberg fans who are actually not fans but people who will support anybody who races against Hamilton because of their hate for Hamilton for whatever pathetic reason, that said. Rosberg did not beat Hamilton on consistency and his own merit, he benefitted from Hamilton’s ”misfortune” to say the least. The first four races Hamilton had already two engine problems and two clutch problems on top of that Hamilton was t boned by Bottas. Actually Rosberg copied Hamilton data especially after Malaysia 2014 where Hamilton decimated Rosberg while being on the same strategy, using less fuel, kinder for the tires etc. As for 2007. Hamilton only took Alonso’s set up for the first race after that Hamilton did it on his own.

          1. ah, you’re back …..

          2. …and good to see the caliber of @patienceandtime is still scraping the bottom of the barrel.

      6. @knoxploration I’m so tired of people making false comments like you do. What is so arrogant about Hamilton ?, say it, give examples FFS. People like you talk too much BS about Hamilton, that’s the problem. Look Malaysia 2014 where Hamilton decimated Rosberg by using less fuel, better on the tires and won the race by 21 seconds over Rosberg who many said that he would be kinder for his materials etc. From that moment Wolf gave all Hamilton’s data to Rosberg to study rather then doing the field work himself, he just studied Hamilton data by doing ZERO effort. Then look Brazil 2016 where Rosberg was asking before the race on what race mode Hamilton was on And then people say Rosberg raised him game LMAO, pathetic joke.

        1. A pathetic joke who beat the guy you so clearly idol-worship.

    3. Read the article. Lewis isn’t bothered by his teammate having the same setup as his. He is bothered by driver data being shown. I would be fuming if my teammate is shown how I enter into the corner, how wide do I go, when and how do I apply the throttle, when and how much braking power do I apply and how much steering do I input. You wouldn’t want your secrets, especially if you worked hard for it, to be shown to your rivals right? I never share tactics or tricks in games to anyone because I worked hard in looking and thinking. Why would I? You can have the same setup. Fine, I don’t care if you have the same setup as me, but never ever reveal in complete details, my technique and style.

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        19th February 2017, 2:18

        @krichelle

        He is bothered by driver data being shown.

        That’s why he tweeted Button telemetry right?

        1. Great point, If he is so against it, why tweet buttons data. Which I believe turned out to not actually have any info in it, that could be of use to other drivers…iirc

          1. Exactly.
            Lewis was always the first one on the radio trying to poach the others telemetry. I find this about-face laughable and a big excuse ‘just in case’ he’s shown up by Bottas this year.
            The guy is so transparent

          2. He tweeted simulator data.

          3. As I explained earlier, even according to Jensen it was Lewis setup not his. Their engineers gave them two different setups. One for rain the other for dry. Both were Lewis setups. Their engineers told them to choose the rain setups which they both did as they felt it was going to rain on race day. half an hour before qualifying Jensen and his engineer decided it wasn’t going to rain after all and changed the setup to dry without letting Lewis and his engineer aware of it. Lewis didn’t have enough time to follow suit. That’s why he was so angry.

        2. @omarr-pepper McLaren screwed Hamilton the whole season to benefit Button. The team told Hamilton that the rear wings would not made any difference yet during qualifying Button was suddenly 8 tenth faster so that said enough. It was actually the other way around when it came to data sharing especially when Hamilton destroyed Button in Canada that same year (2012) lapping him etc. It was so severe that Whithmars had to hold up updates cause his boy Button was totally lost on his own, hence McLaren went backwards lol. You have no idea what you are talking about mate.

        3. He tweeted HIS telemetry not Buttons

      2. I just said “setup” because I didn’t want to go into specifics about lines, braking points etc. I do see how just saying setup didn’t cover those things, but I didn’t just mean wing angles etc, I did read the article.

    4. @hugh11 Well Schumacher never shared his data with Barichello for team intrest or to make him faster or whatever so why the dig at Hamilton ?, or is cause Schumacher had barely any rivals ?

      1. I’m not trying to have a dig at Hamilton, and didn’t mention Ferrari so that’s kinda irrelevant… I was just saying how it’s how teams work, the drivers learn from each other to improve.

        1. @hugh11 But you did. And mentioning Ferrari is not irrelevant cause data sharing is date sharing which Schumacher did not do but when Hamilton don’t want to do it it’s all of a sudden a problem.

    5. Racing is like a game of Poker, you both play with identical cards from the same deck .. on the same table with the same dealer. Would a player tell the other man what cards he held or how his interpretation of the progression of the game stood… I don’t think so.. a player uses HIS own judgement and experience to win.THAT,S HOW YOU WIN. not by telling your opponent the best way to play to beat your hand… LEWIS IS RIGHT !

    6. I think this is just Hamilton being melodramatic, it isn’t anything important, in fact it is just about ludicrous. How hard is it for Bottas to get a video from outside Mercedes of any race from last year? Wouldn’t that show Bottas the braking points Hamilton used? There will be hundreds of hours of on board video available for each race from last year sitting in the Mercedes library as well, and Bottas would have free access to that if he wanted, but the speeds going through a corner this year will be so different as to be of historical interest only.
      Hamilton has, in the past, suggested he doesn’t need to do practice on simulators, so how can he say others benefit from his homework? He said he just turns up at the race track and drives. So the only driver Bottas could learn from is Rosberg’s use of the simulator and then comparing that to his actual race results, that would at least tell him how accurate the simulator is to real life. The engineers at Mercedes will also have studied this data and tried to make this years simulator as accurate to real life as possible, so Bottas can learn far more from that than from Hamilton.
      Hamilton excuse for not using simulators is he couldn’t learn anything from it. You can tell how much practice a person has put in when they play a musical instrument. Suggesting Bottas or Rosberg would learn something by looking at Hamilton’s braking points probably has some truth in it: they’d see how little practice Hamilton had done, and they’d probably work out how much improvement he’d have gained if he had. If there is some truth to the suspicion the Mercedes power unit was so good the drivers weren’t pushing its performance window, then Mercedes wouldn’t have worried that Hamilton didn’t do much practice because they wouldn’t want their advantage to be too obvious.
      Rosberg would have tested a whole lot of braking points and pressures going into every corner at every track and selected one that gave him the best outcome for that corner, so he’d have known the best place to apply the brakes at and the amount of braking for every corner. If Rosberg was braking 5 metres before the point Hamilton chose then that means Rosberg was braking earlier because he was approaching the corner faster, so he was faster out of the previous corner and his gear changes were better timed than Hamilton’s.
      Hamilton shouldn’t be worried about Bottas turning up at Melbourne with his A game, he should be worried that Bottas will turn up with his A+ game. I have no doubt Claire Williams suddenly saw a determination in Valtteri’s eye she’d never seen before when Rosberg’s retirement was announced. If Hamilton keeps up with interviews like this one then be on the second step of the podium at Melbourne.

    7. Very true indeed, no reason for the team to risk failing on one side of the garage.

  2. That’s Trump-level nonsense.

    1. Tremendous driver, a great man. Let me tell you. There’s no in between, he’s at both extremes of the discussion, he wants his data and he wants the team’s data, end of it. It’s not the teammate’s fault, he is a good guy, hard working, but he has been taking advantage of Lewis’ data for a long time, let me tell you.

      (I’ll let you finish it)

      1. It’s gonna be yuge!

        1. Thanks for making me chuckle, @faulty @socksolid !

    2. ExcitedAbout17
      19th February 2017, 7:56

      Lewis should build a wall around his pit-box, and ban any technician with the slightest Scandinavian connection.

      #HamiltonFirst
      and Verstappen second (check it)

      1. It worked for Rossi at Yamaha

      2. CotD right there, hahaha

      3. What an excellent comment/joke!!!

    3. @nase Please no politics here.

      1. @patienceandtime
        1. Trump serves as a simile here, a comparison that everybody instantly understands.
        2. No politics? Then F1 isn’t for you. Watching F1 and turning a blind eye to politics is like listening to Trump and believing that what he says at least has a factual basis. It’s beyond naïve, and you’re bound to find yourself wondering why strange things are happening.
        3. Unless your name begins with “Keith” and ends in “antine”, I honestly do not preoccupy myself with the subjects you want or do not want me to address.

        However, I appreciate your saying “please”.

        1. i think its time for the cap “Make Hamilton Great Again”

  3. There’s that winning ‘team-spirit’ attitude coming through strong there.

    1. Think the statement of letting engineers share was a fair one, in case one side goes dramatically wrong on setup @rocketpanda

    2. @rocketpanda Well Schumacher did not share his data with Barrichello for the team spirit didn’t he ?..

      1. Schumacher didn’t share his data right back in the days when he was driving for Benetton. He did however expect to see his team mates data.

        It’s called a team for the reason of working together. Hamilton gets more arrogant, the older he gets, to me it’s just another mind game, he’s far from the best of the circuit and due to the domination of the Mercedes, his ability appears better than it is.

    3. Pretty sure its always been about the driver 1st and team 2nd according to every driver in the history of the sport

  4. I agree with Lewis, but he certainly didn’t seem to mind back in 2007 when he was able to leverage Fernando’s telemetry.

    1. It’s not as if it was a one-way street then either. Alonso also used Hamilton’s.

      1. Agreed. But back then Fernando was already pushing back about sharing telemetry data with Hamilton, who didn’t seem to mind.

        “To be totally comfortable with the team there are things missing that I’ve talked to them about, and I think they are necessary to be comfortable, and things need to be done the way I think they need to be done. It’s things such as strategy, testing, sharing telemetry.”

        http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/59768

      2. I suppose you could have the view that the team produces the car but the driver produces the drive, this perhaps is the pre. Electronic age, mine. Then you have the 21st. Century everybody must have the same opportunity view which is laudable , but as we have seen quite difficult to reconcile. And then we have the small minded Lewis hating clique.

      3. Sorry to see this so late but…

        It’s not as if it was a one-way street then either. Alonso also used Hamilton’s.

        was a great setup for “hey, they even used Kimi’s!”

    2. Actually Fernando copied his, as did Jenson. Next!

      1. Pffff…. I guess you were there or something?

        1. Well Jensen himself said it. I don’t know about Alonso. Jensen said his set up took the team the wrong way. This came to a head when he was lapped by Lewis in the Canadian Gp 2012.

  5. Would bring more parity to the Constructor’s I suppose (which I doubt is something Mercedes as a team, or any winning team would be interested in, I’m pretty sure they’re quite fine with winning it by over 150 points over RBR).

  6. If Hamilton wants no data shared between teammates he wouldnt get any data either because its not exactly him that gathers all the data.
    Is Bottas crushing Hamilton in the simulator or why this sudden whine?

    1. Then surely he’d be wanting to see Bottas’ data??????

      1. @invisiblekid

        Unless he thinks Bottas is getting up to speed so quickly is because of the datasharing.

        “You could take a young kid from Formula Three, have them just go on a simulator and drive every single day and try and get to my lines. And eventually they’d probably get to my lines. He should have to discover that himself.”

        1. What means Lewis with this comment I am not sure. Just a f3 young driver who is driving the simulator all day trying to copy his data and doing so became as good as him? Or just general repeating round after round based on his data doesn’t make a good driver.

    2. I think someone is running out of brain cells here

    3. @rethla ”its not exactly him that gathers all the data.” – Where do you get this from ?. It’s Hamilton that is doing the most data hence Rosberg studied Hamilton data many times especially after Malaysia 2014 etc.

      1. Its his teammates that gather the data while he drive.

        1. @rethla You are are WRONG and you have to back that up, just your hate for Hamilton makes you say this nonsense. Show me some sources lol

          1. @patienceandtime

            Sources on what? What are you talking about?

  7. Isn’t it absolutely normal to check out the competition and see what they are doing compared to you? It can also backfire. Recently Latvala said he was so focused on copying Ogier that he couldn’t get into a rhythm of his own which went against his performance. Now he works together with Hanninen and it’s working much better for him. Also, I remember when the blown diffuser was at its prime, that Webber couldn’t just get the hang of it and had to copy Seb’s way of driving and that also went against him.

    I think there’s a fine line between “copying” and “trying to improve based on the competition”. But I’m not against team mates sharing data. It works for both at one point or another. I’m 100 % sure, regardless of what he says, that Lewis benefited from Rosberg’s data too. Maybe Nico relied much more on Lewis’ data, but if that guy, copying your way of driving, your setup or whatever, goes faster than you, he’s not copying but improving. If he’s still behind, it’s not copying either, because he’s not matching you.

    1. If the other guy is using his teammates data to match and beat him, then the questions now is, where would he be without that information?

    2. @fer-no65 So well said. I think too, it’s one thing to be in dominant cars and only need to worry about one teammate, it’s another to be striving for WCC level performance. In that case is not the onus on both drivers to advance the car? Sure they have their rivalry too, but at the same time must try to get to the top. Unlocking, even confirming things the car can do, with both drivers, is essential when lagging behind in Championship potential.

      I would bet LH has studied Senna ad infinitum. But sure, he is talking about direct instantaneous comparisons right there in the heat of the moment. You gonna tell me he wasn’t studying Nico’s starts last year?

      1. Hamilton did not study anything from Rosberg. It just so happens Lewis Hamilton has ten copious notes from every F1 race in which he’s participated. His notebooks are the stuff of legend. Perhaps, rather than abjectly despise the man for being great, you might want to find out why he is great.

        “Lewis’ greatest trick is getting people to think he’s stupid.” -Will Buxton

  8. Formula 1 is a massive contradiction.

    They call it the World Drivers Championship. And the sport is essentially dominated by banks of very intelligent engineers measuring and tweaking everything. I’m not sure where the level of engineering interference should end.

    An example of over engineering that spoiled the show in my opinion was the technology that the teams used to manage the tyres. The sport allowed the tyres to be managed by a wall of engineers rather than forcing the driver to make judgements and work it out through feel. That particularly disappointed me and its what lead directly to the boringly sophisticated process of tyre management. A wall of engineers whatching live heat maps on tyres and advising exactly how hard to push is not interesting.

    In the same way to much telemetry effects the sport in a similar way. It levels individual performance and focuses on an engineering team. It’s been like this for ages so its hard to see it changing, and some people that are interested in the engineering porn aspect of the sport probably like it. It’s just not aligned with the World Drivers Championship heading.

    1. It is also the World Constructors Championship which to the teams is more important than the drivers’ championship. To the teams the drivers are just another component of the team. The teams are not there to serve the drivers – the drivers are there to serve the teams.

      1. I understand that.

        And you’re right. However most fans care about the drivers first and engineering and the teams second. The evidence for this is everywhere, looking at the comment count on F1 websites alone will show the weighting toward the human interest.

        Hence my comment about it being a contradiction. F1 struggles with understanding what it is and whats it’s aiming to be. And it has no plan or direction around that either.

        1. Constructors for me. Drivers are just a component of the car.

        2. I’m not so sure you’re right about that. I think a lot (perhaps even most) fans have one or two teams they primarily support, and then the drivers are seen as secondary to that — they’ll support their team’s drivers, but if they move elsewhere they often won’t switch allegiance to a different team, but to a new driver. At least that’s been my experience, from having attended a fair few races both in the paddock club and the pleb seats.

        3. Again, l agree

        4. @dimsim I think its easy to support the human, however, I’ve been following F1 for a while now, and while I have favoured drivers, it is the teams that last longer than the driver, so you eventually support the team… Sure there should be a spearhead for the team, but drivers come and go.

        5. ExcitedAbout17
          19th February 2017, 8:19

          F1 is a team sport, just like football and many other sports.
          WCC is the main title; WDC is like topscorer or Balon D’Or.

          1. So why is the drivers championship more celebrated?

    2. @dimsim: I really love the engineering of it, (We see and learn far too little about it and about the engineers, their work, tools, methods, etc.) but I also think that the show would improve by putting a “wall” up, where the race begin’s, i.e., from green light to checkered flag, the driver must be much more on his own – at least as much on his own as possible. And I think Lewis is right – drivers should not be allowed to study other drivers data, only get the help from the engineering team and setup. This would create more difference between drivers, more errors, more exiting races I think.

    3. F1 isn’t rugby sir…. Its a team of engineers, the fans also have to be engineers, its a scientific and adrenalin tainted game. I do care abt bring the craft home, but let computers do the mapping and data sheet.

    4. I don’t understand your point, because in every industry, even in every aspect of life, is not just the use of technology, it is how do take advantage of the technology and always, I mean always, the final result depend on a human interaction with the technology, in this case, THE DRIVER.

  9. Think about it, imagine if you do a brilliant piece of work in school and it is completed to an A+ standard, but have to give it to a friend to copy up because their work is incomplete and they end up with he same grade as you. So agree with Lewis here.

    1. Theres a slight difference between a schoolmate and a teammate but even so you should help out your schoolmate aswell.

      1. @rethla
        The analogy would be:
        For setup:
        Here’s the sources I used, use them to write the essay yourself
        For telemetry:
        Here’s my essay, feel free to copy it.

        1. Which is utter nonsense, and ignores the fact Lewis has also gained the benefit of his teammates’ telemetry at basically every race he goes to. It’s completely normal, but because Lewis isn’t a team player, all he can see is conspiracy. It can’t possibly be his own fault, according to his ego — it has to be that the other guy cheated. (Even though as we know from the past, Lewis ain’t above cheating himself.)

          1. I don’t want to see my team mate’s… I don’t feel it’s fair that he brings his A-game and I should be able to study his A-game on a computer.”

          2. Where was anyone accused of cheating?

          3. Out of all the drivers out there, love or apparently hate him, he’s been wanting noting but wanting to just drive. I can guarantee Lewis is happy not knowing what his team mate is doing.

            All this “doing for the team” is BS. No driver deep down gives a crap about the other driver.

            I’ll concede the Lewis/Button era might be one of a very few exceptions

          4. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
            19th February 2017, 9:00

            @knoxploration You’re telling us more about your own hang-ups than about what Hamilton said.

          5. @Knoxploration ”Which is utter nonsense, and ignores the fact Lewis has also gained the benefit of his teammates’ telemetry at basically every race he goes to” – Can you name examples of every race Hamilton took his team mates data, last time i checked it was Button and Rosberg who used Hamilton’s data

            ”but because Lewis isn’t a team player” – Can you gives me examples of how you came to that conclusion, last time i checked Hamilton shared his data with Rosberg as recent Brazil 2016 where Rosberg was asking on live TV on what specific race mode Hamilton was on.

            ”according to his ego — it has to be that the other guy cheated” – Can you explain to me how you came to this conclusion.

            You wrote nothing but nonsense which i already know you can’t back up with facts, your hate for Hamilton for whatever pathetic reason is why you are messed up in the head mate.

        2. That might be the case if the other driver was not a top shelve driver himself @george, and you had nothing to learn from them in return. By copying your essay, he would at best get the same result as you do.

          Instead, how it works is that you show them your essay, they write theirs. And then you two can look at both, maybe discuss them and BOTH go back and improve on your draft to be top shelf essay writers.

          That works far better in school, and it will work infinitely better in sport if you need to both first beat tough opponents.

        3. + 1, could not agree more.

    2. How about if instead of your school work you are at a company. Would you help your co-worker or just let him do poorly?

      1. If you were both going for the same promotion, would you do everything you could to help them?

        1. @george You might not want to, but if it is important for the sake of the company, then you certainly should. To say otherwise should get you fired.

          1. @ Mashiat
            BS, the person who can’t perform should be fired.

        2. ExcitedAbout17
          19th February 2017, 8:22

          If you were both going for the same promotion, would you do everything you could to help them?

          yes!

          Either I’m better and deserve it or let him/her get the promotion!

        3. Off course @george. Because I will learn even more when I help the other guy, and the end result will be better for it.
          And as @mashiat points out, it might be vital for the company to succeed. Being better at it than your collegue/competitor, while you still leave a lot on the table, will do nothing for you if it means a risk of missing that big order/project to a competing rival company who worked together better than you did.

          1. @bascb How do you learn more when it’s the other guy that relied on you in the first place ?. Stop met liegen man.

          2. I think I will just refer to your own user name @patienceandtime. Maybe with that you will learn an important life lesson, that you can ALWAYS learn from helping others learn and seeing how and what they learn.

            And again, if one team works together they have a far easier way of maximizing what is there, then if every part of the team tries to keep its own secrets to have a relative advantage within the team.

    3. @lolzerbob I think you’ve nailed it on the head of how Lewis’ mindset is on the topic right now. He sees it as someone copying what he’s doing to get ahead. However, the reality is, that data sharing means that both sides of the fence get to see how to improve their driving styles, setups, lines, braking points, use of KERS/ERS, etc… Its not about copying someone else, its about learning and understanding how to use that information to tack onto your own experience and expand upon it. The irony of it is, that Lewis could have done the same with Nico last year, and I’m sure he did, however, he is suggesting that Nico used the data better than what Lewis could?

      1. Look, the problem Lewis had with Rosberg was the fact that when he joined Mercedes Rosberg was using normal breaking zones in corners. After studying Lewis telemetry, he totally changed his breaking zones to mimic Lewis and his driving style. He even changed his seating position in the cockpit because of Lewis. Every change Lewis made Rosberg copied it.
        By the way, about Lewis posting Jensen’s telemetry, Lewis later said he was shafted by his own team when they gave his setup to Jensen when both garages earlier agreed to use Friday setup. Jensen later admitted to the fact that it a last minute change.

    4. Well, @lolzerbob, I admit that during schooltime I was happy to allow others to see my work and help them get at least a decent result out of it. The only time it got out of hand was when it helped 2/3rds off the class (some didn’t bother, some failed even copying it) to improve to such an extent that the teacher adjusted the rating accordingly and it lowered my total score for that subject a bit (Law).

      Off course there IS an important difference – in school you are a fool if you see it as a competition, while in a sport, you are not doing your job if you DON’T see it as a competition. But without intensive cooperation, the team will never be able to get both drivers to maximize their performance and win over the other teams, certainly not for a longer period.

  10. I just wonder, if this is not an attempt of putting pressure on Bottas early on. Because data-sharing has been present since always and Lewis hasn’t been so vocal about until now (not as far as I remember). It’s the off-season, there is nothing to talk about yet, so his comments will be brought up for a couple od days at least. And for Bottas, it means he can’t be ‘just-as-good’ ’cause the public will correlate it with ‘he’s just using Hamiltons data’. He has to be better. He has to push the limits. And if you’re trying a bit too hard, it is easy to make mistakes and lose a bit of confidance.

    Or maybe I’m overthinking this, and it was just a case of answering a specific question.

    1. Wrong, Nico.couldnt.set.the car up in Mexico and was making mistakes he was down to see place the took Lewis’s setup put it on Nico’s car he came second in pole …..Had that not.been the case doubt Nico would have been world champion….

      1. ExcitedAbout17
        19th February 2017, 8:25

        He even copied missing a turn to stay ahead :p

    2. You’re spot on.

    3. Not overthinking, @bulion, you are spot on. Psych war on teammate to try to establish a hard pecking order. It’s been going on for weeks – at least since the “career destroying” comments. If BOT thinks that HAM is better than him than the races are 3/4 over even before they begin.

      1. Most psych war involving Hamilton, Hamilton comes off worst. Look at what happened in Japan last year. He wouldn’t stop playing with his phone, threw a media fit, goof’d the start, and essentially gave Rosbeg the title right then and there. The only person Hamilton is capable of psyching out is himself.

        1. Too right! I personally hope he keeps this up. It’s great when virtually ANYTHING gets under his skin, because then we get a chance to see the prissy drama he’s made of.
          But wow there’s a lot of Hammi-fans here looking for any tidbit of justification.

        2. @mark jackson Cause Hamilton was still angry as to what happened on Malaysia. Brand new engine up in smoke, he would lead was it not for that engine.

    4. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      19th February 2017, 2:22

      @bulion agree. And also, Bottas said the other day he came here to be second to none, and that Rosberg showed Hamilton is beatable. So I think the mind games are firing both ways already.

      1. except any muppet knows Nico was gifted the Championship and will have to do much better to have any chance

  11. I agree with Hamilton here, not just at Mercedes, but everywhere on the grid

  12. Well, he wants to tap into people`s setup finding skills without allowing people to tap into his “natural speed” skill.
    Considering he was Rosberg`s teammate who was supposedly incredibly good on the engineering side, I guess I can see where this comes from? :) Maybe it has nothing to do with Bottas, I dont know the context of the conversation. Or maybe he doesnt want the situation to repeat.
    But a complete f1 driver is supposed to have a huge skill set, both the “natural speed” and the tech understanding, no? That`s what I thought, anyway. Otherwise a few famous driver rivalries of the past would look rather one-sided. It`s not like being able to find a braking point is a more noble skill than having a feel for suspension behaviour?
    So it`s either all or none in my book.
    And anyway, engineers cant drive for you. If you have a better feel for the limit, you will be on it, and you will stay on it through all the constantly changing conditions, and will be more in control doing so.
    Reminded me of the Haas-Ferrari situation, where (according to Haas) a team just shared all their methodology saying “if you can beat us using this – we can probably learn a thing or two from you”.

    1. @minilemm So how come Mercedes did not made any progress before Hamilton joined ?, it was after Hamilton joined Mercedes made progress. It was Hamilton who did all the simulation at the end of 2012 season, hence Mercedes builded a high tech new simulator cause Michael Schumacher did no do simulation work cause it made him sea sick. On top of that Hamilton drove the highly rated MP4-27 which was a beast (but McLaren made so many blunders with pitstops and strategy hence Hamilton and Lowe left) and Hamilton could tell the differences between the MP4-27 and compared it to the new car (W04) as to where to improve, hence Mercedes made leaps of progress when Hamilton joined them. Ranking up poles after poles. I know people like you don’t like hearing that but Hamilton is a master in development with the engineers, hence he told the seating positioning of the Mercedes was not good cause they had a more upright sitting positioning, which means more stress on the rear tires rather then a more laying positioning at McLaren which mean less stress on the rear tires, hence Mercedes rear tyre overheating became way less when Hamilton joined. Add to that the overcomplicated steering wheel Mercedes also had, way too many buttons and made it way less when Hamilton came. So don’t give that ”Considering he was Rosberg`s teammate who was supposedly incredibly good on the engineering side” – Cause that’s all nonsense.

      1. Mmeow, “people like me” is very cute. Hello, almighty, nice to meet you :)
        But thats on you, back on topic:
        It wasnt all Hamilton that made all the difference in 2012. In his interview Brawn said that they (f1 team) held a meeting with Mercedes’ board on getting more involved with the whole f1 project (read – spend more money), because they wanted brand reputation, and that means winning, so it was either pulling out or spending more. The latter happened, as I guess we all can see. Plus, teams take time to build – noticed how they all credited Brawn so much for 2014 success? Things dont happen overnight. And Hamilton sure helped but he doesnt do miracles too.
        I never said he was BAD on engineering side – I’m not too emotionally attached to any f1 driver – but you can google Rosberg’s result on Engineering Aptitude test – thats if “people like you” like googling, of course.

  13. A fair point, put in the worst possible way. It’s a team, after all, and you may need his help not only in the Constructors Championship, but also in the Drivers, when your mate is out of contention but still good enough to take points away from your opponents.

    He sounds like “I don’t want the costs of having a team-mate, just the benefits, in case I need his help or start the week with wrong set-up”

    1. Well let’s think about this.

      He has no issue with the teams engineers sharing the raw data between cars to get a base set up. He has an issue with all aspects of his highly developed and successful individual technique being available to his competitor (anyone suggesting NR did anything other than copy that at any opportunity should reveiw the transcripts from 013 to 016 and remember they were not complete)

      Meanwhile he has the all time record of winning races at more different tracks than anyone in history.

      But no, it’s just because he needs everyone else’s data and is sore about it?

      Yeh right – what was I thinking…

      1. That’s why I said he “sounds” like that (not that he means that) and that it was a “fair point”, “put in the worst possible way”. Just like him, probably I “sounded” rather differently than what I “meant”

        1. No worries.

          Apologise if I was a little sarcastic. I did not mean it that way either.

          Sometimes it’s best not to read all the hate filled comments before replying to one!

  14. If people are that good they simply cannot be copied. Every footballer on earth can see Messi and Ronaldo but cannot immitate. Same in golf or tennis. You can see what they do read the data but if you do not have the ability you cannot just copy. Hamilton is an all time great driver, this seems like a non issue. Bet this was part of a mich bigger interview and a small off the cuff comment to fill the time makes headlines.

    1. @Markp You can not compare a football to mechanical sport.

      1. Agreed you cannot. Hard to find an exact comparison but I am trying to say you can copy as much as you want you cannot be exactly like the best. All this allows is Merc to maximise the performance of both their drivers in a team sport.

  15. I think Hamilton is spot on here. Sharing setup to avoid one car being dramatically slower? Yes, that’s fair enough. Getting tips on how to take a corner faster? Other aspects of driving style? No. Absolutely not. Drivers results should reflect THEIR skill and not someone elses.

    1. @sham That in your perspective also means that if, say Hamilton want’s an anti-roll bar change, he should get up pick the tools and do it himself, he should know how many degrees he needs, and on that subject he might as well change the pressure on his Pu’s injectors, he’s getting some knock around 14.000 rpms

      1. Did you even read my comment?

    2. So if Hamilton can lap a track crazy fast I’ll be able to copy him and be as fast? If I can I think he should be worried about me even without me having his data.

      1. Indeed James!

  16. Hubris deluxe

  17. Valtteri’s simulator times must be pretty good for Hamilton to be starting this already…

  18. Bwoah! Some drivers don’t deserve to be there? I haven’t seen a driver hit out like that against a new team mate before.

    Ultimately this is a team sport right? That’s why team orders were allowed in the regulations. It makes no sense why you would allow team orders but disallow data sharing in the quest to get the best result for the team.

    1. Where did he hit out against Bottas? Nothing he discussed had anything to do with him.

      1. Why would he be saying it now? If it wasn’t at least meant as a slight, he would have specified it wasn’t aimed at Bottas.

        1. I watched the interview, did you?

    2. I don’t think the comment about some drivers not deserving to be in F1 was specifically aimed at Bottas, I think it was to do with other pay drivers, that was my initial interpretation

    3. Please read the article again, he’s not against sharing set up data, he just doesnt want his driving secrets shared with his team mate and rival competitor. What is the err here?

  19. I understand what Hamilton has been saying about this subject, in this rehash subject. I think he’s right but as F1 is a team sport when suddenly your teamate becomes .5 quicker than you, the team should reap their own rewards. I think if anything Ham should be proud to be able to beat his teammates in spite of that.

  20. If we are talking about a sporting competition, and I hope we are, then there should be no disagreement with what Lewis is saying. No doubt Toto W talking about the business of F1 would say “there is no I in team” and “that’s why you get paid the big bucks” sadly sports get compromised by the money involved.

    1. ExcitedAbout17
      19th February 2017, 8:31

      If we are talking about a teamsport competition, and I hope we are, then there should be full disagreement with what Lewis is saying.

      1. The WDC is not a team award.

        1. ExcitedAbout17
          20th February 2017, 8:02

          neither is the Balon D’Or.

  21. I think Hamilton is both right and wrong. As a driver I wouldn’t want to share my secrets. But I also think those drivers often forget what I’m sure has to be written on their contract which is the team comes first. So if sharing the secrets of a driver with another to guarantee a 1,2 then that’s the agreement he signed.

  22. Bit of an ‘old school’ vibe coming through here in Lewis’ attitude, which is fine for a good article, but in real terms, isn’t really realistic or sensible.

    For a start, he’s purely looking at this from a driver’s POV, which is good for the fan, I guess. But teams want their team to be the best, and if they have a driver who’s particularly quick at picking up on circuit or car characteristics, then the team would be utterly foolish to not use this information across the board.

    Secondly, he’s basically saying the young guys who leap through the formulas and are successful in F1 aren’t doing it in ‘the right way’. Well, if they’ve found a formula for success more quickly than the old days, then really there’s not too much of an issue from the team’s POV.

    I’m guessing it’s a bit of a pot shot at Verstappen, who is a bit racey and rough round the edges in places, but it’s some immaturity that will wear off in time, and that the team(s) (Toro Rosso/Red Bull) are/were willing to put up with.

    I’m not flat out disagreeing with him, but I just think there’s definitely reasons why these things are happening.

    1. I’m not sure it’s actually a shot at Verstappen to be fair @ecwdanselby, after all Stroll has had a similar jump from junior formula to F1, I think he’s just saying that path shouldn’t become the norm. Obviously I don’t know what Hamilton thinks of Verstappen but I think he’s proof that it okay if someone is talented enough, but I have to agree that it should only happen from time to time.

  23. I think hamilton is confused. They pay him to bring in as many points as possible to become the constructors champion. That’s his job. No to be WC or be better then his team mate.

    1. He thinks the team works for him, as shown many times before.
      He wants to have the teammate’s setup when he has a crappy practice session -like he did many times in the last years- but not give anything back.

      He didn’t mind when he had a good setup driver as a teammate.
      All I feel is that he’s scared of Botas already: he won’t be affected as much by Hamilton’s mind games and may quite kick his ass if he gets into Hamilton’s head.

      1. Who was the good setup driver?

        And scared of Bottas… you’re joining right?

  24. Now i have a good reason to cheer for Valtteri, i hope he trashes Lewis without his data. Very unprofessional statement…

    1. By all means, as professional in your opinon is to say here’s my data, forget competition, copy my hard work as much as you like; hell, you dont evev have to show up on Friday if you feel like it, as ultimately we serve the same team? Why not?

  25. Setup information needs to be an engineering thing. What if one car suffers a malfunction that puts it in the garage for most of a session or more.
    How a driver operates should be down to his/her skills, not by studying how your teammate gets round the track.

    From the supporters point of view that maybe under discussion depending whether you are an Italian style “team” (Ferrari) supporter, or a Spanish style “driver” (Alonso) supporter.
    A team supporter will want both drivers to do as well as possible no matter what.
    Driver supporters only support the teams because they employ their favourite.

    1. My example of “team” (Ferrrari) supporters leads me to a question.
      Do Italians support the team Ferrari because they haven’t produced many drivers of note?

      1. @w-k Or maybe because it’s the only really good Italian thing in F1 during its history bar Ascari?

        1. @mashiat
          Do you really think Ferrari has been the only good italian thing in F1 history. Please see below :

          List of winners Italian drivers in F1 :
          – Alberto Ascari : 13 gp , 2 WDC
          – Riccardo Patrese : 6 gp
          – Nino Farina : 5 gp , 1 WDC
          – Michele Alboreto : 5 gp , finished 2nd in 1985
          – Giancarlo Fisichella 3 gp
          – Elio De Angelis 2 gp
          – Jarno Trulli 1 gp
          – Alessandro Nannini 1 gp
          – Vittorio Brambilla 1 gp
          – Giancarlo Baghetti 1 gp
          – Lorenzo Bandini 1 gp
          – Ludovico Scarfiotti 1 gp
          – Luigi Fagioli 1 gp
          – Luigi Musso 1 gp
          – Piero Taruffi 1 gp

          Let’s not also forget Andretti who is italian born.

          Top 10 most successful Italian teams in F1 :
          – Ferrari
          – Maserati 2 WDC in 1954,1957 with Fangio, 70 gp 9 wins 10 pole 15 fastest lap 37 podium 1 1-2 finish
          – Alfa Romeo 2 WDC 1950 with Giuseppe Farina and 1951 with Fangio, 110 gp 10 wins 12 pole 14 fastest lap 27 podium 4 1-2 finish
          – Benetton which was always owned by the Italian clothing company and raced with an Italian licence from 1996 till 2001
          – Torro Rosso : 177 gp 1 wins 1 pole 0 fastest lap 1 podium 0 1-2 finish
          – Lancia not only rallying 3rd in WDC with Eugenio Castellotti 4 gp 0 wins 2 pole 1 fastest lap 1 podium 0 1-2 finish
          – Minardi
          – Dallara
          – Iso-Marlboro
          – Techno

          Moreover, the Italian gp has been held in Monza since 1950 with the exception of 1980 which marked the debut of Imola in the F1 calendar

          1. @tifoso1989 Those were good, but Ferrari is the only thing that really stands out. And from that list of drivers, who would you actually consider to be really good? Like get-a-nation-up-on-its-feet good.

  26. Hey guys. Share personal driving style I’d just wrong natural talent and hard work makes Hamilton a great driver
    Moreover some drivers are better at some thing and that set them apart so to become a better driver it should be up to them to work hard at what don’t come natural to them.at no time you should just share ones data. It doesn’t happen in other sports.

  27. Translation: I am better than Nico finding out the breaking points, so I don’t want him to check my data. Nico is better than me finding out the best setup, so it’s fine to share setups.

    1. @Ricardo Rosberg was never better then Hamilton in set up, hence Hamilton shared all his data/ set up with Rosberg after Malaysia where Hamilton decimated Rosberg.

      1. Hamilton overworked his engine and blew it in Malaysia. He had chance to copy Rosbergs starting data as well but didn’t bother until the 17th race.

        1. Hamilton overworked his engine and blew it in Malaysia. He had chance to copy Rosbergs starting data as well but didn’t bother until the 17th race.

          He didn’t, saying he did is sheer maliciousness on your part.

  28. As a driver it is absolutely fair that he makes such a request. However, he won’t and he shouldn’t get listened to.
    Teams like Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari don’t pour so much money into their teams just to build a car, walk away and let the no. of points scored per race to be less than maximum possible.

    Whether you like it or not, F1 is a constructors’ sport first. It is to showcase the best of engineers’ talent in the world. If F1 was a drivers’ sport, the popularity should have gone down immensely once Alonso left Ferrari, Alonso should have been hired by any team on the grid irrespective of how easy/difficult he is to work with.

    1. Great comment.

    2. I don’t see how it’s that different to Alonso and Vettel being given a veto on the choice of their team mate. Why, as you said, should a team pour millions of pounds into developing the car only to be blocked from hiring the fastest driver available by their inhouse driver, who is making these demands purely for their own comfort. As far as these top drivers are concerned F1 is very much still a drivers sport, they know that if one team rejects their demands they will be quickly snapped up by another top team hence giving them a very strong bargaining position. Hamilton hasn’t had an influence on his team mate, so it seems that this is his equivilant demand, which you are correct in saying that Mercedes don’t have to accept as it’s not in his contract, however one would assume he will be making it a major point in the next contract he negotiates.

      Ironically, if the field is more tightly packed next season that will only enhance his bargaining position as even though Mercedes may see it as more important than ever that the data is shared, it would be even more important to the team to ensure that they have a driver in the team who is able to find those extra tenths in the first place.

      1. Full agree with you. Not sharing data is an equivalent of veto over teammate.

        Ironically, if the field is more tightly packed next season that will only enhance his bargaining position as even though Mercedes may see it as more important than ever that the data is shared, it would be even more important to the team to ensure that they have a driver in the team who is able to find those extra tenths in the first place.

        That is true. Which is why in 2010-12, Ferrari were at the mercy of Alonso and having to re-sign Massa again and again.

    3. Not sure i agree, The formula is a mess because im in it for the driver no matter the team he drives in couldnt care less about the championship However i would be happy if they changed the formula so that a team could work together for the sole goal of winning the constructors removing drivers Championship alltogether. At lest this way they can work together without the animosity.

    4. @sumedh Yet Schumacher never shared his data with Barrichello for the intrest of the team, go figure..

  29. Isn’t every little detail able to be shown in an onboard camera view? I mean when I watch YouTube videos I can see when they change gears, DRS, Kers, braking and throttle. G forces as well. Is this Lewis playing games with Bottas?

  30. 100% true it’s ridiculous that other drivers can copy should be purely on natural talent on your own. Why all the hate for Hamilton? He’s such a nice genuine human being, why do British people hate people that earn a lot of money and dress well? He deserves his rewards due to his amazing abilities. I’m sure it’s really just jealousy and since no one EVER admits to jealously we’ll never know.

  31. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    19th February 2017, 1:05

    Lewis may not always be the PR diplomatic robot we expect everyone should be nowadays and sometimes he let’s his emotions get the better of him, BUT, surely anyone here who has played any kind of sport in a competitive environment and has had that drive to win can completely understand what Lewis is saying in this instance. Whether you like him or not, a competitor being able to see the blueprints to your tricks of the trade must be soul destroying to your competitive ego.

    1. Agree. It makes me wonder how many commenters have competed in sport for any championship. I didn’t tell other pitchers on my team, how I was extremely hard to hit in slow pitch softball. If they wanted to copy it, then watch.

  32. I don’t have a problem with his comments.

    setup data, certainly (although even then I suspect some would like that hidden after p3.) but drivers should be able to keep their skills, or otherwise, to themselves if they want.

  33. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    19th February 2017, 1:33

    Well he didn’t mind when he won 2 world chapionships and begging over team radio what is Nico doing? The sooner Merc get shot of him the better. He might be a good driver but with all the baggage he comes with and how dominant the car is, they could literally pick any driver.

    1. @come-on-kubica with the change in regulations, surely the jury is still out as to how competitive the 2017 Mercedes will be

      1. That’s completely beside the point now, isn’t it?

    2. yes meaning how quick was i in comparison and NOT what gear should i do it and wheres the breaking point. Massive difference. Jeez

    3. @come-on-kubica Well Hamilton won his two WDC on his own merit and when did Hamilton begged to team asking what Rosberg was doing and Mercedes was nothing before Hamilton joined, please name me some of these baggage you are referring too.

      1. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
        20th February 2017, 0:26

        @patienceandtime If you can’t work this out yourself, I’m not wasting my time on pointing this out to you. Mercedes made a phenomenal car that literally any competent driver could have won the world championship with, nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton. They brought him in for his brand.

  34. Another classic foot-in-mouth moment from Lewis. He hasn’t even lost a race to Bottas yet, but he’s already making excuses.

  35. It’s a team sport! Which means that there are two drivers which the team wants to do well!

    1. Ofcourse, while we are at it, why not make the cars two seaters as it is a team sport?

    2. @ayrtonsenna26 Then explain why Schumacher never shared his data with Barrichello if it’s a team sport then..

      1. It was Schumacher, #ruthless

  36. Funny. Its as if he’s never copied the setup of one of his teammates. The guy who tweeted sensitive telemetry showing why he was driving slower than Button.

    1. Yep – it was really awful!

      I mean his team mate had been right at the sharp end all year winning races getting poles and then would not give LH the settings, changing them at the last minute for his own and getting another pole…

      Oh, wait a minute…

    2. @sravan-pe McLaren lied to Hamilton to benefit Button that the rear wing would not made any differences, McLaren had already screwed Hamilton the whole season to get Button ahead but of course you mention half the story..

    3. Full Moto Jacket
      19th February 2017, 13:08

      One has to ask one’s self one simple question. What would James Hunt do?

      I miss the days where there was men in this sport, as opposed to pampered crybabies. It will be a sad day when Kimi retires for good.

  37. Learning from others. What monsters.

    1. Such as ?

  38. I don’t see anything wrong with Hamilton’s point of view. It is from the perspective of a driver, and at this point he’s been in the fastest car for the past three years, won the WDC twice and generally accepted to be the fastest driver on the grid when coupled with this machinery. He’s speaking from a position of absolute dominance.

    However, he’s racing for and is an employee of a team, and they’ll do whatever they feel is right in the best interests of the team. When the two clash is where you need good management.

  39. I can appreciate Hamilton’s position. His methods are being given to his biggest competitor. It would be like Mercedes entire car and power unit schematics just being handed to Ferrari in his mind.

    But unfortunately I think it’s tough luck. He signed on to a team, it’s just unfortunate his biggest competitor is also a team member. If I have a method of doing my job effectively it gets shared with other staff to integrate into their own work flow.

  40. It’s seldom but yes, this time Lewis makes a fair point and I understand him. You can’t take the natural skill of a driver, plot it on the data sheet and show it to your team mate who is your rival. Completely fair point.

  41. I think Lewis is right, when its between team mates, they shouldn’t be allowed to study eachother’s data as it goes against the spirit of competition, but the engineers should be able to share data between the two garages to help the team. What is wrong with that? He even goes as far as when one team mate has an off weekend, sharing set-up data is ok between the cars, but never driving lines, breaking points, bumps etc… I think he is spot on!

    1. Of course he’s spot on.

  42. Part of Nico Rosbergs skillset. He could go through the other guys data and then just do it better…

    1. But yet he has less wins, poles, podiums & WDC titles. If his skill set was that good, why retire? Why was he on the radio asking the pitwall for help with his driving?

      1. Of course nothing but *crickets* Kgn11

      2. @kgn well because despite being awesome at copying his teammate that is hardly enough.

    2. @jureo Joke of the day LMAO

  43. MotoGP is also s team sport, but look at the fallout at Yamaha with Rossi & Lorenzo? Why did they build the wall in the garage? Yup, because Rossi didn’t want his data to be shared with Lorenzo.

    It seems like people saw the headline and immediately made their mind up that Lewis was being this or that without first reading the article or even watched the interview.

  44. Patrick Patrick
    19th February 2017, 9:06

    If car data is that important, why not send out a robocar to do a fastest lap weighted to simulate a driver in the cockpit, then check it’s braking points lines throttle brakes inputs etc , then give that data to the drivers a the gold standard , just a thought :-)

    1. Because we’re about 12 years away from that level of AI.

    2. I’d be surprised if they don’t already do it in sims (AI less challenged by Trial and Error).

  45. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
    19th February 2017, 9:07

    He’s talking about copying lines, braking points, etc. – the drivers would still work together to gather set-up information. Some of the most cringeworthy comms we’ve heard in the last few years was Nico’s engineer telling him how to copy Hamilton’s driving style during the race – it got so bad the FIA decided to intervene. I can see where Hamilton’s coming from.

    1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      19th February 2017, 13:00

      👍 +1

  46. Since Bottas joined Mercedes, I’ve heard two things that are strange: 1st Hamilton’s father threaned Bottas, and now Hamilton is annoyed at something. Bottas is decent for sure but he might be quite good and Hamilton seems to be afraid of him. And even before the 1st race…

  47. Wow what a surprise. Yep lewis, what a great team player you are!
    Data sharing has been happening for years, what makes you so special that it should be changed for you?

  48. Always said he’s not a team player – he proves it over and over again.

    1. Will you ever hear an F1 driver brag about the amount of Constructors titles hes won with his teams? Nope… didnt think so

  49. Interesting that this didn’t come up when he was with Rosberg who was known for his setup prowess.

    1. Yes it did, he mentioned it in an interview with Sky after qualifying in Bahrain last season.

      And he was asked, “if you could change one thing in F1, what would it be?”

      That was one of the answers he gave as well as the removal of paddle shift and going back to stick shift.

  50. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    19th February 2017, 10:55

    Hamilton wants to have his cake AND eat it. Ok the one hand he says he doesn’t want to share his data with his team mate, but then expects that he can have a flow of info gettin his team mate whenever he gets “lost”. Well seeing how many times he has moaned over the years when his team mates have beaten him, it will new more one sided in Hamilton’s favour than ever before is the team give him this. Time Alonso comes in next year to redress the balance.

    1. No actually hes saying that he wants the sport to be fair… yep fair not going to ramble on about why. Lewis is a Legend. The sport would lose interest when hes gone if it werent for Verstappen

  51. This really isn’t a complicated issue. Lewis benefits every time he sits in a car from the incredible work, talent, skill and effort of hundreds of engineers who designed the car, and hundreds of engineers who designed the engine, and hundreds of engineers who designed the tyres, and hundreds of engineers who designed the software, and hundreds of engineers who built the wind tunnels, and simulators, and tools and equipment the team uses to design, build, test and run his car 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round apart from one enforced break.

    All I hear when a driver makes comments like this is “my contribution is unique, and special, and should be protected, but everyone else’s isn’t, and I should get the benefit and the credit.” These comments could be seen as getting under the skin of a teammate, but really they’re a justification for their own position.

    The truth, harsh though it is, and as much as Lewis doesn’t want to hear it, is that the difference between a “superstar” driver costing 30 million a year, and a “mid-rank” driver Lewis thinks is beneath him, is not large. The same money spent on good engineers can bring in lap time benefits 5 times what the difference between team mates is. He lives to boast about his three championships, well if they were “his” why didn’t he win when driving rubbish McLarens (relatively, Lewis had never been in a truly bad car)? Because engineering trumps drivers all day every day. Nico could (and I believe would) have beaten him the first year out without mechanical problems, just as the reverse is probably true last year (though you’ll find Lewis only mentions one of those scenarios).

    Part of me really really want roborace to develop quickly, because one day a car run solely by engineers will make a driver like Lewis look like an amateur round a track, and for every day that arrogant drivers belittle the engineers who make their cars possible at all, it would feel all the sweeter.

    Get rid of Hamilton, and Mercedes’ results over the last 3 years would have been identical. Where would Hamilton have been without them? Not in the next best two cars of red bull and Ferrari. Still stuck in a McLaren, finishing outside the points.

    1. I have read some awful comments here this time and while you have some salient points it’s a real shame you go on to completely ruin them with comments such as Rosberg would have won in 014! No he absolutely would not have. They had a fairly equal number of reliability issues, LH had numerous back of the grid starts in addition to those (name one time in three years Rosberg has had to start lower than 7th due to reliability?) and LH STILL won twice as many races. In the assumption you are referring to the final race. Until that point NR had fewer issues. Further he was second in the race and without the double points would already have lost the championship. In other words a poor attempt at rewriting history.

      Then the engineering comment. Now I am an engineer up to Doctorate level but I am afraid it is irrelevant how good the engineering is because it has to be exploited by the driver and as a former racer as well, I can tell you that that interaction is far more complicated than your utopian view. Otherwise everyone would be Lewis Hamilton.

      Oh and by the way Lewis did win a championship and 20+ races at Macca. More races than anyone other than SV during the Red Bull years.

      Further, your engineering qualities are a little deficient if you think the 09 Macca was a good car. I mean such a fantastic engineering feat. From front of grid to the back in a couple of months over winter! You do know it is best to start races at the front end of the grid? That car spent half a season at the back and when it finally got a bit better through ‘engineering’ why was his team mate still back there?

      Because like it or not drivers bring a whole heap to the party and team don’t just chuck one of the engineers in the car and save money.

      Put the dislike away. Your comments would make more sense and possibly be worthy of debate.

  52. Mexico 2016..

    Lauda post qualifying..

    “Nico’s been struggling all weekend, then just before the start of Q3, we gave him Lewis’ data/setup and he was able to improve”

    Free practice session

    Rosberg..

    Hey guys, some help here please

    Pitwall

    What did you need help with Nico

    Rosberg

    Driving please.

    Oh, it was after this that the radio bam was introduced and did that affected the most?

    Have we ever heard any such calls to or from Hamilton?

    1. Do you think F1 let’s us hear all the radio communications in an unbiased way, or in fact do they cherry pick that which we get to hear? I think you know the answer to that.

      1. But you did hear Lauda’s comments. I also read Jock Clear’s comments too

      2. SevenFiftySeven
        19th February 2017, 13:36

        Not to mention for whom the radio ban was, then, lifted. It happened after Baku.

        1. The ban was lifted after Silverstone. Remind me again for which driver did a team broke the rules to help?

      3. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
        19th February 2017, 13:41

        @robbie, you think F1 is biased against Rosberg? Or perhaps you think it’s shielding Hamilton? Really???

        The worst thing F1 did was to allow the coaching, but hide it from the fans – if it’s going on I’d rather hear it, no matter how cringeworthy it is.

        1. @thegrapeunwashed I didn’t say anything about any bias toward any one specific driver. Just pointing out the fact that we only get to hear what F1 chooses for us to hear.

          1. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
            19th February 2017, 15:25

            @robbie, you said the F1 radio broadcast was biased, therefore it has to be biased towards something: if it were biased towards every driver, that wouldn’t be an example of bias – quite the reverse!

            Let’s face it, Rosberg was the only driver on the grid we repeatedly heard being coached through the race, the simplest reason for that is that he was the only driver being repeatedly coached through the race! Any other answer risks sounding like a conspiracy theory.

          2. @thegrapeunwashed Actually it is a well known fact that we do not get to hear much of the radio comm. To claim in spite if that fact that not only is it only Rosberg, that it is also ‘coaching’, through the race nonetheless, sounds much more like a conspiracy theory than reality or anything I am saying.

          3. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
            20th February 2017, 7:54

            Not very coherent @robbie, either more drivers were being coached but F1 only broadcast Rosberg’s messages (a clear example of this mysterious bias you were going on about), or only Rosberg was being coached.

  53. There’s only one theoretically best raceline, and whoever gets closest to it is the fastest.
    It’s fairly simple to find in a simulator, and more sophisticated the simulator, the easier it is to find in the real world. That is one of the skills of the modern day racedriver.
    It is the responsibility of the racedriver to use any and all available tools to be the the best driver they can be out there. If you voluntarily dismiss one of the tools available you are just being a fool.
    And it’s not like this hasn’t gone on for a long time, ever since the very first dataloggers were installed that just told the throttle and brake positions during a lap.Everyone from Senna, Mansell,Prost to Schumi, Mika, Vettel looked at how the other driver in the basically same car is driving.

    1. But Schuey didn’t share his with his teammates.

      Read Johnny Herbert’s book

      1. MS had a unique situation that hadn’t been done before nor since…teammates under contract to not compete against him. And it was terrible for F1. See Austria 2002. Do you want a whole grid of contracted number 2’s riding shotgun for their contracted number 1’s? Yeah that sounds like the pinnacle of racing to me. Half the grid can’t race with the other half, by contract.

        1. Unique or not, it happened.

          Lewis isn’t calling for a #2 because he doesn’t care who his teammate is, never have and never will.

          Read the article, he’s not against data sharing between the engineers, what he’s against is data about his driving, like braking points (which he mentioned in the interview), racing lines etc being shared with his main rival.

          Just read or find the actual interview and listen it objectively

          1. SevenFiftySeven
            19th February 2017, 19:27

            Objectivity doesn’t mean listening to one person and taking in what was verbally said, or what was implied, or what was hanging between the lines, or what you like to make of it all. Objectivity means listening to several people on the same issue and connecting dots (if any), comparing and contrasting, fact checking, understanding the premises that influence people’s positions on matters while remaining impartial to any point of view. There may be a conclusion at the end, but that only reflects how much you know and how credible is your conclusion at that given time. You’ve already failed in your first premise by taking Herbert’s book for gospel. I suggest you counter-check what Herbert said in that book. Of course, that doesn’t mean you go back and ask Herbert, himself. That isn’t being objective. It is certainly being journalistic, which is good. Talk to Benetton’s and Ferrari’s people. Talk to Schumacher, himself. You can’t do that unfortunately. There may be other sources to follow if you really want to be objective. One such start would be to listen to Chalem who posted here.

            Let’s move on to something fun now. Let’s say I tell you all the secrets to doing the following:

            1 Writing an orchestra like Beethoven.
            2 Painting in water color or oil like the masters.
            3 Driving a car at 240 km/h on 130r without losing the back.
            4 Playing Stairway to Heaven on a guitar.
            5 Becoming Malcom X (if only the movie rendition version).
            6 Writing a psychological thriller novel like the pros do it.
            7 Driving a F1 car (which may be child’s play) by copying where someone breaks and what line he takes.

            How many of the afore-mentioned activities can you master just after seeing how things are done. Let’s say you’re another has-been in all of the activities mentioned above – good in them, but not great? You have his image, which you copied as your own. So tell me, are you Malcom X or anything like him? You could be. You could be even better. Does copying what he says make you that, or is there more to it? Clapton, the slow hand, is well known for blues. Much of his musical ideas were already manifest in several ideas of the past great blues musicians. Should we break all his records? How about Stairway to Heaven? Can you play it note-perfect now (do assume you’re just an average guitar player)? How about dethroning Beethoven? Or, banishing the great masters of art? Alfred Hitchcock? Can one dethrone him in his own game after taking several classes about his approach to writing? Maybe. If it happened, would that be good or bad? Let’s finally move to the most easiest thing in the world as far as what you were debating about – copying someone’s driving style. You think it’s so easy, right? By just knowing where Hamilton brakes and what line he choses, he can be challenged to pole? Is that what you’re saying? Do you think skill matters, or is it just about a question of knowing what skilled people do? Please do compare and contrast with the examples I’ve given you.

            Now, about Schumacher. There is plenty of info out there about his setups and his teammates. Apparently, skills can’t be copied. Irvine found himself in one of the spare cars that was set up for Schumacher. He found it ‘unable to be driven’. Was that because Irvine didn’t know how to drive, or maybe he didn’t like how the car handled, or maybe it’s all part of a big conspiracy. So, someone found out where Hamilton brakes. Everyone with a monitor with a feed on a F1 event sees that. Oh, he took a certain line. Again, everyone with a monitor with an F1 feed can see that.

            In the end, just enlighten me. Let’s say Rosberg, or Bottas, or Chuck Norris or Malcom X got hold of Hamilton’s racing telemetry. Do they now become Hamilton? Can they nail that crucial qualifying session as he did by learning what he did? If they can, they either have to be in a very, very easy sport, or they have skill that makes them change the way they drive and adapt to a situation. Which then begs the question – what is F1 without the cars and how they were engineered. If a driver really makes no difference (since data can be copied and equaled), I’m really interested to know how the entire field copes with it. Give it to Max Chillton, Johny Herbert, Bottas, Vettel, Ricciardo, Alonso, Verstappen, Kimi, Hakkinen, Yogi Bear, Micky Mouse, Angelina Jolie and the pope.

            Who said sharing setups, but not sharing telemetry data is not invoking Number 1 status in a team. Schumacher was no 1 in the team, which only meant he got first priority in testing and parts. His setups were available for use. His teammates didn’t like how they handled, so they went with what they preferred. How could Johny Herbert not have gotten a better setup than Michael. Oh, I know – he wasn’t good enough with or without the setup. Now somehow another German (and, now a Finn) is perceived to have benefited from a Brit’s setup copy, and we have an outrage. We’ve forgotten the fact that it takes skill to drive a car. Does it? Or, is the formula so easy? Or, is engineering’s role in F1 so influential that almost anyone can drive like you once they know how you did it? And, if they did it, what do you do now? Whine or drive better? This is F1. We’re not getting stick shifters or cars that don’t look like boats, or cars that don’t have aerodynamic surfaces. That is the formula for now. Teams share date within. So, the question remains – how do you overcome that and come out on top. That is what Hamilton should be thinking about. Whining on the media and getting fanatic fans stirred up for no reason (because, most of them don’t understand the very nature of motor racing, and common sense in most cases), but are twice more vocal for questioning someone else’s objectivity, when they lack none, isn’t going to be helpful.

          2. @757

            That was quite a monologue but your deflecting. The points you raise are invalid because telling another professional ‘racing driver’ what lines your direct competitor is taking or what gear he is in or how he saves fuel and even finer aspects of driving technique because he is doing those things better than you in order to win is very different to handing it to a member of the public or even an amateur driver. Further, that information is very different to the base set up data that teams will naturally share (and LH has no issue with) and while said racing driver may not be able to make use of all the information through a deficit of skill or whatever, it will certainly become something to be practiced or developed. In other words professional racing driver number 1 is being ‘taught’ by professional driver number 2 how to do his job.

            Now if that’s not in his contract, I would expect some push back on it no matter what the form and would further expect your staggeringly arrogant statement about how ‘this is what Hamilton should be thinking about’ to get very short shrift given your rather obvious lack of expertise in his chosen field.

            Quote from @757

            ‘That is what Hamilton should be thinking about. Whining on the media and getting fanatic fans stirred up for no reason (because, most of them don’t understand the very nature of motor racing, and common sense in most cases), but are twice more vocal for questioning someone else’s objectivity, when they lack none, isn’t going to be helpful’

          3. SevenFiftySeven
            20th February 2017, 13:18

            @Drg

            Thank you for agreeing to the point I raised about how skill can’t be copied, but learned through practice. Practice makes perfect, after all; it’s common sense. You say my points are invalid, but agree to the premise, nonetheless. Whatever the scenario, skill can’t be copied. This applies equally well to amateur sports and professional racing.

            The question now is whether information should be shared in a highly competitive setting involving 2 professional racing drivers. The team and drivers have contractual agreements on the matter. What we think is right or wrong is irrelevant, but a valid talking point. You seem to know what is in Hamilton’s contract. Did he tweet that also; are you an insider in the Merc establishment privy to that information, or are you repeating what Hamilton said and trusting it as an indisputable fact?

            I, personally, never trust a single source for truth. Please do recall that this particular comment thread was also about objectivity. Hamilton has in the past shared confidential information (bound by contractual agreements) to the public and taken actions (Suzuka press conference, 2016) to push a personal view and agenda out in the open. Sure, do investigate what he says, but blindly trusting what he says is fanaticism. I recall one story where Hamilton talked about revealing some things through a book in 10 years. He made it sound like he had been disadvantaged, and the book would reveal that. When asked about this to Niki Lauda, he said he (and others) would also reveal their stories with their own stories. Ah ha, the plot thickens. My point being, there are always many sides to a story.

            Some Hamilton fans are well known for sticking to one. Feel free to label me as you like.

      2. Johnny was bitter. Schuey did share. Eddie talked about it heaps and Rubens also. Johnnie just had to tell himself something after being often nearly 2 seconds a lap slower than MS. The cars were more on edge bacl then and MS simply drove them faster. At the end of 95 Schumacher got in the 95 Ferrari and immediately broke the Fiorano lap record. He then got out of the car and told the Ferrari team, that car is better than the Benneton I just won the championship with. Meanwhile Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger got in Schumachers championship winning Benneton, were immediately roughly 2 seconds a lap off Schumachers pace and they spun constantly just like Johnny Herbert did when he tried to go faster in that car. Give a guy like Schumacher the decency of reporting it how it actually was, not just how it suits your argument…..

  54. Wait. the data sharing has always been a two way street. i still remember driver coaching radio messages being sent to both nico and lewis. also telemetry access is available to both drivers.

  55. What is quite clear about the comments on this article, is that most people cant read. Or they simply read to reply, and not to understand.

    1. I think you’re right.

  56. Part of Nico Rosbergs skillset. He could go through the other guys data and then just do it better…

    Something Lewis is not as good as the other driver. Just like Schumacher wasn’t as good at copying Nico….

    Naturally being a competitive person he is quick to want to stop that team practice.

    But if he was the driver on the back foot he would try to get any advantage possible from his teammate. To bad there are no drivers fast enough to highlight this.

  57. I consider myself to be a pure sportsman. I’m competitive to the bone and I agree with Hamilton. I think a point that someone made earlier was that; if you’d worked hard to discover the best lines, find where the best braking points were through trial and error and pushing the limits only for it to be then shared for a team mate ( still a competing player i must add) to benefit and learn from I know, I’d feel a little bit cheated. Because the data is so clear, it really is like guidelines on a racing game. How many of us have played a car racing game and got better by following the guidelines?

    Learning when someone else brakes or turns has never been a secret but you had to work harder to see it before, watch the driver, study and understand it.

    All drivers are looking out for their own legacy. No one is there to purely be a team player. Anyone who thinks or says otherwise is deluded. If your preference as a spectator is to enjoy the team aspect, fair enough, but have the wherewithal to understand that there are individuals in the sport that change teams from time to time and they have their own dreams and aspirations. Same goes for constructors. Hell it’s a messy relationship eh?

    There are people who innovate and discover in this world. Then there are people who copy and make it better or refine. Some do both.

    Let the best man win.

  58. SevenFiftySeven
    19th February 2017, 13:27

    Analyzing a driver’s data is one thing; producing an identical drive or better is quite another. If your teammate can copy what you’re doing and get level or even better, can he be called skilled? Or, is F1 such an easy sport that any “undeserving” driver can simply look at your data and copy you. If that is so, what does that say about the champion? Do we need intellectual property rights in F1 (thou shall not copy my braking style)? The point I’m trying to get across is this – if you can copy a great athlete and compete with him at the same level, you’re learning his trade and identifying what you learned in the first place. Then, you’re scrutinizing yourself and identifying what you need to change in your own input to make that exercise of any value. Then, you change a few things here and there and adapt (if you even can do that in this high-speed and highly technical sport of F1). If you can beat your teammate as a result in some cases, you just developed yourself beyond your prior abilities. There’s a reason why the Mercedes engineers said that Rosberg was developing as a driver until the very last race last year.

    So, what do you do? You try something different, yourself to be ahead of the competition. That is what Hamilton did also. Does anyone remember the free practice sessions in Baku and Abu Dhabi? Hamilton had just narrowed the gap to Rosberg and was in a commanding positive mood to get to another level. FP1 started really well for him. He was trying different lines, braking points and basically stamping his authority on the fresh, new Baku circuit. Read that as him getting to another level. Come FP2, he was still trying to find that sweet spot and going over the edge (brake lock-ups, overshooting corners). Same thing in FP3. Come qualifying, he couldn’t get past that one particular corner where he was having trouble from FP2. In the end, Baku qualifying didn’t go well for him, but he was trying something different – that’s my point. Abu Dhabi is a better example and it was turn 11. From late FP1 to qualifying, he worked to a plan to go wide at turn 11 to get the best exit to the chicane of 12-13 and positioning the car to take turn 14 well, so that the remaining small straight and winding right hander could be taken well. He was purple in that sector come qualifying and on pole. No other driver, including Rosberg did that. Why didn’t Rosberg copy that corner? Because it isn’t easy to copy in F1! Hamilton was on a plan, tried that corner and setup his car to get the maximum out of the strategy he was going for. Or, he simply just used raw skill to go wide on the corner (and on the rumble strip = unsettling) to get that sector down. What is my point here? It is because he had competition that made him do something he probably wouldn’t do, which is exactly what Mercedes AMG F1 wants. They want both their drivers to never feel comfortable. How does this help them?

    A lot of people think Mercedes AMG F1 won 3 consecutive WCC’s because of their engine. That was true in 2014 to some degree, but the thing that actually got Mercedes still ahead 2 years later was this very data sharing arrangement they’ve had to push their drivers against each other. They know this internal formula to be one of the most important part of their strategy in the mid to long term when the engine advantage will have eroded. The same strategy is also one of the main reasons why Red Bull Racing beat Ferrari last year. They fired Kvyat as soon he was being a liability and got Max in, which put pressure on Daniel. They both pushed each other. What did Ferrari do? Hope! I don’t want to criticize Kimi, because I don’t know how Ferrari run their team. It was pretty clear in 2014-15 that Kimi was under-performing. Given Ferrari’s penchant for pitching one driver against another (in a political leg pulling sense), they must have (and I’m assuming, of course), they played Kimi over Vettel in 2016. Anyone who understands office politics knows the feeling as I’m sure Vettel got it served to him in 2016. The result is Ferrari has gone back. Instead of working as a team and treating their drivers as assets, they operate like a mafia organization where everyone is scared of their prospects.

    Ferrari never learns. They made the same mistake by either catering only to Alonso, or retaining Massa beyond his due date. The 2012 championship was Alonso’s to lose, and it happened that way. Alonso, himself, and Ferrari’s inability to understand that in the post-testing for a top team, no 1 and 2 simply doesn’t work if no 2 is way behind.

    Oh, of course, if we only chose to look at all of this from a Hamilton’s point of view, how dare they share his data!!!!

  59. If Lewis is as exceptional as he thinks he is, and as exceptional as many people here believe he is, then it should not matter if Bottas, or any other teammate, is given Lewis’ detailed telemetry. Sure, it might help a teammate close the gap, but if Lewis really is as exceptional as he thinks, then in the end it won’t matter. All it would do is help the team; Lewis would still prevail.

    1. I would love for my son to train exclusively with Messi and Suarez for 4 years -do you think we can make it happen? Obviously it’s allowed in F1 where Griezmamn can train for free with one… Soccer skills are harder to copy but it still sounds ridiculous that Ronaldo or Messi would train their main opponent. It’s downright absurd.

    2. “If Lewis is as exceptional as he thinks he is…”

      ‘As he thinks he is…’ – lol, you do realize you’re talking about a 3 times world champion, who is on the brink of setting the most poles in history and is closing on the top of the all time race winners list.

      1. Yes, Lewis is a legend in his own mind (and yours). He’s definitely a great driver, one of the best of his generation. But I don’t compare today’s F1 results (poles, wins, etc.) with those of the past. Jackie Stewart’s 27 wins are far more exceptional than Lewis’ 53 wins, and will be more impressive no matter how many Lewis racks-up trundling his Mercedes Benz in TilkeDromes. If you don’t understand why that is so, and why it’s not even a debatable point, then I can’t help you.

  60. Hamilton is spot on. Period! It’s not his job to turn every teammate and driver in F1 into a winner. They need to do that for themselves especially with lines and braking. Essentially every driver can use Hamilton’s data to seek the car’s limit. Unbelievable that it’s actually happening.

    Mercedes has shown that they not only want the WCC but want to decide who wins the WDC. In effect it’s like teaching the other driver for free for 4 years…

  61. Hamilton’s input is massive. Look what happened to his former team. Nico begged for Lewis’ mechanics to be changed so a sorry mole could ruin Lewis’ season. That was the only way Nico had a chance. Bottas will be no different.

  62. Wow. Way to create a thread HAM. Of course the lessers want your data. Lewis is about to be the pole king and is already 2nd all time in wins. You have proved you doubters wrong by making savvy business decisions. While ALO and VET flail Lewis is having legendary years.

    1. Alonso are flailing because they are in inferior equipment.

      Hamilton did plenty of flailing when McLaren lost their mojo.

  63. Such a team player! and cagey on top of that.

  64. Bottas must be setting quite competitive times in the simulator then…

  65. Jean-Christophe
    19th February 2017, 18:48

    I’m not sure there would have been so many reactions had this call come from another driver. The same people who are criticising him now would have made the exact same accusations if Hamilton had said the opposite i.e supporting data sharing between team mates…

  66. Have to agree with Hamilton. It’s a team sport to the extent that the team gives both its drivers the best car + setup they can…..so share set up. It’s also a drivers sport so then it’s up to each team driver to take that equal car and do that extra something special with it to beat his team mate.

  67. It will be interesting to see if Mercedes grants Hamilton his wish (or demand). If things get tight with Red Bull, it could have a negative outcome on another constructors championship which is far more important than a WDC.
    I think Hamilton is a bit concerned about Bottas though I doubt the latter can beat him.
    If Hamilton gets his wish and loses to Bottas by seasons end, his reputation will take a serious hit. Better to share the data – then if he does lose he can claim it was due to sharing the data:)
    Be careful Lewis, you may get what you ask for.

  68. wow, whenever Hamilton makes a comment, the comment section is on fire

  69. The title suggests he’s not over 2016 title defeat. Regarding copy-paste approach by team mate, for me it’s a statement beyond sound logic. If you copy-paste, you can get only the same performance as your rival. If you analyze his data, hence understand his weaknesses you have to perform better to finish higher. I’m sure that many drivers would look at his data for eons understanding verry little if anything. Not to mention, cognitive abilities and learning curve specific to every individual. So, get over it Lewis and move on!

  70. Hahahaha, what a joke Hamilton.
    However Hamilton still feels it is necessary to have some flow of information between the two sides of the garage.

    “Because we only have a limited amount of time, we have all these things we can change, sometimes you just decided to go the wrong way,” he explained. “You start on the wrong foot and unless you go back, go in the direction the other car’s going, then you’re lost. There’s just nothing you can do.”

    So if you are doing better than your team mate then no information sharing, but if you are doing worse you would like some information sharing, what utter rubbish are you talking.

    1. Way to go my friend.

      You take his separate topic statements completely out of context, reinvent a context to suit your purpose and then take the opportunity to have a pop at him over something you purposely chose to misunderstand all in order to join the ‘anti Hamilton club’

      You Sir won the internet today.

  71. What I’m going to say is completely about learning and skill. I’d just like to offer this example:

    I play a racing simulation game and in the game people from around the world set challenges. A particular user had set a fast lap and I set out to beat it. The game offers a “ghost” facility whereby you can see the car that has set the fastest lap.

    The whole time I watched the ghost in front of me, where it braked, the lines he used, all the while I took note of where I gained advantages. Eventually I beat his time. It took a lot of attempts. I had learnt his cornering methods, his braking points giving me a much needed hand in beating him and I’m almost certain that it would have taken me weeks before I had found that all on my own or if at all. He went on to beat my time later, perhaps using my ghost to his advantage, seeing where I was faster.

    The point is, skill can be copied and or adapted to an individual. It is always individual because everyone processes things differently. Natural ability or genetic advantage are things that can’t be copied. There’s still a learning curve of course to following someone elses example. The other thing to mention is that most the drivers in f1 are seasoned drivers with great skill and ability. Replicating late braking or driving a different line isn’t a difficulty or at the very least it doesn’t take as long to master.

    If you interested in any of what I had to say, I’d like to suggest a book called ‘The Talent Code’ by Daniel Coyle.

  72. My problem with Hamilton’s comments is that they are no longer the reality we live in. In a separate post on this site, he is quoted as saying—

    Hamilton admitted he would like to see Formula One cars become considerably simpler. “I would take almost everything off,” he said. “I would go back to a more generic car… I liked having a gear stick. I’d take the quick-shift off, I don’t like these gearboxes that we use today.”

    So combine the two and he wants a simple engine, with a stick, and no telemetry. (He may have said that he just doesn’t want to share telemetry but it makes no sense for the team to deprive half of their cars with useful data, i.e. points.) Perhaps Hamilton should try NASCAR. /sarc

  73. Hamilton is spot on. The sharing of engineering and setup data is fine but actual driving data is another matter. Eddie Irvine once said that before telemetry became available a driver could lap all day and never work out where he was slower than his teammate. F1 may be a team sport but it is the drivers championship that provides its identity to the majority of fans and the sharing of driving data simply dumbs it all down as the differentiation between drivers is artificially narrowed – and there’s already enough artificialness in F1. WHAT is driven is down to the team. HOW it’s driven should be down to the driver.

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