Formula 1 - 2014 Season

[tongue_of_colicab]

How the hell do you know if he insulted Hamilton? There are tens of millions of people who speak Italian. Surely if rosberg would have said something it would have come out in the media instead of just some "some people said" BS.

 

[Rurouni]

It's in the post do I really need to spell it out for you?

He crashed into his team mate on purpose and insulted him just because he cocked up. This is just further evidence against his character.

Not the nice guy he likes to portray himself as.

Please stop this crashing on purpose. You might believe it was on purpose but it was not a fact thus don't make it sound like a fact. He might be foolishly staying on his line, but the collision was probably not on purpose. The only driver that I believe try to crash on purpose (beside the Piquet Jr. one in Singapore) was Maldonado when he tried to ram Hamilton. Other accident probably was just that, an accident.

 

[-tkf-]

It's in the post do I really need to spell it out for you?

He crashed into his team mate on purpose and insulted him just because he cocked up. This is just further evidence against his character.

Not the nice guy he likes to portray himself as.

I hope you have more on his character than that insulting weak example.

 

[-tkf-]

Boring race imho, the safety car added a slight tension put to shame by a Hamilton that was very very fast.
Deserved win, shame that Ricardo didn't take the fight to Vettel

 

[Bludd]

Nico's car breaking down robbed us of a true battle for 1st place.

 

[Rurouni]

Btw, if something like Rosberg happened during the full radio ban, what would happen? Do team allowed to instruct the driver? that would mean helping him drive, but without any instruction, he probably can't race at all.

 

[cjo]

I think he would have to pit and let the mechanics try to fix it

 

[Dave Baumann]

Some are saying he also was insulting Hamilton in italian after the last race. He should write a book, how to lose 99% if your fans in 1 second.

According to the Five Live Chequered Flag podcast he was questioning "how Hamilton did it" - i.e. how he was so fast.

 

[Phil]

According to the Five Live Chequered Flag podcast he was questioning "how Hamilton did it" - i.e. how he was so fast.

Here's a full translation:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/09/12/f1-fanatic-round-up-1209-2/#translation

I think the main thing is that it could be seen as a bit rude to be talking in italian with your own team (Short) and Massa, when all can speak perfectly fine in English. He also made some references to Hamilton being 'lucky' in Monza (which is a bit silly, as he was unlucky to have a electronic glitch at the start and made up all places by himself).

 

[suryad]

Here's a full translation:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/09/12/f1-fanatic-round-up-1209-2/#translation

I think the main thing is that it could be seen as a bit rude to be talking in italian with your own team (Short) and Massa, when all can speak perfectly fine in English. He also made some references to Hamilton being 'lucky' in Monza (which is a bit silly, as he was unlucky to have a electronic glitch at the start and made up all places by himself).

Agreed. What I also find fascinating is if the drivers share data between each other as team members, how can one driver be faster than the other? I have done some track days myself and if I take advice from an instructor I immediately find my speed increases...so at this high F1 level of racing I find it fascinating. Hamilton just has been in a league of his own and Rosberg is close but there is a difference for sure.

 

[-tkf-]

Agreed. What I also find fascinating is if the drivers share data between each other as team members, how can one driver be faster than the other? I have done some track days myself and if I take advice from an instructor I immediately find my speed increases...so at this high F1 level of racing I find it fascinating. Hamilton just has been in a league of his own and Rosberg is close but there is a difference for sure.

It is the sum of all parts, and since the margins are so small it´s also why a skipped training sesson can be so costly.

First and foremost i think it´s confidence in yourself and in the car. After getting the right setup there is just that few 10 tenths more to find. And then there is consistency, being able to put in the same effort lap after lap. Add to that complexity of the different drive modes, taking care of tires, handling fuel.

Hamilton is exceptional quick and does a incredible job of doing all that, and sometimes it´s seems like he doesn't break a sweat All it takes to break it all is a pussycat doll, and who can blame him!

 

[Phil]

Some interesting facts about this season:

- Hamilton has won 7 races to Nicos 4. Ricciardo has 3 wins this season.
- Hamilton has won every race so far this season when he didn't have a DNF bar Monaco and Austria
- Hamilton when getting to the finish line has always either won or finished at least on the podium
- Hamilton has had 3 DNFs (races) and 2 technical issues during QF to Rosbergs 2 DNF (races).
- Rosberg leads Hamilton in poles 7 to 6. QF tally is 8 to 6 for Rosberg.
- The only driver to beat a Mercedes to pole has been Massa in Austria.

 

[Rurouni]

- Hamilton has won every race so far this season when he didn't have a DNF bar Monaco and Austria
- Hamilton when getting to the finish line has always either won or finished at least on the podium
- Hamilton has had 3 DNFs (races)

The first two facts in the quote are useless facts because like in Spa, a driver can make excuse to retire, thus skewing the result. I'm not saying Ham didn't have car problem, but ultimately the decision to retire the car not because it can't make it to the finish line, but because they want to save the engine or saving something else.
The last fact about DNF is that all Ros retirement are unavoidable (bad luck), but only 1 Ham retirement is truly unavoidable (Australia). In Canada it was unavoidable, but my feeling on that is the retirement could happen to both Merc driver. Probably the reason it happens on Ham first (thus alert Ros) is because he was harder on the brakes. If you switch the car, the same thing probably would happen to Ham.

 

[cjo]

Agreed. What I also find fascinating is if the drivers share data between each other as team members, how can one driver be faster than the other? I have done some track days myself and if I take advice from an instructor I immediately find my speed increases...so at this high F1 level of racing I find it fascinating. Hamilton just has been in a league of his own and Rosberg is close but there is a difference for sure.

One driver can easily be faster than the other. With the sort of speeds and consistency they manage a lot of the difference comes from split-second reactions. Different drivers will react differently to what happens, and if a car set up is ever so slightly better suited to the way they prefer, they'll be able to break later in to corners / accelerate faster out of them.

One of the reasons that Vettel may be beaten by Ricciardo this year is because (apparently) the blown-diffuser suited his driving style better, allowing him to get on the power earlier in the corner. Without that he has to do something he finds less natural.

 

[Phil]

That's why I used the term DNF - not technical issue or anything else. But more to the point; After the incident in Spa, the car seemed damaged, so it wasn't a retirement without merit.

As for your other points; not much to say really. If Hamilton is hard on his brakes - then I suppose Rosberg is hard on his gearboxes. - which is quite frankly absurd. These cars are ment to be driven at the limit and you have a whole team dedicated to the monitoring of all the relevant sensors to notify when to back off. The brake failure in Canada is well documented - as are the other failures.

 

[Rurouni]

I don't think there was ever a case (at least in Ham and Ros era) where gearbox failure were attributed to the driver (as in a driver is harder on gearbox) . But braking is definitely something that can be attributed to the driver.
At Spa the car was definitely damaged. But he can still finish the race. It was probably a tactical retirement. So in my eyes, it wasn't fair to compare Ham 3 DNF to Ros 2. If the record stay that way and Ros won WDC, I'm pretty sure someone will mention this DNF count over and over.
Having said that, I still rate Ham above Ros. The fact that he got a couple of setbacks on quali but at the end still got more wins than Ros. I was really looking forward to the Singapore GP, but a bit disappointed with Ros retirement and the fact that other contenders didn't show up at the race.

 

[Phil]

If it bothers you so much, exclude the Spa race (1 out of the 14 races so far). It doesn't really matter, nor does the context under which the DNF occured. It's as it was stated - some simple facts, that's all. As a friendly reminder; DNF doesn't imply technical or genuine problem - it simply means Did-Not-Finish. If you extend it from this simple meaning, we might as well argue over if Spa should be counted at all because it wasn't technical related, but driver forced.

But braking is definitely something that can be attributed to the driver.

If braking is, then just about anything related to the car is. In reality however, this is a pretty daft thing to do - as I already explained. There's a reason a team employs hundreds of mechanics, technicians and analysts. They monitor the data of the car extensively and come to conclusions (through simulations and real-world data) on how far the car can be pushed. Canada was a unique situation because it was an extreme track (braking wise) and because of how this years car handles energy recovery through the MGU-K. Because it essentially failed (both ROS and HAM suffered from this), there was a higher load on the rear brakes and after the car was stationary just moments before while pitting, it eventually led to a complete failure. This has little to do with how Hamilton is hard on his car (or not), but that the team was confronted with a new unforseen situation and couldn't react quickly enough. There's a high probability that if Hamilton hadn't pitted in that moment, that the problem might have been spotted before it could lead to complete failure. The pitstop exagerated the heat issue which is why they failed immediately afterwards.

 

[Phil]

Looks like its a done deal: Alonso to McLaren-Honda in 2015. Apparently Honda are paying him out, 30 million. It's a done deal apparently accoarding to PitLane.

Announcement will be made at the Japanese GP.

 

[Tahir2]

Bye bye Button?

 

[Phil]

I think rumours are indicating that Magnussen is out...

Edit: https://twitter.com/pitlanetalk/status/515194317053640704

No idea how credible they are, but they seem to be convinced. We'll see i guess...