Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff responded to fans’ questions about the team’s Monaco Grand Prix strategy which cost Lewis Hamilton a likely victory in the race.
Wolff shed new light on how the disputed decision was taken and rubbished suggestions that the team had deliberately spoiled Hamilton’s race.
Here’s a selection of what Wolff had to say.
Why was the decision to pit Hamilton made in the first place?
“We believed we could make a free stop to cover risk of cars behind on the super-soft. Unfortunately our data was wrong.”
Was there input from Hamilton on whether to stop or not? The post-race interview appeared to suggest there was.
“We told him to stay out and Lewis said “not good” and that the tyres had lost temperature.
“We had one second to react and, combined with our wrong timing data, we made the mistake of calling him in.”
Track position is king so why oh why did anyone think pitting Lewis was a good idea?
“Under the Safety Car you need a 12 second gap to maintain position. Our system showed us that we had that gap.”
Did you not think you should have told Hamilton that Rosberg and Vettel had not pitted? that would have calmed him.
“Vettel still had an opportunity to stop as he had not caught the Safety Car.”
Why didn’t you tell Rosberg to back off to into the first corner when Hamilton was coming out to get him past Vettel?
“Because the Sporting Regulations say you cannot drive “unnecessarily slowly” behind the Safety Car.”
Did the [Virtual Safety Car] have an impact on the mis-judgement?
“No. The decision was made one lap later.”
Why were the guys in the pit lane if there was no intention to pit thus bluffing your team mate?
“You put the guys out sometimes to cover a potential late call.”
Do you need to take a more human approach to strategy as everyone watching Monaco knew you made wrong call before you.
“You need the right balance between data and gut feeling. Our tools told us we had the gap but they were wrong.”
Do you think that sometimes you can have too many people involved in the decision process, hence the confusion?
“We have a strict radio protocol and structure how our decisions are made. This is how we’ve won so many races.”
Why doesn’t Lewis and Nico have their own strategist? Surely the team would get on even better with their own?
“Last year proved that we allow our drivers to have a fair and equal fight. Having one strategist allows this.”
If Hamilton passed Vettel would you have asked Rosberg to let Hamilton pass?
“Very good question. It would have been a very tough call to make.”
What were your key findings in the debriefs since and how will you look to improve strategically for the next races?
“Improve software, better communication and a spice more common sense.”
“Just to make one thing clear, we’re right in the middle of this and just as frustrated about our mistake as many of you! This is our life, we eat, breathe, sleep F1.”
Was Rosberg a bit sheepish in the debrief after? Bet he couldn’t believe his luck!
Nico showed great sportsmanship and said to the team he could feel their frustration.
Can you ever rebuild total trust with Hamilton and the team, after Monaco debacle, lost him the win?
“Trust is a key value within our team. One race doesn’t tip that over.”
Did anyone [lose] their job on Sunday?
“Absolutely not. We’re a world championship team and we are not playing a blame game based on a single race.”
Are you happy with the way the team has handled the aftermath of the situation on Sunday?
“We’re not happy about the situation itself & therefore there was no such thing as happiness about that incident.”
Was that deliberate mistake to make the race towards championship interesting?
“Would we ever do this to the guy leading the championship with Ferrari a real threat to us? Answer: No.”
How do Mercedes AMG feel about the rumours that Hamilton was purposely to have a three-time winner on the team?
“Whoever would start such rumours needs their head examined.”
Are you bored of your “fans” asking stupid questions about “sabotage” when it was clearly just a wrong decision in the heat of the race?
“Criticism is OK but we have no respect for dumb comments or abuse.”
Good intentions aside, how do you manage the conflict of interests within the team? Do you understand fans’ concern?
“When two drivers fight for the championship, there is intense competition. We manage it transparently with them.”
lf Hamilton now loses the championship by 10 points or less how will this look/be dealt with?
“It would not look good but this is motor racing. Lewis has our 100% support.”
2015 Monaco Grand Prix
- Mercedes urged Hamilton not to skip Monaco podium after losing race
- New audio reveals Hamilton’s Monaco strategy role
- Verstappen rebuffs Massa criticism over Monaco crash
- Hamilton “couldn’t care less” about Monaco
- ‘Moral victor’ Hamilton wins Driver of the Weekend
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
26th May 2015, 19:28
Credit has to be given to Mercedes here. They’ve not had the best weekend, but within 3 days they have presented their views at a senior level to the fans on all levels. I personally just see this as a mistake (Human error), but Mercedes want to explain themselves.
People want F1 to be more accessible. I think Mercedes are leading the way at the moment..
Tiago (@bypo)
26th May 2015, 20:12
Period. ;)
iFelix (@ifelix)
26th May 2015, 20:14
Agreed. A very good damage limitation (not meant negatively in any way).
Time to move on
bull mello (@bullmello)
26th May 2015, 21:07
Toto Wolff is doing a great job for Mercedes, for his team, for the fans and for F1. It is easy to appear to be a great leader when you have so much success. The true measure comes when there is adversity and controversy. He has handled an extremely difficult situation on many levels directly, honestly and head on. Secrecy and procrastination tend to fuel rumors and conspiracy theories. He has put out the fire with simple direct answers. I really respect him and how he dealt with this.He is a credit to his team and to the sport.
DaveD (@daved)
26th May 2015, 21:39
@bullmello
You know, that is a great point that we’ve been overlooking here. How often do you see the folks at the top mishandle a situation. Toto got out in front of this in stark contrast to say…Ron Dennis and Alonso’s wreck in testing this year. And he’s been steady in his messaging, took blame as a team and been the calm that deflected much of the storm.
Marlo Stanfield (@mstanfield)
27th May 2015, 6:23
Do you think that sometimes you can have too many people involved in the decision process, hence the confusion?
“We have a strict radio protocol and structure how our decisions are made. This is how we’ve won so many races.”
Whilst Toto is doing a great job being quite transparent and honest with the media and fans I cant help but disagree with some of his answers, mainly the answer Iv’e highlighted.
Mercedes have “won so many races” since the start of last year quite simply because of their huge speed advantage to the rest of the field.
I cannot recall a race during this period where there have gained places or one a race due to cunning strategy. Red Bull have done this in Hungary and Spa of last year where they still had to think very quickly on their feet in order to win those races.
Ferrari have done the same this year at multiple races, Malaysia and Bahrain. Winning a race and gaining a place due to quick thinking and taking a slight gamble.
Im certain Hamilton could have won the Hungarian Grand Prix last year had the Mercedes team brought him in for a final pitstop 1 lap before Rosberg whilst Lewis was ahead.
Another occasion was pitting Hamilton whilst he was in front of Vettel in Malaysia losing him what could have been a win.
My point being I cant recall a race in the past 18 months whereby Mercedes, chief strategist or their strategy-by-committee team have made a call that has gained their drivers any positions without it being down to the raw pace of the W05/06.
elio (@elio)
27th May 2015, 13:16
+1
AndrewW
29th May 2015, 12:09
To the final point you make: They have not been sufficiently tested to justify a conclusion here
John H (@john-h)
27th May 2015, 8:38
+1
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
26th May 2015, 21:19
I agree that credit should be given to Mercedes for standing out front and taking the slings and arrows from the media and fans.
But come on. We need better software! You don’t have software that gives you the tire temps of your cars? Lewis says his tire temps are bad, hey they’re the same as Nico’s so stay out, simple. It’s Monaco so in reality he was only battling Nico and were the team really going to let Nico try to get by in Monaco and risk both cars?
In my opinion they where either trying to be cute or they panicked.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
26th May 2015, 21:49
We need better tyres.
BasCB (@bascb)
27th May 2015, 6:07
As Hamilton was driving slowly behind the SC by that time, its quite possible that his temperatures were significantly further down @velocityboy. Monaco is not great for telemetry because the buildings, landscape and the tunnel tend to mess with both that and with the GPS signal.
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
27th May 2015, 14:03
@bascb – there is no reliable GPS signal for the Monaco GP. There are 20 “on-track sensors” – so it seems that the car position information is an educated guess in between the sensors, particularly inaccurate when under a safety car or double-yellows and speeds vary unusually.
(I’ve just tried to verify this info but cannot find anything to back it up – I think it was verbal info during BBC coverage of the Monaco GP).
Interestingly, I did find some references to how inaccurate GPS can be and how “slow” it is to update (20 times a second is slow in F1). I read that “optical sensors” are preferred for high accuracy and high frequency speed testing – but again, there wasn’t a lot of explanation.
I wonder if any of the F1 Fanatics know about F1-style geolocation sensing?
ColdFly F1 (@)
26th May 2015, 21:39
I’m impressed as well. Very good public damage control.
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
26th May 2015, 22:06
I LOL’ed at the suggestion that Ferrari are a “real threat” to Mercedes in this championship. Mercedes have an 84-point lead in the constructors’ championship after just six races, and a 28-point lead in the drivers’ championship — and that’s even *after* you consider the rare rookie mistake from Mercedes.
Merc could, quite literally, let one or other driver sit the next three races out and they’d still be leading the constructors’ championship by nine points when he returned. And even in the drivers’ championship, they could let Lewis skip a weekend and return with a three point lead. And that’s after less than a third of the season has gone by.
It’s hilarious that we’re still pretending that there’s any real challenge here. Mercedes have already sealed this championship, just as they did last year. We knew that would be the case before the year started, and it was pretty obvious to anybody paying much attention that they’d win this year even before *last* year started, barring a significant change of the rules or the most spectacular act of god.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
26th May 2015, 22:30
@gweilo8888
28 points is about 11 points in old money, and considering that Vettel appears to have #1 status at Ferrari (which Hamilton doesn’t have), this is far from over. Many drivers in the past have made a comeback from far greater deficiencies than 11 points.
If Ferrari can get on terms with Mercedes, then Vettel will win the WDC, not necessarily because he is a better driver, but because Ferrari’s pitwall is far superior to that of Mercedes.
We saw that in Malaysia. The only race of the season where Ferrari was equally fast as Mercedes. Result? Merc got schooled on strategy alone.
gogo
26th May 2015, 23:31
“Vettel appears to have #1 status at Ferrari (which Hamilton doesn’t have)”
LOL you are funny!
Nase (@)
27th May 2015, 13:56
Well, he’s effectively #2-ing himself by being off the pace whenever it counts.
JohnBt (@johnbt)
27th May 2015, 2:16
Since when did you follow F1? 3 year deal worth 90 million and he’s no.2? His fans are just as fragile and so overly sensitive like little girls, lol.
Karthik Mohan
27th May 2015, 3:11
@JohnBT… And do you happen to realize that there is another thing called driver equality? Which clearly isn’t present at ferrari? Never has and never will. That’s what Kingshark meant by saying Hamilton didn’t have the number one status like vettel does. Talk about being sensitive little girls!
Nase (@)
27th May 2015, 17:43
@ Karthik:
That’s nonsense. There are good examples for equal treatment at Ferrari in recent years. In 2006, Massa was allowed to finish ahead of Schumacher on a few occasions. In 2007, Räikkönen and Massa were racing freely until the team awarded Räikkönen #1 status after the Italian GP because he was slightly ahead in the battle, and because this was their only chance to get the title.
Same situation in 2008, when Räikkönen was allowed to race freely against Massa at least as late as the Belgian GP. Team orders were applied exactly once, during the Chinese GP. It is true that Räikkönen was nowhere to be seen during the second half of the 2008 season, but that wasn’t Ferrari’s fault. They would’ve loved him to steal points from Hamilton, just like Massa stole quite a few points from the McLarens in 2007, but he was too far off the pace.
In 2009, there was free racing again between Massa and Räikkönen until the former was injured. After that, neither Badoer nor Fisichella were close enough to Räikkönen to tell if they would’ve had equal treatment.
From 2010 to at least 2012, there were quite a few instances of obvious #2 treatment for Massa, I’ll give you that.
In 2014, there was not a single trace of evidence that both drivers weren’t treated equally. Which isn’t surprising, given the fact that Ferrari weren’t competitive and thus had no reason to put all their eggs in one basket. Alonso and Räikkönen were allowed to race freely, even though they seldom met on the track.
This year, again no sign of inequal treatment. The Bahrain GP provides enough evidence by itself to come to this conclusion.
Also, I would like you to answer me one question:
How could Ferrari benefit from preventing one of their drivers from making the most of his car’s potential? I fail to see how anyone at Ferrari could rejoice at the sight of Räikkönen finishing behind a Williams or the odd Red Bull.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
27th May 2015, 21:18
@nase
Oh yes, the only times Massa was allowed to finish ahead of Schumacher was Turkey (where Schumi got stuck behind Alonso, so it was within the teams’ best interest for Massa to win), and Brazil (where Schumi got a puncture). When things didn’t go wrong for Schumacher, Massa moved over for him on more than one occasion (Indianapolis, Japan).
And Raikkonen was ahead by only 5 points when Ferrari decided to give him #1 status, we’re only 6 races into the season and Vettel already has a much bigger gap than that over Raikkonen. Hence, Vettel is probably already #1 driver.
That’s because when neither of your drivers are anywhere near Brawn or in the WDC battle, giving anyone a #1 status is rather pointless.
@hotbottoms
If Ferrari come close enough to Mercedes in performance, Raikkonen will be used as #2 gunner just like he was in 2008. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he won’t get equal equipment, but rather that Vettel will be the primary focus of the team.
@gweilo8888
Apart from the fact that Ferrari don’t have an engine performance deficit at all, let alone a huge one.
http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/display/10206
Ferrari are almost always as fast or faster than Mercedes down the straights this year. The real difference between the two lies in aero, certainly not something that can’t be fixed.
evered7 (@evered7)
27th May 2015, 7:14
How did we come to the conclusion that Vettel is #1? He is the #1 driver based on pace since he has beaten Kimi in all qualifying sessions and races barring the Bahrain one.
But if Ferrari manage to catch up to Mercedes and if they want to do something credible this season other than finishing best of the rest, it is better to back Vettel as he seems to be able to do the job in qualifying and the race as well as compared to Kimi turning it up only in the races.
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
27th May 2015, 9:51
@kingshark
What makes you think so? I’m pretty sure that if Räikkönen felt like he wasn’t getting equal treatment, he’d say so.
Nase (@)
27th May 2015, 14:05
In fact, that’s a no-brainer. Why on earth would Ferrari slow Räikkönen down? They’re rich enough to equip both cars with the best parts available. They’re fighting for P2 in the costructors’ championship and trying to beat Mercedes as often as possible.
Giving one driver a worse car wouldn’t help them in any way. They need their two cars to be as fast as possible, because that way, they can gather many points and, in a situation like 2007, use team orders to give one of their drivers more points for the championship while the other driver finishes just behind him to take away as many points as possible from everyone else.
In short: Just like in 2014, Räikkönen isn’t being disadvantaged by his team, because there is not a single reason on earth for Ferrari to do so. If he’s consistently losing out to Vettel, it’s because his perfomance is mediocre at best.
Marlo Stanfield (@mstanfield)
27th May 2015, 13:14
+1
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
27th May 2015, 14:31
Whether or not he is #1, he deserves it on merit. So does Hamilton.
Let’s be honest Mercedes don’t have to worry about that anyway as Rosberg is clearly #2 anyway.
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
27th May 2015, 17:45
Name a single driver who has made a comeback despite a huge engine performance deficit that the regulations prevent rivals from addressing.
You can’t, because there isn’t one.
BasCB (@bascb)
27th May 2015, 6:09
Just look at the amount of points Vettel raked in in the second part of the season in 2012 and you must admit, that while Mercedes currently looks unbeatable, its far too early to count on it for sure @gweilo8888
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
27th May 2015, 17:44
No, I must not. I knew before last year’s season even started that Merc had won it. I knew the same this year.
Tell you what, I’ll do you a deal. If anybody other than Merc wins either championship, I promise to come back here and eat major humble pie — but you have to promise to do the same should Merc win both championships. Deal?
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Alex machina (@smartrip)
26th May 2015, 19:31
I think Nico handled an awkward situation really well. Lewis is understandably disappointed but he still comes off as childish in a lot of his comments / actions.
Bob Steele (@bobwhosaysni)
26th May 2015, 19:39
What did Hamilton do after this incident that you could describe as childish?! I thought he was incredibly restrained and totally sportsmanlike. I don’t see how anyone could criticise any comment or action after the race, let alone call his actions childish!
Markku Hänninen (@hmmh)
26th May 2015, 19:47
Hamilton didn’t show up for the team photo though.
Alex machina (@smartrip)
26th May 2015, 19:49
Normally you say something congratulating the team podiums, Nico’s win, stick around for the team picture, etc. Lewis barely did any of that. He gets snappy on the radio when he realized the race is lost. Same thing happened in Monaco last year. He stopped responding, said there was an “issue” with his eye.
altitude2k
26th May 2015, 19:53
He congratulated both of them, and said how good a job the team had done this year on the podium. In the wake of the event how can you say this was anything other than dignified.
Good grief…
Polo (@polo)
26th May 2015, 22:14
@smartrip This is completely different to simply losing a race because you didn’t do enough job. In Spain, Hamilton did everything you described like attending the team photograph etc., he wasn’t grumpy or anything – because he knew he didn’t do the job in qualifying and therefore he didn’t feel like it was taken away from him, he just wasn’t good enough on the day.
Monaco was completely different and absolutely heartbreaking for him, a) because it’s Monaco and b) because of the circumstances of how he lost. I don’t think you can really understand how much this meant to him, considering the prestige of Monaco and how special he considers the race, since his idol Senna had so much success there. Hamilton has never really had much success there despite how much it means to him, so winning a race here would be very important to him. He talked of how he had spent hours studying how to be better here before the race. He did everything right, great practice and qualifying, dominated the race. Then something as trivial as this takes it away from him.
Have you ever had that deflated feeling where something so horrible has happened you can barely stand and just want to sit down and be alone with your thoughts? I imagine that’s how Hamilton felt when he was slowly getting out of his car. I was actually very impressed with how he didn’t seem angry at the team or anything, didn’t make any foolish comments, he just repressed his pain and actually complimented the team on the good job they had done so far in the year. He also congratulated Nico on the podium. He was very mature in his post-race interviews as well. Honestly, as a Hamilton fan I felt absolutely horrible over 24 hours after the race had finished, and I imagine he felt even worse. I imagine all he will have wanted to do after the race finished will have been to go back to his apartment and do some soul-searching. This was so much more significant than just losing at some Tilkedrome because you messed up qualifying or something.
Bolide (@mim5)
27th May 2015, 1:23
@polo I understand what you’re saying and no doubt Hamilton lost the race. But again he’s not the first guy to lose a race towards the end or because of strategy. He should be upset but he’s a professional, and in any case, if it was 100% he would win the race what were the other guys doing racing? Everyone up to Stevens and Merhi start the race in the hope of being the first guy to take the chequered flag. In Monaco, Lewis was on pole and led the race for 64/78laps but unfortunately wasn’t the first guy across the line.
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
27th May 2015, 14:13
@polo – spot on. I’m amazed that people complain about a driver having emotions, then complain about drivers being inaccessible or disinterested.
Hamilton took a really big hit. When he parked at Portier, he was probably crying (I would have been) or at least gathering his thoughts, putting on some emotional armour. He did well. Rosberg was pretty decent about it too. I don’t think anyone came out of this badly.
altitude2k
26th May 2015, 19:51
I’d like an answer to this as well.
favomodo (@favomodo)
27th May 2015, 8:50
Driving over the 3rd place sign wasn’t very nice. Also his body language, especially right after he left his car, it was like a four year old. The good news was that he got himself together just before the ceremony.
William Jones (@williamjones)
27th May 2015, 12:32
Drivers hit those signs all the time. Also please don’t pretend that you can read and understand body language, because even if you’re a highly experienced and qualified psychologist, all your training and experience is gone out the window as soon as you start dealing with an athlete directly after an event. Unless you specifically treat top end athletes, and if you do have such a prestigeous job, may I remind you what you learnt in your first year at uni: You can’t understand what is going on in the head by the body language until you have had at least a month treating that person, ideally as an inpatient (1). You certainly can’t do it from watching a video (2).
(1) Mental Health Nursing an evidence based approach – Newell, Gournay – 2000
(2) Clinician’s guide to mind over mood – Padesky, Greenberger – 1995
JohnBt (@johnbt)
27th May 2015, 2:19
Are you visually impaired? sorry if I’ve insulted you.
But he’s a damn good driver, no doubt about it.
Nase (@)
27th May 2015, 14:14
@bobwhosaysni
– Trying to overtake behind the Safety Car
– stopping on the lap of honour for no reason
– driving over his stop sign in front of the podium
– walking away from the champagne ceremony
Those are examples of childish behaviour.
On the other hand, his answers to interviewers after that were flawless, balanced and mature. So it seems that he had to let off some steam before getting a hold of himself again.
John H (@john-h)
27th May 2015, 20:33
Wasn’t that Rosberg the first one?
Nase (@)
1st June 2015, 7:20
@john-h
No, that was Hamilton. When he came out of the pits, he crossed the crucial second safety car line behind Vettel and spent the following “straight” (the climb towards the Casino) trying to overtake the Ferrari.
DaveD (@daved)
26th May 2015, 19:44
I could not disagree with you more. Lewis didn’t blame the team or refuse to shake anyone’s hand or go running to the press and say they intentionally did something wrong or say they were incompetent.
If you’re looking for Lewis to smile and hand out cigars after losing a race he damn well earned a win in, then you’re delusional. If you think THAT kind of personality could win world championships then you’re truly off in your own world. It takes aggressive, relentless, driven people to be the best.
The sweet platitudes are for people making posters or trying to win a beauty contest.
Alex machina (@smartrip)
26th May 2015, 19:52
I’m not saying he should be happy, just respectful. I think he, especially, gets away with some not-so gracious because everyone says “oh he’s just competitive”. If the tables were turned, Nico would be called “spoiled”.
Being a world champion and being gracious in defeat are not mutually exclusive. If you think they are then perhaps your standards for beiong a world champion are lower than they should be…
DaveD (@daved)
26th May 2015, 21:43
@smartrip
I shouldn’t have come off as so snarky, sorry about that. But I think it’s unfair to criticize Lewis on this occasion. There have been plenty of times in his career where I’ve openly winced when Lewis did or said something. But this was a truck kick in the balls and he handled it as well as he could in my opinion.
He IS a very competitive person and that’s how you win in a sport like F1. As my father (who was hyper competitive I must admit) liked to say: “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser”.
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
27th May 2015, 14:17
@daved – You didn’t sound snarky to me. Just sayin’.
Woody (@woodyd91)
26th May 2015, 23:11
With all due respect, Lewis went to the podium, shock Nico’s hand, praised the team who had just lost him the race, in interviews after the race he wouldn’t pin the blame on the team alone, he put himself in the decision, he stayed positive in his words even if he couldn’t with his face. However because he didn’t small and laugh he came of childish, and that he should act respectful.
With this in mind, Can you tell me how celebrating the win as Nico crossed the line, how screaming with joy on the team radio and celebrating a race win as he did in Spain is anything close to respectful given how he won the race?
If Nico wants to do that the fine, more power to him. But if you want to judge Hamilton’s actions then you should be prepared to judge Nico’s in the same way, which I find odd because you seem to be of the opinion that Nico handled an awkward situation really well.
I’m not a crazy blinkers on conspiracy raving fan boy of Hamiltons, I simply appreciate his skills in a car and what he stands for as a person and I can completely understand that some people aren’t fans of Hamilton’s, and I can also completely understand that some people will have different feelings towards how the race was won, But I honestly have to try to understand given the actions that happened after the race and given the circumstances of the race result how you form the opinion that Hamilton was childish and needed to act more respectful yet Nico handled the situation well?
I should also add, the time I see Hamilton, or any other driver on the grid that I support and respect to be ok and happy with losing then that’s the day they lose that support and respect because it means that don’t care, they have given up and that’s not the type of racing driver I want to support.
Mike (@mike)
26th May 2015, 19:55
Come on, be realistic. We’ve seen other drivers take things both worse and also better. Lewis hammed it up a bit, but that’s a reflection of him wearing his heart on his sleeve. But some of his mannerisms are, as he said, childish.
N
26th May 2015, 19:59
You call it childish, i call it being a winner, winners exsist to win. and dont cover up their feelings when they lose, espeically in the manner Hamilton did.
What about when Senna got out and walked home? What about when Schumacher stormed down the pitlane to punch Coulthard? Winners have the same traits. You just chose to single out Hamilton because you dislike him.
Simple.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
27th May 2015, 9:28
Exactly. People seem to keep forgetting this quote:
People might call people like Senna, Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel childish because they act all grumpy when they lose a race, but it’s precisely because they hate losing so much that they win so often.
Kimi
26th May 2015, 20:16
it’s strange he didn’t considering he was so fast to the media last year to blame Rosberg of intentionaly making a mistake :)
DaveD (@daved)
26th May 2015, 21:28
I think Nico either had nothing to lose so drove recklessly at best OR he did intentionally make a mistake at worst to block Lewis so I can understand Lewis going ballistic about it last year. But that was against a person he truly felt had cheated him.
This was a mistake by the team and he handled it as well as he could under the circumstances.
bull mello (@bullmello)
26th May 2015, 20:58
I’m not a Hamilton supporter per se, but I thought he handled this as well as anyone possibly could under the circumstances. Considering what he went through having a sure win taken away I thought he showed maturity and level headedness even though he was understandably disappointed. My estimation of him as a driver has always been high. As a person subjected to a difficult situation, I thought he demonstrated very good character.
rm
26th May 2015, 22:12
I’ve seen an awful lot of drivers (including Hamilton himself) have “sure wins” taken away from them through no fault of their own. I’ve very rarely if ever seen the outpouring of sympathy and indignation on behalf of such drivers which I’m seeing for LH in this current situation.
N
26th May 2015, 19:45
You are joking, right?
Every person i’ve talk to about the race since sunday cannot believe how Rosberg celebrated that win, no ones really talked about conspiracys, no ones even really talked much about the big mistake. Just mostly about how Rosberg, having been demolished by someone in the same car, gets gifted a win, and screams on the radio ‘YEAAAHHH MONACOOO WOOOHOOO’ and is all smiles on the podium. A true winner and honest competitor would have had more concern about how slow he was, and would have maybe felt a twinge of embarrasment on the podium.
Lewis acting childish? What where you watching? He behaved like a real champion, shaking Nicos hand and saying it was a collective team fault.
Honestly i wonder how some people come to such conclusions.
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
27th May 2015, 14:25
I’m a Hamilton fan and even I think that’s a bit harsh on Rosberg. He won a race that’s important to him – where he grew up, surrounded by people and places he knows well (he’s not by any stretch of the imagination a German). Of course he was happy. He drove a good race but was outgunned by his team-mate, yet still won it – Result! Happiness! You don’t think about the politics during the adrenaline rush over the line.
(I can’t believe I’m defending Rosberg…)
John H (@john-h)
27th May 2015, 20:37
I think I agree with this. I remember when Ross gave the team order in 2013, and Hamilton felt embarrassed on the podium ahead of rosberg. Not the same the other way around, but then I guess that’s why I support one driver and not the other one when it comes down to it. I think Hamilton underneath all the gold necklaces and that is actually a decent character.
lockup (@)
26th May 2015, 20:25
I get impatient with this ‘childish’ slur that some people like to toss around. What does it mean? Generally it means the poster has some unpleasant agenda and is struggling to find anything genuine to hang some disparagement on, and reckons they’ve found something hard to rebut because it’s so nebulous.
Hamilton’s behaviour was exemplary. Didn’t blame anyone, in fact shared the blame pretty generously, congratulated Nico and Seb, and said his only response would be to come back in Canada.
The team have behaved pretty well too. They and Lewis are a bit of a mutual appreciation society at the moment.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
26th May 2015, 20:46
@smarttrip crazy stuff! Are you sure you’re not Merc’s chief strategist?:-)
JohnM
27th May 2015, 13:06
I don’t know what you were watching but Lewis came off far better, much more professional. He was calm and humble in the post-race interviews when he had every right to lash out at his team. Nico on the other hand over-celebrated a win he didn’t deserve and maintained his inappropriate smug smile throughout despite the fact that his team had suffered one of the biggest embarrassments in F1 history. The guy seems to lack social skills or something, his behaviour is often very inappropriate.
Robbie (@robbie)