[Purple-banana]

Forza I think you and I share a lot of the same opinions and preferences, and I would also begrudgingly agree that maybe Lewis has the edge over Seb - at the moment...

But I genuinely don’t think he will match the MS records. Lewis showed earlier this season that when the going got tough he was considering retirement. I think another season like this, but where it goes to the wire and maybe doesnt go his way, and he’ll call it a day.

Of course we could kick off 2018 with a totally dominant W09, and in that case in 12m he’ll be a 5xWDC and probably half-way closer to Schumi’s 91 win crown :-(

[forzaferrari]

As I previously said I am hoping he doesnt get Michaels records, as you say a lot depends on his competition next year and year after, If he starts to get pushed around and things dont go his way I am pretty sure he will move on to music or whatever, it will take a big step forward for another team to produce a car to rival what Merc have achieved in reliability alone.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

As I previously said I am hoping he doesnt get Michaels records, as you say a lot depends on his competition next year and year after,  If he starts to get pushed around and things dont go his way I am pretty sure he will move on to music or whatever, it will take a big step forward for another team to produce a car to rival what Merc have achieved in reliability alone.

what moron voted for Merc, haha - I just read this, and it wasn't Morini, haha - look for Gordo62, bud just got another one on

[forzaferrari]

Good man, have already welcomed him on board

[UncleElias]

... I was hopeful 2018 was going to be a cracker, but if Lewis' fight through the field was representative of a 2018 PU in race trim, I really hope Ferrari & Renault have got plenty in their pocket too. Have Mercedes made a mistake by showing their hand - or an indication of it - so far ahead of pre-season testing?

There are going to be some aero changes. I can't remember the exact details other than the removal of the monkey seat. 2017's Mercedes hasn't been the best chassis, but it has been good enough over the length of the season. I wonder if the expected loss of down force will make the car even more difficult to handle. Since Mercedes has a smaller operating window for the tire temps and track surface smoothness/roughness they will need to find some major remedies. Even that great power unit might get hunted down by Ferrari, Red Bull and possibly McLaren (don't laugh   ).

[Jody Barton]

... I was hopeful 2018 was going to be a cracker, but if Lewis' fight through the field was representative of a 2018 PU in race trim, I really hope Ferrari & Renault have got plenty in their pocket too. Have Mercedes made a mistake by showing their hand - or an indication of it - so far ahead of pre-season testing?

There are going to be some aero changes. I can't remember the exact details other than the removal of the monkey seat. 2017's Mercedes hasn't been the best chassis, but it has been good enough over the length of the season. I wonder if the expected loss of down force will make the car even more difficult to handle. Since Mercedes has a smaller operating window for the tire temps and track surface smoothness/roughness they will need to find some major remedies. Even that great power unit might get hunted down by Ferrari, Red Bull and possibly McLaren (don't laugh   ).

They haven't quite banned the 'monkey seat' they've simply targeted it. No aero component can sit in the yellow box area above the exhaust going forward. Silly rule change that might see teams split exhausts and have two Monkey seats instead. The exhaust 'blown' monkey seat theory was scoffed at by Newey, Allison and well... everyone. they are there to provide stability to the rear of the car, and yeah, they probably used the little hot air coming from the exhausts to help with rear grip. However, I think it won't affect Mercedes as much as it will team like Force India and the lower down teams. If you look over the season, it's the smaller teams who invested in these advances, not RBR or Merc, Ferrari made 4 changes throughout the season, but nothing insane. The big boys had sorted the aero flow to the rear to provide stability anyway, its the teams with smaller budgets that rely on these areas to close that R&D funding gap. It's T wings that have been banned outright I believe, although I can't find the technical ruling right now. The shark fins stay I believe, but have less surface as the gap between the end of the fin, as taken from a straight vertical line from the nearest point to the rear wing, as taken from a straight blah, blah, blah has been increased. All of this actually means shorter wheelbase cars might prove more rear end twitchy. Next seasons cars are going to be really interesting to see.

[forzaferrari]

Great job as always Jody, thanks

[Chloe17b]

I think the Merc boys only get on so well because of the gulf in performance between them. It will only take a single incident when Ham is having a bad day or Bottas a good one and the atmosphere in that team will begin to turn as toxic as it did between Hamilton & Rosberg... or Hamilton and Button... or Hamilton and Alonso. Hmmm I spot a pattern!!

Your question is a tough one to answer, how do you define 'best'? I would say Red Bull, Force India or Renault have the most evenly matched pairings, whereas inevitably whichever team has Seb or Lewis at the moment are odds-on to deliver the strongest results.

I was hopeful 2018 was going to be a cracker, but if Lewis' fight through the field was representative of a 2018 PU in race trim, I really hope Ferrari & Renault have got plenty in their pocket too. Have Mercedes made a mistake by showing their hand - or an indication of it - so far ahead of pre-season testing?

There have already been incidents when 'Ham is having a bad day or Bottas a good one ' and the atmosphere's been fine.  Just like it was between Lewis and JB, and between Lewis and rosberg until rosberg cheated.

[morini]

There have already been incidents when 'Ham is having a bad day or Bottas a good one ' and the atmosphere's been fine.  Just like it was between Lewis and JB, and between Lewis and rosberg until rosberg cheated.

There's always been needle between Rosberg and Hamilton Chloe. The media portray them as mates back in the carting days, but they are both seriously competitive alpha drivers and always want(ed) to beat each other. Putting two drivers with that kind of history in the same F1 team was always going to end in friction - particularly when one of them would (all other factors being even) hand the other his arse on a plate.

[Chloe17b]

There have already been incidents when 'Ham is having a bad day or Bottas a good one ' and the atmosphere's been fine.  Just like it was between Lewis and JB, and between Lewis and rosberg until rosberg cheated.

There's always been needle between Rosberg and Hamilton Chloe. The media portray them as mates back in the carting days, but they are both seriously competitive alpha drivers and always want(ed) to beat each other. Putting two drivers with that kind of history in the same F1 team was always going to end in friction - particularly when one of them would (all other factors being even) hand the other his arse on a plate.

I don't remember any needle before Monaco 2014?  after bahrain they were all matey play wrestling even after that intense wheel to wheel action.  It all changed on saturday in monaco.

And it was fine with JB even after Turkey 2010 and canada 2011, and with Valtteri after Sochi and monaco, and even in 2007 Lewis and fernando always said it wasn't personal between them.  i mean it's true Lewis and Fernando couldn't coexist in the same team as lewis said, but there's no pattern about lewis as was being claimed.