The Official 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[The Surveyor]

glazbagun said:

I must admit that it was only at the point of Lewis getting instructed to throw away his WDC that I reached for the tin-foil hat that many PHers have been wearing for a while.

The only Merc engine (on the grid, in any car? Is that right?) that has blown up this year, the swap of mechanics at the beginning (the fact that Nico and Lewis are now on equal mech failures suggests one side of the garage must be better, at least!) and finally an instruction from Paddy with Mercedes untouchable in both the WDC and WCC and all eyes glued to their two cars.

I do now feel that Mercedes had decided, probably before Lewis' comeback, that this was to be Nico's year and that all of the benefit of the doubt I gave to Lauda's comments was naive. I thought it was interesting hearing that Brawn decided he couldn't trust either Toto or Lauda before leaving, too.

I'm actually really glad for Nico as he's proved himself to be super-fast and diligent in his F1 career, but Merc have certainly gone down in my estimations. I'm sure they'll be gutted.

I think to be fair to Toto Wolfe, and to Nico, the lack of focus from Lewis in the first 4 races of the year will have played a big role in any perception to favour Nico for the WDC. That was where Lewis lost the Championship, not on Sunday.

[LDN]

The Surveyor said:

glazbagun said:

I must admit that it was only at the point of Lewis getting instructed to throw away his WDC that I reached for the tin-foil hat that many PHers have been wearing for a while.

The only Merc engine (on the grid, in any car? Is that right?) that has blown up this year, the swap of mechanics at the beginning (the fact that Nico and Lewis are now on equal mech failures suggests one side of the garage must be better, at least!) and finally an instruction from Paddy with Mercedes untouchable in both the WDC and WCC and all eyes glued to their two cars.

I do now feel that Mercedes had decided, probably before Lewis' comeback, that this was to be Nico's year and that all of the benefit of the doubt I gave to Lauda's comments was naive. I thought it was interesting hearing that Brawn decided he couldn't trust either Toto or Lauda before leaving, too.

I'm actually really glad for Nico as he's proved himself to be super-fast and diligent in his F1 career, but Merc have certainly gone down in my estimations. I'm sure they'll be gutted.

I think to be fair to Toto Wolfe, and to Nico, the lack of focus from Lewis in the first 4 races of the year will have played a big role in any perception to favour Nico for the WDC. That was where Lewis lost the Championship, not on Sunday.

I won't disagree entirely with this except, you cannot say it was just those first few races... there's been a few other things happen also. But it wasn't lost on Sunday, that's true. Unless he'd done more and backed Rosberg up further; which I think he should have done.

[coetzeeh]

LDN said:

coetzeeh said:

You've conveniently glossed over the fact that Ron was openly biased and doing his level best to help LH win against Alonso - without team principal support a driver has no chance.

Of course he was; why pay the best driver on the grid a handsome sum if you're not then going to sabotage his season. Ok dear. Could have gotten a lesser driver in and not bothered but it's more fun to waste all of that money and resource.

If teams will do this - why is there such dismay at any suggestion that Mercedes favoured Rosberg this year, out of interest? I don't think that's what happened; I'm just enquiring

So you agree Alonso was seriously disadvantaged and yet equalled LH on points - it reinforces Alonso's amazing achievement under the circumstances.

[suffolk009]

LDN said:

I won't disagree entirely with this except, you cannot say it was just those first few races... there's been a few other things happen also. But it wasn't lost on Sunday, that's true. Unless he'd done more and backed Rosberg up further; which I think he should have done.

He would have had to stop the car on the track before Nico would have overtaken him. And Vettel was never going to go pass Nico. He din't want another 4xWDC in the world.

[Hungrymc]

coetzeeh said:

You've conveniently glossed over the fact that Ron was openly biased and doing his level best to help LH win against Alonso - without team principal support a driver has no chance.

I always thought Whitmarsh had issues with Lewis. Could be mistaken.
But I guess fairness from the team principle is pretty key as is a functioning car.

[2fast748]

williamp said:

coetzeeh said:

LDN said:

HustleRussell said:

deadslow said:

2007 Alonso equalled Lewis on points in spite of the best efforts of the McLaren team. Quite an achievement in my book.

You're normally one of the few people in this forum who I just ignore entirely, but I couldn't resist biting on this.

Alonso, with six Formula One seasons under his belt and straight off the back of two consecutive world drivers titles, was able to match on points and lose out on countback to one Lewis Hamilton, 23, in his rookie season? And this is 'quite an achievement' in your book?

Classic!

You've conveniently glossed over the fact that Ron was openly biased and doing his level best to help LH win against Alonso - without team principal support a driver has no chance.

Like Lewis this year????

2007 was such an odd year. From Raikkonen winning in Australia in an illegal car (floor) and the result standing, to the massive $100m fine, Alonso being let off providing he testified against Ron, and the FiA then deciding they needed to put officials in the Mclaren pit for the last few races to keep the drivers apart.

Don't forget 2 cars that finished ahead of Lewis in the final race failed post race scrutineering but the result was allowed to stand (Williams fuel temperatures?)

[Hungrymc]

suffolk009 said:

LDN said:

I won't disagree entirely with this except, you cannot say it was just those first few races... there's been a few other things happen also. But it wasn't lost on Sunday, that's true. Unless he'd done more and backed Rosberg up further; which I think he should have done.

He would have had to stop the car on the track before Nico would have overtaken him. And Vettel was never going to go pass Nico. He din't want another 4xWDC in the world.

He could have easily slowed enough for the Seb and both Red Bulls to have passed. It would have been hard for Nico to yield position to them so would probably have had to try and pass Lewis. If Nico didn't pass him, Lewis would then have had to try and re pass them whilst hoping Nico couldn't... Would have been an exciting last 10 laps and obviously high risk of not winning the race.

I do agree that Nico would only try and pass Lewis if it was absolutely essential. I'm not sure if Lewis would have rolled the dice and repaid some of the deliberate / clumsy contact that Nico has dished out. The internet would have melted if he did and I'm glad that he kept it clean.

[LDN]

Hungrymc said:

suffolk009 said:

LDN said:

I won't disagree entirely with this except, you cannot say it was just those first few races... there's been a few other things happen also. But it wasn't lost on Sunday, that's true. Unless he'd done more and backed Rosberg up further; which I think he should have done.

He would have had to stop the car on the track before Nico would have overtaken him. And Vettel was never going to go pass Nico. He din't want another 4xWDC in the world.

He could have easily slowed enough for the Seb and both Red Bulls to have passed. It would have been hard for Nico to yield position to them so would probably have had to try and pass Lewis. If Nico didn't pass him, Lewis would then have had to try and re pass them whilst hoping Nico couldn't... Would have been an exciting last 10 laps and obviously high risk of not winning the race.

I do agree that Nico would only try and pass Lewis if it was absolutely essential. I'm not sure if Lewis would have rolled the dice and repaid some of the deliberate / clumsy contact that Nico has dished out. The internet would have melted if he did and I'm glad that he kept it clean.

You're right; Nico has done some pretty underhand things during the pairing and has been booed, all over the world, as a result. Lewis backs Nico up - all drivers / Nico himself think it was a fair do; and some here would have him penalised. As I've said previously; lets see if Lewis is indeed, penalised. That will put it to bed. I think we all know it won't happen...

[bobbo89]

suffolk009 said:

He would have had to stop the car on the track before Nico would have overtaken him. And Vettel was never going to go pass Nico. He din't want another 4xWDC in the world.

I've heard very little about this in any sort of press, probably overshadowed by the Lewis backing up Nico story but I do genuinely believe that even if he had the pace, Vettel was never going to pass Nico..

[RB Will]

If there is one thing that Nico needs to learn from all this its to stop being the team player and be more like Lewis.

He should have told the team to ps off when they asked him to let Lewis through (I mean what sort of st driver would need to be let past a slower car ) at Monaco. Nico being the team player and thoroughly nice chap, gave away more points to Lewis there than the blowup in Malaysia cost Lewis.

Surely if Merc wanted Nico to win the championship they wouldn't have asked him to let Lewis through?

And also as I mentioned before Lewis has cost Nico approx 47 points this year by driving into him numerous times.

[RB Will]

bobbo89 said:

suffolk009 said:

He would have had to stop the car on the track before Nico would have overtaken him. And Vettel was never going to go pass Nico. He din't want another 4xWDC in the world.

I've heard very little about this in any sort of press, probably overshadowed by the Lewis backing up Nico story but I do genuinely believe that even if he had the pace, Vettel was never going to pass Nico..

Vettel has said in interviews he could see the game Lewis was playing and wasnt going to get involved

[funkyrobot]

Wow. This is still going?

100 pages soon.

[NRS]

coetzeeh said:

LDN said:

coetzeeh said:

You've conveniently glossed over the fact that Ron was openly biased and doing his level best to help LH win against Alonso - without team principal support a driver has no chance.

Of course he was; why pay the best driver on the grid a handsome sum if you're not then going to sabotage his season. Ok dear. Could have gotten a lesser driver in and not bothered but it's more fun to waste all of that money and resource.

If teams will do this - why is there such dismay at any suggestion that Mercedes favoured Rosberg this year, out of interest? I don't think that's what happened; I'm just enquiring

So you agree Alonso was seriously disadvantaged and yet equalled LH on points - it reinforces Alonso's amazing achievement under the circumstances.

No, he's making a point that a number of posters have said it's complete nonsense that Mercedes would pay a driver a huge amount of money and then prioritise the other driver just because of their nationality or something else. And yet one of those posters basically says apparently it did happen in another team! From memory LDN is not one to go for the Merc conspiracy theory (I haven't either, although I do believe maybe one or more of the mechanics may make more mistakes in the "never won a WDC" side of the garage). However deadslow has been one to "rubbish" it this season, so it's very amusing it's ok one way but not the other? I think the words double standards may apply?

[Riptide171]

To be honest Nico has approached this year with a high level of professionalism and sportsmanship that I feel Lewis is sometimes lacking in. Always been a Lewis fan but for me he's really let himself down this year. Pleased for Rosberg as he's been extremely consistent and consistency wins you titles!

[SeeFive]

Riptide171 said:

To be honest Nico has approached this year with a high level of professionalism and sportsmanship that I feel Lewis is sometimes lacking in. Always been a Lewis fan but for me he's really let himself down this year. Pleased for Rosberg as he's been extremely consistent and consistency wins you titles!

Oh st. Another 200 pages coming up on Spain and Monaco... Grabs popcorn.

[suffolk009]

RB Will said:

Vettel has said in interviews he could see the game Lewis was playing and wasnt going to get involved

Exactly. He wasn't going to get involved because there are only 4 drivers in the world with 4 or more WDCs. He wasn't about to help make it 5.

He might try and have us belive it was all alturism, but I'm not buying that.

[wanacoop]

Riptide171 said:

To be honest Nico has approached this year with a high level of professionalism and sportsmanship that I feel Lewis is sometimes lacking in. Always been a Lewis fan but for me he's really let himself down this year. Pleased for Rosberg as he's been extremely consistent and consistency wins you titles!

He has been consistent, but what about forcing poor Lewis off the track when he didn't even attempt to turn his steering wheel!!!

[Riptide171]

wanacoop said:

Riptide171 said:

To be honest Nico has approached this year with a high level of professionalism and sportsmanship that I feel Lewis is sometimes lacking in. Always been a Lewis fan but for me he's really let himself down this year. Pleased for Rosberg as he's been extremely consistent and consistency wins you titles!

He has been consistent, but what about forcing poor Lewis off the track when he didn't even attempt to turn his steering wheel!!!

That's a bit rich, being a Lewis fan, how many times has Lewis driven people off the track with his aggressive driving style. I just feel that's he's acted like a spoilt child at certain times of the season. Epic car, great driver but awful attitude!

[SeeFive]

... Aaaaaaand we're off again.

[HustleRussell]

Riptide171 said:

wanacoop said:

Riptide171 said:

To be honest Nico has approached this year with a high level of professionalism and sportsmanship that I feel Lewis is sometimes lacking in. Always been a Lewis fan but for me he's really let himself down this year. Pleased for Rosberg as he's been extremely consistent and consistency wins you titles!

He has been consistent, but what about forcing poor Lewis off the track when he didn't even attempt to turn his steering wheel!!!

That's a bit rich, being a Lewis fan, how many times has Lewis driven people off the track with his aggressive driving style. I just feel that's he's acted like a spoilt child at certain times of the season. Epic car, great driver but awful attitude!

I feel the main difference is that typically Lewis has had the finesse to make such moves look at least partly unintentional, Whereas Rosberg tends to be a bit clumsy and obvious with it and then makes patronisingly rubbish excuses afterwards- e.g. that time he drove the Red Bull clean off the track and claimed he was at 'full lock'