Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton or a racing incident?

[KingstonSeagull]

So following on from yesterday's F1 fiasco between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg with Lauda immediately blaming Hamilton and Toto stating it was a racing incident...

Where do you stand?

 

[Wardy]

Gone with racing incident. Though if I had to pick one or the other I would pick Rosberg. He was to slow to notice just how fast Hamilton was coming up on him, though in his defence at that speed not sure he could have reacted anyway.

I have a feeling that a deal was done with the stewards to handle it in team.

 

[Icy Gull]

Rosberg lost power and came right across the track and closed the door, not leaving a car's width as he is supposed to do. The fudge by Mercedes will hopefully make Lewis look elsewhere for a drive next season. The Germans are definitely favouring the German. The fact that Lauda instantly blamed Hamilton 100% should give Lewis a clue that he is number 2 this season as they try and get Rosberg over the line as a World Champion.

Bollocks was it just a racing incident imo.

 

[Official Old Man]

Having watched a replay today (Sky have it on demand) my thought was where did both drivers get that speed and acceleration from?
Rosberg moved over to block Lewis but Lewis was going so fast he shot past him, well nearly anyway.
Racing incident.

 

[Wardy]

Rosberg was harvesting energy and properly not expecting Hamilton to come up on him that fast. He saw him, moved to cover, then realised how fast Hamilton was going and tried to move back. Problem was it was too late at that point.

 

[Icy Gull]

Rosberg was harvesting energy and properly not expecting Hamilton to come up on him that fast. He saw him, moved to cover, then realised how fast Hamilton was going and tried to move back. Problem was it was too late at that point.

That would make it Rosberg's fault, the clue is in "leaving a car's width" which is in the rules when closing the door on a car that has got inside you.

 

[KingstonSeagull]

I am also in the Rosberg camp. I think that he outright shut the door on Lewis and Lewis did well not to go straight in to the back of him and was forced on to the grass thus making him lose control....

I can also see Lewis going elsewhere at the end of the season. Ferarri perhaps...

 

[JJ McClure]

Racing incident, but caused more by Rosberg than Hamilton.
Hamilton had so much more speed that he had to go for the overtake, Rosberg whilst having every right to defend the position doesn't have the right to run someone off the track. If you're going to defend that aggressively then be prepared to have an accident.
Rosberg has previous with this sort of thing having done it in Bahrain a couple of seasons back. The only difference being no grass in Bahrain so Hamilton overtook him anyway.

 

[maltaseagull]

I vote Rosberg at fault as I am sick of seeing his grinning face now he is winning races compared the the whinging and blaming everyone else last season when Hamilton built a big lead in the driver's championship.
Hamilton has been very positive this season considering the awful luck he has had.

I hope he goes back to Maclaren and the new honda engine becomes the supreme power plant.

 

[LlcoolJ]

Rosberg's fault:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAJXvJMYglc

 

[Pavilionaire]

Watching it live then, like Niki Lauda, I thought it was Hamilton's fault - a rush of blood to the head having just been taken over by Rosberg, a bad judgement on Lewis's part.

Then I watched Anthony Davidson's analysis after the race and changed my mind. Rosberg was in the wrong setting, he was losing power and had his attention diverted from what was happening around him and onto this steering wheel settings. By the time he had dealt with that he looked up and instinctively blocked Lewis, but he was a fraction too late.

Lauda was put on the spot and replied with a drivers' gut reaction, but I believe his words were ill-considered. They afford Rosberg some protection that he shouldn't have prior to a proper analysis of events. I think Lauda has also personalised this unnecessarily.

Lewis may feel that if his team doesn't back him then he might need to consider his position at the end of the season. He obviously doesn't get on with Rosberg and with his car's reliability issues it hasn't gone that well mechanically with Mercedes either. I fancy that if Ferrari had a car that could give Mercedes a proper challenge then he'd be off like a shot. However, the fact remains it is the lesser of two evils to have to work with Rosberg at Mercedes than have him beating you every two weeks because he's in a superior car.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I'd be amazed if Hamilton moved to Ferrari while Vettel is there. It would be brilliant to watch the two of them fighting each other for the title in the same car as they're currently the two best drivers on the grid. I'm not sure Vettel would endorse Hamilton joining as he strikes me as a driver who needs to be considered as and treated as the teams number one.

 

[BensGrandad]

I am not into F1 but my brother is and he says that Alonso is by far the best driver but has a s..t car. He is a better driver than Hamilton or Vettel he thinks. What do other people think?

 

[Bold Seagull]

Rosberg for me.

He's aware at that point he has a problem with his settings. I know it's a split second, but he'll be aware how fast Lewis is going. His move to his right was far too sharp and far too late. There was no need for him to close that inside line completely like he did. He reacted too late to seeing Lewis make his move. Yeah, it's all happened in the blink of an eye, but he's a bottle job when the heat is on, and proved it again there.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I am not into F1 but my brother is and he says that Alonso is by far the best driver but has a s..t car. He is a better driver than Hamilton or Vettel he thinks. What do other people think?

Hamilton had Alonso in his pocket as a teenager in the same car.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I am not into F1 but my brother is and he says that Alonso is by far the best driver but has a s..t car. He is a better driver than Hamilton or Vettel he thinks. What do other people think?

At his best there was a solid case to be made for that argument. Certainly him, Vettel and Hamilton were comfortably the top three(although when he was in the same team as Hamilton he was upstaged by him even though it was Hamilton's rookie season). Now, I'm not so sure. He seems to have lost some of his magic. Whether that's due to being in such a dog of a car for the last couple of seasons or because he's peaked and is now on the decline I don't know.

 

[Icy Gull]

Hamilton had Alonso in his pocket as a teenager in the same car.

In fairness, Hamilton was Ron Dennis protegy and afforded preference over Alonso apparently. Alonso as world champ felt justifiably upset about this. Apparently Alonso set the car up and made the suggestions for improvements and Dennis then just passed all these settings onto Lewis mechanics who set his car up the same way. Hence Alonso throwing a strop that he was finding half a second a lap and Hamilton was having no proper input. Again understandable as he was a rookie.

I think you'll find that Lewis and Fernando have great mutual respect these days and both have commented over the last few seasons that they fear each other most as drivers.

I am a massive Lewis fan but hesitate to suggest that he is better than Alonso. He is certainly better than Rosberg and on a par with Vettel. Anyway Max Verstappen is frighteningly good for an 18 year old and may well eclipse all of them! So good in fact that he oould probably follow an ambulance, make a phone call, send texts, post on NSC and write down his shopping list whilst giving two fingers to the other motorists blaring their horns at him behind the ambulance..

 

[Bold Seagull]

In fairness, Hamilton was Ron Dennis protegy and afforded preference over Alonso apparently. Alonso as world champ felt justifiably upset about this. Apparently Alonso set the car up and made the suggestions for improvements and Dennis then just passed all these settings onto Lewis mechanics who set his car up the same way. Hence Alonso throwing a strop that he was finding half a second a lap and Hamilton was having no proper input. Again understandable as he was a rookie.

I think you'll find that Lewis and Fernando have great mutual respect these days and both have commented over the last few seasons that they fear each other most as drivers.

I am a massive Lewis fan but hesitate to suggest that he is better than Alonso. He is certainly better than Rosberg and on a par with Vettel. Anyway Max Verstappen is frighteningly good for an 18 year old and may well eclipse all of them! So good in fact that he cpuld probably follow an ambulance, make a phone call, send texts, post on NSC and write down his shopping list all at once.

Regardless of input, preferential treatment etc. etc. on the track the rookie was faster than the 2 time world champion. I merely answered the claim that said Alonso 'was by far the best driver but had a sh1t car' - I didn't conclude Lewis was better, merely countered that argument that in the same car, Lewis was faster.

How could Lewis have the same input as Alonso - the guy was a 2 time world champion, Lewis hadn't raced an F1 car before. They were a team, of course Lewis was going to benefit from Alonso's input. Alonso showed that despite his indisputable talents, his temperament is suspect, and his career decisions more so. Disastrous moves for someone of his quality. He's one of the best drivers out there, but I don't think anyone can say 'by far the best'.

 

[Icy Gull]

Regardless of input, preferential treatment etc. etc. on the track the rookie was faster than the 2 time world champion. I merely answered the claim that said Alonso 'was by far the best driver but had a sh1t car' - I didn't conclude Lewis was better, merely countered that argument that in the same car, Lewis was faster.

How could Lewis have the same input as Alonso - the guy was a 2 time world champion, Lewis hadn't raced an F1 car before. They were a team, of course Lewis was going to benefit from Alonso's input. Alonso showed that despite his indisputable talents, his temperament is suspect, and his career decisions more so. Disastrous moves for someone of his quality. He's one of the best drivers out there, but I don't think anyone can say 'by far the best'.

I agree completely with your last sentence. Alonso's grievances at McLaren probably affected his driving tbh, who knows.

 

[Pavilionaire]

The fact remains that Rosberg has a big lead over Lewis and has done exceptionally well since Lewis won his third Driver's Championship title.

Lewis's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness and that is his aggressive driving style.

The beauty of F1 is that a championship can be won by a different driving styles - Rosberg Jnr is very consistent, rarely takes your breath away but also manages his car extremely well in a way that is reminiscent of his dad Keke who won the Driver's Championship without actually winning a race that season.

Jenson was another who managed his car supremely, but equally there was Mansell and Senna who both drove on the edge.