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Hamilton: Dominance 'not how F1 should be'

Published on 13 May 2019 11:08
9
By: Fergal Walsh

Lewis Hamilton admits that Mercedes' dominance is not how Formula 1 should be, after the team took a fifth consecutive one-two finish of the season on Sunday.

After locking out the front row in qualifying on Saturday in Barcelona, Mercedes was unchallenged on route to victory, with Hamilton leading teammate Valtteri Bottas across the line.

The season is shaping up to be a straight battle between Hamilton and Bottas for the championship, but Hamilton says it is still too early to judge.

"The biggest threat is always the person that's closest to you," Hamilton said. "And that person is Valtteri. But it still feels too early."

Hamilton admits that he would love to see rivals Ferrari and Red Bull get closer to the front and provide Mercedes with a challenge for race wins.

"It's not as much fun, for sure as when you're competing against another team," Hamilton said. "That's what Formula 1 is about.

"That's the exciting part, when you arrive and you're competing against one or two other teams who are also bringing their A-game.

"Naturally in those teams, that's another two drivers. That puts another spanner in the works and often when the cars are close, there's strengths and weaknesses of either team, and how you play those and benefit from those, it's awesome.

"But when that's not there it's definitely not as exciting from a competition point of view. Racing within a team, it's not really how Formula 1 should be in my opinion. But it is how it is right now and it has been those ways in the past as well."

Bottas 'deserves' position at Mercedes

Barcelona saw Bottas take his third consecutive pole position, but lost out off the line to Hamilton.

Hamilton praised the Finn, who has seemingly stepped up in pace from last year.

"He's pulling out great laps throughout the weekend and he's performing better than ever," Hamilton said.

"I think it's great for the team, he truly deserves his position in the team and I think it's really great to see him step up to another level this year."

ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475

You are not wrong, but I just think it's utterly unenforceable. Which ultimately makes it a non viable solution. You could enforce it with privateers. But not with a Renault, Ferrari, and Mercedes for example, who are part of gigantic conglomerates.

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May 13 2019 - 21:31

F1 News Valtteri Bottas Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

Replies (9)

f1ski

Posts: 726
this is what happens when one team was allowed to help write engine rules and development is frozen for 3 years. you can spend money on chassis development to understand how to make the cars work. Personally to have a tire that has a narrow working window is crap. let there be 2 tire manufacturers
- + 0
- May 13 2019 - 11:15
- edmond.horsten
  
  Posts: 12
  I agree. We need a 2005 style rule change that can hopefully upset the pecking order. The lackluster start to this season is not very good for formula one as I personally am now relying on formula e and other series to bring good racing and a close championship fight between teams.
  + 0
  
  May 13 2019 - 14:24
- mcbhargav
  
  Posts: 1,332
  If F1 has any intention of making it right. They should simplify the engine, and make the aero much more standard. Let the drivers be the variables. This will bring back the age old 'racing' back into the sport.
  + 0
  
  May 13 2019 - 18:43
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Cut the budget. The correlation between money and success in F1 is at this rate immaculate. It's either that or it's BoP, and I know which I prefer. Even though BoP could be something as simple as preventing the lead teams to introduce or use upgrades.
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- May 13 2019 - 18:56
- Pistonhead
  
  Posts: 556
  I think we have short memories guys. Brawn, Williams, Lotus - these teams didn't have the huge budget delta's of the power courses today and yet they still found a way to win. This is the essence of motorsport for me - all it takes is a brilliant design/driver and some luck - this phase of dominance is nothing new and we should not dumb down the sport to make it a level playing field - that would be IndyCar !!!!
  + 0
  
  May 13 2019 - 20:11
- ajpennypacker
  
  Posts: 2,475
  You are not wrong, but I just think it's utterly unenforceable. Which ultimately makes it a non viable solution. You could enforce it with privateers. But not with a Renault, Ferrari, and Mercedes for example, who are part of gigantic conglomerates.
  + 1
  
  May 13 2019 - 21:31
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  That was during a different era though, and Brawn kinda doesn't count since they had a base car designed by Honda, a well-funded company. And Williams and Lotus raced during a completely different era, where funds didn't necessarily mean as much as it does today, and even then the fund faps were nowhere near as huge.
  
  As for them being enforceable: I absolutely think they can be. They are in many other sports, I fail to see why this should be different for F1. On the PU side of things sure, but it's on team basis we need to see a change, and that's where a budget cap would come in handy.
  + 0
  
  May 15 2019 - 07:50
Biggs7

Posts: 38
He may say this the fans but deep down insight he like the position he finds himself.
- + 1
- May 13 2019 - 21:36
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  Have to agree with you there. He has to say something but he's not really complaining too hard. Mercedes has clearly worked harder than the other teams and is it getting it right on race weekends and in the factory.
  + 0
  
  May 15 2019 - 22:49