[Closed] The F1 Thread...

Alonso stayed out on the same tyres for longer and is clearly a better all round driver than Rosberg.

Imo he is the best in F1 atm.

Alonso stayed out on the same tyres for longer and is clearly a better all round driver than Rosberg

There you go then, Rosberg ruined his own race

I know, I'm not defending Rosberg. I'm not his biggest fan.
Not sure if you're trying to out me as a Rosberg fanboi or summink??

He was disadvantaged by the safety car. That is all.

Not sure if you're trying to out me as a Rosberg fanboi or summink??

What??

He was disadvantaged by the safety car. That is all.

Well my point was he was no more disadvantaged than Alonso
Unlike Alonso, Rosberg failed to mitigate the disadvantage.

IMO the safety cars made the race by allowing the best racers to shine

Well my point was he was no more disadvantaged than Alonso
Unlike Alonso, Rosberg failed to mitigate the disadvantage.

Yes, that's what I was saying.

Looks like we're in complete agreement then...

F1 drivers get younger and younger...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115435

...Lewis and Seb are starting to look like the old men of F1, and Alonso is nearly a pensioner!

Flaming Nora! Which bright spark thought of that?

I think this is really exciting. He'll be the youngest ever by nearly two years!!

[url= http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/08/superkid-max-verstappen-confirmed-for-toro-rosso-race-seat-in-2015/ ]James Allen F1[/url]

It does make me wonder where Jean-Eric Vergne is going to go though. I have a feeling that this might be the poor fellas last season in formula 1...

Fair play, Torro Rosso clearly think he can drive well enough.

I think where young drivers struggle is with peripheral things in F1. Button was much maligned because he perceived to be distracted, it didn't affect Alonso that much though.

I suppose it comes down to the drivers manager and also how the teams manage them, from that perspective Torro Rosso is a good place to start as they're used to young drivers.

Since the age of 7, he's pretty much won every race he's finished
In some of the championships he's won every race over the season.

A lot of people think he's very special, they could well be right

Losing JEV from F1 would be a shame, no more Petra Silander walking around 🙁

From the age of 7 his ambition was to get into F1 is it me or is that just sad, what about doing kid stuff, he is a hell of a talent but I hope he has developed a personality and all the other stuff that goes along with growing up.

Marco Melandri won 2 GP's when he was 15 but the bike boys seem to be having way more fun than the single seater lads.

"MV, you need to go faster in sector 2. And TIDY YOUR ROOM"
(as nicked from an F1-insider's twitter feed...)

Bump for Spa qualifying

Q1 just finished. Bit of mocking of Maldonardo by the commentators there 😀

Kvyat spinning while having a tantrum. Ace.

I reckon that's perfect for Hamilton

I reckon that's perfect for Rosberg

I reckon that's perfect for vettel

P2 is often the best starting position at Spa

Do you recall last year's race?
Hamilton on P1, Vettel on P2

It's not easy but with a perfect start and being able to stay tight through Raidillon, it should be a [relativity] easy pass at the end of Kemmel

2012 big crash so didn't work out

2011 Vettel on pole, Rosberg on P2
Rosberg did Vettel as described above

It happens loads of times at Spa

Very cynical from the German

Very cynical, and ruined what was about to be a great few laps

Agree Zokes, was looking forward to that scrap. A move straight out of the Schumi tactical book of racing!

If you can't win fairly, wait until the karma of a bit of your team mate's tyre plonks itself in your face! 😀

🙂

Rosberg can't overtake

Get in Bottas!

Bottas!!

Bummer 🙁

Lol. Gotta love the boos rosberg is getting

And Eddie Jordan being a sycophantic dick as usual

If rosberg had driven well, he wouldn't have cynically taken his closest rival out

He also ruined what would have been a great battle

Rosberg was never going to catch And pass ricci - he'd have spent a few laps looking at the back of him before making an ill judged lunge.

Anyhow if Max Verstappen gets a podium at Silverstone next year will he be allowed champagne?

So far I'm not bothered who wins the championship, but Valtteri Bottas is such an entertaining driver.
Passes cleanly with style where many other would bottle it & seems so happy doing his job.
Riccardo also gets + points for that smile 🙂

nico showed he wasn't getting shoved outside the track like lewis has forced him to do in almost every time nico has tried to overtake lewis, this would have happened many times before but nico backed down, today he doesn't, you guys really think nico could judge it so well to puncture Lewis and for himself to stay in the race, get a life.... it was a racing incident,
bottas handing massa his ass on a plate
so looks like the silly season is just about where lewis and vettel will be as Ferrari keep it the same for 15

Bottas is definitely coming on but - IMO - is far too clinical to be greatly entertaining.
He'll certainly go on to win lots, given a good car, but my guess is it'll be dull.

Kyvat on the other hand .......... 🙂

There's another Russian in GP2 that looks exciting too, Markelov

According to Hamilton, Rosberg has said he did it deliberately

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28921431 ]here[/url]

I used to rate Hamilton, but he is just too petulant and inconsistent

Nope, quite like Hamilton. Nico's a **** and I hope he goes down for this one. If that article is true, Nico's well on track to being the Max Biaggi of the F1 world.

If Nico did it on purpose it does make a point in a similar way to other aggressive drivers like Senna or Schumacher.
It says, if we're in a close fight on track, I will stop you from winning that fight, even if it means there will be contact.

It's not sporting but it does make people wary when coming close to them.

The rest of the season will be interesting!

It's not race legal, if that was what racing were about then Formula One would be a destruction derby. Plenty of people think Senna and Schumi were pricks.

Think everyone is over reacting a bit.

Hamilton knew Nico was there and decided to stick to the racing line. Nico should have backed out a bit earlier and played the long game.

9/10 Nico would have lost his front wing in that kind of collision with no damage to Hamilton, leading Hamilton to cruise to an easy victory, whilst Nico lost time with a damaged front wing (like Alonso on the last lap)

Nico was probably trying to prove a point that he wasnt going to back down (although it seems a bit pointless), but its daft to suggest that he would/could place his car in exactly the place a 150mph to cause a puncture to Hamilton without major damage to his own car.

But if you're 2 secs quicker than the opposition then stick half a dozen laps in then go racing. Silly petulant move, not sensible for the team.

Well, Nico seems to think he did and if he's daft enough to admit that then he should be banned.

Plenty of people think Senna and Schumi were pricks.

Dunno about pricks but definitely entitled, immature and arrogant for sure.

The problem is Mercedes thought Hamilton was going to be fast enough that this stuff wouldn't happen. The reality is there is nothing between them. I find it all hilarious. Plus it's all good for the last great team (Williams) to move up the finishing order.

Lovely to see Williams up front.
The thing is Hamilton is the faster driver and today Rosberg had to make the move early because if not, he would lost him for the rest of the afternoon. If you can't beat him, take him out or compromise him. The same happened in Monaco.
BUT Lewis needs to be smarter, he quick but not as intelligent as say, Mika, Senna, Alonso, Schum. I also get the feeling that due to Merc policy of sharing data, Rosberg analyses Hamilton data and adopts. Far easier for the slower driver to copy than for a faster driver to go even quicker.

Rosberg has had a few incidents this season and that could easily have been a penalty; Monaco qualy, gaining advantage off track at Canada, and now this. On balance this one was probably a racing incident to me personally. Not quite conclusive enough to award a penalty, was it even investigated anyway?

Thought the result of Magnussen's penalty for blocking Alonso was a little bit harsh, dropping him completely out of the points.

Chew - Member

9/10 Nico would have lost his front wing in that kind of collision with no damage to Hamilton, leading Hamilton to cruise to an easy victory, whilst Nico lost time with a damaged front wing (like Alonso on the last lap)

Don't agree, probably 50/50 on causing a puncture and the most likely wing damage is just losing an end plate. Really unlikely to cause a failure like Alonso had, I've only seen that a handful of times in years.
Maybe they should mandate a rounded edge on the f wing, seems to be a lot of this type of incident in the last few years and it's hardly surprising with how intricate the wings have become.

Hamilton quicker?
Check their respective qualifying and finishing stats this year.
E.g qualifying Rosberg has 7 poles
Hamilton has 4

Maybe they should mandate a rounded edge on the f wing

probably 50/50 on causing a puncture

back2basics - Member
you guys really think nico could judge it so well to puncture Lewis and for himself to stay in the race

Yes, seeing as he was [b]behind[/b] Lewis rather than alongside. End plate/rear tyre contact has a pretty consistent outcome.

It pretty consistently ends up with a broken wing and not much else, punctures aren't the norm from that sort of contact

Don't agree, probably 50/50 on causing a puncture and the most likely wing damage is just losing an end plate.

Exactly this.

Yes, seeing as he was behind Lewis rather than alongside. End plate/rear tyre contact has a pretty consistent outcome.

If there is a 50/50 chance it's worth a shot to stop the guy at front running away!

If there is a 50/50 chance it's worth a shot to stop the guy at front running away!

Wheres Stato when you need him....

Theres usually 2-3 front wing to rear wheel collisions every race.
From my memory theres only been 1-2 that have caused a puncture this year.

It's common enough to warrant a rule change...

Rule change: Narrower front wing
Implications: The front wing has been reduced from 1,800mm to 1,650mm wide - the origin of the change was to reduce the number of punctures caused by an endplate catching the rear tyre of a competitor’s car.

http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2014/1/15408.html

Chew - Member
So you're saying that Nico could place his car with mm precision at 150kph through Les Combes, while pulling 2-3g of lateral load, whilst anticipating where Lewis was going to be, within a blink of an eye, to deliberately cause a puncture?

660mm is a big enough target when you know the driver in front will take the racing line.

if it was the other way round people on here would be praising lewis for being a racer and a fighter, yet nico plays hard ball, and suddenly he can puncture rear tyres at will
yawn....

I'm not trying to say he unleashed a master plan, more that he took a 'punt' knowing Lewis would [b]probably[/b] come off worse.

Chew - Member

How many rear wheel to front wing collisions over the past 5 years? (Lots)
How many have caused punctures over the past 5 years? (not many)

maybe 50/50 was a bit of an exageration but anyway plenty of punctures caused this way - off the top of my head:

Lewis/Nico today
Kimi/magnussen Korea this year
Alonso/Kimi Korea 2012 which put him out
Vettel/Lewis Britain 2009 or 2010 (biggest cheer Ive ever heard at a race 😆 )
Lewis/Vettel Japan 2012 or 13
Grosjean/Perez Spain 2012
Kimi/Perez Monaco 2013
Grosjean/Diresta can't remember which race
Vettel/some back marker being lapped (Karthikeyen?)
Maldonado /Kobayashi India 2011 or 12

probably tonnes more if you google as well

660mm is a big enough target when you know the driver in front will take the racing line

The FIA have all of the data and have taken no action (didnt even investigate it) and they have seen it as a racing accident.

Lewis/Nico today
Kimi/magnussen Korea this year

7 races to go, 200 points available, Mercedes imploding, Ricciardo only 64 points behind Rosberg and 33/1 for the title......might be worth a fiver.

I think Rosberg intentionally hit him, whether the intention was to try for a penalty against Ham, just spin him out our what I'm not sure. I don't think he could have intended to cause a puncture, but from the sky coverage post race he seemed to make 2 distinct moves resulting in the contact.

Personally I can't stand Hamilton, comes across as an arrogant spoilt brat, nico on the other hand seems a nice enough guy, fair play to him today racing incident. Lewis was never going to let him pass so a little unintentional contact got the job done.

Chew - Member

So 2 this year?
How many front wing/rear tyre collisions this year?

As I said already those were just the ones which sprang to mind. Didn't Kimi also get punctured by somebody's front wing during a safety car at monaco? Thinking about it did the same not happen to bianchi today from a caterham putting him out of the race?

LMT - nice guys rams bloke off road, that makes it ok?

Hasn't Rosberg admitted he did it on purpose to 'prove a point'?

If so, the only point he proves is that Lewis's assertion that they remain friends is bollocks

Rosberg was clearly quicker and Lewis thought he would get away with chopping across Rosberg's nose, as he has done so a few times this year.

Well today it didn't work out. Brilliant

He was way ahead of him.

I'm pretty surprised to hear Rosberg say he did it on purpose. We all know in those knocks most of the time the car behind looses part of its nose with no damage to the car in front so odds on Rosberg would loose out. To do it on purpose would be stupid to say the least.

Brundle was looking at a tyre after the race and basically said that the only place to hit that would 90% guarantee a puncture was the first 30 or 40mm of the sidewall nearest to the tread. Normally contact with the rest of the sidewall/tread/rim won't result in a puncture. I suppose if you stuff enough endplate into a sidewall you're going to get a puncture.

I like Hamilton and admit he can act like a baby at times but thought he handled himself well today. What little respect I had for Rosberg has gone out of the window after reading the BBC link and his post race interviews.

Also tickled me when Rosberg said it was only the uneducated British fans booing him lol.

I admit I fall into that category.

Not mine. Also the racing line is wrong, it's the racing line when defending the previous corner.[img] [/img]

I'm pretty surprised to hear Rosberg say he did it on purpose

The suggestion from Wolff is that what Nico was saying was that he chose not to yield to Hamilton, rather than he deliberately crashed into him. Given that the consensus is that in this situation it was up to Nico to yield, it is perhaps a fine line between Nico deliberately hitting Lewis and Nico seeing if Lewis would blink first and yield, but given 1) Nico's championship lead, and 2), his apparent opinion that he needed to prove to Lewis that he's no pushover on the track, I think it more likely that Nico was playing chicken hoping Lewis, with a greater need to not crash, would blink first.

I agree, I think Rosberg is saying that he didn't make a mistake, he just wasn't sure (and didn't care) what the outcome of the move would be.

If Hamilton did this to Rosberg it would be seen as a brilliant attacking drive, as Kona said previously Hamilton has done this sort of thing on numerous occasion's and the driver in front lets him past. Rosberg was obviously faster and it's a race let them get on with it. The big difference is Hamilton uses the media to feel sorry for him.

I presume that any one claiming that Rosberg's intention was to puncture Hamilton's tyre is wearing a tin foil hat.
If Rosberg hit Hamilton on purpose, which he appears to admit, there is no way he could know the outcome of such a collision. To suggest that Nico knew that he would give his "team mate" a puncture is ridiculous.

@thegreatape - indeed worth a punt, especially with double points at the last race....

how much trouble will the management and merc be in if they suddenly started to get threatened by Red bulls and the 1.5 second advantage they currently have gets erroded in the next few races - suddenly their policy of "letting drivers race" would look spectacularly amateur and naive in the field of F1 racing.

actually forgetting all this nico and lewis rubbish,
wouldnt the best end to the title be in abu dhabi,
nico and lewis tied on points on pole/second,
third on the grid is riccardo and could win the title also if the other 2 dont finish.

all 3 into the first corner ....

Why would you deliberately get your front wing clipped by the car in front when there are 40+ laps still to race? You're just as likely to need a new nose cone as the guy in front is to need a new rear tyre, and there is no guarantee that puncturing Lewis would cause the damage to the car which led to retirement. New tyre - about 3 seconds in the pits vs new nose cone - longer.

In terms of the 'I did it to prove a point', I take that to mean that Rosberg wanted to show aggression and 'not back down' in the opening exchanges of the race. The move itself was a misjudgement made more likely by this approach, but not the desired outcome.

This is quite a good analysis:

martinhutch - Member

Why would you deliberately get your front wing clipped by the car in front when there are 40+ laps still to race? You're just as likely to need a new nose cone as the guy in front is to need a new rear tyre, and there is no guarantee that puncturing Lewis would cause the damage to the car which led to retirement. New tyre - about 3 seconds in the pits vs new nose cone - longer.

Nowhere near as likely, Nico was probably thinking "I'll lose an endplate at worst and still be faster than the rest of the field". As for not knowing about the damage caused by the tyre, having a puncture at any point is bad because you have to crawl back round to the pits, damage or not it's likely to be a ruined race or at least a much lower position. The actual time in the pits makes just about no difference compared to the minute+ he lost getting back round the track.

Again to reiterate *I'm not saying he did it on purpose*, just that he knew what could happen and wasn't too worried if it did. Quite rightly in a way, but not usually the done thing against your team mate on lap 2!