2014 British GP - Silverstone

[strad]

I saw the concertina effect personally. Alonso varied his breaking on the apex visibly a few times, forcing Vettel either wide or to brake when he needn't.

Ahh you mean like Mario perfected and taught to his kid. nothing new under the sun.

[turbof1]

This might be all Rosberg´s radio transmissions but we can´t say for sure, i don´t know how much drivers really talk to to the team over the laps.

F1fanatic usually posts the full radio transcript a few days after the GP. When they do, we'll know.

But yeah, Hamilton was getting closer to Rosberg before the latter had issues.

[mkable1370]

Vettel should shut ta fuq up. Alonso as well. He did close the door rather questionably sometimes.

Where's a good profanity mod. when you need one?

[Waywardism]

Perhaps we should be looking at earlier races to determin what kind of a fuel usage difference there was. If it is similar, then I see no reason to believe different fuel loads.

The fuel usage graphic was shown in Malaysia and China, can't recall seeing it in Bahrain. I distinctly remember Hamilton using significantly less fuel than Rosberg then

EDIT:

pic.twitter.com/Jm9bOAKa0v

That's from Malaysia, note that it is before they changed the graphic to say kg used instead of the misleading % used.

[Ninners]

In Bahrain Rosberg was using a bit less fuel(about 0.2%) than Hamilton when they displayed it around Lap 10 or so. That's the only race where Rosberg has used less fuel but we do know he was in a clearly faster car that day.

[Cam]

In terms of performance, and even considering the state of Alonso's tires and supposed stalling issues, I think the F14T and the RB10 were generally comparable enough that to call Alonso's aggressive tactics to hold position a "lost cause" is a bit misleading in context.

Or you can believe Alonso. He was in the car while we all watched. What part of that context was misleading for you?

"We had two seconds deficit in pace, so if keeping him behind for 13 laps was good for the TV and our sponsors it is welcome, but we knew we would lose the position," Alonso said.

[beelsebob]

You are. That looks like a pretty accurate summation of what I'm proposing.

So why does Rosberg suck so much at keeping below his fuel usage Delta that he is warned almost every race to get his stompers off the pedal?

That's a really good question. I think one possible explanation is above. Rosberg tends to get the "you're bingo fuel" warning in races he's leading - it could very well be that he puts his boot in to make sure he's ahead of DRS.

My suspicion is that the difference between Hamilton pushing and not pushing is that he tries to carry more speed through corners, and push the limits of the track, while the difference between Rosberg pushing and not pushing is that he tries to get his boot down on the accelerator earlier, and to brake later.

Bob,

I'd be surprised if Hamilton is fueled less for a simple reason: Watching how Mercedes likes to manage these two drivers - identical engine maps, using overtake-button during the same time (when racing each other), even down to the strategy or data sharing - it all points to me that the team or management of Mercedes wants to give the two drivers a level playing field.

I would be amazed if that were the case, because that would be the very opposite of a level playing field. We know that Lewis uses less fuel over a race, so fueling the two cars the same amount would inherently give Rosberg an advantage - that he has a lighter car towards the end.

[Pierce89]

Vettel should shut ta fuq up. Alonso as well. He did close the door rather questionably sometimes.

Where's a good profanity mod. when you need one?

We don't need stuff like this, if you wanna report someone, then do so....but,to waste space in an already overflowing thread just to tattle on someone...I guess I must be getting old or something.

[henra]

What could be the reason? Better traction or more power?

Definitely power. Be it ice or ers deployment. That ferrari was making short work of merc powered stuff into stowe at times during the race.

Yup. Seconded.
Mid range speed acceleration on the Ferrari actually looked quite impressive. Seems they found some horses....
Or the gearing of the RB is completely off. But looking at the torque/power curves of These engines it is probably rather raw power.
Definitely not a atraction issue though.

[NathanOlder]

Does anyone know why nothing seemed to have been mentioned (I didnt hear anything on Sky or BBC) about the passing move Vettel put on Alonso, and the fact that his pass was done in Copse and he ran 4 wheels over the white line on the exit !?

[beelsebob]

Does anyone know why nothing seemed to have been mentioned (I didnt hear anything on Sky or BBC) about the passing move Vettel put on Alonso, and the fact that his pass was done in Copse and he ran 4 wheels over the white line on the exit !?

Mostly because the stewards thought both of them were running off the track far too much. Vettel actually ran off the track 3 times during the build up, and passing move.

[Cam]

Perhaps because Alonso spent time himself with all 4 wheels off the track, in defense?

[fets81]

as always it's the consistency of the decisions that bugs me, I can understand why the stewards wouldn't punish one driver over the other when both were running all 4 wheels off the track but didn't grosjean get slapped with a 20 second penalty last year in hungary for doing this once?

[Gaz.]

Perhaps because Alonso spent time himself with all 4 wheels off the track, in defense?

I don't remember the battle blow by blow- did Alonso keep the position by running off the track at any time?

[Waywardism]

Consistency would be nice I can definitely relate to that. I'm not sure it helps to compare driving related penalties from one season to another though, not when they have updated the rules in that area. I think the FIA said just before the last race that they wanted to cut back on the amount of penalties handed out too.

We just saw Vettel overtake Alonso by going marginally off the track, yes they both did it lots of times during their battle so they would either have to penalise both or neither of them, but under the rules as I have always understood them to be Vettel should have had to give the place back. The fact that he was allowed to keep the place, and even more so that it wasn't even looked into, could be a dangerous precedent going forward. I don't like to see grey areas or 'discretion' used for things like this, it should be black and white. What's going to happen the next time somebody does it? We don't know and neither do the drivers but they'll all have seen that Vettel got away with it, that opens the door for others trying it too. It could easily get out of hand.