Rosberg calls Hamilton lucky before podium ceremony

[IainT]

Derek Smith said:

He seems fair on Rosberg but I have to say that there doesn't seem to be much love lost between them.

I can't help but feel that Japan will be pivotal.

I think DC is partially right - if Rosberg beats Hamilton in an equal fight - i.e. same amount of bad luck - then his status will be massively improved. I don't see him losing the title to Hamilton as being a game-changer though - he won't 'lose value'. There will always be next season where he can try to be top dog. Right or wrong though I'd probably place my last fiver on Lewis to beat Nico.

This year might be the easiest chance either will have of a WDC as their car advantage is huge, next year we can expect other teams to be closer.

[Jasandjules]

So currently from that Nico is due one more retirement to even things up. If he does that and Lewis wins or takes second or third, his points lead would be a lot higher. The stats on the BBC page there also don't show that for example where Lewis came third it was due to a failure of the car in Quali causing him to start from the back (and still take third!).....

[furtive]

The Torygraph have had a (pretty poor IMO) stab at looking at how many points the 2 drivers would have if the Mercedes was 100% reliable:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formul...

[slipstream 1985]

37chevy said:

tim-b said:

Exactly what I was thinking, would have been very interesting to see how his approach would work out compared to Lewis' in similar situations.

I really hope Merc's reliability issues are over, now both drivers are on (almost) even points I want to see some actual racing between Nico and Lewis again.

well I don't know...let nico have 1 more DNF so the tables are even with hamiltons DNFs...then it will be more of a true reflection on the championship.....oh and maybe a fire in qualifying to make it completely even

lewis also needs to run into nico and make him do an entire lap with a puncture

[Crafty_]

Jasandjules said:

So currently from that Nico is due one more retirement to even things up. If he does that and Lewis wins or takes second or third, his points lead would be a lot higher. The stats on the BBC page there also don't show that for example where Lewis came third it was due to a failure of the car in Quali causing him to start from the back (and still take third!).....

Nico also down on 2 poor qualifying results (Hungary - back of the grid due to engine fire & Germany 16th placed start due to gearbox change & exploding brake disc).

[Crafty_]

You mean the Hungarian GP that he started from dead last due to an engine fire but drove like a man possessed to get on the podium ?

[Speedy11]

ash73 said:

He span the car on lap 1 in T2, if he'd started on pole he'd still be dead last; his quali issues made no difference.

He spun because of problems with the temp of his brakes this was because of his quail issue(no warm up lap), if he had started from pole then they would have been upto temperature and he would not have had any issues.

[Paul_M3]

ash73 said:

He span the car on lap 1 in T2, if he'd started on pole he'd still be dead last; his quali issues made no difference.

And you think he'd have been pushing as hard if he'd been on pole? (Or even near the front)

[Crafty_]

No-one blamed the car.

What Speedy said was Lewis got caught out by the cold brakes, he started from the pit lane so the brakes were cold.

If the engine had not caught fire and Lewis had qualified for the grid he would have done a formation lap and the brakes would be up to temperature, therefore he would be caught out. In addition it was wet, further adding to the awkward circumstances.

No-one blamed the car for the spin, Lewis made a mistake in unfamiliar circumstances that wouldn't have arisen had the car not caught fire in qualifying.

Why do Hamilton's detractors always twist everything ?

[Speedy11]

ash73 said:

He span because he made a driver error in not accommodating the temperature of his brakes, why do Lewis fans always blame the car?

But with out the fire in quailly he would not have spun, so

ash73 said:

his quali issues made no difference.

is bks

Also I did not blame the car. However if you want to

Lewis' Engineer said:

So we’re in ‘passive’. We understand BBW is in ‘passive’ we’ll try and recover it.

Edited by Speedy11 on Thursday 25th September 21:00

[IainT]

ash73 said:

He span because he made a driver error in not accommodating the temperature of his brakes, why do Lewis fans always blame the car?

Maybe because it's not a fan issue in this specific case and the cause was unexpected break behaviour? Drivers expect the car to behave in a predictable way depending on the inputs they give it, when it doesn't they might 'get away with it', catch a slide, etc.

To suggest that he'd have made that mistake if he'd had the car up to temp with a normal warm up lap is pretty daft. Had he started from the front row he'd have likely come out of that turn in the top few spots.

That he didn't hit the wall was as much lucky as him hitting the wall would have been unlucky - speculative perspective. Maybe it was skill that kept him out of the wall?

Why do Lewis haters always blame the driver?

[IainT]

hora said:

I supported Mansell (although as a kid I thought 'why is he so dull in the interviews?), Damon and now Lewis

You'll be giving poor Jenson and Max a complex!

I'm generally partisan to an extent - I want to see the Brit teams doing well, the Brit drivers but I'm also a fan of racing and love to see any driver showing real skill. JEV last weekend was great, really pleased to see him have a good race and attack, a driver I generally like to see do well even though he's French and drives for a PR company team.

[Jabbah]

hora said:

Who and who? The early 00's to 08 were my wilderness years.

Remind me again who won the WDC in '09?

[Gary C]

ash73 said:

furtive said:

The Torygraph have had a (pretty poor IMO) stab at looking at how many points the 2 drivers would have if the Mercedes was 100% reliable:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formul...

I think that analysis is pretty good, agree with leaving the points for Canada as-is; and Lewis fans tend to forget he was lucky in Hungary when he span off in the rain just missing the wall and a safety car closed up the pack. He's been unlucky in quali a couple of times but in the races it's all square.

Interesting analysis but I would disagree with with the Canada points if it was purely on reliability, then the fault that hamilton failed to manage as well as rosberg (though I wonder why the engineer was not screaming at him to shift bias) would not have occurred and hamilton would have been within 2-3 points either way of rosberg for that race.

Been an interesting season, really felt for rosberg last weekend, when he got out of the car you could see he was upset. However, glad the points & retirements are balanced now. Whoever wins now will have done it on merit (as long as they don't have any more dnf's) which is the way it should be.

But I still hope hamilton wins, we are ready to party all night in Abu Dhabi

[angrymoby]

furtive said:

The Torygraph have had a (pretty poor IMO) stab at looking at how many points the 2 drivers would have if the Mercedes was 100% reliable:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formul...

can't agree about Canada ...a failure is a failure & neither driver received instructions to manage their brakes until after the event iirc

to really level the playing field, we now need to see Nico starting a couple of races from the back of the grid & see how far he charges through the field

[theAmerican]

angrymoby said:

furtive said:

The Torygraph have had a (pretty poor IMO) stab at looking at how many points the 2 drivers would have if the Mercedes was 100% reliable:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formul...

can't agree about Canada ...a failure is a failure & neither driver received instructions to manage their brakes until after the event iirc

I have to + this

The single biggest reason Hamilton uses less fuel each race weekend vs Rosberg is because of the bias (by the way I know consensus is Rosberg has the smarts but I see no evidence that this is the case). Anyway, by working hard in the simulator Hamilton has put in the work and made the adjustment this new formula demands re: braking. His bias is naturally further rearwards meaning he harvests more and uses less fuel.

Canada hurt Hamilton more not because Rosberg was better at managing his brakes, it's simply because he puts less energy into his rears. That's it folks.

[Crafty_]

Paddy Lowe said that Hamilton's retirement in Canada was due to a completely separate problem than the one that hit both cars.

[theAmerican]

Crafty_ said:

Paddy Lowe said that Hamilton's retirement in Canada was due to a completely separate problem than the one that hit both cars.

Yes, but it was what 20mins after the checkered flag he gave that response? I mean seriously??

[Crafty_]

What possible reason has he got for lying ?

[Gary C]

Crafty_ said:

What possible reason has he got for lying ?

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