Hamilton right not to let Rosberg past – Lauda

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In the round-up: Mercedes’s non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has voiced his support for Lewis Hamilton’s decision to not allow his team mate past after he was told to.

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Niki Lauda backs Lewis Hamilton ignoring team orders (Autosport)

Lauda: “If he [Nico] had been in the DRS position, he [Hamilton] would have let him by. But Nico never got that close. Therefore I do understand that Lewis said ‘Why? Why should I stop now in the middle of the circuit to let my team colleague by?’ He is fighting for the championship. So from my point of view Lewis was right.”

Ricciardo feared his Red Bull was going to break down (Fox Sports)

Ricciardo: “I honestly had a scare in the middle of the race. For a few laps we had some issues. Basically, we were down on power and had to get a bit crazy on the switches. I thought the race could have potentially ended early but we got through that.”

VIDEO: How artificial grass helped Daniel Ricciardo win (BBC – UK only)

“BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Tom Clarkson explains why a piece of artificial grass at the exit of the final corner played a crucial part in Daniel Ricciardo’s win in Hungary.”

Exclusive Christian Horner Q&A: Daniel drove fantastically (Formula1.com)

Horner: “Look at today and the job that he [Ricciardo] has done so far. He is really impressive and he has exceeded everyone’s expectations – probably also his own. (laughs) I think it is really healthy for the team to have two competitive drivers that work well together.”

Button rues McLaren’s weather radar reading after slide down Hungarian order (Sky)

Button: “We obviously use different radar to everyone else because on the radar the team thought it was going to rain. Fifth at the start of the race, definitely out of position, and I put the car in a good place then we threw it all away.”

Raikkonen: I deserved better this weekend (ESPN)

Raikkonen: “Sixth doesn’t really give me anything. I think we deserved a bit more, but not after yesterday. I’m here to try and win races, OK it’s some good points but it’s nowhere near where we want.”

VIDEO: Sebastian Vettel struggles to seventh in Hungary after spin (NBC)

Vettel: “It wasn’t a great race. I spun, which was my mistake, and before that I was unlucky with the safety car in the first stint. The timing meant the first four cars lost positions to those running behind. Unfortunately we were then in the wrong mode for the restart and I lost two positions.”

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Comment of the day

With news that former team principal Flavio Briatore will be consulted to help increase F1’s popularity, reader OnlyMe is less than impressed…

Isn’t this like asking Lance Armstrong how to improve the Tour de France?

Briatore is a proven cheat, and worse someone who thinks nothing of risking people’s lives (marshals included) for his own benefit.

Every time I think F1 can’t sink any lower they find a way to prove me wrong.
OnlyMe

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On this day in F1

A horrendous crash for Emerson Fittipaldi in a CART race at the Michigan superspeedway today in 1996 led the two-times world champion, then 49, to retire from top-flight racing. However he subsequently made a brief return in the GP Masters series which ran in the mid-2000s.

Here’s Fittipaldi’s crash which happened at the start of the race:

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Will Wood
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59 comments on “Hamilton right not to let Rosberg past – Lauda”

  1. What was he supposed to do? Brake?

    1. Tell his engineers on the radio “Tough luck.”
      Then receive a mutitude of criticism

      1. Tell his engineers ” tough luck” then stuff the criticism !
        Wha the?

        Lewis and Nico are racing for a championship , they are on the same team , it stops there , Nico might as well be Vettel!!!!
        Race boys Race , save the barbie games for the sandpit

        1. No…as Lauda said, as well as many others, he was supposed to let NR go due to different strategies, but not to actually slow down to help make it happen. NR just wasn’t there pressuring LH like I’m sure the team expected he would be. NR may have questioned why LH wasn’t letting him by, but only because the team said he was going to. NR had to have enough pace at that point that LH would have not been delayed one bit by letting NR go so his side could play their strategy out. Sure NR closed in on LH, but was never right on hs gearbox. I pull for NR, but I’m fine with LH too, and LH was right as Lauda and many others have stated for basically the same reason.

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            28th July 2014, 15:39

            @Robbie There are contradicting reports from Merc – it’s a house divided for sure.

            Apparently, Paddy thought no one could win but Wollf thought Rosberg could win so the orders had the potential to put Lewis 16pts in this race alone.

            The question is why did they not bring Lewis in and put him on new softs instead of putting Rosberg on old softs. With his race setup, Lewis would have been the better choice.

            Although there are plenty of other questions such as:
            2. Why not put Lewis on the soft as RB and Ferrari did and go all the way – he could won it, right?
            3. Why issue team orders at all if you claim that you treat your drivers equally.

            Notice how all those decisions are at the detriment of 1 driver that Mercedes claims they won’t fail and need to do better.

            That’s akin to saying that I want Messi to beat a record of goals scored and benching him for the entire season then asking Messi why he didn’t break the record…

    2. I can only think now that Rosberg is really feeling like the number 2 driver, there’s no way he won’t recall Malaysia 2013.

      1. Isn’t he the number 2 driver?

        1. I don’t believe for a second that NR will be feeling like a number 2 driver, and he is not.

          @freelittlebirds 3. Why issue team orders at all if you claim that you treat your drivers equally? My answer…simply because they were on different strategies, so to have LH hold up NR would have not been treating the drivers equally because NR had a full pit stop worth of time that he was going to have to make up due to the team decision that meant he would be doing one more stop than LH. It’s been done umpteen times before. Remember to first comm we heard (which of course may have not been the first comm in reality, nor do we know the real timing of said comm) which was I paraphrase…Lewis, Nico is on a different strategy so don’t hold him up.

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            29th July 2014, 1:05

            Yes, they said that to Nico last year while Hamilton was in P1 and Nico held Lewis up forever not giving a hoot about Mercedes or Lewis winning a race and a championship wasn’t even in the cards.

            Why switch Nico to soft tyres? If Mercedes is considered about points they could have put Lewis who was ahead by 1 second and has a race setup on an unused set of soft tyres. Nico can pit after Lewis and finished behind him. The team orders made no sense at that stage of the race unless they were planning to put Lewis on the soft tyre at that point.

  2. Jenson must be quite crossed right now. By chance they were in a spectacular position to score big points, but unlike Red Bull or Ferrari, they threw it all away with a seriously bad call.

    But I guess it evens out with all the other times they got it completely right and stormed ahead in changing conditions.

    1. Definitely agree. I’m stunned they didn’t split the strategy and have JB or KM on slicks. The team didn’t even sound that confident while making the decision which makes it even more baffling.

      1. I could understand the gamble of keeping KM out on the Inters as he could benefit immensely if more rain came. With Button, they should have looked at and followed the choice of the rest of the field. Only McLaren kept the Inters.

        1. Problem is, they were the first ones in the pit. So had nothing to go on with regards to looking at what the others did.

          1. Yes, but often they can spy on what tyres the others are preparing and pulling out for the upcomming pitstop.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      28th July 2014, 15:45

      @Fer-no65 Yes they did screw it up but at least they are consistent from previous seasons :-) It is refreshing to see them spreading the consistency around. Jenson has a long way to go until McLaren have shared the consistency he’s been due:-)

  3. Fifty Formula 1 wins for RedBull now:

    1 for Scuderia Toro Rosso.
    49 for RedBull Racing.

  4. The BBC title is funny. I understand the artificial grass being the reason for the crashes but how is it directly responsible for Ricciardo winning? It is like trying to discredit him. I am not able to watch the video since I am not in the UK. Maybe they said more in the it relevant to the awesome race driven by Dan but the headline really is something.

    1. They should spray water on all the astroturf before the race.
      There, that’s my contribution to the Popularity Working Group.

      1. would be a far better solution than the proposed success ballast IMO too @bullfrog. Although not really a safe one. So it fits right with Flavs thinking then

      2. @bullfrog Slippery astroturf would be a good incentive not to go off-track.. Go wide and keep your foot in, spin and bring out SC… popularity working group kills two birds with one stone..

    2. @evered7 It says that Perez’s crash caused the safety car, which helped Ricciardo win. I don’t think it did, he was leading at that point and himself said the safety car didn’t really help his race. He’d have won anyway, perhaps easier.

    3. A lot of things help but thats how life is.
      1. If Ricardo didn’t lose positions in the start he might have also missed coming into the pits early, which means he would not have led the race
      2. Button changing to inters meant that Ric would be unchallenged
      3. Rosberg letting JEV through meant he couldn’t challenge RIC
      4. Perez crashing gave Ric a chance to pit and still stay close to the pack, he would have been 10s behind Ham had he pitted in absence of the safety car
      5. Vettels spin meant that Ric didn’t have to overtake him on track, so those fresh tyres wouldn’t have meant a thing.
      So a lot of things came together for Ric to win, which will always be the case with any driver winning.

  5. Look at that gigantic sea of people at that CART race in the Fittipaldi video. It is sad to see how far IndyCar has fallen.

    1. On the other hand, despite Merc huge advantage, I’m enjoying F1 2014. I don’t even moan about the sound and slower cars anymore. In the end, it’s all down to interesting battles and Merc duo battle for the lead, with loads of drama in the mix are making it very fun to watch.

      On yesterday race: I can’t help but take my hat off for the quality of some drivers out there. Fernando Alonso is a giant! Much respect for him. Lewis Hamilton fighting adversity with extreme maturity. Vettel, despite the pit straight error, seems to be getting his form back and then there are those young talents like Ricciardo, Bottas, Kvyat, Magnussen… too bad Bernie and FIA spend too much time trying to figure out which gimmick is missing.

      Let them boys race!

      1. The racing and action on track is definitely worth watching. The problem is the diminishing audience, due to pricing, the way the races are broadcasted and the hostility towards the casual viewers and those who wants to show an interesting video-clip to their friends after a great race.
        25 years ago, monday after a great race, lots of people were talking about it at lunch. Nowadays I have to search out the usual 1 or 2 suspects of 100+ colleagues, who have seen it. Of course this downward spiral can’t go on, because there is an upper limit to the amount of money FIA can squeeze out of every fan, and I don’t think Briatore, all respect for his Benetton days, can guide FIA out of the deadlock.
        To attract new fans, You have to provide, at least, appetizers for free. Nobody spends the money, before they are addicted to the show, and it takes some time following it, learning the rules, knowing the personalities etc., before the addiction turns in.
        That said, I’m looking forward to being trackside at Spa;-)

        1. @palle Briatore will likely come with of a list og gimmicks “to improve the show”… it will get better when the word “show” is replaced by “race”. In the end, what racing fan want to see is pure racing.

          On Spa, luck you. I’ve been to Spa last year and it was a great experience.

          1. @jcost: +1, I will be surprised if Briatore actually comes up with something related to get more viewers/fans by looking at broadcasting and medias.
            And I was at Spa in 2010 – the year where Alonso and Vettel both crashed and had DNF’s and Hamilton won. Looking very much forward to it, but bringing warm clothes this time:-)

        2. because there is an upper limit to the amount of money FIA can squeeze out of every fan

          to clarify, it’s FOM trying to squeeze money out of fans. They operate the ongoing exploitation of commercial rights that FIA leased out…

    2. Thats because Indycar was awesome back them, better than F1

  6. On COTD “Every time I think F1 can’t sink any lower they find a way to prove me wrong.”

    That, Ladies and Gentlemen is the quote for this year .
    Better , it could be F1 Management as the sport by itself is quite spectacular and thrilling.

    1. True that

      Sooooo sad ,
      But what should we expect ?
      Bernie is well known for cheating as a team owner ( water cooled brakes)
      So of course it just gets bigger and bigger .
      Hopefully justice is done in his court case

    2. I know people change and bla bla bla, but hiring Flavio Briatore for such job is beyond me. It just doesn’t feel right.

      There tens of people who could work on that who happen to be respectful individuals, I still don’t get the rationale behind such decision.

    3. Yeah, they really have been on a rid of that @hamilfan.

  7. How come that Lewis is the only one on the grid that is treated as a kid with some fathers figure backing him up all the time? First there was a mix of Ron, Anthony and now Niki.

    These people have always been interviewed with questions to backup Lewis’ drives, decisions or when he have had a bad time. Same during the TV feed, they have always had the camera pointed at them as soon Lewis has done something on the track.

    1. He’s not, this is no different to the way Horner & Marko are first in front of the camera to defend or promote Vettel, or Rob Smedley with Massa, for example.

      1. I don’t think this was hindsight, it was the first thought I had after they pitted Rosberg for the option yet Hamilton for the prime. Hamilton also questioned the decision a few laps into his stint.

        Hamilton was ahead on track, there was no reason for the team to employ a risky strategy for Hamilton in order to get past, two stints on the option would have been far quicker, and risk free in terms of his only championship rival.

      2. That was meant as a reply to your post directly below. :)

  8. Thanks Laudable for stating the the obvious.

    You should instead be discussing the choosing the wrong tyre for Lewis’ final stint.

    1. Thank you Captain Hindsight !

  9. Mr. Lauda is right. Lewis is fighting for the championship and he was racing Rosberg. At this stage and the way things are, I doubt Nico would have yield.

    1. I agree. If Nico had been right behind him like he was in the last lap then I could understand him being criticised for not letting him through. However Nico was miles behind so there was no way Lewis could let him through without losing time.

    1. @moknat28

      Thankyou !!
      We dont get that free to air in Australia ,

      Thanks.

  10. F1 Fanatic @f1fanatic_co_uk

    It’s so depressing @MercedesAMGF1 are being asked if they’re sabotaging @LewisHamilton. How stupid are some people? Go watch something else.

    “really” ???? even after Lewis storms from pitlane to Podium ???? Really????
    to me it looks like Charlie sabotaged Nico to get back in his bro-man Lewis’ good books ….bhahahaaa

  11. petebaldwin (@)
    28th July 2014, 10:06

    I don’t think Lauda is right to be honest. At times Nico was in the DRS zone and Hamilton still didn’t let him past. He was never going to let him past. Why should he?

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      28th July 2014, 10:09

      Just read the other article about this and Hamilton even said:

      ““But to be honest, he didn’t get close enough to overtake but I was never going to lift off and lost ground to Fernando [Alonso] or Daniel [Ricciardo] to enable him to have a better race. So that was a bit strange.”

      How long are Merc going to try this? Hamilton in 2nd at Abu Dhabi and Nico in 3rd and they try and ask Hamilton to move out of the way? At what point do they accept that the biggest prize in F1 is currently being fought solely between their 2 drivers?

      1. Wolff made a statement that they’re going to relax their policy because of the title fight. It was inevitable.

  12. I voted it a 10 without hesitation. It had drama, changing conditions, great overtakes, spectacular crashes and near-misses (without anyone getting hurt), a team orders controversy and an unexpected winner. The cars were clearly a handful in those conditions, and the variable grip and tail-happy nature of 2014’s F1 cars made it a real test for the drivers, and a great show for the fans.

    That last few laps with Alonso, Hamilton and Ricciardo dicing line astern was epic – the cream rising to the top amidst the chaos. Three very different drivers, all fantastic talents. Three different cars, three different engines, three different strategies, all with a taste of the win and giving everything to achieve it. Then Rosberg chasing them down with some scorching laps and getting the door slammed in his face by his team-mate.

    I just wish I could have seen the whole race – had to make do with BBC highlights (although the coverage was still very good).

    1. Oops, wrong thread – please delete

  13. We are going to get to a point (and I reckon we are not far off) where FOM and the FIA’s behaviour will be more “of a show” that F1. Why do they insist to “spice it up”? Are they dramatically changing the rules of soccer, rugby, tennis or cricket whenever a team is dominating? T20 cricket was introduced to attract more viewers and although it is a form of the game that I can’t really be bothered with, it does serve a purpose. It brought the sport into the arena where it can compete with soccer and rugby matches that last less than a full day (or five). But none of these sports had dramatic changes over the years. But DRS, enforced tyre rules, qualifying limitations, standing restarts, the double points fiasco in Abu Dhabi (and BCE’s other ridiculous suggestions of sprinklers and shortcuts) serves no other purpose than “spicing up the show”. That said I don’t mind the technical changes – being road relevant does serve a purpose. The teams (and specifically manufacturers) must see a point to F1 and that point should not ONLY be viewer figures based on gimmicks. Someone that is drawn to F1 based on the gimmicks are unlikely to return after a few more processional races I feel.

  14. Fantastic drive from Lewis ,shame about the stratergy ,he had brand new soft tyres and didn’t get to use them in the race could have won himself. Brilliant drives from Alonso and Daniel , fantastic passing from all 3 top drivers… Nice to see the championship warming up nicely … Maybe double points will benefit someone else other than the 2 Mercedes drivers. This race just proves anything can happen and hopefully in the next race we’ll see just that….. Well Done Daniel 2 wins heres hoping for a few more to make it interesting….

  15. Israel Nunez
    28th July 2014, 16:04

    “You always have to obey team orders” only applies if the order is against Vettel I think…

  16. If Kimi wants to win races, first he has to finish in front of Alonso. And good luck with that, no Ferrari driven by Alonso has ever broke. And he usually only has one race ending mistake per year.

    1. He retired in Malaysia 2010 If I remember correctly. I can’t think of another example though.

  17. Niki Lauda is spot on. This years championship would have lost a huge amount of credibility if Rosberg had been let through by Hamilton. The quality of the racing recently has been very good, for once it has matched the hype.
    As usual with F1, whenever the sport seems to have gone back to great racing, we get these stupid arguments that makes the sport appear artificial and fake.
    I understand the argument that Mercedes believed Rosberg stood the better chance of winning the race, had Hamilton yielded. But this is not a midpack team anymore like it was four years ago, they are leading both championships and their drivers are the only ones with a realistic shot at the title.
    Yet Wolff and is underlings are running the team as if it were a mid pack team. We have heard the PR friendly rhetoric all season, the McLarenesque stuff that ‘we let our drivers race’. Yet when on track things get meaty, they lose their bottle.
    Hamilton to me is driving on anger. You can bet your life he remembers Monaco two months ago and the stunt Rosberg pulled, why should Lewis yield?

  18. It may be unreasonable, but I am getting tired of hearing that Hamilton was ‘shocked’ to hear team orders. Well as far as my memory goes, team orders are still legal in F1. And looking at the broader picture, it might have given a win to Mercedes and a chance to hold on to its record… I wonder what the reaction would be if Lewis was behind Nico, and the call went to Nico…

  19. It’s such a tragedy that when we are having exciting races which we’ve dreamed of, the crowds at the circuits are dropping. Hungary was a continuation of the trend from Germany. Ironically, when we’ve had processional yawn-inducing races in the Schumacher era the crowds were increasing…now when we have races more thrilling than even FIFA World Cup games there aren’t people to appreciate. Something is wrong somewhere, and I don’t think it’s an F1 problem alone – the NASCAR Brickyard 400 race had so many empty seats…

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