14 responses to “#TJ13 #F1 Courtroom Podcast: You can prove anything with facts!!”

1. Great to see that Spanners is still completely hopeless at names 😀

   • We miss you Hippo, when you coming back to give the boy grief? And is it true you will be in Hertfordshire on the 28th March filling the void of one the karts with your good self?

     • Unfortunately Hippo has very small arms like a T-Rex. The complex process required for him to reach the steering wheel in a kart is too much like a sit up.

     • I will be up there, yes. As for driving one of them karts – it depends if the field is full or not. I’d frankly be quite happy to spectate. From what I saw on their website, they don’t look like they can carry me without serious danger of being bent out of shape.

2. Did Craig just say, “lewis was genuinely scared of Jenson’s speed?”…..

   Haha and they call me a fanboy!!!

   • Bless him, he’s from Somerset and some village has lost its idiot! 😜

     • He should be locked in the Tower of London for making such a claim

       • Urm, I never said he was ‘scared’ of Lewis, just that Lewis didn’t accept he was slower at Spa

         • Well had the team not lied to him about the rear wing, then he wouldn’t have, especially by that margin. That still remains his only pole and fully dry race win for McLaren.

3. Excellent work, guys! Sometimes too much swearing for my tastes (esp. the previous week), as it devalues the great work that you do, but this week that was interspersed with excellent arguments… 🙂

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   Re Jerez

   My intuition is a tad different to the seeming consensus:
   First, is there any evidence whatsoever that Merc were running 2015 spec? If Lowe turned up with mostly 2014 spec, of course they would be trundling around racking up lap after lap… Maybe that’s why Lewis said the car seemed like last year’s.

   Second, Ferrari was trading fastest laps with… Sauber, so I am not so sure that Ferrari is looking so much better… At least from what we’ve seen, there is little evidence supporting that, especially given this was the first pre-season test (not unlike Fridays, which are also notoriously unreliable). This kind of reminds me of Williams two-three years back racking up fastest laps in Friday, running extremely low fuel, and then being nowhere on Sat and Sun. As for Seb looking “relaxed”, it might well be, but from his body-language on track, fighting to be first in the first corner, etc., I’d say he was extremely eager, and it was more a sign of ruthless determination. Anxious also springs to mind. But “relaxed” just doesn’t fit in my head… He has a point to prove—that he can win without a blowing Newey design—and he is acutely aware of that.

   And third, it seems to me that behind their sleepy start McLaren Honda are actually looking ominous; to my surprise, I must say. Someone mentioned that their subtle livery managed to sneak, behind the back of Horner’s flashy camouflage, a radical car design. If Honda can dial up their engine to full power at lights out in Melbourne, things may get very interesting indeed, especially with Fred at the wheel.

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   Re Fred vs Jense (vs Hamilton)

   I mostly agree with what was said. (That’s kind of easy because all spectrum of opinions were evoked, so I just can’t get it wrong!)

   I agree with Matt that Fred is the most complete, rounded package out there when it comes to *driving* an F1 car. But when it comes to the “most naturally gifted” type on the grid, I wouldn’t go with Fred though.

   From what I hear, Fred excels at multi-tasking. If you want a driver who can send an SMS while changing his Facebook status while attacking Peraltada, Alonso’s no doubt your man. Alonso is one of the few drivers who keeps plenty of spare brain capacity while driving an F1 car to the limit; many drivers need 100% and can think of little else in between, but not Alonso. And I suspect that this leads to Alonso’s fabled consistency, whereas he can turn in quali lap after lap after lap until the end of the GP. But I wouldn’t put Alonso into the “quickest” bin.

   If I went for the “most naturally gifted” driver on the grid, I’ll go with Hamilton. Hamilton’s knack for picking the perfect braking point and outbraking all else is second to none, and is reminiscent of Senna. And just like Senna he excels at engineering situations whereas the other driver has to choose whether to back off or “cause” a racing incident (cf Hamilton vs Robserg in Hungary 2014). His natural instincts and driving intelligence are hard to match. And when he manages to get a hold of at least some consistency, then the rest of the grid shivers…

   As for Jense, well he excels when the car perfectly suits him. And is cr*p otherwise. As was already mentioned, if the McHonda isn’t balanced, then Fred shall eat him alive. If the car is as good aerodynamically as it seemed to be at first glance in Jerez, even if they weren’t in a position to turn a lap in anger, then we should be grabbing our baskets of popcorn, as Jense can take up the fight to his betters when he needs to. I may be the only one saying this, but it seems to me that Jense is most feisty (and drops his elegant ways of driving an F1 car) when fighting it out with his teammates. I remember numerous switches while in the lead with Hamilton, and then there was the battles with Perez and Magnussen.

   And lastly, if we’re talking about the bestest drivers out there, then I guess we should mention the smiling Aussie. IMO Smiley is knocking fast and hard on the “top-tier” door. He did beat hands down one 4x WDC in his own team, and in a season of utter “Merc über alles” domination, he was the only one who managed a non-Merc win. And he did it 3 times… And he even managed what Rosberg couldn’t in a Merc: win 2 back-to-back GPs. I feel Danny boy is the kid to watch, as he has the potential of spanking both papa Fernando and papa Lewis soon enough…

   Most of his overtakes this year were maddeningly clean, while others were pure madness. I remember one overtake on the grass in T1 in Canada, but can’t seem to find the video. Anyways, enjoy:
   [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SHCU9ZHSpM&w=420&h=315%5D

   • you are right about Button,he is one of those drivers most motivated by petty upmanship .Lets be clear Button was never in the same universe much less in the same league as Lewis.Its only sabotage and subterfuge which the team undertook under Withmarsh to get Button close to Lewis is what has lead to the team demise.And oh yea Angry at Merc for hiring Lewis hastily linked up with Honda….yea I know what you thinking ….but pettiness has lead to worse.
     The most blatant of that being SPA ,where as the podcast have confirmed the team basically lied to him to get Button to beat him.but apart from that obvious treachery there were many instants which were all swept under the carpet by the media happy to see Lewis humiliated.
     This culture of collusion and coziness compromise the team effectiveness and competitiveness,so much so that when Lewis left its as if they had no mission .you had Button giggling to his engineers about making it into Q3.

     That was the trigger for Ron Dennis coming back,seeing his team under Button brazenly celebrating mediocrity.thats why they change Button engineer they were too buddy buddy and nothing was ever Buttons fault

     by the way where is the evidence that Alonso is bettter than Lewis,apart from vague intangible and unquantifiable statements like best most complete

     Here are a few facts,Lewis match Alonso in his rookie yr and since then have won 2 championships with countless poles and podiums.In the mean time Alonso has been the number 1 at Ferrari, the richest most powerful team in F1 and has won nothing as a matter of fact its almost 10yrs since he has won any thing.
     this is just an unfounded mime in the establish media f1 to elevate Alonso above Lewis and joining the famous Ferrari mark just galvanized all the forces in the media against Lewis .so you had the Massa fraction angry at Lewis join in,you had the British tribal media,supporting the more “British driver in Button” so they were eager to elevate Alonso above Lewis.the other european faction couldnt really make a convincing case for Vettel so they join the mass thing and gave it to Alonso.

     Now that Alonso have left the protective cocoon of Ferrari the coalition is starting to break up….prominent figures are starting to criticize him publicly,and the British media will have to take sides when he eminiently and eventually Button would have to give way to the fake Samurai.The Snake Vs Samurai……lol epic

4. As for smiling Danny boy,remember when Prerez was suppose to be the next best thing in F1 for making some passes using fresh rubber tire strategy.

   I know he is the new great …. hope in f1 ,but less see how he perform without the benefit of low expectation and the luxury of gambles.

   lets hope he is not like Button who dives into the pits every time he sees a little rain hoping for a 1in a 1000 chance of glory

   with Ferrari looking a bit stronger he is gonna have to stand and fight mano a mano and based on his starts I dont think he is any where near top tier.

   • It think little Danny is heading towards a reality check this year. While last time round he was praised as the next best thing for beating his team mate (mostly through better reliability and better strategy calls) he’ll be the yard-stick this time round. Beating Kvyat won’t raise a single eyebrow.
     Now that he is the clear leader, he has to deliver the one thing that’s still missing : a win that is attributed to HIM, not the circumstances. He never had a Schumacher-Barcelona’96 race or Hamilton-Austin ’12 or even Vettel-Monza ’08. Time will show if he can do more than just being lucky. That smile of his will only last for so long.

5. I couldn’t refrain from commenting. Very wel written!

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