Rosberg's racecraft and subsequent BS is getting a bit annoying now after 2 seasons of it. At least now it's not only Lewis' race he nearly ruined and he need not take it personally. Seriously though he really should at least try and make the apex. Over defending and poor passes are beginning to sum up his performances. Being fast means nothing without racecraft.

Rosberg thought it was 'a great move' on Max hahaha hahaha wondering what planet he's driving on sometimes

i would agree with Rosberg that Verstappen moved in the braking area, but he moved over when Rosberg moved alongside. Rosberg again drove straight to the apex then turned, identical move when he forced Hamilton off track in Austria.

I think the extra delay on his 5 second penalty was a blessing as it meant he gave the place back. Otherwise the penalty would have been pointless.

Now I have seen Max v Nico, fair penalty IMO. As was said in commentary Rosberg needed to lock up a wheel to at least make it look as though he was trying to make the corner. Ferrari seem to be in no man's land at the moment

Thoroughly enjoyable race watching Nico slip down the order! Made all the more sweet listening to his pathetic whingeing afterwards!

Now I have seen Max v Nico, fair penalty IMO. As was said in commentary Rosberg needed to lock up a wheel to at least make it look as though he was trying to make the corner. Ferrari seem to be in no man's land at the moment

Ferrari are completely at sea, a real shame to see them struggling, with 2 drivers (Vettel in particular) that can't seem to keep a cool head and galvanise the team. There's a few missing ingredients there.

Good to see Red Bull getting genuinely closer on particular tracks in race trim.

Now I have seen Max v Nico, fair penalty IMO. As was said in commentary Rosberg needed to lock up a wheel to at least make it look as though he was trying to make the corner. Ferrari seem to be in no man's land at the moment

 

In the radio message he says he was at full lock - if you view the video from the onboard camera, he keeps driving straight on (until MV is off the track) and then turns his wheel.

In the radio message he says he was at full lock - if you view the video from the onboard camera, he keeps driving straight on (until MV is off the track) and then turns his wheel.

I know most racing drivers will usually defend a mistake (as I would), but Rosberg's explanations and defense make him look pretty daft and ignorant to be honest, especially when it's so easy to see what happened. I still cringe when I hear Barcelona referred to as a 'racing incident', and Rosberg claiming he never sees anything wrong with what has happened numerous times is almost funny. Just hope nobody gets seriously hurt through his poor planning and judgement and questionable on track attitude.

Yesterday for me showed the difference between Hamilton and Rosberg. Bahrain probably the best example, Hamilton gets a poor start then gets clobbered by Bottas and drops to 7th(?). Recovers to 3rd with a badly hobbled car. Rosberg gets a poor start and drops to 4th and stays 4th with no damage or mechanical issues. Nico is very quick on his day but yesterday not so good.

Yesterday for me showed the difference between Hamilton and Rosberg. Bahrain probably the best example, Hamilton gets a poor start then gets clobbered by Bottas and drops to 7th(?). Recovers to 3rd with a badly hobbled car. Rosberg gets a poor start and drops to 4th and stays 4th with no damage or mechanical issues. Nico is very quick on his day but yesterday not so good.

I think the difference between them in racecraft has been on display since they were both at Mercedes. I always rated Rosberg until recent seasons, perhaps Lewis puts him under an amount of pressure he's not used to and finds hard to handle, even Alonso struggled with having him as a team mate. To be honest you want your team mate to push you but you can understand how much pressure someone like Lewis can put on people. Even in his bad seasons he was performing beyond the car and beating his team mate by and large. Must be tough to handle. Like I said earlier, Nico is quick but that means very little without racecraft and a relentless kind of mentality. Similar to Vettel when he was with RBR, very fast but not the best racer, Webber's racecraft was far superior, just didn't quite have the speed. IMO Lewis has a good balance of racecraft and speed, pretty dam good at both.

Nico is capable of good race craft. Look at his pass on Bottas in Japan last year. Textbook stuff. Indeed he pulled a decent pass on Hamilton in Texas last year (albeit Hamilton's tyres were shot). This year though he seems to have been getting spooked when racing wheel to wheel. I guess those first 4 races where he had it all his own way with no competition hasn't really helped his long term game where red bull are now quick enough to cause problems.

As a life long F1 fan i don't think i have watched a more boring race. And i haven't missed one since 2007 and i first started watching in the Mansell Senna era. Hamilton is being flattered by the car his week stable mate, Such a shame that Vestapen isn't in nico's seat it would be far more interesting.

Edited 1 August, 20169 yr by Scribbler

As a life long F1 fan i don't think i have watched a more boring race. And i haven't missed one since 2007 and i first started watching in the Mansell Senna era. Hamilton is being flattered by the car his week stable mate, Such a shame that Vestapen isn't in nico's seat it would be far more interesting.

Are you sure you didn't miss Hungary? That was much worse. I too remember that era and I'm not sure if you're making a comparison but any comparison between eras is generally flawed.

As for Hamilton being flattered by the car I just don't agree. Do you not think that Hamilton has performed well in seasons where he hasn't had a championship winning car? And nearly winning the championship and outperforming Alonso pretty regularly in his first season says nothing about his talent? I think he now finds himself in a car that shows his class because of a brave decision he made. It makes me wonder sometimes what British sportsmen have to do to get some credit. And who knows what would happen if Verstappen joined, he may not get on with the car, remember Perez at Maclaren?

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas.

I remember when it was announced that Hamilton was joining Mercedes. Thought it would be a big mistake considering Mercedes were struggling in the midfield but he then put it on pole in the first race. Then of course 2014 onwards happened

I remember when it was announced that Hamilton was joining Mercedes. Thought it would be a big mistake considering Mercedes were struggling in the midfield but he then put it on pole in the first race. Then of course 2014 onwards happened

I questioned it at the time. Thinking about it he probably didn't like the look of the forthcoming Honda partnership and felt Mercedes had more in the pipeline. Turned out to be a great decision, what driver wouldn't want to be in the best car? It's then what you do with it that counts, there are no guarantees.

As a life long F1 fan i don't think i have watched a more boring race. And i haven't missed one since 2007 and i first started watching in the Mansell Senna era. Hamilton is being flattered by the car his week stable mate, Such a shame that Vestapen isn't in nico's seat it would be far more interesting.

As "Yellowcar" says, you've clearly never watched an F1 race at the "Hunboringring" then.

As "Yellowcar" says, you've clearly never watched an F1 race at the "Hunboringring" then.

It is the same every time that track, it's a great circuit but the nature of it doesn't lend itself to racing at all. Unless it rains.

Are you sure you didn't miss Hungary? That was much worse. I too remember that era and I'm not sure if you're making a comparison but any comparison between eras is generally flawed.

As for Hamilton being flattered by the car I just don't agree. Do you not think that Hamilton has performed well in seasons where he hasn't had a championship winning car? And nearly winning the championship and outperforming Alonso pretty regularly in his first season says nothing about his talent? I think he now finds himself in a car that shows his class because of a brave decision he made. It makes me wonder sometimes what British sportsmen have to do to get some credit. And who knows what would happen if Verstappen joined, he may not get on with the car, remember Perez at Maclaren?

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas.

 

To be honest i wasn't really comparing era's just highlighting that i haven't been late to the party and your points are all valid but i have just become dissolution's with it over the last year or two and the culmination of that growing dislike of the current disparity in performance between cars and the silly rules was epitomized by the last race or couple of races.

 

P.S. i am a Hamilton Fan i just think the spectacle would benefit from a worthy challenger of which Rosberg is not.

Edited 2 August, 20169 yr by Scribbler

To be honest i wasn't really comparing era's just highlighting that i haven't been late to the party and your points are all valid but i have just become dissolution's with it over the last year or two and the culmination of that growing dislike of the current disparity in performance between cars and the silly rules was epitomized by the last race or couple of races.

 

P.S. i am a Hamilton Fan i just think the spectacle would benefit from a worthy challenger of which Rosberg is not.

There are more boring races than good ones that's for sure and something needs to be done. Problem is as other teams start to get close to a dominant team they change the regulations to curb the dominance. If they just left it alone the 3 top teams or maybe 4 would level out or certainly be a lot closer. Wider tyres they have planned might help and a bigger choice of compounds has helped a little this year but we need more.

I think F1 drivers should be in a position where they can race flat out if they choose rather than be managers of degradation. I suppose the era you refer to was better racing from that point of view. In their attempts to make F1 more eco-friendly it has ruined things a bit. This is a massive hypocrisy anyway when you consider they spend most of the year flying on planes and driving lorries and running floodlit night races. Bizarre really.

There are more boring races than good ones that's for sure and something needs to be done. Problem is as other teams start to get close to a dominant team they change the regulations to curb the dominance. If they just left it alone the 3 top teams or maybe 4 would level out or certainly be a lot closer. Wider tyres they have planned might help and a bigger choice of compounds has helped a little this year but we need more.

I think F1 drivers should be in a position where they can race flat out if they choose rather than be managers of degradation. I suppose the era you refer to was better racing from that point of view. In their attempts to make F1 more eco-friendly it has ruined things a bit. This is a massive hypocrisy anyway when you consider they spend most of the year flying on planes and driving lorries and running floodlit night races. Bizarre really.

 

Im not a fan of DRS overtakes. I like DRS i just think it should be available all the time so its upto the driver when to enable disable. The spoiled air and reliance on aero is whats ruined it for me. in the old days you got a tow off the car in front and when you pulled out to pass you the momentum would carry you past. Today's cars get an initial tow and then when they pull over to pass the air hits them like a brick wall and if they get close to the car in front it spoils their down force. There must be a solution to this problem i just don't know what it is.

Mansell Senna was good occasionally, but without the rose coloured specs you remember that often one car was way superior - 87 88 89 90 92 and 93 were all pretty much dominated by single teams making the seasons overall as dull as the current Mercedes show.

Im not a fan of DRS overtakes. I like DRS i just think it should be available all the time so its upto the driver when to enable disable. The spoiled air and reliance on aero is whats ruined it for me. in the old days you got a tow off the car in front and when you pulled out to pass you the momentum would carry you past. Today's cars get an initial tow and then when they pull over to pass the air hits them like a brick wall and if they get close to the car in front it spoils their down force. There must be a solution to this problem i just don't know what it is.

Less aero, wider tyres may be a step in that direction if they can increase mechanical grip significantly.

Mansell Senna was good occasionally, but without the rose coloured specs you remember that often one car was way superior - 87 88 89 90 92 and 93 were all pretty much dominated by single teams making the seasons overall as dull as the current Mercedes show.

That is true but the team mate battles were worth watching. Plus the enhancements on the cars (especially Williams) were even more ridiculous, ground effect aero, turbos, intelligent suspension etc. They may not have had drs and we're able to follow closely but as you say with the rose tinted glasses these things are easy to forget.

Here's hoping the 2017 regs allow for cars to follow close enough to try to pass. You would think that with all the aero expertise up and down the grid that they would be able to come up with something. I have seen the pictures of Vettel testing some of the new regs on last year's Ferrari. Looked quite good to be fair.

Here's hoping the 2017 regs allow for cars to follow close enough to try to pass. You would think that with all the aero expertise up and down the grid that they would be able to come up with something. I have seen the pictures of Vettel testing some of the new regs on last year's Ferrari. Looked quite good to be fair.

I think the tyres will help with the dirty air induced degradation that happens by just having more surface area/overall grip. Straight line drag may still be an issue. Haven't Ferrari based their test on what they think 2017 aero levels will be? I'm sure they know their onions but it's as close to a bodge as you get in F1. Wonder whether the top teams other than Merc have been selected to give them an edge with the data? Hmmm I sniff a mild conspiracy.

Edited 2 August, 20169 yr by YellowCar