Rosberg defiant over Hamilton crash

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In the round-up: Nico Rosberg says that being blamed for the crash with Lewis Hamilton “sucks”

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Ben, it looks like the stewards completely agreed with your point of view:

To have understeer you actually have to turn the wheel. Watch the Rosberg onboard and see he makes no attempt to make the corner until he hits Hamilton. That for me is a the difference here. Had Rosberg attempted to make the corner is say it was hard racing but it’s a little too much to just drive straight on in a corner knowing there’s a car on the outside which was actually a tiny bit ahead.
Ben

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111 comments on “Rosberg defiant over Hamilton crash”

  1. Silverstone crowd going to be fun!

  2. Don’t agree with the COTD.

    Yes, in this case you can say for sure, 100%, that it’s not understeering into someone. But given some experience with turning radii and steering locks, one can say for 99% in every other case as well. (I. e. all those instances when Hamilton claimed he ‘understeered’ into Rosberg, Austin, Suzuka, etc.)

    In actual fact, even the stewards may have not agreed with the COTD as they issued a penalty which does just enough to acknowledge the fact that this was a 100% sure problem, but it actually changed nothing as Rosberg kept 4th. So, in that respect, it’s as much of a penalty as a 100% sure case is a worse offense than a 99% sure case – it is practically nothing.

    1. The only thing I’d add is that they’ve put 100% of this onto Rosberg and while the penalty doesn’t change the final result they’ve gone with one which reflects past penalties for similar incidents (causing a collision) . It’s also worth considering they usually go easier when it’s a same team incident and also when the offending driver actually comes off worse from it. Had he ended Hamiltons race I think a grid drop for the next race would be expected.

    2. @atticus-2 The stewards understand the difference between taking a DIFFERENT line to force another driver off the track or collide with them, on entry, and taking the RACING line which entails nudging a car wheel-to-wheel on the exit. All the drivers do the latter.

  3. But what Rosberg forgets is that, this was a braking move, from which he came from behind, and taking a trajectory that would force another car off the road. He should stick to the “brake problem”, than openly admit to this nonsense.

  4. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    4th July 2016, 0:42

    I so should have signed my name for the birthday shout-out. Either way it’s today, so happy birthday to me!

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      4th July 2016, 6:16

      Happy Birthday @rocketpanda

    2. yeah happy birthday @rocketpanda!

    3. Happy birthday!

    4. Have a good one :)

    5. Happy Birthday , have a blast ! @rocketpanda

    6. Happy birthday @rocketpanda, wish you many more happy years of exciting F1!

  5. Rosberg is starting to sound like Maldonado. His whole argument is that he was ahead so he can drive where her wants but he wasn’t even ahead, so by his own flawed logic he’s still to blame. I don’t like to see these things drag on too much but for me this was worse than Spa. While Rosberg damaged his own race more than Hamiltons this one had more clear intent to really force Hamilton off track. I know it’s a move Hamilton has done many times now but for those at least Hamilton has tried to make the corner. In this case had Hamilton not been there Rosberg would of gone off the track due to his line and steering angle and I think that’s the key point.

    1. Hamilton has always taken the racing line when he eases other drivers towards the edge of the track, and that is usually at the exit of a corner, not on a straight line, which is Rosberg’s forte.

      1. +1

      2. How was Hamilton’s line in Austin 2015 a racing line? The only difference is Hamilton making a better impression of trying to make a corner. And even then, Nico doesn’t turn into him as much as HAM did in Austria.

        1. Woops, this comment didn’t showed up for me, for some reason, so I wrote a new one below. It’s okay to delete it

      3. How was Hamilton’s line in Austin 2015 a racing line? The only difference is that Hamilton makes a better impression of trying to make the corner – turning the wheel slightly more, but still driving his opponent out of the track. As such, Rosberg’s maneuver would give the same result as Hamilton’s in Austin, had he not been hit by Lewis, who could just as well back off and wait, or go out of the track and resume behind, without ruining his team mate’s car and his team’s collective effort.

        1. @xivizmath it was harder to back out for Hamilton because he was slightly ahead so Rosberg was in his blind spot. Surely, on the last lap when you’ve finally got a run at the leader, and you’re chasing a world title, you go into a corner ahead, you can’t quite see the other guy but because you’re ahead and not just alongside, you’ve earned the right to room on the exit, you’ve left enough room for a car and a bus on the inside just in case you opponent runs deep into the corner, and you’re telling me that you wouldn’t turn in and you’d just back out of the corner?!?!?! Anyone that would do that is not a racer. Where was he supposed to go?

          In USGP 2015 and Canada 2016 and Bahrain 2014 and… loads of other occasions, Rosberg has been ALONGSIDE, NOT AHEAD, he could see Hamilton’s car, so he could react and decide to try stay alongside or back out of the move. In fact Ham did change his position in Bahrain 2014 and instead of going to the outside he performed the “switch back” and regained the lead after losing it.

          In any case because of the facts of being the leading car, not having sight of the rival’s car, it being on corner entry instead of exit, the situations are distinctly different

          1. duncan idaho
            5th July 2016, 3:50

            I don’t find any of that convincing.

    2. it was an obvious straight line block to throw Lewis off his line. Nico’s line was compromised, his corner exit would have sucked badly, running Lewis off the track was his only hope, and his desperation, much like in Spain, turned in to a bit of return on karma. Well played, the gods served up Nico an embarrassing no-podium result, and he sounds like a ripe **** on TV. Great day for TV viewing, watching Toto and Lauda cry was the cherry on the top. It’s so obvious, just hope Lewis can keep bucking the ‘system’. Mercedes are trying so very hard to keep Nico’s chin looking clean. It’s just a matter of how ridiculous things will get before Lewis has more reliability issues to help quiet the discontent.

    3. ColdFly F1 (@)
      4th July 2016, 6:22

      Ben congratulations with your COTD. And I agree that the blame lays with Rosberg in this case.

      But don’t go overboard with believing what you say yourself.
      Rosberg did not say he was ‘ahead’ like you argue here; he merely claimed that he was on the inside (which he was).
      Also I have not heard him say he had understeer (as you mention in the COTD).

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        4th July 2016, 9:44

        @coldfly – He said:

        “It caught me completely by surprise that he turned in before we got to the edge of the track even though I was there so then I couldn’t react and we collided”

        Slightly odd comment as I assume it means he expected Lewis to not turn in at all…?

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          4th July 2016, 10:06

          agree @petebaldwin; hence why I lay the blame on Rosberg rather than ‘racing incident’.

          Having said that, I was glad to see that Rosberg finally showed some b@lls and did not move over for Hamilton. He chose – like most greats do – to try and force Hamilton into a mistake. The execution was poor though, and had Hamilton acted as Rosberg hoped (i.e. not turning in at all), then we would have see two F1 cars angle parked at turn 3!
          Rosberg needs to find a less conspicuous way to show Hamilton that he will not roll over that easily ;-)

          1. @coldfly Showing b@lls is like when Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo, and Verstappen did it. Stick to the ideal racing line and do not budge if you in front. What Rosberg did is utter stupidity. People will accept more if he can turn inside, getting his car nose ahead again then use full width of the apex with slow exit, forcing Hamilton faster exit to brake or crash into his diffuser.

          2. Showing b@lls and ramming the teammate-two different things.
            Then Maldonado is the b@llsiest driver of all times, and early Grosjean..

            what Nico did-it`s a sucker punch in any means, he was PASSED already BEFORE turn 2, yet he decided to PUSH teammate outside the track and blocked his return to track later…

      2. @coldfly I know he didn’t say he had understeer. The COTD was a reply to someone asking what the difference was between this and USA last year. The point still stands if he said either inside or ahead. If he said inside then will he now be taking the blame for USA ? If Rosberg thinks the inside driver can take whatever line he wants then he’s to blame for that one too. Saying ahead or inside doesn’t matter too much as both are flawed arguments from past events.

        1. +1

    4. “Rosberg is starting to sound like Maldonado.”

      Totally agree. The main reason I respect Grosjean as a driver is he admitted his mistakes and found a way to correct them, unlike Maldonado, or Rosberg.

  6. Be interesting to see how Nico reacts. Right now it’s sink or swim for him at Mercedes. Not good when Toto has your contract dangling in front of you.
    He lost so much credibility compromising the team result. He’s on the back foot now and with Silverstone next week the pressure is mounting. His denial of any fault isn’t helping his position with the rest of the team as well. Nico better learned from Spa 2014. He’s going to get crushed by Lewis if he didn’t.

  7. The funny thing is that had Rosberg actually turned right, he could’ve stayed on the lead, and with yellow flags being deployed in turn 3 because of Perez’s accident, there was a good chance to retain first position!

    Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course, but it proves that it never ends until the flag is dropped. Rosberg was still ahead, anything could happen!

    And even if the win was lost, second place having led a big part of the race after starting 6th, with your team mate short of new engine components wasn’t bad at all!

    1. Lewis was at long odds to make that move stick because Rosberg could’ve forced him to lift off by choking him of track on the outside as he takes the ideal racing line.

      Every other person will bring up “Hamilton has done this to him before”, the thing is if you’re gonna drive someone off the track, do it in a way you can disguise it

    2. @fer-no65 It will be a fascinating drag race before the first yellow flag! Whoever behind at the first braking zone will be forced to yield, but what a spectacle it will be.

      Hamilton has DRS though, so maybe he will win that.

  8. I’m so at a loss with Rosbergs logic that I have no comment

  9. Nico did a very silly thing. I am normally the first to go after LH for this type of incident as he tends to run other drivers off, but it was Nico’s fault all along. I feel the root of the issue is that Nico didn’t have that extra set of Soft tyres. Had he had them on , he wouldn’t have had the deg and would have probably kept Lewis behind. I also understand Nico’s frustration , as I have been in this situation myself, had he made the corner he was likely to finish 1st or 2nd. This is racing and I hope Merc keep it up. I also feel that JB did a fantastic race with a car that shouldn’t have been up there , think what would have happened if it rained ?

    1. I thought the supersofts would give him some advantage, but the softs were apparently much better. But it was also very weird for Mercedes to allow Rosberg to undercut Hamilton earlier in the race. Hamilton had every right to complain about the strategy.

      1. Is there anything that Hamilton doesn’t complain about, it’s win at all cost with him, second is never good enough, just ask his past team mates, button nearly pushed into the wall, alonso he did not get on with him, either. Spot the common denominator Lh.

        1. Think you will find button put Lewis into the wall in Canada and it’s nico’s signature move to push people off the track, taken from shumacher’s book: ‘1001 ways to win at all costs’

        2. And he’s a triple WC.
          Schumacher, Senna, and now Max Verstappen are the same: grumpy when they finish second. I don’t really see your point: are you complaining that Hamilton is an F1 driver?

  10. This is gonna sound like I’m a Lewis fanboy, but it’s looking more and more to me like Mercedes are favouring Nico in any way possible. Here’s why I’m thinking this.

    First race strategy. Lewis is on pole, out in front. Nico is brought in first and starts eating into Lewis’ lead. Mercedes reaction? Let Nico close to inside a pit stop lead before bringing Lewis in. Later they bring Lewis in first for the undercut and put him on the hardest tyres he has. Nico comes in one lap later and goes on to the softer compound?

    Next, Toto makes comments like we will need to look at team orders. In this case, Nico would have had track position as a result of Mercedes strategy calls and this would have disadvantaged the pole man who had lead until the strategy calls for the first stops had played out.

    This when all the evidence I saw, as did my mates watching the race with me, blames Nico for the incident. Team orders can’t solve stupidity. This is F1 not super cross, block passes don’t work so well here. The only blame that can go onto Lewis is that he tried to overtake!

    When this is combined with what I think was a dubiously overheating engine for Lewis is Sochi as he got close to Nico, Toto claiming a brake problem caused Nico’s turn 1 issue allowing Lewis to get a run at him (which as one of the commentators stated instead was probably caused by him using too much apex kerb, getting a bobble on and therefore poor drive up the hill) and of course the stupid idea of swapping mechanics completely in the off season and to me it looks for all this world like Mercedes want Nico to win and are trying a few dirty tricks to make that happen while trying to play the F1 fan base for fools.

    What’s the end game? Force Lewis out? I am a big fan of Danny Ric, have always been a Kimi fan and would love to see Mclaren-Honda up front and Toro Rosso upset the bigger teams. Basically I’m not a Lewis worshipping fan who thinks he can do no wrong. But this is making even me think twice about what’s going on behind closed doors at Mercedes…

    1. ‘This is gonna sound like I’m a Lewis fanboy, but it’s looking more and more to me like Mercedes are favouring Nico in any way possible. Here’s why I’m thinking this.’

      Not meaning to be disrespectful, but I simply can’t agree with what you said. They even gave Lewis the undercut for the final pit stop, when he was less than a second behind Nico, without any immediate threat from behind. If I were Rosbeg, I’d be furious because of that. It didn’t pay off immediately, because the pit stop wasn’t perfect, and because Lewis lost a lot of time on his outlap, but in probably more than 70% of all similar cases, such an undercut would’ve resulted in an position change. This is as far away from favouring Nico as it gets.

      As for the tyres mounted, Lewis’s tyres proved to be the right ones. They were slower to warm up for the first few laps, but that quickly turned into a mighty pace and durability advantage. The only reason for Nico’s switch to the softer compound was the fact that he had only brought a single set of Supersofts to the track. A set which he used during his second stint, so that his next best option to finish the race was a set of used Supersofts, for which the remaining 16 laps were expectably a tad too long.
      Lewis did question his crew’s tyre choice during the race, but in fact, it was he who benefitted from the better tyre during the final stint. This, however, had nothing to do with favouring anyone. He had simply brought two sets of Softs, which weren’t expected to be used much during the race, but proved to be the best-performin tyre on long runs.
      However, there was no external reason for Mercedes to offer Lewis the undercut against Nico. With this decision, the team clearly favoured the trailing car, which is highly unusual in such a close race.

      1. ‘The only reason for Nico’s switch to the softer compound was the fact that he had only brought a single set of Supersofts to the track.’

        My bad, I meant to write ‘that he had only brought a single set of SOFTS to the track’.

        1. @nase the reason that Hamilton was allowed the undercut is because Mercedes decided to switch Hamilton to a 2 stop strategy later in the race, to reduce the risk of a tyre failure like Vettels. Hamilton was the original leading car on merit, the only reason Rosberg was in front after the first pit stops was because, they felt they had given Hamilton the a compromised strategy, by changing the strategy so late. He earned the right to have the chance to get back ahead, a chance bungled by both the team (pit stops) and himself (outlap)

          1. @3dom:
            ‘Mercedes decided to switch Hamilton to a 2 stop strategy later in the race, to reduce the risk of a tyre failure like Vettels.’
            At the same time, Rosberg was using tyres of the same compound that were 12 laps older than Lewis’s.
            Pit stop for safety concerns? Yes, absolutely. In that order? Made no sense.

            Also, Rosberg’s lead wasn’t just down to a lucky coincidence. He went for a more aggressive strategy, while Hamilton stuck to the Ultrasofts for as long as possible. Rosberg then turned out to be the fastest man on the Softs, fighting his way back through heavy traffic and setting mighty lap times that quickly eroded Hamilton’s lead. This trend continued after Rosberg had taken the lead, the gap extending to nearly 5 seconds while he closed down on Vettel. This lead dropped under a second by the Safety Car, but he built a new gap of almost 2 seconds despite running very wide once, on tyres that were no less than 50 kilometres older than Lewis’s.
            At some point during that stage, Lewis’s crew must’ve realised (probably owing to the open communication within the team) that Rosberg was confident to go to the end of the race with those tyres.
            And your reasoning is that Lewis’s crew was entitled to the opinion that, when the race panned out differently than they had anticipated, this shouldn’t count, and the order that last existed on lap 8 was to be restored?
            To me, that sounds like playing a game of chess with a single child who owns the game. At one stage, said kid will make an outrageously aggressive move and subsequently come close to losing the game, before saying that this obviously doesn’t count, and that he only made that move because blah blah blah, and then he will reposition his figures as if he had played normally and beat you, not thinking for a second that being unilaterally allowed to revert a development is an automatic advantage over your opponent.

            This would make sense only if Lewis was the centre of the universe at Mercedes.

    2. They allowed Lewis to sort of go for an undercut in the last line of stops… So… No.

    3. Not forgetting the tyre choice in q2 Lewis could of made it into q1 on the SS like Ferrari

  11. Lynda Green
    4th July 2016, 1:37

    Interesting how you don’t see any of the same outcry when it Lewis that decides to ‘miss the apex’ & force another car wide or off track.

    At Montreal this year at turn 1 Lewis was “taking his line” & as the car on the outside Nico should have “Backed out of it sooner”. At the American Gp last year again at turn 1 where Lewis made little effort to turn & caused slight contact while pushing Nico wide Lewis was “On the inside & had every right to run Nico wide” while Nico “Was on the outside & out of position”.

    A clear pattern has emerged in that Lewis can push cars wide, Force them off track & be well within his rights as the car on the inside can take any line he wishes & the car on the outside is the one who should avoid contact. However if roles are reversed the car on the inside is wrong & Lewis is been forced wide which is wrong & all that.

    What Nico did today was not much different to what Lewis has done dozens of times (Especially turn 1 at the USGP last year, Lewis blatantly didn’t turn in when he should have), Only difference today was that the car on the outside decided he wasn’t going to be forced off & tried to turn into the corner.

    End of the day though what happened was racing & inevitable when you let drivers get away with that sort of thing over & over, It becomes acceptable & eventually escalates. This sort of forcing cars wide should have been stamped out years ago & Lewis should have got warnings for some of the similar moves himself a few times over the years.

    interestingly here is a similar situation between Michael schumacher & juan montoya at the same corner back in 2001 where michael shows you how lewis should have handled todays situation. you dont turn into a corner when you have a car on the inside.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx9W3pNdSR0

    1. “Interesting how you don’t see any of the same outcry when it Lewis that decides to ‘miss the apex’ & force another car wide or off track.”

      We definetly did.

      A lot of people here can put fanatism away and criticise anyone. I’ve discussed with people while defending or blaming Hamilton or Rosberg in many ocassions. Criticism is always a louder voice, of course, but it’s not like everyone blames a specific driver all the time. At least that’s what I feel around here.

    2. I think you should bring your evidence to the attention of the stewards because somehow they’ve manage to not only fail to punish Hamilton, they’ve actually somehow managed to assign blame to Rosberg!! Maybe mention it to all the former and current racers as well because their clear cut Hamilton fanaticism is clearly clouding their expert judgement as they also seem to think Rosberg was wrong.

      I do thank you for your impartial, rational analysis of events because I almost blamed Rosberg as well thinking I’d seen him not attempt to turn the corner at all until he was in the path of a driver that had left as much space as possible on his inside for a driver he was actually ahead of, I’d also somehow thought that this wasn’t the same thing Hamilton did because of the petty little fact that any examples made about Hamilton doing it are on corner exit.

      1. duncan idaho
        5th July 2016, 6:55

        Have the Stewards missed it when HAM’s been blocking on the inside at entry because in those cases the other drivers sensibly backed off rather than have an accident?

        1. What cases?

          1. You are trying to be logical against non logical reasoning. That’s a lost cause @philipgb .

    3. Montoya is COMPLETELY WRONG on this case as Rosberg was today.

      Thing is : Rosberg got a penalty. He was wrong. He can’t just forget to take a corner because there is someone on the outside. And HIS TEAM MATE.

      It was so jerky and a piece of bad driving that i’m glad it didn’t stick. You don’t expect this kind of things for guys with so much success. I expect this from nobodies like Gutierrez or Maldonado.

    4. The bottom line is Lewis is faster then Rosberg and most fans saw this. Everyone also witnessed the dirty tactic from Rosberg.

    5. Lynda, I note the fact that you neglect to mention that Rosberg pulled exactly the same move on Hamilton in the 2014 Canadian GP and also excused himself by stating that he was just “taking the racing line” through that corner. At the time, most felt that was a hard but fair move – even Hamilton himself didn’t complain – so Rosberg had already set a precedent there.

      You also seem to have become fixated on that particular incident between Montoya and Schumacher, but there is a notable difference – Montoya was still trying to get to the apex of the corner on entry, but made a mistake under braking and mistakenly ran wide. Schumacher himself also ran wide in part because he made a similar mistake when trying to outbrake Montoya, so part of the reason for straightening the wheel out there was because Schumacher wanted to avoid locking his brakes.

      Rosberg stated in a video piece for his blog that he was intentionally running Hamilton wide – even if Hamilton had straightened the wheel out, as you suggest he should have done, Rosberg still intended to keep on going straight to force him off the track.

    6. “Interesting how you don’t see any of the same outcry when it Lewis that decides to ‘miss the apex’ & force another car wide or off track.”

      You get that in Canada and Austin or what have you Hamilton didn’t ‘miss the apex’ right? Its hilarious how little some people understand about racing rules.

  12. Those silver-spoon drivers of Mercedes are too far gone.

    Sorry Sebastian, but Mercedes drivers are too selfish for me too watch any more of this nonsense.

    Later guys. I’m stuck inside a lot and was a regular watcher, and becoming a fan, but forget it.

    Mercedes should be penalized heavily for allowing two of their drivers to behave like they are MUCH more important than the sport overall. Their drivers are not in touch with reality at all. I am not going to watch this crap for a while (or any more?).

    1. If an incident like this stops you watching F1 as a whole then I would suggest your love for the sport wasn’t all that great to begin with.

      1. Leigh Woolford
        4th July 2016, 9:41

        I have to agree. F1 is not for you if you think that.

        Running someone out wide is a legitimate racing move and is often used. On this occasion Nico just messed it up. Lewis didn’t mess it up in Canada 2016 or Austin 2015. I guess that’s part of why Hamilton is a 3 time champion and Nico isn’t.

    2. Bye bye… no one cares if you don’t like F1 for such ridiculous reasons.

    3. Wow…just wow!

    4. @Mike Second Year Formula One (was) fan Funniest comment I’ve read for a long time. Thank you so much for the laugh. Also your name surely takes the cake. Kudos to your creativity!

      Regarding your lack of continued interest in F1. I do understand. It’s not for everyone.

      May I suggest you take an interest in Tiddlywinks. Its fast paced and action packed, and I believe would be an excellent alternative for you.

      No need to thank me. It’s my pleasure.

      Have a nice day.

  13. I know that what happened today is great for the spectacle and for the championship but understeer or no understeer, the only difference between the racing that went on today and Canada is that in the same situation Nico chickens out, he loses the psycho logic battle. Nico should be mad with himself, he’s the Prost to Ham’s Senna, if he wants not only the fans but also the race stewards he should have left Ham hit him in Canada, and bahrain 2014 when all this started. As it stands Nico has lost in all grounds, even if he didn’t do anything different to what Ham does to him, Ham though isn’t afraid of Nico’s moves, he knows he can’t be afraid in these situations.

    1. It’s Not the same situation as in Canada.
      This time Rosberg was behind already on the approach to the corner and never got his car in front again before running into the leading car.
      Hamilton actually did give him room, and plenty of it.

      1. MG421982 (@)
        4th July 2016, 8:08

        And if you switch to the other point of view… like it was in Spain… ROS’ front wheels were ahead of HAM’s rear wheels, plus this time ROS was on the inside of the corner… which wasn’t the case for HAM in Spain! So, my argument cancels yours. It’s 0-0 again. Anyway, it’s ROS fault mostly in my opinion, unless he can prove he had tech problems. I don’t know, but I think this kind of incidents should be punished drastically. It’s simply unexcusable to try ruin other driver’s race just because one cannot hold position anymore for whatever reasons.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          4th July 2016, 9:50

          He’s not trying to say he had any problems – he’s saying it’s Hamilton’s fault.

          1. I think he’s saying that he thinks Hamilton should have gone off track to avoid hitting Nico @petebaldwin. But off course there is no good reason why Hamilton would go along with that version of events.
            And its quite likely that even if Hamilto had done so, Nico would have instead hit the side of Hamiltons car because he would most likely not have been able to get the car turned in either, given where he was on track and where he started turning the car around.

            As @coldfly above mentions, Rosberg needs to find a better execution of his attempts to not be no. 2 :-)

        2. But Spain was on a straight, so different rules apply.

          Kimi had his front wheels alongside Bottas rear wheels in Sochi, but that didn’t stop the stewards from giving him a penalty, right?

    2. Prost beat Senna in the same car over a season, they were 1-1 as teammates. In 88 Prost had more points across all races but only your best results (12 races?) counted so with most years rule Prost would have won 2-0, not the same as Rosberg who is 3-0 down on Hamilton. Better comparison are the RB drivers where one is outstanding in quali but roles reversed on race day although in a more extreme way than Senna v Prost.

  14. Bullheadedness is just what Nico needs right now, with his contract on the line and having lost his own podium and almost wiped out his team mate. Great character strength!

    1. sorry but Rosberg should be banned for dangerous driving.

      1. thats a little harsh

        1. @rike That maneuver is the most dangerous driving I remember in last few years, especially when Rosberg openly stating he intent to do that.

      2. Agreed at least next race. He could have injured himself or Hamilton.

      3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        4th July 2016, 15:43

        @rike @sonicslv @les There’s no way Rosberg would be penalized with a ban. Nico is more dangerous than Maldonado has ever been throughout his career and he’s getting desperate seeing Lewis catch him up in the championship following 7 straight victories.

        Things will escalate for here on. Lewis yesterday reclaimed the lead on the harder tyre after Mercedes put Rosberg in front with softer rubber. That’s got to have him unhinged. Plus Lewis has claimed pole in almost every race that he didn’t have an issue (all if Baku is included).

        Everyone at this point knows that Nico is nowhere near Lewis’s level – he’s an incredible technical driver as Steve Matchett said but Nico knows full well that Lewis is in a different class and these sort of moves are the only way he can get a championship. He’s had 3 1/2 seasons and even with 7 straight wins, Lewis is crushing him… If I had to use a comparison, I would say Lewis is closer to Messi and Nico closer to Higuain or Aguerro. It has to be said that Nico is very unlucky to have Lewis as his teammate as he would have won a championship or two otherwise but his teammate is simply better and of course amazing to watch on track.

  15. I hate the bias here…

    But here we go. Nico did what Lewis does when given opportunity. Drives other guy off the road. We just saw it in Canada, and nearly any race.

    Those guys are not giving ground at all, in the past Nico gave way and handily lost two titles due to inability to stand up to Lewis.

    And now he does stand up and defend his space to the point of crashing. He has learned this much.

    Sure he caused a crash… But if he didnt Lewis would walk all over his title chances.

    1. Did you complain when Rosberg did the same thing to Hamilton in the 2014 Canadian GP that Hamilton did in the 2016 Canadian GP?

      Rosberg has also driven other drivers off the circuit in the past – for example, he was personally reprimanded by Charlie Whiting after the 2012 Bahrain GP for that very reason. In that instance, he cut across Alonso’s path very aggressively when Alonso overtook him on the straight between Turn 3 and 4 – in fact, he swerved so far across the track that he went off the track himself.

      1. Good memory. Bahrain 2012 sprung to mind after the Spain this year. He drove Hamilton as well as Alonso off the track in that race in fact, although he couldn’t keep him behind.

        We all know that if there is one weakness of Rosberg’s, that is racecraft. Hamilton forced Rosberg off the track in Montreal and Austin last year in a legal way and without damage. Rosberg tried the same yesterday but he damaged his car and got penalised.

        There are more examples but Hamilton is clearly more circumspect when battling compared to Rosberg.

      2. Spa 2014?

        I think Canada this year, Japan last year and Austin could have ended the same, Rosberg was scarred off the track but this race Hamilton was not. If you are going to attempt this on Hamilton you will get short changed, Rosberg on the other hand would not turn in drive well out into the run off and lose out. One is a 3 time champion the other is not, sometimes you need the devil about you. Senna 1990 Japan did not have a soft attempt he made sure (not a great thing). Schumacher did this a few times but always half hearted, lucky in 94 got what he deserved in 97.

    2. You’re right – Nico did do the driving-another-driver-off-the-track thing that Lewis does. The only difference being is that Nico’s version of that manoeuvre yesterday was really terrible.

      1. Leigh Woolford
        4th July 2016, 9:37

        Yes, running someone out wide is a move that you see thousands of times if you regularly watch competitive racing. On this occasion Nico did it really badly. At COTA and elsewhere Lewis did it brilliantly.

    3. “Sure he caused a crash… But if he didnt Lewis would walk all over his title chances.”

      and because he was so inept he’s stomped all over his own title chances. Prize Plum!

      1. Hehe, sure but if he didnt atleast try he can just pack and go home.

    4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      4th July 2016, 16:11

      @jureo The moves by Nico and Lewis are not equivalent – in football/soccer, you can make a very aggressive tackle and it’s legitimate as long as you get the ball and don’t touch the other player. BUT if you go studs up or smash into the other player’s leg getting the ball, that’s a foul and a Yellow or Red card depending on how much the referee likes you. There are many ways to defend and Lewis defends really well while avoiding collisions. He’s avoided 2 collisions with Nico and tried to avoid 2 yesterday, avoiding one.

      1. @freelittlebirds They are equivalent in purpose, driving the other guy off the track.

        Lewis was more skillful, and didnt get blame and penalty associated with it.

        Also in Canada Lewis did touch Nico and banged him off track…

        Only difference was Lewis is better at it.

        Nico tends to be more clumsy.

        Point I am trying to make, without trying these moves, he might aswell give up trying to ever win against Lewis, who does these moves and does them well.

  16. If Whiting wants to decrease the costs and still have a Competitive grid He must go to Pirelli people and say build a Working tire than a stupid one like now where big teams are forced to spend lot of Dollars to get around and decrease the very high increased pressures which makes performance disadvantage for small teams due to lack of money.

    1. The amount of money spent on the tyres is pocket change compared to the spending on aerodynamics – when Sauber produced their cost breakdown when lobbying for cost control measures last year, the cost of aerodynamic research and development vastly outweighed all other costs (it made up more than 65% of the total budget IIRC).

      Realistically, your proposal would have no impact whatsoever on costs given that tyre spending is so negligible compared to aerodynamics. Cutting that would have a much more dramatic impact on costs – however, it would almost certainly have a massive negative impact on performance, and we have seen how so many were complaining in 2014 and 2015 that the cars were becoming too slow.

  17. It completely reminded me of Rossi v Marques at Sepang last year. An agitated racer on the inside trying to prove a point by bullying and blocking the guy on the outside. I’m not convinced by the brake excuse, his stopping distance looked comparable to Lewis’ in that instance, it was just his tyres going off that made Nico a sitting duck. I believe the move was pre-meditated as well. Nico fed up of coming off second best in wheel to wheel duels thought enough of this, next time he’s on the outside I’m going to play him at his own game. The problem is he completely went too far, it was too exaggerated a manoeuvre. Same in Spa 2014, pent up frustration.

    1. Exactly what came to mind. Rosberg wasn’t trying to make the corner in any way. Unlike Rossi who was definitely being frustrated by the moves Marques was making on him, here, Hamilton was extremely to the left and Rosberg was pushing him off track. Had Rosberg taken the turn, he could have got away with pushing Lewis off track.

      1. Yeah it was quite stupid of Nico actually. Like you say, if he actually went for the corner he could have pushed Lewis out at the apex or exit and played the ‘understeer’ or ‘brake issue’ card.

  18. Leigh Woolford
    4th July 2016, 9:34

    I just read Nico’s quote:

    “I’m on the inside, I have the right to defend and I don’t need to take the ideal line. I had Lewis on the outside and I wanted to keep him there, of course ALWAYS LEAVING HIM TRACK SPACE – that’s clear and that was always the intention.” (The capitals are mine)

    I think Nico has lost the plot on this one. Lewis had nowhere to go and had to turn in.

    Yet another Rosberg blunder.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      4th July 2016, 9:52

      He then followed it up by saying ““It caught me completely by surprise that he turned in before we got to the edge of the track” on Facebook. If he turned in when he got to the edge of the track, he’d go off suggesting not enough room was left?

      1. @petebaldwin Next thing we know would be “I demand an apology for Lewis for even try to think to overtake me. His car have a brake pedal and can turn left for a reason.”

  19. COTD “…him turning in just completely took me by surprise.” https://s31.postimg.org/d2tk5173f/lewis_nico.jpg

    1. Hahaha perfect :)

    2. Let’s be fair here, there’s plenty of room for Hamilton to avoid an accident without running off the track. Rosberg obviously did not run Lewis out of the track limits like it was the other way around in Austin and Canada.

      1. @dennis at the speed he was going at Hamilton couldn’t have been expected to go all the way to the white line and follow it, Rosberg was in his blind spot (due to bodywork helmet side impact protection, and Rosberg being slightly behind) so he couldn’t see him, thought to leave him enough to space for a car and a bus to turn and then turned in. Turning any later and he may not have made the corner, looking at his onboard he probably have him as much space as he could

    3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      4th July 2016, 23:58

      I really thought Lewis was going to turn left there – I was shocked when I saw him turning right to follow the track. What’s next, will we be seeing steering wheels on the right of the car?

  20. Nico’s a bright guy but he miscalculated this move and is having to look a bit silly supporting it as he’d never be forgiven if he publicly stated his intention. The way I look at it Lewis was slightly ahead on entry, would have lost a bit mid corner but on the power earlier and too far ahead of Nico to force out on exit like we usually see. Nico probably knew this and wanted to force Lewis off his line on corner entry either by bumping wheels (note he didn’t go straight on, he added a bit of steering angle after braking which might’ve put him sidewall to sidewall) or by going wide enough for Lewis to see, react and get out of it whilst inside the white line. Unfortunately for Nico, Lewis was slightly ahead and taking a wide line braking later so wouldn’t have seen Nico’s line and Nico obviously then wasn’t able to get his left front up far enough to get a nice tyre to tyre bump. Bit desperate really but 9 times out of 10 the car on the outside gets a puncture in that situation and Nico would have taken that also.

    1. Perfect analysis @alec-glen

  21. Wow, the bias shown here, even Keith got a healthy dose of it. Let’s see the COTD:
    Watch the Rosberg onboard and see he makes no attempt to make the corner until he hits Hamilton.
    Now where did “the stewards completely agreed” with this?
    It’s amazing what ideas Hamilton’s fans can come up with regardless how they contradict facts, my favourite being the claim that Rosberg did not turn his wheel until he hit Hamilton, allegedly based on the on-board.
    Let’s see the facts, you can peruse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hAUAtg_BXI at 2:22 if you want to.
    1. At the moment of contact, Rosberg’s car is no longer pointing straight. So he did turn the wheel even before hitting Hamilton.
    2. When Hamilton turned RIGHT into Rosberg, there was more than a car’s width on Hamilton’s LEFT at the moment they collided, so could have turned later. This is consistent with Rosberg’s surprise at Hamilton’s turning in.
    This does not absolve Rosberg from his guilt in this acident, because as the video clearly shows, at the entry to the turn Hamilton was already ahead, so Rosber’s “right” to choose his way is highly questionable. The video also suggests that Rosberg would not have been able to leave room for Hamilton on the outside through the whole turn, which he should as a driver who enters the turn behind Hamilton.
    I think Rosberg has got enough blame to share, there is no reason to invent more.

    Some people already recalled the many incidents of Hamilton pushing Rosberg wide. I do not think that there is much to choose between the two drivers when it comes to guilt of fairnes. However, there is one emerging trend: Rosberg is not as skilled in playing the tough boy game. It seems almost every time they collide, regardless of who did the pushing and who was the pushee, Rosberg tends to come off worse. Not an easy situation for Rosberg. He knows he cannot afford to look like an easy pushover, but when he tries to make a stand, it explodes in his face. I have a feeling that it’s because in Rosberg’s case it comes from calculation, OK, now I have to do something, whereas with Hamilton it comes naturally with situation, he is a great intuitive driver. Perhaps ability to push people around is a part of complete champion’s package.

    1. “2. When Hamilton turned RIGHT into Rosberg, there was more than a car’s width on Hamilton’s LEFT at the moment they collided, so could have turned later. This is consistent with Rosberg’s surprise at Hamilton’s turning in.”

      @ph

      Others have been saying this but you’re an experienced enough fan of F1 to know that the cars corner in an arc (not near right angles), to stay on track on corner exit, he pretty much had to turn then.

      Plus Rosberg was in his blind spot so he left loads of room, as he wasn’t fully sure where Rosberg was, and then turned, in the assumption that because he was ahead (he’d be able to tell that much with not being able to see Rosberg’s wheels) that he would be left space

    2. Good post

    3. If Nico had a BBW failure he was acting negligent by taking Lewis on the brakes in his blind spot

      Nico never left enough room for Lewis as for the fact that the point of contact wasn’t the exit of the turn, if you watch Nico continue the turn there is obviously no room for Lewis to remain on the track.

      Nico is desperate driver who acts like a fool when he knows he cant hold position, he lacks any faith, and he is easy to break. Lewis will continue to break Nico despite his own team’s reliability issues and strategy miscalculations.

      Nico never had that turn, you can’t block pass someone in their blind spot, you need to have your front wheel at least as far as the other front wheel. Nico’s desperation almost caused a double DNF, just like Spain. Nico is the liability, but hes clearly being held above his own mess by the team bosses.

  22. There’s not much new I can add to the debate of the crash itself (Rosberg’s fault), but I do get the impression that Rosberg’s threatening to cross a line. He and Hamilton have both made maneuvers that ultimately leave whoever’s being overtaken on the outside with a choice of backing off or going off track. It’s not the cleanest of moves but they’re not trying to put each other out.
    Rosberg seems to be moving close to ‘back off or I’ll take you out’ with both this maneuver and his maneuver in Spain (though I’d call that very marginal as I doubt he realized Hamilton was quite that close or where precisely he was beyond ‘going to the right’), which is even a step further then Senna lunging into a gap and letting the other driver choice to move aside or crash with him. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it could be a illegitimate concern if Hamilton takes more points off him, seeing as this is Rosberg’s best chance to be WDC.

  23. People who make the claim that Rosberg is just doing the same thing Hamilton does are forgetting the devil is in the details. Technically speaking Max Chilton does the same thing Hamilton does. He presses the accelerator, uses brakes, turns the steering wheel and laps a circuit just like Hamilton does. It’s the subtle difference that makes one average (I’m being kind) and one exceptional though.

    Closing the door, being tough is all well and good while it is up to a certain limit. Watching Monaco when Hamilton chopped Ricciardo off my first thought was that it was completely out of order. Then you see the stills and slow footage and you realise Hamilton pushed to the absolute limit, still leaving enough space to not break any rules and held his position. Austin ’15 and Canada ’16 Hamilton did knock wheels with Rosberg, but on corner exit and crucially, he only knocked wheels he didn’t clean t-bone into a car ahead of him by not attempting to take the corner at all.

    Hamilton is also pretty good at holding his hands up when he’s at fault. Germany ’14 when he misread that Button was leaving the door open for him and collided, he didn’t try to blame Button he just held his hands up that he’d misread the situation. Rosberg would do well to admit fault once in a while.

    1. Exactly, Hamilton tries to do exact same thing, but makes it work.

      Rosberg needs to practice his racecraft a bit.

      Their intent is same, move same, results somewhat different.

  24. What’s interesting is many have criticized Rosberg for not being ruthless enough compared to Hamilton. And when he finally gets that ruthless streak here, he does so in a somewhat clumsy way. I have to side with the stewards, too. There’s hard, fair racing and then there’s desperation. You expect your competition to turn into the corner at some point.

  25. Is anyone going to explain the racing rules to Rosberg? He could really use a refresher, or he’s going to keep trying to crash Lewis out of the rest of the season. Disgraceful.

  26. Maybe Rosberg isn’t championship material – he should have seen the bigger picture, made it difficult for Lewis, but avoided the collision, and settled for 2nd place
    He would only have dropped 7 points, rather than suffering damage and finishing 4th!

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