And risk a Nico whoopsie into the side of his car? If all those safety cars and red flags didnt get 3rd and 4th close enough to have ago risking the win to play funny buggers wasnt going to do anything.

Verstappen was in a different class to everyone. Absolutely amazing driving. And he’s 19. NINETEEN! Just amazing raw talent.

Hamilton showed his class as well, he would have been about a minute up on his team mate if it hadn’t been for all the restarts.

Still think Nico is going to win though

I think, barring anything dramatic, it’s going to land in the hands of Rosberg. He is one of the least enigmatic drivers in the pit lane. It’s embarrassing watching him try.
I’ll be an odd one as Lewis lost it through reliability, but a great fight back and exciting end of the championship.
A tenner on Max is well worth a punt I reckon, well worth looking at 5 times world champ too.

Exactly, better just to open a gap then if you run wide or spin you have a chance to get going again without losing the place.

Max was awesome! What a talented driver.

Max did well but a late stop for fresh wets also made a massive difference in his favour. Comparing it to Donnington when everyone was starting from scratch is a bit off.

Shame rbr dropped the ball with their tyre strategy otherwise we might have had a proper title fight in AD.

LH just pulled away when Max tried to catch him after Max waltzed past NR. Great drive by Max just a shame he went to intermediates.

My heart was in my mouth when Raikkonen span on the straight, could have been a nasty one. Amazed by some teams switching to intermediates in those conditions.

Did anyone else hear Rosberg pre race asking his engineer over the radio how Lewis had his brake bias etc set?

An F1 Trivia Quiz moment to memorise from yesterday as well…

“In which F1 race did Lewis Hamilton start wearing a yellow helmet and finish wearing a white helmet?”

So Max was the devil the last race and a saint now? Reality is he was in the 2nd fastest car on the grid and with little to loose. Rosberg in those conditions was always going to go for a make sure you avoid trouble and get around for a solids point finish type race. Max had none of those concerns. There is no doubt he is good and will mature, but I’m not convinced he is as good as some of the hype.

Never rated Rosberg in the wet. How did Ricciardos race pan out to Max’s? Tbh I didn’t pay much attention to him but they seemed to be on similar strategies. I vaguely remember him saying he couldn’t go full throttle on the straight due to visibility.

Anyone else think that Verstappen’s accident will be a huuuuge one?

An epic drive yesterday combining talent and a willingness to put it all on the line. I still think it will end in tears at some point.

Anyone else think that Verstappen’s accident will be a huuuuge one?

Thought he had it last year in Monaco when he piled it into Ste. Devout?

If Rosberg does take the title would he be the least popular F1 champ in history?

Schumacher’s titles got boring, but most people appreciated his talent, if not the manner he went about things.

If Rosberg does take the title would he be the least popular F1 champ in history?

Nelson Piquet was a difficult person to like.

He drove a very clean race this week – especially considering the conditions would have given him a good excuse not to. A distinct contrast to last race which was standard MV fare. I’m not especially a MV fan, but have to admire his drive and can’t think of any point where he was at all naughty – Vettel has no grounds to complain at all, every other driver on the grid including him would have driven the corner that way. If anything he gave more room to Perez than he needed to – he could have also legitimately driven him off the track, but because it made no difference to MV’s speed he gave him space (in the Vettel pass, I’m not entirely sure if he could have made the corner tighter, but if he did he would have lost a lot of speed).

I’m wondering if that race was MV’s coming of age – not particularly because of his pace and ability to use lines others weren’t, but because he got a result without having to drive dirty.

I’ll be very pleased to see Nico as World Champion. For the Hamilton Fans it will give the blinged one some more incentive next year won’t it?

I don’t get all the negativity to be honest.

I think Verstappen has injected some well needed life/excitement into a dull mundane sport. Long may his antics continue. ( If only to wind up the other drivers)

Nelson Piquet was a difficult person to like.

He didn’t exactly go round making friends with the other drivers

Nico won’t be the least popular. Far from it. He’s just not a stand out champ. His drives are consistent and careful. He’s not a wheel to wheel nor is he a weather talent.

He’s Mr consistent. Even Mika Hakinen can’t be seen the same way and he was pretty consistent.

The closest that I can think of is Button.

It’ll be interesting to see how Max develops. He’s got character but he didn’t have maiden season/fighting for the championship

For me at least it’s mainly because he’s undeserving. Quite clearly not the best driver over the course of the season – he’s simply been in the best car. I note that LH hasn’t been in the best car this year, because unlike NR’s car his hasn’t been reliable – that is the only reason NR will win the championship. I suspect a lot of people feel the same.

Button would drive rings around NR – he has talents Rosberg simply couldn’t dream of. Strangely enough he’s also far from being mr consistent – on his day he is simply unbeatable by anybody else even if they’re also on top form, but those days don’t happen all that often (apart from when he was in a standout car).

This is the thing – I’m a Button fan, but happy to acknowledge that of those WCs currently still driving Alonso and LH are definitely better and Vettel might be, but NR isn’t in the same league as any of those.

he’s undeserving. Quite clearly not the best driver over the course of the season – he’s simply been in the best car.

Why is that any more undeserving than Button in the Brawn, or Mansell in the Williams?

Still don’t get it

At least both of those were better than their team-mate.

On that basis, NR will the most clearly undeserving WC ever.

I won’t be acknowledging that Nico has won the WC title, but that Lewis has lost it.
It’s down to the circumstances imo.
Cars alike, I’d say Nico would be a consistant 5th place driver.

Guessing who’s best is pointless – it is what it is, whoever has the most points at the end of the year is champion, end of. Nico’s good enough for Mercedes to put him in the car, they wouldn’t give ut to a chump.

Whilst I don’t entirely disagree I don’t think it can really be said that NR would be undeserving. It’s like saying Leicester didn’t deserve to win the Premier League last season. They suffered remarkably few injuries (mechanical failure equivalent) compared to their rivals, and at times their rivals were all pretty pants too.

He won’t be considered one of the greatest if he wins, no, but as is said, “the league table doesn’t lie”…….

One area Nico has beaten Lewis this year has been the start.

trademark – Member

I won’t be acknowledging that Nico has won the WC title, but that Lewis has lost it.
It’s down to the circumstances imo.
Cars alike, I’d say Nico would be a consistant 5th place driver.

Well yes, probably true, but the cars aren’t alike and part of the game is getting yourself in the best car for the upcoming season.

Did anyone else feel a tinge of sadness for Manor F1 when Nasr came home in 9th.

Maybe they could give him back his own pit crew for the race?

Spanner in the works and spy in the camp are both phrases that spring to mind when you think about this situation. Even Lewis is still perplexed by this decision.

Switching pit crews would be unthinkable in motogp.

At least both of those were better than their team-mate.

On that basis, NR will the most clearly undeserving WC ever.

How about Hill in the Williams? His team-mate made him look a bit second best.

Yep. If Coulthard hadn’t had outrageous mechanical luck that year he’d have won. But he didn’t.

If Rosberg wins overall the fair play to him, getting the car to the end of the race is part of the game. Mansell could have won overall in ’86 but he didn’t due mechanical but no one says Prost was undeserving.

[/quote]

Cars alike, I’d say Nico would be a consistant 5th place driver.

So if everyone had a Mercedes what would the actual pecking order look like?

Not sure on that basis Rosberg would even hang on to fifth

I feel sorry for Hamilton, he’s had some bad luck this season with mechanicals. But having said that there’s been a couple of races (Baku and Singapore) when he just didn’t really show up all weekend. That’s 50pts right there.

Nico’s put the work in against probably one of the era’s best drivers in the car that’s widely accepted to play to his strengths…To say that he doesn’t somehow deserve the win is pretty uncool.

getting the car to the end of the race is part of the game.

It is but the drivers basically have nothing to do with mechanical breakdowns.

Nico’s put the work in against probably one of the era’s best drivers in the car that’s widely accepted to play to his strengths…To say that he doesn’t somehow deserve the win is pretty uncool.

Yeah, if he wins it, then he’s champion and that’s that for me.
Arguments along the lines of “well, it’s only because he’s in the best car” are pointless IMO- I reckon half the field in many (if not most) previous years could have been champ if they’d been in the right seat.

That said, it seems pretty clear to me that Rosberg isn’t quite up there in the top drawer and Hamilton is basically just better. I hope Rosberg hangs on though!

One area Nico has beaten Lewis this year has been the start.

Very true, retro 83.

I don’t mean Nico is undeserving, just as a fan of F1 I’d rather he won it without needing Lewis’ reliability issues, but then that, after-all, is F1 for ya …

Glad it’s gone down to the wire 🙂

It is but the drivers basically have nothing to do with mechanical breakdowns.

That isn’t strictly true as different styles could cause the mechanical bits to wear differently.

If Rosberg wins he’ll be classed in the same bracket as D. Hill, J. Villeneuve and K. Rosberg. Good enough to win it once but not great. The package of the team, car and luck play so much of a part in F1 that to be great you’ve really got to win multiple championships, even then it’s better if you win with different teams or with a few years in between. Pretty much any driver could luck in on being in the right team when they hit a stellar year but they would still have to beat their teammate, like the last few years. Then it boils down to how they are perceived by their peers and Rosberg just doesn’t get talked about in the same way as Hamilton, Alonso, Verstappen, Ricciardo or even Button and Raikkonen!

If Rosberg does win it he’ll just be a pub quiz (or Pointless 😉 ) answer, not talked about by fans for the next 20-30 years.

Nico’s put the work in against probably one of the era’s best drivers in the car that’s widely accepted to play to his strengths…To say that he doesn’t somehow deserve the win is pretty uncool.

Even Nico knows he won because LH had reliability issues and for no other reason

His win will be in the history books but it required the better driver to have failures he did not;he is a decent driver and nothing more than that

Disagree on Hill. He raced against better drivers than today, developed the Williams and arrived in F1 alot later than he should have. He was in his 30’s remember.

His competition were cheating too.