Formula 1 - 2016 Season

[Kaotik]

Both you and Kaotik shouldn't confuse dislike of a person with them doing something technically or morally wrong on the racetrack.

You drive for your team, and when your team has told you twice to speed up, it's clear you're doing something wrong. It also doesn't help when you ditch your team and leave Abu Dhabi despite the fact that you've already agreed to do tyre testing for next season on the following week.
Even several British reporters/journalists agree that Hamilton risked his contract with his actions in the race.

Hopefully Wolffs statement that Hamilton will probably get punished for risking teams win (and 1-2) one way or another won't be just empty words.

edit:

He has improved in some aspects. However, from a BBC article:

While Hamilton probably did have more issues (cba to count right now), the article completely ignores Rosbergs technical issues and penalties from them)

 

[cjo]

You drive for your team, and when your team has told you twice to speed up, it's clear you're doing something wrong. It also doesn't help when you ditch your team and leave Abu Dhabi despite the fact that you've already agreed to do tyre testing for next season on the following week.
Even several British reporters/journalists agree that Hamilton risked his contract with his actions in the race.

There's a separate discussion about whether the team was right to ask him to speed up or not, especially as they had the constructors championship in the bag a long long time ago. The only reason it might risk his contract is because it was against a team order. There have definitely been incidents in the past when teams have apologised to drivers for giving them orders they later realised they probably shouldn't have.

Hopefully Wolffs statement that Hamilton will probably get punished for risking teams win (and 1-2) one way or another won't be just empty words.

I think the team will come to the conclusion that pretty much any racing driver they'd want to employ would have done the same thing in that situation, and not punish him because of that.

While Hamilton probably did have more issues (cba to count right now), the article completely ignores Rosbergs technical issues and penalties from them)

The point is that this year, Rosberg didn't have technical issues. He finished every race apart from Spain. He didn't use any excess engine components, so no penalties from that. Even Toto said that Hamilton's engine blowing up in one race is probably what cost him the championship. It cost him 28 points to Rosberg in a season where he only finished 5 points behind.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Even several British reporters/journalists agree that Hamilton risked his contract with his actions in the race.

You mean Fleet Street hacks that already have a beef with Hamilton. For reasoned journalism and opinion, I'd look at Joe's comments or Brundle's, who didn't like it but would have been "surprised and disappointed" if he didn't try and go for it in the only way he mathematically could. Unlike past teammate WDC battles there was no thought of taking each other off and perfectly legitimate and safe tactics were employed. At the very least it amounted to a more interesting race and finale.

Hopefully Wolffs statement that Hamilton will probably get punished for risking teams win (and 1-2) one way or another won't be just empty words.

Wolff made the statement that he is at polar opposites in his opinion - on the one hand he's not happy with 'anarchy' and on the other, the racer in him, completely gets it and understands that it it probably not reasonable to obey orders in that situation.

He has spoke of potentially adding another addendum to their "rules of engagement" tome. In such a situation all the team loses would be a little more prize money form the loss of points - if they really do want to add another clause then have the driver that backs his teammate refund the difference in prize money to the team - that way you'll know if they really do value the WDC!

[edit]

Actually missed this in Joe's article:

In fact, another win would cost Mercedes more money because every point means that the price of the entry fee goes up. Getting more points is utterly irrelevant when are already champion. The payout does not change.

 

[Kaotik]

You mean Fleet Street hacks that already have a beef with Hamilton. For reasoned journalism and opinion, I'd look at Joe's comments or Brundle's, who didn't like it but would have been "surprised and disappointed" if he didn't try and go for it in the only way he mathematically could. Unlike past teammate WDC battles there was no thought of taking each other off and perfectly legitimate and safe tactics were employed. At the very least it amounted to a more interesting race and finale.

I don't know who the "fleet street hacks" are really. Yes, this was better than few of the past incidents between teammates deciding on championship, but still if your team has to tell you twice to speed up and you keep ignoring it, that's not right either - pick a team where you're given more freedom if you don't like it.

The point is that this year, Rosberg didn't have technical issues. He finished every race apart from Spain. He didn't use any excess engine components, so no penalties from that. Even Toto said that Hamilton's engine blowing up in one race is probably what cost him the championship. It cost him 28 points to Rosberg in a season where he only finished 5 points behind.

He got 5 place grid penalty due failing suspension in Austria (forced to switch gearbox, being forced to overtake and take extra risks during race probably were partly causing the brake-by-wire-failure in the end, which eventually dropped him to 4th), and had turbo issues at Austin (impossible to tell exactly how much it affected, but could have been a deciding factor on which wins, him or Hamilton) - + the 10 sec penalty when team gave him advice on radio which the team shouldn't have done, which cost him 3 extra points

 

[Tahir2]

"There is nothing we can do," Lauda told BBC Sport. "This is his attitude and we accept it. It is important. That's it.

"Lewis did his own race, he tried to win the championship in his way - but the danger was Vettel, we could have lost the whole race."

Asked if Hamilton would be reprimanded by the team, Lauda replied: "No because we won the race and finished second, so we achieved the result.

"There's nothing we want to do."

Just proves what a load of muck raking toss pots some UK journalists are - The Guardian, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Mail, I'm looking at you!

And from Joe Saward:

The way I see it, Lewis did a quite brilliant job. He didn’t need to block. He just slowed the pace and Nico could do nothing but sweat. Even he [Nico Rosberg] described Lewis’s tactical driving as “perfect”.
....
Neither driver in Abu Dhabi expressed anything that suggested that he felt that there was anything unfair, although some media were trying to stir up a storm. Nico was drained by the end. It was, he said, the most intense race he had ever had. But you know what? He walked through the fire. You could not fault either driver – unless you don’t understand motor racing. When all is said and done, both drivers did everything they could to win. They did it fairly. They fought like giants and after it was all done, they showed respect for one another. Nico took the pressure and won the title. His steely determination and his absolute refusal to accept defeat was, to borrow his favourite word “Awesome!” Lewis knocked him down and he got up again.

So when you boil it all down. Appreciate what we have, because what we have right now is great.

Bravo Nico. Bravo Lewis. Bravo Mercedes. And bravo F1…

So, no Lewis isn't leaving Mercedes, nor is he getting sacked and he did what he did to try and win the WDC without hurting anyone else.
Nico did an amazing job with the pressure and kept his cool. A great job from two amazing sportsmen.
P.S. Vettel used his fair share of "dirty tricks" against his team mate at Red Bull (Webber) and once beaten by the new kid on the block (Ricciardo) he jumped ship... for a new career as constant whinger and provider of expletives. Something F1 really lacked. If only he could drive a season like his final race in 2016 more often instead of crashing out on lap 1 (usually involving his superior team mate (Iceman) in the process.)
Gah... glad I got that off my chest.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I disagree. Apart from anything written by Joe regarding Brit drivers is better off ignored because the problem is always with somebody else and his whining about people calling him names while he's anything but respectful either (I think he makes many good blog entries but sometimes he completely misses the point and just disagrees and calls everybody stupid that doesn't agree with him), the point is that Hamiltons behavior just wasn't very sportsmanship like.

They were competing for the WDC but at the same time they are still team mates. IMO trying to screw over your team mate in the last race can't be held in very high regard. On top of that the guy gets paid tens of millions a year but refuses to listen to what his team tells him. You try doing that.

Trying to back Rosberg in the pack, saying he only lost the WDC of reliability etc. He should have done the same as Massa did years ago. Drive as fast as you can and act like a true champ despite missing out on the WDC. Not like some whiny little crybaby bitch that didn't get things his way.

 

[Tahir2]

Massa's situation was completely different in 2008.

 

[cjo]

They were competing for the WDC but at the same time they are still team mates. IMO trying to screw over your team mate in the last race can't be held in very high regard. On top of that the guy gets paid tens of millions a year but refuses to listen to what his team tells him. You try doing that.

So you think drivers that have a culture of "I'm the best in the world" that is actively cultivated by the teams should just give up on the final race when there is still a chance of winning the WDC? Just say "oh, my team mate is winning, I guess I'll just give up"? Having drivers that think like that would be bad for the team and make for incredibly boring races. I don't know how long you've been watching F1 for, but what Hamilton did is incredibly tame compared to what drivers have done to teammates in the past. I'd suggest you look up Japan 1989, but given how you reacted to what Hamilton did, you may well have some sort of aneurysm.

He's employed to win. They all are. Toto himself thinks that he'd have done the same thing in Hamilton's position. Any driver you'd want racing for your team would have done, because that's how driven they are to win.

 

[DJ12]

Better to just accept that the Hamilton hate runs too deep with a couple of posters to even engage in a meaningful discussion based on reality and move on.

 

[Kaotik]

Better just accept that the Hamilton worship runs too deep with a couple of posters to even engage in a meaningful discussion based on reality and move on.

 

[Freemantle]

Hamilton is a triple world champ, and is massive box office for the sport, at least he made the final race an entertaining watch.

Rosberg won the WDC, but you all still want to talk about Lewis, go figure.

 

[Tahir2]

I like Rosberg's tenacity but he isn't a personality that draws people to the sport. People like Max, Daniel and Fernando are the stars of F1.

 

[Kaotik]

I like Rosberg's tenacity but he isn't a personality that draws people to the sport. People like Max, Daniel and Fernando are the stars of F1.

Yet Kimi has been constantly topping the "favourite F1 driver" polls

 

[Tahir2]

Kimi is just amazing.
Bwoah.