Hamilton; surely he's not going to blow it again? Is he?

[Maz]

The whole last lap was wet and glock was going every bit as quick as hamilton, I don't know how the wet conditions just caught out glock on the last bend when he was going fine through the tight bends earlier on the last lap.

if glock had finished ahead of hamilton, would hamilton have failed to win the title? i don't know squat about F1 but am curious to know.

 

[marinyork]

Yes. They would have been tied on points and curiously enough before the last race the two drivers were equal on results quite a long way down the pecking order. So any result Massa got would have been better in the result of a tie breaker. It's never gone down to a tie breaker, it has been as mad as this sometimes though. In 1976 James Hunt won the title by carrying on in mad, bad weather conditions, his radio was broken and unable to communicate properly. He only needed 4th place to win and under even worse conditions things went badly wrong. Rather like Hamilton it was left right till the end where he overtook 2 people but such was the confusion, Hunt had no idea he'd won the title till a well wisher gave him their congratulations.

 

[Maz]

Ok cheers, marinYork.
Next question...is it also a team sport (i.e. team's cummulative lowest times/positions)?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

The whole last lap was wet and glock was going every bit as quick as hamilton, I don't know how the wet conditions just caught out glock on the last bend when he was going fine through the tight bends earlier on the last lap.

When it rained at the start, most of the track remained reasonably dry. It was only really the final few corners and the pit straight that were affected.

 

[Keith Oates]

No prizes for guessing who the BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[marinyork]

Yes. There is a constructors championship as well as the driver's championship. This is a big deal as it means not only what position you get in the pits but constructors positions physically relate to cash rewards. Ferrari have won the constructors championship for n years. They manage to do it just, every year. Renault won it during the Alonso years but other than that they've won it every year since 1999.

McLaren that Lewis drives for people forget support the drivers equally as Lewis has had the much better performance. The guys who run the team are fair to both drivers and this has led to big arguments (not just last year between Alonso and Hamilton).

 

[Alan Biles]

Sports Personality of the Year?

No prizes for guessing who the BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think so. There's a lot of anti-Hamilton feeling out there - spoilt brat, aggressive driving, head up his a**e, etc,etc.

It's been an Olympic year so lots of 'heroes' to chose from and I wouldn't be surprised if the gold medal winning paralympic girl swimmer picked it up. (Can't remember her name for the life of me). Elenor Simmonds??

 

[Landslide]

I don't think so. There's a lot of anti-Hamilton feeling out there - spoilt brat, aggressive driving, head up his a**e, etc,etc.

It's been an Olympic year so lots of 'heroes' to chose from and I wouldn't be surprised if the gold medal winning paralympic girl swimmer picked it up. (Can't remember her name for the life of me).

I think that issue may well hamper her chances. Regardless of how much the public likes or dislikes Hamilton, he's still incredibly well-known.
(That aside, my vote would still go to Jamie Staff's thighs - personality? They've got their own gravitational field!!!)

 

[marinyork]

I don't know. I think Lewis may have some very serious competition. Becky Addlington did have her name all over the papers for about a week and double gold is extremely exclusive in this country (same for chris hoy, Wiggins).

 

[Greedo]

I know. She's minging

Someone said she was 40!! She's only 30. Still to old for him though

Or Hamilton sees in some old bird wot sings and dances and stuff. The boy needs to wise up, get out a bit more.

 

[Alan Biles]

Woof!

 

[Mr Pig]

Driving an F1 car more physical than football or rugby? I doubt it somehow.

You've not thought it through. Although football players run around a lot it's mainly only flat out for short bursts, a lot of the time they're jogging and they regularly get a chance to stand still and catch a breath. Then they get a big rest half way through, and if they get really tired they can get taken out of the game altogether.

F1 drivers have to drive flat out, taking all the vibration and G-forces, maintaining total concentration for two hours solid. It may not seem that they do much but if they were not super fit it would be impossible for them to do it. Imagine driving on twisty back roads as fast as physically possible, right on the edge of what your car can do, for two hours. Then add the G-forces and bunch of other people driving flat out next to you. Oh, and you can't move your legs or arms more than a few centimetres, or turn your head, and if you didn't have ear plugs in you'd be deaf within half an hour. And your vision is blurred by constant harsh vibration rattling trough your body. And you're so hot, wrapped up in your fireproof blankets, you need to drink constantly to avoid dehydration.

And how is it not a team sport? Honestly... ;0)

 

[Rhythm Thief]

^I agree with this. I know F1 and truck driving are worlds apart, but everyone thinks my job is dead easy too (and no, I'm not suggesting you have to be superfit to drive a truck). But just try being mentally alert for ten hours at a time and see how tired you are at the end of the day. The concentration levels involved in driving on the limit for two hours must be many times greater.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

That's perhaps not as crazy as it sounds. Sadly with the reg changes next year the chasing pack - renault, BMW, Red Bull and (sometimes)Toro Rosso will probably be upset. That's not an entirely fair comparison as the Lotus for Mansell's first couple of years was poor and unreliable. However Senna's first year at Lotus got better results than Elio even though Elio had the better luck on retirements.

quite. elio di angelis was certainly faster than mansell, but could not hold a candle to senna. it's a shame that he subsequently went to brabham, where it all went so horribly wrong.

 

[MattB]

Im so happy Lewis has won the championship, Massa has never looked like a WDC driver to me. I would've loved Kimi or Kubica to have won it, both are much better drivers in my opinion. The Mclaren just wasnt setup for the track and conditions at Brazil, they had far too little downforce, which really showed. Lewis was continually correcting the car as he was trying to get the power down through the technical part so he did well to do what he did. McLaren did well with the strategy which is what got them past Glock.

Im very excited for next year, and the potential of the drivers on the grid.