F1 season 2016

[slepy]

But we found out so much gossip in the down time, got to see drivers in random garages and interacting in ways we dont normally see,
I agree some of the delays could have been shortened, but I thought Martin, David and Ted did a great job of filling in the blanks,

And the racing was some of the best you will see.

If you think that good racing is drivers sitting in a garage or crashing on straight because of aquaplaning, then yes it was a good race. Now go watch WEC or BTCC races next year and compare with what you've seen yesterday.


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[Bugeye_bob]

If you think that good racing is drivers sitting in a garage or crashing on straight because of aquaplaning, then yes it was a good race. Now go watch WEC or BTCC races next year and compare with what you've seen yesterday.

But trying to compare tin top and closed wheel V open cockpit and open wheeled racing is like trying to compare Men v Women, same species but certainly not the same,

If we are looking for ultimate pilots ( car or bike) then the Moto GP riders have the largest skill sack, imo.

 

[slepy]

But trying to compare tin top and closed wheel V open cockpit and open wheeled racing is like trying to compare Men v Women, same species but certainly not the same.

Yes, different forms of racing, but however you look at it, it is wrong. If team like ferrari spends half a billion USD a year on development and struggle to win a race all season, then how do teams with 1/5 of this budget compare and how can there ever be any competition at the top?


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[martin1984]

If it wasnt for verstappen yesterdays race would have been as intresting as the weather Sh~t hes the future of F1 as for Hamilton im finding it hard to see a world champ as the merc cars are by far the best this season and when your qualifing pole or second and you get out ahead theres no real race.

 

[jojo]

Had it in him? I don't think there would have been a second of doubt in his mind. Whether he would have had success...??

His determination and commitment to get ahead of Perez was amajonaysing...

I meant if he was quick enough to give Lewis a run for his money, or course he was always going to have a go! But Lewis was well in his comfort zone, without even breaking a sweat! He did just enough to win!

 

[Ghost]

Would have been interesting to see if Max had it in him to have a go at Lewis?

I cannot remember what lap Max overtook Nico, but just after that Lewis did pull away from Max a little before the next safety car.
I do think Lewis could have gone faster if pushed, but Nico was never a threat to him.

 

[jojo]

I cannot remember what lap Max overtook Nico, but just after that Lewis did pull away from Max a little before the next safety car.
I do think Lewis could have gone faster if pushed, but Nico was never a threat to him.

Precisely what I was thinking! Even though Max got the fastest lap of the race, he was 2s faster than anyone else I think?

 

[desertstorm]

Really bad strategy call from Red bull to bring Max in and change his tyres especially as the weather forecast was for a heavier period of rain to come. Even Lewis said to Max when they were talking after the race " why did you pit you had second place there".
But if they hadn't pitted him it would have denied us that stunning drive to come back through the field.
Rosberg was always driving for the points and when Verstappen went up the inside there was always a good chance he was going to back out of it. Even when Max nearly binned it Rosberg looked tentative and not fully committed when he went for the possible overtake.
Lewis would have been a different kettle of fish though. He was showing his class and wasn't going to give up first place without a real fight.
At the restarts you could see Rosberg deliberately holding back to make a bit of a gap between himself and Hamilton so he wasn't so much in the spray. He wasn't driving for the win.

 

[45bvtc]

Really bad strategy call from Red bull to bring Max in and change his tyres especially as the weather forecast was for a heavier period of rain to come. Even Lewis said to Max when they were talking after the race " why did you pit you had second place there".

Hamilton got that wrong! He should have said "why did you pit you had FIRST place there."

 

[45bvtc]

I cannot remember what lap Max overtook Nico, but just after that Lewis did pull away from Max a little before the next safety car.
I do think Lewis could have gone faster if pushed, but Nico was never a threat to him.

But Nico doesn't need to be a "threat" to Hamilton, Spooky, as it's Hamilton that's STILL trailing in the points...

Not to worry mind as since Barcelona everyone in Daimler Benz, not to mention Bernie, has been assisting Hamilton - and then Charlie Whiting came on board in Mexico with 3-rolling starts that ensured everyone else had to WAIT until Hamilton did his thing. Give me a break here....

Thant said CREDIT to ALL of the drivers competing in Brazil but do try and remember there was only one driver with a CLEAR view and NOT driving behind another F1 car throwing buckets of water into the air; I know this is not a 'clear' advantage but maybe it was an advantage not shared by others.

For me Verstappen was the true rain-master here and demonstrated skills I rarely if ever seen from ANY of the others currently performing in F1 and is 100% alongside Senna and Schumacher; no one else for me has ever come close.

 

[lfcrule1972]

Hamilton 2008 at Silverstone was as good, and he won the race, maybe you forgot that one ? I also believe he would have held Verstappen off in the rain as well...

 

[Scottyg]

Future F1 kids on Ch4 at 7pm Sunday.

 

[SteveMcB]

Whether you like him or not Hamilton is a real racer, maybe not quite so 'head band too tight kamikaze' committed as Senna or Schumacher, but sublime none the less. Verstappen has the potential to be even better

 

[lfcrule1972]

I'd agree with that Stevieb2905

 

[Ghost]

 

[Ghost]

Go Lewis !!

 

[RS3copilot]

 

[45bvtc]

Mercedes 4th and 5th in practice 3 and both drivers complaining of brake issues - maybe able to stay awake through this one...

 

[desertstorm]

Great driving from Hamilton. If Rosberg wants to win this world championship he needs to pass Hamilton. He might even decide to have an accident maybe and take Lewis out.

 

[slepy]

Just as I thought. Rosberg comfortable to finish second and didn't try engaging with Lewis. That said, some good watching the last laps.


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[jojo]

I must admit the last 7-10 laps was intense, even though nothing materialised with the plan! We all wanted something to happen though!! I still think if Nico thought he had the quicker car, he should have at least tried a lung to boost his credentials as the reigning world champion!

 

[Alex C]

But Nico doesn't need to be a "threat" to Hamilton, Spooky, as it's Hamilton that's STILL trailing in the points...

Not to worry mind as since Barcelona everyone in Daimler Benz, not to mention Bernie, has been assisting Hamilton - and then Charlie Whiting came on board in Mexico with 3-rolling starts that ensured everyone else had to WAIT until Hamilton did his thing. Give me a break here....

Thant said CREDIT to ALL of the drivers competing in Brazil but do try and remember there was only one driver with a CLEAR view and NOT driving behind another F1 car throwing buckets of water into the air; I know this is not a 'clear' advantage but maybe it was an advantage not shared by others.

For me Verstappen was the true rain-master here and demonstrated skills I rarely if ever seen from ANY of the others currently performing in F1 and is 100% alongside Senna and Schumacher; no one else for me has ever come close.

pretty transparent

i seem to remember Hamilton pulling up to 18s on Rosberg; I'm not sure how long water hangs in the air but im fairly confident at assuming 18s is pushing it. Don't remember Rosberg pulling 18s in the wet a Monaco either; too busy making sure his arm bands weren't punctured

 

[desertstorm]

Lewis sounded almost like he wasn't going to be racing for Mercedes next year the way he was talking. I don't know whether it was his disapointment at not winning the title, or just looking back at what he had done with the team as a positive. But I was getting the idea he might not be with Mercedes next year.
Would have like to have been a fly on the wall in the office when Toto and Lewis had a conversation about why he did what he did. I l know what I would have been saying, you put me in that position by giving me sub standard faulty equipment. If I hadn't have suffered those engine failures it never would have happened. End of.

 

[Bugeye_bob]

The story that he said he wouldn't race for Merc AMG F1 after Spain is interesting.

 

[45bvtc]

Any two drivers in the 2016 F1 field would have come first and second in the Drivers championship this year, any two, the Mercedes W07 was that good: Mercedes didn't need a Rosberg and for sure didn't need a Hamilton.

 

[AndyT306]

Fair play to Nico, don't know why so many people are saying he doesn't deserve the championship, he scored the most points end of story! He is now F1 champion nothing will change that!

Lewis has had a bad share of luck, but if he'd beaten Nico every race he didn't, he would have won, simple - he had a very poor start and was just lucky that the car was good enough to keep him in contention.

If the situation was reversed in Abu Dhabi and Lewis had followed Nico round taking what he needed to win; everyone would be saying he was a legend - really sick of the slant the media put on everything to do with Hamilton.

As for the conspiracy theories, I dont believe any of it for a second; the team wants to win, they wouldn't disadvantage their own drivers, if they were that bothered about having a German champion they would have manufactured one last season or the season before when arguably the competition was a lot easier to beat.

 

[jojo]

Fair play to Nico, don't know why so many people are saying he doesn't deserve the championship, he scored the most points end of story! He is now F1 champion nothing will change that!

Lewis has had a bad share of luck, but if he'd beaten Nico every race he didn't, he would have won, simple - he had a very poor start and was just lucky that the car was good enough to keep him in contention.

If the situation was reversed in Abu Dhabi and Lewis had followed Nico round taking what he needed to win; everyone would be saying he was a legend - really sick of the slant the media put on everything to do with Hamilton.

As for the conspiracy theories, I dont believe any of it for a second; the team wants to win, they wouldn't disadvantage their own drivers, if they were that bothered about having a German champion they would have manufactured one last season or the season before when arguably the competition was a lot easier to beat.

Have you looked at the stats between the 2 over this season? Lewis has won more races, he has more poles, he's basically fast! I'm not suggesting Mercedes has deliberately compromised Lewis, where I have done was meant in a joking manor. But reliability has cost Lewis the championship(plus the odd crap start or two lol)!
Hats off to Nico for winning the Championship! He did what he had to do to secure it, but it still begs the question? Is he a worthy winner? From a points point of view, or course he is, he has more points, but from a viewers point of view, he's just not type of top pedigree/elite driver we expect a champion to be... in my opinion.

Saying that, if Leicester can win the premiership, whos to say Nico shouldn't be reigning world champion?!

On another note, Mercedes apparently might give Lewis the sack! Is that even a possibility? Though not everyone's cup of tea, Lewis is the most marketable F1 driver at is moment in time! They still bagged the Constructors championship by a country mile, and still finished 1st and 2nd in the final race!

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Ozmosis]

As you say Jojo, cannot take anything away from Nico for winning the title. He did what he needed to do. Whether he has that racer's edge is the question, and his apparent lack of fight is what gives us the impression he is not such a worthy Champ... But he is not alone in this category, and he has the best car so... Plus he is obviously not slow.

As for Lewis, only the British media seem to be stating about the potential for sacking/suspension. Other sites I have been looking at say the Mercedes will "come down hard" on him for disobeying the orders, (which went completely against what Mr Wolff was saying before the race anyway, as in they would not interfere!).

I guess for me the big thing is that I didn't really want either of them to win. Seems with the reliability issues and the dominance once again, the championship fight wasn't what we, the fans, want. I want to see some other teams in the fight. Hopefully next season will give us something. But who knows. We know Red Bull are good at aero, so come on Mr Newey.... Do it!!

 

[desertstorm]

If he hadn't won the race then I think it may be a different story for Lewis. I really can't see them doing too much too him. Lewis had that race under control, What he did proves he is a racer, like all the best multi world championship winning drivers Senna, Prost , Schumacher etc they do what it takes to win. He made that race really exciting for the last 7-8 laps.
I go back to what I said earlier he actually sounded to me like he was finished with Mercedes. Maybe If they decide to sanction him either he will retire or leave the team, take a sabbatical year out, and take Raikonnens seat at Ferrari in 2018 .
#lewistoferrari

 

[AndyT306]

I agree Hamilton is the better driver, I dislike him as a person though, enough that I was pleased a German is world champion over him!

Will he be sacked? Highly unlikely, he is still the best option for Mercedes, and they would need a super tight case to get out of his contract without penalty

He did make mistakes this year with bad starts and crashing into Nico in Spain, he's fast, but all season he's struggled to perform if not in the lead - I know the aero on the cars isn't condusive for overtaking; but it hasn't stopped it completely, Lewis struggled to overtake Nico when behind him - I hope next year will change things, but when you have a 3 time world champion trying to plan his overtakes using a pit stop, I lose interest, it's not racing

 

[45bvtc]

I agree Hamilton is the better driver, I dislike him as a person though, enough that I was pleased a German is world champion over him!

Will he be sacked? Highly unlikely, he is still the best option for Mercedes, and they would need a super tight case to get out of his contract without penalty

He did make mistakes this year with bad starts and crashing into Nico in Spain, he's fast, but all season he's struggled to perform if not in the lead - I know the aero on the cars isn't condusive for overtaking; but it hasn't stopped it completely, Lewis struggled to overtake Nico when behind him - I hope next year will change things, but when you have a 3 time world champion trying to plan his overtakes using a pit stop, I lose interest, it's not racing

SNAP!!! I'm 100% with you, Andy.

Hamilton will either win it, crash it, or break it and I'm not sure that's good enough.

Don't sack him but swap him with Pascal Wehrlein who after all is the Mercedes development driver and is certainly as quick in a Mercedes W07 as the current pairing.

 

[C39KER]

I don't understand why it's come down to sacking Hamilton when Nico had an handful of dodgy antics last year. He was never sanctioned for it.

And to top it off the F1 back office was also trying to not let Hamilton win with that ****** double points foolishness.

Why should Hamilton ride off into the sunset when they is a opportunity to win the Championship. If he did the media will still have something to say that's why sometime you have to do what you know feels right.

Also how is it that 8 Mercedes engines in F1 and your top engines inherits all the problems that's sounds a bit odd to me...without his breakdowns and gearbox penalties he would have won the Championship three races ago.

Personally I think he would be better off an Red bull Max is an out right racer so they will be a good match up.


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[Mark_86]

I'm not a huge Hamilton fan, but I support him over Nico, just because he's more about the pure racing in my opinion. I also don't think he did anything wrong in backing Nico into Seb & Max; it's what Champions do and it's happened throughout F1 history, in fact worse.

Interesting to note that on Autosport today, Hamilton is testing the new 2017 tyres and has stopped for the afternoon session after 'not feeling well'. Something is going on in that Merc camp and I think it's Lewis trying to get his own way. You can kind of understand why Mclaren kept him on a short leash.

 

[Bugeye_bob]

Merc cant sack Lewis, there might be rain next season, and Nico cant drive in the wet.

 

[45bvtc]

F1 is a Constructors championship plain and simple and that's what pays the money at the end of the day and gets the cars delivered around this little world of ours.

The drivers just turn up and drive the cars, well some do anyway.

Money is distributed to constructor/entrants and not to grumpy drivers who can't get a clean start due to the wrong gloves, Lewis; though Hamilton did improve once he's copied the stitching in the gloves Rosberg helped develop.

And remember that in Monaco 2016 Hamiton couldn't get passed Rosberg in the race; it was just that Rosberg was asked by the "TEAM" to allow Hamilton to go past and Rosberg complied: I have been following this stuff for 46-years now ever since my first Lotus arrived.

Does it matter? No, not really.

The best CARS won. The best drivers didn't. And ALWAYS will be so. Get over it.

NALF (Not A Lewis Fan) in case anyone's wondering...

 

[Ozmosis]

F1 is a Constructors championship plain and simple and that's what pays the money at the end of the day and gets the cars delivered around this little world of ours.

The drivers just turn up and drive the cars, well some do anyway.

Money is distributed to constructor/entrants and not to grumpy drivers who can't get a clean start due to the wrong gloves, Lewis; though Hamilton did improve once he's copied the stitching in the gloves Rosberg helped develop.

And remember that in Monaco 2016 Hamiton couldn't get passed Rosberg in the race; it was just that Rosberg was asked by the "TEAM" to allow Hamilton to go past and Rosberg complied: I have been following this stuff for 46-years now ever since my first Lotus arrived.

Does it matter? No, not really.

The best CARS won. The best drivers didn't. And ALWAYS will be so. Get over it.

NALF (Not A Lewis Fan) in case anyone's wondering...

Apart from:

Olivier Panis in a wet Monaco
Schumacher in his first Ferrari at a wet Barcelona

I jest, of course these are examples of individual races.

Even the great Mr Schumacher said it was the car...

 

[Ghost]

Watch the first 2 mins of this..
I don't watch the notebook because I think Ted's so arrogant, but this is funny & shows what Button thinks of Nico & Lewis

 

[C39KER]

Fair play to Nico, don't know why so many people are saying he doesn't deserve the championship, he scored the most points end of story! He is now F1 champion nothing will change that!

Lewis has had a bad share of luck, but if he'd beaten Nico every race he didn't, he would have won, simple - he had a very poor start and was just lucky that the car was good enough to keep him in contention.

If the situation was reversed in Abu Dhabi and Lewis had followed Nico round taking what he needed to win; everyone would be saying he was a legend - really sick of the slant the media put on everything to do with Hamilton.

As for the conspiracy theories, I dont believe any of it for a second; the team wants to win, they wouldn't disadvantage their own drivers, if they were that bothered about having a German champion they would have manufactured one last season or the season before when arguably the competition was a lot easier to beat.

Let's look at the facts based on the points finishes...Lewis finished 5 points behind Nico even with his so call bad starts and as he said, he has done the same thing he always does at the start but hey lets put that aside for now.

The team made 3 mistakes that cost lewis 75 points ( 25 for sure because they were only a few laps left when his engine went he would have still won and retained his championship and the other two races let stay that he would have finished 3rd that would have still been enough points to win this 3 races.

8 Mercedes engine on the grid and 1 keeps inheriting all the problems and it'sone of your tops engines " Oh come on that's some really BS". However, you look at it's the team that cost him his 4 title.

 

[Bugeye_bob]

If the rules changed and the Teams were only allowed one driver, for your own team who would you employ? Mr Hamilton or Mr Rosberg,
Driving and sponsor wise I know who I would sign all day long,
People say they don`t like this or that driver, I like F1, in my eyes it is the drivers like Hamilton, Ricciardo, Vettel and Verstappen that make it worth watching,
If it was a grid of Rosberg`s I really think we(F1) would be in trouble,

A lot is being made of Hamilton not driving as fast as he could, but the new kid on the block, the Mighty Max, did the same thing, no one said anything as Nico got passed in the end, but Max was doing the exact same thing, so the same tactics, but not one journalist has mentioned he was unsporting, just saying.

 

[AndyT306]

Let's look at the facts based on the points finishes...Lewis finished 5 points behind Nico even with his so call bad starts and as he said, he has done the same thing he always does at the start but hey lets put that aside for now.

The team made 3 mistakes that cost lewis 75 points ( 25 for sure because they were only a few laps left when his engine went he would have still won and retained his championship and the other two races let stay that he would have finished 3rd that would have still been enough points to win this 3 races.

8 Mercedes engine on the grid and 1 keeps inheriting all the problems and it'sone of your tops engines " Oh come on that's some really BS". However, you look at it's the team that cost him his 4 title.

It's called bad luck, even the sky fan boys admit that it could be Lewis' driving style that caused same failures

If he hadn't exploited a loop hole in he rules to get more power plants which was subsequently closed he wouldn't have had a chance in hell, should he have won a championship by effectively cheating?

If the team didn't want him to win championships he wouldn't have won the last 2

And don't discount the development Nico put into the car before Lewis even joined the team - from 3 years of Mercedes being untouchable, Nico deserved something, he isn't faster than Lewis everytime out, but he can still trump him on occasion without being able to do that he wouldn't have won