Hamilton leads one-two but Rosberg faces investigation

2016 British Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton scored his fourth victory on home ground at Silverstone and extended his lead in the drivers’ championship over his team mate.

Mercedes took a one-two finish at the flag but Nico Rosberg’s second place remains in doubt as the stewards are investigating assistance given to him by his team on the radio when he experienced a problem with his gearbox.

Max Verstappen took the flag in third place after racing hard with Rosberg and passing him around the outside at Becketts early in the race. Daniel Ricciardo, who lost time due to a Virtual Safety Car period early in the race, took fourth.

Kimi Raikkonen took fifth ahead of the two Force India drivers after passing Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz Jnr finished eighth ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who was given a five second penalty for forcing Felipe Massa wide while overtaking the Williams driver.

The final points scorer and last driver on the lead lap was Daniil Kvyat.

The first five laps of the race were run behind the Safety Car after a cloudburst 20 minutes before the start soaked the circuit.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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52 comments on “Hamilton leads one-two but Rosberg faces investigation”

  1. After Force India decided not to tell Perez about his brakes issues at Austria, i’m curious to see the result of this investigation.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      10th July 2016, 14:46

      I said on the live comments – it sets a precedent. If they let Nico off, there is no reason for any other teams to follow the radio rules going forward. Just like track limits.

    2. Yes, it will be interesting. I don’t think he’ll get a penalty because it was to protect the car not advice on driving or optimum settings but the stewards might want to make a point.

      1. Instruction to avoid 7th gear was acceptable I think, but, going on their own actions at Baku, advice to switch operating mode should not be allowed.

        1. According to Horner, after Rosberg was told to change a setting, he was still using 7th gear until the end of the race, so it seemed like the gearbox wasn’t an issue. The true evidence whatever the verdict is if the gearbox is changed for the next grand prix.

          1. Perhaps a new gearbox was scheduled for the next race, so it doesnt mean anything.

          2. OOliver, Rosberg changed his gearbox in Austria after crashing in FP3 due to a suspension failure. If he did change his gearbox for the next race, it would be an unscheduled change.

      2. @glynh His problem seems only losing a gear, not the gearbox destroying itself. History shows that kind of failure is never going to destroy a car and it actually pretty common failure. Does the pit telling him to avoid using 7th gear while using it is not really a danger to the car (and it’s pretty logical to not using a gear you don’t have) sounds like advising for optimum settings to you?

    3. A reprimand is what they’ll give.

  2. So Rosberg is being investigated for receiving illegal messages.

    We currently have a podium ceremony taking place, but we don’t know if that result is going to stand because of an investigation after the race as to whether or not a driver was told something over the radio he shouldn’t. So now we’re going to have to wait for, possibly, hours while stewards use complete subjectivity to determine whether or not Rosberg was told something that constituted a critical message or a matter or safety.

    How, exactly, is that a good thing? How has this improved our sport? This radio situation has contributed virtually nothing of note to improving the actual on-track racing and, if anything, has given us some laughably silly situations with drivers unable to change simple things on their cars in order to race to their maximum.

    I cannot pretend that I don’t find this to be utterly ridiculous. It is nonsense.

    1. You’re completely wrong. This rule will force pilots to understand more of their cars and this is F1 spirit.

    2. It’s a good thing cause they will take the time needed to get it right. All results are unofficial anyway at the checkered flag. I don’t see the problem.

    3. @Will Wood I could not agree with you more. F1 is about team work. The drivers drive and the engineers look after the car. Stopping them doing that is just retarded. It adds nothing and ruins races for no good reason.

    4. And you only say that now?

      1. @supremacy I’ve been a vocal opponent of the radio restrictions since before they were brought in.

    5. It’s not a good thing now, but the precedent and deterrent will be a good thing to minimise engineers hand-holding their drivers in future and letting the drivers use their smarts.

  3. If Nico gets a penalty for this… I will eat 50 hamburgers non stop… There’s no way he will get a penalty…

    1. They as usual will let him walk or give him yet another slap on the wrist even when this particular incident was blatant.

    2. maarten.f1 (@)
      10th July 2016, 15:07

      I don’t really care either way, but I’d love to help with the burgers as long as you’re paying!

      1. J. Wellington Wimpy, is that you?….

    3. Mmmmm. Burgers!

    4. @krichelle “Eat your words” suddenly has quite a literal meaning!

  4. Lewis askes for help in Baku, they didn’t give specific information. Nico needed help and got specific help. The rules on helping the drivers is sketchy to say the least. But if they aren’t suppose to get help of that detail? , i’d expect Nico to get a penalty.

  5. Disqualification…no other option…he wouldnt have finished prob without the setting he was told to go to…..better ring Mcdonalds and get them ready for you…..

    1. @jop452 DQ is a bit harsh, but this is the first time radio ban violation incident, so everything is on the table. Whatever the outcome, it will set the precedent for future violations.

  6. Nico get no penaulty otherwise they would that before the podium. But starting with a safetycar while it rained for a few minutes it getting ridecious this means they will start never when a few drops of rain is falling.

    1. Are you new to formula one? Your first statement makes no sense!

  7. Guccio (@concalvez00)
    10th July 2016, 15:02

    Mercedes telling Rosberg how to solve his problem but couldn’t tell Hamilton how to solve his problem in Baku.

  8. I think they will give him a penalty that will demote him to 3rd, at worst. They need to punish this message, and I think it was a calculated risk by Mercedes, as if he had been stuck to 7th gear (as he was before they told him what to change through the steering wheel), he would have finished lower than 3rd. (Ricciardo would have got him, and maybe even Kimi – Perez). 20 seconds time penalty keeps him 3rd, and seems fair for the continued enforcement of this rule.

    However we need to think if it’s good for the sport, that a driver can lose a good result for a completely fixable problem, that they team knows how to correct, but can’t tell him.

  9. If they couldn’t tell Lewis what to do in Baku, the same has to applied here. Although the circumstances are different.
    Since it’s Rosberg nothing will happen probably.

  10. Rules are rules notater how stupid they are and not giving him a penalty will allow everyone to break the rules.

  11. Rosberg and Vettel drove badly today.

  12. Just looked at the recap and it looks that first pitstop serie was full of unsafe releases

  13. What makes me curious is in Baku Hamilton had a problem for few laps before we started getting the radio message on him asking and practically begging for technical assistance while the team do nothing. Here, the team give instant reply which without a doubt is something banned. “Chassis mode 1 Nico, chassis mode 1”, “do not use 7th gear”, and “affirmative” when Rosberg further asks what that mean. Note that the team isn’t even want to give Yes or No answer to Hamilton in Baku. The result is Rosberg only lost time for a lap, and while he risks losing 2nd place to Verstappen (or DQ’ed) that still looks better than possible outcome if he’s not assisted at all.

    I’m not buying into Mercedes-Rosberg conspiracy theory, but they need to give us some answers.

    1. Rosberg was about to lose a place, and a 1-2 at their home grand prix

    2. Probably to do with the timing of the respective failures.

      If I recall correctly, Hamilton was more or less on his own midway through the race during the Baku problem. So Mercedes probably tried to stick to the rules as closely as possible as he was under no immediate threat. However today, Rosbergs problem happened towards the end of the race and with Verstappen closing in with a 1-2 finish on the line. In not wanting to loose second place I reckon both Rosberg and his radio staff probably panicked and quickly started barking down instructions and just hoped that they can now justify the sudden response in the stewards office. Or at least that’s how I see it.

      1. @davef1 Hamilton is on fight with Perez at that time and with hindsight it’s possible for him to finish 3rd instead of 5th. Also they spared no punches in “coaching” Rosberg, instead of a more simple message like “Confirmed you lost 7th gear” and let him figure out the rest. Losing a gear is one of the most common technical problem in F1 anyway.

    3. Mercedes gambled with Rosberg because there was more to lose. They deliberately broke the rules hoping they could play dumb to the stewards.

  14. Apart from the T1 incident Lewis was on a Sunday afternoon drive. I know we are only a few races in with the RIC VPN battle but Danny has something to think about because that young lad has a solid armour. Personally I thought he was overrated, but those doubts are being erased with every stellar drive he has. That move on Rosberg was some b***s of steel stuff. Also I am wondering what is going on with Vettel. I know he’s had some misfortunes and mechanical issues but today was a really scruffy day. Finally I think VPN and Rosberg gave us a spectacle today, good stuff.

  15. Eye opening race: a RBR fighting a Mercedes for position.

    Next week Hungary: no strait speed advantage for Mercedes. Light corner speed advantage RBR.
    Will be a battle.

    Max was 2 sec faster then Lewis on intermediates.
    Talking about mental punches that Lewis likes to give.

    1. Get ready to be disappointed.

      Rosberg is super slow on damp conditions this year so far. Verstappen is faster than Ricciardo, so it might be only 1 Red Bull that can fight 1 Mercedes for position. Hamilton pace is on different level, it’s obvious he just saving his tires and fuel during the whole race. He always have answers when Rosberg or Verstappen start increasing their pace.

      1. Alex McFarlane
        10th July 2016, 17:02

        Indeed, Hamilton stated in interviews on Sky that he turned the engine down as much as possible, to preserve it as much as possible, given he has no new engines to take.

        1. he also laughed at VES when he mentioned that during the cool down before the podiums. Mercedes are in a different class compared to the other competitors, and it’s their own fault for agreeing to the rules.

  16. Toto said after the race that without the mode reset by Rosberg he wouldn’t of finished. So the only logical punishment should be that Rosberg loses his race points as he wouldn’t of finished in the points without the messages.

    Especially after Baku and not even saying yes or no to Hamilton when he had a major problem. All they had to do was tell him which setting he needed and he would of finished much higher up the field. But they didn’t as that is the rules as they stand. Today Merc panicked in the situation and broke the rules clearly to save a 1-2.

    1. Rosberg lost 3s in a few corners.
      Lowe quantified the problem Lewis had in Baku in 0.2s per lap. Hardly “major” and hardly “would have finished much higher”.

      1. The critical point being that both situations were resolvable with a message from the team about steering wheel settings. You can’t interpret the rules as you feel on the day, either settings change messages can be given or not.

        1. I wanted to highlight how you arbitrarily overstated the problem Lewis had in Baku for whatever reason. ROS problem today was much worse and with higher consequences, full stop.

          That’s little point for me to reply to you with hindsight, but the reasoning behind ROS penalty helps to understing why “either settings can be given or not” was never the case. There *is* a spectrum and ROS crossed it only at a certain point, which was not about the setting change and so your “critical point” isn’t.

      2. @stefanauss 3s at 0.2s a lap = 15 laps. Just think of what Lewis could have done had they advised him on correct settings.

        Can’t have it both ways. I think the rule stinks overall, but you can’t tell a driver something one race and then in another it’s ok to tell them something.

        It wasn’t Lewis’s fault his car was in the wrong mode, just as much as it wasn’t Rosberg’s fault his gearbox lunched.

        Some parity at least in all this madness…

  17. digitalrurouni
    10th July 2016, 16:09

    I think Mercedes is pushing the limits of acceptable interpretation of the rules. It is quite apparent to me that Rosberg is the golden boy at Mercedes for some reason.

  18. Surely some second yellow cards for the guys responsible for gearbox and ECU at Merc?

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