Wolff on one driver leaving Mercedes...

[AXlawrence]

LDM said:

With almost any F1 driver line-up this year Mercedes would have still got the drivers and constructors championships.

I still can't help but feel that Mercedes would like to do the "complete" German thing ie German team/engine/driver.

Would they risk the championships to do it probably not but if there is little risk?

Also Rosberg did seem to find (or be given?) something a little extra at the end of the season.

To do that they'd have to shut down their engine factory and F1 factory in the UK though.

Lewis is one of the few who is capable of getting that little bit extra out of a car. The Merc might be able to win the championship with a monkey driving it now, but when the other teams catch up Mercedes will need one of the best drivers out there. Rosberg isn't one of them.

[thegreenhell]

AXlawrence said:

LDM said:

I still can't help but feel that Mercedes would like to do the "complete" German thing ie German team/engine/driver

To do that they'd have to shut down their engine factory and F1 factory in the UK though.

Mercedes as a factory GP team have never in their history run without at least one German driver, but they've only ever had three seasons with only German drivers, being the seasons with Schumacher and Rosberg. Even in the Nazi-funded Silver Arrow era they employed the likes of Seaman, Chiron and Fagioli, and then post-war they had Fangio and Moss as their lead drivers.

I don't think they'd have any issues retaining a non-German lead driver, but I do think they'd still want a German in the second seat, and Wehrlein would fulfil that requirement. Their first priority will always be to have the best drivers available to ensure victory for the manufacturer, regardless of their nationality.

[lee_fr200]

Also don't forget paddy Lowe is a big fan of Lewis,

When Lewis left mclaren for Mercedes paddy followed him and I'd say paddy is the brains behind their dominance

So Lewis leaves I guarantee paddy would follow (but Lewis has been a part of Mercedes since a kid)

So rosberg would be shown the door!

Alonso wants that seat JB knows the team from it been brawn
Kimi will leave f1 end of 2016
and I think JB will be leaving mclaren end of 2016 for a seat somewhere else

[turbobloke]

Wombat3 said:

...and all complicated by the fact that Rosberg has started driving really rather well at the end of the season!

And yet I recall Hamilton reportedly had a line on that - saying it wasn't Rosberg driving faster than before, it was him (Hamilton) being a fraction slower than before and for reasons about to be sorted. Perhaps somebody can remember more details. Great PR either way.

[rubystone]

lee_fr200 said:

Also don't forget paddy Lowe is a big fan of Lewis,

When Lewis left mclaren for Mercedes paddy followed him and I'd say paddy is the brains behind their dominance

So Lewis leaves I guarantee paddy would follow (but Lewis has been a part of Mercedes since a kid)

So rosberg would be shown the door!

Alonso wants that seat JB knows the team from it been brawn
Kimi will leave f1 end of 2016
and I think JB will be leaving mclaren end of 2016 for a seat somewhere else

I'm pretty sure that Paddy left McLaren before Lewis did. He was on gardening leave for a year too. He left McLaren because he wanted a more senior position but wasn't granted it at McLaren...one for the Whitmarsh fans to consider....and whilst a contributor to the success of Mercedes, it'd be a mistake to consider him the sole brains behind their dominance, not to mention a disservice to Aldo Costa, Andy Cowell and Geoff Willis, to name but 3....

It's no secret that 2016 is the last season for Kimi at Ferrari with Verstappen the major target. I'm sure Button wants one more season to try to beat Ruben's 300 plus GP starts. Whether that means he might settle for a final season in a lesser team or a swansong in a Williams perhaps if Bottas is parked in an Alfa, who knows?

[hairyben]

BoRED S2upid said:

Prancing Hippo said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Hamilton leaving to replace Kimi at Ferrari. German team getting rid of a Getman driver with the clout Rosberg has? I can't see it. I see Rosberg as the yes man in that team and Hamilton the one more likely to disobey orders.

Does Rosberg have clout? Had not really felt that he does. Would have thought Hamilton winning 2 WC's with the team would give him the upper hand - all about marketing for Mercedes after all.

Just the way I see it really Rosberg senior has a longer term relationship with Mercedes and I'm sure still has friends in F1. Rosberg was at Merc before Hamilton and as I said I see Hamilton disobeying team orders before Rosberg does. They will need a reason to get rid of one of them I see them telling Hamilton to stay in second once too often and him telling them to Foff and race Rosberg to the finish line and win a race that Merc wanted Rpaberg to win, we saw it towards the end of last season.

Time will tell.

Rosberg snr. has been conspicuously absent from the paddock since monaco '14 I'm led to believe, and while there's a fair amount of conjecture we could have about that specific date, whatever the reasons keke doesn't seem to be doing much in F1 right now.

Merc are a weird one, hamilton is a no brainer on both sporting and business levels, comprehensively beaten rosberg on track, massively popular in many key markets, etc etc etc but merc seem for whatever reason very "patient" with rosberg don't they.

[paua]

Evening all, greetings from McLaren country (no, not GB, NZ!). Have just spoken with inlaws in Germany, asked father-inlaw what Germans think about Rosberg. Answer is :"you mean that guy who follows Hamilton"

Germany doesn't really care - Schumi is more interesting.And Schumi's family spokesperson said - no news, anything you see/hear/read not from me is bks.
Cheers - David

[tyranical]

In reality, nothing is going to change - they'll sign Rosberg again.

Despite what the press (And to some extent this forum) is hyping up, there is actually minimal REAL conflict between the two just a war of words which do nothing.

The facts are they've had ONE clash on track in two years and a couple of minor controversial incidents like Monaco - this isn't Senna vs. Prost levels of rivalry and I don't think it ever will be because the peak performance of the two drivers are not as close as Senna vs. Prost - when both drivers are at their best Hamilton wins every single time, when Hamilton isn't at his best he has still beaten Rosberg more often than he has lost.

If you look at it from Mercedes perspective, they have got arguably the fastest driver in F1 today alongside Vettel*** with a solid second driver in Rosberg that is quick enough to be in the top 3 with a good car and snatch the occasional win but not good enough to cause real ON TRACK conflict regularly with Lewis - why would any team want to change that?

People have taken what Wolff has said massively out of context, he has only said if it becomes detrimental to the team that they would need to look at it but it hasn't been detrimental to them for the past 3 years - it is unlikely to ever get that bad for the previously mentioned reasons of the performance difference between the two.

• * Someone will mention Alonso but I don't rate him in the Top 3 he has been past it for overall speed for several seasons.

[glazbagun]

I also think that Rosberg has been there for so long that he must be part of the furniture- he's always shown hefty commitment, despite being as petulant as Hamilton when he wants to be, so why dump something that works? Despite the spiky rivalry, it's surely better for both the team and Hamilton to have a guy who is a proven qualifier who's gunning for Hamilton as opposed to a lackey.

I'd still swap him for Vettel though.

[37chevy]

glazbagun said:

I also think that Rosberg has been there for so long that he must be part of the furniture- he's always shown hefty commitment, despite being as petulant as Hamilton when he wants to be, so why dump something that works? Despite the spiky rivalry, it's surely better for both the team and Hamilton to have a guy who is a proven qualifier who's gunning for Hamilton as opposed to a lackey.

I'd still swap him for Vettel though.

I think the only floor in that logic is eventually they will need new blood.....Romberg and Hamilton have been around for a while, and while still relatively young, Mercedes could do with looking to the future at some stage. Maybe have a younger driver at manor for the next year or so and then ditch rosberg

[anonymous-user]

37chevy said:

deadslow said:

don't think that was the first time an engine was turned up against explicit team instructions. Just the first time someone ran whining to the press about it

So when we're the times before then!? Any proof?!

It was a widely held belief in the press and with reporters such as coulthard etc that Nico threw the first punch by turning his engine up at Hungary because he knew that he couldn't beat Hamilton on track at the time....not exactly cheeting but going against team protocol and rules.....something he's winged about himself....

In terms of Lewis winging to the press, yeh I think I'd be pissed off if my teammate had broken the rules and cost me points...again Nico complains when Hamilton overtakes him...neither driver likes being beaten but if there's a history of bad behaviour at Mercedes you need to look at Nico as well as Lewis...he's no angel!!!

The engines were turned up, against instructions, at both Bahrain and Barcelona, well before Hungary. Fairly well documented if you look for it.

[37chevy]

REALIST123 said:

The engines were turned up, against instructions, at both Bahrain and Barcelona, well before Hungary. Fairly well documented if you look for it.

Yes you're right.....Rosberg turned his up in Bahrain......so Hamilton turned up his in Barcelona....seems like Rosberg broke the rules first!

[deadslow]

37chevy said:

Yes you're right.....Rosberg turned his up in Bahrain......so Hamilton turned up his in Barcelona....seems like Rosberg broke the rules first!

here's a little Christmas pressie for you

http://beforeitsnews.com/sports/2014/08/formula-1-...

[37chevy]

😂😂😂😂

[Blayney]

tyranical said:

In reality, nothing is going to change - they'll sign Rosberg again.

Despite what the press (And to some extent this forum) is hyping up, there is actually minimal REAL conflict between the two just a war of words which do nothing.

The facts are they've had ONE clash on track in two years and a couple of minor controversial incidents like Monaco - this isn't Senna vs. Prost levels of rivalry and I don't think it ever will be because the peak performance of the two drivers are not as close as Senna vs. Prost - when both drivers are at their best Hamilton wins every single time, when Hamilton isn't at his best he has still beaten Rosberg more often than he has lost.

If you look at it from Mercedes perspective, they have got arguably the fastest driver in F1 today alongside Vettel*** with a solid second driver in Rosberg that is quick enough to be in the top 3 with a good car and snatch the occasional win but not good enough to cause real ON TRACK conflict regularly with Lewis - why would any team want to change that?

People have taken what Wolff has said massively out of context, he has only said if it becomes detrimental to the team that they would need to look at it but it hasn't been detrimental to them for the past 3 years - it is unlikely to ever get that bad for the previously mentioned reasons of the performance difference between the two.

• * Someone will mention Alonso but I don't rate him in the Top 3 he has been past it for overall speed for several seasons.

I agree with this.

Although I would be genuinely interested in who you think is the 3rd best driver in F1 atm?

I would put it was HAM, VET and ALO still. I can't think of anyone else close to them.

[hairyben]

tyranical said:

In reality, nothing is going to change - they'll sign Rosberg again.

Despite what the press (And to some extent this forum) is hyping up, there is actually minimal REAL conflict between the two just a war of words which do nothing.

The facts are they've had ONE clash on track in two years and a couple of minor controversial incidents like Monaco - this isn't Senna vs. Prost levels of rivalry and I don't think it ever will be because the peak performance of the two drivers are not as close as Senna vs. Prost - when both drivers are at their best Hamilton wins every single time, when Hamilton isn't at his best he has still beaten Rosberg more often than he has lost.

If you look at it from Mercedes perspective, they have got arguably the fastest driver in F1 today alongside Vettel*** with a solid second driver in Rosberg that is quick enough to be in the top 3 with a good car and snatch the occasional win but not good enough to cause real ON TRACK conflict regularly with Lewis - why would any team want to change that?

People have taken what Wolff has said massively out of context, he has only said if it becomes detrimental to the team that they would need to look at it but it hasn't been detrimental to them for the past 3 years - it is unlikely to ever get that bad for the previously mentioned reasons of the performance difference between the two.

• * Someone will mention Alonso but I don't rate him in the Top 3 he has been past it for overall speed for several seasons.

Problem with rosberg is he's become quite difficult to like, he acts a total diva when he isn't a champ and hasn't got the right bought and paid for. He's actually quite hearing-aid beige, he doesn't really have much of a fanbase, most of his "support" these days seems to come from hamiltons sobbing hater brigade. Anyone merc parachute in will be championed by 95+% of those currently bigging rosberg. Now a lot of those defending rosberg will call me an unashamed hamilton fan - it's true so what - the joke is the best thing for hamilton to take more championships is probably to keep the not-quite-good-enough rosberg where he is, but as I also love the sport I'd rather see the back of the po faced cheat. Get someone exciting in that seat, he makes less sense than dani pedrosa.

As for alonso, without something to motivate him better its hard to really draw a conclusion.

[BJG1]

I reckon Wolfe is saying all this to get Rosberg to accept being a number 2 driver next season and then they just won't renew his contract. Can't be much of.a marketing pull, he may be German but not much point having the inferior, less likeable, less German one out of him and Vettel. He's not going to win them a WDC if the cars are close whilst Hamilton can compete with a competitive Seb.

[bishbash]

I'd like to see them put Hulkenberg in Rosberg's seat, which would make way for a deal to give Wehrlein a go in the Force India for a year or 2.

[BarbaricAvatar]

bishbash said:

I'd like to see them put Hulkenberg in Rosberg's seat, which would make way for a deal to give Wehrlein a go in the Force India for a year or 2.

I'm on the fence a bit with Hulkenberg. His first season was riddled with errors aside from that "right place, right time" pole position. While he did put in some good performances in the following seasons for Force India and Sauber, he's compared only equally to Sergio Perez in their two years together (irrespective of points). He had a resurgence following his Le Mans success but then was pegged back by Perez's performances again.
He's been in with a realistic shot of race victory once (Brazil 2012) and he got involved in an incident which wrecked his chances, not all drivers get that 1 chance to win but when they do, if they're good enough then they deliver.
I consider myself a fan of Nico H, but perhaps it's more of an underdog support rather than a genuine contender support; if you know what i mean.
Rosberg though is a proven team player and can deliver a race-winning performance. Yes he's a bit boring nowadays but points means prizes and as long as his car's working, Rosberg gets lots of points.
As long as Hamilton's a Mercedes driver Rosberg won't be WDC, but then neither will Hulkenberg.

On a slightly different slant, i find Hamilton's comments that he loves making music more than racing cars quite interesting. As if he's now achieved what he wanted to in F1 and is ready to clear off and become a pop/whatever star instead.
I don't believe it, but if he actually did make a similar such comment then that should raise concerns with his employers if he begins to fade in 2016.
If if ifififififif etc...

Edited by BarbaricAvatar on Tuesday 29th December 18:25

[VolvoT5]

bishbash said:

I'd like to see them put Hulkenberg in Rosberg's seat, which would make way for a deal to give Wehrlein a go in the Force India for a year or 2.

Oh come on, Hulkenberg is a weaker driver than Rosberg and has no more charisma or marketing appeal, what would be the point? Also Hulk has been on a downward trend these last 2 years IMO... I mean he barely looks better than Perez, if at all.

I think the noises Wolff has made about the drivers are a bit odd. Both have driven to a very high standard these last few years and ultimately Hamilton has just been better. To me it seems like these comments/threats can only result in even more tension within the team and drivers that are even more arsey with each other. It isn't like Rosberg needed motivating either, he still has everything to prove come 2016.

I think Ferrari look to have the best driver line up in terms of overall package - both keep their heads down, know their role, are capable of winning and don't cause any internal friction or unwanted media attention. Could be a decisive factor IF Ferrari can produce a car capable of matching Mercedes pace wise.

Will be interesting to see how Button/Alonso get on if McHonda are more competitive... and interesting to see how Alonso implodes if they aren't.

Edited by VolvoT5 on Tuesday 29th December 18:42