Hamilton warns Mercedes starting to ‘buckle’ under pressure

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says there have been times this year when Mercedes have buckled under pressure.

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Adrian likes the look of the Baku City Circuit:

I’m quite looking forward to this. The track has a bit on an IndyCar/Formula E feel to it, and that’s OK to me as it’s therefore different from most other tracks on the calendar. From the onboard the track actually looks pretty dangerous, and I suspect it will be challenging to keep it out of the barriers all weekend.
@Adrianmorse

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Keith Collantine
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37 comments on “Hamilton warns Mercedes starting to ‘buckle’ under pressure”

  1. Lol, yes I’m sure Bernie is going to ask to meet with jailed activists in Baku as soon as he arrives. He’ll get right on that.

    1. In New Zealand, where I live, in the mid 80s we had the whole country divided on whether we should have a rugby team from South Africa play in New Zealand. Did that sporting contact change South Africa? No, not immediately, but 20 or so years later South Africa changed. So does sporting contact contribute to change some time later, or does it delay it? Sorry, I don’t know, you’d have to ask someone from South Africa.
      Bernie can’t change things in Azerbaijan, but they are prepared to pay a lot to have F1 race in their country, and if they are prepared to pay, then maybe they are prepared to change.

      1. I dont really get the link you are making between being prepared to pay and being prepared to change. If you are prepared to pay Bernie and his cronies ridiculous money then most likely, in recent years, you are part of a corrupt totalitarian state. All decent states seem to struggle to keep the GP, or are in constant threat of losing is it.

        1. It means they want something @maxv, I think is what @drycrust is saying. They rule at home, their status is maxxed out there, so the only place to go for more is international.

          They want to be on TV mingling with stars and networking with rich, important people.

          I don’t think it works ignoring them, anyway. They don’t feel any frustration in that. I think it’s better to interact with them and offer something, but conditionally. Bernie can shake hands, others will criticise.

        2. @maxv F1 isn’t just fast cars, it is TV broadcasting and private satellite links and encrypted communications with the outside world and people wanting access to Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and photographers who want to send their pictures overseas before the censors can approve them, and TV commentators that want to say what they want when they want, and for the world to know it before the censors do, all of which are an anathema to a dictatorship, so why would you want these people on “your turf” when it is far easier and cheaper for you to not associate with them? The only reason I can see is somewhere in the background is they believe they should be changing, although maybe they don’t have any idea in what way, or what the future Azerbaijan looks like. So they believe in a future that they can’t get to with their current political model, and F1 is a stepping stone along that path.
          Sure, this isn’t a road to fast change, but it is a road that has the potential for change.

          1. ColdFly F1 (@)
            4th June 2016, 12:49

            @drycrust
            I agree that is is better to acknowledge and where possible engage them. This is often a first step to true change (I like your ‘prepared to pay’ then maybe also ‘prepared to change’ comparison).
            I’m however extremely critical of F1 being used to prominently showcase a specific leader. I don’t think Botha was welcome in NZ back in those days!
            Let’s just hope that Baku remains an F1 spectacle without the cringeworthy elements Socchi has.

      2. Duncan Snowden
        4th June 2016, 18:22

        I don’t think you can assume that every awful country is the same, or wants F1 for the same reasons. When F1 went behind the Iron Curtain to Hungary, it was later seen as playing a small part in bringing down the Soviet empire. But, if you listen to Hungarians who were there at the time, it’s quite clear that the GP was the brainchild of young officials who were sick and tired of dull grey communist life and were already of a mind to dismantle as much of it as they could. Effect, rather than cause. The same, albeit not to the same extent (in that it’s still a one-party dictatorship) but also more obviously, could be said of China: the GP is just one result of a policy of liberalisation that had already been in place for two decades.

        The trouble seems to be that Bernie believed his own hype about Hungary, and thinks that F1 can effect a change on oppressive and totalitarian governments. But Russia is getting worse, not better, and F1 is helping to lend a sheen of respectability to it all. There’s absolutely no evidence that Putin wants the GP for anything other than politically-neutral publicity for himself, creating an air of normality around his régime. I fear that Azerbaijan is a similar situation. I hope I’m wrong.

        1. At the very root of a dictatorship are the human desires of power and not being held accountable for one’s actions.
          There are other human desires, such as social acceptability and the desire for freedom, so yes, holding an F1 Grand Prix might be one way those running Azerbaijan could get social acceptability without having to concede power and lack of accountability, although that is a contradiction because they have to concede power to the FIA, so the race can be held under the FIA rules, otherwise no points can be awarded in the GP.
          So such a path could be a way of making the government look good in the sight of their citizens, but it would be like a drugged stupour: a week later and citizens will wake up to find their daily toil is the same as before. Except now they have also seen all these foreigners with smartphones and computers doing things they aren’t allowed to do, seen the way they dress and behave in public, heard the way they speak in public, seen their technology in public, all of which creates a desire for freedom. So why pay Bernie to hold a GP? One reason is somewhere in the background is a desire for change, but it is important to accept there would be other reasons as well.

      3. @drycrust your thinking is wonky – F1 and many other sports willing abandoned and ignored South Africa because of systematic and state-supported apartheid, but seem to be happily turning a blind eye to the sort of back room corruption, abuse and totalitarian rule.

        My guess is either a) the world has changed or b) they’re not classed in the same league (even though they should be).

        1. @optimaximal F1 “willing[ly] abandoned South Africa”? Hardly, see Keith’s own write-up on the ’85 SA GP:
          https://www.racefans.net/2008/02/05/f1-and-racism-the-1985-south-african-grand-prix/
          “one of the more unsavoury passages of Formula 1 history”
          It took a lot of pressure from several governments to force the FIA to call off future GPs in South Africa. Bernie was more than happy to take the SA promoter’s money.

  2. If Bernie ever meets anyone on anything politics-related, I can only imagine him giving some austerity-filled, too-rich-to-have-a-clue-about-reality type of advice.
    Like telling people who are living on 200 EUR per month, to try to spend less, or something like that.

    1. Or telling people jailed for political reasons to just pay their bails etc

  3. Haha Bernie meet with jailed activists to discuss human rights hahahahahha. There is a 0.000001% of that happening. Or when manor win the drivers and constructors championship.

    1. I believe you meant to say 0.00000% chance.

  4. My vote for understatement of the year goes to….(drumroll please).. Toto Wolf, for his magnificent ” RBR were pretty competitive in Monaco “. 10 points.

    1. 10 points? It’s only the fifth biggest understatement then.

    2. I think any time he mentions how close Ferrari and Red Bull are, he defines understatement of Mercedes advantage.

      Red Bull was competitive… By 2 tenths, in hands of Riciardo.

      1. Not a big fan of Max but I’d have loved to see what he might have done had he not started from the pitlane. I know, I know, shoulda, woulda, coulda.

  5. https://vimeo.com/169182298

    monaco onboard!!! thank me later :)

    1. Thanks @sato113 😃

    2. Thanks!

      It must pretty damn nerve wrecking to try and get the maximum in those kind of conditions. Kimi was tiptoeing it and still lost the front from such a low speed. And Massa almost went right after him! =D

    3. What a fantastic video! Thanks @sato113!!

    4. Looks like VES really got hurt with that crash.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        4th June 2016, 12:52

        yeah his pride sunk to his right foot ;)
        @rvg013

        1. He is 18, won a Grandprix at the 1st time asking by his team, lives in Monaco, drives a gorgious Aston Martin and has to use lethal insecticides to get rid of good looking young and older women desperate to please him…
          I guess one lousy day at the office won’t put him with his feet on the ground and why should he…
          He’s living his dream and the odds are in his favour it can only get better and better for him.
          Verstappen is a marketing machine for Redbull and has already earned a lot more for the Red Bull company than when Ricciardo joined the Redbull team.
          So obviously Verstappen is the golden boy of Dietrich Mateschitz.

          Ricciardo is almost 27 and won a meager total of 3 races, so far.
          He emptied a bucket full of frustration in front of his team and is complaining how unfair life is to him like an old lady desperately looking for her denture she left in a bowl she can’t find anymore.
          When and if Ricciardo fails to deliver in the coming races it will rattle his confidence even more.
          Nobody likes to be 2nd best and I sincerely hope Ricciardo gets his act together, but the signs are he can only flourish when Verstappen fails to deliver in the coming races.

          I don’t have the guts to bet against Verstappen being successful in the coming races, do you?

          1. @auria and has to use lethal insecticides to get rid of good looking young and older women desperate to please him…

            It’s almost as if that is a personal experience. Nobody has anything against Verstappen and he surely will make it in the world of Formula One. Just remember, don’t be that guy who has to say how young he is every single time you read something negative about him. He still has a lot to learn but he’s also mistakes that should not happen at this level of competitiveness.

    5. Thanks later

      1. Your avatar is disturbing.

    6. @sato113 Great video, many thanks. I didn’t realise at the time what a massive safety fail there was with Verstappen at the start, with the stewards allowing engineers to run across the pit exit.

  6. I think we can credit F1 for safety even considering recent events, as it appears that Motogp will be racing on the f1 version of Catalunya after the tragic death of Luis Salom, rest in peace.

  7. Had to smile at Gerhard using Max to sell Nico. I can imagine Toto having a little smile too.

  8. Mercedes just misses one thing: Brawn.

    1. Why? He did his part, Toto took over and did his part, we will see next year how they handle rule changes.

      But judging last two rule changes, they came out of them as champions.

  9. Gerhard is right in the mix of it all it seems.

    But old wisdom of having a fast eatablished driver and solid #2…is slowly fading away to the new reality, of having two as fast as possible drivers.

    Red Bull are trying hard to do it, Mercedes arguably have a great driver pairing, even if Nico is slightly behind Lewis on ultimate pace.

    Force India reaping benefits of good drivers, actually STR aswell, then so is big one phat.

    Then there are ol Giants like Ferrari. They keep Kimi in while he underperformed 2 seasons in a row. Just to keep Vettel cozzy. Can anyone imagine Vettel be slower if Daniel Riciardo was in second car? And if he was, who cares D.R. Would rank up some Ferrari wins.

    Look at Mercedes, when Lewis is only doing a 98% good job, there is Nico swooping in to grab some victories. Teams need that drive and rivalry between drivers.

    1. Don’t forget McLaren. Two of the best drivers without a hope in hell because of the car.

  10. Jailed activists in Azerbaijan are not F1’s problem- it’s the local government’s problem. And if F1 goes to a country with unreasonably restricted freedoms, then foreign spectators possibly risk detention- so F1 shouldn’t go to countries like Azerbaijan. However- that Baku City circuit looks interesting; but hardly any spectators will be there to see the race (there were only 20,000 tickets on sale, or something) and if I were Bernie, I wouldn’t be encouraging people to go to this new Baku GP. But Bernie will be in his comfort zone: with Don Ilham Aliyev and Darth Vlad Putin sitting either side of him, he will be having a ball out there.

  11. Much as I hate to have to agree with Bernie, the link to human rights abuses was very thin on detail and seemed to centre around a few journos who went where it was unwise to go. Metaphorically speaking that is. The picture of the leading lady Khadija Ismayilova upon release also seemed to indicate that she hadn’t exactly been starved and beaten in prison.

    Pretty small beer compared to Syria or even Guantanamo Bay, are we to see similar comments when the US GP comes around?

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