The official Formula One and General Motorsport Thread for the 2020 season!

[Neo Cortex]

I see some right wingers on twitter are saying he shouldn't get his knighthood because he lives in Monaco. Sorry, but if you give out knighthoods for services to sports, Lewis has done more than any other British Sportsman in history. He is easily our greatest sportsman of all time, a knighthood would be well deserved, and overdue.

Often, the argument against his knighthood is about him not paying UK taxes - but he's actually one of the top 5000 British tax payers due to a large chunk of his income coming through the Mercedes HQ in Surrey.

That tends to kill any discussion dead when it comes to that avenue of criticism.

Or just bring up Jenson Button's taxes as that usually stops people moaning fairly quickly.

[Vermilion]

Received these today...

[darksideby182]

Wow Vermilion you have a lot of subscribers amazing.

[Vermilion]

Wow Vermilion you have a lot of subscribers amazing.

Thankies, i did my first currency giveaway this week too as a means of giving something back to the subs.

[Robbo-92]

Am I getting it wrong but it wasn’t that long ago (maybe a couple of years) that you got 1000 subs is it Vermilion? 15.3 k subs is great!

[Vermilion]

Am I getting it wrong but it wasn’t that long ago (maybe a couple of years) that you got 1000 subs is it Vermilion? 15.3 k subs is great!

Yeah, to be honest, i'm not exactly sure as to when that was, but progress since has been pretty steady which is nice.

There doesn't seem to have been any specific thing i've done to make it happen either, other than maintaining a regular schedule of 1 upload per day as and when i can.

[floydfreak]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/motorspo ... 1605715188

he has a point.

"A lot of the sports I watch - the people that have done it, you have to look whether it’s a level playing field.

"If you have a car that is going a second a lap quicker than the other cars, in theory all he has to beat is his team-mate [Valtteri] Bottas – who seems to be comfortable and happy playing second fiddle.

"I wouldn’t have felt as good about my career in snooker if I had been playing on a table where the pockets I was using were bigger than my opponent’s."

O'Sullivan went on to name seven great sports stars which he claimed dominated on a level playing field, unlike Hamilton

The six-time world snooker champ said: "It doesn’t mean as much as say a sport like tennis with Federer playing everyone on a level playing field, or Kipchoge running against everyone on a level playing field.

"Snooker is like that, too, with a level playing field. In boxing certain boxers avoid certain fighters so that makes it hard for them to have credibility unless they fought the best.

"That’s why you have to give credit to people like Tyson Fury because you know they won’t duck anyone and will fight anyone anywhere at any time.

"I just think sport is where there is no advantage.

"You don’t get to choose your opponent or have better equipment. So for me, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Phil Taylor in darts, Tiger Woods, Messi, Ronaldo… it’s there to see."

Thats why i would like too see Lewis in something outside of Formula 1 him giving Indycar or Sportscars WEC,IMSA or a GT3 Championship a try Alonso did and proved himself against other really good talented drivers around the world and with just as much credibility as him when he did Le Mans, Daytona 24 hours, Indy 500

[Vermilion]

It would be awesome to see Lewis have a crack at Indy i must admit.

But i do kinda see what the guy is saying, Lewis has had the best equipment for the vast majority of his career, something which even Schumi didn't always have (he only had the best car from 2001-04).

[Captain Kinopio]

And Lewis beat Alonso in his first season in F1

I’m not clicking on a Sun article so am not going to counter the finer points, but anyone who suggests Lewis hasn’t proved himself or what he does is somehow lessened because he has the best car are laughably misinformed or just don’t understand F1. I’m not sure why these arguments are coming up now or why you would even want to diminish his achievements but he’s the most dominant Brit that we’ve ever had in a competitive sport and he should be celebrated because of it.

[Pancake]

I'm not sure I can take Ronnie O'Sullivan's opinion too seriously.

Great snooker player but he is off his head.

[Imrahil]

Yeah, Ronnie doesn't really have a point. Surprised any motorsport fan would think otherwise.

If you write off Hamilton, you'd have to write off Schumacher too (both of them didn't have the outright best car for 2 of their titles). Even Fangio always made sure he was in the best car.

He beat Alonso in his rookie season and I don't think anyone seriously doubts Lewis would be a success in other racing formats. I'm not even sure there would be any point - he doesn't need to prove anything.

[Cuttooth]

People argue all the time that Messi hasn't played his career on a level playing field due to the league he plays in and team he plays for. O'Sullivan is being a prick.

[Vermilion]

I will just add that while Lewis has had the best equipment for much of the time, it hasn't been the case for all of it, and hauling that dog of a 2009 car to two wins was really quite something.

[Victor Mildew]

I will just add that while Lewis has had the best equipment for much of the time, it hasn't been the case for all of it, and hauling that dog of a 2009 car to two wins was really quite something.

Exactly.

What's he got to do to prove himself? Has he really got to die or injur himself before people will start giving him credit? If it's only the car, why is it him that is champion every year and not his team mate? Why isn't his team mate always second.

He's the best driver of all time in my opinion.

[Robbo-92]

The 2009 McLaren was such an odd one, first half it was woeful but then when they hit Hungary and the updates started to come in he won a couple of races so while it started off a dog, it certainly didn’t end one! It’s amazing to think he’s the only driver who’s won a race in each of his season in the sport, thats one record I never see being broken, especially with a lot of the top teams having junior teams to slot their future drivers into at the start of their career.

I’m not sure why people don’t rate him as one of the greatest drivers of all time, Vettel has come out after his 7th WDC and said that he’s the best of their era too, when you have the likes of Alonso and Vettel saying Hamilton is up there with the greatest I don’t know what else he can do.

[Captain Kinopio]

Some of Hamiltons drives to beat Vettel during the RB era of dominance were incredible too. Hungry around 2011/12 is one that springs to mind.

[Pancake]

I’m not sure why people don’t rate him as one of the greatest drivers of all time, Vettel has come out after his 7th WDC and said that he’s the best of their era too, when you have the likes of Alonso and Vettel saying Hamilton is up there with the greatest I don’t know what else he can do.

It's sad but people find it very hard to look past their own prejudices and opinions. There are so many people who just don't like Hamilton and will never accept how good he is, whether it's because he has the audacity to write poems and music, or because his dress sense is a bit out there, or because he is a vegan, or because he is black, etc. These people are morons but unfortunately there are lots of them.

Amongst true F1 fans who can see past the simplistic 'his car is better' narrative, and amongst anyone whose opinion is actually worth something (drivers, team bosses, journalists, etc.), there is complete agreement that he is a special talent. I doubt Hamilton cares what Ronnie thinks, I imagine he is much more interested in what Vettel and Alonso and Button have to say.

[Robbo-92]

I’m not sure why people don’t rate him as one of the greatest drivers of all time, Vettel has come out after his 7th WDC and said that he’s the best of their era too, when you have the likes of Alonso and Vettel saying Hamilton is up there with the greatest I don’t know what else he can do.

It's sad but people find it very hard to look past their own prejudices and opinions. There are so many people who just don't like Hamilton and will never accept how good he is, whether it's because he has the audacity to write poems and music, or because his dress sense is a bit out there, or because he is a vegan, or because he is black, etc. These people are morons but unfortunately there are lots of them.

Amongst true F1 fans who can see past the simplistic 'his car is better' narrative, and amongst anyone whose opinion is actually worth something (drivers, team bosses, journalists, etc.), there is complete agreement that he is a special talent. I doubt Hamilton cares what Ronnie thinks, I imagine he is much more interested in what Vettel and Alonso and Button have to say.

I’ve always thought part of F1 was trying to get yourself in the strongest position too, like with Vettel between 2010 and 2013, Red Bull were the team to beat, he was in a car that suited him perfectly for the most part and he took full advantage of it, much like Hamilton did when he signed with Mercedes back in 2013, he was aligning himself with what he thought was his best chance at further WDC and it paid off!

Some of Hamiltons drives to beat Vettel during the RB era of dominance were incredible too. Hungry around 2011/12 is one that springs to mind.

Couple that stick out to me are USA 2012 and then Hungary 2013, his first win for Mercedes (might be the one you were thinking of? They had more or less a race between themselves throughout and it was at Hungary) was really good too.

[floydfreak]

twitter.com/1990sF1/status/1329441155449319428

[Roonmastor]

Like there aren't people coming up with technologies and equipment to give other athletes a competitive advantage. Nike's trainers and olympian oxygen tents spring to mind.