I wouldn’t say pathetic, 10s was harsh though. Maybe they calculated it to mean he had to stay on his toes with Räikkönen behind.

THIS is essentially true if you take away all the car failing then Lewis would be miles ahead

Nico is not that far behind him in talent terms in general and better than him at some courses but overall he has required a massive dollop of bad luck to be delivered to his rival on a regular basis to only just be staying ahead of him

How long will it be before the world picks up on Rosberg calling every race the best event where the fans make it incredible?

“I just can’t believe that there’s eight Mercedes cars and only my engines are the ones that have gone this way,” he said. “Something just doesn’t feel right.

any spare tinfoil, junky ?

I said it first Coulthard!

Junkyard – lazarus
Its almost like Mercedes have decided to make a race of it by constantly sabotaging his car#tinfoilhat

I agree, but I’m not reaching for the tinfoil just yet. Although something isn’t right and we’re not the only ones to think so….

‘It doesn’t sit right with me’

Hamilton seeks answers from Mercedes
Posted at09:59

My question is to Mercedes. We have so many engines made for drivers, but mine are the only ones failing this year. Someone need to give me some answers because this is not acceptable. We are fighting for the championship and only my engines are failing. It does not sit right with me.  I will try and recollect myself and try to get myself together for the race next week. There are many decisive races but this is one of those. Someone doesn’t want me to win this year but I won’t give up. I will keep pushing.

I’m sure some statistical whizz, could crunch the numbers on NR and LH’s 2016 campaign. I wouldn’t be surprized to learn the odds of one side of the garage having so many engine failures is not within normal odds.
Weren’t the garage crews swapped for 2016?

Weren’t the garage crews swapped for 2016?

Yes – against Lewis’s wishes.

any spare tinfoil, junky ?

I have but it is , as noted, statistically unlikely and either he is very unlucky or there is something else going on here

Given the swapping of teams and his immense “bad luck” you would need to be pretty naive to not consider this.

No proof obviously but it is unusual that only one side of the team is getting the bad luck

Oh, I sort of agree

Can’t quite work out Mercedes’ motivation, or rather the balance of it:

Good:
German driver wins in German car. Yay – but only really for German driver if car was going to win anyway.
Car is seen to be a winner for different drivers, so it’s “a great car” rather than a dog being dragged around by saint Lewis. (Then again, as above, a one-two is pretty much the same as a two-one AFAIC)

Bad:
Car looks unreliable, possibly jeopardising sales on engines to other teams (do Mercedes care; is it a way of fiddling the books for investment levels?) (of course, if all the other teams realise this is nobbling Lewis they’ll ignore the apparent “fault”)
Car looks unreliable to the wider public – could that jeopardise sales or is “world champ” enough even if it’s “fast but flaky world champ” ?
Team looks shady; would, for example, Verstappen go there if Rosberg stayed and he thought that he might get nobbled too ?

Maybe, given the margins, Hamilton pushing just that bit harder is finding the limit of the engine

Very exciting race, one of the best of the season, so much going on!

Hamilton is definitely getting more than his fair share of engine problems. I find it hard to believe that it is intentional, unless there is some very dodgy goings on involving a mafia betting syndicate! I suspect that Williams, Manor and Force India aren’t pushing their engines as much, either by choice or by (Mercedes’) design, and that Rosberg is having a pretty phenomenal run of luck!

Is Hamilton just pushing his engines harder? More aggressive driver perhaps? He certainly doesn’t seem to get starts right as often as others, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a (relative) lack of mechanical sympathy.

I certainly remember talking to one of Mansell’s old team bosses (preF1) and he had Mansell down as very fast, very aggressive but hard on parts to the extent that they had to over-engineer bits for his car. And in a lower formula he still went faster.

Some of the same with Hamilton but they can’t change the parts and still get the performance as easily at this level?

I know this was only one race but I can’t see how Hamilton (off the front and pretty much in control) could have been running his engine harder than Rosberg (mid-pack so disturbed air with potential poor handling and overheating, lots of overtaking’n’shit).
Unless you mean in qualifying – could Hamilton have used a higher setting for his qualifying runs ?

He was pushing hard at the time to open up a 24 second gap to cover Verstappen, who everyone thought at the time would be able to make one less pit stop 🙂

Something isn’t right. Eight times this season Lewis has had ‘bad luck’. Luck doesn’t come into it in a highly engineered environment.

He’s been nobbled. Subtly at first but the frequency says it’s becoming blatantly now. One more mechanical and I bet he drops the H bomb on the team. Wouldn’t blame him either and he should tell them this.

He was pushing hard at the time to open up a 24 second gap to cover Verstappen, who everyone thought at the time would be able to make one less pit stop

I didn’t get that, he would have passed the red bulls with ease on fresh tires and those long straights.

When Hamilton wins the championship it will be all the sweeter. However the championship is certainly in Rosberg’s favour. I think having Vettel run into you and spinning you to the back should constitute to bad luck too. Reminds me of Hamiltons drive back from last on the grid to third.

I wish Danny Ric would stop drinking out of his shoe as its going to send him to the Docs one day!

That’s external factors on Nico. Lewis seems to suffer (internal factors) mechanicals

Nobbling an F1 car in a manner that allows it to pole, win some races, and breakdown in others? Not an easy thing to do. Probably far easier to do something to the chassis, suspension or engine settings that just gently reduces the performance.

It’s either luck, or something about Hamilton’s driving style.

I certainly remember talking to one of Mansell’s old team bosses (preF1) and he had Mansell down as very fast, very aggressive but hard on parts to the extent that they had to over-engineer bits for his car.

Indeed and he was constantly whining about his car letting him down. Apparently it’s harder these days to damage one of these engines with all the computery stuff but I can’t believe it’s impossible.

Oh and as for that Rosberg pass, this is motor racing:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nxwn3OHkEw[/video]

I remember watching that live. Epic stuff, but massively dangerous banging wheels due to the risk of flipping. I wonder what Gilles could have done given the chance.

Oh and as for that Rosberg pass, this is motor racing:

Quite! If the marshalls from last Saturday had been judging that one then Arnoux and Villeneuve would have had about 30 seconds of penalties each lol

Rest assured, with having to make up so many places. Rosberg drove his car as hard as possible (in dirty air). Then, notwithstanding, to set lap times so similar to Lewis, as Rosberg could. Rosberg has used his engine just as hard as he can.

I’m no LH fan, by any stretch of the imagination. But even I now struggle to dismiss his results as “bad luck”.
As others have said. Events are now accumulating to such a level that exceeds normal statistics.

imo, LH has every right to call out Mercedes and to now publically hold Merc’s feet to the flame, for the remainder of the season.

I can’t see the team making LH’s engine fail on purpose. It was at one of the main sponsors home GP. Not to get a win there is a huge failure. As is pictures of flames coming out of the back of a Mercedes Benz.

Oh and as for that Rosberg pass, this is motor racing:

Motor racing – yes.

Dodgems – no.

Rosberg is no racer – Rosberg couldn’t have done what Ricciardo and Verstappen did – side by side for several corners in a row and leaving each other just enough room.

Rosberg’s idea of racing is to hit your competitor and hope they come of worse.

Rosberg is no racer – Rosberg couldn’t have done what Ricciardo and Verstappen did – side by side for several corners in a row and leaving each other just enough room.

He used to be.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyjVhWtVJVI[/video]

He seems to have forgotten that skill!

How about Vettels bell endery? He really isn’t that good without a significantly better car.

From memory Hamilton only used that engine in practice 3, quali and the race so it was effectively brand new.

Add to the fact he will take a grid penalty for the engine swap and possibly for any other element that needs replacing it’s a double/triple/quadruple whammy.

I’m not a Britney hater but he is a proper smug bastard.

Yep, the season is a write-off for Hamilton unless Rosberg suddenly starts blowing things up or crashing. Lewis’ paranoia is funny to watch though, as if dark forces are capable of having his engine perform brilliantly then let go completely at lap 40.

Having a series of mechanicals while the other bloke has virtually none is improbable, but improbable stuff happens, just not very often.

Why a grid penalty? He stockpiled engines using a loophole that’s closed for next year, so as long as he fits one of those they’re now part of his allocation for the year and there’s no problem.

As above there are better ways of nobbling a race than detonating the engine – bad luck is just that.

a grid penalty? He stockpiled engines using a loophole that’s closed for next year, so as long as he fits one of those they’re now part

Good news if that’s the case.

And from the onboard I watched during yesterday’s race Hamilton was cruising it, he was hardly giving it the beans.

Hamilton’s poor reliability could be explained by the switch in team mechanics at the beginning of the year.

Ham’s not happy so the mechanics are slightly nervous, leading to one instance of finger trouble.
This makes them more nervous and more likely to make mistakes.
They see the other side of the garage is doing fine so this adds to the pressure.
They make more mistakes.

And when I say mistakes, we’re talking tiny amounts in F1. An oil feed hose routed slightly tight so it restricts flow to the turbo, a bolt slightly over/undertorqued etc.

Judging from Toto’s reaction I’d say it’s not a team conspiracy, just down to minor changes that are having a big effect. I say that as not a Hamilton fan but as an anti-Rosberg fan. He seems far too fake and cocky for someone that is no better than a lot of the grid.

Has anyone else spotted how close in the championship Ricciardo is in a year when Merc have apparently “dominated”?

Not a real surprise; Ricc has outscored Hamilton 89 to 73 over the last 5 races.

Rosberg is dangerously close to getting a sense of humour; his comments that he hoped Danni Ricc didn’t win again due to the shoe drinking antics were quite comic.

I should imagine he would be quite pleased if Dan did win some more – taking away the big points.

LH is paid tens of millions per year. If the team really wanted NR to win, wouldn’t it have been easier to refuse LH’s salary demands and let him leave? Seriously, why on earth would anyone believe MB would hire him if they didn’t want him to have a fair shot at winning?

Indeed.

Why would a German car manufacturer want a German to be World Champ? It’s a complete mystery.

Just employ 2 german drivers then.

This idea that Merc are out to nobble Hamilton is rediculous, no manufacturer wants a rep for unreliable cars.

So of Hamiltons problems have been down to luck and others his own making, these things happen. He can still win the championship so he needs to quit moaning and get on with working with his team for them all to get better.

I don’t think LH is unreasonable to, at least, say it seems a bit odd, and it does. But it is just bad luck. I’m sure he realises that now. He can still win it.