Tommo21
Tour Winner
Did any of you get the impression when Lewis slowed down that none of the drivers behind Nico were going to pass him.
Nico and Lewis
- Thread starter Tommo21
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ger147
Tour Winner
If Vettel or Verstappen could have got anywhere near close enough they would have a flung one up the inside in a heartbeat, absolutely no hesitation...
Vettel had a go, but failed. I think by that stage of the race Verstappen's tyres were pretty shot.
Tashyboy
Please don’t ask to see my tatts 👍
Thought Hamiltons tactics were spot on. Could not understand Hamilton being told to speed up. if Rosberg overtook Hamilton he would not of ended up whinging. Bottom line was Rosberg was not good enough or quick enough to pass Hamilton. The title was won and lost over reliability.
Cherry13
Head Pro
Yeh i agree, nothing to really base it off but would think Seb was happier with Rosberg winning; fellow 'German', and prevents Ham equalling his WDC tally.
Think Mercedes got the call wrong and the FIA need to get a handle on the fact that teams prioritise the constructors championship over the drivers championship, but fans see it the other way.
Think Mercedes got the call wrong and the FIA need to get a handle on the fact that teams prioritise the constructors championship over the drivers championship, but fans see it the other way.
Cherry13
Head Pro
Whilst i agree it would have stopped the whinging, and silenced a lot of critiiscm unfortunately in F1 these days you need to be about 1.6sec quicker if in the same car to get past. They still need to do more to address the 'dirty' air that comes from the rear
Tashyboy
Please don’t ask to see my tatts 👍
what made me chuckle re Rosberg is that when Hamilton was in the non DRS zone he slowed it up. When Hamilton was in the DRS zone he pulled away from Rosberg so Rosberg could not use DRS.
joe public tunes in to see drivers race not to listen to the owners telling the drivers what to do. Understand team orders, but both were doing what they needed to do to win the title. Hamilton dictating the race from start to finish and Rosberg whinging.
nice finish to a season.
Cherry13
Head Pro
Hamilton was in an absolutely different class all wkend always had a bit extra. I wouldn't be surprised if he had engine turned right down and if vettel did get past rosberg he would have just shot off into the distance regardless of vettels fresher tyres. Ch4 commentary was alluding to 8 seconds slower than max pace which is astonishing.
Toto Wolff was clearly annoyed that horner had called that tactic pre-race as well and they obviously hadn't discussed it with Lewis.
I agree about the orders, I just think it's down to priorities. Fans talk about which driver wins, but the teams get money from the constructors championship. I know the two obviously go hand in hand but merc thought they were just trying to protect that. Until the FIA align team priorities and what the fans want then that unfortunately won't change.
Be interesting to see if Mercedes do anything about him disobeying team orders, I hope they just let it settle and everyone moves on over the summer but I have a feeling Lauda wants rid of Lewis Hamilton so may use it to instigate something bigger. Play on the fact he's not a team player etc. Long term I definitely see a vettel and Lewis swap happening.
Smiffy
Grand Slam Winner
You can bet your bottom dollar that everybody within the Mercedes camp knew what Lewis was going to try to do after the final round of pitstops were out of the way.
It was the only option he had left once the race had settled down with Roseberg still running in 2nd place.
Any driver on the grid, given the same scenario, would have employed the same tactic, despite what Vettel is saying now about "dirty tricks".
Remember the famous "multi 21" order he himself chose to ignore in Malaysia a couple of years ago which basically cost Mark Webber a race win?
I wanted Hamilton to win the championship. I'm not a "fanboy" but I'm English, he's English.
Rosberg won the championship simply because he was driving the 2nd fastest car on the grid and was in the perfect position to pick up on any of Hamiltons mistakes during the season.
Any one of a dozen other drivers who were out there yesterday would now be world champion had they been sitting in the other Merc all season.
Hamilton is one of the best drivers out there, if not the best. Alonso is the only one who comes close but has been struggling in a pig of a car.
The only downer for me yesterday was the lack of respect Hamilton showed to Rosberg after the race. Had he congratulated Rosberg "properly" and meant it, it would have done a lot for his reputation. Being gracious in defeat is the sign of a true champion, and I fear all he has done is added more fuel to the "Hammy haters" fires.
Highlight of the day for me was David Coulthard on the rostrum after the race asking Hamilton to shake Rosbergs hand again because the cameras had missed it. "There's the love" he said. Brought a wry smile to my face that did.
ColchesterFC
Journeyman Pro
Do the teams get bonuses for race wins? If not, I can't understand why the team would have told Hamilton to speed up. They were already guaranteed the Constructors Championship and one of their two drivers were already guaranteed to win the Drivers Championship.
If the stats above are accurate about needing to be 1.6 seconds per lap faster to overtake and Hamilton was driving 8 seconds a lap slower than max pace then why didn't Rosberg simply drive up behind him and overtake?
If the stats above are accurate about needing to be 1.6 seconds per lap faster to overtake and Hamilton was driving 8 seconds a lap slower than max pace then why didn't Rosberg simply drive up behind him and overtake?
Smiffy
Grand Slam Winner
They were concerned that Hamiltons tactics could have allowed either Vettel or Verstappen to overtake both of them and deny them a 1-2 finish. Whilst it was feasible for Vettel to overtake Rosberg, Hamilton had enough left in the tank to stay clear of Vettel. Where it all went wrong for Hamilton was Verstappens tyres gave up the ghost towards the latter stages. He would not have been able to do anything about Rosberg that late in the race.
Hamilton was playing the game perfectly. He had the pace to stay ahead of Rosberg easily, that's why he was accelerating away whenever he got near a DRS activation zone to deny Rosberg the chance to employ it.
It set up a thrilling end to the season, just a shame he didn't start his tactics 5 laps earlier. It might have reaped more of a reward.
Slab
Occasional Tour Caddy
Hamilton annoys me in the same way Rory does but I’m still pretty much ok with the way he drove and see it as symptomatic of the farce that is F1 these days (I mean seriously, running slow to back your team-mate into traffic. For the sport of F1 that is ridiculous!)
In the past when a driver is 2nd in the championship there’s any one of a hundred things that could happen in a race to bunch the field or bring out safety car with punctures, mechanical failures, crashes etc that a driver in Hamilton’s position would need to rely on the get the WC win, (it’s just that Hamilton wanted 101 things) and if it didn’t happen they’d (mostly) be magnanimous in defeat instead of going in a strop & ignoring the winner...
Actually I'm not really OK with it, he should have floored it, drove flat out, won it by a mile and said well done Nico
In the past when a driver is 2nd in the championship there’s any one of a hundred things that could happen in a race to bunch the field or bring out safety car with punctures, mechanical failures, crashes etc that a driver in Hamilton’s position would need to rely on the get the WC win, (it’s just that Hamilton wanted 101 things) and if it didn’t happen they’d (mostly) be magnanimous in defeat instead of going in a strop & ignoring the winner...
Actually I'm not really OK with it, he should have floored it, drove flat out, won it by a mile and said well done Nico
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User62651
Guest
Until all drivers are in equal cars we'll never know who the best driver is. It's like 100m sprinters starting in different positions ahead or behind of the start line. Any driver in F1 given a Merc would be first or second at present. Pointless.
Fyldewhite
Tour Winner
Can see both sides on the tactics yesterday tbh. He still won the race so there'll be no major aftermath. Also, I think some of the comments would be entirely different if the positions had been reversed. Lewis did what he could, made it difficult for Nico who didn't (as I thought he might) bottle it.....so well done to him. Forget all the reliability conspiracies, Lewis lost this championship in the first 4 races when Nico was completely focused, carried on the same form from the end of last season and Lewis was still on the beach. I thought the coming together in Spain was a sign of his impatience and to an extent his concern that he wasn't performing where he should be. No doubt who's the better overall driver and the career statistics will show that but this year he got beat. Won't do the princess any harm.
ger147
Tour Winner
Hamilton at fault at the first two races but he had mechanical issues both in China and Russia which put him down the grid so not all his own doing.
Fyldewhite
Tour Winner
Yeah, fair enough but he just didn't seem to be "on it" in the way he usually is. Some pretty poor starts thrown in there too which didn't help. Overall though a better season for F1 aside from the qualifying change which was just comical until they binned it!! Mercedes still dominant but the others are getting closer....let's hope it's much closer with next year's changes. Would love to see a grid every week with half a dozen genuine contenders for the win.
If Lewis was driving that slowly, surely all that Nico had to do was overtake him. Even if they took each other out, Nico would still have won the World Championship. The point is that Lewis is such a superior driver that he could slow Nico down without giving him any realistic overtaking opportunities.
Fyldewhite
Tour Winner
It's one thing to overtake a slow car, but quite another to overtake a fast car being driven slowly. I agree Lewis is the superior driver but not that his ability to slow the field was something that shows that. Most of the drivers out there could have done that quite easily had they been in the same position. It wasn't difficult at all.
ger147
Tour Winner
For large parts of the circuit it is impossible to overtake, so you can out in really slow lap times (as Hamilton did) thus allowing the cars further behind to catch you up, but by driving quickly for a few short stretches of track also make it nigh on impossible to be overtaken.
I thought Hamilton did it brilliantly yesterday, was a great attempt at all he could do to force Rosberg back towards the pack, but fair play to Rosberg as well.
When he had to he passed Verstappen (NOT easy) and he withstood the pressure at the end and got the result he needed to clinch his WC.
hovis
Tour Winner
slowing down to back up the field in hope that your title rival gets overtaken is wrong and unsporting. says alot about his character
