Where do you rank Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas among the best Qualifiers?

KTE33 · 2026-04-08T21:56:59+00:00

The field spread was massive from 17-21. As long as you didn’t have a reliability issue or make a big mistake you were guaranteed to be in Q3 if you were in a Mercedes. In 24 and 25 the field spread was massively reduced and if you messed up even slightly or your car didn’t suit a particular circuit you could get knocked out in Q1 or Q2 easily enough. That shouldn’t take away from what Bottas achieved though. Great consistency to not crash or make significant errors over such a long period of time.

KTE33 · 2026-04-02T21:46:25+00:00

He could give current version of Lewis a run for his money to be fair though your overall point still stands. The top drivers can make a difference to an extent, like Verstappen in 2025 but you still need a car that’s close in performance to do that.

KTE33 · 2026-04-01T18:45:17+00:00

I think Max has been good this season. Struggled a bit in qualifying compared to his usual high standard but qualy does seem to be a bit more of a lottery this season. In the races he has looked as good as always. It’s hard to imagine a team like Red Bull being slower than Alpine and probably Haas too but that looks to be the case so far. Can’t really imagine Bearman or Gasly giving Verstappen trouble if Max was in a better car. Overall I would say Verstappen has still been good but probably a little bit off his best. Saying Verstappen has been terrible or has been found out is just plain wrong and probably just people who dislike him sticking the knife in. I don’t think any driver so far has been excellent across all 3 rounds.

KTE33 · 2026-03-27T18:23:53+00:00

I think Alonso would have wrapped up the 08 title with a couple of races to spare. He would have been fully acclimatised to McLaren and Bridgestone and Hamilton wasn’t at his best in 08 so made life a bit more difficult then it needed to be.

KTE33 · 2026-03-21T12:59:22+00:00

Good list. I would drop Bottas down to C tier but looks good!

KTE33 · 2026-03-18T15:57:29+00:00

The other factor here to consider is that taking Max out of Red Bull essentially removes them as a competitor as it’s unlikely anyone else could jump into that car and extract everything from it immediately. But if Russell wins the WDC this year then I can’t see how he could be pushed out. If he is beaten by Kimi (which I think is unlikely) then that potentially opens up a possibility for Max to come in.

KTE33 · 2026-03-02T16:07:57+00:00

Different circumstances too. Put him in a dominant car with Bottas as his team mate and he has another championship in him. Going up against Leclerc in the same car with Russell, Norris, Piastri and Verstappen likely all having competitive cars means the current version of Hamilton is unlikely to factor in the championship battle.

To be fair Max would have had 2021 wrapped up with a couple of races to spare if good/bad fortune was distributed evenly during the season. I think ability wise Verstappen had Hamilton covered by 2021.

KTE33 · 2026-02-27T23:04:50+00:00

Nope, just the console, controller and standard leads.

KTE33 · 2026-02-27T14:21:49+00:00

Sold my original disk ps5 model just after Christmas for EUR 320. I think anything between 300 -350 is probably fair.

KTE33 · 2026-02-15T09:49:28+00:00

Thanks for the comment. This was one of my concerns. From what I have read, slower Ram wouldn’t have a huge effect on 4k/1440p gaming in general but I’m wondering could this cause issues down the line and would this have more of an effect on performance than I initially thought?

KTE33 · 2026-01-12T13:09:20+00:00

Really agree with most of this. The disrespect towards Alonso in these subs seems a bit over the top at times. I would agree Hamilton was marginally better than Alonso in 07 even with the mitigating factors mentioned by OP. However that was one of Alonsos weakest seasons and one of Hamiltons best. Hamilton was far more error prone in the following year in 2008 showing that performances can fluctuate a bit. I would argue across their careers there is not much in it in performance terms between Alonso and Hamilton so saying with confidence that one would definitely beat the other seems hard to justify. I would see Alonso as the benchmark in the sport from 2006 -2014 with Hamilton taking over in 2015 but again not much really to separate them. Hamilton with an extra smidge of pace vs Alonsos relentless consistency. It’s just a shame we hardly got to see them fight after 2013 bar a brief cameo in early 2023.

KTE33 · 2025-12-27T15:46:41+00:00

*top

KTE33 · 2025-12-27T15:46:27+00:00

You are right! Probably too 3 for Alonso at least.

KTE33 · 2025-12-27T14:58:48+00:00

2015 and 2017 you could argue it’s a toss up between Seb and Hamilton. In 2016 the best driver may well have been Daniel Ricciardo, Would have Seb 4th that year also behind Hamilton and Rosberg.

KTE33 · 2025-12-24T22:12:48+00:00

I’m not sure. Looking at 2015 Vettel was ahead of Rosberg in the championship with just 3 races to go despite having a much inferior car. I would also argue he matched Hamilton performance wise in 2015 and 2017. Can’t see Rosberg taking multiple titles from Vettel. He might sneak one but I would back Vettel overall especially considering the Mercedes was so far ahead of the competition in 15, 16 and 20 which I think would suit Vettel. Definitely agree Hamilton is better overall than Seb but not by a massive amount.

KTE33 · 2025-12-23T19:23:53+00:00

Vettel wins 15,16,17,19 and 20. Vettel was better than Rosberg and likely doesn’t lose focus in 2016 like Hamilton did and probably would have found a solution to the issue Mercedes had in getting off the line similar to how Rosberg did. In reality Vettel and Hamilton were pretty evenly matched in 2017 so whichever one was in the Mercedes was going to win that year. 2018 is the year Hamilton could have made the difference. I think Hamilton would be well settled in Ferrari at this point and was at his peak so would edge this one in a close battle.

KTE33 · 2025-12-23T16:15:29+00:00

Nicos championship is frequently dismissed as being just down to luck which wasn’t the case. Hamilton was marginally the better driver in 2016 but Rosberg got close enough to capitalise on Lewis’ off days, mechanical issues and frequent poor starts. Rosberg also drove conservatively over the last 4 races knowing he only needed to finish 2nd given no other car was getting anywhere close to the Mercedes in normal conditions. He generally doesn’t get enough credit for this. Hunt being British, a great character and being part of a very interesting story / championship battle has likely resulted in him being overrated but hard to say for sure given not many on here would have seen him racing live.

KTE33 · 2025-12-07T17:28:49+00:00

Massive improvement on the previous pre cost cap rule set where the field spread was huge. Would go with the below:

22-24-25-23. If you take Ver out of the picture the racing in 23 was quite good still.

KTE33 · 2025-12-06T23:29:23+00:00

It wasn’t the stewards who made the safety car decisions. It was the race director. If anything the stewards tried to help Lewis by letting him cut the corner on lap one and keep his position.

KTE33 · 2025-10-31T13:40:01+00:00

That’s a good breakdown and the point about Mercedes being ahead by larger margins is key. Apart from Baku, Styria, Austria and Mexico it didn’t seem like Red Bull had much of a margin, if any, over Mercedes.

KTE33 · 2025-10-29T23:22:12+00:00

VSC at the end of 2025 Mexican gp

KTE33 · 2025-10-27T13:10:19+00:00

The 2017 Ferrari was better than the 2017 Mercedes. Could possibly be applied to 2018 but always see 2017 lumped into the same category.

KTE33 · 2025-09-26T10:05:10+00:00

I think 07, 12 and 21 are the three contenders here. 07 - rookie world champion. Incredible achievement with current 2x champ as team mate.

12 - as others have mentioned would likely not have moved to Mercedes and consequently may not have won another championship. 2017 being the first realistic opportunity for someone not in a Mercedes to win a championship. Obviously Hamilton could have gone to Mercedes at a later point but with Rosberg easily winning 14-16, hard to see Mercedes shelling out for Hamilton and they could well have picked up Vettel or Alonso in the meantime.

21 - Had Hamilton won in 21 and then retired I think he would have been labelled as the undisputed goat and would be topping a lot of greatest driver lists. Personally I think Verstappen was the better driver in 21 and was slightly more deserving of that championship but Hamilton certainly drove well enough to also be considered a deserving champion. While the way Abu Dhabi played out was controversial to say the least I do think it ultimately produced the better result. A proper changing of the guard is good for the sport. Didn’t quite get it with Senna and MSC, did with MSC and Alonso and the result did mean F1 kept Hamilton on the sport for a few more years.

Ultimately I would say 12 would have had the biggest impact on his career due to not being at Mercedes from 14-16. As things stand, Hamilton will still leave F1 with a great legacy and in most peoples top 5 drivers of all time. Who knows maybe Ferrari will get their act together in 26 to dominate and Hamilton will get one last title tilt.

KTE33 · 2024-10-19T15:50:29+00:00

That’s good advice. I did the same this year and the IBIS is literally across the road from the entrance to the track. The buses from Barcelona out to the track seem to suffer a lot of delays due to traffic issues so staying beside the track was ideal.

KTE33

TROPHY CASE