F1 2016 (Bound to contain spoilers!)

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

I think it extremely unlikely that will be his thought process.

You need an ego to do that job. Just look at LH for confirmation. or any of them TBH

it seems pretty clear to me that Rosberg isn’t quite up there in the top drawer and Hamilton is basically just better.

I don’t think even Rosberg believes he’s better than Hamilton TBH. But beating one of the greats in this car..? Fair play to the fella, that’s a hell of a entry on the CV that not many (and better drivers) haven’t achieved against Hamilton.

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

He beat Hamilton by 8 seconds into third at Singapore when Hamilton was in the lead in the points. That had nothing to do with mechanical or reliability issues, that was Hamilton not being good enough on the day. See also Baku, when Hamilton was a minute down in 5th, again that was nowt to do with mechanical issues.

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

His wheel to wheel stuff with Hamilton has been quite spectacular. Unfortunately he’s not an exciting driver, on or off the track, and this isn’t going to win him fans.
Hamilton is an exciting driver and a personality off track, personally I don’t care too much for his off track shenanigans.
The points will say who deserves the championship, and it’s points that win it and not how they got the points (Damon might beg to differ which I accept).

According to the Beeb it looks like Foul Old Ron is about to be put on gardening leave.

Looks like he has been forced to quit!

Bye Ron.

Don’t slam the door to hard on the way out.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127123/dennis-steps-down-from-mclaren-role

He deserves ( grudging on my part I’ll be honest-found him a bit arrogant) praise for his past achievments, but he obviously hasn’t had any success in the past few years and clearly struggled with that concept.

“His wheel to wheel stuff with Hamilton has been quite spectacular”

You sure?

The points will say who deserves the championship,

it will say who won it

AGain no one outside Nicos family thinks he is the better of the two drivers[edited due to fair comment above]
There is no way, without LH have reliability issues, he can beat him in a straight championship race

Yes he is highly highly competent but he is not quite brilliant

He beat Hamilton

yes he can occasionally beat him but overall he looses more often and he required LH machines to break and his not to to be champion
I dont really see any point debating this tbh its just true

Nico is not the best driver at Mercedes and had LH car been more reliable [ or his as equally unreliable] he would NOT be the winner

FWIW i am not a massive fan of the tax avoiding narcissist but he is a better driver than Nico

I’m sure that Rosberg hasn’t lost that much ability hora, the gap between their abilities isn’t that huge.
And look neither car got scratched, so they’re both better than me.

He’s not known as a wheel to wheel racer. He just turns into a driver. That’s not hweel to wheel that’s can’t be trusted.

Without the 8 car breaks this season how far off Lewis would he be? Funnily Lewis was breaking him then Lewis’s car mysteriously started breaking.

I dont really see any point debating this tbh its just true

No it isn’t. You’re wrong, sorry. 😀

In two races, Rosberg scored 50pts that put him into the lead of the champs that he’s not relinquished, so it’s as fair to say that he beat Hamilton as often as he benefited from Hamilton’s mechanical issues. Rosberg won the first 4 GPs and Hamilton didn’t win until the 6th GP. Hamilton was on the back foot right from the get go (it’s testement to his talent that we’re as close as we are now). Also don’t forget that while Hamilton’s has had 2 retirements, Nico has had one as well.

It’s been close racing, and yes Hamilton will go down in history as a great driver, and Nico probs won’t,but he’s played a blinder this season.

he beat Hamilton as often as he benefited from Hamilton’s mechanical issues.

True but Hamilton beat him more often than he benefitted from his car performance issues as he had far fewer than LH- Also missing out on practice and race and grid penalties.

You can type what you like lewis’s lack of reliability is what may win it for Nico rather than him being the faster driver

He wont ever win it without LH having bad luck as he is not the faster of the two of them

People still remember keke as a wdc, but not the fact he only just beat pironi despite pironi having a massive crash and missing the last third of the season. Keke only won a single race too, so in many ways could be called a less deserving wdc than Nico ever would be. The detail of the title will be lost over time, but the winner will always be a world champion.

He beat Hamilton by 8 seconds into third at Singapore when Hamilton was in the lead in the points. That had nothing to do with mechanical or reliability issues, that was Hamilton not being good enough on the day. See also Baku, when Hamilton was a minute down in 5th, again that was nowt to do with mechanical issues.

Nico wins when Lewis doesn’t show up then, like at the end of 2015 season! 😉

Has Nico ever caught, passed, and driven away from Lewis?

It’s official- Ron’s out

Apologies, should have RTFT- didn’t know it was old news! 🙂

Has Nico ever caught, passed, and driven away from Lewis?

Hamilton on pole, Australian Bahrain and Italian GP, winner was Rosberg in all three

so yeah, he has.

He wont ever win it without LH having bad luck as he is not the faster of the two of them

And yet, that exactly what he has been this year. Nico is clearly not as good empirically as Hamilton. This year he’s pulled a rabbit out of the hat. That’s it, and he should be applauded for that.

Hamilton on pole, Australian Bahrain and Italian GP, winner was Rosberg in all three

All down due to Lewis bogging down at the start!* Not the same as chasing down and passing. The times he got close to passing his steering seemed to fail. 😉

(*another car issue that took months to sort out).

There’s a few people on here that don’t watch F1

And yet, that exactly what he has been this year

😯
are you his dad?

haha, god I sound like it… 😆

I just think he’s played a blinder this year against a team-mate that most people agree is one of the best GP drivers. Fair play to him.

that’s it really.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, the only qualifying criteria for being a deserving world champion is having the most points at the end of the year.

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

Prost (the four time world champion against Damo in his first season) and Senna (with just the three crowns)? Prost’s 12 podiums in ’93 compared to Damon’s 10, Senna we can’t compare, Hill beat DC in ’95 by 20 points with one less retirement, and in ’96 he beat Villeneuve by 19 with one more retirement. I think it’s a bit harsh to say anyone else in a Williams made Damon look a bit second best.

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

Genuine question – which year are you on about?

People still remember keke as a wdc, but not the fact he only just beat pironi despite pironi having a massive crash and missing the last third of the season. Keke only won a single race too, so in many ways could be called a less deserving wdc than Nico ever would be. The detail of the title will be lost over time, but the winner will always be a world champion.

See now, I’d say the details are massively important, I suspect you already know – Keke was the last atmo world champion of the eighties turbo era, so was racing with, what, 520 horsepower max against 600 or more (in race trim) for the turbo cars, no-one won more than two races that year (and there were eleven different winners!), and Pironi crashed out of Hockenheim running unnecessary hot laps in rain with terrible visibility having already qualified a mile in front, hitting the back of a slow-moving Prost (he was on pole by just under than a second). A horrible, turbulent year, two drivers killed in GPs and those bloody horrible ground effect cars that everyone was glad to see the back of, not least the drivers.

“If Coulthard hadn’t had outrageous mechanical luck that year he’d have won. But he didn’t.” Did you watch those races? Again some on this topic don’t seem to watch F1. I watched all the races throughout the 90’s onwards.

Hill was a double champ. I remember Johnny Herbert being sour grapes about Hill and I remember thinking Hill actually arrived too late.

Can I check I’ve got this straight – you’re using a race where a different strategy and a well timed safety car put NR on much faster tyres in a position to attack LH as an example of his skill at wheel to wheel racing? Remind me who won…

And yet, that exactly what he has been this year.[/quote]

Let’s just elaborate on this one. If you remove those races where LH has had a mechanical problem (not his fault) either in qualifying or the race, who has been the faster. You can also remove the races where NR has had mechanical problems if you like (of course the one race he didn’t finish was all his own fault)…

BTW LH lost 25 points to NR at Baku and Singapore combined, not the 50 you seem to be suggesting? NR lost 26 points to LH at Austria and Germany combined following some classic NR racing at both.

hora – Member
“If Coulthard hadn’t had outrageous mechanical luck that year he’d have won. But he didn’t.” Did you watch those races? Again some on this topic don’t seem to watch F1. I watched all the races throughout the 90’s onwards.

Hill was a double champ. I remember Johnny Herbert being sour grapes about Hill and I remember thinking Hill actually arrived too late.
Coulthard did have a lot of issues I recall, Monza, Spa, Silverstone… he’d have been up there for sure without car failures.
Hill was a double champ in what?

Hill was a double champ in what?

I think he’s suggesting Shumacher is cheaty cheater…

I have a lot of time for Hill; I think he is an understated, quality driver.

But even he admits that if Senna had not died, then he would not have won the championship when he did. Neither would Schumacher.

So luck plays as big a part for and against all drivers. When it’s not going your way, you have to just suck it up.

But even he admits that if Senna had not died, then he would not have won the championship when he did. Neither would Schumacher.

Senna was already 20 points back after 2 rounds, not exactly a shoe-in for the Championship

Once Williams remembered how to set a car up without active ride, it was the class of the field. Only bettered occasionally by the illegal Bennetton.

Senna would have easily made up that deficit.

“If Coulthard hadn’t had outrageous mechanical luck that year he’d have won. But he didn’t.” Did you watch those races?

Religiously.

Nigel Roebuck’s take on Ron’s seppuku – Roebuck might just be my favourite writer of all time.

Ron’s way

In the MTC Ron liked every rooms temperature set to 21 degrees centigrade as it was his favourite temperature. Likewise apparently he had silk carpet in his office and it was hoovered every 2 hours!

“So, to revert to the specificity of your question, I’m not going to hypothesise about what might have happened had we done things differently, because I don’t think there’s anything specifically wrong with the way we’ve done things.”

Don’t know that I would have wanted to work for RD, but he did keep things interesting.

“That $100 million fine; $10 million is for what you did, $90 million is because you are a ****”

Whispered by Max Moseley to RD in front of the press. Fantastic.

So Zak Brown is the new Ron. He might have timed it just right to ride the upswing if Honda can deliver next year.

Honer has a dig 🙂 It’s an interesting one for the last race will they (Redbull) risk cranking the engines upto 11 and try and make a race of it.

I see Jenny B has changed his tune about retiring – I’d have thought Ron’s demise would have made him more likely to stay seeing as Ron didn’t want him back in the first place, but maybe it’s cause and effect with his recent lacklustre performances. he was broadly keeping pace with alonso for the first part of the year but since the whole sabbatical thing he’s dropped off, then those poor showings affect his desire to stick with it so his motivation drops race by race etc etc.

I see Jenny B has changed his tune about retiring

I always took the sabatical talk to mean…

“If Alonso drives the 2017 car in testing and decides it’s shite, he may walk away from F1 and Jenson is signed as a back-up”

…and with Alono’s current temprament it may happen!

Even if that doesn’t happen, in a somewhat strange situation for a driver “retiring” he’s still reserve driver for next year, so there’s a reasonable chance this won’t be his last GP (the McLaren reserve driver has got a race both last year and this).

Rosberg to win?

Was hoping Lewis would do it but the odds are against him