2014 Belgian Grand Prix

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

I reckon Chillibowl that Nico picked it up from the ethos of a former teammate called Lewis Hamilton...

[chillibowl]

ah so a former teammate and former champion then

[garcon]

Who will forever be a former champion.

[Aysedasi]

Hmmm, risky statement that one.......

Mind you, if he's going to win again, he needs to do it before Daniel gets his four in a row........

[andy666]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

What on earth is up with the criticism of Rosberg from his team?

I've rarely been more itching to get in here and voice my view. I'm somewhat bewildered, frankly.

Whatever your view of the precariousness or not of having teammates go for it so hard so early in the race (compared to doing it late on, although whether that makes any difference is another big point, albeit perhaps another topic), this is a bad example to choose to criticise.

From the replays I've seen, this screams 'racing incident', a view our newly less-zealous stewards seemed to agree with. It's also the typical thing of a driver braking very late and trying to brake later than the next guy in order to get by on the outside and as a result not being able to brake much more, so running into the guy in front could be simply the result of not being able to brake more and under control or at least until the last moment, not being willing to as that would have been to the detriment of the overtaking attempt.

Of course, I don't have telemetry to tell me if I'm on the mark on this one, but it's fairly conventional wheel-to-wheel discussion territory.

Furthermore, Lewis, if he had known where Nico was more or less, took a risk in taking his conventional racing line and he got burned by that approach.

A racing incident surely, so why pan Nico and after Bahrain where Lewis was so damn on the edge of acceptability in that fine battle with Nico, chopping him off really close? Toto Wolff in his comments eeems to ignore the fact that Hamilton was damn close to stuffing both their races then too in a more aggressive move. Okay, coulda, woulda, should and hypotheticals, aunties, balls and uncles, but my point still stands that Nico is getting panned for doing something Lewis has already done this season and didn't get slated for by his team.

Or maybe I'm just missing the point and not buying into the idea that it's somehow so much worse on the second lap.

And Toto Wolff suggested that Nico was hotheated or something (I'm paraphrasing from an interview here) when making the move. How does he necessarily ascertain this view? That eagerness to get back the position following a poor start is the motivational enthusiasm Lewis gets so much credit for and yet now it's done by Nico, who admittedly hasn't impressed me as much in wheel-to-wheel combat as Hamilton this year, it's assumed he's just hotheaded and clumsy. Need I remind people of the number of clumsy moves Lewis has made?

Intriguingly, however, I must put something out there for you: could it just be possible that Rosberg did chuck it at the scenery on purpose in Monte-Carlo and that Mercedes know he did, given Hamilton's response to Lee McKenzie when asked if this was worse than Monaco, pointing out that nothing could be? This certainly implies that Hamilton is still insinuating culpability on Rosberg's part? Could Mercedes know this but not be willing to admit it publiclly?

There you go - that last part is just a hypothesis and not a full-blown conspiracy theory, but it's just an idea that I'm putting out to somehow explain away the ire directed at Rosberg from his own team, or perhaps I missed the point and Mercedes are just being to the point on the way they feel about the battle and they'll move on very quickly. In other words, there may be more to all this than meets the eye or far less. I don't know yet.

Excellent post ! All I will say is Mercedes need Mr Brawn back .

[MarkG]

I wonder what bike racers think about all this stuff with F1 nowadays.
They must laugh at all the handbag stuff.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Intriguingly, however, I must put something out there for you: could it just be possible that Rosberg did chuck it at the scenery on purpose in Monte-Carlo and that Mercedes know he did, given Hamilton's response to Lee McKenzie when asked if this was worse than Monaco, pointing out that nothing could be? This certainly implies that Hamilton is still insinuating culpability on Rosberg's part? Could Mercedes know this but not be willing to admit it publiclly?

There you go - that last part is just a hypothesis and not a full-blown conspiracy theory, but it's just an idea that I'm putting out to somehow explain away the ire directed at Rosberg from his own team, or perhaps I missed the point and Mercedes are just being to the point on the way they feel about the battle and they'll move on very quickly. In other words, there may be more to all this than meets the eye or far less. I don't know yet.

I refer you to my sig below.

[garcon]

There should be a P.S. to that, saying, "You can never eliminate incompetence."

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by MarkG

Alonso fan actually. (who, incidentally, didn't really have a great race after his dicing with Magnusson).

Also a "racing" fan, and I'll call it how I see it, not as how a "fanboy" sees it.

Rosberg did everything right, until the point he should have backed out of it, but didn't. Why he didn't, I don't know. If it was to prove how "tough" he is now, it was pretty stupid. Seemed to me he actually tried to avoid the rear of Hamilton's car but just misjudged it. It's only because Hamilton was put out of contention that forums have had a meltdown, with either fanboys getting all upset, or because of race fans being deprived of a race long scrap for first place between the two, which is what would have happened if there hadn't been a clumsy incident.
Although Rosberg is showing great skills this year to make this intra-team battle so close, I don't think he quite has the racecraft of Hamilton or Alonso, and as we now see this year, Ricciardo too, who is outstanding.

Hope you are not calling me a "fanboy", I prefer "racing" fan, and also ex "racing" driver if you want to be really picky. I agree that NR's move was stupid, and cost either him or LH the win, and probably a Merc 1:2.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by JamesH

and probably a Merc 1:2.

By probably, you mean certainly!

[MarkG]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Hope you are not calling me a "fanboy", I prefer "racing" fan, and also ex "racing" driver if you want to be really picky. I agree that NR's move was stupid, and cost either him or LH the win, and probably a Merc 1:2.

Nope, not calling you a fanboy, sorry if it appeared that way. It was meaning fanboys in general, there are plenty on forums as you know. By fanboy, I mean of course a fan of a particular driver but to the point he can't be rational.

I raced also, so like you, I think I'm pretty good at judging what I see on track.