And Lewis's start was like a car with the 94 Benetton illegal launch control. Lewis killed Nico at the start and Nico has already said that even without the ERS failure the outcome would not of been any different. 11 - 6 says it all you don't become the most successful British driver regards GP wins EVER by fluke.
Yep, when I saw that start, I thought, that is Lewis saying 'I am the champion'; it was extraordinary. Nico was right, it's highly unlikely he could have taken the race back without a technical failure on Lewis's part. It's just that Nico's problem robbed us of the spectacle, or perhaps the illusion, that it could turn out differently. Kudos to Nico though, his dignity yesterday went a long way towards redeeming himself for his less savoury actions in Monaco and Spa. Sorry to be a pedant but it's 11-5, incidentally.
The most successful driver this year won, that's all the fans really wanted, we didn't want a result due to the artificial double points rules, and glad it didn't have the chance to effect the result! Not a Rosberg fan but was gutted to see him hit car issues yesterday, was great all weekend and the will to complete the race, given the condition his car was in, I commend that! If Merc get on top of their reliability issues and continue to eak out a bit more time from the car and the engine I can't see anyone getting close to them next year. Massa got close in this GP but he was pushing like mad whilst they turned the wick down on Hamilton's car from the Midway point. Had all things been well (Rosberg not broken down therefore both Mercs running full pelt till the end), they'd have finished the race a good 20s+ clear of second place. That said, as long as Williams don't do anything daft like McLaren do with their year on year design philosophy change, and just evolve what already is a very quick car they'll be the nearest challengers to the Mercs next year. Think Lotus with the new power plant will do well to, hopefully the better ERS system will help them fix their break issues they had this year, a decent chassis and they could be in the mix too. Whilst Hamilton won the WDC, the driver of the year for me has been Danny Ric, take a bow son, the only non-Merc winner, had the better of Vettel all year, the last race being a perfect example, both start in the pitlane, one finishes 4th the other 8th! Would like to see Alonso and Vettel get decent cars for 2015, whilst the inter-team battle was great this year, would love to see the likes of Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa, Bottas, Danny Ric, Vettel and Alonso going hammer and tongs next year, can't see it happening to be honest, will most likely be another Inter-team Merc battle that will have to keep us entertained. 2014 just finished and I'm already bored... 2015 Testing can't start soon enough!
I just wonder whether Williams can up their game? You'd hope off the back of this season they'd get more sponsors and increased prove money to fund further developments. They don't need to improve their car by that much to at least start bothering Mercedes more often for pole, and with some better operational practices they can improve their race strategies and really hound them for victory. I think they could really give the Mercs a headache, provided they don't go an do a completely new car and screw it up like the did in 2013, instead of evolving the 2012 car which had been pretty decent.
Ps- I don't want to come across as I am blaming them for progress, it is part and parcel of F1. Will Williams put up a fight? At the moment they are the closest, however they just make stupid calls in terms of strategy in the majority of races. No idea really how it will pan out next year, we have many protagonists, but Mercedes will retain their crown in the end.
I expect Mercedes to dominate but by a smaller margin. The first question in my mind is how close can Williams get, given, on the one hand, their relative lack of resources, and on the other, that they have been improving all year, Massa particularly. Bottas needs to get over his starting problem to make that extra step. I'd say the same for Ricciardo too, despite his brilliance through the season; and will Kvyat be next year's Ricciardo?
Ha, ha, Snap! I din't see your post first, honest Also, what could Force India do if they had more money? They've certainly got talent in the team and behind the wheel. Edit: Is a season post mortem thread a good idea? This stuff isn't really about the last race.
I really wanted to see Hulk in a top car this season. Fresh faces for the title (Bottas vs. Ricciardo vs. Hulk), would have been intriguing.
Oh yes, if there's one thing all Not606 members are good at, it's being very knowledgeable about what people should have done in hindsight!
Agree on all that Manny, there are things Williams need to do before they can become real contenders and yes, I also think Mercedes will win it again, but the hope is they won't have it all their own way.
Me too. I'm starting to think his best chance is if FI can step up as a team because, despite the weight limit increase, no top team wanted him for next year and he's not getting any younger. They started this season well and I presume that their failure to keep up was down to a lack of money for development. He was forgotten yesterday in all the title melée but I'm very glad he got a good result to finish off the season at least.
Don't make me laugh, I'll burst my stitches! But yeah, well, it's kind of 'lessons that should be learned' too. Take Kimi, for example: when he re-signed for Ferrari, there was a fair amount of bewilderment about whether it was a good move or Einstein-style insanity and now we can see that our members' worst suspicions have been confirmed. What a clever bunch we are.
Who want's to tell them? please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Marc Priestley ‏@f1elvis 44m44 minutes ago Sitting at the airport going through media coverage of #F1. @MailOnline have had an absolute shocker with this.
Linda Hamilton replies: "**** off, I wouldn't touch Christian Horner with a barge pole" This just reminded me of a cool moment on the F1 Forum which went something like this: Suzi to Anthony Hamilton: "What a day for England" AH: "What a day for the United Kingdom"
How bad was Ferrari you ask? Each driverâs fastest lap: [TABLE="class: thin"] [TR] [TH]Rank[/TH] [TH]Driver[/TH] [TH]Car[/TH] [TH]Fastest lap[/TH] [TH]Gap[/TH] [TH]On lap[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD]1[/TD] [TD]Daniel Ricciardo[/TD] [TD]Red Bull-Renault[/TD] [TD]1â44.496[/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD]50[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]12[/TD] [TD]Fernando Alonso[/TD] [TD]Ferrari[/TD] [TD]1â47.424[/TD] [TD]2.928[/TD] [TD]45[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]13[/TD] [TD]Kamui Kobayashi[/TD] [TD]Caterham-Renault[/TD] [TD]1â47.431[/TD] [TD]2.935[/TD] [TD]38[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]14[/TD] [TD]Adrian Sutil[/TD] [TD]Sauber-Ferrari[/TD] [TD]1â47.508[/TD] [TD]3.012[/TD] [TD]44[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]15[/TD] [TD]Esteban Gutierrez[/TD] [TD]Sauber-Ferrari[/TD] [TD]1â47.698[/TD] [TD]3.202[/TD] [TD]43[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]16[/TD] [TD]Kimi Raikkonen[/TD] [TD]Ferrari[/TD] [TD]1â47.736[/TD] [TD]3.240[/TD] [TD]46[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]17[/TD] [TD]Romain Grosjean[/TD] [TD]Lotus-Renault[/TD] [TD]1â47.897[/TD] [TD]3.401[/TD] [TD]35[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]18[/TD] [TD]Will Stevens[/TD] [TD]Caterham-Renault[/TD] [TD]1â48.398[/TD] [TD]3.902[/TD] [TD]47[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]19[/TD] [TD]Daniil Kvyat[/TD] [TD]Toro Rosso-Renault[/TD] [TD]1â48.748[/TD] [TD]4.252[/TD] [TD]10[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]20[/TD] [TD]Pastor Maldonado[/TD] [TD]Lotus-Renault[/TD] [TD]1â48.933[/TD] [TD]4.437[/TD] [TD]9[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] 0.007s faster than a Caterham outright.
