Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[SiLo]

Just take a look at Hamiltons hands on the steering wheel and where his head is pointed. He gave him room on corner entry but wasn't far enough alongside to pass, so he simply takes the racing line.

Is this a corner where you turn in quite early anyway?

[dans79]

Is this a corner where you turn in quite early anyway?

I wouldn't even call it a turn, it's more like going from point a to b in a strait line.

[FoxHound]

Did LH go into the Right hander from the racing line? NO. So why should he cut to the racing line for the left hander?

I hate getting argumentative with you or anyone, so this will be my last point on this topic.

> Hamilton good enough to win without getting himself distracted
> Need not take risks that are going to be counter productive to your WDC goal irrespective of the other drivers position/motive

We are debating Williams!

>I agree Hamilton is good enough to win. But, it is my view the distraction was Rosberg's and it was Hamilton that suffered in this instance.
>Hamilton needs to take risks as he is behind the only guy who can beat him. Rosberg has demonstrated he can beat Hamilton on his day after all.

In light of the GIF SectorOne kindly put up, there is a precedent of 2 Mercs going into a corner and the following car ceding ground to guarantee no contact.
I maintain Rosberg was responsible, simply as he had a better view of when contact would occur, and therefore had more control over whether it would occur.

If Hamilton cedes the corner to avoid contact, even though it his line and he has every right to be there, this would be a clear white flag to Rosberg and Hamilton's own WDC chances. As every time Rosberg gets close, Hamilton would simply give him a wide birth and watch as Ros overtakes.

If we compare that to Rosberg, who leads Hamilton, has almost nothing to lose if there is contact. When behind he can simply pull manoeuvres as we saw in Belgium...and limp home to the WDC.

[cirrusflyer]

Would be interesting if Hamilton now just tell Toto: "From now on I will hit Nico in all remaining races. I have nothing to lose, he has AND Merc has.... RIC is close and Redbull too. So Toto, what will you do!?"

Just a joke guys !!

[NTS]

For those claiming Rosberg had 2 meters to his left: you have clearly never been even close to a racing line. It is entirely impossible to go to the left side of the track there while still making the following left hand corner. You simply cannot make a left hand corner at racing speed from left to left on a track.

[dans79]

For those claiming Rosberg had 2 meters to his left: you have clearly never been even close to a racing line. It is entirely impossible to go to the left side of the track there while still making the following left hand corner. You simply cannot make a left hand corner at racing speed from left to left on a track.

He would have been able to if he had backed out of it, like every other driver does when they attempt an overtake that doesn't work.

[kooleracer]

Mercedes can't zeppelin Rosberg because they will hurt themselves. The FIA should start redacting points from drivers as an punishment. Rosberg "clumsy" move deserves a points reduction. He ruined his title contenders race and even extended his lead. I don't the fans want to see a championship being decided by taking off your closest title contenders. This is the only way to get rid of this particular problem.

[Just_a_fan]

For those claiming Rosberg had 2 meters to his left: you have clearly never been even close to a racing line. It is entirely impossible to go to the left side of the track there while still making the following left hand corner. You simply cannot make a left hand corner at racing speed from left to left on a track.

If you watch the corner you will see Rosberg turn away from Hamilton initially and then turn back in toward him. This shows he had options and thus he made a decision to turn back in at the moment that he did so.

[miguelalvesreis]

For me is simple. NR could (and should) have backed up on that one.
I can understand his motivation. LH had been way agressive on his defensive manouvres all season long. 1st NR reaction was the move on Canada. LH responded with the muscular defense on Hungary (Just watch him defending himself from NR and/or from the others!).
NR with this, is telling LH that he will no longer be the "chicken". He was making a statement. "If you push me, I'll fight back. Same guns". I can understand is motivation, what I can't understand is how a supposedely clever guy choose such a silly moment to do it. It was not his brightest moment. Not by any measure.
Either way, LH should have been more carefull. He should have spotted NR. I believe that if it was any other Top driver there in the fight with LH he would have spotted it and avoided contact. He was, probably, too confident that NR would back off, like he have done inumerous times.

Hope that from now on they fight hard but fairly. Always love a good chat about some smart manouvres but can't stand the kind of sterile discussions that emerge from moments like this SPA clash

[Hail22]

Ted Kravitz discussing about the Belgian GP and how things have been panning out since Sunday Afternoon:

[prince]

Mercedes can't zeppelin Rosberg because they will hurt themselves. The FIA should start redacting points from drivers as an punishment. Rosberg "clumsy" move deserves a points reduction. He ruined his title contenders race and even extended his lead. I don't the fans want to see a championship being decided by taking off your closest title contenders. This is the only way to get rid of this particular problem.

Why not, put any tom, dick and harry in W05 and he would stand a chance to win. What's there for Merc to lose? If the title contender is doing all the ridiculous things to gain advantage, why have such a competitor on the grid itself?

Well, I am now understanding why people call Nico, "AN INTELLIGENT DRIVER". So much to learn from the guy, Monaco, Canada and Belgium. "People who were booing were ALL BRITISH FANS", What an INTELLIGENT statement.

[WaikeCU]

tbh Rosberg goes unpunished, doesn't even get warned for taken out Hamilton. This means he can do this week in, week out. Critics and former F1 drivers hate his clumsiness he has shown, but as long he doesn't get warned and punished, he'll just continue to do so. He knows he has the quickest car by far so he can afford to do so each and every time Hamilton is in front of him making his car as wide as he can. Certainly on high speed tracks you would lose out big time whenever a puncture occurs.

I think he'll just get told off by his Mercedes bosses. That's just all. A hefty fine won't bother him either, because at the end, winning the WDC is the main thing. Maybe handing over Rosberg's Free Practices to Ocon might do the trick.

[CHT]

Merc F1 surely need to engage some PR consultant to help them handle the situation. I honestly think Niki and Toto might have over reacted to the situation and this has given the media good reasons to blow this incident out proportion.

Yes, they touched and we all did expect them to touch this year, and its only unfortunate that LH tire got punctured. If that didnt happen, i am sure it will turn out to be a very exciting race.

[SectorOne]

For those claiming Rosberg had 2 meters to his left: you have clearly never been even close to a racing line. It is entirely impossible to go to the left side of the track there while still making the following left hand corner. You simply cannot make a left hand corner at racing speed from left to left on a track.

No what you do if you actually have any form of racecraft is 3 things,

1, you back out of it, it´s very clear you won´t get past around the outside.
2, you brake in a straight line to maximize deceleration.
3, you then proceed to turn the car.

All of this he could do, it is what Hamilton has done, it is what he´s done previously, but decided not to do this time.
By defending this, even when you know he´s keeping the front wing there on purpose you come forth as nothing but a troll NTS.

All the other vocal people has zipped it now because it´s too obvious, i suggest that´s a good plan.
Particularly when you take into account the bold part.

[cma]

....
Either way, LH should have been more carefull. He should have spotted NR. I believe that if it was any other Top driver there in the fight with LH he would have spotted it and avoided contact. He was, probably, too confident that NR would back off, like he have done inumerous times.

Any top driver? Like Vettel on lap 1 who was sensible enough to know he wasn't going to make it without contact and bailed? That's sensible driving.

Rosberg knew what he was doing, the same as he did in Monaco.