Hakkinen: Vettel making too many mistakes
Former world champion Mika Hakkinen thinks Mercedes could be heading for the 2018 title, even though Ferrari currently has the faster car.
The 1998 and 1999 title winner is referring to the fact that while Sebastian Vettel's red car is quicker, Lewis Hamilton is 30 points out in front.
"No one can say that Lewis is there because the Mercedes has a major advantage," Hakkinen told his Unibet column.
The Finn says Mercedes is simply doing a better job than Ferrari, and not just because of Hamilton's talent.
"He shows great race craft and does not make mistakes of the kind that Sebastian Vettel has made, especially at race starts," said Hakkinen. "But he also benefits from having a fantastic team partnership with Valtteri Bottas."
For example, Hakkinen said that while Bottas played a supporting role at Monza, Vettel was having to actually fight against his teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
"From the moment the lights went out at the start, it was clear that Ferrari had two drivers racing each other whereas at Mercedes they worked together," he said.
"It was a mistake of leadership and strategy on Ferrari's part not to sit down with Kimi and Sebastian on Saturday night and plan how to run the race."
The first lap action meant Hamilton and Vettel collided, with the German spinning. And Hakkinen said Ferrari can't afford any more of that in the remaining seven races.
"To beat Lewis, Ferrari now needs to do a perfect job every weekend and hope that Mercedes has some problems," he said.
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Ferrari's problem has been spotted, every race, at the pit-wall and it is called Maurizio Arrivabene!
Nope
Nope, Nope? Nope! (Nope X Nope = Yupp!)
Anyone but Hamilton. He is the "Jeff Gordon" of F1, whining all the time. I would support a Yugo before I would support Hamilton and his Nazi rockets!
What an inept and thoughtless response. Sometimes when we become so filled with hatred for someone or something the best thing to do is to say nothing. It sounds like you are letting your deep seated feelings come out and show the world more about you than the topic you are responding to.
https://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-videos/2018-bernie-ecclestone-interview-by-rosberg/
Actually, I don't think Seb is "making" too many mistakes. The Monza incident was a racing incident and the tag could have just as likely resulted in a spin for Lewis. The tussle with Kimi for the lead at the start and ending up partially in the "dirty air" evidently resulted in a reduction of downforce for Seb on the approach to the turn. That lead to a bit of understeer and ultimately contact with Lewis who was at the time attempting an opportunistic pass round the outide, having benifitted from a double tow.
Seb's Paul Ricard slip-up was largely due to being one of the first and fastest cars to hit possibly the wettest patch on the track. Blaming the driver in such a case is a bit harsh.
Remember, Seb drove impeccably in Spa and had a superb recovery drive in Monza finishing less than 20 seconds behind race winner Lewis. That was despite ending up towards the back of the field after his spin.
I can't fathom why anyone would hate a driver simply for exhibiting common harmless human traits. They are all racing to either win or at the very least beat their team mate or improve upon starting position. When things don't go their way, they may moan. What a surprise! You don't have to like or support or like a driver. Hating someone who has done nothing to you, nor anyone close to you though, is extreme and demonstrably irrational.
I think that some of the things that you mention are in fact racing incidents and could frankly happen to anyone of the F1 grid from time to time because after all they are racing each other wheel to wheel and doing so at speeds which many of us could not even imagine. And in those respects I have some sympathy with Seb.
However, if you look back at the last two season when Ferrari and Mercedes have been very finely matched you'd have to concede that Hamilton has performed better, made fewer mistakes and generally has behaved in a respectful way to his fellow drivers.
Seb is a bright, hardworking driver that is gifted and when everything is in the zone is a truly world class driver. However, he is more prone to the MaxV "Rush of Blood" syndrome. What compounds those issues is that almost always he try's to put the blame elsewhere but rarely at his own door. Making errors is a part of F1 because they are racing on the edge but what I believe has added to the pressure that he's now clearly showing is that for eighteen months Ferrari have had a car that is capable of winning the Championship and Ferrari know that that would likely have happened if Hamilton was driving their car. What's compounded that pressure is that Ferrari's car now has a clear advantage and still Hamilton is leading the championship. This is I believe why Vettel is over-driving at the moment and making more errors than his rival.
Ferrari must be thinking that this year is their best chance and that Mercedes might figure out what has given them a performance advantage and rectify it, so now is when they need to strike.
Sad to read all the nasty comments, F1 is a gladiator sport ALL drivers deserve respect without prejudice, from all of us.