It gets worse, I was lost and driving around this very ring road only last March and thought what a God forsaken place this is, having got onto it from J23 Ciampino airport at 2.0 am in the morning everyone was driving like a maniac including me !!!.
I'm avoiding twitter, so many accounts pretending to be news saying other "news" accounts are claiming his condition has worsened etc etc Wish people would just ignore these and listen to the official channels.
Back to the topic of the race. (maybe we should create a Bianchi thread when the next news arrives) What happened to Rosberg? In the early stages he was much faster than Hamilton then when he came in to chnage to inters his set up was all wrong and was losing huge time. His 2nd stop for inters, I dont know if they adjusted it but his pace was even worse. Where as Hamiltons tweeks were spot on. Though In my opinion another factor that won the race for hamilton is his tyres seemed to take the heat more. He didnt need to go wide into the wet patches to cool them, even though he was behind another car. amazing.
I was thinking about doing that too. He seemed to be far happier with the balance of the car on the full wets compared to the intermediates. It was crazy how quickly Hamilton pulled away from him, though, even after the second pit stop.
Good point, any new news regarding Jules does deserve its own thread... With regards to the early part, when on full wets, I think Hamilton was just keeping a safe distance. Then on Inters, did like wise for the first few laps, keeping his tyres in better shape, then made is move from lap 20 onwards, more pressure he put Rosberg under, then more he pushed and the more he took out of his tyres. Would like Button to have made the podium, drove a great race!
Hamilton has dispelled any myths about his racecraft this year. Both Italy & now Japan he has been behind Rosberg, paced himself looking after his tyres better, and then overtaken him on the track for the win. I wonder if the messages from his race engineer are coded so they mean the opposite. Sit back and attack at the end, seems to translate to , go and get Rosberg now. Maybe trying to trick Rosberg's side of the garage into thinking Hamilton won't attack?
It looked to me like Hamilton was just keeping pace with Rosberg who seemed to be taking wider lines through the curves, perhaps for better grip. Hamilton then being able to wait for Rosbergs tyres to go off quicker. It always looked like he was going to catch him but after Rosbergs excessive oversteer problem with his first inters I thought he'd improve with the second set. Did Hamilton have a better wet set up for the race? It might explain his q3 time. I was also amazed that it took so long for the bbc to realize Bianchi had gone off. There was obviously much commotion behind the tractor and shots of the subdued Marrusia crew. Still hoping for better news of Jules.
I suspect that Hamilton used the radio messages to surprise Rosberg, rather than them being deliberately coded to mean the opposite. Also, by not going straight on the attack yesterday, he retained something of a surprise by not repeating the tactic he used in Italy. As you say, all myths about his lack of race craft must be dispelled now and I think what we have seen is Lewis knowing exactly what he wants to do and how to effect it. I also want to echo TomTom: it was remarkable how he pulled away from Rosberg after the pass, just as he did at Monza. I think that he must have had a better set-up yesterday. I too am anxiously awaiting news on Jules. It's hard to be patient when you know his life is in danger; must be hell for his family and friends.
YESS! after Quali he was saying for some reason he didnt feel on it it and he didnt know why.... This was obviously a bluff. clever mind games
It's funny that you say that. A lot of people have commented on how crap Lewis's mind games are, and some of them are! I suspect he just throws them all out there and some of them work and others are a bit crap.
I think when Hamilton is driving like he is in the equipment he has, he is often in another class - very similar to Silverstone. What I would say is that Merc did Nico no favours by keeping him out rather than going to fresh rubber, not that it would have affected the result of being beaten by his team mate. A true WDC drive.
I always view stupid people with suspicion. You never know what they're going to do/say and whether they mean to do it or not!
Life rule, never get into an argument with a stupid person, they'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience
First, I want to say I am praying Jules recovers quickly and totally. I hope we have good news soon. You know what? I think Lewis is even more smart than we give him credit for. Remember Rosberg is usually described as this thinker and the one who studies data and uses it to good effect, also the boss at mind games etc. After the race where Lewis ran down Rosberg until he made a mistake he said from now on he will use that tactic on Rosberg. He must have realised that Rosberg isnt as tough as he tries to appear. In the race yesterday he did just that.. he pressured Rosberg, but what I think he did was to keep a safe distance from Rosberg without losing too much time to him in the early laps to save his tyres, while Rosberg was running flat out. Then when he started to put the real pressure on, Rosberg had no tyres left. I was amazed when the team asked Rosberg if he was managing his pace and Rosberg replied that he was driving flat out, yet Hamilton was all over him. The fact that Hamilton opened such a huge gap to Rosberg in such a short time tells me that if he had started on pole with no one to hold him back he might have lapped the whole field with that sort of pace. Remember, both Hamilton and Rosberg said they had exactly the same car setup yet Rosberg was clearly no match. Even when the rain was coming heavier and everyone was slowing hamilton was still putting in fastest laps. He made a mistake on his in-lap for the first stop where he was trying a bit too hard or he would have been in front of Rosberg after that stop, but it must be really crushing to Rosberg to see Hamilton blast around the outside and run away at seconds per lap and there was nothing he could do about it. Hamilton is proving to be much better on tyres (especially harder tyre) than Rosberg, his fuel usage is better than most and there is no question about his overtaking ability and there should be none about his ability in the wet. Lots of commentators say that Rosberg is tougher than Hamilton mentally, but what we are seeing is something very different. Rosberg puts up a brave face but he doesn't seem to handle pressure as well as Hamilton and it is showing. While I congratulate Rosberg for his success at winning the most poles, he hasnt overtaken Hamilton to win one single race the whole season. I must say he did overtake Hamilton in a race a couple time but each time Hamilton got him back before the next corner and Hamilton won the race. I think what we are seeing here now though is that the ban on driver coaching is affecting Rosberg more than Hamilton. New he doesnt have to luxury of the pit wall telling him how to manage his tyres and where to put his car so he could copy what other drivers are doing to make his car go faster. I really believe the driver advice ban is affecting Rosberg's race.
