Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[FW17]

So you can shut the door when there is a wing by your rear wheel and hopes it disappears? or do you run around it?

PS - Not related to yesterdays incident

[WaikeCU]

Toto Wolff denied that Rosberg deliberately crashed into Hamilton. He was trying to make a point (Bahrain?) but Hamilton's gone out in the media stating a probably exaggerated account of what happened in the meeting. Having said that, I have lost some respect for Nico for how he has handled the situation. Tough days ahead for Mercedes.

I just posted absolutely similar comment on another popular F1 site. I feel bad for Hamilton - he was absolutely on the verge of winning Spa.
Bottom line: I have lost some respect for Rosberg, also having in mind Monaco parking. I understand no nice guys have ever won the WDC, but that doesn't mean I embrace the way it was achieved. Stupid stuff, Nico.

So, you are OK with Hamilton blocking Nico in Bahrain (Nico avoid the contact) and Hamilton literally pushed out of the track in Hungary on the last lap (Nico avoid the contact again)?

It's called making your car as wide as possible. There's a big difference in trying to get past somebody and actually making the overtake. In all occasions, Hamilton made his car as wide as possible, so Rosberg failed to make the overtake.

But there's this thing now with Nico, if he thinks sticking his front wing into Lewis' rear tyre to gain the upperhand, by meaning:
1) If it goes okay Nico will only lose a bit of downforce because of a damaged front wing, whereas Lewis would lose the race because of a flat tyre and worse like we have seen, more damaged bodywork because of the disintegration of the flat tyre. Nico would still leave with a handful more points than Lewis.

2) If it doesn't go right for Nico, Nico might have a DNF, but that Lewis would also lose out and fail to get anything out of the race. Not his problem, because he still has the lead and gap in the WDC and that's another chance that goes begging for Lewis to close up on Nico for the WDC.

Unless the FIA or Mercedes does take action, it would mean that Nico is doing the right thing here and he'll continue to do so next time round.

[FW17]

^
I guess Hamilton was trying to do this in a corner

[basti313]

I have. My point here is, when the opportunity to overtake bleaks out, the norm is, you back off and wait for another chance and not leave your car to screw up or get screwed up. For ages, the driver in front shuts the door on the chasing guy and it has always been a racing method to back off and go for it again and that is normal racing. In exceptional scenarios, you still go for it like Vettel did on Alonso in Monza, despite going off track go for the move. But even then, he didn't drive into Alonso and neither did Alonso.

You are absolutely right. But here we had a different situation: There was NO need to shut the door and push the other guy out of the track. Look at all the fights in this corner...Mag on Alo for example...the inside guy leaving some space so that both can make the corner and stay ahead. Except for the last lap Mag showed how it should have been done.

Furthermore we have been discussing this "it is my racing line" every race this season. It was just a matter of time when it would go wrong because this is just not how it can be done. For me it is nothing special that it hit both Merc drivers. Could have also been the first lap with Vettel or later an incident with Mag/Alo or whoever.

[FoxHound]

I think people assuming Hamilton shut the door, didnt see the 2 meters of road to Rosbergs left!

Shutting the door means running another driver out of track, forcing him off, into contact or avoiding it. What happened yesterday is clear, Rosberg had time and space to avoid the incident but remained close to Hamilton despite the higher risk of contact.
Hamilton being leader, needn't take wider lines to accommodate front wings being placed with no realistic prospect of making an overtake. This is the crux of the argument. Rosberg was never going to make that move stick, so why be so obstinate on lap 2 when the job could've been done at another stage of the race with DRS?

This is what rankles with the Wolff and co.

And it says it all when Mercedes management are apportioning blame to Rosberg.

[SunsAnvil]

Regardless of who is right or wrong (I think this was a predictable end to an increasingly volatile pairing), Mercedes would want the number 1 driver in their car so I would expect to see Lewis move on at the end of the season but I am not sure where he would go except to switch teams with Alonso who would be an even tougher opponent for Rosberg next year.

[FW17]

Regardless of who is right or wrong (I think this was a predictable end to an increasingly volatile pairing), Mercedes would want the number 1 driver in their car so I would expect to see Lewis move on at the end of the season but I am not sure where he would go except to switch teams with Alonso who would be an even tougher opponent for Rosberg next year.

I don't see that happening, else we would have seen Ron Dennis trying to bring disaccord to the Merc - LH union as Flavio did with Alonso. Maybe it could start (I hope not). But if it does LH could implode and Ron would be definitely playing against his WDC chances.

[FW17]

I think people assuming Hamilton shut the door, didnt see the 2 meters of road to Rosbergs left!

Shutting the door means running another driver out of track, forcing him off, into contact or avoiding it. What happened yesterday is clear, Rosberg had time and space to avoid the incident but remained close to Hamilton despite the higher risk of contact.
Hamilton being leader, needn't take wider lines to accommodate front wings being placed with no realistic prospect of making an overtake. This is the crux of the argument. Rosberg was never going to make that move stick, so why be so obstinate on lap 2 when the job could've been done at another stage of the race with DRS?

This is what rankles with the Wolff and co.

And it says it all when Mercedes management are apportioning blame to Rosberg.

Rosberg may not have had any business putting his wing where it was, but LH needed to be aware of the consequence of going for the next apex, this case it ended badly. As a championship contender he needed to take less risks.

Hamilton is fast enough to win the championship (even now) without running his mouth and getting preoccupied with mind games. So he should just got on with it, not talk to the media, not be seen anywhere but the race car. let the team do all the talking for you, just as SV was after Korea 2010

[twoshots]

It seems quite clear from the images on the BBC that there was more than adequate room left for Rosberg. He chose not too use it, he was not pushed off track or excessively squeezed by Hamilton. If Maldonado or Grosjean had done the same they would be being blamed for being reckless.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28921431

This all makes good copy and Bernie will be delighted.

[CriXus]

Well, let's face it, the British media found the Michael's replacement, finally.

[ScottB]

Lewis went from what must have been an explosive debrief straight out into a media scrum. I wouldn't say he was playing games, more that he must have been extremely emotional. He would just have heard his teammate announce that he didn't try to avoid a collision on purpose (or whatever the exact words were), so I think him coming out, probably in disbelief at this stage, and saying 'he hit me on purpose!' isn't some sort of grand media scheme he cooked up in 30 seconds.

[ScottB]

Well, let's face it, the British media found the Michael's replacement, finally.

Nico dismissing the boos as just Brits and telling them to go read the rulebook certainly made that easier...

[i70q7m7ghw]

So you can shut the door when there is a wing by your rear wheel and hopes it disappears? or do you run around it?

PS - Not related to yesterdays incident

Have you ever done any racing? Hamilton wouldn't have known if the wing was there or not, there was no way he could have seen it. Nico was so far back, it's pretty much a given that you back out at that point, or have an accident.

The only rule is that a "significant portion of the car must be alongside" or something along those lines, and that is generally interpreted as wheel alongside side pod. Even this should not be treated as a hard and fast rule, there are many situations where being half alongside another car doesn't count as winning the corner. Being on the outside of the first corner of a chicane for example. You've pretty much got to be side-by-side in that situation, otherwise the other driver is entitled to take the racing line.

Rosberg has already admitted he did it on purpose so this debate is meaningless. He had plenty of room to the left of the car, on-board footage shows this, and it also shows a deliberate turn of the wheel.

The question is, what could the team possibly do about it? Toto has used some strong words, but unfortunately I doubt they will do anything of any significance.

[krisfx]

Wolff has more or less confirmed Hamilton's story, although Hamilton over exaggerated a bit http://www1.skysports.com/f1/report/124 ... ving-point

[FoxHound]

Rosberg may not have had any business putting his wing where it was, but LH needed to be aware of the consequence of going for the next apex, this case it ended badly. As a championship contender he needed to take less risks.

Hamilton is fast enough to win the championship (even now) without running his mouth and getting preoccupied with mind games. So he should just got on with it, not talk to the media, not be seen anywhere but the race car. let the team do all the talking for you, just as SV was after Korea 2010

I can guarantee that had Hamilton missed the apex for the following corner to allow a W05 sized gap for Rosberg, he would have been passed. Hamilton much like Alonso, will not yield sheepishly. And if you really think about it....why should he?
F1 racing no?

This was an instance of Rosberg saying he would not be moved, when he would've breezed passed under DRS the following lap. Therefore it is my view that Rosberg's intransigent and recalcitrant attitude was the prime motivator in all this.

Rosberg says he left his wing there to prove a point. That point is moot. The same way you don't stick your leg out to trip your mate up when walking into a pub.

There are few cardinal sins in F1, and running into a team mate to make a point is one of those. As a self-professed Benz disciple, I'm not really overly fussed on driver worshipping as some here do. I was split down the middle with these 2, now though....I'm all for Hamilton because in general I think he has suffered more from more bad luck, and now, bad team mate judgement. Equally I still rate Rosberg as a fine driver, just not one that endears himself particularly well.

And what of Monaco qualifying....I wonder if this was by design from Rosberg? I did't think so before....but....