[solstice]

Originally Posted by 328ihp

I am a Hamilton fan and i do think he is the more skilled driver but you are also wrong.. some of the moves hamilton has done on him to defend and overtake have crossed the line and rosberg has been very conservative about it.What Rosberg did at spa was just horrible driving and he has copped criticism about it from everyone.There was simply no explanation for it and i think it was more out of frustration because hamilton overtook him fair and square and nico knew at that point he was not going to win the race.

I dunno, someone who can navigate Monaco at speeds to win an F1 race ( twice ) should easily be quick enough in the head and hands to calculate the move to avoid hitting Hamilton here, if he wants and it's a priority. If you look at Rosberg's right front wheel he does straighten up when Hamiltion changes direction to avoid getting over run by his left rear wheel. He could just have stayed there until clear, I don't think he is even at full braking power, just a bit more brake and Ham would clear in a blink of an eye. Again the brain processes these situation with lighting speed and these guys are experienced experts. The streets of Monaco for a full race demands much, much more than to avoid hitting HAM here. Furthermore he is fresh and alert at lap 2 and HAM does absolutely nothing unexpected or sudden, his driving is very predictable here. It does look like he cuts straight for the tire and his body language and comments after the race was not from someone confident in it being a 50/50 racing incident. I.e I think there's more to it than just bad driving.

[escobar929]

Hopefully karma catches up with ROS at the last race of the season.

[M_Six]

The sweetest irony would be to see Ricciardo take the crown at the last race.

[Aapparition90]

The problem with conspiracy story's is that there was only a 10 % chance according to the pirelli of their being a puncture and a 100% chance of nico losing his front wing and thus losing a lot of time overall in the race.Rosberg is a smart driver he would not intentionally do something that that has more risk involved for him compared to lewis.. his mind was simply clouded with frustration after being overtaken so cleanly and easily by lewis.Any lewis fan knows that from that point on unless there was a technical failure lewis had the win in the bag.

[Mtxzptlk]

Originally Posted by M_Six

The sweetest irony would be to see Ricciardo take the crown at the last race.

Not a Red Bull fan, but I'd LOL if that happens.

RIC deserves it if he does.

[ptack]

It's too bad Schumi isn't well and hanging around the Mercedes team. I think he'd likely give them some quiet perspective on this, particularly about "teamwork". Any team that has 2 potential champions is going to feel like their riding two tigers, but that's what they get for wanting to double their chances. Having them at each other's throats is no surprise at all. What's surprising is Mercedes lack of professionalism in dealing with this. They should have issued both drivers strict gag orders immediately and limited their comments to "we're discussing it". Airing their laundry in public turns their team into a soap opera which will definitely not help win races, but more importantly, it reveals a lack of discipline by the team leaders. I don't expect it from the drivers, but you absolutely need it from the top or things on the track will become very dangerous indeed.

[SonnyJack]

Originally Posted by M_Six

The sweetest irony would be to see Ricciardo take the crown at the last race.

I could live with that.

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by ptack

It's too bad Schumi isn't well and hanging around the Mercedes team. I think he'd likely give them some quiet perspective on this, particularly about "teamwork". Any team that has 2 potential champions is going to feel like their riding two tigers, but that's what they get for wanting to double their chances. Having them at each other's throats is no surprise at all. What's surprising is Mercedes lack of professionalism in dealing with this. They should have issued both drivers strict gag orders immediately and limited their comments to "we're discussing it". Airing their laundry in public turns their team into a soap opera which will definitely not help win races, but more importantly, it reveals a lack of discipline by the team leaders. I don't expect it from the drivers, but you absolutely need it from the top or things on the track will become very dangerous indeed.

I love me some Schumi but if he were there then Mercedes would be even more confused than they are now about who is in charge

[Tonifyd]

Originally Posted by solstice

I dunno, someone who can navigate Monaco at speeds to win an F1 race ( twice ) should easily be quick enough in the head and hands to calculate the move to avoid hitting Hamilton here, if he wants and it's a priority. If you look at Rosberg's right front wheel he does straighten up when Hamiltion changes direction to avoid getting over run by his left rear wheel. He could just have stayed there until clear, I don't think he is even at full braking power, just a bit more brake and Ham would clear in a blink of an eye. Again the brain processes these situation with lighting speed and these guys are experienced experts. The streets of Monaco for a full race demands much, much more than to avoid hitting HAM here. Furthermore he is fresh and alert at lap 2 and HAM does absolutely nothing unexpected or sudden, his driving is very predictable here. It does look like he cuts straight for the tire and his body language and comments after the race was not from someone confident in it being a 50/50 racing incident. I.e I think there's more to it than just bad driving.

+ 1

Originally Posted by ptack

It's too bad Schumi isn't well and hanging around the Mercedes team. I think he'd likely give them some quiet perspective on this, particularly about "teamwork". Any team that has 2 potential champions is going to feel like their riding two tigers, but that's what they get for wanting to double their chances. Having them at each other's throats is no surprise at all. What's surprising is Mercedes lack of professionalism in dealing with this. They should have issued both drivers strict gag orders immediately and limited their comments to "we're discussing it". Airing their laundry in public turns their team into a soap opera which will definitely not help win races, but more importantly, it reveals a lack of discipline by the team leaders. I don't expect it from the drivers, but you absolutely need it from the top or things on the track will become very dangerous indeed.

Im thinking it was Schumi who gave him the idea in the first place. Just like when Vettel went from humble kid to cold and greedy.

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Toto Wolff:

“If Lewis has said that it’s going to be a slap on the wrist, and that there’s going to be no consequence, then he’s not aware of what consequences we can implement.”

“Today we’ve seen the limits of the slap on the wrist. Maybe the slap on the wrist is not enough,” warned the Mercedes motorsport boss.

But it won't happen right away.

"There will be no knee-jerk reaction,” Wolff said. “We have to consider what will happen. We are going to sit down with everybody and decide what to do, when everybody is in a cooler, calmer frame of mind.”

and

"We're all fans and we owe it to ourselves and everybody out there to let them race … that philosophy has ended in Mercedes losing many valuable points and we don't want to end up in Abu Dhabi, with a season where we lost the championship, be it constructors' or drivers', because we're too much race fans.

“We've probably not hit the self-destruct button yet but there is a lot at stake, and if you don't manage this properly now it could end up at that point. It's one thing enjoying great races and letting them fight with each other, but if you look like a fool at the end of the season then you haven't won anything.”

[E90SLAM]

What we need is a leader like Ross Brawn.
Remember Malaysia last year? Although was team-order, but his reasoning was convincing and confident.

Now all I can see was PR disaster and different bosses running around.
Mercedes got a good businessman (Wolff), a good technical director (Lowe), and an experienced world champion (Lauda). What's missing is a Leader IMO.

I can actually see Brawn cover the entire issue last weekend into race incident, and asked the drivers to kept it internal before anyone shouts anything. And PR doing its work to dilute media sensation. Or divert the attention to dangerous Ferrari act of allowing mechanics on the grid after the 15 second mark. And only receive minimal penalty.

[E90SLAM]

Originally Posted by M_Six

The sweetest irony would be to see Ricciardo take the crown at the last race.

That kind-of happened before. Remember 2007 how Kimi won?
HAM and ALO was fighting neck to neck within McLaren, then at the end, Kimi caught up and won the WDC.

Never say never!

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

What we need is a leader like Ross Brawn.
Remember Malaysia last year? Although was team-order, but his reasoning was convincing and confident.

Now all I can see was PR disaster and different bosses running around.
Mercedes got a good businessman (Wolff), a good technical director (Lowe), and an experienced world champion (Lauda). What's missing is a Leader IMO.

I can actually see Brawn cover the entire issue last weekend into race incident, and asked the drivers to kept it internal before anyone shouts anything. And PR doing its work to dilute media sensation. Or divert the attention to dangerous Ferrari act of allowing mechanics on the grid after the 15 second mark. And only receive minimal penalty.

I agree with that. If HAM and Nico kept their opinions in-house, this would've been discussed, possibly penalty handed down by the FIA and that would've been that (from the outside). It's like what we saw in Canada with Massa and Perez.

But they didn't do that and allowed opining and malicious intent to spill out of the paddock. and now it's a much bigger "mess" (if you will) than it ever needed to be.

I don't think they'd bring in Schumacher even if he was healthy right now. 2 former drivers and one who raced with a current driver would create too much added confusion. Brawn might have been good now, too bad he retired

[jkoral]

Excellent article by David Coulthard: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/28928608

[spencers]

Originally Posted by NickyC

I think F1 fans the world over should be thanking Rosberg if he acted intentionally. In fact, I say let the two Mercedes drivers ram each other at the start of every race. It actually makes the next hour or so of my life watching the "race", not a complete bore and snooze fest.

Yes!

[SenorFunkyPants]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Brawn might have been good now, too bad he retired

He didn't actually retire, he was shuffled out so that Niki and Toto could take full control.

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

He didn't actually retire, he was shuffled out so that Niki and Toto could take full control.

too bad he "was retired"
is that better phrasing?


**********
Just found this excerpt:

But former driver and regular F1 steward Derek Warwick told British radio that even though Rosberg's driving was "silly", it is "an internal problem" for Mercedes rather than "a problem for the FIA or the stewards".

And an FIA spokesman told the Daily Mail: "The FIA will not intervene in this issue.

"Only a 'new element' that would have appeared after the results became final could justify us opening an investigation. A comment alleged to have been made in an internal briefing and later denied by the team itself does not constitute such a 'new element'," he official added.

What is clear is that what was left of the tattered relationship between Rosberg and Hamilton is now probably irreparable.

Asked if the pair can be civil for the rest of the 2014 battle, Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda told Welt newspaper: "When I think of how the meeting went on Sunday, I doubt it.

"But this is precisely the task of the leadership team now -- to establish this relationship again."

Whatever the outcome, Bernie Ecclestone is happy.

"What it has done is created a lot of interest," he told the Indian news source PTI. "That is very good for the sport."

[NickyC]

I cringe every time I hear somebody talk about Hamilton being out of the Championship now. It's as if they all forgot the last race of the year is double points. One last gimmick to finish the year.

[E90SLAM]

For Bernie, just like Ryanair's boss Micharl O'Leary, there's no bad publicity.
Anything that can stir the pot, will improve awareness in the media is a good thing.

Sometimes I just don't get the FIA stewards. In the past we saw drivers being penalized with similar clumsy move like Rosberg did. Stating "Causing an avoidable collision" or just simply "Causing a collision".

Oh well, unless Mercedes decide to penalize Rosberg internally. I don't see anything will happen. Mercedes is not going to press the suicide button and give FIA any evidence when they don't needed to.

[overcoil]

Originally Posted by NickyC

I cringe every time I hear somebody talk about Hamilton being out of the Championship now. It's as if they all forgot the last race of the year is double points. One last gimmick to finish the year.

Your exactly right.
I like both Hamilton and Rosberg - hope they get a chance to really go out after one another for the majority of a race.

[solstice]

Benz management has put themselves in a situation where it's pretty much impossible to not hand a significant and visual to the public punishment to Rosberg.

How do you keep your authority and respect within the team and the outside if you let it go by a slap on the wrist after the speeches post the race? You can't. Let it go and a Mercedes "unacceptable" suddenly means acceptable not only to ROS and HAM but to the rest of the world as well. It will be interesting to see what they do.

[954Stealth]

So I guess the question now is what will they do? What type of punishment will it be?
Financial? He's been making 8, 10, 14 million a year for a while. Whatever they give him can't hurt that bad.
Withhold pay for Monza? Then what? He sandbags and hurts MB's WCC points.
They can't do anything with his endorsement deals either.
So what can they do then, take away his BlackBerry? lol

I'm very curious about this next step.