Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[basti313]

Friday timing doesn't mean a thing as some drivers will choose to conceal their true pace from their opponent until sat. You can see that from the timing gap between merc and the rest on sat.

This is true, but earlier in the year Nico said he looks at Lewis's data if my memory serves me correctly. I think it was right after Malaysia.

And Lewis looks at Nico's data. Except maybe Kimi there is no driver who does not analyse his teammates data as good as he can. Sometimes they even twitter it...

[dans79]

And Lewis looks at Nico's data.

You should probably read a little bit more before replying, as I said this already!

[l4mbch0ps]

The trend I've noticed this year as far as practice times is that Nico is often faster in P1 and Lewis is often faster in P2. Take what you will from that!

[Chuckjr]

I think hit em hard in their bank account--I mean hard...like millions upon millions in fines for causing collision. I can't think of much else that would not interfere directly with championship points risk/reward that Lewis or Nico will recognize. Since they both are insanely rich, make the fines equal to something on the order of 10-20% of their net worth. That would make them think before hitting the other guy.

That sort of thing needs to be in the contract.
Imagine if you are at work and forget to turn off the coffee machine and the boss just makes up a thousand dollar fine on the spot.

I hear that but this is extenuating and unforeseen circumstance. Unless Merc steps in severely, both these guys will take matters into their own hands. Lewis has already ignored team orders. Nico has already held a line to the point of crashing...it's going to be this every weekend as the pressure keeps building.

Management needs to step in and speak the language these guys hear, namely, money and winning.

Interfering directly with points and winning or not makes the championship empty (if it isn't already from both their actions) and synthetic. Since, imo, interference is not an option, the only option left they will listen to is money. These guys could care less if they are told off by management or if a crowd boos them. That's just sitting and taking a verbal barrage--not a hard pill to swallow when the trophy is in your grasp. But force them to sign a contract which states if you want to drive and have the chance to win the drivers title, you will abide by the rules we set forth or you will pay dearly...now that will make impression.

Neither guy is going to walk from the drive at this point. They both want the title too badly. Simply draw up the papers and tell them sign on the dotted line. All that's required is not crashing into one another.

Nothing else is going to phase these guys--yelling, threats, stern looks, boos, etc. All just silly slaps on the wrist. Taking points will only frustrate their PR attempts and ruin the championship as a whole.

Make this a simple matter...disobey team orders or cause collision, and you will pay dearly for that action. End of story.

[CHT]

And Lewis looks at Nico's data.

You should probably read a little bit more before replying, as I said this already!

Sun Tzu : If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.

[WaikeCU]

Could Mercedes allocate a PU of Nico to Lewis? Just to somewhat punish him for it? Is this even remotely possible?

[NTS]

No, rules on engine limits are per driver not per team:

28.4 a) Unless he drives for more than one team (see 28.4(d) below), each driver may use no more than five power units during a Championship season.

[Phil]

I'm still convinced: nothing is going to happen. It is not in Mercedes interest to do anything that might further put the focus on them, so they will just go on and communicate that the 'issue' has been delt with internally.

Even in regards to the comments made about Hamilton along the lines that Rosberg supposedly admitted to doing it on purpose - when Toto addressed this later by saying that Rosberg was misunderstood or that the comments by Hamilton were exaggerated to me sounds like 'damage limitation'.

Stuff like this is bad publicity and they will make it their priority to make it go away quietly and quickly. The best way to do that is to move on and state that it has been delt with in some internal form. You cant change what happened and any attempt to creating a just result or level playing field will just backfire or cause an even bigger bad publicity.

Sadly, i can see Mercedes going back to the books because of this. They may pride themselves in to standing for just and fair team battles - 'letting their drivers race' and not engage team orders, so in the end, i could see them letting Hamilton go (or not extending his contract) and then taking on a younger, or more predictable driver alongside Rosberg. The perfect situation would be a very strong driver and a younger less experienced one. That's my take on what will/might happen.

Ps: sorry for any typos. Typed this on my mobile...

[SectorOne]

Simply draw up the papers and tell them sign on the dotted line. All that's required is not crashing into one another.

And then one of them says no, then what do you do?

[NTS]

Put a lot of pressure on them and threaten to fire whoever doesn't sign it for next year?

[Waywardism]

Toto Wolff apparently stated that Rosberg would not just receive a slap on the wrist, but that the team would implement other penalties.

It got me to wondering whether they would implement performance penalties? Would the team dare to do that? I'm thinking along the lines of having Rosberg run with a different engine mode or fuel mix to ensure the cars are not near each other?

This is an interesting point and it's not without merit.

Take another look at the Toto interview. At 0.55 he says "If there is any rev limiter, I'm in there". Now it could just be a heat-of-the-moment comment but who knows...



I think one thing is for sure though, we're going to see team orders at least until both titles are secure. And unless Lewis sorts his act out in qualifying that will hand the title to Rosberg.

[SectorOne]

Put a lot of pressure on them and threaten to fire whoever doesn't sign it for next year?

Then they will have to buy them out because they are under contract. At least Rosberg signed a multi year deal recently.

[KeiKo403]

Then they will have to buy them out because they are under contract. At least Rosberg signed a multi year deal recently.

I dare say that the new Rosberg contrac doesn't start until 1/1/15. And is it safe to assume that there would be some form of cooling off period written in the contract.

I wonder if we'll start seeing slower pit stops.

[SectorOne]

I dare say that the new Rosberg contrac doesn't start until 1/1/15. And is it safe to assume that there would be some form of cooling off period written in the contract.

But it´s likely it´s not in the new or old contract. He´s already signed the new one which will be in effect in 2015.
They can´t just scrap a contract, put in a new thing and then expect him to sign on the dotted line.

[KeiKo403]

ha...like a technical directive?