Why Lewis Hamilton's Driving Style Isnt Working
Lewis has had what he calls his worst ever start to a formula one season in his career. Only 8 points and a DNF in race 3 (the Australian GP). His driving style is a famous one with his incredible braking and insane feel for an f1 car. Why does Lewis Hamilton struggle so badly with the W15 and will he regain his confidence in 2024.
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The car is not there, he has no confidence in the car they built. He left Mercedes for a reason things have changed.
Agreed
Reasons why he is leaving Wil be known to as when he starts driving for the scuderia
Don’t blame him.👍👍👈👈😎
HAMILTON VS. RUSSELL AS TEAMMATES 🟢QUALY H2H: 24 vs. 23 (51.06%) 🟰POLES: 1 vs. 1 (50.00%) 🟢RACE H2H: 20 vs. 17 (54.05%)* 🔴VICTORIES: 0 vs. 1 (0.00%) 🟢PODIUMS: 15 vs. 10 (60.00%) 🟢POINT FINISHES: 41 vs. 39 (51.25%) 🟢DNFs: 5 vs. 6 (45.45%) 🟢POINTS: 458.0 vs. 437.0 (51.17%) Hamilton on the left, Russel on the right. Sprints are excluded. *Only races in which both drivers finished REMINDER Most of the DNFs are driver errors. e.g Canada, Singapore, Zandvoort, Australia 24 for George
The car was now made how he wanted it, remember, as he himself said in Bahrain….. apparently HE doesn’t know how to build the car either..
In my opinion I don’t think Lewis is washed. I think that for one, since the ground effect era the Mercedes cars he’s driving are probley some of the worst he’s ever had in his career. Two I think that he’s mentally checked out from Mercedes.
it wouldn't be the first time a major reg change neutered a driver's style.. Vettel was dominant and then overnight became 2nd fiddle to Ric, and even Danny Ric himself is a shadow of what he was pre-ground effect era. I would put it it at somewhere halfway between, he's definitely not washed yet, and he definitely isn't as passionate, but Russell shouldn't even be keeping pace with him, let alone beating him (when he doesn't ruin his own races) in this era, so there definitely is something to it about maybe an incompatible driving style. Only time will tell though
Mentality is definitely part of it
Perhaps he should wash then.
@@jaegerman66 i think Russell is good enough to give any driver of the grid a run for their money on his good days. he's not there to be a Bottas or a Perez, he's Toto's bet for the future, a former F2 Champion. Most of all, i think Hamilton and Russell approach things very differently at this point in their careers. This car isn't getting them nowhere, so no reason to try too hard with it. And he's leaving, whereas Russell is already the main man of the team trying to prove he can be a leader for the upcoming seasons.
@@jaegerman66i think you are underestimating George Russel waay too much here. You are speaking as if he was just a british f4 driver warming the seat up. Don't forget he beat nearly all of today's younger generation in equal machinery during their junior careers. Saying he shouldn't even be close to Lewis in the same car is simply not true.
On another note, We’re talking about one of the greatest drivers in F1 history who actually got 3rd in the championship last year with a bad car. You can’t lose ALL your skills in a matter of 2-3 months. The only issue with W15 is that it’s worse in terms of performance than its predecessors. Whereas other teams nailed it better than Merc this year. However, the season isn’t over yet. A lot can change.
Exactly 🤣 If he was under performing for a few years like other drivers, sure. But the only reason he couldn’t compete last year was the car. P3 with no wins lol
But he should be head and shoulders above George, which he is not. You can compare what's happening to Lewis to what happened to Micheal with his comeback.
The car, over the seaso, was 2nd best. Ferrari, AM and Mclaren all had at least 9 races where the car was shit, Merc only had Brazil. They didnt have the massive peaks of Ferrari or the big lump of clearly 2nd best of Mclaren, but 3rd is where Lewis should have finished. And if it were not for reliability and a couple of poorly times SCs Leclerc would have finished 3rd instead@@mapleleafkay9824
I even say this in the video :)
@@AndyFromBeaverton Respectfully I have to disagree. Because Lewis like 2022 is taking on an experimental role with the step ups which means the car will perform differently each time. Whereas George isn’t. This explains why in 2022 George was ahead and as soon as they discovered the right set ups for the w13 because of Lewis’s experimental approach they saw which set up is best fit and we saw Lewis performing better. Both drivers are currently not where they want to be. As I said, George or Lewis being better than each other doesn’t matter at all. History won’t remember that. What it will remember is which driver won with the W15. Currently we don’t even now if it will score podiums.
I hate the that people think he washed. Granted, as a champ, adaptability should always be in your bag, but hard to perform when the car does not respond
i agree my friend. i think hes still far from washed
Indeed. People aren't asking this about Alonso are they? It's unlikely he is washed as he's doing a good job still, but with Stroll as his teammate, he doesn't exactly have the best benchmark. How do we know they Aston isn't faster than is shown and if Russell could qualify it higher. Very unlikely but the benchmark is important. Also, it isn't a good start to the season, granted, but looking at Lewis race pace and he still is decent and better than Russell in Jeddah race pace wise. I looked at the guys with the same strategy in Jeddah - Norris and Hamilton Vs their respective teammates and Lewis gained on Russell finishing 7.5 seconds behind factoring in time loss from the SC. Lando lost a little finishing 12.5 seconds behind Piastri. One would think Lewis and Lando's results would be the opposite, especially considering Lewis was holding up Lando's teammate for a large part of the race (costing both Lewis and Oscar time) Lewis had more dirty air overall and dirty air behind Lando in the final stint. We didn't see Lewis true pace in the final stint in clean air due to Lando's dirty air. Bahrain too, I have seen conflicting info who was faster but it was almost identical between Ham and Russell whichever is correct. I did see Lewis closed the gap and finishes under 4 seconds behind George, so I assumed he was faster overall (factoring in where they started) but both had issues with their cars. Where Lewis and Mercedes are isn't 💯 accurately represented in the results is my conclusion. Safety cars, miscalculated cooling, failures and crashes have had a bearing. It's almost better to do bad now tbh. I'd almost be thinking of sandbagging to get a lot of wind tunnel time when it resets in June, in their position, or thinking ahead to the next regs soon.
Maybe he's getting the most out of a really bad car. We can't drive so we don't know how much performance it has
He is washed. Just like Vettel was in 2020.
He washed with no soap
Some of the comments are quite ill informed. Now let me preface by saying that I'm a Max fan through and through. Lewis is a multiple WDC winner. He clearly is a generational talent based on his achievements. You don't achieve that being "mediocre". You don't win championships without having three prerequisites. A good car, a good team and a good driver. Any one of those missing and you won't win any WDCs. Lewis is in no way washed. I've had Sainz fans saying Sainz>Lewis based on Australia 2024. Lol don't make me laugh. The only reason Carlos won was because Max was effectively driving with his handbrakes on and he still pulled a 0.917 second gap to Carlos at the end of lap 1. Lewis and Alonso are generational talents. They may not be at their prime but without them having a championship contending car we can make zero inferences to that. Give them a good car and they'll win races. Simple. In fact Lewis and Alonso are the only drivers on the grid on the same plane as Verstappen and can truly best him if given the right car. My only hope is to see a three way battle between these three legends before they drive off into the sunset. A repeat of 2021 if you will. Even Max was no where in championship contention until he got his machinery right. Lewis hasn't forgotten how to drive lol. Wait for 2025.
Spot on
So well said. Thank you for your intelligent comment and I’m a Lewis fan 🤛🏾
Protect this man, these Max fans are rare
Great comment, you have a true understanding of the essence of F1. Past, present and future!
I'm a max fan and i agree about what you said. Mercedes car is bad, not the driver. He's not finished yet. i believe if lewis get a better car, he could have win races or maybe he can win WDC. The main problem is mercedes, they couldn't keep up on redbull innovations and also wrong fundamental concept of the car in the early 2022. Lewis is still one of the greatest of all time🤘
he sounded relieved he didnt have to drive when his engine let go on sunday imo
LOL a bit
I had the same impression.
Hahaha he done that little laugh when he got asked why the car broke down, "i think the engine broke down 😂" made me laugh for real.
I'm not even close to being a LH fan but yes, I thought the exact same thing and actually felt bad for the guy.
He is always like that. I remember a race 2 years ago where he wanted to quit a race. The team had to beg him to keep going and he ended up with some points.
We all know lewis Hamilton likes a strong, and stable rear end… one of the many reasons he got together with Shakira
One might say his Mercedes' hips are lying
The fundamental issue is that the car simply isn't there. Mercedes still hasn't figured out how to generate consistent predictable downforce under these regulations, and especially under yaw conditions (aka while the car is turning). Lewis's performance this season has very little to do with his braking ability, every driver on the grid uses trail braking, and braking deep into the corner isn't always the best way to approach a corner. How late one brakes has more to do with the nature of the corner and what comes after that corner, than it does with a specific driving style. It's also not what makes Lewis Hamilton a great racecar driver, and only a single element of a driving style. Driving style is a the tiny differences in how drivers chose to approach different types of corners and their mental model for how each car handles. While some drivers do brake later than others and use slightly different cornering techniques; *The reality is that every car has an optimal way for it to be driven in order to extract the fastest lap time from it. What makes a world-class driver is their ability to rapidly understand the best way to drive the each car and then adapt their driving style to extract all the potential performance in each car* . Every car has a performance ceiling, at any time there is an absolute fastest possible time that it can get around any track. The best a driver can do is get as close as possible to that best possible time, no matter how good a driver is, they can't go any faster than the car will allow them to. The limiting factors on the Mercedes are just what happens when the drivers have to be constantly pushing and overdrive the car as they attempt to stay competitive. For the Mercedes the limiting factor that shows up first (the rear-end instability) is also something which Lewis is particularly sensitive to. Regardless of driving style, Mercedes haven't made a car which is fast enough to truly compete or beat Red Bull. Period. The fact that Lewis really likes a strong rear end is a compounding issue. He has to have confidence in the rear of the car to really push. And without consistent predictable downforce, Lewis cannot be sure what the rear of the car is going to do on corner entry and mid-corner. But, no matter what, the cars under these regs are going to have much less consistent and predictable rear-ends compared to the previous regulations. F1 banned the advanced suspensions that teams were using under the previous regulations, and also changed the tire size and reduced the size of the side walls (which makes the tires themselves less compliant under load). With how stiff the suspension has to be on the ground effect cars and how low to the ground they are, the cars have much more sensitive and twitchy rear-ends by nature. When it comes to driving style, Max Verstappen is the one who likes an extremely positive front-end and is fine with the rear sliding all over the place. He brakes relatively early, so that he can have the car set up exactly how he want's on corner entry and uses the super positive front-end and loose rear to get all his rotation done early, in order to have the car as straight as possible on corner exit. So it's more of a V shaped corner instead of a U shape. But as I said, every car has a specific way it must be driven to extract the fastest lap from it, so these driving styles are a relatively minor factor when it comes to the fastest drivers, except that the teams will sometimes try to build a car which fits the style of their driver if they can do so without compromising the absolute potential of the car significantly (it's more of a luxury than a priority). That rear-end instability on corner entry and mid-corner is also part of what contributed to George Russel's crash. He's willing to go 100% and push, even when he's at a very high risk of loosing the rear. That's why all it took was giving slightly too much braking force in response to Alonso slowing down when he wasn't expecting it, for the car to get unsettled and for him to loose the rear. Overall, I can only imagine how difficult it is to remain razor focused on F1 and extracting 100% from a car when you know it isn't competitive and your still capable of being a WDC if given a competitive car. He managed to keep up that motivation for years with a non-competitive Mercedes and knows he's going to a different team next year. Assuming Ferrari can make a competitive car for Lewis next season that allows him to actually compete with Red Bull, I expect Lewis to be just as good as he's always been. He didn't become a 7x WDC and win 100s of races in spec series prior to getting into F1 by being a bad driver. He's still one of the greatest racecar drivers to ever exist. But as I said, even the greatest driver in the world can only go as fast as the absolute limit of the car they are in.
Hamilton isn’t there either. We will have this convo again in 2025.
Too bad that this same argument got bashed if speaking about other driver. Especially Vettel
A lot of people love doubting Lewis and that’s fine. To me there’s nothing wrong with his driving style right now and he hasn’t made any changes to it. The moment a driver his age has to change driving styles with a struggling tells me hes doubting his own ability and Lewis has never once said in these regs, "I’ve had to change my driving style" once. If you look at the onboards of his cars in post 22 vs pre 22 regs they are very much the same. The only difference is the stability and balance of the car. It doesn’t make sense for a driver like LH to finish in P3 for these regs in 23 and then out of nowhere in many peoples eyes look like a "shell of his former self" this is why I say don’t be surprised when he looks a lot better in the Ferrari. If anything these last couple of weeks where Ollie, Charles, and Carlos showed that this newly revised Ferrari is balanced for many different driving styles. It will suit LH as well. Anyone that says he’s "washed" are giving lazy opinions. I’m not judging Lewis at all this year even if he loses to George. I’m judging him next year when he faces a guy that’s even better than George. Lewis has always faced competitive teammates barring two drivers (Bottas and Kovo). We need those to keep their same energy when he starts performing in a Ferrari. Lewis doesn’t exist to be fighting for P10 - P5s. There’s no trophies in fighting for that and no one will remember a driver who’s done that. Wins and championships are all that matters for him. 1+1 never equals two in formula one.
Dude I’m right there with you! A lot of undeserved hate just because he’s Lewis. And they jump on him the moment he isn’t performing. Keep that same energy goldfish!
Couldn't have said it better myself
I agree as well.
Really well said my friend
The only one who you could say is kinda washed is Ricciardo.
‘Qualifying was never his thing!!!’ 😂 quite a statement about the driver with the most poles in F1 history. 104 to the next closest at 68 (MS).
Like every max haters say "ITS easy to get pole when you have the best car"
i think he was more so highlighting just how devastating lewis is in the race. even with his qualifying success he always seems to gain in the races. definitely funny in a vacuum tho 😂 he’s always been rapid over one lap
104 due to having the best car
@@wife9571 Ya, a 50bhp advantage, thanks to Ross Brawn will do that.. make your races much easier
@@01-aleriorayyaarifaisal91best drivers get the best cars and btw he didn't have the best car in 17 18 19 21 08 etc
Mercedes put all their hope in James Allison and fire Mike Elliot. Guess what? The car is even worse and RedBull has stolen Mike's idea and implemented it to perfection. I feel like since W13 didn't perform right from the get go, they didn't trust Elliot enough. Still Mike's car won a race, won a sprint, got dozens onf podiums. W15 is far from a podium. No hope for Mercedes.
Changing direction is a big part of it as well
It wasnt only the aero that was problematic, the suspension was a problem too
@@F1Unchained too late for a change. This should be the year where they started right after RedBull yet they are 4th/5th. I think they have given up, salvage what is possible and hope for the best. Lewis said this car is the worse he's had since 2009. Worse than W13 and W14!! Mercedes went backwards this season. Don't even know how to solve their problems. Got bouncy again. Using GPs for testing while other teams will soon bring big performance upgrades. If Aston Martin brings a good package, Mercedes is dusted.
If you're suggesting that Red Bull has copied Mercedes 22/23 style "zeropods", you are greatly mistaken. What they've done is gone from an underbite setup to an overbite setup at the front of the sidepods. They still have a horizontal inlet, and they still have distinctly undercut sidepods, neither of which were on the Mercedes. It's an extreme evolution of last year's Red Bull aerodynamics rather than an implementation of Mercedes' idea.
@@spikyone79 I am suggesting RedBull took ideas from Mercedes design, especially the W14. W14 had a sort of overbite that RedBull and Mclaren now have. W14 also had big shoulders that RedBull decided to implement and use for extra cooling. Are you denying these?
The car is wrong lets be clear
Ofcourse
Here’s my opinion, feel free to debate or disagree that’s fine. First, I don’t think Lewis is washed. I feel that people forget only 2 whole seasons ago he was a strong title contender. Whether you feel 2021 finale was controversial or not it could have easily happened the other way and who knows how it would have ended with the safety car. Max drove great that season as well so hats off. Second, I feel like a lot of F1 fans who say Lewis is washed are also those fans also want to see Ricardo in a RB seat, I love Ricardo as much as anyone else but do not feel his performance shows he deserves that. Third and last point, Mercedes got the car wrong. They seem to dance around admitting it at first but the complete car change in 2024 shows that they know they got it wrong. I feel when Lewis was dominate everyone said it was just the car. Now RB has a good car and everyone thinks max could do the same thing in any car which is just not true.
Nope Lewis is washed, and Ricciardo is even more washed. Lewis is experiencing what Vettel experienced.
@@ey1615washed drivers don't get best of the rest in 4th fastest cars By that logic max is only winning because he's in the fastest car
@@ey1615 sorry to break it to you buddy but Lewis finished P3 in the WDC last year, in a car which was usually 3rd fastest on average. Essentially won the non-Red Bull WDC. definitely not washed.
Bro love ur channel keep up the great work. And please do consider making the video on how well the ferrari car suits lewis's driving style
The reason he's done so well is due to the imperceptible amount of steering input he puts on BEFORE he enters a corner. It doesnt change the trajectory, it asks the car for permission, he tells the car what's coming next. Cars brake better, cars turn better when you tell them what's coming next. He does that better than most
@@codyfrance2537 What are you talking about?? Rosberg isn't good? But you can praise Schumacher when his teammates wasn't even allowed to race him? Hamilton came in his first year in F1 and finished ahead of a 2X WDC teammate in same machinery but Hamilton doesn't have raw talent and he had neutered teammates? See how dumb you sound? Every driver is a product of their equipment, Their is not one driver that won the WDCs with the 5th fastest car on the grid so I don't see why you're trying to discredit Hamilton for winning with a competitive car but when other drivers do it you praise them. Look at max winning now with the fastest car and everyone praising him, he also has a subpar teammate who poses no challenge to him and everyone gives max his credits. But Lewis who had multiple WDC winning teammates was the one who had no challenge?? GTFOH man you're Pathetic
@@codyfrance2537 ".. and Rosberg kinda sucked" lol no need to read ahead after that
@codyfrance2537 I think I saw you driving F1 car... hmm
@@codyfrance2537”rosberg kinda sucked”, lmao you’re delusional. Rosberg would be a multiple WDC champion and considered the GOAT if lewis never existed
I don't know if it applies to real cars, but i noticed in ac that i can brake later and make the apex whenever i nudge the wheel the tiniest bit in the direction of the corner while full braking, i can gain up to 2 tenths per corner doing that instead of braking straight and turning.
I think it's simple actually… it's not a championship-winning car so Lewis has checked out already. George doesn’t have that luxury because he has an investment in the team and development of the car… Lewis is probably looking at the Ferraris and counting down the days when he could hopefully be competitive again.
Lewis is NOT washed, and the problem is not the car he is driving. First of all lets remember he brought the 4th fastest car (4th fastest behind Aston in the first half, and 4th fastest behind McLaren and ahead of Aston in the second half).. to 3rd in the drivers championship, and also carried Mercedes to second in the constructors!! Yes Ferrari did mess up a lot of races but so did Mercedes with race disqualifications and many dnfs from George, and one from Lewis, but he still managed to carry the team to 2nd, and there is no logical explanation if you think that he has fallen so much in just a few months to being slower than everyone. If you look his laps, he is the one who struggles to keep the car on the track the most - he corrects his car in every single corner, and it honestly reminds me of Alonso in the 2014 Ferrari.. Let me not mention that Lewis' opinion about the setup and the car keeps changing, for example in Australia FP1 and FP2 they tried a dramatic setup on Lewis so he was the slowest, in FP3 he was veey confident, but in qualifying he said that nothing was changed with the setup and for some reason he felt the engine tone being lowered, and the car not feel the same as it did in qualifying, and in the end calling it very challenging to drive. Is this normal? No. The team Mercedes must be sabotaging Lewis. This has never happened before with Lewis and Mercedes, and if you mention 2022 then you forget that he actually did use experimental setups back then, and that got them a win in Brazil because they actually understood the car and developed it based on Hamilton's feedback. Now in 2024 they use the same excuse "experimental setups" but i doubt that it is for the development of the car, and i will be proved right because i think Mercedes will not get a podium this year, and if they do it will be based on luck, for example the Red Bulls and the Ferraris face reliability issues or they crash. Mercedes is turning worse and worse each year, with the W13 being their best car in this era even though they finished 3rd in the constructors in 2022.
@Gianniskos1335 He only finished 3rd in drivers championship, and second in the Constructors because Toto cheated at Las Vegas when he illegally voted against Ferrari in thr manhole incident. It wasn't done on merit......
@@Gianniskos1335 Lewis is washed
Great work yet again. Need a video on Danny Ric’s struggles as well.
I have one :)
Now if you're talking a driver that's washed, Ricciardo fits that description better than Lewis. Tsunoda is undeniably faster than Ricciardo right now
Can't really say that's not HIS problem. Alonso too belongs to the same era as him ( older if I may ) but he adapted to Ground effect cars faster even after taking a break
Alonso has a better aero base though.
Although there are limited testing days, this applies to all drivers so everyone is on even plane field. Drivers can always do unlimited hours on the simulators which they do (especially the younger generations including 3x world champ Max).
Lewis's making us think that his decision to move to Ferrari is EXCELLENT(literally) week to week while Sainz is showing his true potential makes Ferrari to re-think their decision😆
So why is Russel not winning races or getting top 3 in Quali or the race?
ferrari doesnt give a sh*t keep crying
Carlos is a annual one hit wonder, short live excitement there.
Imagine thinking sainz is a better driver than Lewis lol
Rethink the guy who was 3rd in the WDC 2023
Outboard loaded wings don't work. Every team that's fast, has inboard loaded wings. When you make a left turn the airflow goes to the right. If you have an outboard loaded wing, when you corner, the airflow moves inboard away from the loading on the windward side(the side going into the corner), to where the wing is not loaded, and you lose downforce. With an inboard loaded wing, when you corner, the airflow moves towards the loaded part, and you get more downforce. This is important because the windward side of the car is the most sensitive to disturbances and flow separation, whereas the leeward side(the side away from the corner) has it's downforce enhanced because the wake is moving outboard on that side. On the windward side(side going into the corner) the wake is being pushed under the floor disrupting the downforce. An inboard loaded wing helps you outwash that wake on the windward side of the car, much better than an outboard loaded wing. This is why Mercedes has fallen behind. An outboard loaded front wing is making downforce on the leeward side of the car, the side that is not sensitive to separation, it's wasting flow energy in my opinion.
Damn bro you need to let Toto know asap.
@@zooski1516 😂😂
I've always thought that their rear wing is the weirdest looking one. Like, it's half Monaco and half Monza rear wing. Even their most loaded rear wing (Monaco,Hungary) looks weird.
I think an alonso or sainz would do much better in this car...not to mention max or Leclerc,but alonso and sainz could be in merc
Agree. The high central wings not only have down force but shape the air going underneath them making it more sustained and reliable in how it feeds floor and sidepods. Merc is fixated on top performance but misses that the crazy amount of air disturbance all over the car is making any progress useless.
3:15 I bet MSC probably tested the distance of an entire season of racing before the season ever started while at Ferrari.
Absolutely
double that, at least before the season starts.
Michael was famous for doing many hours around Ferrari test tracks
@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 i had a magazine from 2001 that Barrichello said he alone tested for 27000 km to improve their 2000 car. Schumacher tested at least as much, if not more.
@@bizarroeddie1 27000Km omg Lewis did I think 8000Km of testing in 2007 that pales in comparison, I know by the mid 2000s the days of testing were starting to be reduced somewhat before the overall ban in 2009
Man…….Like always. Your videos are so informative. Ty ❤
Thank you my friend ❤️
People talk as if George is doing much better. He isn't. Mercedes made a even worse car this year, they're falling backwards to 5th fastest team. Hamilton has issues but he's on leave, so why would the team try hard to solve his issues, or why would he try hard to solve issues he have in a bad car that he won't even be driving the next year? This announcement could've come later, by mid-season. Making it public so early left him in a really strange situation and i excpect this to be the worst season of his career for a variety of reasons.
I have heard on more than one occasion that the direction of FIA has been decided to "create" difficulties for certain drivers to help F1 in general. When a team or driver in particular has too much success then the FIA steps in to alter the playing field.
Well that’s why Mercedes is suffering. What isn’t talked too much about is Mercedes was the top dog in suspension. But now suspension has been “simplified and cheapened” dramatically for these new rules…which nerfed Mercedes suspension advances.
This comment right here, alot of persons don't know James Alison was brought in because of his expertise in suspension. The attacks on Merc by FIA started in 2014 when they took away the FRIC suspension.@philipbarton3456
Interesting video. Great job 👍🏾
❤️❤️
F1 should really have more on track testing for teams with less points. A team that has an understanding of their car from past seasons will always be faster than teams that have to come up with new concepts. If they want closer racing they need to help the smaller teams. Also they need to prevent one team from having 4 cars build in the same factory by the same engineers but thats another problem.
Just a thing. The tire management became very important when Pirelli came in. Even with his best cars he had to do tire management. Now the big difference between a good car and bad one is how treat the tires during a stint or a fast lap. Mercedes in the past used to destroy the tires (2012 and 2013, for example), they could qualify on the front row, but then would go backwards during the race. That's something Mercedes improved for 2014 onwards and here and there you could still see the problem reappearing. Now they have a similar problem. One thing that RB has and Ferrari seems to be improving is platform stability. With groundforce cars you want the front and rear always at a similar height from and rear when you are going through a corner or on a straight, so the airflow is very consistent and the downforce desn't shift from front to rear and vice-versa during corner entry and corner exit, that usually creates those snaps of over and under steer. And that leads me to the tires back again, that type of instability kills the tires on the long run. Even on a fast run, because you start sliding around and correcting the snaps that at the end of a fast lap or a stint, the tires are done and you lose time. All of this plays a role on the confidence you have on the car, as a driver if you don't know if the car is going to respond how you want, you start to be conservative on your approach and you lose time. You can attack the corners how you like because you might slide, you can't exit the corners with the proper speed you want or the car just snaps on you because you pushed the throttle too soon from what the car is capable of. So you end up driving just to reach the end and not to gain places.
Tyres.
Great video overall, but 7:16 Qualifying is 100% Lewis thing. He is one of if not the best qualifiers in F1. And it makes sense how he is doing horrible at qualifying now, since he can't trust the car to push all out.
I think he’s still an amazing qualifier. I think he’s a historic driver in the race tho
We’ll see if he “comes back”. I’m not even sure what that means. A few wins in FER whilst mostly being beaten by his teammate ?
this is true my friend. To me a comeback in this season is beating George. As for what he will do against Leclerc that I'm not sure.
@@F1Unchainedhe’s already done that last year brother. Win or lose to George this year doesn’t mean anything. The end goal is a championship trophy for Lewis. An easy comparison to my statement is Charles and Carlos. Carlos has been the driver who’s won more recently than Charles but he’s been beaten by Charles in the last two years lol
@@DangeloGedeon Could easily be two out of three to George by the end of the season.
HAMILTON VS. RUSSELL AS TEAMMATES 🟢QUALY H2H: 24 vs. 23 (51.06%) 🟰POLES: 1 vs. 1 (50.00%) 🟢RACE H2H: 20 vs. 17 (54.05%)* 🔴VICTORIES: 0 vs. 1 (0.00%) 🟢PODIUMS: 15 vs. 10 (60.00%) 🟢POINT FINISHES: 41 vs. 39 (51.25%) 🟢DNFs: 5 vs. 6 (45.45%) 🟢POINTS: 458.0 vs. 437.0 (51.17%) Hamilton on the left, Russel on the right. Sprints are excluded. *Only races in which both drivers finished REMINDER Most of the DNFs are driver errors. e.g Canada, Singapore, Zandvoort, Australia 24 for George
@@KevBrad19 So far. But I suspect soon to swing in Georg's favour if it follows recent trends.
You are making good, relevant and desirable content. Kudos to you champ!
Thank you my friend ❤️❤️
every driver has his driving style. each style has its own disadvantages. However, what makes a good f1 team is the ability to tune the car to what matches the driver's style so he can push the car to the limit. Once a driver loses confidence in the car, he becomes unsure of the car's behaviour under certain conditions.
Watching Lando walk away from Lewis during the high speed section in Jeddah was confirmation that the merc is a boat. I don't blame Lewis for experimenting with setups.
Proper technical analysis. Love it!
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It's simple. Hamilton relies more on the car than a lot of people expected. He likes late and heavy braking, which means the weight of the car transfers a lot when entering the corners. That requires a stable rear end and a little bit of understeer. And in recent years Mercedes suck at areo efficiency so they will have to sacrafice some downforce at some high speed tracks like Saudi. And you can see once the car lack read end downforce and become oversteery, hamilton's pace will decrease a lot. That's why he was beaten by russel in Saudi three years in a row in both qualifying and race. And once Mercedes comes to some high downforce tracks, he will be competetive again.
I agree with the assessment of his driving style, not with the statement that he requires a stable rear end. Sure, he likes it, but in his McLaren years he was setting up the car with amounts of rear downforce that other drivers found undrivable. Pretty sure, Hamilton has no problems with any setup, it's just that the car isn't capable of winning a WDC and he has already stopped trying too hard because of that. He spends most of his time, trying to find some kind of narrow window in the setup so he could compete for race wins, but with such a car that setup doesn't really exist.
The most exceptional drivers can always adapt to their car. All drivers have preferences but the best drivers can adapt their driverstyles. Clearly hamilton cannot do that.
Lewis is NOT washed, and the problem is not the car he is driving. First of all lets remember he brought the 4th fastest car (4th fastest behind Aston in the first half, and 4th fastest behind McLaren and ahead of Aston in the second half).. to 3rd in the drivers championship, and also carried Mercedes to second in the constructors!! Yes Ferrari did mess up a lot of races but so did Mercedes with race disqualifications and many dnfs from George, and one from Lewis, but he still managed to carry the team to 2nd, and there is no logical explanation if you think that he has fallen so much in just a few months to being slower than everyone. If you look his laps, he is the one who struggles to keep the car on the track the most - he corrects his car in every single corner, and it honestly reminds me of Alonso in the 2014 Ferrari.. Let me not mention that Lewis' opinion about the setup and the car keeps changing, for example in Australia FP1 and FP2 they tried a dramatic setup on Lewis so he was the slowest, in FP3 he was veey confident, but in qualifying he said that nothing was changed with the setup and for some reason he felt the engine tone being lowered, and the car not feel the same as it did in qualifying, and in the end calling it very challenging to drive. Is this normal? No. The team Mercedes must be sabotaging Lewis. This has never happened before with Lewis and Mercedes, and if you mention 2022 then you forget that he actually did use experimental setups back then, and that got them a win in Brazil because they actually understood the car and developed it based on Hamilton's feedback. Now in 2024 they use the same excuse "experimental setups" but i doubt that it is for the development of the car, and i will be proved right because i think Mercedes will not get a podium this year, and if they do it will be based on luck, for example the Red Bulls and the Ferraris face reliability issues or they crash. Mercedes is turning worse and worse each year, with the W13 being their best car in this era even though they finished 3rd in the constructors in 2022.
HAMILTON VS. RUSSELL AS TEAMMATES 🟢QUALY H2H: 24 vs. 23 (51.06%) 🟰POLES: 1 vs. 1 (50.00%) 🟢RACE H2H: 20 vs. 17 (54.05%)* 🔴VICTORIES: 0 vs. 1 (0.00%) 🟢PODIUMS: 15 vs. 10 (60.00%) 🟢POINT FINISHES: 41 vs. 39 (51.25%) 🟢DNFs: 5 vs. 6 (45.45%) 🟢POINTS: 458.0 vs. 437.0 (51.17%) Hamilton on the left, Russel on the right. Sprints are excluded. *Only races in which both drivers finished REMINDER Most of the DNFs are driver errors. e.g Canada, Singapore, Zandvoort, Australia 24 for George
Love this :). Shows how close they are even with Lewis struggling
@@F1Unchained you do a fantastic job making F1 analysis Looking forward to Suzuka 👀🥳💪 Keep rocking 🐐🐐
Ham is one of the greats who is sweeping the floor clean with a so called upcoming great who isn't able to outmatch
Can you please make a video on f1 car setup. When they say, car setup, what is the actual process and what things they make changes to?
You can feel it even in the sims. The new cars understeer way too much. You can't nose them in the same. It's the wheelbase. Too wide.
Your killing it bro! Love to see the growth of your channel, you deserve it. I pray you can keep this up. God bless 🙏
Thank you my friend ❤️ and for having faith in me. I’ll make sure it will only continue to be better 😁
NGL. I didn't even watch the video, straight away hit the like button, then added it to my Watch Later list. That's how good your videos are 😂
Seriously! Hes a pure race fan! No bs.
@@mapleleafkay9824 exactly, he comes up with his own views rather than what most YTubers do and report what others are saying (2nd hand info)
😁❤️ made my morning my friend
i so agree its my 1st time watching and i was shocked how brilliant this F1UNchained guy is..this is a vid to save for next year too..
this is the way. i mainly add videos to my watch later instead of watching immediately, so i make sure to like the video first so it still gets the early engagement
Dude almost took p2 in the championship last year. He's definitely not washed... he's just struggling with a car that doesn't make consistent downforce and he is someone who benefits from a very strong rear end. I hope he does well next year in the Ferrari since that car seems a lot more consistent with its downforce
New regs has changed the ground force effect on cars. Some drivers are having problems with that. Riccardo and Hamilton are finding it difficult to adjust
Scoring more points than his teammate for the new generation cars is not a struggling style but a tractor of a car
George had MUCH more bad luck in 2023 and didn't finish that far behind, especially considering the context. George beat Lewis in 2022. George, so far, has looked much more consistent overall.
@iiSh4d0wsxD Lmao. In that case, Lewis has also had the same bad luck in 2022 and ended up 20 points behind. Russel was some 60 points back, and would have been 80 if not for the USA dsq, so yeah your excuses really go out the window.
The Lewis hate is strong. He's a 7 time WDC with a drive for next year lined up - you honestly belive he's motivated for 7th place finishes? George however thinks he's the next lewis but Toto wants him as 2nd driver to a guy twice his age or one half his age. George need to impress, he just happens to be terrible under pressure.😂
No hate at all from me
George seems ok with qualifying pressure. Are you not aware that this crash was blamed on Alonso? Or do you not want to admit that George is the better Mercedes driver at the moment?
When a vid is abt the problems LH has with the current car…you call that hate? Stop this bs
What a crybaby
I love watching your videos..❤ Keep it up 👍
Thank you Becka ❤️❤️
@@F1Unchained 👍
keep up the great work on breaking the sport down like you are, very interesting to see how Lewis is having problems and the way you explain it in an easy to understand way. much love and have a wonderful day
Thank you my friend ❤️ always around :)
Another great breakdown!
❤️❤️ thank you my friend
"best driver to ever exist in our beautiful sport" what an intro, the best and truest statement ive ever heard..its my 1st time watching this channel, NEVER BEFORE have i ever heard sme1 breakdown Lewis 100% precise and on point with true facts. Dude ur brilliant ur demo vids ur explanation even ur future view at Ferrari, knowing the balance of that SF24 you know ur stuff so well..... im getting my mates to subscribe to ur channel👌👌👍👍
Thank you my friend ❤️😁
“one of the best”
Great video! And my humble thought for those that say lewis is washed and George is doing so much better... that thought would be valid if George was winning races and fighting for championships (like what is happening at redbull). Think about this... in nearly 50 races, MERCEDES have had 1 pole (Hungary) and 1 win (Brazil) that should tell you that its not lewis thats struggling. Its MERCEDES that's far behind. Lewis finished 3rd in the championship last season ahead of everyone else but red bull. Also some drivers seem to thrive on beating teammates (ocon, russel , tsunoda etc) - what use is it in 5th or 6th. Lewis exists to win races and championships. Thats why he's moving to Ferrari. To a more competitive team. But i could ve wrong 😅
Excellent analysis as always! How did you get so much F1 knowledge, being so young and from the States? Did you ever race? Also -- how do you feel about the RUS / ALO incident? Personally, it seems like a bad call from the Stewards to me (they didn't touch & RUS was napping).. But if he REALLY was driving dangerously, then the penalty would not be strong enough (IMO it was normal defending and RUS was just caught out).
Watching the experts and learning my friend :). Also watching the sport all the time 😁
@@F1Unchained and your view on the ALO penalty?
Guys, the car is simply terrible. It doesn’t matter whether Lewis or Russel beat each other with points. If you don’t have a winning car it doesn’t matter how skilled you are, you can’t win championships. This has been proven in the sport for decades now. If Max, Alonso or even Leclerc were in this car they would suffer as well. Lewis with all his decorations in championships + wins can’t win another championship if his team doesn’t deliver him and George a competitive car. That’s how simple it is.
What is happening to Lewis happen to many drivers who are over their "peak". They start to slow down, are not as sharp anymore and they become a very skilled mid fielder. Age is something that doesnt wait for nobody.... exept for Alonso..
I agree
You don't just stop being able to drive over a couple years. Its all down to the Car not being what it should be and not inspiring confidence in the drivers.
@@MiniOne82 Russel drives the same car and apart from kissing the wall drives better then Hamilton. We need to accept that Hamilton is in his twilight years.
@martijndraijer8414 That Singapore incident was pretty unfortunate, too. He didn't break something, but the front lifted, and he couldn't bail out of the situation. That, and his multiple retirements due to reasons outside of his control last year, really hindered his championship points standings. Assuming he didnt have 3-4 of his races ruined due to things out of his control, he definitely would have beaten ham again.
@@MiniOne82 age, complacency, reaction time, etc. You definitely aren't as sharp 20 years in as you were at the start of your career. His prime has passed.
So Lewis drives and prefers similar cars like Dani Ric? Makes you appreciate Alonso for his adaptability!
Hamilton has adapted to 3 different generations of cars . He came 3rd previous season and took pole and beat his younger teammate . I say he can adapt well. Riccardo is a completely different situation.
Very nice explanation, i really like your analysis, nice video!
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The answer is simple, the car is trash, nothing else
A skill issue is also there, I mean George is beating him
@@trashgamer3318 yes Russell knows how to drive shit boxes,
@@orestis6894 lol
Yea he is and he’ll also win the drivers championship this year what an awesome car they have
@@trashgamer3318 he had a point coz Russell had droven a shit box like 3 years where Hamilton on an average he driven top 3 fastest cars in his entire career. This make sense imo.
He WILL come back!!!!! I believe in Lewis ❤
I do too my friend. True legend of our sport.
Yes, in red
He’s there. Car is the one holding him back
Only in a re-run.
Great video. In recent years I agree he’s been quite a slow starter but pre-2022 that more often than not wasn’t the case. I think the worrying thing for Lewis will be that at 39 years old it’s gonna be very hard to radically adapt his driving style given the old saying that it’s harder to teach an old dog new tricks. This is where big regulation changes can often catch out the older drivers who are less malleable than they once were
Doesn't seem to phase Alonso.
Actually, Max Verstappen is the best at managing tires. He is able to beat Perez who is famous at keeping tires alive throughout his career. Max is not only good at keeping tires alive but he also can drive worn out tires at incredible speed (remember Saudi Arabia 2022?).
Max is incredible on his tires
So it is proved that Alonso is the most adaptable driver not only in f1 but in 4 wheel sport in general and is closely followed up by Carlos.....Alonso never had any off season ....he is on it since day 1 in that Minardi quali session......what an animal.....
Not at all true if you don't have a decent car you can't produce results. It's a 60% car and 40% driver ratio that provides better results. Also was missing for years until he moved to Aston when Aston Martin was almost the second fastest car at the beginning of new regulations
No it doesn't the AM is one of the most stable cars out there if not the most just not very fast. Alonso can't handle oversteer as well as Lewis, the 2007 season showed us that
Alonso is probably the most adaptable
Alonso 2004 season was an off season tbh when you compare it to his 2003 and then 2005 season
Time to cancel the deal Fred.
Yeah. I was just wondering (at the beginning of this year) what would happen if Sainz suddenly started driving fast and reliably and win races. How would Ferrari say goodbye to him and welcome Hamilton - essentially an unknown quantity in a Ferrari! Awkward! Everybody gets slower as they age. To an older person, the speeds just seem higher and higher than before - I'm speaking from experience here. Time is not on Hamilton's side - it is only going to get worse.
The reason why Max is so dominant is probably these cars are very tricky on the rear end and Max really knows how to control that rear end.
Huh, it's almost like the team budget cap has impacted Merc in producing a strong car...Imagine that. Those previous dominate cars from Merc came at a time when Toto was hand delivered a perfect car due to throwing endless money at it. Now that Toto has rules, their car hasn't been competitive.
8 time world champion
😂😂😂😂😂 geez man, grow up
@@Redlingstein Lol just making sure we all have a little fun in here
He doesn't deserve more than 3 titles.
@@quigglyz now this is just a crazy take ok just out of curiosity, which 4 aren't valid
Never have been a Lewis fan. But as a driver he's one of the absolute best. As a Ferrari fan, seeing him in a Ferrari next year I'll be cheering him as a driver as much as I ever have. Even as a Schumi fan I got tired of Ferrari winning all the time 20 years ago. I got tired of Mercedes winning all the time last several years. I'm tired of Max always winning, and especially with such margins. It makes the races predictable and boring. A different champ every couple of years is OK but let's see it mixed up and not totally dominated by one marque for years. It would be extra fun to see him bashing up against Max in a Ferrari a few times in the next few years.
PLEASEpliz if you can could you do one of Lerclerc compared to lewis and how the SF24 compares to the W15 balance in relation to their driving styles. id like to learn if they have a similar style and if he wud be happy in that ferrari car..Thank you u again amazing content.
ham was only fast because he had the advantage of having the fastest car by far. That’s the only reason he has championships
I think Russell crash thanks to the dirty air proves this car is cursed
I saw a comment saying FIA nerfed Mercedes suspension advancements, making the components required more uniform across teams... So the car has lost it's seasons long development of their own Merc suspension (prob some advanced hydraulic FRIC type self-leveling effect) Now (I'm guessing)the car is fundamentally very unstable and "different" from past seasons since they had to use different philosophy completely to the suspension components??? Classic FIA nerf
I can tell this guy is a real f1 fan. Keep it up.
Great video. Lewis is looking forlorn after every interview lately - definitely he will be reinvigorated once we see him wearing SF colours. Nobody really will know until next year how this will work out, but expect him to be competitive if the car is as good as the SF-24.
He will be beaten by Charles… Charles is embedded in the team for years, Charles knows all the characteristics of the car, he can communicate with the team, he is a fast qualifier and will get preferred strategy after qualifying higher than LH….. LH will have a very difficult time at Ferrari….
Another quality video that's fair and educational. Great work! I never doubt Lewis, looking forward to him improving this year and of course in red next year.
Thank you my friend ❤️❤️
Thanks for this. Was wanting a technical analysis on what's going on with Lewis. MUCH APPRECIATED!
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I think, Lewis was performing much better when Bargedoors were used, just a thing I think which affected his performance. After its removal, his performance declined. I might me wrong tho
The music at the beginning is BOPPING
They fit the 2024 for George, simple. In every team, it's either the driver adapts to the car or the team adapts the car for the driver. They're done with Lewis and Lewis is done with them.
I believe they should go back to the no pod design and add the new front wing in with the suspension adjustment .
The team went downhill when they rolled out zero side pod. This put them at least one year behind RB. This year's blunder is abandoning over the top body generated down force in favor of more straight line speed. This has never worked. In fact, RB is usually mid pack in straight line speed. Lewis can't drive a car that will not perform.
Lewis has lost confidence in his team, and in the process has probably even started to doubt himself at times. 22 and 23 he managed to stay somewhat motivated but you can tell this year he has lost all interest.
I think this rear end stability is becoming a core issue like how drivers describe every mclaren since 2019 the knife edge handling might feel un natural to some
Seems like it
To all the fellow Lewis fans that are watching this video. 44 will never give up and will always rise to the top. It's not how you start. Its how you finish! Still I Rise
The Mercedes not being there at the moment isnt a excuse for Lewis current form. He better bring his A-Game next year or Leclerc will eat him alive. 6:10 thats not true , the extreme tire management started with the Pirellis in 2011
Does the same apply to Daniel Riccardo? I.e. it's the ground effect cars that demand a different driving style from all teams That Mercedes simulator being adrift from the real car makes feedback impossible: how do you recreate a problem on the simulator?
They heard Hamilton from last year to this year, they changed the whole car so he can seat further back, changed more things for sure for him. And he is nowhere to be seen. Hamilton said his car was great for FP1 in Australia, why would they change it for FP2? This team is lost. Hamilton does well when his car is overpowered....
I like Lewis, he's done a lot for F1, but I feel he's spending too much time doing other stuff when he should be spending more time in the sims and working with the team. As much as I don't like max, he spends a lot of time doing sims and working on improving himself as a driver. I can't help but admire that part of him.
The same simulation that haven’t been correlating for the last 3 years? I don’t know how much Mercedes are gaining from the sim right now
@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 maybe he should buy a PS5 (other consoles are available), and practice on that then, any time behind the wheel practicing will help keep him sharp.
@@stuartmcmahon8870 lmao not the other consoles are available (it’s giving BBC announcements I don’t know if you’re from the UK) and those don’t have any realistic applications to a formula one car There’s a reason teams spend the amount they do on an actual rig
Lewis was a great driver no doubt but we are seeing the end of his era. In his successful years he was intensely and singularly focused on driving, It may have a little due to ageing but he has lost focus and intensity. The change to Ferrari will be disastrous as both Lewis and Ferrari are banking on past performance. His focus on non-F1 things are indications he's losing his intense competitive edge. We should just remember his best years.
I am just going to pass on the video and just say, his driving stile OBVIOUSLY works, he just doesnt have the car. He convincingly beat Russel and both Ferraris last season.
Style
Lewis and George are both driving 10/10ths in that dog of a car. It is another sub par design for Merc. Meanwhile McLaren have made huge strides in just 9 months.
Great analysis Bro thanks for sharing your thoughts 👊🏾on that note 🗒️ Lewis Was able to make Mercedes look like a real contender in 22 &23 all while driving a Hummer for 3rd place in the Drivers Championship his style hasn’t changed much since the McLaren days but Mercedes has and seeing him tumbling down the grid into the midfield has been a Huge confidence breaker for him and he’s now finally getting a chance to win a Grand Prix with the Ferrari squad he’s far from washed up and still capable of winning with a Car that can attest consistently contend for a win
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If you think ‘24 is bad wait until ‘25 then it will really be dire at Mercedes f1 - doing exactly the same thing and the. expecting a better result is the purest definition of madness
Nah, you explained that so well👏 really hope Lewis goes on strong through out the rest of the season
Thank you my friend love hearing that 😁❤️
The W15 is slow not because its hard in tyres it's because its pathetically slow in high speed corners
Dude, you are nothing to judge the 7 time world champion
I wonder how Ferrari will design next year's car since Leclerc likes a strong front end and Lewis a strong back end, will be interesting to see whose preference they'll prioritize
Lewis needs to push his body beyond its natural limits. It’s time to reach the HyperZone.
A key point for a driver is having confidence in the car, if they can´t trust in the car, they can´t work with them, George is always overdriving the car and because this sometime faster but more prone to accident, but Lewis is trying to understand the car and working in the best possible window, so is going to take some time for him to addapt to the car but eventually I think is going to happen, same as the last couple of years
Lewis has been in F1 a long time, he's seen some serious accidents and a few deaths. I dont think at this stage in his career hes willing to push a car that hes not confident in, and isnt predictable, to the limit. Especially when theres just a point or two at stake. Give him a car that does what its told and you'll see him thread it through the eye of a needle better than anyone
After so many F1 seasons I still think that tires should have less influence on racing dynamics. The Pirelli era with the tire window, the graining, the differently colored but otherwise identical compounds, all of that produced races with a lot of management and less “push to hell”. Tires always have been critical but currently it’s toxically so. At least I would like to collect drivers opinions on that. Of course I’d like also less penalties, more driving skills, less PG12 contents, but that’s another story
Thats why i think lewis cant beat max in the same machinery (redbull)... max prefers a oversteery car. While lewis and perez prefers a understeery car. You can see the level of confidence drop of lewis same for perez.
Really interesting watch, never thought about that deep. Even though I really dont want Carlos to lose his seat but Im also very excited to see Lewis (hopefully perform well) in the Ferrari next year!
I feel the same my friend