Hamilton's engine situation and championship implication

[Kewee]

Absolutely cider_and_toast. Usually the case, Alonso is probably the only driver in the last 20 or so years to win his Championships without the benefit of the best car under him. A good car yes, but not the best.

 

[P1]

Would it be fair to say Hamilton has an engine advantage now? I understood Rosberg took his 4th engine for this race, and his previous 3 engines are an older spec. Hamilton now has 3 engines which he can use for the rest of season vs 1 for Rosberg. In principle it means he could run higher engine speeds (although Mercedes may not allow that).

 

[Olivier]

55-place penalty? That's ridiculous...

 

[Kewee]

To keep the 55-place penalty honest they should include the F1 and GP2 cars and however many GP3 cars it takes to make up a 55 car field.

 

[Wombcat]

Or they should just put him in the 75th gridspot (and leave the rest of the spots open).

 

[Greenlantern101]

The grid place drop thing is totally irrelevant for the back of the field as well. If you are in a Sauber or Manor, other than having no money, there really is nothing stopping you from taking a new engine and gearbox every race. This penalty system only really punishes the people fighting for the championship. Which is mad, do we really want a championship decided because someone ran out of engines.

There has to be a better solution than penalty grid drops. Maybe removing constructors points. I don't think fines are the solution either, that just benefits the big teams who can easily afford it and could finish off the struggling teams further down the grid.

 

[Wombcat]

Losing constructor points wouldn't have mattered a lot to Mercedes in the past years.
You could say though that a every place you can't be dropped adds a second to your race. It still wouldn't matter a lot to the backmarkers though.

 

[TR]

Losing constructor points wouldn't have mattered a lot to Mercedes in the past years.
You could say though that a every place you can't be dropped adds a second to your race. It still wouldn't matter a lot to the backmarkers though.

They had that uptill half-way through last season... Fans complained...

I don't know about Merc not caring about championship points. Would they really be happy to throw a way 55 points? I doubt they would have taken a third engine for Hamilton if it cost theem championship points.

 

[Wombcat]

No, they gave a drivethrough. that;s not the same as what I suggested.
And fans always complain.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Would it be fair to say Hamilton has an engine advantage now?

It will depend on how much of an upgrade the Suzuka PU will be. Rosberg will potentially have a more powerful engine for 5 GP at the end of the year.