Ok let me throw in another side to this.... Maybe mercedes should have asked Rosberg not to hold up Hamilton when he was follow Vergne. And maybe Alonso wouldn't have opened that big gap to the mercedes drivers. I couldn't believe it was 19 laps he followed Vergne. Wow. After I read this piece it is easy to understand that Rosberg just didn't have the will to win or was just playing it safe as he said he would do..... This is a part of a report that really tells the story of where Rosberg lost the race really. When the race restarted on lap 13 Rosberg was fourth ahead of Alonso (eighth) and Lewis Hamilton (thirteenth). Both ended the race in front of Rosberg, mainly thanks to his second problem. This was that his pace immediately after the restart, when most drivers were on slicks tyres on a damp track, wasn’t as good as his rivals’. Hamilton immediately pounced on Bottas, Esteban Gutierrez and Nico Hulkenberg, then profited from Sergio Perez going off to gain four places in half a lap. At the same time Alonso got past Vettel. But Rosberg made a poor restart and was passed by Kevin Magnussen’s intermediate-shod McLaren. The next time by Rosberg tried to re-pass Magnussen but couldn’t – and Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso capitalised. And while Rosberg braked cautiously for turn ten Alonso zapped around the outside of him. Now only Vettel’s Red Bull separated pole sitter Rosberg from Hamilton, who had started in the pit lane. Rosberg toiled for 19 laps trying to pass Vergne, to no avail. Meanwhile Alonso pulled out a four-second advantage over the Mercedes. When Rosberg pitted Hamilton took his place on the tail of the Toro Rosso – and immediately passed Vergne at his first attempt. The final nail in the coffin for Rosberg’s victory hopes was, of course, when he got stuck behind his team mate later in the race. Given his fresher tyres, this likely cost Rosberg a few seconds, which meant that at the end of the race he simply ran out of laps to make a move stick on Hamilton. But of course Hamilton appreciated this, and was wise enough to ignore Mercedes’ entreaties for him to move aside. It was the third and final blow to Rosberg’s hopes of winning – though the two which preceded it did more damage.
Just realised that the jokers at red bull changed their front brakes in Parc ferme, already taking advantage of the latest loophole please log in to view this image
Looking at that lap chart and comparing Ricciardo to Hamilton..hmmmmm I think Mercedes may have made a mistake. If they had gone to softs Hamilton would have caught Alonso and would have been way down the road by the time Ricciardo arrived with his new tyres. I think Hamilton had over 11 seconds on Ricciardo after Ricciardo pitted. That's something Mercedes needs to look at. Maybe ... They were concentrating on the pole sitter and didn't realize Hamilton had made up so much ground..lol but if you look at the positions and times you would see Mercedes may have got it wrong.
Well.... looking at the times, Rosberg only had Hamilton sub 1 second for a couple of laps and wasn't near to climbing all over him. Nor was there any performance reason to let him go.
Great race â and with the four front cars all closing up in the final laps!* All sorts of incident and unpredictability made this another modern-era classic. Superb drives from Alonso, Hamilton and Ricciardo, all of whom have a good claim for driver of the day. Rosberg was unlucky with the Safety Car but as his team mate knows only too well, these things happen. Speaking of the Mercedes duo, I thought the instruction from the pit wall was premature and as such, contentious; perhaps even a tad inconsistent with Mercedes' (usually) admirable philosophy. I also think Hamilton was justified in responding the way he did, especially since the Constructors' title is all but a 'given' with the only thing now at stake being the all-important Drivers' championship. That said, Rosberg's annoyance with the way things panned out was no surprise; he'd expected to easily extend his lead over his rival, and I also believe he expected to win the race. Such disappointment creates a sense of injustice, often leading instinctive retaliation, usually at those closest to home, so it's no surprise he's venting his frustration at Hamilton's refusal to yield. Full marks to Alonso. In my opinion, he's not only driving really well but also showing up Raikkonen's weaknesses. Of course, the same might be said of the pairing at Red Bull⦠- - - o0o - - - *Bernie et al would do well to remember that this is not horse-racing. It doesn't need handicaps or manufactured hurdles. Perhaps the concern about falling attendances (not in the UK, I hasten to add!) and TV audiences ought to provoke an inward look. Perhaps they might wonder if their tampering to artificially spice things up is perceived by the more discerning as cheapening the show and is the very reason people turn away? Besides, creating a tacky 'immediate gratification' environment will surely attract the fickle fanâ¦
I agree..and the most likely would have been reverse of positions Rosberg 3rd and Hamilton 4th..would that have made any difference to team points? No, so I think he did the right thing,,why would you want your team mate to overtake you to take your position and extend points and the team not getting any additional points in the exchange of positions?
Erm vergne was on an in lap, his tyre were gone. Hamilton wasn't getting the same resistance. He was lucky Vettel span out the way too. Their was a lot of fortune going for everyone in this race
The whole of the top 3 relied on some luck with safety cars, strategy etc to get their places. It would have been hard to see past a Rosberg victory without the safety car coming out after he had gone past the pit entry. Mercedes difficulty in passing people on the straights does seem to be the oddest thing about the race. How could they not blast past the Torro Rosso/RBR when it is known how far down on power the Renualt is, unless the Merc's were on a compromised wet/dry setup? The Ferrari is better, but you would sill have expected Hamilton with DRS to easily slingshot past down the straight, especially with Alonso running out of traction. Did Merc drop the ball by playing too safe?
Don't the times show that he cruised up on him at him at over a 2nd a lap? I recall him being in the 27's and Lewis being in high 28's low 29's. I think it is very track specific here in that following cars seem to really suffer and with such a short straight and a partially damp turn 1 for a lot if the race it was difficult for all drivers to pass until the very end. Ted and Bruno claimed that he lost over 10 seconds which put him behind Kimi and A another who he then had to overtake. As Dhel has kindly pointed out, Lewis closed up on Vergne, Rosberg & Vettel at a vast rate of knots but was unable to do anything about it when he got there. I'm sure his ultimate pace (along with many others) was affected in a similar way. I think El Bando has rightfully pointed out the differences in Lewis passing Vergne compared to Rosberg, however it was still a sterling overtake even with the tyre life difference. The safety car, the two FI's collecting themselves and Vettel's very fortunate spin (as was Lewis at turn 2 on his out lap) made his race far easier than it ought to have been. However, even his worst critic could not begrudge him some luck - the poor guy deserves a break.
Im just making reference to how people perceive similar situations very differently when a preferred driver is involved - often supported by multiple selected posts to justify their view point.
He was catching Hamilton at anywhere from 0.1 to 0.7 a lap. By the time he got the gap to sub 1 second, he'd already put 15 laps on his tyres. Three laps with a gap at about .9, and then he starts to lose some ground to Hamilton again. So letting Rosberg go seems a bit pointless to me.
I am back, and will catch up with the race today... seems like it was a good one according to the news.
In the post race notebook Ted had the lap times up and compared them - the point he made was that that Nico pitted on lap 32/33 and caught Lewis on lap 45 (ish) after he had pitted) and in the 4 or 5 laps he was lapping a good 5 tenths quicker. The theory being that with fuel burning off and the different tyre management (Lewis preserving tyre life and Nico killing his) in free air it would have been likely that Nico would have consistently lapped in the low to mid 27's as opposed to Lewis mid 28's - who knows the gap may have been even more? If it was pointless in letting him go then Lewis would not have objected and would not have been so honest and frank in admitting the Nico would have beaten him. The times clearly show the tactic he employed - Nico pitted on lap 56 where Lewis had lapped at 28:962 & 29:307 on lap 54 and 55. As soon as Nico pitted Lewis immediately lapped at 28:3, 28.0, 27.9, 27.4 (only 1 tenth slower than his fastest lap which he did at the end of his 31 lap stint it on heavier fuel) and a 28.1 - between 1.5 sec and 2 sec quicker! He knew exactly what he was doing and fair play to him! To add some balance to the discussion; Toto Wolff admits Lewis Hamilton’s decision not to let Nico Rosberg past during the Hungarian Grand Prix may have cost Mercedes victory. The Silver Arrows put their cars on two different strategies during an unpredictable race in Budapest with Hamilton two-stopping and Rosberg three-stopping. That meant that Rosberg needed to factor in an additional 22 seconds to his race time, making it critical that he posted quick lap times during his final pair of soft-tyre stints as Hamilton nursed his medium compounds through a mammoth 31 laps to the end. Rosberg’s lap-times dropped off significantly, though, once he got caught up in his team-mate's dirty air. “It is a difficult situation now and as a team we have to learn how the season pans out now, because if Lewis had let Nico go Nico could have won the race with a different strategy,” Wolff told reporters.
I still think that's being quite a bit optimistic. I completely understand the team wanting to maximize points at every opportunity, but right now they have to realize that they have two drivers locked in a title fight, so asking one to potentially hand the other points just isn't likely to fly from either side. If Rosberg really wanted the pass, he should have got on top of Hamilton and really pressured for that spot imo. But he didn't.
But Hamilton could claim too that Mercedes messed up his race by not utilising all the new soft tyres he had from qualifying. I think if they had put him on two sets of new tyres at the end he might have won the race too... The point is Rosberg took too long to pass JEV... 19 laps... do you think he could have passed Alonso or even Ricciardo on fairly new tyres? I doubt it. The most he could have hoped for was a reversal of positions with Hamilton.. And could anyone tell me how would that have advanced the argument about playing for team points by exchanging positions with Hamilton?
Turmoil at Mercedes then... I take Lewis's side after this calamity. Whilst this is going on other teams are edging onto the podium already.
