Except when it comes to being Hamilton's team mate then everyone should hate them, unless you're a Kovalainen and are terrible in a good team.
Whatever they do I'm glad it's not my decision! Drawing a line in the sand only works if you're prepared to carry out your threat though. Rosberg messes up again and you throw away £100m, or whatever it'll cost to buy him out of his contract? They've already had crisis talks several times, had to calm things down, and Rosberg still comes into this race angry apparently and seemingly prepared to clash with his team-mate. Really, I don't think you can calm it down now, it's gone too far. Trying to level things up might help, but it's probably only going to paper over the cracks.
I'd stick a contract amendment on both of them that made it perfectly clear that they'll get the boot if they screw up like that going forward, and make it perfectly clear that they shouldn't expect any preferential treatment if they choose not to accept it.
So, yet again F1 is seemingly faced with another German win-at-all-costs mentality. Never saw that one coming
I think Mercedes will be annoyed it's two weeks til the next Grand Prix, means they actually have to do something to stop Rosberg stewing like he did over the summer break.
If Rosberg was that much of a quick thinker wouldn't he be much better at overtaking especially anticipation? Remember the switch moved Hamilton put on Rosberg in the epic race a few races ago? Didn't he get outsmarted in ever overtake over and over again? How do you go about judging who is the better thinker and the one with the best brains...lol. Another thing,,,when watching Rosberg's driving style ,...I don't know if anybody else noticed it but I notice he pulls at the steering wheel a lot ..his hands are constantantly tugging left and right in a very nervous manner..I guess that's his style.. When you check Hamilton...in the came car his hands are more steady without that nervous left right tugging. I have been noticing that for quite a while now. Just check the close ups from the cockpit.
Reckon it might end up with a surprise of few "under contract" drivers moving around depending on where teams finish in the constructors. Alonso has a get out clause if Ferrari finish low enough, Vettel seems a bit disenchanted at Red Bull alongside getting whipped by Ricciardo, Hamilton might want to walk from Merc, who knows if Raikkonen can be bothered with another season with a car that probably wont suit him and potentially alongside Alonso. There's also 2 seats available at McLaren (and i've no doubt at all that the reason neither driver has "signed" yet is down to McLaren monitoring who might become available... but right now, no top driver would actively want to go there unless they have no better option)
I just watched the close up on youtube and it looks very suspicious... Check the right tug of the steering wheel just before the crash... Very suspicious indeed. Youtube On board battle Rosberg-Hamilton Gp Spa Belgium F1 2014 crash Hamilton Was trying to post it here but I am not getting to share it maybe someone with better tech skills can post it. Lol
Hmm. I've quoted you, ASC, for probably providing the best intro for my contribution [see aside in pale text below] but this whole thread has provided a very interesting read. Going beyond your (potentially provocative [!]) comment, it seems to me this forum has a good ear to the ground for 'nut-shelling' the public consensus in general, particularly with this latest controversy! So, my thanks to all contributors. (Unusually, I've read every single comment!). But now I'll refocus on the matter in hand⦠My view on this incident: Initially, I saw it as a 'racing incident' with Rosberg appearing to be slightly late (clumsy?) in making the necessary adjustment to avoid contact. But I need to qualify this first impression because unusually for me, it quickly evolved! Something about it didn't quite ring true. I watched it again. And what at first I'd first written off as pretty innocent clumsines, perhaps due to a lack of anticipation or/and awareness, quickly took on a deeper tone⦠In a sense, all public figures are here to be shot at. However, something which can never be levelled at Rosberg is that he is anywhere close to being stupid or inept: far more than most, he knows the limits of both himself and circumstance; indeed, this is why he is a top driver. âTop drivers can see these things coming and know when to back out of a situation. Yes, they do. Really. And I say this despite knowing that many might not perceive the subtleties behind such a seemingly absolute statement. For instance(s), compare this incident with Button v Magnussen and Alonso v Magnussen where both attacking drivers needed to adjust in order to avoid contact â and duly did so. Like them, despite Hamilton's defence being (by comparison) deftly subtle, Rosberg could see the need to back out of it. He had plenty of time to see that such an adventurous (hopefully threatening) move was only going to work if Hamilton moved further to his right for the left hander (i.e off the racing line as if being blue flagged) in order to make space and avoid contact. In this sense, the attacking driver (Rosberg) required the defender (Hamilton) to consciously and deliberately move off line to concede, despite being clearly ahead on the the track whilst approaching corner apex. This mentality is fundamentally wrong in racing. And let's get this straight: there was no 'chop'; no sudden move from Hamilton, who 'knew' that he had the corner and that any high quality racing driver, which definitely includes Rosberg, would (not should) 'know it'. I want to underline that: would know it. At this stage, I should say that I was relieved that the stewards chose not to intervene. In recent times, such intervention has progressively (and rightly, in my view) been seen as out of place with modern F1. [Apologies (in particular) to EMSC: it is genuinely my view and not in any way intended cause discontent with yourself or any of M. Schumacher's many loyal admirers, that he â although preceded to some extent by Senna (and Prost) â was the biggest reason for the somewhat distasteful need to reactively referee our sport.] Back to my point, it appears Rosberg chose not to do (what I believe he knew was) the right thing. Now, what first appeared (to me) to be an avoidable racing incident takes on the more sinister hue of 'I chose not to avoid it'. And let's be clear: choosing not to avoid something is choosing to go through with something avoidable. After another great race, the season takes on yet another new flavour. Very interesting indeedâ¦
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/28922696 Shock. If you ignore the Benson bias. It would seem Rosberg didn't pull back because he wanted to make a statement that he was there. He didn't purposefully mean to contact.
It is very obvious in my view. Herbert defended it as clumsy initially stating u can't see the wings. We'll I can't always see the wing of the car I am driving (and I drive many) but I sure as he'll know where it is. Any body, including a learner, could know the footage from the front wheel they need to allow. Nico made two corrections and it seems a little like the Monaco twitches. Monaco was defined by the reversing, at least for me. A calculated action. Nico is smarmy, (and no I have not been a Lewis fan although I am warming to him as he matures) and I said in a previous post Nico is spoilt. I think there is a switch in Nico that he can't control. We have seen it before in others over the generations. Lewis must never trust him. Nico is not trust worthy and all the baggage that goes with such a person needs to be understood. At this point I am looking to Lewis to show Nico that talent beats cheats.
Magnussen got a penalty yesterday, Nico got none. Now Lewis has said that Nico has admitted doing it to prove a point and Mercedes have confirmed this as "broadly accurate". The FIA can choose to re-open the incident but will they? My guess is that they won't because it's not Todt's style. Let's face it, they let him get away with Monaco too. Still, Magnussen got a penalty and Nico got none. Nico has still not proved he can beat Hamilton in a fair fight yet he is now 29 points ahead and it looks like, again, we will have a champion who lacks overtaking skills and can't race wheel-to-wheel. This sport is really f**ed-up.
For TT94, at the end of the Sky coverage it was mentioned that Natalie Pinkham is supposed to be in Stuttgart this Wednesday to do a feature with both Lewis and Nico - that might prove interesting
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/sports/06iht-prix.2718507.html?_r=1& An interesting brief read at the moment. Not stuff we don't already know, and they only have a small direct quote from Rosberg, but it's still an interesting caveat to the debate.
Rosberg was pissed off at Hamilton getting the jump on him, he tried an extremely optimistic move to get the place back and he clipped Lewis accidentally in the process, actually I think Rosberg is not sufficiently capable of successfully pulling off that sort of maneuver on Hamilton, pure silly and costly for Lewis racing incident . Although having since read Cosi's post, I do agree, it is possible that Rosberg could have tried a little harder to avoid Hamiltons rear end !! Also, also, not wishing to open old wounds, so I won't mention that place that begins with a M and ends with an O !!
All true. As for the FIA there would be a lot of dilution of the internal meeting...Mercedes want to win and don't want to extend this debate. The answer is for Lewis to remain confident and show how talent wins. Ricciardo believes in his chances, Lewis needs to believe in his. 200 points to be gained yet. My advice for Lewis...50 points in that last race....if It comes down to this, Nico would risk everything...Lewis needs to remember this lesson...it may yet win Lewis the championship, knowing the true character of Nico now.
Rosberg is a top driver when leading in front but at his age and with his experience he should be much better in wheel to wheel combat when fighting at the front.
Both Nico and Lewis are able to drive the Mercedes at it's limits, going on how close their qualifying times are, a 10th here a 10th there. The difference is race craft, Lewis simply has more of it than Nico, and the battles so far have shown once Lewis is ahead of Nico, Nico just didn't have that extra 1% required to get back in the lead.
