Nah, it’s not happening. If Hamilton was ever that far off the pace of Russell (which he won’t be), he would just retire. He has nothing left to prove, there is no way he would ever, formally or informally, play a 2nd driver role. Ever.
F1 2021 Season
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Gonna be very interesting. I still think George has a bit to learn in terms of consistency to challenge someone like Hamilton over a season. I expect he’ll be there on one-lap pace, but he still has errors in his locker which should see Hamilton have the edge, initially.
I think people underestimate how far Hamilton & Verstappen are ahead of the pack. Their unrelenting race pace, ability to keep tyres alive & make minimal mistakes under huge pressure is incredible. Very good drivers (Bottas, Rosberg, Perez, Gasly) just can’t keep up with them. Hope that George is different, but it’ll be a big jump for him.
The new formula could change all of that next year though. The driving styles of Hamilton & Max might not be suited and become a bit of a leveller.
Hamilton as a no2. You may have forgotten hes a 7 x WDC, most GP wins and most PP's. This is going to be a massive test for russell not only on the track but mentally as well.
Being teammates to senna, schmacher, hamilton is one thing, beating them constantly on a regular basis is something else.
Right call by totto, russell deserves his chance he is the future of the team.
Exactly. Agree with all of that.
unbelievable that Lewis is being even mentioned as a No2.
Lewis will be a force to recon with for a few more years yet, he will want to add number 8 to his titles.
His 8th title will be maybe his hardest, there is plenty of young blood after him.
I still see the title race being Max and Lewis for at least 2 more seasons.
Russell is a better driver than Bottas and Mercedes will be a better team next season.
Lewis will be a force to recon with for a few more years yet, he will want to add number 8 to his titles.
His 8th title will be maybe his hardest, there is plenty of young blood after him.
I still see the title race being Max and Lewis for at least 2 more seasons.
Russell is a better driver than Bottas and Mercedes will be a better team next season.
That's not what happened at all, I said "Wonder how the internal relation between Russell and Hamilton will be if / once Russell starts to get better results than Lewis", I never said it would even happen at all. It would just be interesting to see, and it's not impossible either. Russell is an excellent driver imo.
I wouldn't be shocked if Russell has a very clear clause in his contract that he's number 2 driver. Delighted to see him get his chance at Mercedes
Don't they always say their drivers are allowed to race, it will be interesting if Russell gets good results if they still allow it.
If I was McLaren, I'd perhaps have looked at Bottas over Ricciardo, as until this season he's usually been fairly consistent at picking up points and podiums. In my opinion, Ricciardo has been inconsistent at McLaren. I know he's another with a team mate well above his level, but he's either had decent results or shocking ones.
Don't they always say their drivers are allowed to race, it will be interesting if Russell gets good results if they still allow it.
If I was McLaren, I'd perhaps have looked at Bottas over Ricciardo, as until this season he's usually been fairly consistent at picking up points and podiums. In my opinion, Ricciardo has been inconsistent at McLaren. I know he's another with a team mate well above his level, but he's either had decent results or shocking ones.
Let's wait for him to start getting points regularly before we start dreaming of him out-performing a 7 times WDC over a season.
It's one thing to drive without any pressure because the Williams expectation is just to beat out the Haas / Alfa. It's another thing when your expected target should be a podium each race. Loads of drivers fail to make that step up.
Well he was on his way to victory in Bahrain in what was his first race for Mercedes last year on a two-day notice, so at least the very limited sample size has been encouraging. But yeah agreed that it's a whole other thing to do it consistently, I just think he has it in him.
You seem to forget that the car is built around Hamiltons driving style. As is the RB around Max and Mclaren around Lando.
So unless Russell either has the same driving style (he doesn't), he will need to adapt his driving style. That could take 1 race or 6 or all season. Just see how much difficulty Danny Ric and Perez have had adjusting to the car in their new respective teams.
See above, he certainly didn't need much time last season.
Once again, I'm not saying it's likely or anything, just that I think it's possible. No worries if you rate Russell lower / Hamilton higher.
Danny Ric is the better driver of the two and better at overtaking. Hes struggling at McLaren, mainly due to the car being designed around how Lando drives. One of Riccardos key strengths was his braking and thats partly with what hes struggling with at McLaren. He cant carry enough speed under braking into a corner.
Now its often been said the very elite drivers can adjust their driving style to the car and be competitive. Remains to be seen if Riccardo can do that. Next years Mclaren is still built around lando so Riccardo is going to have to adapt or eventually lose his seat.
Back to bottas, i dont think hes ever been good enough to be a proper contender for a WDC. There are better drivers than him on the grid. He could match or beat lewis over a single lap in qually, but didnt have the race pace to do it lap after lap. Which is why lewis and maz run off into the distance normally as they can.
Also he didnt seem like he was willing to go to the extremes that nico rosberg did to try to beat lewis to a WDC. That season nico luckily beat lewis to the WDC (lewis would have been champion not withstanding the engine failure at malaysia), it mentally took so much effort and discipline that he retired from the sport. All the "marginal gains" stuff he went through, sacrifices in his personal life (not sleeping in the same bed as his wife for that year), its just mental. All to beat lewis and even then it was down to a mechnical failure. Bottas despite version 1.0 or 3.0 never went anywhere near those lengths.
Will be interesting to see how far Russell has to go to beat lewis to a title and whether he will get beaten down by trying to beat lewis.
I think Russell is very very special and will surprise a few people next season.
So do I. But not only has he got to get used to the new 2022 car, as does Hamilton, he has to get used to a new team and the way they operate. And then he has to develop that relentless desire to improve and to win as does Hamilton.
All things being equal, next season we will have 3 potential GP winners. But probably only 1 WC.
For russell to "suprise" anyone as one of the previous posters mentioned he would have to win the WDC next season. Winning GP'S, getting PP's would not be a suprise as that is the expectation at Mercedes.
As you said we have no idea what next years Mercedes will be like or even if its among the best of the grid.
Russell's driving style is like that of button, prost and jackie steward. Very clean and smooth. However that requires a balanced car. Theres no guarantee that next years Mercedes will be balanced to get the best out of Russells driving so he may have to do a perez/riccardo and learn to adjust his style.
For argument sake, if he was going to RB to partner Max, he would struggle like gasly, albon and perez have done. Unless he can adapt his style. Max likes the RB to be run in a certain way with a pointy front end and a snappy oversteering rear. Its why his other teammates have struggled so much.
People say well he drove a Mercedes brilliantly once before. However that was the greatest f1 car Mercedes have ever produced. In comparison this years car is all about trying to unlock the setup that will get the tires in the right window asap so Mercedes can try to challenge RB. Its been difficult for them and it shows in the races themselves as bottas is nowhere while lewis has adapted to the car.
What im saying is we should place too much expectations on russell in his first season. Totto and Mercedes wont either.
I wonder if Russell has had any sway with that? They're good friends aren't they?
He seemed out of his depth at RB, but it'll be interesting to see how he fares at Williams.
Next season is shaping up really nicely.
He tagged Red Bull in his own post too. So I wonder if he was able to take the seat without cutting ties to Red Bull after all.
I guess Alfa Romeo 2nd seat is the only one open then? (subject to confirmation from Haas & Aston Martin)
I wouldn't be too surprised if Giovinazzi continues, but if Ferrari still holds sway over that seat they could think about placing Schumacher at Alfa Romeo and Ilott at Haas.
There's also De Vries as a non-ferrari alternative (or Hulkenberg).
I like Albon, he was not ready for the Red Bull driver, maybe too much was expected of him.
Williams will be good for him, I agree that Russell would've had a hand in this.
Williams will be good for him, I agree that Russell would've had a hand in this.
I've never agreed with the downgrading of Rosberg's win with Hamilton having bad luck.
Every tight championship win since the beginning of Formula 1 has been won/lost on some sort of engine failure/accident/lucky break.
People forget how many bad starts Hamilton had in the early part of the season as well. If he was off the line better in one or two of those he would have won the title.
Every one of Hamilton's championships has been deserved and same with Rosberg's in '16
Slightly off topic but can anyone recommend a nice f1 wheel set for the ps5?
That's a fair point, but Russell absolutely bossed that Mercedes run-out in Bahrain. I'm sure he'll swing a lot more than Hamilton, but if he's able to continue his performance in qualifying at Mercedes, he's going to frustrate Hamilton, and Hamilton makes more mistake when he's frustrated, as seen v Rosberg in 2016, and some of the races v Verstappen earlier this year. Like that crash at Silverstone is uncharacteristic for Hamilton, but he was desperate to make the pass in the first lap.
I think for Gasly & Perez as you mentioned the issue has been more that the Red Bull car suits Verstappen a lot, and is difficult to handle for other drivers, which is less of an issue with the Mercedes, but absolutely. You've seen it every time Ricciardo swaps teams too, that he takes a while to get going, now with McLaren, and first year with Renault. They're all excellent drivers, but a step back from Max & Lewis. I think Norris is the one closest to them at the moment. Russell definitely has the potential though.
And the new formula! Super-hyped for next season already!
I agree about the DNF , but I never thought he was lucky.
21 race and Lewis won 10 Nico 9, Lewis had 2 DNFs Nico just 1, the rest of the races point were pretty evenly spread.
Somebody on Facebook today , said Nico went against team orders and won the WC, I dont agree, the way the season panned out, says to me the opposite, that there was no team orders and the were allowed to race.
It's definitely a matter of opinion, mine is that 16 was a robbery by Rosberg. It wasn't a 'tight' championship by itself, it only became so because Hamilton's car had so many technical issues in comparison to Rosberg. On top of that, those slow starts you mention also involve Hamilton being hit and taking damage.
It's more than just one more DNF. Hamilton had loads of issues that didn't stop him from finishing, but cost him loads of points; being hit multiple times, multiple engine failures, software issues, and penalties due to the aforementioned issues. Despite that, he ended up with the most pole positions, and most wins.
Frankly 2016 was a perfect storm for Rosberg, with Hamilton having horrendous luck and suffering from far worse reliability despite being in the same car.
both drivers had problems . both had penalties, that one extra DNF was all that really split them.
That's just disingenuous, it's far more than that one extra DNF (even though that DNF would have seen Hamilton win the title comfortably). Hamilton lost points due to being hit in Bahrain, the collision in Spain, and lost points due to technical issues in China, Russia, Belgium, and Singapore, on top of Malaysia. It was very one sided.
In the races they were actually able to compete, without issues, Hamilton came out on top 11 times to Rosberg's 6. That combined with more wins, more poles, faster qualifying pace overall. Given a level playing field, Hamilton would have won the title easily.
That was my point, I dont disagree with anything else.
That's confusing, as "that one extra DNF was all that really split them" is diametrically opposed to everything in my post, which is that any one of the numerous problems Hamilton had (that Rosberg didn't) would have changed the title winner.
Maybe I misunderstood what you meant? Anyway, I'm happy to leave it there as it's history now.
I’m really happy for Albon. I don’t think he was ready for RB, but I hope he does well at Williams.
Looks like Kimi still out with the covid. Only 8 races left in his F1 career then.
I'd quite like to see Mick Schumacher moved to the Alpha seat, is he a Ferrari driver and do they have any sway over who gets a drive there?
I know Bottas isn't one of the strongest drivers, but he has experience and will surely be good for Mick to work alongside, especially if the aim is to get him into a Ferrari seat in future.
I think to be World Champion, alongside many other things, you've got to have a slightly ruthless edge, both Hamilton and Max have it and the likes of Schumacher did, the likes of Bottas lack that. I know Max isn't world champion yet but surely at some point in his career will be.
I think Russell is a bit special, yet interestingly both he and Norris come across as likeable, without the slightly arrogant aura of the likes of Max and Lewis.
I know Bottas isn't one of the strongest drivers, but he has experience and will surely be good for Mick to work alongside, especially if the aim is to get him into a Ferrari seat in future.
I think to be World Champion, alongside many other things, you've got to have a slightly ruthless edge, both Hamilton and Max have it and the likes of Schumacher did, the likes of Bottas lack that. I know Max isn't world champion yet but surely at some point in his career will be.
I think Russell is a bit special, yet interestingly both he and Norris come across as likeable, without the slightly arrogant aura of the likes of Max and Lewis.
That throwback photo of Hamilton... whoever worked on his hair performed a miracle.
What's this rumour about Vettel retiring? Any legs?
That would explain why Nicky de Vries didn’t get the Williams seat..
Legend.Van Gaal on F1:
None, multi-year deal and will wait until the regulation change to kick in before considering his exit plan.
De Vries at Alfa is at advanced stages, but a bit of a outsider that could change that is Guanyu Zhou. His sponsors are rumoured to have put 30m euros down for a drive there.
I tend to agree. But Alonso fans said the same when Lewis joined Mclaren. So anything is possible, although Hamilton would not accept being number 2 just as Alonso didn't.
I also wonder what impact long covid could be having on Hamilton after him nearly collapsing on the podium!