Rosberg would be worthy champion – Hill

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Damon Hill says Nico Rosberg would make a worthy world champion if he wins the title.

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Comment of the day

Yesterday’s Comment of the Day argued that Lewis Hamilton trying to slow Nico Rosberg to increase his chances of winning the title “would shroud the whole championship in controversy”. It was a point of view many took issue with:

Why would it be controversial? As long as it’s done legitimately without breaking any rules then it’s a valid tactic and all part of the gamesmanship.

I could understand Mercedes being very peeved though. If one of their drivers is directly responsible for them not scoring a one-two, then they’d have to fight that one out behind the scenes.
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Keith Collantine
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98 comments on “Rosberg would be worthy champion – Hill”

  1. I get the feeling that all this talk about Rosberg not being a worthy champion is based entirely on Lewis being the losing part. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are plenty of journalists and fans that aren’t biased in any way. But I don’t remember Button being questioned about the validity of his championship, and that was mainly because of Brawn and it’s double diffuser.

    Nico was always there to pick up wins after Hamilton’s mistakes and mechanical problems, but he also beat him fair and square more than once. Why wouldn’t he be a valid champion? all these comments (even those supporting him, it should be unquestionable) really take the shine out what’s been a very good campaign by him, whatever the outcome.

    1. @fer-no65
      I think it’s more about reliability. With only two drivers having a car able to win the WDC, and Lewis having lost so many points due to reliability compared to Nico, there’s a lot of talk about it making it a less worthy championship win.
      And then there’s people, like me, who predicted Nico would never win a WDC in the same car as Lewis, and now find ourselves looking a bit silly, and calling him less worthy is a good diversionary tactic.
      I’m of the opinion that all champions are worthy, even with the best car you’ve still got to deliver the results, and Nico has done just that, and against a very worthy 3 time WDC team mate, so is just as deserving a champion as any other.

      1. *If he wins the Championship.

      2. Hamilton fans all over Facebook are crying about how unfair it is and how horrible his reliability has been, but the fact is he’s only had one failure that led to him not scoring any points in a race. This was only his second race car failure since 2014. Rosberg has had more failures in both of the last 2 seasons, and twice as many if you include 2013. Rosberg has also had car problems this year, on more than one occasion, as well as having a few bad starts, same as Hamilton.

        I just hope he can claim the title with a win in Brazil, to ensure he gets the most wins, clinches the title with a win, and ensures no repeats of the 2014 finale.. Would be very fitting for someone who has endured a lot of bad luck in the last 2 seasons after working with the team since their return to the sport.

        1. “he’s only had one failure” seriously… were you watching mario carts all season?

          1. Ok, name another race where he hasn’t scored points due to a car failure. Maybe read the whole sentence rather than quoting half of it.

        2. @pantha ‘he’s only had one failure’ – This nonsense. Even in 2014 Hamilton more car problems then Rosberg. Engine failure in Australia, Brake failure in Germany and another engine problem in Hungary. I don’t see Rosberg as a worthy WDC if he wins it, i still can’t it of me that the team helped him so much

          1. Again, he’s only had one failure “that led to him not scoring any points in a race”. Read the full sentence instead of quoting half of it.

            2014, Hamilton had car failures in Australia and Canada. Rosberg had the same problem in Canada, but changed his settings and limped to 2nd. Rosberg also had problems in Britain, Singapore and of course, Abu Dhabi, which gave Hamilton a free 50 points and the title.

            If the team helped Rosberg so much this year, why did they cost him an easy 2nd place in Monaco by giving the advantage to Hamilton via team orders? Lewis’ engine failure in Malaysia only made up for the points difference Nico lost in Monaco.

          2. @patienceandtime “I don’t see Rosberg as a worthy WDC if he wins it, i still can’t it of me that the team helped him so much”
            …the team helped him so much? are you kidding? Mercedes was so sided to Hamilton since he arrived that they already gifted him 2 undeserved titles! Only this year they penalized Rosberg in a variety of ways, inflicting extra-time to him in Germany, causing him to be penalized in UK, giving Hamilton 3 extra engines, never appealing against ridiculous penalties the german got… not to mention help Lewis got from FIA and Charlie Whiting over last 3 years…

          3. Rosberg lost the title in 2014 because of his bad start in the last race. The car failure changed nothing @pantha.

          4. @pantha

            why did they cost him an easy 2nd place in Monaco

            Riddle me this batman: If Rosberg was on for an easy second place why didn’t he finish third?

        3. ColdFly F1 (@)
          10th November 2016, 6:39

          he’s only had one failure that led to him not scoring any points in a race

          And in the end it is not who has the least car failures who becomes WDC, but the one with the most points.
          There might be a correlation; but people are mostly too myopic if they see this as the only reason their driver missed the title.

          All I know is that Mercedes is the deserved Champion this year, and that the next WDC has had a tremendous year.

        4. He may have only had 1 race dnf but that doesn’t change the fact that he has lost 40-80 points to Rosberg due to mechanical issues that were not his fault. Given that he is only 19 points behind you can see why people might think Hamilton would be the more ‘deserving’ champion this year.

      3. @fer-no65 “Lewis having lost so many points due to reliability” …but he gained a lot more points due to FIA and Mercedes favour, escaping penalties, having SC any time he had to come-back from the back, and benefitting of VSC every time he was leading, not to mention points lost by Nico due to unfair penalties and slow pit-stops and self-inflicted disadvantage (like in Germany)…

        1. Oh yeah: SC and VSC to help Hamilton. This is a conspiracy from the FIA. Just as when some Hamilton fans point out Rosbeg being helped by Mercedes.
          Please, stop with all this nonsense.

      4. If it is all about reliability then rosber has lost 2 championships because of reliability and now ham may lose his first. Rosberg had a lot more costlier mechnanical problems in ’14 and ’15.

        I think the real reason why rosberg is seen as lower rated driver than ham is simply because of rosberg’s double nationality. He is half finnish, half german. The germans see him as a finn because of his father and the finns see him as a german because he doesn’t even speak the language and plays the german anthem and has german licence. He doesn’t have the same fan following which means a lot of the time he has no online presence to argue with ham fans who say ham is the better one

        1. Rubbish. Rosberg is rated lower than Hamilton because he simply isn’t as good as Hamilton. He lacks the magic, the killer mindset and the raw talent that Hamilton has, and that’s exactly why he isn’t rated as highly.

          1. Anders if Hamilton is sooo good, then why didn’t he win all the other races or at least become second. Oh wait..

          2. @maxv

            Have you not been watching formula1 from 2013 to 2015? How on earth could you say that Rosberg is the better driver of the two?

      5. Reliability is definitely a factor and Lewis drew the short straw this year compared to Nico.
        But then reliability played a big part in Lewis favor in the 2008 and 2014 championships also; was Lewis an undeserving champion then? Of course not!
        Even 2015 seemed like Lewis had less mechanical troubles than Rosberg but i think in 2015 reliability did not influence the championship race.

        1. 2015 reliability did not influence the championship race

          It didn’t in 2014 either.

    2. Is anyone (in the media) actually saying he wouldn’t be a worthy champion? That would be pretty stupid, and disrespectful of them… Doesn’t really matter how you get to be one, a champion is a champion nonetheless and it’s never especially easy.

    3. While I’m not going to claim that Rosberg wouldn’t be a worthy champion if he indeed wins it this year, I have to say that there were quite a few moments where he didn’t impress this year, and where his wins seemed quite uncontested (so even if he was supreme there, it was hard to spot – just as has happened at times, I think, with HAM in the last few races). So I can understand people who think that he wasn’t the best driver this year. But I also think that we will see that like last year, HAM won’t be the top choice for many either, I expect @keithcollantine to put Ricciardo quite high again in the yearly review.

      In the end, a worthy champion is someone who’s there to take the chance when it is presented to him – and I think Rosberg has proven in the last few years that he’s fast, hard working, quite consistent and very persistent, and can stop a Hamilton from making it a walk-over under the right circumstances, to the point that he’s made me re-evaluate Schumacher in his Mercedes years. One can always argue who’s more ‘deserving’ but that didn’t give Alonso more than two championships either, as he was at the wrong place or wrong time for it.

      1. I think Rosberg will be an entirely deserving WDC winner if he goes all the way. Everyone is focussing on retirements and so on that has slowed Hamilton. People say when Hamilton is at his best and cars are equal, that he will beat Rosberg. I agree with this and I think so does Rosberg. But that isn’t the be all and end all of it. There is much more to it than that. A season is a long one, so here is my two cents.
        Rosberg is winning because he has been and continues to be more mentally prepared to win the WDC than Lewis has been this year. Lewis went into this year thinking that his ability would win him another championship. Rosberg went into this year knowing his ability wouldn’t win him the crown. That set up 2 very different mentalities and the Rosberg one is winning right now.
        People point to Hamilton’s reliability problems. But they often overstate them. They haven’t been that massive. The biggest problem with Hamilton this year has been his starts. Rosberg turned up and had a couple of bad ones at the start and overcame them. Hamilton took another 10+ races to combat them. Both drive the same car. That right there is the difference between the drivers this year. I don’t mean the starts either, I mean the mentality of the drivers.

        Rosberg knew he couldn’t win unless he tried harder that Hamilton in every area. Hamilton thought that his driving skill would win him the WDC. That makes Rosberg a deserving WDC winner.

        For those looking for comparison. Think Senna and Prost. No-one ever thinks Prost was faster than Senna on his given day, but many think Prost was a more complete driver. Rosberg may have just found the Prost in him this year.

        1. Rosberg knew he couldn’t win unless he tried harder that Hamilton in every area. Hamilton thought that his driving skill would win him the WDC.

          Link please @mickharrold

          1. There are no links to this. It is my opinion only. Actually, that isn’t true. It isn’t just my opinion. Most people accept that Rosberg isn’t as good as Hamilton in an equal race. Most people also accept that Rosberg has sorted his brain out this year and refuses to be beaten by Hamilton as far as the whole package is concerned. The facts also back this up.
            As for Hamilton thinking his talent would win him the WDC, well the same is true. How can you provide a link to that. All you can do is analyse the results and his demeanour and ascertain. Look, you can argue that Hamilton has been on his game all year if you like. But that only adds to the argument that Rosberg is better than people think. If Hamilton has been on his game all year and Rosberg is beating him, then that means Rosberg is even quicker and better than I even give him credit for.

            I guess my point is this. Rosberg spent the 1st year thinking he was better than Hamilton and then failing. He spent the second year thinking the first was an aberration. He spent the 3rd year being defeated. He then sorted his brain out and tried to beat Hamilton in ways other than just wheel to wheel. Look at the team harmony this year. Look at how he praises Hamilton now. He changed his entire focus and it is paying rewards. He deserves credit for that. Hamilton just didn’t see the threat until it was too late to da anything about it.

          2. I was just pointing out there’s no evidence that one has tried harder than the other @mickharrold, in this year or any other. I respect Rosberg as a driver, I just think he’s been equally determined every year, and so has Hamilton. My problem with Rosberg is only that he’s a cheat, which is an indication of how desperate he is to win, and it was the same in 2014.

            This year he’s had some better weekends and better starts, fair play. I count 5, taking account of Lewis’ two ERS failures, the water leak, grid penalty and ICE blowup, while Lewis has been better on 8. So far.

          3. @Lockup : Well, since you asked me for a link on my comment, then I can only return the favour ans ask you for one on you claim that he is a cheat. So Link Please.
            You reference and as far as I know, it is the only one in Rosberg’s entire history, is that he cheated at Monaco? Apart from that, most people would argue that Nico is too nice. Well, if you are going to argue Monaco, then I would say that my arguments above hold more cred than this one. Not saying he didn’t do it, but there is more evidence to back up my theories than yours.
            You mention only Lewis’s failures. Can you quote me the stats for Nico as well? I bet you don’t have a single clue. I admit they aren’t as bad as Lewis’s, but they aren’t as staggering as some would suggest. Take Malaysia for example. Lewis retired, but Nico was also punted off the track at turn 1. No-one remembers that fact, they just talk about Lewis and his engine failure and general poor luck.
            Lewis may have been better on 8 occasions. I haven’t kept count, but I am sure you are right. However, Nico has rarely been poor all year and has always been close to Hamilton even when he has been good.

            For the record, I am no Nico lover. I put him in the Damon Hill/Jenson Button territory. Good, but not great. Hamilton is definitely great. All I want to argue is that Nico has been very good this year and he does deserve the title. Hamilton has also been very good this year as well. But he hasn’t been great either. He was great in 2013-15. But not this year. He’s merely been very good just like Nico. For me, Ricciardo and possibly Alonso has been better drivers than both of them. I put Nico and Hamilton in the Verstappen, Perez and Sainz group this year. There is little to separate this group in my opinion.

        2. @mickharrold Monaco is the first and worst one, since it had to be premeditated with running first Not sure if you need a link but http://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1/2016/11/01/lewis-hamilton-must-be-celebrated-not-condemned–he-is-a-true-ch/ , look for “by general consensus intentionally went off in Monaco qualifying two years ago to stop Hamilton setting a time.” This is from a mainstream F1 correspondent.

          For Spa, check the bottom photo at http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24096/9441022 – see how he is steering hard right with no reason other than to connect with Hamilton’s tyre, 3 miles from the pits. And he was fined for it by his own team.

          Last year there was a bit of impeding in Q3 Sepang and the massive brake test in Sochi, this year there was Austria, for which the stewards penalised him, Spain, where we see him watching his left mirror then when Lewis moves he dives all the way across knowing he’s lost speed, and it’s easy to be suspicious how slow he was in T1 Oz when Kimi got past him while he nudged Lewis off instead of letting him tuck in behind.

          Not each one is conclusive, always, but there’s a pattern. He’s a cheat. Two of them are pretty definite and then we know he’s capable of it.

          Re T1 Sepang this year, well Nico knew there were multiple cars behind him but he only left space for one. Then he was incredibly lucky not to have damage and not to get collected again. He had a new gearbox at one point, but the suggestion was it was from suspension damage caused by overdoing in on a kerb.

          So if he make it to WDC then he’s WDC. That’s all though, for me. If all wdc’s are ‘worthy’ then the word doesn’t add anything.

        3. @mickharrold

          People point to Hamilton’s reliability problems. But they often overstate them. They haven’t been that massive. The biggest problem with Hamilton this year has been his starts.

          It amazes me how many people believe this myth. I’ve posted the stats on this twice now to F1Fanatic:

          https://www.racefans.net/2016/10/24/rosberg-can-become-champion-at-this-weekends-race/#comment-3317748

          Summary:
          14 lost to Rosberg through starts
          43 – 85 (avg 64) points lost to Rosberg through reliability issues

          It is very clear to anyone who cares to actually look that reliability issues have been far more costly than either starts or Hamiltons mental state.

          Nico has rarely been poor all year and has always been close to Hamilton even when he has been good

          Really? I really want to know why Rosberg is getting so much credit this year over 2015. 2015 was a much better year for him by my accounts. Are people really saying that Rosberg has driven better over this season just because he is the points leader?
          -Australia: Overtaken by both Ferrari’s, gets win due to Kimi’s engine failure and Ferrari’s questionable strategy.
          -China: Overtaken by Ricciardo but reclaims lead due to RIC’s puncture
          -Spain: Puts his car in the wrong engine mode and then makes a desperate lunge across the track to avoid being overtaken, both Mercs go out of the race.
          -Monaco: Awful race from Rosbergs perspective.
          -Canada: Poor race pace and goes off track trying to overtake max.
          -Austria: Crashes into his teammate with another desperate overtake block.
          -Silverstone: Slow in wet again
          -Germany: Poor start, no great race pace and got himself another penalty
          -Italy: Serious deficit in qualifying
          -Malaysia: Serious deficit in qualifying
          -Mexico: Off pace all weekend.

          I’ve ask multiple people why they think Rosberg’s driving this year has been better than 2015 and no-one has yet been able to explain it. Plenty of drivers have had a strong year (Ricciardo springs to mind), Rosberg not so much.

          1. Game over I think, Martin

    4. The fact so many people coming up with such comments on him being “a worthy champion” talks louder than anything.

      If Nico wins he will be WDC but any honest mind cannot ignore that luck (or bad luck of his main opponent) played a big part in all this. You can consider all of Lewis mistakes (poor starts mostly) but if there was not a DNF in Malaysia the story right now would be much different and I don’t even have to mention all other mechanical problems Lewis experienced this year.

      1. Any honest mind cannot ignore that politics played a big part in Hamilton winning last 2 WDC. And even this year, without the many favors he received, Hamilton would not have all the points he actually has.

        1. Am I missing something?

    5. Button beat Barrichello on merit @fer-no65, so it’s a different situation. I don’t think there has been a case like this before. And does ‘beating Lewis fair and square more than once’ make him a worthy victor overall?

      At a factual level it obviously does not. People can call him ‘worthy’ to be nice, and Damon Hill is a sweet guy of course. That’s what it is though. Being nice. Rosberg can at least make the politeness easier if he wins on pace this weekend, and ideally in Abu Dhabi too. If he comes second on pace again then it will expose the ‘worthy’ tag as pretty empty.

      So it is still to play for, afaic. Well for me he needed to win the last four, so it’s shades of ‘lucky’ already.

      1. I would agree with you about the factual approach. If both had bulletproof reliability this year, Hamilton would be ahead in the wdc (for the 3rd year in a row). I don’t see how anyone could be a ‘worthy’ champion if they would have finished second based purely on performance.

        I would have to agree that these are just niceties by the media. If Rosberg finishes P2 in the last 2 races and wraps up the title, he’ll always be the champion who lucked in when his teammate had mechanical gremlins. If Rosberg really wants to silence critics, he would need to end the season taking 2 wins.

        1. @todfod Nico doesn’t pay much heed to critics anyway, so I doubt he ‘wants’ to silence critics. He wants to win a WDC and if he does so he will always be a WDC to the team, to F1, to himself and his family and friends, and to LH. He doesn’t need to win these last two races for any other reason than he is always trying to win every race. Otherwise he also needs to keep from getting contacted and knocked out. And he also has to worry about reliability since the team has shown themselves to not be bulletproof, in spite of LH claiming he ‘hasn’t got a single worry about that’.

    6. It’s mostly stemmed from Hamilton fans crying about his car breaking down, and ignoring how Rosberg has has had more unreliability throughout the last 3 seasons. I wouldn’t really say that he’s not being called worthy just because it’s Hamilton, it’s because of all of these problems Hamilton has had. However that’s racing, look at Massa in 2008, he deserved the championship to many people, but Hamilton won it and that’s that. Any world champion is a deserving world champion, most unbiased people like myself (I don’t particularly like either Rosberg or Hamilton) see that Rosberg has deserved this title.
      He had dominated Hamilton for the last few races before it was confirmed he’d win it if he came 2nd every time, and now he’s just ensuring he does that, and doesn’t push too hard, especially knowing what happened to Hamilton in Malaysia when he pushed too hard. Fortunately for him the Mercedes is good enough he can come 2nd easily, like in Mexico whenever Verstappen got to about 1 second behind, Rosberg did a fast lap and pulled out 8 tenths or so from him. He’s done what he’s had to do, and he deserves it if he gets it.

      Re Button, as he’s my man, I have to point out that he only had the best car for the first 7 races, after that, the Red Bull’s and McLaren had better cars (Kovalainen was just awful, Hamilton showed the true pace of it), and it was about level with the Ferrari, probably worse from Hungary onwards (Badoer and Fisi were awful in that too, Raikkonen showed how good that car was). So that argument about him really annoys me, as he still won the championship with the 3rd or 4th best car come the end of the season, making the most of when it was dominant, and doing enough to hold it when the other teams inevitably caught up, getting double diffusers etc (as Brawn had no money to develop the car).

      In all, I agree with you that Rosberg is a worthy champion.

      1. what happened to Hamilton in Malaysia when he pushed too hard

        Sorry but this is not backed up by evidences @hugh11. Remember that Hamilton was cruising in the lead while Rosberg was battling to catch up. He was pushing more than Hamilton. Add to that Wolff said there was a faulty part in the engine.
        That engine blow up was just bad luck on Hamilton’s side.

  2. So with KMag moving to Haas, that would make him the only driver to have driven cars powered by Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari..all he needs now is a Haas switch to a Honda machine in 2018!

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      10th November 2016, 0:52

      Only? Alonso has driven cars powered by Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Honda.

      1. And Ford (badged as European) at Minardi.

      2. Magnussen did stand in for an injured Alonso in Melbourne this year, only for the Honda unit to give up on the warm-up lap…

      3. While you’re right that Alonso has more, Raikkonen has also driven Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault engines.

        1. And has won with all three.

          1. @selbbin So has Alonso.

          2. Yep. See below.

    2. KMag did drive a Honda already in Melbourne 15, no?

      1. for half a lap. LOL

    3. So, to Rehash:

      5 – Alonso: Mercedes (McLaren)- WIN, Ferrari – WIN, Renault – WIN, Honda (McLaren), Cosworth (Badged ‘European’ with Minardi)

      4 – Magnussen: Mercedes (McLaren), Honda (McLaren), Renault, Ferrari (HAAS 2017)

      4 – Raikkonen: Mercedes (McLaren) – WIN, Ferrari – WIN, Renault (Lotus F1) – WIN, Petronas (Sauber)

      1. 4 – Button: BMW (Williams), Renault (Benetton, Renault), Honda (BAR, Honda, Mclaren), Mercedes (Brawn, Mclaren)

    4. He’s driven the Honda for McLaren in Melbourne last year, so that’s 4.

      And that’s in this era, he’ll be the first person to use all 4 current engines on the grid in the hybrid cars.

  3. re: cotd. Of course it would be controversial…

    27.5 At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be
    deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.

    At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly

    And that’s an or not and… Backing a car in to other cars is definitely driving unnecessarily slowly. These cars are there to go the fastest possible and win on merit, not play dodgems or $20 per 10 minute beginner go-karts.

    1. Backing a car in to other cars is definitely driving unnecessarily slowly.

      I think you may be interpreting that rule differently to the drivers, teams and stewards.

      1. How so? Nobody does it… There’s reasons to drive slowly, be it conservation of fuel, tyres, engines, of course… Hell even just defending slows both cars down by default. But to deliberately drive particularly slowly just to back a driver in to other drivers? Nobody does it… It’s a stupid idea.

        1. Nobody does it… It’s a stupid idea

          There are plenty of examples of people trying it, some worked, some didn’t. Heck even Lorenzo did it to Marquez in MotoGP! Also you are interpreting the rule. Backing off 10kph into a slow corner isn’t the kind of “unnecessarily slowly” they mean. I think most people read that as going safety car slow when the track is green.

        2. Max did it in the last race, and didn’t get a penalty for it.

          1. Max did it in the last race

            You’re clearly mixing up your prejudice with facts, @beneboy!

            Just check the lap times of Max in Mexico; his laps were pretty constant between racing on his own and later when Vettel caught him.

          2. @coldfly
            I think you may want to go look up the definition of prejudice. I was praising him for a masterful display of defensive driving, not criticising him. And making the point that the stewards found nothing wrong with what he was doing.

          3. No need to look it up; though my sincere apologies if I misinterpreted your comment as unfounded criticism rather than praise. @beneboy

            The reference to ‘fact’ of my reply still stands though. Lap times show that he was not slowing down. Thus he was not deliberately backing a car into other cars; there was nothing to even consider penalising.

          4. @coldfly
            No worries mate.
            He didn’t need to slow himself down, just keep Sebastian running at his pace until Dan was able to catch them.
            Defensive driving doesn’t necessarily mean slow your pace, sometimes it’s making those behind you run at the pace you want them to run, rather than the pace they’re capable of running. Which is what Max managed to do at the last race.
            I agree there’s nothing to investigate, because that was my original point, no one is required to drive as fast as they can at all times, and defensive driving is a legitimate tactic, contrary to what some people on here seem to think.

    2. I think we need to keep in mind the interpretation of that rule is broad enough to permit drivers to lap vastly beneath their car’s pace on preparation laps during qualifying.

    3. unnecessarily slowly

      But is is not unnecessarily if you win a WDC is it ;)

      1. Firstly, backing someone into traffic is a legitimate tactic that has been tried before as it is perfectly legal. Secondly, that would have nothing to do with driving unnecessarily slowly…lapping one or two seconds slower than one could does not fit this rule…it is more for someone trying to still race with a lame car and resultantly risking being an obstacle and a danger. Thirdly, these tires can easily lose their optimum performance window if pushed too hard or not hard enough so it is questionable how much leeway a driver would even have on these tires to back someone into traffic. I suppose it would work if the leading car could then take off after pitting his opponent into trouble, but that would be no guarantee of his tires just aren’t there for him anymore.

        1. after ‘putting’ his opponent…

  4. So Kmag made a very sensible choice, Renault showed no faith in him and snatched a terrific driver that more likely than not shall, in regular circumstances beat most drivers on pace.

  5. Weather forecast for Brazil looks great, rain for Saturday and rain for Sunday :D

    1. Would be great for Rosberg to score a pole and a win in those conditions to seal the title and prove his doubters wrong..
      But if not, he could just finish 2nd (or even 3rd) and hope nothing goes wrong in Abu Dhabi..

      1. @pantha Rosberg is not convincing in the wet, Brazil has little room for errors in the wet as Monaco. So i hope he does bad.

    2. Rain is quite common in São Paulo this time of the year. Looks like we will have an eventful race.

    3. Nico Hulkenberg in the wet at Brazil, pole in 2010 and fighting for the victory in 2012 before he and Hamilton collided behind a backmarker… Maybe he could finally get his podium this year? Would be a great way to leave Force India, and he’s certainly in the kind of form that could see him do it if things go his way.

      1. Well said @hugh11, it would be terrific for Hülkenberg to score that elusive podium.

  6. If Ferrari is facing this emission issue maybe they should buy another small brand like Mercedes and BMW dit with Mini and Smart.

    1. Fiat??!!

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        10th November 2016, 7:47

        More like an exclusive brand at the top: ‘Enzo’

    2. @xtwl
      They could just make a Ferrari Shetland Pony, like Aston did with the Cygnet! XD

  7. From the Unibet article:

    “Hamilton was pretty much flawless in the USA and Mexico”

    Sure, he was specially masterful at T1 in Mexico

    Whatever you say

    1. That was the only significant error that came to mind, which is why I qualified “flawless” with “pretty much”.

      1. Luckily for Ham the great Trump hasn’t built his wall yet, because this would’ve probably meant a DNF for Lewis, being that far of-track :p They had to adjust the telecom satellites to be sure there was a tele-coverage of the incident.
        On the backing up tactics: I hope Rosberg wins the last two races with a large margin, so all doubters can zip it…

        1. But would Mexico pay for that wall? :p

      2. Watching Lewis lock up and go that deep into the pasture really did look like a huge mistake, enough to lose him the race and the championship. Not being aware at the moment of the availability of the shortcut I was thinking, say bye-bye to the WDC, Mr. L Carl Davidson H, and good riddance!!

        Then it didn’t work like that. Because there was a workable shortcut to begin with (and surely Lewis and the rest of the pilots were aware of it), and because Lewis was lucky enough to get through it without significant damage to the tyres, the suspension and the bottom of his car. And because the stewards were lenient with the tresspass (oh, no, going into this discussion again, but they usually are with L1T1 incidents, even when people get a huge lasting advantage of it like Lewis did). But still I can’t think of it as a minor mistake

  8. Hamilton wouldn’t have won the title in 2008 if Massa had better reliability in Hungary and Singapore and if Glock and others didn’t have misfortune in Brazil’s changeable conditions. Yet I can’t remember anyone questioning Hamilton’s validity of being a champion. Makes sense to treat Rosberg with same respect.

    1. Careful there, can’t be ruining the narrative with facts.

    2. He would have won the title in 2007 If it hadn’t been for the gearbox issue after the start in Brazil. You can play this game all day, it’s pointless.

      1. @Sam A
        No if Kimi’s car wouldn’t have broken down at Nürburgring…

    3. And Glock’s miss fortune?!?? he made the wrong tyre choice, Hamilton made the right choice, that’s racing.

      1. Careful there, can’t be ruining the narrative with facts.

      2. Wrong or right tyre choice, if Timo Glock had followed the racing line and covered the apex as he should, Lewis would have had it a lot more difficult to overcome him in that fateful last corner. After watching his entire lap where he got overtaken so many times I get the feeling he just didn’t care anymore.

    4. Hope you realise that massa and Hamilton were driving different machines, so it makes the comparison harder. Also, the Ferrari was the quicker car that year, so it’s not hard to call Lewis a worthy champ.

      1. @todfod Why comparison is harder? You get 0 points if you DNF. It’s the same for everyone; for a Ferrari-driver, for a McLaren driver, for a Mercedes driver. It’s clear to me Massa had rotten luck with mechanical problems which cost him valuable points and title that year. The situation would’ve been the same if Massa and Hamilton were team mates and Massa had more DNFs the same way he had that year.

        1. The comparison is invalid @huhhii because Massa chose a team with a faster but less reliable car and a human override on the pit release light. Also he fell off into the gravel in Sepang.

          Lewis for his part chose a team with a slower but more reliable car, but that Max Mosley was out to get, and that brought a low-downforce wing to a wet race, pitted him too late then too early.

          It’s entirely different when it’s within the same team and they’re supposed to be driving ‘the same car’, but one has more faults than the other.

    5. Yet I can’t remember anyone questioning Hamilton’s validity of being a champion

      Really? Because it seems like it is still happening 8 years later. Maybe you should take your blinkers off.

  9. Of course Nico would be a worthy Champion, any World Champion is (89 & 90 neutralise each other). Of course there are mechanical failures, stewards giving correct judgments, or letting things go that may not have, and of course a little luck!

    When Lewis is on-song and has his weekend I think even the die-hard Nico fan would agree he is untouchable (only against his current team-mate, a few others would still beat him). But also Nico has had those weekends this year as well, he has certainly been better than last year, some times Lewis cant beat him that weekend.

    One thing I think of is that while Lewis gives away a certain victory in Malaysia (that pleased me as a Ricciardo fan of course) there were also races like Baku (I think) where the Mercs had engine mode issue and Nico fixed it and Lewis couldn’t and it cost him points, that’s not anything but not doing his homework. So its not all down just to failures, Nico has done well.

  10. From the Unibet preview:
    To do that, Hamilton would have to win in Brazil with Rosberg no higher than fourth. This has happened four times this year: In Germany (where Rosberg started poorly and dropped to fourth behind the Red Bulls), Austria (where the two Mercedes clashed on the final lap and Rosberg fell to fourth), Canada (where Rosberg made another poor start and came fifth) and Monaco (where Rosberg floundered to seventh in the rain).

    This kind of biased mis-representation is really my pet peeve. Rosberg didn’t ‘make a poor start’, he actually had a better start and was challenging Hamilton for second when the latter pushed him off the track.

    1. Let it go @nase.
      This was Crofty’s live commentary during the heat of the moment: “Rosberg gets pushed wide by Hamilton. That was a really poor start by Rosberg“.
      Since then I switched to Channel 4.

      1. @sakis
        I know, I rewatched it. It was either that or rubbing my eyes.
        However, Croft’s wording was a slightly different one:

        Rosberg gets pushed wide by Hamilton, and that’s a really poor start for Nico Rosberg …

        In fact, there wasn’t anything wrong with his commentary even in the heat of the moment. It was indeed a poor start for him, losing almost ten places, but crucially not by him, since he didn’t do anything wrong.
        What’s irritating me is that the same situation is described here, 5 months later, as Rosberg’s fault. That’s so frustrating.

        1. Well his start off the line was good @nase, but his positioning in T1 wasn’t. He was always going to go off, just as he put Hamilton off there himself in 2014. So it’s just a question of where you think ‘the start’ ends, as it were.

        2. @nase

          What’s irritating me is that the same situation is described here, 5 months later, as Rosberg’s fault. That’s so frustrating.

          It was his fault though.

          Watch the 2014 start and the 2016 start side by side. They are almost identical except for when Hamilton is on the outside in 2014 he positions his car much better and crucially knows when he has lost the corner. Rosberg in 2016 showed (like he has many times before and since) that he has a weakness in wheel to wheel racing and so ends up off track.

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