The BEST rookie season of all time?? | Ep. 50 

Absolutely mate! Stewart and Prost are two names perhaps I should have mentioned next to JV and LH!

We've got many episodes with Chicane hahaha, as well as LawVS and DanNoSkill although they're defo less "obscure"! - Nav

Give it a listen. Not quite mate.

The McLaren was the faster car most of the time in 2007. Facts. Especially the first half of the season up to Silverstone/France. Once Ferrari brought the updates for Kimi, his pace was back and he finished every race on the podium for the rest of the year. But Massa was absolutely nowhere compared to Kimi’s pace where as the McLaren drivers were very very close.

Massa was pretty close to Räikkönen actually, far from a clear number 2. He had quite a bit of bad luck. For about 6 consecutive races, the Ferraris swapped places in the championship standings.

​​@@fiftyin07Somehow in the first 8 races. Massa had 4 poles. For context Kimi was generally carrying less fuel in qualifying he just make few mistakes and some drivers impeded him. The idea that the McLaren was faster is a fantasy.

@@Don-Royall Massa usually carried less fuel than Kimi and was the ONLY driver of the top 4 in 2007, who had multiple years of experience on the Bridgestone tyres and Ferrari chassis cars since 2002 (remember, Sauber always used Ferrari chassis cars from the year before). This is the singular reason he was flattered in 2007/2008 and had his 2 best-ever seasons, by far. In fact, 2007 was his best ever season in terms of driving quality. Kimi/Alonso were nowhere near their true pace due to the fact they had to adapt to new tyres/cars in 2007 that Massa did not have to (Lewis only had to adapt to a new car, he had driven on Bridgestones in GP2). As soon as Kimi found any semblance of a setup (car was totally undriveable in the first half for him) he easily beat Massa from France onwards, despite still having a far from perfect setup. The McLaren was the best car. It had the best reliability, most mechanical grip and an incredible front end (which Kimi loves as this also helps with generating tyre temps and wet weather conditions). The Ferrari had more aero grip, but this made the car worse over kerbs and prone to understeer, which Kimi actually hates in his setup. Kimi is a super high rake, super short wheelbase, super positive front end-leaning driver. The opposite of Ferrari's design policy usually. Very much in line with a Red Bull/McLaren design philosophy. Kimi in that McLaren would have won the title by China. Easily. Alonso just made countless mistakes on top of his own setup struggles. Cheers mate.

And repeatedly banging on that he had a tyre advantage? The guys you say he had an "advantage" over had an F1 advantage!

Not quite. I suggest watching the 2006 Chinese GP, to understand the 2007 iteration of the race. Remember what happened in 2006: Renault changing Alonso's fronts made him extraordinarily slow during his second stint and allowed him to get passed by Fisichella and Schumacher and then on his second pitstop a wheel nut problem cost him over 10 seconds. There's a reason why McLaren waited until the last possible moment to pit Hamilton. The precedent had been set in the previous year when Renault put new inters as the track dried, and it completely compromised their pace and McLaren were trying to avoid an identical scenario. It was actually quite a smart strategy, the problem was that Lewis destroyed his tyres trying to keep up with Kimi and then Lewis subsequently crashed at the slowest point on the circuit: the pitlane entry. McLaren were merely trying to avoid the same thing from happening a year later in 2007. Had Lewis not taken Kimi's bait, (which Kimi admitted was part of the plan heading into the race) and burned his tyres far too quickly, he would have been world champion. Unfortunately, he made a colossal driving error at the pitlane entrance and lost the chance to win the title. His mistake under pressure was the primary reason he retired. Not the worn-out tyres. No shame in it. Few in history were better than Kimi Raikkonen when he was on it.

@@ciaronsmith4995 opinions are like arseholes. Everyone has one. But your co presenters even called you out on cherry picking facts, and it wasn't a good look. That's just my opinion, and like you with yours, I believe I'm right too, and we both have that right I'm afraid

another thing is that lewis struggled with michelin and he'd only driven with bridgestone gp2 tyres which have similar construction with the 2008 bridgestone

im sorry this is cold

completely disagree. 2007 Lewis would have continuously disrupted the team in '22 and '23. plus, 2007 Lewis was no tyre manager, and if you don't manage the Pirellis you're cooked

I think in terms of qualifying, yes. In terms of actual racing, no chance. IMO. Lewis couldn't setup a car, manage tyres or manage a race as well as he can now.

I wouldn't go as far as that because Lewis did show some inexperience in his earlier years. Formula One was also a different sport back in 2007 when everything was different. As Ace said, if you don't manage the Pirelli tyres, they will explode and the FIA will find a way to make them more useless.

You don't know anything about racing with this post. 2007 Lewis was trying to prove a point that he is fast, that's all. 2024 Lewis would absolutely destroy him.

China team fault alone. Having huge upper hand as Hamilton had, team could make safe pit calls.

Not to mention a sloppy race in Fuji where he collided with Vettel and then he bottled it into the barrier whilst Hamilton led pretty much from start to finish in the pissing down rain.

@@McLMP4-22 Totally agree. Definitely an avoidable mistake. But in the end, it is something that can happen. Even to the best drivers on the grid. But losing your temper while being the current two times world champion is kinda odd and unnecessary.

@@Kero-23-23 all Fernando needed was a 2nd place in that race and he would’ve been World Champion. But no, he lost his temper and got himself an unnecessary grid penalty. Although to be fair, the reason he got pissed is because Lewis disobeyed an instruction to let him past earlier in the session (lmao they were doing papaya rules-style crap back in 2007 and we didn’t even know).

@@McLMP4-22 Exactly. Yeah, Lewis disobeyed an instruction. But trying to fight fire with fire was never a good idea. And that’s basically a genuine rule in motorsport. Fernando should have known that. But yeah, papaya rules, I guess. 😂

Tbf he was a rookie

Great insight

@@PH-jv4ikI’m pointing out the fact that a rookie leading the standings and losing shouldn’t be admonished rather seen as a achievement to be in that position in the first place

And now we see who’s better fifteen years later Alonso can’t even win a race or beat ocon whilst Lewis is winning races and beating Russell 😉

​@@rauo5160 you didn't add much context not to mention its more so Brazil and or China if you want to go earlier.

Nah simply didn’t have the pace that day Kimi was mighty They even tried to short fuel Alonso second stint to have some pace but that didn’t work Kimi was just supreme that day

@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 Raikkonen surprised the entire grid in that race: he did two consecutive stints on the Soft tyre which Bridgestone said wouldn't work pre-race. F1 graphics back then did not do a good job of delineating the actual compound of tyre people used back then. Something I happen to know through magazines and my own research.

@@ciaronsmith4995 Making a lot of sense honestly, Kimi was always good on his tires tbf and Silverstone being probably the worst circuit in terms of tire loading I can understand why Bridgestone probably said two straight stints on softs were not ideal Edit - yeah tire information back then was a lot harder to find out f1 have done a better job with the graphics since 2007 in that front yes we had the stripes back then but that was new and there wasn’t really any television graphics for tires IIIRC Lewis was about 39-40 seconds behind in the end it was a drubbing that day by Kimi and Alonso overcut Lewis that day and left him far behind, a shame for him considering the pole he got the previous day when he was on a hot streak of 3 poles in 4 races

They make it clear several times that they aren't questioning Lewis' talent or skill at all. No one can say Lewis isn't one of the greats. They're just nuancing on 2007

What comments has there been, this is very much giving your own confirmation bias tbh?

As opposed to the rational and level headed Alonso fans.

@@PH-jv4ik You don't have to be an Alonso fan to put nuance on Hamilton's performances. Of the regular podcast panelists, only Acescheil and NavF1 are Alonso fans. Ciaron doesn't like Alonso (but always gives him credit where credit is due), and Peter seems mostly neutral toward him.

Where are the Salty Lewis fans? Mate, give it a rest.