And he obviously doesnt care much. Point is, it wasnt a mistake but a calculated risk.

I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous.
Dirtier than Michael Schumacher at his worst. Just no

Susi Perry was right. She stated that most people have been applauding Mercedes for letting their two drivers race against each other, yet as soon as they have an incident the same people say they shouldn't have done this.
Hypocritical rubbish.
This incident was clearly Nico Rosberg's fault. Lets not forget though that Lewis Hamilton has been incvolved in many incidents on the track with other drivers over the years (especially Felipe Massa).

He did give up, in effect.

Anyway this whole thread since the start of the Belgian GP has been about Mercedes and their two drivers (with the exception of two posts)

There were 22 other drivers racing, you know!

Great win by Daniel Ricciardo. Totally overshadowed Sebastian Vettel (albeit on different strategies). Red Bull played a masterstroke though in putting so little wing on their car. They knew they have the best car in quick corners (which are so key at Spa, along with speed in a straightline) so could afford to do this. I don't think they can use this tactic so effectively in Monza though. Monza has long straights and slowish corners (including several chicanes). Most teams will probably reduce their downforce there and the Red Bul's great strength is not in slow corners.


Easily Kimi's best drive of .the season. Albeit on his favourite track and probably one of Fernando Alonso's least favourite. Let's hope that boosts Kimi's confidence.That Ferrari was painfully slow in a straight line though. Had they put too much rear wing on because of the rain in qualifying? McLarens were also very slow in a straight line and they've got a Mercedes engine.

Felipe Massa had an absolute stinker. No pace whatsoever and slaughtered by his teammate, I didn't see the gridwalk but he looked very despondent beforehand apparently. Was he feeling a bit ill, perhaps?

Mercedes should win at Monza, you would think. Let's hope they allow their drivers to race still though. This type of incident was always likely to happen at least once this season, when the two drivers are fighting each other so fiercely for the championship. Nico Rosberg made a mistake and it was clearly his fault. But he shouldn't be hung drawn and quartered for it. It must also be added that Lewis Hamilton historically has often had incidents with other drivers when racing in close quarters (although not so much this season). If it was Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen that Nico was racing against, I think it quite likely there would have been no contact because they would have allowed more room anticipating what might have happened. Of course, the other side of that argument is that because Lewis Hamilton is such an aggressive driver, it means that he can gain the upper hand on some other drivers when battling with them on the track. This is because they can get intimidated by that, (I always will remember how Ayrton Senna would be so much quicker at getting through traffic than Alain Prost when they were McLaren teammates: a lot of other drivers would just move out of Ayrton's way.)
I didn't like the look of Nico Rosberg's overheating brakes in parc ferme' yesterday. Spa is much easier on brakes than Monza. And the Mercedes had big problems with brake wear at Canada earlier in the season.

I always thought that Williams were likely to do better at Monza than Spa, because I think their car will be more suited to that track. Williams is very quick in a straightline, not bad in slow corners but not the best in quick corners.

What I don't get (and Mercedes' PR control has been worse than Rosberg's behind the steering wheel this weekend) is why Mercedes backed Hamilton up before issuing a further statement clarifying the situation. What on Earth are they doing? Even if they're spitting feathers at Rosberg, they still wouldn't want to lose the 18 points for the Constructors Championship and give more to Red Bull and Williams in the process. Now the FIA might get involved because 1) they couldn't get a driver to keep his mouth shut and 2) they had no sense of damage limitation when that driver subsequently opened his mouth.

On a side note, please can someone explain to me the difference between Hamilton shoving Rosberg off the road by taking the racing line in Bahrain and Magnussen shoving Alonso off the road by taking the racing line in Spa? One was punished for his actions and the other was not (rightly in my opinion). I think it's tough on Magnussen.

KMag was penalised for not leaving a cars width on the straight at Le Combes.

Was Kevin Magnussen penalised for that, or for changing his line in the braking zone? I think BBC suggested he was being investigated for the latter.

The BBC article says it was for crowding a car beyond the edge of the track:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28921764

Plus there have been numerous occasions where drivers have shut the door by basically saying brake/take avoiding action or crash without punishment and certainly Alonso saw no qualms about it so it does seem harsh.

And quite rightly as it turned out, and as Hamilton realised roughly an hour before the team did.

So there's little to be critical of, aside from the team's inability to accurately assess the situation in a timely manner.

I guess they can never win in some people's eyes.

Most people saw the incident and immediately managed to form the opinion that it was a half-arsed manoeuvre, carried out clumsily, which led to one car not being in the points and lost the team 25 points.
Lauda and the Totonator probably had a similar opinion.

If somebody'd asked them about it and they'd said "We will look at the telemetry from both cars, get the driver's opinions and then decide what happened" they would have been criticised for procrastinating and/or being evasive.

It's quite true that Hamilton, Nicco and Mercedes have all not been smart in what they have said reacting from an emotional stand point. Also the previous problem of Hamilton ignoring team orders is miss manged also. No consequences for Hamilton plus only clearing the air the Thursday of the GP, this should have been done earlier so the dust settles a bit more.


The other thing which has not been picked up on is the manner in which Lewis drove back to the pits. It is clear to see that for have a punctured tyre he drove far to fast and in a dangerous manner. This is foolish even from his point of view due to the damage done to his car. Further the debris created at a high speed part of the track was very dangerous and did effect two competitors. It looks like an attempt by Lewis Hamilton (the briton) to create his own safety car and I am very surprised it did not work.

Monaco and one other race this year demonstrated that Hamilton is very aware of when a safety car can come out and how this might effect your race.

At that point a safety car would have saved Hamilton's race catching up the pack and getting the pit stop time back as nobody would want to stop on lap 2. At least a 40s gain for Hamilton perhapes more.

I think the FIA should look at this as it could be dangerous conduct detrimental to all drivers and marshals and done with a cynical intent to pervert the out come of the race.

Mercedes have built up quite a 'situation' for themselves, which does them no favours PR wise.

I do question whether Nico's remarks in the team's debrief about his actions on track being 'deliberate', and 'to prove a point', have been accurate in their interpretation. He has always been quite savvy with his remarks after a race, but to openly admit this seems totally out of character.

Looking at the footage, Lewis assumed that he had the racing line and that Nico would just back off to avoid him, however Lewis continued and turned into the corner right across Rosberg. Both could have avoided contact but neither would give way. Lewis needs to remember that he doesn't have the gentleman with the accurate and responsible driving of Jenson Button as his team mate now!!

Lewis gave the best after race interview of his career yesterday, for once he was measured and it felt like he was in reflective mood, rather than with the anger and turmoil of emotions that usally spills out.

Last season became a tedious Vettel procession, this year is very much different, and it has certainly has had its 'talking points'!!

TBH, I think Lewis has kinda let himself down a bit by, apparently, coming out of the debrief and saying "Rosberg said he done it deliberately".
I think most people are smart enough to realise what Rosberg really meant and they're smart enough to understand that he picked a lousy time to grow some balls so their sympathy would still remain with Hamilton without the extra "spin" he's tried to apply.

Let's face it, Lewis has probably always had the attitude that Rosberg is now claiming to have adopted and there are times when it's resulted in things he could be criticised for and if Hamilton had taken out Rosberg while attempting to pass, he'd be the one being criticised right now.

Must say, in general, I'm not a fan of the idea that a lead car has any particular responsibility to avoid an accident by moving out of the way.
I mean, if we take that philosophy to an extreme, it'd suggest that Hamilton, Alonso, Perez and Kobayashi could be held responsible for not getting out of Grosjean's way at Spa in 2012.
Of course, that's silly.
In reality, I think it should always be up to a following car to find a way to compromise the lead car's position in order to overtake without creating an unacceptable risk of collision.
That's why the FIA have implemented rules about how far alongside another car a driver has to be in order for their challenge to be taken seriously.

[quote=Stunty;74436946

I do question whether Nico's remarks in the team's debrief about his actions on track being 'deliberate', and 'to prove a point', have been accurate in their interpretation. He has always been quite savvy with his remarks after a race, but to openly admit this seems totally out of character.
te now!!


Last season became a tedious Vettel procession, this year is very much different, and it has certainly has had its 'talking points'!![/QUOTE]

It is only Lewis Hamilton and the UK media going out of their way to missunderstand what Rosberg have said with the aim of saying negative things about Rosberg to manufacture a fake penalty or disadvantage for Rosberg.

The boo boys infesting the grandstands demonstrate the bullying mob mentality in play. Basically anybody who dares race Hamilton gets ganged up on.

There has been a clash on track which was inevitable at some point unfortunately Hamilton came out of it badly and this combined with other poor performances has put Hamilton behind in the WDC. So he has lost it on track causing the legions to try and win it off the track.

Agreed Mercedes tripping over their self's is improving a season which would otherwise be terrible boring.

Given that he's had 3 DNFs, thus losing at least a likely 54 points in the championship and yet he's still only 29 points behind Rosberg, I'd be interested to hear exactly what "poor performances" you're referring to.

20.4*Any driver defending his position on a straight, and before any braking area, may use the full width of the track during his first move, provided no significant portion of the car attempting to pass is alongside his. Whilst defending in this way the driver may not leave the track without justifiable reason.
For the avoidance of doubt, if any part of the front wing of the car attempting to pass is alongside the rear wheel of the car in front this will be deemed to be a 'significant portion'.


The rule regarding a car attempting to pass being along side is article 20.4 it is as above.

People should read it closely as it appears to be wildly missunderstood. Key is that a driver defending his possition may only use the full width of the track while on the straight before the braking area during his first move and only if there is no significant part of the attacking car along side. ANY PART OF FRONT WING OF THE CAR ATTEMPING TO PASS BEING ALONG SIDE THE REAR WHEEL OF THE CAR IN FRONT IS A SIGNIFICANT PART. No shouting just emphasising it.

Canada where Hamilton admitted that he did not do enough to get the car to the end of the GP. He was fixated on passing Rosberg instead of getting to the end of the race. Both cars had over heating brakes but Hamilton cook his completely catch and attempting to pass Rosberg.

Rosberg cruised and collected the points. They have both had bad luck but Canada was the day Rosberg put in the smart WDC winning race.

On the race start .......

Hamilton was lucky that the grid at Spa is on a slope, so he was able to lift his foot off the brake to roll back to his starting position, as he had over-run it by about a metre after the formation lap.

He may well have been penalised for starting out of position if the track was on the level.

I don't think it is fair to call people nutters who agree that it was Nico's fault but also think that Lewis could have done more to stop Nico's problem becoming his problem. Fernando, for example, is a racer with the smarts to have likely not allowed himself to be put in that position. See how he managed that four/five car melee to still come out with a result above what the car deserved.

Good point. In general Hamilton has not been his best in quailfying. He was lucky to get away with it in Silverstone. He was poor again in quailfying at Belgium and you could argue that this lead to Rosberg being able to attack him. Be on pole and drive away from them is a good strategy although difficult at SPA. The red bull being fastest in a straight line might say that Mercedes had the wrong down force level. If hamilton got the same start from pole he would have a chance of running and hiding.

I would also point out the slow pit stops which turned out to be Hamilton not entering the box correctly.

Most of Lewis' s fans would have previously fancied him to beat Rosberg easily. But really Hamilton is only matching Rosberg and then being pushed back by the bad luck.

This is a dominant car for Lewis so he should be having a tidy year and marking up a WDC instead he is starting to look like loosing it to his team mate.

BBC radio five live this morning saying Rosberg could face FIA sanctions but then Derek Warrick says if any thing like that is brought to him then he is throwing it out as it was just a racing incident.

I think that says exactly what is happening here.

Not sure why you're quoting a rule regarding what a driver is entitled to do ON A STRAIGHT, AND BEFORE ANY BRAKING AREA.

No shouting just emphasising it.

That rule applies to the lead up to a corner and on a straight, it doesn't apply as it is worded during a corner or on exit.

20.3 More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted. Any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off-line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner.

20.4 Any driver defending his position on a straight, and before any braking area, may use the full width of the track during his first move, provided no significant portion of the car attempting to pass is alongside his. Whilst defending in this way the driver may not leave the track without justifiable reason.
For the avoidance of doubt, if any part of the front wing of the car attempting to pass is alongside the rear wheel of the car in front this will be deemed to be a 'significant portion'.

So none of these rules apply to this accident, and this is the reason why Magnussen was allowed to continue to run people out on the exit of turn 10 throughout the race.

Well that's the end of their friendship. The blame lies with Rosberg, he could hardly expect Hamilton being in front to not take the racing line and he could have avoided the collision as he had plenty of run-off area. It looks like he was trying to make a point and the bottom line is it worked, he's the one with the points in the bag and the boos by the crowd show what they thought of it.

Well done to Ricciardo who is definitely the new find of the season and Vettel looks the no. 2 driver there.