F1 2016 (Bound to contain spoilers!)

Yes sometimes his car breaks down 😉

Ruined the chance of a race

Oh I don’t know. I thought the resulting race was pretty good.

^^^ Great shout.

Has Nico ever beaten Lewis in a fair fight without resorting to dirty tactics?

Well that’s Lewis’s third pole of the season and Nico won the other two fairly cleanly as I recall – or did I miss something.

As was his right. The fact NR was moving right doesn’t entitle him to keep moving right after LH was alongside him – which is what he did, despite having the capability of turning the steering wheel left a bit sooner – ooh, maybe at about the point that pic was taken when LH was alongside. Quite reasonable for LH to keep going with the expectation that NR would obey the rules and leave him space. NR should also be capable of calculating speed and distance even in his mirrors – sure he might have thought he was going to close the door before LH got alongside, but he got it wrong.

Interesting to see NR’s comments on the incident – he’s basically in denial that he did anything wrong, and totally classless.

You seem to have missed LH having a car which wasn’t working right amongst other things not his fault which have prevented him from having a fair fight.

^ yeah that.

I remember the same situation in 2012 with hamilton and maldonado .. Guess who was penalised?

Obviously the maldonado one wasnt in the wrong engine mode nor was it on the grass but was on the racing line. However Maldonado was alongside, coming at speed, and ran off the track.
Admittedly maldonado was in control when he rejoined. Notice the ejecting steering wheel at the end.

aracer – You seem to have missed LH having a car which wasn’t working right amongst other things not his fault which have prevented him from having a fair fight.

I appreciate his car was duff in/before two qualifying sessions and the races that followed were iffy mechanically too, but I thought the other two his car was fine and he just wasn’t as good at getting it off the line as Nico – which was the start of the problem in Spain too.

Isn’t this year requiring more driver input off the line? Is that a weakness for Lewis when the pressure is on?* After all the fact he was fast off the blocks when he started at the back suggests it’s not the car?

However the race did show us how marginal overtaking manoeuvres are meant to be done. Ricardo lobs it in, locks his wheels, Vettel backs off, avoids him (while providing his side of the story to Charlie just in case they touch) and they battle through the next couple of corners. After the race Ricardo points out that his puncture was not because Vettel hit him because he hadn’t and Vettel says in Ricardo’s place he have tried the same move. Brilliant driving to watch from both of them (pity Vettel played to the stewards but maybe he’s touchy about Red Bulls making marginal moves) and the next day they’re all being grown ups.

*not that I’d do better of course.

Did they not use to get fined if they did not put the wheel back in place?

Replays showed that he did.

Toto Woolf has said that if Merc did not resign Rosberg for next year, they would consider Alonso.

is it just me that thinks that’s a line in the sand for Lewis? If your current teammate (that you don’t get on with) leaves, then we’ll get one of your old ones (that you didn’t get on with)

I can see Lewis getting to the stage of ‘he goes, or I go’

I think Alonso and Lewis get on fine now.

Lewis to Ferrari and Alonso to Merc wouldn’t surprise me. Kimi to retire.

Kimi could retire, but he has that air of disintered boredom down to a fine art now, and has for several years. He is the winner of Ferrari’s last World Championship, so until they get another, they might hold on to him.

Lewis to Ferrari? Nah, the german wouldn’t wear that, at all.

Lewis to Mclaren. Him and Ron to make up.

Yeah, and Alonso to Merc. Just as Mclaren get a world beating car and Merc lose their edge. Because FA has a knack for that 😉

Massa to retire.
Rosberg to Williams.
Kimi to retire.
Grosjean to Ferrari.
Button to leave F1.
Hulkenburg to Mercedes.
Etc.

I predict a lot of new contracts for next season.

Well it’s not exactly comparable, because the issue occurred when PM rejoined and they were both in full control of the cars, oh and it was in corners rather than on a straight so the rules are different (hence LH was within his rights to force PM off the track in the first instance).

I’m guessing the guy with a reputation for causing crashes got penalised – the stewards do seem to get it wrong some of the time, as I’d put that one down as quite clearly LH’s fault – nothing wrong with him forcing PM wide in the first corner, but he didn’t have the right to turn in on him when he was rejoining. Presumably the stewards made some ruling about PM not being allowed to rejoin the track there?

I do love a good conspiracy theory, I suspect that the only thing that could tempt Lewis to McLaren Honda would be an miraculous performance boost and some red and white paint.

Can’t help but feel for Alonso, his talent for jumping ship at the worst possible moment exceeds even his own talent for driving. Did I read somewhere that Alonso is cumulatively speaking, five points away from being a quadruple world champ?

Hulkenburg to Mercedes.

Hulk has been passed over to many times now to make it into a top team. I can’t see a space for him anywhere apart from Williams as a step up.

Wehrlien to Merc.

Button to Williams?

That picture on the last page shows the gap is already gone well before Hamilton is alongside IMO. Not all his fault though and a surprisingly good stewards decision to let it go.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave Mercedes next year but not sure where he’d go. Last year he’d have been at the top of everyone’s list, he probably still would be now but maybe not by such a margin.

Kimi definitely gone next year, I like him but I can’t really see why he’s there this year TBH.

It’s funny how we all talk of Kimi being past it (me included), but he’s currently sat 2nd in the championship!

Williams cant afford to take either Button or Rosberg, as it stands if Massa retires I’d expect them to hire another young driver much like Bottas was back when he debuted for the team (Alex Rossi possibly?). I think if the Hulk chooses to call F1 quits he’ll head over to WEC for a crack at the WDC to go alongside his LM24 trophy, possibly joined by Button if he gets pushed from McLaren.
Grosjean to Ferrari is pretty much a done deal isn’t it? – Send him to Haas for a year to learn the engine / aero, put him into the red machine as Raikkonens replacement the year after.

Williams very nearly signed Button for this year.

So they can find some cash when they need to.

Grosjean to Ferrari is pretty much a done deal isn’t it?

No. Just no. I would have said Bianchi would follow this trajectory, but Grosjean isn’t such a prize.

Ferrari currently have 2 WDC’s as drivers. Only McLaren also can claim this pedigree. I would think they would be looking for another star, or a rising talent. Grosjean ain’t either.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Button wound up at Williams, he’s an ex-World Champ and has marketability, he’s clearly not quite ready to throw in the towel. IIRC, both Massa and Bottas are out of contract at the end of 2016, but I wouldn’t bet against Williams retaining Bottas.

Can’t believe that it’s still only May and the 2016 Silly Season is already well underway.

It’s pretty obvious that Max Verstappen’s succession to Red Bull has upset the plans of some of the top teams. If speculation about Arrivabene’s future at Ferrari is accurate, then I would expect the Italians to pull off a major signing by the end of the year.

Schumacher?

The young one, natch.

Hammo on his current team:

“I look at my team, the Silver Arrows, and think I’m a part of this history which I will be for way beyond my time and I want to continue being a part of it. When I stop racing, I still want to be a part of it.

“What I love about Mercedes when you look at Sir Stirling Moss, when you look at all drivers still today in their old age, they are still with Mercedes, you’re with the brand for life.

“They take you under your wing, they look after you, you’re part of it forever. I can’t imagine myself not being a part of that.”

Sauce

Smoke screen to hide his move to McLaren, or torpedoing all the conspiracy theorists yet again?

They take you under your wing, they look after you, you’re part of it forever…

He said something similar about Mclaren, but still managed to walk away.

“They take you under your wing, they look after you, you’re part of it forever. I can’t imagine myself not being a part of that.”

So do Ferrari – and they have better company cars! 😀

The picture which shows him alongside and still to the left of the white line? You did read the quote from the rules that when his front wing is alongside the rear wheel of NR he’s officially alongside?

Hamilton is not going to go to a team without a competitve car, that will be the detemining factor. If Mercedes are still the dominant car he’ll re-sign and try and push Rosberg out or just carry on the feud. This year he hasn’t lost out due to rescources etc he’s just had poor luck / reliability

This year he hasn’t lost out due to rescources etc he’s just had poor luck / reliability

Perhaps is purely coincidental but five of the mechanics who previously worked on Hamilton’s car have been moved to Rosberg’s this season…

Plus, IIRC, Lewis has not won a race since the increased minimum starting tyre pressures were introduced after Spa last season.

but five of the mechanics who previously worked on Hamilton’s car have been moved to Rosberg’s this season…

Maybe they insisted because they were sick of being on the losing side of the garage?

Going to be an interesting silly season. you would think it’s Kimi’s last season yet he is currently 2nd in the championship. Mercedes have a great pairing and I don’t think we will see it change. Red Bull are set. McLaren need to put Vandoorne into F1 next year so it’s going to be tough on JB if McLaren can’t find him a seat in a lower team for 2017. Probably Massa’s last season but who would be right for them? I guess JB if he is out of McLaren.

On 2016 looks like Renault going to make a big PU step hope Honda will do the same.

Halo chosen for next season – more streamlined version than the one tested though…

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/124524/fia-picks-halo-over-aeroscreen-for-2017

No gold star for Max today!

Really? Safety car start? The one time Monaco might actually have been interesting

Looks perfectly fine to race to me, no standing water anywhere.

Get on with it!!