He also wouldn't have won the Monaco GP if it wasn't for RB's strategy blunder. Luck swings both ways at different points over a different seasons. Anyway back to the race. Charlie has lost the plot with these wet races. Firstly a rolling start puts cars at a higher velocity and creates more spray than a standing start - Fact. So if Saftey is the primary factor then he's on a loser straight away. At no point did he mandate wet only tyres before teams switched to inters. The Saftey car was kept out for multiple laps after crashes were cleared making the track worse, and more unsafe. If the race wasn't safe enough to start, then it certainly wasn't safe enough later in the day - I have had major issues with this in lower formula when races have been run in worse conditions than the starting time which was delayed. Lewis excellent, Nico kept him honest in the initial stages and Mad Max was crazily good.
Monaco is an irrelevance anyway. 1) If Hamilton wins in Abu Dhabi and Rosberg stacks it or has an engine failure, Hamilton wins by 13 points = Monaco was irrelevant. 2) If all goes as expected and Nico wins the championship in Abu Dhabi = Monaco was irrelevant.
I think Lewis is by far the better driver of the two, that is clear. But the putting Nico in his place the past few races I think is also partly due to Nico playing the numbers game. Like Lewis at the end of last year who had already won the title, Nico this year knows he only needs to do the minimum to get over the line as WDC and I don't blame him. Sure it's boring to watch but if he becomes WDC for the first time it will all be worth it (in his eyes). Still hoping for some chaos and Nico starting a bit further down the grid and having to fight up to 3rd place at least to get it though, if it’s a 1:2 easy race in 2 weeks I’ll end up falling asleep!
I agree although if Nico has an issue in Abu Dhabi and loses out on the championship then he will have cause to rue it.
Have you seen Benson's latest love letter to Lewis, it's quick sickening. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/37970536 Seriously, how does that guys still have a job? I always thought the BBC prided itself on being unbiased, but some of his recent articles have gone so far beyond what I think it acceptable for a journalist I really don't think he can call himself one anymore.
If Rosberg had finished higher up than a dismal 7th, even with letting Hamilton through, he could have been WDC by now. If he hadn't tried to be clever in Austria he would have been WDC by now. If Lewis hadn't had an engine failure I Malaysia, that would change everything completely. As Murray used to say, F1 is IF spelt backwards. Kind of. The WDC is what it is at the moment. 2nd or 3rd for Rosberg and he wins it in Abu Dhabi and will be crowned champion. I'd prefer him to win it in style with a win as then he can rightly turn around and say he didn't win it by playing the percentages. I hope he takes the fight properly to Hamilton. It's a shame it's not winner takes all as then there would be real pressure on both of them. As it is, no pressure on Hamilton as he has to assume he has to win, like he has done for the last 3 races. No pressure on Rosberg as he can seemingly canter around in 2nd or 3rd and let Hamilton have the win. Could be an epicly boring race if Rosberg plays this game.
Bernie should release a joke statement, saying he is bringing back double points for the last race of this season so Lewis can win the title with just a win regardless of what Nico does! Can you imagine the commotion it would cause.
on a side note, I find it quite sad that 'opening the steering' to force people off circuit is now acceptable, when I was karting it was a DQ
It's been like that since the Schumacher days, he was the first person to do that and it was accepted that it was okay so everyone does it now.
true If rosberg has tried a bit harder to get pole in any of the last few races and just made sure no way for hamilton to pass except for pits then it'd be all over. At this point Rosberg needs a fast car and clear air here and first corner will be huge. I fully expect hamilton to go pole and zoom away. I think now he's actually focused the bad starts have disappeared and not all of that is team IMO I really expect hamilton to destroy rosberg so its entirely down to a rosberg v red bull fight. That start will be crucial. .
All else being equal, I very much doubt that the eventual outcome would have been different – at least in the sense that I believe Hamilton would have won – assuming in your scenario that Ricciardo's pit stop would have played out the same, thus allowing Hamilton to take a fortuitous lead. A continued defence by Rosberg to keep Hamilton behind would have resulted in them both going slower than Rosberg's already poor lap times, whilst unnecessarily risking a collision and the outcome might well have been that Rosberg could have finished even further down the order than what actually transpired. I also believe Hamilton was so much quicker (I think at that stage it was roughly 2.5 secs per lap?) that he may have despatched even a defensive Rosberg very quickly. Who knows? It is all conjecture. – All 'ifs', 'buts' and 'maybes' … but we must remember this was early in the season and F1 is also a team game; and that the preceding race was the Spanish Grand Prix where both had failed to finish due to just such a calamity which at the time was nothing short of an embarrassing disaster for the team and its sponsors; and that the drivers had been spoken to and advised in the most uncompromising terms of serious consequences for another such misdemeanour*. Ifs buts and maybes can be applied to every event at every moment of existence as an argument for different futures. One might, for example, wonder at where we would be at this late stage, had Rosberg and Hamilton had each others' power units for each and every race. Ultimately, it gets us nowhere, in my opinion. *Possible sanctions included not only a very very heavy fine but also suspension for between one and three races. Under such circumstances, and being so much slower than his team mate at the time, Rosberg's circumspect decision – which was done sensibly at the point on the circuit which would minimise his own loss of lap-time – was really a no-brainer, from his perspective at the time. - - =o0o= - - Hmm. Didn't come here to write that and now I've run out of time! … :-(
The showdown is Abudhabi, both drivers better bring their A game, no excuses, no I had more mechanicals, no I let him past. Foot to the floor for 50-odd laps, lets av it.
Unless Rosberg has a mechanical and Lewis wins, in which case this forum will single handedly break the internet.
If it happens then I'm getting my moneys worth! Luck's been on Rosberg's side, he's bound to win it now. Unless luck is just being a git that is.
My money's on Rosberg for the title this year, and yes he deserves it despite his team mate's lack of luck. But you never know, it only takes one spanner… Quick edit: I realise that looks as if I'm supporting conspiracy theories. I'm not. What I mean is that things can go wrong, especially when the pressure is on. And if Rosberg wins, he will have overcome that seemingly enormous (to his mind) final hurdle. Thus, he will be a deserving winner.
I think we'll know exactly how it'll pan out by the first corner. It'll be Hamilton on pole, Rosberg next to him, and if it's that order out of the first corner then it's game over. If Rosberg can get comfortable in second he'll take that any day. What I'd like to happen, and it's the only way things will be interesting I think, is Hamilton backing Rosberg into the Red Bulls. It might mean temporarily risking the lead, but realistically that doesn't mean anything anyway if Hamilton can't get cars between himself and Rosberg. Rosberg getting increasingly irate, with Verstappen threatening a lunging move, might cause him to make a mistake.
Rosberg accidentally takes out Hamilton at the first corner, FIA decides he's not Senna enough to get away with that and DSQ him from championship ala Schumacher. Internet implodes.