In the round-up: Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff admits it would be a nightmare if the championship battle between his drivers was decided by Lewis Hamilton suffering a car failure.
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Wolff fears Hamilton car failure ‘nightmare’ (BBC)
Toto Wolff: “Clearly Lewis breaking down would be a nightmare. We want the championship to end in a straight and fair battle and not by one of them breaking down.”
Marussia team principal John Booth: “It would be a travesty if Lewis did not win the championship this year.”
McIlroy: Hamilton deserves world title (The Telegraph)
World number one golfer Rory McIlroy: “I don’t think their season should be decided on one race with the double points. Lewis has won twice as many grands prix as Nico Rosberg, but there’s still a chance that Nico might win. It makes it exciting for the fans but I’m sure Lewis doesn’t think it’s that exciting. Hopefully, he does come out on top because he’s the deserving champion.”
Ecclestone warning for F1 teams (BT Sport)
“I never, ever, ever thought this power unit was what we wanted in Formula One. It’s done nothing for the industry.”
Caterham woes prompt rethink from Ecclestone (City AM)
“The contracts just say they have to run a third car if it drops below the limit. We are talking about what the right way is to go.”
Why Formula One success leaves Mercedes boss Toto Wolff hungry – and miserable (The Independent)
“We’ve won a constructors’ title now and this is something to be proud of, especially for Mercedes Benz, but there are so many other successful teams out there who have won multiple titles in a row, drivers’ and constructors’, who have shown what it means to have a sustainable, long-term, functional team. We’ve done it once and it’s just not good enough yet.”
Force India corrects aero error (Autosport)
Deputy team principal Bob Fernley: “We have moved in the right direction now and although it has helped us move forward with the 2015 car, it lost us some ground just after the halfway point of this year.”
Matt Borland Named Vice President of Technology for Haas F1 Team and Stewart-Haas Racing (Haas)
“In this role, Borland will serve as a liaison between the two organizations – Haas F1 Team in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship and Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.”
“As things stand at present, however, it is impossible for the lower-level teams to break even. Not because they are not out there hustling for results, and hustling for sponsors, but because they start each and every year with such a sizeable disadvantage that they cannot guarantee being able to cover their basic costs from the opening race to the season finale.”
The Contenders – Nico Rosberg (The Buxton Blog)
“After a while, all of that burgeoning incredible pace and talent seemed to stagnate. Folk within Williams would talk about Nico ‘switching off’ or ‘going to sleep’ in the middle of races.”
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Comment of the day
Is McLaren’s delay in announcing its driver line-up connected to problems elsewhere in the sport?
There’s more to this than meets the eye. Vettel hasn’t announced anything except leaving the red bull team, Alonso says all will make sense soon.
They’re all clearly waiting to find out about 3 car teams.
@Broke84
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Joao!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Happy 45th birthday to Philippe Adams, who had a very brief career as an F1 driver, starting two races for Lotus in 1994 at Spa-Francorchamps and Estoril.
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Bruno (@brunes)
19th November 2014, 0:16
A DNF for lewis could possibly be the fairest way of Rosberg winning the tittle.
Generally in Motorsport, that is considered “part of racing”.
However, if Nico won solely due to Double-Points, that would be “disgusting”.
ColdFly F1 (@)
19th November 2014, 0:33
@brunes, its not even that simple.
If Rosberg is leading and Hamilton safely in 3rd, then due to the travesty of double points Hamilton has to overtake.
Now imagine Hamilton crashes while overtaking and Rosberg becomes WDC. Fair?
Stig Semper Fi (@stigsemperfi)
19th November 2014, 0:57
That’s motorsport. I don’t want to see it but it can happen.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
19th November 2014, 7:14
@stigsemperfi
I think you have missed the point. That is NOT motorsport, it is different this year, because only with stupid double points does he have to try the overtake.
Sven (@crammond)
19th November 2014, 1:17
You have successfully determined the best possible scenario for ongoing F1-coverage in the news and traffic on F1-websites through the winter.
Mike (@mike)
19th November 2014, 2:47
I think would choose a sabbatical from the internet over being involved in that.
Bruno (@brunes)
19th November 2014, 1:21
@coldfy
Good point. I agree that it isn’t that simple.
But, no Formula 1 championship has, or ever will be simple.
My personal opinion: in that case, I would consider Rosberg a “deserving” champion as factors out of his control determined the result of the championship.
Steve
19th November 2014, 11:41
Spa says otherwise!
BasCB (@bascb)
19th November 2014, 9:46
Sorry, but I seriously doubt that Hamilton wouldn’t want to overtake that car anyway and try and get a shot at attacking for the win in that scenario @coldfly
Carlitox (@carlitox)
19th November 2014, 0:59
I was about to agree with @brunes, then @coldfly made a really strong point. Either way, there’s no way to be certain any of them would be deserving champ.
Sven (@crammond)
19th November 2014, 1:31
“Either way, there’s no way to be certain any of them would be deserving champ.”
The WCC is about deserving champions. WDC always had and always will have huge counterpoints as to what influence a driver has, and this year feels especially difficult, as both contenders don´t really give me the feel of “yeah, that´s a deserving champion”. It´s not only about Merc being so dominant, McLaren was in 88/89, too. But unlike 1988/89, this years contenders didn´t seem like the best drivers on the grid the years before they suddenly had the best car. Instead, during the last 3 or 4 years, it just felt like they had found the place they´ll belong in upper-midfield, and suddenly media-articles aks who of them would be a more deserving champion.
@HoHum (@hohum)
19th November 2014, 1:43
I think being a WDC makes you a worthy contender to be WDC.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
19th November 2014, 1:53
Hamilton has been in the top 3 drivers on the grid ever since he joined in 2007.
Sven (@crammond)
19th November 2014, 2:06
He hasn´t finished a season better than 4th in points since 2009 while always having a top-team seat. Assuming equal pay, he´s probably the 5th driver I´d call as a teamchef, and that´s still not taking into account how his psyche and his entourage may need managment.
MilleniumBug (@milleniumbug)
19th November 2014, 3:50
Agree. He was in contention for WDC if not for his string of bad luck in 2012. Leading the race only for the car to fail him
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
19th November 2014, 11:42
@crammond Go on then, I’ll bite, who is as good or a better racing driver than Hamilton on the current grid? I would say only Alonso, who himself comes with plenty of baggage due to his desire to have the whole team based around him. If you give Lewis a quick car he will you races and he will win you world championships. The points table doesn’t tell the whole story, in 2012 Lewis wiped the floor with Button, it was one of his best ever seasons but because of reliability issues he ended up only finishing 2 points ahead of Jenson. 2009 likewise, that Mclaren was shocking for the first half of the season, when they got their act together Hamilton won 2 races and scored a lot of points in the second half of the season.
Hamilton has had outstanding seasons in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012. He was poor in 2011 and was very quick but made some silly errors in 2008. 2013 he took a while to get used to the brakes but he was still better than Rosberg. If you give him a quick car he is one of the best out there.
rm
19th November 2014, 16:39
“If you give Lewis a quick car he will you races and he will win you world championships.”
As opposed to who? Alonso? Kimi? Vettel? Button? There are many drivers on the grid who will win you races and championships if you give them a quick car, and most of them don’t get the praise LH does.
“in 2012 Lewis wiped the floor with Button, it was one of his best ever seasons but because of reliability issues he ended up only finishing 2 points ahead of Jenson.”
Button was equally afflicted by reliability issues in 2012.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
19th November 2014, 17:47
Lewis retired from the lead of the race on least 3 occasions in 2012. Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Brazil where Hulkenberg took him out. Button was not at all equally affected by reliability, the positions they retired from are just as important.
@HoHum (@hohum)
19th November 2014, 1:41
I believe it’s going to be really messy if for some reason outside his control, puncture, run of road by a kamikaze backmarker, etc. Lewis fails to finish 2nd. but manages to finish in a position that would give him the WDC if the race was not double points. It’s a farce.
JCost (@jcost)
19th November 2014, 5:57
I don’t want even think about it.
#fingerscrossed
OEL F1 (@oel-f1)
19th November 2014, 18:28
I couldn’t be less bothered about the double points going into this weekend because, just like Keith has pointed out recently, with the 2003-2009 point system it would actually have been a case of “the winner takes it all”. Hamilton’s situation is better than it would’ve been back then, even with double points, because the point system has changed (devaluing 2nd places). So the entire 2014 championship is all of a sudden unfair if Rosberg wins and Hamilton finishes 3rd but it wouldn’t have been unfair if the old point system was still in use? Get over it.
Steven (@steevkay)
19th November 2014, 0:16
It’s a weird thing to say, but I hope that either both Mercs finish, or both go DNF.
Guelph (@guelph)
19th November 2014, 0:43
Hamilton would most likely lose the title with a DNF even without double points, as the likelihood of Rosberg finishing outside the top 2 in that scenario is pretty low.
@HoHum (@hohum)
19th November 2014, 2:29
Correct, and 1 scenario that I would consider Rosberg the real WDC, there has always been a large element of luck involved in winning or loseing a WDC.
JCost (@jcost)
19th November 2014, 6:05
@guelph Booth makes a good point. The guy has 3 DNF of not his own making, started from the back twice and still has won 10 races to Nico’s 5… for me, there’s not much Lewis could do to improve his current position because he’s done a great job.
On the other hand, Rosberg should be leading or closer to Lewis if he did manage to win in Spa (Lewis DNF) and in Budapest (Lewis starting from the pits). In Canada he had a wounded car and P2 was a good result.
Wnot
19th November 2014, 10:24
Lewis’ Cananda DNF was his doing. Rosberg showed it was possible to nurse the problem home.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
19th November 2014, 14:06
No, that was not entirely Lewis’s fault. He was in the turbulent air of Rosberg’s car for much of the race and due to this, his brakes were a higher temperature than Rosberg’s which led to Lewis’s brakes catching fire after finally getting ahead of Rosberg.
Oz
19th November 2014, 15:14
So why not back off out of the turbulent air & cool the brakes then?
matt90 (@matt90)
19th November 2014, 17:57
That would work for Captain Hindsight. Not many people in the moment though.
Fun (@functor)
19th November 2014, 6:34
Or Lewis bins the quali for some reason (spin, crash, failure) and start from back of the grid or pitlane, that would be another scenario where he’d have to come through the field. Even without double points, if Nico wins & Lewis doesn’t manage to finish 6th or better (i.e. at-least 8 pts), In such scenario Nico would fairly win it!
But then fans, media will start again about Spa controversy and that discussion will never end.
Warner (@warner16)
19th November 2014, 0:46
It would be crazy if Nico came 2nd and Hamilton was in 6th place until the final corner, than Hamilton grabs 5th place and wins the title.
If that happen, it will go down with the 1976, 1994, 2008 and 2010 as one of the best last round deciders.
Hyoko
20th November 2014, 1:33
I’d change it slightly, say Nico comes 2nd, Lewis goes 5th into the last corner but overshoots it (one of his classical locks) and is overtaken by Jenson right before the line… Love Abu Double!!
MagillaGorilla (@magillagorilla)
20th November 2014, 4:53
I think you’re mixing up who does the classical locks, let’s take a trip down memory lane to the Russian GP or even Austrian GP…
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
19th November 2014, 1:14
Re-COTD
I think they all waiting to see in Lewis looses WDC and has a melt down. Big Ron has always Saud he wants the best drivers ‘available’ and perhaps he thinks Lewis may turn his back on Mercedes and come back to McLaren. That would be an easier pill for to swallow than the ‘forgiveness’ of Alonso. Alonso would then naturally go to Mercedes, Vettel to Ferrari and everything settles down again.
Stranger things have happened.
Kgn11
19th November 2014, 1:57
Why is everyone talking lewis having this or that problem? What about Nico? Is he some savant that’s able to walk on water that nothing can happen to him during the race? It’s like everyone has given Nico the race win and 50pts already.
Let’s be real people, either driver can encounter reliability issues, not just Lewis Hamilton. The team has 11-2 finishes this season, what makes anyone thinks it will be different come Sunday? When the cars don’t encounter any mechanical issues, they’re a lock for a 1-2 finish.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
19th November 2014, 2:56
+1
Robert (@gicu)
19th November 2014, 6:41
Literally. 11 1-2*
Adam (@cruzmisl)
19th November 2014, 6:11
Because Hamilton has suffered more issues throughout the season.
Rosberg having an issue would only make it more even.
Fun (@functor)
19th November 2014, 6:54
Well the issues that occur may also be coz how you handle your equipment i.e. your driving style, your setup, how you brake, how you throttle your Engine, how you take kerbs and have forces on your suspension, how you shift your gears, etc. Apart from luck or true mechanical failure, one should realize it’s sometimes driver’s input that causes some issues. One can have two exact road-cars, but depending upon how they maintain and drive and route they take, they have different performance car after 1 or 5 year. I like to think that way sometimes instead of blaming completely to manufacturer/constructor – Ok 70% of time, but not all the time. Well we’d never know as we don’t have enough data.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
19th November 2014, 7:22
@functor
Well, contrary to what some people say, we actually know Hamilton is probably easier on his car than Rosberg, from lesser tyre wear and lower fuel usage. Implying that driving an F1 car basically ‘too fast’ is really just an ignorance of engineering principles in F1. these cars are designed to be driven this way.
drmouse (@drmouse)
19th November 2014, 9:33
Before I start, I am not saying this applies to HAM, just making a general observation.
F1 cars are incredibly complex machines, from the ICE through to the hybrid systems, brakes, suspension etc. They have millions of possible failure modes.
We know that Hamilton tends to use less fuel through a race, and seems to be better on his tyres most of the time. One could say that this is putting less stress on the car, so he should be more reliable. However, this is not taking everything into account.
What if, for example, the pistons etc. in the Mercedes engine were particularly less reliable under light load conditions, like when on a lift-and-coast. The pressure in the engine could be helping keep, for instance, the piston rings in place, and running off throttle caused them to lift ever so slightly. Then, the apparent “easier” style of Lewis could be causing issues.
Similarly, when lifting and coasting, the electrical system is probably starting to harvest. So Lewis may be putting more stress on the electrical systems.
Also, one of the biggest fuel savings you can make in motor racing without loosing time is to carry more speed into the corners. So Lewis could be putting more lateral stress on the suspension, which may cause problems.
I am not saying that any of these are actually what is happening, just that with how complex the cars are, and how close to the limit they are designed, manufactured and driven, saying that one driver is being easier on the car than another is a naive statement, and ignores many possibilities.
PeterG
19th November 2014, 13:13
@paulguitar He may well use less fuel than Nico & may well be able to manage his tyres better, But that element isn’t the only thing that can harm a car.
For example 5-6 times through this year Lewis has locked the rear brakes solid & immediately gone into a spin (Austria qualifying for example but also in several practice sessions recently).
That may well put additional strain on the drivetrain & other power unit/ERS components.
There’s also how you ride kurbs, How aggressive you are with steering, braking etc…
Lewis has a tendency to lock brakes, Not just the rears but also the fronts because he likes to brake harder, Later (Especially in qualifying) which could put a bit of additional strain on some of the new brake by wire components.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
19th November 2014, 6:17
Because Keke Rosberg once win WDC with small amount of GP win.
And we all believed that history tends to repeat.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
19th November 2014, 6:42
There is zero pressure on Rosberg and his crew, which I think makes it more likely nothing will happen to Nico. Combined with his incredible qualifying record, a pole position for Rosberg and untroubled run to the first corner seem likely.
More than that, though, I suspect many agree with John Booth’s comment that anything other than a Hamilton title will be a travesty. Certainly it is Hamilton’s to lose, so it is only logical to imagine all the ways he could lose it. If Rosberg retires, he doesn’t lose the title, he just didn’t win it; far less dramatic.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
19th November 2014, 9:33
Yeah but the thing is, I get that feeling just by looking at how Lewis reacts to failure. I have to admit, I was never a fan of Lewis, but Ive grown to like him more over the years, but I never get this sense of mental confidence from him. I remember telling my wife (who is a massive Lewis fan) a few weeks ago that if he doesnt win the title, he will be destroyed, and how he picks himself up will say a lot about him.
Anyhow, the only way Lewis wont win if he has a DNF. Mercs have been pretty reliable recently. He deserves the win, he’s driven really well this year, and it would be fair play. But once again, in sport, especially in racing, deserving never won anybody titles. If Nico wins, it could be labelled as undeserving, but he will be a WDC, and thats all that matters, history will look upon him as a WDC.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
19th November 2014, 9:58
Totally agree with you. In a way I hope Rosberg DNFs right at the start and the whole thing is moot.
Henry
19th November 2014, 15:35
In a way, I hope that Massa takes Hamilton out in turn 1, Rosberg continues on for a win and the whole thing is moot. Deep down I know that Hamilton has had the better season and is as deserving as anyone has been that is a WDC. But it’s the consistently anti Rosberg comments, or the not a deserving champ if he wins comments, that makes me want to see Hamilton fail.
hobo (@hobo)
19th November 2014, 14:00
@kgn11 – The reason everyone is talking about failures for Hamilton and the implications is because the title of the post – and the first story it links to – is about how Wolff/Merc don’t want a Hamilton failure deciding the title. That’s the main reason.
Aside from that, based on this season, we can expect a Merc 1-2 finish. If Rosberg has an issue with the car, tires, etc., it doesn’t matter (or matters less) because he’s second in the championship and would have required more than just beating Hamilton to win. Whereas if Hamilton loses many spots or DNF, that will decide the WDC. That’s the concern.
Jonathan Sarginson
19th November 2014, 2:37
…don’t see what the problem is for Lewis…he can wrap the whole thing up (quite literally) at the first corner…after all, his childhood hero and many other ‘greats’ have…
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
19th November 2014, 6:04
hmmm… one or two of my F1 childhood heroes win WDC by make sure both him and its contender didn’t finished
drmouse (@drmouse)
19th November 2014, 9:35
He would not get away with it now.
If obvious, he would be DSQed immediately. If it looks like an accident, there would be a huge investigation, and I suspect that he would not get benefit of the doubt.
Scalextric (@scalextric)
19th November 2014, 3:05
I recommend the Buxton Blog article on Rosberg. Very unusual read.
Spencer Ward (@)
19th November 2014, 3:36
@scalextric I got that feeling reading it too.
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th November 2014, 8:57
I agree @scalectric, @sward28, an intriguing read. I thought it a very good overview of Rosbergs 2014 campaign, with nice insights and links to his career and character. Looking forward to the Hamilton one tomorrow, but, because we always hear so much about and from him, I think this one is the more interesting one.
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th November 2014, 9:06
@scalextric, sorry, typo :)
JCost (@jcost)
19th November 2014, 9:48
Lewis is seen as cocky brat but Will did not save the word “arrogant” to describe Nico, interesting.
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th November 2014, 17:02
Well, the Hamilton counterpart turns out to be as interesting @jcost, I guess it even addresses the Lewis cocky brat, just as it does Nico the aloof jock.
Fun (@functor)
19th November 2014, 6:46
“…Lewis has won twice as many grands prix as Nico Rosberg, but there’s still a chance that Nico might win…”
Just say Double Points aren’t right!
The no. of wins argument doesn’t make sense at all. In MotoGP, you can still win the championship with 5 wins whereas other having 10 wins, and similarly in other motorsports as well. There have been many times a WDC in F1 has won less races than other. This is not Olympics!
MattDS (@mattds)
19th November 2014, 12:05
@functor
I just counted it – 11 times.
But interestingly, for the most part of the history of F1 this is actually pretty rare. In all the years before 1977 and after 1989 it only happened 4 times out of a total of 51 championships (1958, 1964, 1967, 2008).
But between 1977 and 1989 it happened 7 times out of 13 championships. That’s more than half of those.
Just some trivia… :)
nmsi (@nmsi)
19th November 2014, 7:15
Well if you look at that way – Lewis has 3 DNFs and 2 back starts without his fault. That means he has got 10 out of 13 possible wins. Nico on the other hand has 2 DNF without his fault and no back starts so that leaves 5 wins out of possible 16. I’d say it is pretty evident who is deserving champion.
RogerA
19th November 2014, 13:16
“I’d say it is pretty evident who is deserving champion.”
The driver with the most points over a season is the deserving champion.
Paul
19th November 2014, 14:03
‘Deserving’ is subjective, not objective. If you’d said:
“The driver with the most points over a season is the […] champion,”
then it would be hard to argue with you. But you seem to think ‘deserving’ is as definable as the boiling point of water. It’s not.
RogerA
19th November 2014, 15:15
But it is as the driver with the most points is the driver who has done the best job over the course of the season so therefore is the deserving champion.
Paul
19th November 2014, 16:46
So how those points are collected makes no difference to you?
Akhilesh (@graywizzard)
19th November 2014, 7:23
I wonder why Wolff didnt say he feared failure of both cars instead of just Hams. Still Hamilton is their main contender. Hope Nico wins
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
19th November 2014, 8:41
@graywizzard – Wolff isn’t biased towards Hamilton, he is very keen to avoid bad publicity for Mercedes. A car failure for Hamilton would be extremely difficult to smooth over; a failure for Rosberg would be very bad but (given his good luck so far) manageable.
Failure for Hamilton’s car = travesty and years of contention.
Failure for Rosberg’s car = harsh, forgotten quickly (by the public).
KeithR (@)
19th November 2014, 10:14
@graywizzard It’s pretty obvious the team went right off Rosberg after Spa, when he disobeyed and betrayed them and cheated for the third time.
Add in sporting performance, popularity, America, Merc’s perceived reliability …every possible metric says a fluky Rosberg win from a Lewis car failure would be horrible for the team.
Robbie (@robbie)
19th November 2014, 20:09
It was pretty obvious to me from the teams’ reaction when NR won the last race, especially Wolff and Lauda, that there is no ill feelings on the team toward NR, and the last thing they think of him as is a disobeying, betraying, 3-time cheat. That is an invention of one poster’s imagination.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
19th November 2014, 14:13
I bet you would not have said that Merc are favouring Lewis in the middle of the season when he was the one having less support and more reliability issues. Merc do not have a number 1 and number 2 driver system unlike the petulant teams of Red Bull and Ferrari. Merc gives their drivers the same amount of support and lets them race but at the moment, Lewis is doing the better job.
ColdFly F1 (@)
19th November 2014, 7:51
Bernie might not like the new Power Units.
But to me F1 is so impressive because:
– F1 cars can drive upside down;
– sustain a lateral g-force of up to 5G;
– and extract a whopping combined 760bhp from a PU with the same displacement as the one in my Mini.
Ali Adams
19th November 2014, 16:05
Thank you @ColdFly F1 for the link to the upside down article. A great read.
And here is how it is done https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRL9mBrA8Mw
Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Tunnel Experiment with Michael Schumacher (may God bring him back to us asap)
Ali
Imre (@f1mre)
19th November 2014, 8:01
I’d like to see how Hamilton handles podium ceremony if he loses the title.
@HoHum (@hohum)
19th November 2014, 8:04
An unlikely scenario !
drmouse (@drmouse)
19th November 2014, 9:38
True enough. There is only one situation where HAM would be on the podium without winning the title, that’s if ROS wins and HAM finishes 3rd. Of all possible outcomes, I think the chance of this is very small.
Fun (@functor)
19th November 2014, 10:33
And vice-versa. BTW Filipe Knows how it feels to win last race and be on podium without winning the championship.
One thing’s for sure, Lewis is emotionally sensitive when compared to his team-mate. I’ve observed even in this season where he’s won 10 races. So +ve or -ve, his emotions switches so fast. Too many Emotions will override focus and reduce performance which can happen in any sports. If he wants to do good, he needs to stay calm and focussed, and not driven by emotional cognition.
Lewis is better driver as natural talent, but there are many aspects which makes one’s character and performance. Nico on the other hand managed to withstand until now. If it was other way around 10 wins to Nico, 5 to Lewis, Lewis would have been mentally/emotionally destroyed! This is just an observation I’m saying – Not supporting one over other.
I just want to see the drama :)
Most importantly if he loses WDC, Lewis needs to be in control of his emotions and continue with Merc.
lacex
19th November 2014, 17:30
10/10 well seen and said Mister Fun.lewis should hire you as mentor or guru.
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th November 2014, 8:07
“Force India corrects aero error (Autosport)”
So this is why FI was struggeling ?
Akhilesh (@graywizzard)
19th November 2014, 8:46
Dont think so.
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th November 2014, 8:36
On that Ecclestone article, I don’t really see what sort of rule-changes he intends. I also note his remarks on accreditation: “Choose your race for free, enter the paddock, meet the drivers. How do you do it? Set up a website. I’m going to have a good look at the accreditation because it is a bit of a joke.”
… which all makes me think it would be better if Ecclestone stayed away from rule setting and leaves that to the FIA, as was agreed between FOM, FIA and the EU some years ago.
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th November 2014, 8:37
I meant the City AM article, didn’t read the one about him once again blaming engines for all that is wrong in F1.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
19th November 2014, 13:15
The City AM article was written by Christian Sylt.
Christian Sylt
21st November 2014, 0:47
@bosyber @Optimaximal
BE’s rule-changes specifically concern the accreditation of online media and, in particular, ensuring that clause 3.2 of criteria (http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/media_accreditation/file/2014%20F1%20accreditation%20procedure_1.pdf) is being adhered to. This states that “the representative journalist must be (i) a full time professional journalist with a national press card (or equivalent).” Accreditation of online media is handled by the FIA for the moment but FOM is working on a take-over during the winter break. FOM was in charge of this around a decade ago so it is not a great change.
Coffeeplus
19th November 2014, 9:35
Related to double-point last race: Doesn’t this make Formula 1 similar to 9-ball? This comparison seems true, yet so laughable – I don’t think it should be (become) like this :)
Estesark (@estesark)
19th November 2014, 13:52
It’s amazing how few countries have been represented by WDC winners since I started watching the sport in 1996. We’ve had Great Britain (Hill, Hamilton, Button), Canada (Villeneuve), Finland (Häkkinen, Räikkönen), Germany (Schumacher, Vettel) and Spain (Alonso), and that’s it.
No matter what happens on Sunday, I still won’t have a new one to add to that list. Just five nationalities in 19 years, and I could even extend that back a further two years without finding a sixth one. If I had to guess, I’d say Australia will be the next country to appear, but that could still be a couple of years down the road. The only other countries to appear in this year’s top 12 going into the final race are Brazil, Denmark and Mexico, but the three of them are trailing behind their Finnish, British and German team-mates respectively.
Why is it that certain countries produce so many top drivers? And as a dual British and Finnish national, why aren’t I one of them? :P
David Guttman
19th November 2014, 14:02
I agree that double points is stupid. However, I think instead of getting all worked up about the permutations of outcomes, we should just sit back and watch. We’ve know about this rule before the start of the season. We’ve know that this rule could play a huge factor since the start of the season. It is just that, a rule. As Coulthard always says in his broadcasts “On this particular day in history.” It wasn’t a surprise, it should have been part of everybody’s strategy.
Additionally, why all the chatter about Hamilton’s car failing? Theoretically Rosberg’s car could fail with equal chance?
Yusha (@freebird78)
19th November 2014, 15:59
http://willthef1journo.wordpress.com/
Will Buxton’s blog on Lewis Hamilton is up. An interesting insight into Lewis Hamilton, the man and the racer.I enjoyed reading it.
Eric H (@iericj18)
19th November 2014, 16:33
Will Buxton’s blog seems to bring to light a lot of things I feared about what was actually going on in the Rosberg world. I believe that Nico just genuinely wants to be a star, but no matter what he does well, he seems to always be overshadowed by a more illustrious teammate. The guy just wants to be “the guy” in a team. Will that ever happen remains to be seen.
iFelix (@ifelix)
19th November 2014, 18:40
That’s the only realistic scenario that Rosberg would win though, isn’t it? Mercedes has such a performance advantage that even when a driver starts from the back (as Rosberg did after his first lap lock-up) they would end up finishing in 2nd in which case double-points wouldn’t have made an impact.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
19th November 2014, 20:09
@ifelix Yes, Rosberg was at the back but it was not the same – he did not have to do any pit stops anymore, whereas all his rivals had to.