2016 Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, Fri 01 – Sun 03 Jul 2016

[NathanOlder]

Being English is enough of an excuse to be a completely biased imbecile according to some members of this forum.

The Austrian track side announcers said it was Lewis' fault. Thats why he got all the booing. That biased enough for you?

Oh yes, that's incredibly biased.

And what does that have to do with Ted Kravitz might I ask?

People saying Ted is biased like he is the only 1 doing it. Clearly not, so anyone who has a problem with Ted, either shut up, or watch F1 else where.

[langwadt]

I don't see how Rosberg can be defended there. Hamilton was ahead in to the corner, Hamilton gave him lots of room, and he still decided to drive straight in to the side of Hamilton's car. Maybe he was just frustrated by the mistake he made in T1?

True.

You can't have someone drive into your sidepod if you aren't already in front of them.......

In many situations you'd call that a divebomb.

and the rules are pretty clear, when you have more than half a car along side you have to leave space, and crowding someone off the track is not allowed

maybe Nico had a car issue, that just means it wasn't on purpose but it was still him causing a collision

[siskue2005]

https://twitter.com/f1rtp/status/749622177721356289

[Fulcrum]

They gave Hamilton used softs (7 laps old I think) and Nico's were brand new (or at worst 1 lap) super softs.

It's just all rather strange. Hamilton was the defacto leader. He was first and leading. Then Mercedes decided to pit Rosberg early (despite him already being in a good position) - probably in an attempt to get a 1 & 2. Fair enough. This offset both strategies. They kept Hamilton out, as to suggest he was on a 1-stop race. That is how Rosberg ended up with track position. Theoretically, the assumption was that Rosberg would pit towards the end and fall back again. Yet then they pitted both cars again - this time Hamilton first, but only to give him the worse tire. That really makes it seem that the team somehow wanted to give Rosberg an advantage. Technically, at the point Mercedes pitted both cars, Rosbergs was 11 laps older than Hamiltons. So they knew Hamiltons tire would last to the end on good pace. Yet they brought him him as well AND gave him the worse tire.

Then Hamilton, realising this, comes on the radio to question why Rosbegr is on the softer tire.

Seriously, this shunt and collision is very much Mercedes own fault.

+ Lewis got, a cumulative, 3.3 seconds slower pit stops compared to Nico. They did not even bothered about clearing the debris on Nico's, in their pursuit to let him out.

Are you guys seriously implying that Merc was sabotaging their double WDC . That's just funny.

Yes, that seems to be the logic, or lack thereof.

[FoxHound]

Clear as day from the footage Siskue kindly provided.

Rosberg had no intentions of turning when he was meant to, far more interested in running Hamilton out of road.
Nobody can argue, especially as Hamilton was ahead of him. Unsafe and unsporting from Rosberg.

[dans79]

@GrizzleBoy Where did anyone run into anyone's sidepod?

So, I take it either you didn't watch the race or you're blind, because at no point was Nico ahead!

[ringo]

Did he have brand new Soft tyres or brand new Supersoft tyres? If he had new Softs, fair enough, those would have been better.

If he had new Supersofts, would he have had a chance to pass Rosberg? My guess is no.

They gave Hamilton used softs (7 laps old I think) and Nico's were brand new (or at worst 1 lap) super softs.

It's just all rather strange. Hamilton was the defacto leader. He was first and leading. Then Mercedes decided to pit Rosberg early (despite him already being in a good position) - probably in an attempt to get a 1 & 2. Fair enough. This offset both strategies. They kept Hamilton out, as to suggest he was on a 1-stop race. That is how Rosberg ended up with track position. Theoretically, the assumption was that Rosberg would pit towards the end and fall back again. Yet then they pitted both cars again - this time Hamilton first, but only to give him the worse tire. That really makes it seem that the team somehow wanted to give Rosberg an advantage. Technically, at the point Mercedes pitted both cars, Rosbergs was 11 laps older than Hamiltons. So they knew Hamiltons tire would last to the end on good pace. Yet they brought him him as well AND gave him the worse tire.

Then Hamilton, realising this, comes on the radio to question why Rosbegr is on the softer tire.

Seriously, this shunt and collision is very much Mercedes own fault.

You hit the nail on the head. Also to make things worse, Hamilton was instructed to holding back his pace when he was behind Rosberg with the idea that Rosberg is going to pit and that he needs to make the tyres las to the end.
So not only was he was his strategy compromised, so was his pace.
Lewis needs to open his eyes and realize that this year they are trying to sneak Nico a championship.

[SectorOne]

Rosberg could have handled it much smarter. Like running Hamilton wide on the exit, dumping him out on the curbs forcing him to back off the throttle.
That´s assuming of course there was a brake-by-wire failure.

[DiogoBrand]

You hit the nail on the head. Also to make things worse, Hamilton was instructed to holding back his pace when he was behind Rosberg with the idea that Rosberg is going to pit and that he needs to make the tyres las to the end.
So not only was he was his strategy compromised, so was his pace.
Lewis needs to open his eyes and realize that this year they are trying to sneak Nico a championship.

As much as I dislike Nico, we have to admit that most times than not it was Lewis giving up the points himself rather than Mercedes. Up until today the guy wasn't even able to start on pole and be in 1st at turn 1.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Did he have brand new Soft tyres or brand new Supersoft tyres? If he had new Softs, fair enough, those would have been better.

If he had new Supersofts, would he have had a chance to pass Rosberg? My guess is no.

They gave Hamilton used softs (7 laps old I think) and Nico's were brand new (or at worst 1 lap) super softs.

It's just all rather strange. Hamilton was the defacto leader. He was first and leading. Then Mercedes decided to pit Rosberg early (despite him already being in a good position) - probably in an attempt to get a 1 & 2. Fair enough. This offset both strategies. They kept Hamilton out, as to suggest he was on a 1-stop race. That is how Rosberg ended up with track position. Theoretically, the assumption was that Rosberg would pit towards the end and fall back again. Yet then they pitted both cars again - this time Hamilton first, but only to give him the worse tire. That really makes it seem that the team somehow wanted to give Rosberg an advantage. Technically, at the point Mercedes pitted both cars, Rosbergs was 11 laps older than Hamiltons. So they knew Hamiltons tire would last to the end on good pace. Yet they brought him him as well AND gave him the worse tire.

Then Hamilton, realising this, comes on the radio to question why Rosbegr is on the softer tire.

Seriously, this shunt and collision is very much Mercedes own fault.

You hit the nail on the head. Also to make things worse, Hamilton was instructed to holding back his pace when he was behind Rosberg with the idea that Rosberg is going to pit and that he needs to make the tyres las to the end.
So not only was he was his strategy compromised, so was his pace.
Lewis needs to open his eyes and realize that this year they are trying to sneak Nico a championship.

In Russia too, they asked Lewis to stop the charge when Nico was in sights, by saying, there was some water related issue. On multiple occasions, Lewis had problems while going for his run in Q3. In Canada and Baku both, Lewis was faster on Fridays, only to suffer miserably on Saturday due to setup changes. So plainly obvious. I doubt, if they are putting a substandard clutch on Lewis' car, just to hold him off at the start.

[bhall II]

Looks to me like Hamilton was nowhere near being pushed off the track at the moment he initiated his turn...



Being kept off-line is not the same thing as being pushed off-track.

In any case, it's a damn good thing that Mercedes produces high-quality power units. In a race against legitimate competition, the team's hopes would regularly be dashed by inadequate driver management and/or inept race strategy.

[siskue2005]

Clear as day from the footage Siskue kindly provided.

Rosberg had no intentions of turning when he was meant to, far more interested in running Hamilton out of road.
Nobody can argue, especially as Hamilton was ahead of him. Unsafe and unsporting from Rosberg.

yup, i was speculative before....but after seeing Nico's onboard, it is clear as day!

Kinda reminds me of Schumacher 1997 Jerez
What did Schumy recieve back then??

[GrizzleBoy]

Did he have brand new Soft tyres or brand new Supersoft tyres? If he had new Softs, fair enough, those would have been better.

If he had new Supersofts, would he have had a chance to pass Rosberg? My guess is no.

They gave Hamilton used softs (7 laps old I think) and Nico's were brand new (or at worst 1 lap) super softs.

It's just all rather strange. Hamilton was the defacto leader. He was first and leading. Then Mercedes decided to pit Rosberg early (despite him already being in a good position) - probably in an attempt to get a 1 & 2. Fair enough. This offset both strategies. They kept Hamilton out, as to suggest he was on a 1-stop race. That is how Rosberg ended up with track position. Theoretically, the assumption was that Rosberg would pit towards the end and fall back again. Yet then they pitted both cars again - this time Hamilton first, but only to give him the worse tire. That really makes it seem that the team somehow wanted to give Rosberg an advantage. Technically, at the point Mercedes pitted both cars, Rosbergs was 11 laps older than Hamiltons. So they knew Hamiltons tire would last to the end on good pace. Yet they brought him him as well AND gave him the worse tire.

Then Hamilton, realising this, comes on the radio to question why Rosbegr is on the softer tire.

Seriously, this shunt and collision is very much Mercedes own fault.

You hit the nail on the head. Also to make things worse, Hamilton was instructed to holding back his pace when he was behind Rosberg with the idea that Rosberg is going to pit and that he needs to make the tyres las to the end.
So not only was he was his strategy compromised, so was his pace.
Lewis needs to open his eyes and realize that this year they are trying to sneak Nico a championship.

I mean if you think about it, how much did they actually kerb Hamiltons second stint pace by putting another Mercedes and its dirty air in front of him for the entirity of it?

How much time did he lose and how much faster could he have gone because he was blatantly driving to a 2 sec gap that never moved up or down except when Nico made mistakes.

[PlatinumZealot]

Rosberg could have handled it much smarter. Like running Hamilton wide on the exit, dumping him out on the curbs forcing him to back off the throttle.
That´s assuming of course there was a brake-by-wire failure.

[Fulcrum]

You still haven't answered my question. Did Hamilton have any other tyres other than the Softs he ultimately used?

I'm assuming they should have each had sets that are similar, given they both had the same qualifying, equal runs on equal tires. And it still doesn't explain why they pitted both cars, if they knew that one car that needed to pit had already done 11 laps more and was still going well to consider not pitting the other (HAM).

You're assuming wrong. Rosberg had 1 less set of Softs this weekend.