Head To Head Nico Rosberg vs Lewis Hamilton
- Thread starter FB
- Start date
KekeTheKing that's not how I interpreted The Pits post. It seemed to me that he was more or less agreeing with you on who bore the major responsibility.
Tuscan1969
Podium Finisher
Not grey at all... It's still deliberately causing an avoidable collision!
Here's the thing. I wouldn't be nearly this vociferous if Rosberg hadn't so flippantly confirmed the teams worst possible fears. Here is a guy who readily admits to placing his car in position for an inevitable accident. And yet people are still falling all over themselves to try and explain it away as a 'racing incident'. You can be 100% certain that if the roles were reversed in this situation, with Hamilton brazenly announcing that he was ready and willing to cause a collision in order to prove a point, then the wrath of the paddock, the worlds media, and the peanut gallery would be raining down upon him without mercy.
I feel perfectly entitled to put up a stout defense for Lewis here. History is on my side. Hamilton is notorious for being able to battle in close quarters with drivers throughout the field, season after season, without ever punting them off into retirement. The lone exception is Maldonado in Monaco, and I don't count Canada 08 as a racing deal. Lewis simply does not damage competitors cars into retirement. And neither does Rosberg. Until yesterday where that little touch could have easily been avoided. His admission of premeditation makes this act quite disgraceful. As has already been stated though, Mercedes have little recourse here. Nico got away with another one and has created a climate where another incident will be viewed with complete disdain, regardless of the possibility that it may be much more of a "racing incident" than this one which was not a racing incident at all, but a move meant to send a message in the most powerful terms possible, World Championship Points.
I've been saying this for months now. Nico Rosberg has a completely different look this season to any other in which he's competed in. He appears to consider his capturing the World Title as an inevitability. The phrase "I really, really don't like finishing 2nd to Lewis" resonated for four rounds on the trot before the Monaco fiasco, which has colored the Championship to this day. The niceties had altogether ceased and all bets were off. Incredible driving and unreliability kept things from boiling over until Belgium, but the revelation that Rosberg was willing to sacrifice victory for his team in order to advance his personal agenda has done irreparable damage to both his reputation and perhaps more important to him, Hamilton's championship aspirations.
I feel perfectly entitled to put up a stout defense for Lewis here. History is on my side. Hamilton is notorious for being able to battle in close quarters with drivers throughout the field, season after season, without ever punting them off into retirement. The lone exception is Maldonado in Monaco, and I don't count Canada 08 as a racing deal. Lewis simply does not damage competitors cars into retirement. And neither does Rosberg. Until yesterday where that little touch could have easily been avoided. His admission of premeditation makes this act quite disgraceful. As has already been stated though, Mercedes have little recourse here. Nico got away with another one and has created a climate where another incident will be viewed with complete disdain, regardless of the possibility that it may be much more of a "racing incident" than this one which was not a racing incident at all, but a move meant to send a message in the most powerful terms possible, World Championship Points.
I've been saying this for months now. Nico Rosberg has a completely different look this season to any other in which he's competed in. He appears to consider his capturing the World Title as an inevitability. The phrase "I really, really don't like finishing 2nd to Lewis" resonated for four rounds on the trot before the Monaco fiasco, which has colored the Championship to this day. The niceties had altogether ceased and all bets were off. Incredible driving and unreliability kept things from boiling over until Belgium, but the revelation that Rosberg was willing to sacrifice victory for his team in order to advance his personal agenda has done irreparable damage to both his reputation and perhaps more important to him, Hamilton's championship aspirations.
The Artist.....
Champion Elect
I think in all the hand wringing, many people are missing the point; lots of people are looking at this ex post, having observed the damage to Hamilton's tyre. But, how often does contact actually lead to damage of the tyre? Not very often!...
The accident was not inevitable. Hamilton could have modified his line but chose not to. Had the personnel been the other way round I would have only needed to change the names round.
You could change "Rosberg" to "Hamilton" equally. Do you really think that Hamilton does not mind finishing second to Rosberg?
Front wing to rear tire almost always leads to a puncture. Front wing damage is rarely a cause of retirement. A flailing carcass on a lap of Spa, well that'll end your race.
Bill, my point was that Rosberg announced this to the world, on the podiums and in the press conferences on numerous occasions. That is not something you would keep repeating if you were generally friendly towards that person. I suppose that was the first inclination that it was never going to be buddy, buddy at Mercedes.
I'm surprised there is any discussion over who is at fault here. It is always the responsibility of the passing driver to ensure that he/she gets by safely. As a racer myself, I know that you have to make assumptions about what your competitor is going to do and sometimes you get it wrong, as Lewis did in this case. This doesn't make it his fault, but at some point he has to stop looking in the mirrors, make a choice based on these assumptions and commit to the corner. This all took place at high speed where inches make the difference.
I'm pretty sure Nico was making the point that from now on, Lewis cannot assume that Nico is going to back off in these situations and he must make room for the new, aggressive Nico.
I'm pretty sure Nico was making the point that from now on, Lewis cannot assume that Nico is going to back off in these situations and he must make room for the new, aggressive Nico.
snowy
Champion Elect
Lewis can not be credited with having eyes in the back of his head, a sixth sense or the uncanny ability to know that his opponent is going to be unreasonably reckless with his own front wing and very expensive piece of machinery. He would have had to take avoiding action on the strength of an inckling that Nico was on the marbles or had lost them entirely.
Last edited:
And what is meant by the "new, aggressive Nico" is a Nico "who is prepared to damage both their cars in a maneuver that has zero chance of being successful". That's not aggressive, that's simply stupid. How much of "a point" would Rosberg have made if Hamilton was undamaged and he had the puncture instead?? Poor driving from someone who should know better.
Last edited:
Taking the Les Combes incident aside. Rosberg fluffed what should have been a reasonably easy win when he flat-spotted his tyres trying to overtake Vettel. That switched him from a 2 to a 3 stop strategy and in the end meant he didn't take another 7 points out of Hamilton.
Has he come out on top in any wheel-to-wheel racing this year? Definitely an area for improvement.
Has he come out on top in any wheel-to-wheel racing this year? Definitely an area for improvement.
Jos the Boss
Champion Elect
I have a question and it is a genuine one. How do you know that Nico turned in twice to that corner? I know the steering wheel moved twice marginally but isn't that just how it is when a driver negotiates a corner I've been looking at some on board footage from other drivers and their hand/steering wheel are never only pointing in one direction the seem to take several snaps at it, here is some footage to show what I'm blabbering on about.
Last edited:
http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/9438306/hamilton-and-rosberg
From 25 seconds in.
The double move is clear.
From 25 seconds in.
The double move is clear.
I guess the argument would be that the video of Alonso show him correcting oversteer, understeer etc. from a Ferrari that is clearly all over the place, whereas the steering wheel action by Rosberg was him deliberately altering his line to hit Hamilton. Personally I don't think you can really draw conclusions just looking at the steering wheel - the position of his car through the corner is what's important and he put himself in to a wedge that was always going to close, and it was a wedge that he had multiple ways to get out of.
I'm not saying he didn't I'm wondering if it just isn't an automatic reaction due to feed back from the steering mechanism and tyres like I said it is very rare for a steering wheel to be rock steady during a corner..
Similar threads
- Article
