Hamilton takes victory after last lap clash with Rosberg

2016 Austrian Grand Prix summary

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Rosberg made progress in the early phase of the race after pitting on lap ten to change onto the soft tyres, managing to jump ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and the Red Bulls and crucially team mate Hamilton, who had kept his ultrasoft tyres running for 21 laps.

Sebastian Vettel tried to stretch the stint on supersoft tyres for as long as possible, but his race ended as his right rear tyre exploded on the start finish straight, ending his race and deploying the safetycar. That set of tyres had run for 29 laps including three laps in qualifying.

Mercedes pulled away at the head of the field, trading fastest laps between them about one second per lap faster than the chasing pack.

Hamilton pitted again on lap 55, but made a mistake on his new soft tyres into turn two, running wide and losing time. Rosberg changed tyres onto the supersoft one lap later and crucially emerged just ahead, setting up a race to the finish. Hamilton was not impressed with his tyre selection, asking “why is he on a softer tyre than me?”

Hamilton closed in on Rosberg with three laps to go, forcing Rosberg to defend as his supersoft tyres started to wear. Hamilton got a run on Rosberg on the final lap and the two collided into turn two.

Rosberg’s front wing was damaged and limped home to fourth, unable to defend from Verstappen and Raikkonen behind.

Hamilton took the victory, saying “I was on the outside, it wasn’t me who crashed”

Behind the drama, Ricciardo switched to ultrasofts late in the race and passed Jenson Button to take fifth in the closing stages.

Grosjean managed to take seventh position and Sainz in eighth as they also extended their final stint on the soft tyre. Sergio Perez was on to finish ahead of Sainz, but crashed on the final lap. Valterri Bottas came home ninth behind them.

Pascal Wehrlein finished tenth to take Manor’s first points finish since Jules Bianchi in Monaco in 2014.

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

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Chris Turner
Being pelted by rain on his first visit to an F1 race at the 1998 British Grand Prix wasn't enough to dim Chris's passion...

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148 comments on “Hamilton takes victory after last lap clash with Rosberg”

  1. What a brilliant race. Cor.

  2. Incredible race! Rosberg can only blame himself for this one, he clung on well until that move

    1. @strontium Absolutely mate, Rosberg’s dirty play cost him his well deserved second place, guy just can’t resign to accept N° 2.

      1. What a rubbish driver he would be if he settled for 2nd.

      2. Come on, He had braking issues and locked his brakes into Hamilton. It was a mistake, but not a dirty play

        1. @gdewilde I don’t agree – even if that were true he could have done more to avoid hitting his team mate. That looked very cynical to me. And with failing to stop with parts falling off his car he could be in quite a lot of trouble.

          1. @Keith why he should have pitted when the damaged part was a front wing? And what is the penalty for not stopping in this case? This is always the case when a front wing is damaged. By the way, ROS had a brake by wire failure which explains why he crashed with HAM. I believe today it was MERC mistake after all since they should have done a better job to keep HAM in front of ROS, we would then avoid that last lap collision! Those collisions are starting to hurt MERC as a manufacturer!

          2. @keithcollantine Watching the analysis By Davidson on Sky Sports F1, I agree it was a dubious move by Rosberg

          3. @keithcollantine

            From my not-so-vibrant memory what I saw Hamilton cut across Rosberg while rejoining the track and that’s what caused the damage.

          4. @sravan-pe the pair did not make further contact after Hamilton went wide, Hamilton had to take avoiding action when rejoining but they didn’t make contact there

          5. @breesegp

            I just saw the replays and I withdraw my comment. -_-

        2. You could see in the sow motion: Rosberg didn’t steer in. It was on purpose

          1. Kudos to Hamilton http://bit.ly/29eJlVn.

            With all the handicap benefits that Nico receives to win races, he is unable to take advantage because he never looks at the larger picture.

            Any other driver would be 50 points ahead. Nico stands to lose the lead because of his poor reasoning, logic and choices.

          2. Hamilton turned into Rosberg. Hamilton could have avoided the accident. Watch his hands on his wheel.

          3. Of course he turned in. They were in a corner. Rosberg didn’t turn in the corner, which unless I’m mistaken, that’s something you’re supposed to do.

        3. You mean just like in Spain? Open your eyes guy….this is now the second time Nico has not taken the optimal racing line into a corner in an attempt to blatantly block his teammate and prevent a pass, and on both occasions it has cost the team and damaged cars. Ridiculous.

    2. Sviatoslav (@)
      3rd July 2016, 14:51

      Absolutely terrible race.
      Extremely easy DRS-passes, stupid tyres that do not let fast driver be fast in a race.
      Just look at Ric vs Ver. The Australian is always better on one lap. But these lousy tyres from Pirelli with incredible pressure do not allow anyone show their true speed.
      The one who goes slower (not faster) wins. This is not true racing.
      Plus, I expect Pirelli to make the same terrible tyres next year.

      1. Sorry but Max is just faster then Riccardo in races (Look back at Baku etc). And he is much better with his tires. 50 + this race.
        Accept the facts.
        It’ s not Pirelli.

      2. ”Extremely easy DRS-passes” – The passes made on the DRS zones weren’t easy, and most of them were completed at the subsequent corner.

    3. What??! have you raced in your life? Nico was on the inside. Brakes late, cannot hit the apex (that’s physics), get understeer, cannot turn and decides to continue straight. He can, he must, he wants to do so because that’s how you defend in any race in the world, in any category, at any age, in any circumstances. He was nice enough to give space to Lewis to come back from off track, if you wanna know more. Senna doing a move on Prost is a legend, Nico touching your brit kid is a baaaaad man. Gimme a break:)

      1. sunny stivala
        3rd July 2016, 16:59

        lulu came back and overtook Nico under yellow flag.

      2. Laughable. You obviously don’t like Brits but try to be balanced in your assessment

        1. sunny stivala
          4th July 2016, 7:58

          balanced like those of his fan club at SKY?

        2. sunny stivala
          4th July 2016, 8:03

          And by the way, are you PETRUSKA the hamburger eating toilet blocking from across the pond?

    4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      3rd July 2016, 16:06

      Vintage Hamilton – a bad pistop and a crazy tyre choice by Mercedes for Lewis costing him the lead and putting him on the back foot. Lewis still managed to come first despite Rosberg getting DRS from 4-5 drivers and Lewis getting stuck by Max on the slower tyre.

      I don’t think any driver that’s ever driven a car (not just raced) could have beaten Nico given these circumstances! This is what makes Lewis one of a kind! When push comes to shove, Lewis shows up with a bulldozer:-)

      1. Totally agree!!!

    5. sunny stivala
      3rd July 2016, 16:54

      evidence by video shows Lulu had overtaken Nico under yellow flag.

      1. Wrong. And would be irrelevant anyway for damaged car

        1. sunny stivala
          4th July 2016, 8:10

          yes, it might be argued to being irrelevant with a damaged car, but not wrong regarding overtaking under yellow flag, video clearly shows yellow flag before overtake.

  3. Mega Pascal !

  4. Congrats to Verstappen! What is Ferrari doing, I understand that Seb was waiting for rain but Rai should’ve pitted much earlier.

    1. Agree. Raikkonen lost a few seconds during those unnecessary couple of laps. I think Ferrari’s progress on the car is being ruined by their bad strategy choices. Arrivabene is a definitely a good manager. But does anyone know if he also has a say when it comes to race strategy?

  5. Race days matter. Today shows that again.

  6. This is sad.. I am a Hamilton fan, die hard… But… Firstly.. Mercedes should not have let Hamilton stayed out. That way, he would have track position. I understand that after his 2nd stop, he made a mistake. But it was the first stop that got him behind Nico.

    I never said this, but maybe they need to be separated. I understand that racing hard is part of their team but maybe it has gone too far. Both of them could have been out of the race and that would have meant that Verstappen would have won…

    1. Fully agree, I only blame MERC for today’s incident. On the other hand, HAM and ROS should either mature and sort their problems, or should be kicked out of the team which is losing valuable points because of them!

      1. ..and that are still 1 and 2 in the drivers championship and miles clear in the constructors.
        Seems like a no-brainer to me!!?!

    2. How bizarre. One of the few areas of the sport where we are seeing real rivalry and fighting between two bitter enemies, with unpredictable and exciting consequences, and you guys want to neuter them?! Come on, this is the most positive thing in the sport right now. Let them have at it every race and Toto, if you don’t want fighting, flip a coins don’t replace one of them with KR or JB

  7. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    3rd July 2016, 14:38

    Rosberg should take a penalty for that reckless move. This goes beyond defending, he has learned some Schumi tricks as far as I could see it!
    Sad day for me. Vettel out and Hamilton won the race. ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!

    1. Schumacher wouldn’t take it so far as to damage his car and throw points away.

      I agree that Rosberg should be penalized for the move as he didn’t leave Lewis any room and caused an accident. Once again I’d love to be Mercedes post race debrief. Hopefully they are recorded and 10 or 15 years from now will be released in a box set. I’ll definitely buy one.

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        3rd July 2016, 15:16

        @velocityboy He indeed damaged his car in Jerez 1997.

  8. Spa 2014 vice versa….no words. completely undeserved win.

  9. Honestly Rosberg should have just taken second, instead he gets fourth. On those tyres no one would’ve blamed him.

    Except probably this forum since of course no one here has respect for anyone but Lewis, but such is this place.

    1. William Jones
      3rd July 2016, 14:54

      Well, you obviously weren’t in the live stream, where members of those site were predicting rosbergs victory due to his superior driving from the first pit stop

      1. William Jones
        3rd July 2016, 14:56

        *this site

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      3rd July 2016, 16:31

      @saint-jay are you suggesting that the new super softs were worse than a used set of sorts at the end of the race?

  10. That was terrible driving from Rosberg. He bottled it on the final lap on his supposedly strongest track. Great drive from Wehrlein (my driver of the day), Verstappen and Hamilton in the second half.

    1. William Jones
      3rd July 2016, 14:55

      Trying to decide between button and Wehrlein for mine :)

      1. I think Button for the weekend and Wehrlein for the race…

        1. But Wehrlein also got that 12th place yesterday Maddme, so that makes him a very good candidate for the driver of the weekend, doesn’t it?

          1. sunny stivala
            4th July 2016, 8:19

            its about time certain F1 sites starts pushing for a FERRARI seat for the new kid, but than their first preference would be for him to replace Nico.

  11. If I was Rosberg, I’d probably done the same, because it is better to show you’re not a gentleman (on a race track) and lose points, than to appear as too weak and grab the remains.

    1. Traverse (@hellotraverse)
      3rd July 2016, 15:00

      That’s just silly. Points are the only thing that matters when the season is done. The extra points that Nico missed out on today might just be his undoing come the end of the championship.

  12. Hamilton will probably need to re-visit his “Nico and I are getting along really well now” statement. : )

    1. sunny stivala
      4th July 2016, 8:26

      Revisiting his (Nico and I getting along well now) will not work because his foot and mouth infection which badly effects the brain fart non return valve was never cured.

  13. +1 ham plays dirty.

    1. wehre did He play dirty? where should He have gone? nico knew He had brake problems, He knew what could happen, how was Lewis to know

    2. Lewis “has massive understeer” and drives Nico off track. Nothing happens. “Understeer”.
      Nico defends his position in the corner, Lewis turn on him hard, they hit. Nico is to blame. Doesn’t make any sense!

      And Lewis joins track very dangerously – Sky Sports comment: “Nico didn’t even give him room to join the track” << absurd :(

      1. @lauri

        You said it all.

      2. @f1lauri to have understeer you actually have to turn the wheel. Watch the Rosberg onboard and see he makes no attempt to make the corner until he hits Hamilton. That for me is a the difference here. Had Rosberg attempted to make the corner is say it was hard racing but it’s a little too much to just drive straight on in a corner knowing there’s a car on the outside which was actually a tiny bit ahead.

      3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        3rd July 2016, 16:37

        Guys and gals – you are all wrong – look it’s my race to win, it’s my corner and I have the right to do whatever I want on track – 1st and 2nd are mine and the fiat has screwed me by cutting down 18 points every time I win – my car was also damaged and in slower mode and therefore I automatically get what in Monaco is known as a carte blanche to do as I please on track – so its obviously Lewis’s fault!

  14. well, i remember someone saying jenson would be p18 After lap one. … so great for him, so well deserved! !!

  15. Mercedes have no one to blame but themselves. Not only did they pit Nico first, they wasted time pitting Lewis; which allowed Nico to get in front of him at the initial stop. For some reason, they engineered this position swap and undercut. More so, they knew Nico had a BBW brake issues, but they didn’t tell not him to fight Lewis.
    What were they thinking of??

    1. Man.. they are not allowed to tell Nico regarding the brakes… But, I agree on the strategy… That was the main cause of Lewis getting behind Nico and the safety car too.. But it helped both of themm

    2. The strategy they employed for Lewis raised eyebrows. I didn’t understand why they appeared to be playing with Lewis’ strategy even though he was in front and on the pace. Once Nico showed the pace of the tires after the first stop, I thought they should have pitted Lewis. He was in front so it’s up to the others to figure out a way past. I couldn’t help but feel they were trying to get Nico in front.

  16. Hamilton to blame for that, you cannot turn into a corner like normal with a car alongside you on the inside.

    Nico ran a bit deep due to a brake by wire issue according to Niki & Toto, He was on the inside & lewis just turned into him.

    1. Errrrr no….did you even watch the replay?

      1. That was pretty obvious breaks failure.

      2. ???? I have to ask you the same thing. It was 100% Hamilton’s fault. He turned in to Rosberg. Lewis made no attempt to avoid Nico.

      3. @ju88sy yes i i saw hamiltons incar camera on the sky ipad app, he turned into the corner sharply even though nico was alongside. its clear as day and if fom had shown it everyone else would have seen this as well.

        1. Nope watch the replay, Hamilton was past on the racing line. Rosberg chose not to turn and crash into Hamilton. Ant Davidson just showed it perfectly with Hamilton turning on the apex Rosberg failed to even try for the Apex. 100% Rosberg at fault. Hence he is at the stewards and you could even see Horners raised eyes look back to Lauda when Hamilton was being fairly magnanimous on the podium and saying Nico had a brake problem.

          1. @ju88sy if there is a car alongside you on the inside you dont turn in & if that car goes a bit deep your straighten your wheel to avoid the contact.

            look at the video from 2001 that i posted below, very similar situation but michael schumacher see’s the car on the inside going deep & straightens his wheel to avoid the collision.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx9W3pNdSR0

            at the 1st corner in montreal nico did the same thing, he saw lewis run deep on the inside & turned out to avoid the contact. lewis should have done the same but he didn’t he decided to turn in & that helped create the contact.

    2. lewis should have done what schumacher did in 2001 at the same corner & see the car on the inside running deep & turned out of the move.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx9W3pNdSR0

      yet lewis just decided to turn in like there was no car on his inside.

      the british media will try & cover this up as normal i guess.

      1. exactly, Rosberg had the right to do that,

        when Hamilton does a similar defending move and Rosberg yields on the outside everyone says ‘great defensive driving/why is Rosberg even on the outside etc’ but now Rosberg pulls off a similar move even with the brake by wire problem and Hamilton just turns in on him. Lets be honest, if Hamilton turned later like he should have then they would have both made it and Ham may have got the win in the next corner anyway without causing damage to both cars.

        1. William Jones
          3rd July 2016, 15:02

          If you thing rosbergs had the right to do that, you’re not welcome on my server

          1. William Jones
            3rd July 2016, 15:07

            *think Rosberg

      2. Correct.

    3. LOL, so I guess this is how the folks booing the podium justify themselves.

      Ham did not turn in on the normal line, he was driving near the outside white line. Ros took him to the edge of the track and beyond.
      And further, Ros’ brake issue is not Ham’s problem; if he can’t brake normally, then Ros should not try to brake late.

      1. Exactly Hamitlon actually gave Rosberg space by taking line right on the outside knowing he could have made the pass on the cut back.

    4. Do you have a twitter feed because this was hilarious I want to follow you for more satirical commentary!

    5. Nico didn’t turn and Hamilton waited too the last moment before going off track to turn his wheel and make the turn assuming Nico would take the racing line.

      Nico didn’t take the racing line and it wasn’t because of his brakes. He didn’t lock up tired or turn his wheel. Nico also stated he could take whatever path he wanted through the turn since he had the inside line in the post race interview. He made his intentions known, leaving no doubt what he was trying to do. Your statements are laughable at best.

      1. You fail to understand something – he was BEHIND LH and had been gifted his first place through an astoundingly ridiculous strategy. And then had tyres a second a lap faster. He should have been far up the road with those presents not simply trying like his mentor, to ruin other disadvantaged chaps races!

  17. Really annoyed by Sky, their questions to Toto and Niki are so incredibly biased it hurts my human intellect. It’s marginal who was at fault (I think Nico) but to talk about how Hamilton’s race was ruined was pathetic, really got under my skin. Please get a German on board or something, because you’re so biased it makes my skin crawl.

  18. What spoilt the race was that the Merchant guys didn’t take each other out. It would have opened up the championship a bit more.

    1. William Jones
      3rd July 2016, 14:58

      Those damned merchants, selling f1 memorabilia to the fans and not ripping each other’s stalls apart! They ruin every race

      1. I hope you do realise that was a spell check correction on my iPhone

        1. William Jones
          3rd July 2016, 15:09

          Of course I do, but I hope I made a few people smile :)

  19. I Hope Ferrari really puts pressure on Bernie and FIA so that Pirelli builds a right tire or get out of the F1. This is unbearable Always blaming on Debris or other things that costed teams.

  20. No pace from Williams and Force India at all.

    1. But, at least, Massa and Perez had a much better battle there.

  21. 1. The team leaves Lewis out too long in the first stint, letting Nico make up gobs of time on fresh tires, then compounds that mistake by giving Lewis a rubbish pit stop, letting Nico by into the lead of the race.

    2. The team has another dodgy pit stop for Lewis for his second stop, and puts him on sub-optimal, worn soft tires while his teammate gets fresh, supersoft tires.

    3. Nico, once again, doesn’t want his teammate to pass him of course, but in once more ridiculous fashion he drives his teammate off the road making contact, just as he did in Spain, costing the team valuable points.

  22. Hamilton would have known Rosberg was having brake issues. He put himself on the outside in a vulnerable position and nearly caused a double DNF. Rosberg shouldn’t have braked so late. Both at fault. Management are justifiably fuming. Schoolboys.

  23. They both did wrong, Nico obviously caused the first crash, but Lewis is responsible for re-entering the track safely and he hit Nico.

    So as far as I’m concerned they both hit each other.

    1. He didn’t hit Nico when he re-entered. There were sparks as Lewis came back onto the track were from Lewis bottoming out over the kerb and from Nico’s already damaged front wing.

    2. There was no contact when he rejoined, infact if anything it looked like Rosberg was trying to keep him of the track.

    3. They didn’t touch the second time. Hamilton took avoiding action.

    4. @mike, as others have correctly pointed out, Hamilton didn’t hit Rosberg when he rejoined the track (he rejoined behind Rosberg) – the sparks that you saw came from Rosberg’s collapsing front wing rubbing against the track.

  24. Watching the video replay: Rosberg makes no attempt to take the corner until he collides with Hamilton, his aim was to run him off track. And then he blocks Hamilton from driving back on track. Nice job.

    1. The worse type of idiotic racing from someone unable to compete fairly.

  25. “That didn’t work my friend, you hit the wrong part of him”

  26. LOL…they just did an interview with Rosberg on Nbc sports network in America, and the buffoon had the audacity to claim Lewis turned into him!!! Nico is a duck. I actually wanted him to win the championship this season, because he has tried so hard for so long, I felt it was his time. But his problem is he never takes responsibility for his own foolishness. I hope Lewis kicks his teeth in and guts him for the championship once again.

  27. I have no dog in the Rosberg/Hamilton fight, but the double standard applied to Hamilton is astonishing. Whenever this situation happens the other way around, you will all agree Rosberg was at fault. But now Hamilton does it, Rosberg is also at fault. I don’t get it. It’s always Rosberg who’s wrong, Hamilton just on the right side of aggression. And it’s clearly not true.

  28. Hi to everyone.It was an interesting race I voted 8/10.Too bad for the incident,would have been even a better end without the collision but this is how it is.I am happy that a Ferrari driver is on the podium.Can someone explain to me what is Ferrari doing wrong with the tyres?I mean this explosions Spa last year now and with Vettel.At the Canadian GP this year Hamilton stayed many laps on UltraSofts and it didn’t had any issue with the tyres.Maybe is from the set up of Vettel?Angle of the wheels the way they touch the ground on high speed corners or what it might be?

  29. this has to be a slumdunk penalty for rosberg. Just rewatched all the replays now and there is no doubt it was a dirty trick. Unless he can prove his steering wheel stuck straight that moment

    1. This is absurd, Hamilton has done this any number of times to Rosberg, except Rosberg always bailed out of the move.

  30. Great drive by Lewis, sadly the Austrian crowd does not think the same, those booing were totally out of place, the team did everything to give the win to Rosberg, in the end justice was served.

    1. There is a rumour that the circuit commentators told the crowd that Hamilton had deliberately rammed Rosberg off the track. If that is true, I’d be more inclined to criticise the circuit announcers for provoking the crowds in the first place.

  31. sky desperately trying to defend there golden boy.

    they have never critisised lewis when he had pushed cars wide & not bothered turning into the corner in order to do that yet now there all over nico for pushing a car a little wide.

    double standard favoritism.

    now there stirring the pot with toto.

    1. You really really really hate Lewis dont you?

      1. no i’m actually a fan of his, was at silverstone in 2013 cheering him on & was gutted when he had the tyre failure thanks to these rubbish pirelli’s.

        i’m simply calling this incident as i see it because unlike so many of lewis’ other supporters (who always blame everyone but lewis) im not afraid to criticize his mistakes.

        1. Well, then you see it very badly in my opinion. Its clear cut, Nico tried to force Lewis off the road, and succeeded, to bad for him he lost out in the end. That’s was a clear case of an avoidable collision. But I guess u think Lewis should just have continued straight on…

      2. Seems so…every single comment ignoring ex F1 drivers, experts, stewards but nope still Hamilton’s fault apparently..

        1. Indeed I realised to late! Don’t feed the tr….

    2. Nico didn’t make any attempt to make that apex. Take off your blinders.

  32. The way Rosberg doesn’t steer in, is what Hamilton has done any number of times. Rosberg usually bails out of the move. Hamilton didn’t here. Doesn’t suddenly make Hamilton right.

  33. Did anyone on the sky sports’ coverage notice their outreaching theories about why Merc were supposed to make Rosberg pit again so that Hamilton can get the lead, or how Ted put over his theories to Toto and got his nose swiped off clean. Seriously, there needs to be some form of “fair and neutral” coverage on TV. What did Lewis expect, of course Nico was going to run him out wide. At some level, people have to agree that the hit came from Lewis turning in.

  34. Nico gambled. He decided to try to run Hamilton off the road, fair enough, but he lost.
    A champion knows when he is defeated and takes the next-best points haul when he has to.
    Rosberg, on the other hand, knows deep down he is an inferior driver to Hamilton, so he decided to gamble to try to get a first when it was not there.
    This is why HAM will be champion again, and Nico could well finish his career without being champ.

    1. I’m pretty sure that if Rosberg had settled for second nobody would say that “a true champ knows when he is defeated and takes the next best points”. The talk would be “A champ would have never settled for second”.

      I think it was a racing incident, just like Hamilton pulled him out of track many times before. Both drivers were tough but fair. But Rosberg was unlucky to damage his front wing.

      In fact it was decided by bad pit stops for Hamilton and questionable tyre choice (don’t know if he had any S tyres left) for Rosberg’s last stint.

      Hard to tell which one deserved to win. Up to that point Rosberg was perfect, recovering from seventh on the grid and even playing with Verstappen, Wehrlein and Bottas to strecht his advantage as much as he could, but Hamilton never gives up, and that’s why he’s such a fantastic driver.

      Hamilton x Rosberg is a rivalry for the ages and it will be great if Nico wins a championship, so we can call them two champs battling each other with top machinery.

      1. No offence but he ‘recovered’ through being gifted a strategy and tyres that completely ignored the efforts of his team mate.

        At what point did NR drive laps that gained 24 seconds that he was behind his team mate. Ever?

        That crowd was outrageous – actually sickening.

      2. Many great champs – Prost comes to mind immediately – knew when discretion is the better part of valor.
        Besides, if we are to believe Toto, Rosberg had a brake problem. This makes his attempt to ram Hamilton out not just foolish, but utterly irresponsible.

    1. That’s right. It’s terrible driving!

    2. Difference being that Hamilton was ahead of Rosberg by at least a half a car length and Hamilton went as wide as possible giving plenty of room to Nico to make the turn.

      Look at the overhead shots of the tire marks hitting the apex and how far out Rosberg was. If Nico had locked up his tires while braking, or under steered into Lewis, it would totally be a racing incident. But he doesn’t turn his wheel, doesn’t lock up his tires, and doesn’t even try to make the apex he was simply trying to push Hamilton off. Plain and simple.

  35. Have this Sky team ever raced a car before? Pointing at Rosberg not turning the wheel as “proof” that he pushed Hamilton wide.

    Everyone knows if your brakes aren’t working and you’re coming in too hot for whatever reason. The last thing you’re going to do is go full lock try to force the car in to the corner and inevitably spin out. Absolutely ridiculous insight from the “experts”

    1. You mean Martin Brundle and Johnny Herbert 2 ex F1 drivers? Then yes, yes they have raced a car or 2 before..

    2. Your talking about Ant Davidson the 2014 WEC champion?

    3. William Jones
      3rd July 2016, 15:13

      Well, that’s not a full lock corner, and how many incidences this race do you want me to find where a driver with his tyres locked manage a corner, smoking all the way round. Nicos tyres had not locked….

    4. They’ve forgotten more about racing that you’d ever know

  36. Nico didn’t steer in: you can see in slow motion. So on purpose. He lost and will get punishment.
    Desperate.

    Great race Wehrlein and Verstappen.

    1. That’s an absolutely ridiculous argument. You aren’t gonna turn in too hot for a corner, you’ll spin. His brakes weren’t working his #1 priority is slowing the car down and the best way to do that is in a straight line. That Hamilton was on the outside was unfortunate circumstance.

      1. We’ll find out. Didn’t look cool. Even former F1 driver commentator said it.

        1. After not steering in he also blocked Hamilton from coming back on track. It doesn’t look good for Rosberg in many ways.

          1. The stewards should see if Rosberg slowed and went deliberately to his left when Hamilton was rejoining. There was a bit of desperation in Rosberg in defending both during the collision and when Hamilton was rejoining. Forums like this one have asked for Nico to be more aggressive in order to be a true contender for a championship. He was aggressive here. He was equally wrong and deserves a penalty.

  37. Does it really matter what happened today? My conclutions from tthis race is (and it’s been brewing for a while):

    Forget Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel. We’re entering the time of Max Verstappen. I’ve picked the greats of F1 for more than 35 years, and I have never seen a more obvious great than Verstappen.

    Riccuardo is in my view a great racer. Great at taking care of his tires and a great overtaker. He’s among the top 4. But it has become painfully clear he’s no match for Verstappen in race trim. Either Verstappen is a hell of a lot better at taking
    care of his tires or he just might be better at driving fast with less grip. I suspect a combination of the two.
    In my view none of the other top dogs would have fared any better than Ricciardo. He would have outraced Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel too.
    Chances are Red Bull will be really competitive next year with more focus on aerodynamics. And they allready have the best driver in F1. He’s just 18 years young and will develop a lot. We’re seeing the dawn of a new era!

    1. just no

    2. Nice said….totaly agree with everything just said

      Verstappen is the new Great….better in racetrim then his teammate…while his teammate focusses more on the qualy’s

    3. Agree, the only one who’s a match for Verstappen would be Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso on their good days.
      If Max would be a in a Merc he would be far far gone out of reach.

      Ricciardo I still a very good match, but it becomes painfully clear (for Ric) that Ves just has better racepace, he performs when it matters the most. Not only did he beat Ric in Austria, but honestly he kind of crushed him here.

      Over 5 races Max is 7 points ahead of Ricciardo who’s considered within the top 4 best drivers, that only tells the true potential of Verstappen

  38. Heard new name for Max: “The Tire Whisperer”.

  39. Rosberg’s fault, he didn’t even try do make the corner.
    Mercedes messed up the strategies totally and put themselves on that situation.
    Wherlein, Button and Vestappen were amazing.

    And tyres shoudn’t blow out like that!

    1. Button shows McClaren is on its way back. Great race from him.

  40. Why is no one asking the following questions –

    (1) Why was Lewis not pitted first? Even though Toto says a one stopper was initially planned, it was clear that changing to a 2 stopper would maintain the track position that Rosberg gained. How did they plan to remedy that situation?

    (2) Why did Mercedes give Nico Supersoft tire, and Lewis Soft one at the second stops? Was Lewis out of Supersofts? The Soft obviously put Lewis at a distinct disadvantage.

    (3) Why couldn’t Mercedes tel Nico he had a BBW failure? As far as i’m aware, the radio ban does not prevent this kind of information from being transmitted to the driver – as it is a safety issue. Moe so, we have seen this kind of crucial info being given to many drivers this season.

    1. Hamilton had said himself he was going to drag the life out of the ultra soft, I suspect until Rosberg had pitted and they saw his pace and the gap to Hamilton they didn’t know that was going to be a better strategy.

      Nico had a brand new set of super soft left and track position, Hamilton didn’t and was going to be driving in dirty air and attacking, he needed a stronger tyre and it panned out to be the correct choice.

      Not sure if they didn’t, or where it happened, if they had the time to before the incident happened.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      3rd July 2016, 17:10

      IIRC, the NBC commentators said that Lewis has a new set of ultras available but Mercedes put him on a used set of softs. They were totally baffled by the choice to put him on the soft when the ultras can almost do 49 laps and there were just 16 laps left.

  41. @Boudi –
    “By the way, ROS had a brake by wire failure which explains why he crashed with HAM”

    Since when did a BBW failure stop a driver from turning his wheel adequately?

  42. 100% Rosberg’s fault! I’d say he intentionally (at least half-intentionally) caused the contact, and therefore, tried to force Hamilton off the track, which he did, but instead, he (Nico) just messed up his own race entirely, so a stupid move by him.

  43. Clearly Nico’s fault.
    Toto’s frustration is justified but calling both his drivers as idiots isn’t going to make things better. As Lewis says, this shouldn’t be blown out of proportion. Simply a driver error and nothing else. I just hope there is a clause in Lewis’ contract which says “I will not be forced to obey team orders under any circumstances” !!!

  44. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    3rd July 2016, 16:52

    Did anyone watch Will Buxton’s interview with Toto asking him if Nico knowing he was having brake issues, should he have braked earlier or later? Toto’s response was priceless. He was laughing and told Will “You are obviously trying to be controversial. You have your answer:-)”

    Also Steve Matchett’s expressions after listening to Nico’s interview was priceless. Hobo was thinking that Nico was out of his mind with those arguments quoting an argument between Hunt and Andretti where Hunt was upset that Andretti passed him on the outside. Oh god:)

  45. I know the Rosberg fans and Hamilton dissenters won’t want to except it but it’s clear from the evidence provided by the Sky punters that Britney drove into Hamilton, then he left hammy no space to get back on to the track. Brundle asked the other punters whether they agreed that Rosberg deliberately made a move to push Hamilton off the track and to a man they all said yes. What really angered me was the tactics used by Mercedes to engineer a potential win for Rosberg..The strategy calls for Hamilton were questionable to say the least…..

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