“Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP

25 comments on ““Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP”

1. 

   grat
   3rd December 2024, 14:29

   Even in 2009, when Hamilton had one of the worst cars ever handed to a defending champion, Hamilton didn’t seem as totally baffled by his car as he does this year.

   I know a few people have said he’s having difficulty adapting to this generation of cars, but that’s equally inexplicable to me– outside of Alonso, no driver has successfully adapted to more rule changes than Hamilton. And it’s not like he can’t get the car to go fast– except in qualifying. But even Russell, who can regularly get the car to go faster than Hamilton, can’t reliably predict what the car’s going to be like from one session to the next.

   Mercedes doesn’t appear to understand this car. And they don’t seem to be giving the support to Hamilton he needs on Saturday.
   1. 

      MichaelN
      3rd December 2024, 16:45

      Indeed, and while it’s easy to pile on Hamilton – it’s not like Mercedes is on top of things either. Their performance goes up and down, and over the summer it became a bit of a joke to see how often they exclaimed they now realized everything they’d previously done wrong, only to get lost during the next race again.

      Nobody can deny Russell has the measure of Hamilton in qualifying, but in the races they’re both on an average 5th/6th place in the results. It was just a week ago that Hamilton stormed through the field to 2nd. It’s not like the guy has no idea what he’s doing. When the car works, he delivers… on Sunday.
   2. 

      SPArtacus
      3rd December 2024, 19:37

      Oh please. From 2010-2012, he had a car that wasn’t perfect and could have challenged for WDCs, but did nothing with it and was outscored cumulatively by Button over those three seasons. He’s never excelled in cars that weren’t ideally suited to him and has been paranoid and quick to despair throughout his career. This is nothing new. There was one race where unfortunate events sent him to the back, and he wanted to retire to “save the engine,” the team said there’s a long way to go, Lewis and he ended up scoring a podium. This year the car is especially tricky but does have potential as we have seen with Mercedes scoring six victories is it now? Yet every race it’s “is the car broken?” “Why am I on this strategy we talked about?” etc.
      1. 

         SPArtacus
         3rd December 2024, 19:38

         wasn’t perfect but could have*
      2. 

         cdavman (@cdavman)
         3rd December 2024, 21:28

         This cumulative scoring approach that’s only ever been used for Button vs Hamilton is a nonsense. Whilst factually accurate, name any other driver pairing where a comparison is made on cumulative points across multiple seasons?

         Using the conventional method of comparison, Hamilton beat Button in 2 out of 3 of those seasons. Hamilton DNFed more in those 2 seasons too, and still beat Button…
         1. 

            SPArtacus
            4th December 2024, 22:32

            Only for Hamilton and Button? I’ve pointed out 100 times that DR outscored Max cumulatively during their 3 seasons together. I also wasn’t aware people talking about the full points tally for each during their time together is some big thing. Oh, that’s because it’s not.

            Would you have preferred I said Button outscored in one season while the two other were close run? Big difference.
      3. 

         Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
         3rd December 2024, 22:56

         This is a bit disingenuous. Hamilton did challenge for the title up to the final race in 2010 in a car that was always a bit behind the Redbull. In 2012, he drove extremely well but had rotten luck, losing somewhere around 130-140 points to factors outside of his control. Without that, he could have challenged for that title too, and also put to bed this unfortunate stat that Button outscored him over their 3 seasons together. Button was the one in 2012 who was far off Hamilton’s pace in the majority of races.

         Granted, he was poor in 2011, but it was mostly down to lapses in judgement and collisions – he never seemed to struggle for pace. This season is definitely an outlier in terms of him losing qualifying speed. He might have had ups and downs in terms of his mentality and how that translated to his results, but this is the first season where he’s been comprehensively outpaced by his teammate.
         1. 

            pcxmac (@pcxmac)
            4th December 2024, 6:53

            Yeah, Button did a good job of taking hold of his side of the garage and crafting his business, and it really messed with Lewis success, BUT, fortune had the last laugh. Lewis was almost always faster than Jenson, but Jenson was always good at playing the ‘team’ game. McLaren would eventually lose out to Merc’s power unit scheming, and duplicity with Williams (from which Toto had a stake in), but they did a good job bouncing back the last few years.

            Hopefully McLaren never stop thinking other teams are faster than them (one of Lando’s strengths), McLaren need to stretch their legs and hit a very quality stride.

            Maybe the two best pound for pound pace setters in F1 currently are Hamilton and Lando, other guys really need the team wrapped around them to really succeed. Max probably can’t win unless the team is wrapped around his every need and his teammate is testing setup for him. Just saying. Unless they have the opportunity to change the rule set … oh wait, HA, RBR did get the rule change in 2021 to suite them. Funny how rule changes follow narrative settings, and idol propositions.

            The funny thing is, F1 cars have always used the ‘ground effect’ to produce down force, so it’s almost like the major rule changes/overhauls are expectation settings, or narrative devices.
2. 

   BLS (@brightlampshade)
   3rd December 2024, 15:37

   It would be a massive shame if Hamilton’s last race for Mercedes ended as a downer. They achieved so much together but the relationship just seems so strained now.

   Everyone knows how much conspiracies thrive in F1 so if Hamilton comes out flying next season with Ferrari then Mercedes are going to get a constant hounding regardless of the realities of what has happened this year.
   1. 

      Riccard
      3rd December 2024, 18:53

      Hamilton has always been someone who can get downbeat and stop trying.

      We didn’t see that behaviour much in Mercedes’ dominant years, but then he had little reason to be downbeat in this years.

      Hamilton started this season driving worse than Russell, but when the car got better he tried harder and matched him. When the car got worse, he stopped behind again.

      If Ferrari have the best car next year then I reckon Hamilton will match Leclerc. If it’s the third best car then I reckon we’ll see the same Hamilton as this year.
3. 

   Jim from US (@jimfromus)
   3rd December 2024, 16:02

   I am guessing that HAM did not anticipate that he would go from the golden one to persona non grata at Mercedes. I’m sure it is a shock, but you quit the team, mate.
4. 

   wsrgo (@wsrgo)
   3rd December 2024, 16:14

   Looks like even Bono has had enough, finally. Took him 12 seasons to open his mouth, while GP already did that to Max last year, in their eighth year working together.
5. 

   Biggsy
   3rd December 2024, 16:56

   Dude needs more mollycoddling than my toddler did. He always had a wet sock mentality, and that’s what I never liked about him. For someone who got so much, to be so sulky at the first sign of trouble, it just reeks of a lousy character.
   Something I’ve felt about him from his first season in F1, but I’ve been often told I’m wrong, because Hamilton uses hashtag blessed on Instagram. Or something. But for those who can judge a character, this was obvious for ages.
   Someone will tell me it’s because of all the hardships in the last few years (and even that’s relatively “hardships”), he’s been no better when he had a winning machine.

   Basically a 40 year old kid. In more aspects than one.
   1. 

      SPArtacus
      3rd December 2024, 19:44

      I’ve defended Hamilton against absurd attacks all year, reminding people how well he performed in 2023, but this is spot on about his mentality. He has a very paradoxical nature. He is extremely paranoid, tends to defeatism when things aren’t going perfectly and points fingers a lot when things aren’t going well while talking up the whole “we lose as team and win as team” when things are going well. OTH, he holds up extremely well to pressure when he has a car he likes and the stakes are high. So, he’s both mentally fragile and mentally resilient. It just depends on the situation.
      1. 

         Biggsy
         3rd December 2024, 20:35

         I consider him the best overall, along with Alonso, in terms of all sorts of abilities, and everything, but I’d appreciate him more if he was more straightforward. As you say, he likes to portray that “we lose as a team”, but doesn’t really walk the walk. And he doesn’t need to be that guy. He shouldn’t want to be liked by everyone. Should be more genuine
         1. 

            Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            3rd December 2024, 21:34

            Well, I wouldn’t argue with Hamilton being the best overall “at some point” but he apsolutely is not now. The average driver rankings this year show this. He’s not even in the top 10 in the averaged driver rankings. After Brazil, which was the latest, he was 15th, behind Magnussen even. Even Alonso is just 13th, behind Bottas.

            With the performance they have had this year, Alonso would only just scrape into the top 10 with Hamilton certainly not in it in my view. Alonso has looked better lately, but we can’t ignore that for at least a 3rd of the season, Stroll was either matched or doing better. Alonso seemed to be struggling mid way through, enough that one of the worst drivers on the grid was looking better than him.

            I don’t see how anyone could consider either Alonso or Hamilton to be top drivers now.
   2. 

      BMW P85 V10
      3rd December 2024, 21:22

      Totally agree. How many times have Toto or Bono come up with excuses if Lewis made a mistake . They all know how fragile Lewis is in such moments.
      And I guess that Mercedes decided not to take care of Lewis as they did before.
      They will leave it up to Ferrari to bring Lewis back in a good shape. Good luck with that.
   3. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      4th December 2024, 14:42

      I’m sure Hamilton will be keen to take lessons in maturity, success and ‘character development’ from some random internet user calling themselves ‘Biggsy’.
6. 

   Ajaxn
   3rd December 2024, 16:58

   Is it my imagination or has Hamilton always done poorly in that part of the world since coming out with comments abought human rights?

   https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60875788
   https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/60877612

   It makes you wonder. Sport, particularly motorsport, is a growing preoccupation of young people in that part of the world. The last thing they would want is some ‘upstart’ seeding dissension or protest.

   I won’t mention the increasing ‘influence’ on the sport by the current FIA president.
   1. 

      MichaelN
      3rd December 2024, 19:37

      It makes you wonder.

      Not really. There’s nothing unusual about Hamilton being a bit behind Russell this year. One bad race is just that; one bad race.
   2. 

      SPArtacus
      3rd December 2024, 19:45

      pcx, is that you?
7. 

   JMDan (@danmar)
   4th December 2024, 6:02

   “Mercedes doesn’t appear to understand this car. And they don’t seem to be giving the support to Hamilton he needs on Saturday.” It isn’t like Germans to not understand the products they build. :-)
   1. 

      Mariusz
      4th December 2024, 10:17

      Unfortunately, they don’t understand. And they haven’t understood for 3 years, because they can’t draw constructive conclusions when the car is competitive and wins the race. They simply don’t know why it happens. On the Losail track, they had very similar conditions to those in Las Vegas, where they dominated. Very similar track characteristics, smooth surface, and the same temperatures, but there was no pace. There are many such examples.
8. 

   Carlos Furtado das Neves
   4th December 2024, 9:37

   Lap 47 radio messages, without static.

   “LH: Ahh, retire the car then.
   PB: Ok Lewis, we’ll serve the penalty this lap.
   LH: Park the car mate.
   PB: Negative.
   LH: I’m switching off when I get in there mate.
   PB: That’s fine. If you want a 5 seconds penalty next race… that is fine.
   We only have to do 1 more lap, but we will drive through the pit lane.”

   That’s all folks !
   1. 

      Deep Sky
      4th December 2024, 16:23

      Yes I was expecting to see this bit, surprised it was swept under as ‘static’. It does give good insight.

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