First British back-to-back world Formula 1 champo.

That's something positive innit?

Quite surprising that stat like you'd have thought someone would have done that in the past.

Formula One has got to be the dullest thing going though?

Isn't he a Swiss resident now....?.
The whole circus might have more meaning if every driver drove exactly the same car, but still boring.

Have to agree. He's hardly a sporting great. His achievements in the last 2 years are his car was a second faster per lap than 80% of the field and half a second faster than everyone else bar rosberg.

Being brutally honest all he's really won is a head to head with rosberg.

When red bull had best car when vettel was there how often did Lewis win then?

The full sport is a shambles and completely unfair to 90% of the field

I'm with Chip on this one...... how we can put a tax avoiding self obsessed 'Action Man' lookalike on a pedestal, who drags along celebrity friends to give more credence to a 'sport' in which aerodynamic 'tubes' with wheels guzzle huge amounts of fuel..... while leading from start to finish...... then waste huge amounts of top quality gallon bottled champagne is passed as 'watchable' is beyond me!
I saw his post match celebration on the news where he arrogantly ran towards a group of 'pea-brained' spectators and flung himself into them in adulation, pity they didn't just move out of the way.

They where actually his mechanics and technicians who helped him win. Granted the best car always wins but everyone knows the two best drivers in F1 are him and Alonso. I agree he has more money than sense and should give something back but every sportsman does the same, even IOR did it with Pools of the Virgin Islands!

The thing with the true greats; Senna, Schumacher, Clark, Fangio et al was that they could win in cars which were not the best. They weren't magicians, the cars had to be competitive but not head and shoulders above the rest. This is why Hamilton and especially Vettel are not in the same league as those mentioned above. They may be in years to come who knows? but not yet.

He may well have the best car but he's worked his way to top from karting.

Also comparing him to greats from yesteryear is as pointless as comparing Messi or Ronaldo to Maradonna or Pele. Their respective sports have undergone so many rule changes over the years as well as technological advances such as better pitches/engines that it's barely the same sport.

Ah, the thrills of modern day F1 - the pit stops, the tyre strategies, the safety car coming on...

Hard to credit that this something this predictable has enough of a following that even the practice sessions are shown live on 2 channels in the UK.

Bernie Eccleston must be a fookin genius to generate so much money and hype over such a thin product.

They all work their way up. You can't go from bus driver to F1 overnight. You'd be too fat for a start. What you can do is look at them in comparison to their competition of the day.

Schumacher for example won the championship in a Benneton which was a considerably lesser car than the Williams
Senna, drive at Donington in a shite car was incredible and left Prost for dead when Prost was in a car head and shoulders above.
Clark won in everything that had wheels.

Oh shit there was me getting knitted out for next years title shot


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Present company aside of course. Come to think of it, given the way that Schumi used to carve people up maybe bus driving is good training.

I think thats a bit harsh on Vettel, im not totally sure but isnt he vastly outperforming his team mate and ahead of Rosberg in an inferior car?

Vettel would win the Championship if he was with Hamilton at Mercedes imo. He may be slightly boring to watch but a much better driver imo.

I'm with Mr Tree on this. Vettell has done wonders in a lesser car this season. He left the(at the time Invincible) Red Bull for a "lesser" team, he maybe knew what was coming! Ferrari resurgance. TBF the constant rule changes re engines development haven't helped Maclaren/Honda. It's not a fair playing field. Who votes, err.... the top teams! Hats off to Button and Alonso despite the appauling engine they are just racing for fun (yes and a lot of money), but shows their love of the sport.

Has he bollocks!

Vettel was in the Red Bull when it was the best car by far alongside Mark Webber, a likeable but ultimately journeyman driver. The only season that it wasn't the best he was teamed with Ricciardo who outperformed him by miles in the same car.

Now at Ferrari he's teamed with Raikonnen who was a great driver but is well past his best. Now that the Ferrari is coming good he's getting closer to the front. Even Alonso, who is a great driver, said of Vettel; put him in a normal car and you'll see how 'great' he is.

He is a slightly above average driver but he's no legend.

I'll agree Mr I that Vettell is no legend, but he is a very good driver. Put him in the same car as Rosberg and I know who I would back.
As when at Red bull I agree with the Webber analysis but remember Vettell was leaving so Ricciardo was the future, so set up etc suited Webber more than Vettell. Add that to engine tesitng constraints etc.etc.

At Ferrari it appears that Raikonen is just there for his last big pay cheque, and turns it on every now and again when he fancies. Vettell has proved IMHO this season in an inferior car to Rosberg he can win races and sore more points. Makes him a good driver in an unlevel playing field IMHO.

LH is the most aggressive rider in F1 and Alonso the most consistent not sure how Vettel stacks up as he either been in a vastly better car or one improving guess we will see next year. I love how Red Bull are spitting their dummies out about engines though.

Agree he's put in a lot of work John but never was the phrase 'you can make stats prove anything' more appropriate.

A selection of his conclusions:

Hakkinen (**) behind Barrichello and Schumacher lite.
Nigel Mansell (*) 46th!
All of the above are behind Montoya.
All of the above are being Eddie Cheever who never even won a race.

Damon Hill (*) ahead of Graham Hill.(**)
And all of the above are behind Fissichella.
Who are all behind Jarno Trulli who won a single flukey race at Monaco.
Worse still all of the above are behind Massa
And even Massa is behind Nich Neidfield.

It gets sillier.....

Senna is 19th and behind Nico Rosberg, the bloke currently bottling it as Hamilton's teammate.

Just before I hit the screen with a brick I noticed that Senna and everyone else I've mentioned is behind HH Frentzen.

Oh incidentally.. Nico Rosberg is 7th all time best.

The guy is on crack.

As there's a few proper petrol heads on this thread I decided that rather than just being sarky about F1 I would watch the Mexico GP all the way from start to finish to see what I was missing.

Well, the highlights were - the pit stops (actually they were quite dull), the tyre strategies and the safety car coming on. That and Sebastian Vettel driving like he'd eaten a dodgy enchilada the night before and had other things on his mind.

Seriously, is that not a fair summary? Even the crowd shots were boring! They should've started a Mexican wave!

Yesterday's race was tedious. Really tedious and that's down to a number of factors but actually most of them due to atmospherics.

The location is at altitude which takes away a lot of the ability to overtake. the air mixing with the fuel has less oxygen so less ummph. The thinner air meant that the DRS didn't work properly and overtaking was the reason it was brought in. The thin air also lacked cooling effect on brake discs so drivers had to drive conservatively. Result.................. utter tedium.

F1 is losing its way a lot in my view. It used to be about drivers taking the car to the absolute limit whereas nowadays its about fuel management and being best of the rest. There are way too many driver aids, scrap them all! let the drivers stall, let them go over the limit and spin off. Get back to the days when Senna and Mansell were driving wheel to wheel and the only thing between them and a huge accident was consummate skill and mutual respect.

I couldn't have put it better Mr I.

Still looking forward to Silverstone next year, cracking atmosphere and a seat opposite the podium


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I know what you mean Mr Bus but as a veteran of the thick end of 50 Grand Prix's, mostly in Europe, I would put Silverstone way down the list of desirable GP's to attend.

I am still considering a mini tour of GP's to celebrate my 60th birthday in 2017, fancy the Abu Dhabi , Spanish, Belgian and if it returns the German one.


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Do Spa at least once in your life but you need to splash out on a good ticket. General admission will see you sitting in a puddle looking through a fence, it's awful. La source (turn 1) is probably the best on the circuit followed by the obvious La Rouge. I'd honestly give start/finish strip a miss too.

Spain, definitely. Barcelona on GP weekend is brilliant but stay in the city not near the circuit. The circuit is built in the middle of nowhere so stay in the city and get up early on Sunday. The good thing is that even general admission allows you good views but no big screen so it all gets a little confusing. Mind you, you can follow stuff on mobile phones these days.

Incidentally, at both of the above, buy at the circuit on Sunday from the touts and pay no more that 60%-70% of face value. Just make sure that you know where you want to be on circuit before hand.

Austria is worth a look. The area is stunning and Judenburg is party town on GP weekend. Do not under any circumstances take the start finish straight, its freezing. You are under a huge concrete roof in shadow at altitude. Turn one tickets can be had for sub £100. Again, tout the touts.

Monza needs no explanation obviously but be very careful on tickets, you don't want to be sat looking at cars screaming past at 220 mph. Same story at Imola.

Hungary. My personal favorite and Budapest is a wonderful city.

I don't go a bundle on these new meccano set tracks, they're all a bit contrived for me. I miss the likes of Magny Cours, Estoril, Jerez,

In all cases with the exception of Monaco and Silverstone you can save money by buying tickets trackside and always book flights and hotels many months in advance.

Id rather pickle my testes than watch motor racing !

So would I, but I don't fancy any Bunker readers visiting me at work for saying so again....

A hooligan crew who defend the honour of Formula 1? "Hello! Hello! We are the Bernie Boys..."

Each to their own surely. Besides, going abroad is as much about the trip as the race. I've had some fantastic times over the years and seen places I would not have done otherwise, think of it as long weekends away with a race thrown in.

Drop the race. Weekend away and I'm in !!

I remember your F1 situation Elvis !!

All about personal enjoyment, I enjoy F1 and have been to a couple of British GP's but the thought of a trip to watch a race in the sun somewhere is very appealing.


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