meh, i saw it developing last year when Nico started talking about just wanting to "annoy Vettel" rather than actually focusing on winning. I assume Hamilton or the team has convinced him beating Vettel is the priority this season whilst Lewis is already just focusing on winning every race. I don't see why else he'd seemingly have such a "job done" demeanour on the podium when his performance screamed of number 2 driver not bothered about winning.
"The Merc’s getting closer, though. If something goes on, I want to be a part of it" He just wanted some friends, poor Ricciardo
That doesn't make sense to me.... Why would a team arrange for their drivers to take points off each other and give the other teams a chance to get back at them? If in four races Lewis has 50 points and Rosberg has 50, wouldn't it be easier for say Vettel to reach that in two races? Wouldn't it be more sensible for one driver to put the championships out of the reaches of everybody else? If you are talking about constructor's championships maybe, but if it's the driver's championship then arranging for both drivers to take points off each other doesn't make much sense.. at least to me.
It makes absolute sense to have a #1 and #2 driver in any team to maximize points for the WDC. Who that would be at Mercedes and and if they will prefer one driver over the other is difficult to answer. Personally, I'd think Hamilton would be a wise choice as #1 as I believe he has a slight edge over Rosberg, but the obvious choice for Mercedes would be Rosberg IMO as he's a German driver in a German team. Who knows how/when they'll tackle that particular conundrum. It may be that it sorts its self out by its self, but with two strong drivers in a strong car, it could certainly result in friction. I certainly don't think they would consider trading off wins. I don't think either driver would be happy with that scenario, nor would it be wise in the long haul. I'm pretty sure each driver will be looking to maximize points individuality at every opportunity while they still hold a car advantage.
I only believe they would only keep it under control for a short time or halfway into the season to help make sure (both) drivers had the best chance to win the world title only for it to be let loose on the halfway point in which both their drivers are only in the running. If both drivers just have a run of 1st and 2nd they would still make a very large gap against anybody behind them including Vettel and Alonso. With a second and half of a gap against anybody this early on why take the risk with both drivers fighting each other, they both know it's them for the title but Mercedes want to delay that battle for as long as possible until a gap is built. So letting drivers trade wins for the early period under agreement while being under no threat from any other team seems possible if you consider F1 a dirty business over a honourable sport. Mercedes would lose nothing backing both drivers if they can force both drivers to deal with trading wins at the early stages swooping up 1-2's every GP. It's unlikely but we all thought something like crash gate would never happen.
You make a really good point there but I think personal opinion changes when you support or dont support the driver within the team. I remember being quite worried when Jenson won the WDC that Brawn made it over difficult by allowing the team to keep racing until the very end.
By my calculations both Mercedes drivers could both have 170ish points come Silverstone having 43 pts every 2 races. This with Vettel, Alonso, Kimi, Ricciardo, Hulk Williams and Mclaren fighting for 3rd to 6th easily! Lewis and Nico bar reliability could have a 100 pt + gap and it would only be halfway into the season. This would leave them to fight it out for the last half of the season by themselves but only if they have been forced to deal with this situation by the Mercedes board.
