Fan video reveals new angle of Hamilton-Rosberg clash

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

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The controversial last-lap collision between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg was caught on camera by a fan at the Red Bull Ring.

Hamilton tried to pass him race-leading team mate on the outside of turn two only for Rosberg to run wide into his team mate. The contact broke Rosberg’s front wing and left him to collect fourth place while Hamilton clinched the victory.

“It was disappointing to lose the race like that,” said Rosberg. “It got quite difficult on the final few laps as I had to manage my brakes and I was confident that I could bring the victory home.”

“I had the inside line and we both went into the corner a bit long. I was surprised that Lewis turned in and it ultimately meant that we came together – that’s how the sport goes sometimes but it’s really difficult to lose the race in that way.”

The Austrian Grand Prix stewards ruled Rosberg was responsible for the collision but the ten-second penalty they gave him allowed him to keep his fourth place.

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    189 comments on “Fan video reveals new angle of Hamilton-Rosberg clash”

    1. People are being too tough on Rosberg after the crash. In Japan last year Hamilton was on the inside and Rosberg was on the outside. Hamilton gave no room and drove Rosberg off the track. Only for Rosberg taking avoiding action, there would have been a big crash. In the US grand prix, the same thing happened. Again Hamilton was on the inside and Rosberg was on the outside. Again Hamilton drove Rosberg off the track and Rosberg had to avoid a collision. In Canada this year, Hamilton was on the inside and Rosberg was on the outside. Again Hamilton drove Rosberg off the track. Each time Rosberg had to react to avoid Hamilton. In Austria though Rosberg had the inside and Hamilton was on the outside. Instead of Hamilton using the large Tarmac run off area and avoiding a collision, he decided to turn in on Rosberg and damage his car. Hamilton should have known Rosberg was still there and he should have taken avoiding action.

      1. I don’t think you grasp the concept of taking your line and blatantly running into someone. Anyone who has been on a track competitively knows the difference and could see this.

        1. I think it was Rosberg’s fault this time, but please don’t deny the fact that Hamilton forced Rosberg of the track on numerous occasions in previous years.

          The onboard on Rosbergs car from the US GP is a good example.
          The steering wheel-movements Rosberg has to make to avoid Hamiltons car driving into him are obvious to see for anyone (2 full right turns to avoid Hamilton).
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYussOGRSpE

          People don’t have to agree, but the 2 drivers have a growing tendency to push the outside driver off the track. And this weekend Rosberg took it one step further (= didn’t try to make the corner until it was far too late)

          1. You’re comparing race start on an greasy track with full tanks of fuel and cold brakes. Look at Hamilton’s on board from that race start and you’ll see his how much his car travels forward (under steer) relative to the steering input.

            Heres a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Cc7W1T2zQ – re watch a few times at 1:27, and pay attention to how the car doesn’t respond to how much steering he’s applying. You can see hes actually intending to make the corner, which is the polar opposite to Rosbergs intention in Austria.

            1. “You’re comparing race start on an greasy track with full tanks of fuel and cold brakes”
              Ok, and this time Rosberg had a brake-by-wire issue. Seems a similar scenario to me.

            2. “pay attention to how the car doesn’t respond to how much steering he’s applying”

              What a joke, look at the minimal wheel movement in the beginning of the corner and look at the maximum wheel movement (full left lock) after Rosberg is pushed off the track. He knew exactly what he was doing.

              As I pointed out before, Hamilton is better at pushing people “cleanly” off the circuit, Rosbergs push-off this weekend was just too blatant and he received a obvious penalty for it.

            3. A joke? Clearly you cannot recognise what under steer is.

              As i said, replay 1:27 a few times, it clear to see. He puts some steering in at 1:26 as he’s feeling the grip, then as he applies _more_ steering at 1:27 the car doesn’t respond, its because of that, that they touch wheels. Again, full tanks of fuel, cold brakes, cold Intermediate tires on a greasy track at the start of the race. Its _entirely_ understandable to pick up a bit of under steer. Hence why nothing happened.

              “As I pointed out before, Hamilton is better at pushing people “cleanly” off the circuit, Rosbergs push-off this weekend was just too blatant and he received a obvious penalty for it.”

              So you’re basically agreeing, then. Except your definition of ‘pushing off the circuit’ is wrong. When Rosberg has been on the outside, his car hasn’t been sufficiently ahead of Hamilton to warrant Hamilton to give him room, so, he gets eased out at the exit, its up to Rosberg to then keep his foot in and go off circuit, or back out of it.

              When Hamilton tried around the outside of Rosberg in Canada 2014 and got forced to either back out or go off, not once did he moan and complain, he actually said it was fair enough.

              I actually find it crazy that when Rosberg commits a clear, intentional foul and crashes, people who know it was wrong then state “well lewis does it so…..” When in fact Lewis has never done what Rosberg done in Austria.

            4. They both push. Hamilton can do it a little cleaner. Not a big deal.

              Rosberg and Hamilton are both taking an all-that-matters-is-passing-you [not us finishing] approach to this Mercedes era. They both knowingly let the other pay for their mistakes when side-by-side, and the extent to which they can not point fingers post-race is what lets them keep being so aggressive in a sport where everything else about vehicles being in proximity isn’t possible any more.

              Toto said later in the afternoon that apportioning blame isn’t important, they just shouldn’t collide.

          2. So what? Hamilton is ahead and therefore has the line. Just like in Canada. Or like in Australia this year where Rosberg runs hamilton off track.

            It’s simply a dumb move from the attacking driver to sat next to a car that you know has the rights to the line. you know you will not be able to stay on track.

            It’s mostly Rosberg who keeps being surprised that there is such a thing as the race line and that the lead driver goes first.

            Like the dumb remark he makes now about him having the inside line. That’s completely irrelevant. It’s who’s ahead before going in to the braking zone and this clearly was Hamilton.

            If Rosberg truly doesn’t understand the rules then it would be clear why he keeps on making this mistake. Being “pushed off” costs a lot of places usually and therefore simply yielding before the turn is a much better solution.

            Oddly enough at the end of the race when Rosberg was fighting with Verstappen, the same scenario unfolded in the turn where Hamilotn “pushed him off”. Yet then he does realise that he should yield. Odd no?

            It’s like he’s hoping for the protection from Toto Wolff that he thinks he can go beyond the rules and invoke some sort of “don’t hit each other” decree from Wolff. He really should explain the actual F1 rules to Rosberg and tell him to live with those.

            1. Rosberg made no attempt (brake issues or not) to keep the inside or at the least STEAR RIGHT.. few seconds later he deliberately kept the left of the track to keep Hamilton from rejoining the track.. Rosberg should be banned from next race.

          3. Japan and Austria, however, were very, very different corners.

            Japan was a long right hand sweeper, Hamilton had the inside, and the cars were essentially side by side going through the corner– Hamilton ran wide, and Rosberg was forced to the runoff area (and there was a lot of runoff there, with no chassis-breaking curbs).

            Austria was a hard-right corner, Hamilton was ahead of Rosberg, and Rosberg delayed his turn-in until there was no possible way for Hamilton to make it through the corner– worse, Rosberg was pulling that stunt while (apparently) in Hamilton’s blind spot– Hamilton had no idea Rosberg wasn’t bothering to turn.

            A better summation would be that when Hamilton shoves someone off the track, there’s no contact (Bahrain, Japan, Austin)– when Rosberg attempts that sort of maneuver, it ends badly (Spa, Barcelona, Austria).

        2. You don’t run someone off the track, regardless if you’re “taking your line” or not. Period.
          This whole discussion is utter nonsense.

          1. Yep! Thank you for saying it!

        3. Who was blatantly running into who? Or the better question would be: dis Rosberg run his front wing under Hamilton’s front tires or dis Hamilton run his tires over Rosberg’s front wing?
          From the images I saw there were about two cars width of space on the outside. Hardly qualifies as ‘off the track’. It was in that space Nico said he intended to keep Lewis, and it’s been done before in so many races. But here Lewis didn’t do what Nico expected him to do and he lost out.

      2. “In Japan last year Hamilton was on the inside and Rosberg was on the outside. Hamilton gave no room and drove Rosberg off the track.”

        How some people cannot make the distinction between these 2 incidents is beyond belief.

        In Japan, Hamilton took the normal apex and made a gradual arc around the corner, Rosberg risked staying around the outside and ran out of road on the exit of the corner. A legitimate racing practice. Not just legitimate, but an absolute textbook move on how to defend and inside line.

        Rosberg did NOT attempt to make the apex and did not take the normal arc of the corner, but instead just focused on straight lining it and ran Hamilton off the road, as this video shows perfectly.

        1. If Rosberg had of hit the apex but still went right into Lewis’, who surely would have tried to go around the outside, would you then, be blaming Lewis for not backing off? Or Nico for not leaving space?

          1. By right, I mean drift left after the apex.

          2. Like Canada 2014 when Hamilton attempted an outside pass? Rosberg took a standard line an edged Hamilton out, Hamilton backed out of it, yes, that was fair enough.

            1. And in any case, in your hypothetical situation, Hamilton would have had a major cut back advantage, thats exactly why Rosberg stayed as left as possible for as long as possible and didnt aim for the apex, to cut out the cut back option, its usually refered to as a block pass, only Rosberg wasnt trying to pass and in any case, took it too far.

          3. Lewis would be to blame. He’d probably lose a front wing as well.

          4. If Hamilton had entered the corner backwards, it would have been completely different! You can’t change the scenario without changing the driver’s response, so your hypothetical question is completely useless to even consider.

        2. Understeer…. Look up the word UNDERSTEER and you may understand these scenarios.

          No matter what explanations Rosberg has, those of us that race or understand the rules of racing can can easily see without any doubt or deliberation that this is 100% Rosberg’s fault. The fact that he cannot see this is either him attempting to put on a strong face or a little bit worrying.

          I think he knows it’s his fault. But he’s probably trying to show a “must not show I bottled it” impression to Hamilton

        3. This is how Hamilton talk about Japan 2015. “When you are on the outside you have to expect that. It’s tough for sure, but this is not a friendly game of chess – and I didn’t do anything dangerous to take us out of the race. I wanted to win the race.”
          So basically he just told watch out I’m going deep and u need to turn after me even if I push you off the track (where is that line for Rosberg in that apex T2???). This time same scenario different roles and somehow Lewis need space in T2. ROFL
          Lewis is just untouchable by the rules.

      3. Your Hamilton examples were on the corner exit. That is acceptable hence why LH had no issues in Japan or USA. Rosberg could/should have done this in Austria. For some reason he did what he did instead. Maybe just poor racecraft or panic.

        1. +1

        2. It is not acceptable at all… It’s utterly disgusting to see how everyone is looking for excuses how what Hamilton does is okay and why what Rosberg does is so terrible.
          They’re both being utter [expletives] to each other.

        3. True, but karma pays 2:1 to one.

          I for one welcome wheel to wheel action in F1.

      4. I agree that in the races you mentioned Hamilton pushed Rosberg off track and maybe he should have been penalized. However, on this occasion Rosberg didn’t even try to turn his car until very late so for me he is the one to blame for the accident.

      5. @adamf184 – “People are being too tough on Rosberg after the crash.”

        Disagree. All drivers should have to answer for how they drove in a race, good or bad. Also, so many are complaining so much about other incidents as though that would somehow justify this one. I prefer to analyze one incident at a time as they come up since each one is different and should be evaluated on its own. Of course, I don’t have an axe to grind or a torch to carry for either driver, so it is easy for me to look at each incident independently.

        Certainly the larger story is the continuing on track confrontations between the two. But, in this incident Rosberg’s intent is quite clear. Next time, we’ll see…

      6. Your examples are way off point to support your argument. Lewis and many racers if they have the track position, they will drive their opponents off track out of the exit… This is done by many drivers! What is not done is what Rosberg did, he didnt even attempted to turn into the corner, he just went to the edge of the track and drive into Hamilton almost T-Bone… worst he didnt even let Ham join back to the track… If you wanna support an idea, you should be able to support it, but you dont have any bases for your argument and not a single valid example.

      7. No one with any credibility has agreed with you and those like you giving examples of Hamilton taking the racing line on corner exits and knocking wheels as a weak comparison to driving into the side of a driver ahead on track before even reaching the apex of the corner.

        1. You would not make A good driver, because just like Rosberg who is allways at The limit of his racecraft understanding, witch for a driver in the highest echelon of racing in the best team is simply not good in all areas.

          Rosberg is A fast driver. But his racecraft compared to Ham even Ver is black and white, no mastering of The nuances in the art of defending, blocking and overtaking within The limits.

          The question is not wether If he wronged or not, he speared his teammate not caring for his teammates wellbeing or the damage to his own team.

          1. Every single driver on the grid runs a driver who attempts to overtake round the outside wide on corner exit, every single one of them because it’s accepted practice that you just can’t overtake around the outside because the driver on in the inside, the driver on the racing line has priority on the corner exit. Times Rosberg has put himself in that position against Hamilton are his own fault and that is why there has never been a penalty or sanction against Hamilton for it, just a lot of whinging from Rosberg, despite the fact he himself does it.

            Rosberg doing this on corner entry with no attempt made to take the corner is what made him wrong for here and why it’s a flawed argument to compare Hamiltons moves with this one of Rosbergs.

      8. The difference between this incident, and all of the ones you’ve mentioned, is that when Rosberg has been on the outside, he has not been ahead. I’ve seen so many people arguing that this is like Hamilton’s moves on Rosberg, and it’s frustrating that seemingly so few people understand basic racing etiquette and the actual rules these driver’s have promised to abide by.

        If you are trying to pass on the outside, You must get your car ahead by the braking zone, and be ahead at the turn-in point. If you can’t do that, even if you are only slightly behind the driver on the inside, then you have no right to the racing line, and it’s up to you to avoid any contact. In that instance, the driver on the inside is allowed to take the racing line, and doesn’t have to leave a car’s width on the corner exit. This is why Hamilton was within the rules to run Rosberg wide in the examples you gave. In those instances, it’s up to Rosberg to back out before he runs out of track, but for some reason he is happy to keep driving straight off the track, compromising himself.

        If the driver on the outside attempting a pass gets his car ahead by the braking and turn-in point, then the driver on the inside no longer has the sole right to the racing line, and must leave room for the driver on the outside. In Austria, this is exactly the situation we witnessed. Hamilton was clearly ahead, and Rosberg went extremely deep under brakes in a desperate attempt to get back in front by the turn-in point, which didn’t work. He completely left the racing line, and ran into Hamilton, who was ahead. It was a slam dunk penalty, and Rosberg is sounding dangerously like Maldonado by defending that kind of sloppy driving.

        Consider it another way: In any collision, unless the driver ahead is violently weaving or brake checking, then the fault always lies with the driver behind.

        1. +1 This ^^ dear god this. There are two very very sad realisations that are coming out of this incident:

          A) Many fans don’t understand basic racing
          B) ROSBERG doesn’t understand basic racing (which is scary)

          1. @tdm I agree wholly with A and B

          2. Scary isn’t it?

          3. Agree 120%. There’s actually C: Merc don’t understand basic racing too!

        2. MasonStormPI
          5th July 2016, 7:37

          Spot on sir, spot on.

        3. could this please become comment of the Day? so everyone sees it and we can stop this argument which shouldnt even be an argument

        4. +1 for comment of the day..

        5. Comment of the day!! How difficult can this be to understand???

        6. These “actual rules” you mention are not in the Sporting Regs. But sure, why not, COTD!

          1. Lol yes, the only rule rosberg possibly broke was “cause a collision”, i would argue ham was equally at fault as he turned into rosberg not vice versa. If ham had not run into ros, no penalty.

        7. +1 Agreed – It really is quite simple! Shocking how people don’t understand basic racing rules… It really is binary! :-\

        8. Been reading the whole thing, nothing more to add.
          Not that I’m Hamilton Fan or Rosberg Fan…
          All I can say is Rosberg knew he lost the race and he did the most awful thing a racer would do. Even in Go kart we don’t do that anymore at a certain level.
          That’s my opinion.
          He would have had 18 pts, ham 25 (1-2 for Merc), But for some reasons, they keep patting Rosberg’s back, Nicky Lauda way way out of his ways by bashing Hamilton in every single news paper.
          I wish McLaren could have a winning car soon, Ferrari and RedBull back on Top and maybe Hamilton could finally get in a Team where he can race without having his Team mate protected by the management.

        9. Absolutely agree I also suspect that Rosberg deliberately allowed himself to hit Hamilton’s car reasoning that so long as it takes them both out, he is a net gain in the championship, protecting his margin with one race less for Hamilton to catch up. I find that more likely than that he did not understand he should have given way.

          The funny thing is he didn’t even manage to take them both out competently which is simply good karma.

          The excuse he gave while appearing to show that he did not understand the racing rules, was simply the best excuse he could come up with afterwards to justify what he did.

      9. You can take a part of the blame away from Rosberg because of the brake by wire failure, but the move in itself was ridiculous. Rosberg would have ended up outside the track if he hadn’t made contact with Lewis, so there is absolutely no comparison with Lewis’ defense, which was harsh but still legal. In that clip Rosberg looked like he was forcing contact with Lewis… it wasn’t defence, it was forced contact. There’s a big difference

      10. If Lewis makes such moves, it does not mean Nico has to make same things, or at least he needs to win in this situations, like Lewis did…this season, Nico suffered as many times as Lewis was near him on track…

      11. Boris Dimitrov
        5th July 2016, 8:10

        In all the collisions listed, Hamilton was the leading car, just like in Austria last weekend. In the statement of the FIA for Rosberg’s penalty this is the deciding factor. Lewis was in front of Nico and therefor had the right to the track space on the outside. Had Hamilton been half a car length behind his teammate and not the opposite, probably the penalty would have been given to him. Remember this when analyzing crashes next time – the car in front is not at fault if he left the car behind enough room to get trough the corner. If the car behind is given room, but still makes contact it is the driver behind to blame. Many people do not realize that Lewis was almost a full car length in front of Nico!!!

      12. Tony Mansell
        5th July 2016, 9:23

        He drove Lewis off, I’d say as well though it was extremely harsh by Nico but I saw it done earlier in the race without anything but a ‘ooh that was harsh’ from the commentary.

        Oh btw – you cant compare the exit of a corner to the entry, Ive been driven wide loads of times on the exit and if you’re not ahead you have to lift. If you cant see the difference between an entry and an exit to a corner then id suggest you don’t take up racing!

        1. + a billion!

          There would be some serious shocks should anyone expect to be behind and not edged of the track at the start!

          Frankly I really do not understand people’s reactions with the ‘Clarke would not do it’ type comments – of course he would but for a fragile car. You can see any second week of the year 170mph Superkarts racing (without seat belts mind) with less protection than 60s F1 cars banging wheels at any long circuit in Britain or Europe at the start. The South African racers are even more nuts. The race itself? Well I raced for years and NR stunt would see me banned for some time – perhaps because the risks are higher, it may well of killed someone and it’s not tolerated. However the British and European races are all managed by an international forum and ultimately the FIA in the same manner. It was a stupid move. Something you do not see in anything below the GP2 class without serious license issues. I can only assume the management of GP2 and F1 is focused elsewhere. Perhaps they should either get serious about this stuff or leave it to the teams.

        2. Agreed – if you are behind on the exit of a corner (or alongside for that matter) and are not pushed wide then your competitor is not doing his job very well!… This is basic racing 101 people! Alonso, Vettel, Senna, Schumacher, Verstappen, Hakkinen, Mansell etc etc. would also do this time and time again!

        3. That’s also my biggest issue with all this. In Austria these tactics have been happening since forever. Especially T2 and T3.

      13. Guys its all popping off at Mercedes AMP Petronas Facebook page. Fans are having a go at Mercedes and Mercedes are shooting back. This is fun. @grabspopocorn
        https://www.facebook.com/MercedesAMGF1/photos/a.10150578174882411.372302.79511407410/10153636820002411/?type=3&comment_id=10153637057242411&notif_t=like&notif_id=1467723309755387

      14. Maldonado got penalized for pushing Perez out in Hungary last year. Then too the inside line car was already clearly partly behind.

      15. sunny stivala
        6th July 2016, 9:02

        Lulu fast he may be, a total jerk he most certainly is and a proved liar.

      16. Hisham Aladin
        6th July 2016, 14:32

        Well said!

      17. “Hamilton should have known Rosberg was still there and he should have taken avoiding action.”

        They we go ladies and gents officially heard it all! It is Hamilton’s fault because he isn’t psychic!

    2. Robserg just does not turn the wheel, since when a brake failure can result in a steering failure, I am glad for once his dirty play cost him (Monaco, Spa, Spain…).

      1. @abdelilah So you think they can just turn whenever and wherever they want if the brake fails?

        Why even use brakes then, just turn instead and take the hairpin at 300kmh. Just turn the wheel you know its that easy.

        Sergio Perez also failed to turn when his brakes failed, someone should tell him to steer the car, its so easy.

        1. I think that he is arguing that, even if Rosberg had brake issues, he had still slowed the car down sufficiently to have made the apex of the corner if he had chosen to apply a greater amount of steering lock.

          Incidentally, Rosberg himself has made no reference to any sort of brake by wire failure when he talked about what happened – he has stated that he was deliberately positioning his car on the inside of Hamilton and suggested that he was still fully in control of the car at the time.

          1. That may very well be however it doesnt matter if Rosberg was putting the car exactly where he wanted or if he had brakeproblems and overshoot. You cant turn before you have slowed down enough.

            If he had slowed down and just continued slowly straight into Hamilton as you say it should be clear as day on the telemetry and an offence like that should result in a raceban.

            1. No it would result in a stewards penalty, perhaps “causing a collision”… Oh wait a minute?!… That’s what he got!!! :-\

    3. The team knows what happened, the stewards gave an inconsequential “penalty” and the rest is history.

      Nice fan video by the way.

    4. Still don’t understand why HAM proceeded to steer in while he could see for himself that ROS was still heading straight.

      1. Maybe because its a corner and not a straight ?

        1. Best possible response lol

          Not only that but Rosberg was in Hamiltons blind spot, knowingly what Rosberg is like, Hamilton clearly gave Rosberg a very wide birth, and STILL got hit.

      2. maybe because Lewis said he couldn’t see ROS in his blind spot. A better question is why did ROS think he could block pass in HAM’s blind spot with a BBW failure. The real answer is ROS had to take Lewis off the track in order to account for a brash corner entry which would yield a very slow corner exit.

        I get why you would bait people with the ‘skewed’ view, but the best angle is straight down looking at both cars and taking in to account the racing line, which Nico pushed Lewis clear off.

        1. and yes, taking a wide entry in to that corner would yield a much better exit than braking late inside. Thats what racers get paid to do, understand which line to take and when to let your opponent take a certain line. Lewis only problem was a petulant teammate who only knows how to take people off the track after making a mistake.

          1. To be fair that aint much of a problem.

            1. it cost him a win in Spain & Spa.

            2. But it doesnt cost him the championship like having a good teammate could do.

      3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        4th July 2016, 22:11

        @hanswes I doubt Lewis could see Rosberg at that point – when you watch the videos, you notice that when drivers are ahead, they can’t see the car next to them. Rosberg could see him and was obviously heading straight with no attempt to make a turn. Lewis waited as long as he could before trying to make the turn. Nico practically parked his car there for Lewis to hit him if he wanted to turn and continue the race… He did the same when Bottas smashed into him earlier during the year

        1. Tony Mansell
          5th July 2016, 9:31

          Lewis said Nico was in his blind spot at that point yep. He left it as late as possible to turn in.

          I just thought, maybe the track was in Nico’s blind spot!

      4. Tony Mansell
        5th July 2016, 9:28

        He was racing in real time as well. No slo mo, no hindsight. In fairness he should by now realize Nico has no race craft

    5. Thanks for the video, good one! Appreciate how it shows one more angle of Rosberg’s desperate move.

      Also love the fan point of view from those seats and how much of the track you can see from there. Graphically demonstrates the elevation change too. I’d love to watch a race from right there.

      1. Agreed @bullmello fantastic view

    6. The frustrating thing for me is this:

      Commentating on the lap before for the C4 highlights, DC said that “if Nico wins this, it is the drive of a champion”. Within two corners, he choked and made a messy line through T1. At T2, he clumsily took Lewis out.

      All Nico had to do was keep it tidy and he would have won. He could still have won if he had taken the apex properly at T2 as Lewis was on the outside. But he simply doesn’t have the finesse in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

      Mercedes have built a dominant car (again) but Rosberg has proved beyond doubt that he is not a racer, and for that reason Lewis will always beat him in the end. Put Nico on an empty track and there are many weekends where he could beat Lewis’s times. He is analytical, professional and well prepared. Put him against another car and his limitations become evident.

      It’s just too darned easy for Lewis to win. Apart from his terrible form at Baku, only mechanical issues are preventing him from being well in the lead of the championship race. There is no real sporting contest for F1 wins at the moment. Rosberg is denying us a decent fight because he isn’t a fighter. It’s a real shame.

      1. his terrible form in Baku might have had something to do with Toto’s “messy Friday”. Lewis said something to the effect that on Saturday he wasn’t really able to get in to a rhythm. And then after the race Toto & Lauda had the temerity to say that Nico and Lewis had the same problem when in reality, Nico’s problem was self imposed and Lewis had an issue stemming from an issue that was imposed on him by his team, before FP3.

        https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/interviews/2016/6/f1-wolff-baku-hamilton-engine-issues.html

        https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2016/6/hamilton–just-not-on-it–in-baku-qualifying.html

        1. And to make matters even more silly, Hamilton explained that he never changed any settings. The problem just went away on it’s own after a while just as sudden as it had started.

          So why does Wolff say these things which are so obviously not true?

    7. Nico should watch his attempt to overtake Max sometime in yesterdays race. That’s the way to be on the inside and keep your position by forcing the competition to back down.

    8. Tarmouta Biayre
      4th July 2016, 22:25

      Great one David

    9. Tarmouta Biayre
      4th July 2016, 22:26

      Lewis is a racer, a real one, hopefully Silverston and Great thanks for the video

    10. Antonio Silva
      4th July 2016, 22:49

      Compare this situation with the one in 2001 between montoya and schumacher…tell me who’s fault was that..

      at that time no one blamed montoya for not making the turn…

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

      1. Watching the clip Schumacher blamed Montoya and at least Montoya tried to make the corner locking up and losing the back. Rosberg made no effort to turn into the corner and was way past the normal turn in.

      2. No one blamed Montoya? I bet you don’t even remember this race.
        EVERYBODY blamed Montoya and called him an idiot for it.

      3. Ahh yes, the days when there wasn’t oceans of tarmac at every corner. So refreshing to see.

      4. Antonio, since you ask, at the time Montoya publicly blamed himself for the mistake that he made under braking and accepted the criticism for that move, so he clearly felt that he was responsible for what happened.

      5. Actually Antonio, in that link the commentators all mentioned Montoya going too deep (Brundle saying ‘Montoya going off the brakes there, sort of sacrifycing himself to not give lead to Schumacher’, making a mistake etc. so I don’t really get how you can say that at the time no one blamed Montoya at the time (in addition to what Ed and anon say above me).

      6. Hmmm, Montoya took the blame (how could he not) – but at least it was a result of locking up, plus he did attempt to make the corner, i.e. he turned the wheel – so much so that he had to correct oversteer!

    11. When fighting each other, these two drive like robots.

    12. Sorry but I fail to understand (no wifi right now) cause I haven’t seen this fan video.

      So Rosberg’s brake by wire failed,
      but then he tried to steer car and faced understeer issues (as I saw in an interview with Totto)
      And the Lewis had nowhere to go,
      So I understand from all this that it was a Race incident and nothing more than that but unfortunately Rosberg got penalised. Is this what has happened?

      Yeah probably a blinder but someone enlighten me here.

      1. he never understeered, he kept his steering straight well off the racing line. He might have under steered after he hit Lewis, but that was Lewis in front of Nico turning to avoid the track limits for which Nico was pushing him off of. Lewis had no where to go because Nico chose to keep his steering straight, it was the only way he could disrupt the corner exit of Lewis and Lewis winning.

      2. to get understeer, you have to actually turn the wheel. Nico’s wheels stayed straight until he hit Lewis.

        1. @lancer033
          Actually, no, this is one of the inventions that keeps floating about despite evidence of being wrong. Rosberg did turn his wheel before hitting Hamilton, because videos clearly show that at the time of contact Rosberg’s car was not pointing straight any more. What Rosberg did was delaying his turn, taking the outside path instead of inside, with intention of leaving Hamilton no room for going around. When the two cars hit, Hamilton still had more than a car’s width on his left, so Rosberg may have had a reason to be surprised. It is also quite obvious that this room was disappearing fast given Rosberg’s path.
          As I see it, the key problem is elsewhere. When the two cars entered the turn, Hamilton was already ahead. This means that it was his corner and Nico was no longer free to choose his path. If Rosberg were ahead, I’d say that he would have had the right to choose the outer line through the corner and I’d have blamed Hamilton. But then it would have been Hamitons wing under Rosberg’s wheel, not the other way around. Rosberg brought this one on himself.

      3. Thanks for the insight guys, now I am starting to think the whole intention was to push Lewis off track, cause I see there was a wide run off in that corner so Rosberg probably thought that Lewis would go off and come back (slower) and Rosberg could retain his position unfortunately that didn’t happen.
        Or another probability is that due to the brake failure Rosberg was trying to slow down enough to make the turn happen without hitting Lewis ( Like you said highly debatable).

    13. Another view, but all the replays just cement my oppinion.

      Lewis went for risky overtake on the outside, turned in at last moment possible, Nico braked to late, to make up ground. Due to his failing brakes, he was unable to slow down enough and collected Lewis. Without crash he would probably not make the corner at all.

      Either driver could have prevented the crash… Lewis braking earlier, staying on the outside and under cutting Nico on exit… Or Nico braking earlier… And not crashing… Either way Lewis had the advantage and would have passed.

      But those two right now are in a battle of their life. Naturally they clashed.

      Nothing new, in last 3 years they are doing it more and more. Only new difference is Nico not yielding ground anymore like a wimp. Hence all the crashes.

      1. I agree with your analysis. It was a natural racing incident.

        1. Yup. If one can accept, even for a moment, that Nico’s brakes were lost, then other possible outcome could there have been?

          1. @wacamo At least he would use that excuse in interviews instead of confirming it was a deliberate attempt to not turning in. The guy himself confirmed it was not because brake problem so why some people still believe that the cause?

      2. @jureo “Only new difference is Nico not yielding ground anymore like a wimp.” Canada proves you wrong.

        1. @peartree exactly. When he doesn’t like canada we blast him for being a whimp, when he does like Spain we blast him for being clumsy at doing the right thing…

          Poor guy cannot get a break with F1 fanatics.

          1. @jureo Yep. When Nico didn’t budge he still lost out.

      3. That’s not how it works. The driver who leads going into the turn has the rights to the racing line. The other driver needs to yield. Of course they can make life difficult for the other driver, but the lead driver (which was Hamilton in this case) gets to dictate the line. Hit him and you get a penalty.

        There is no point in these stupid moves. Rosberg keeps getting “pushed off” with his pretend forceful moves. Like in Canada. the reality is that making those moves is just dumb and it always costs places. He made the same mistake in Japan in Texas etc. He just keeps doing it without ever learning.

        Unless there is car from another team in front of him. Then all of a sudden he does play by the normal rules and yields when he’s supposed to. It’s only Lewis where he keeps making these dumb moves and then cries about it after the race.

        For instance see how he attacks Verstappen in Canada going into turn one. He was just as far along to Verstappen as he was to Hamilton at the start (further even). Yet with Verstappen Rosberg does brake in time and makes it round the turn normally, still living to fight him at the next corner. With Hamilton he just leaves his car in an untenable position, finds himself running out of road, loses a bucketload of places and cries Wolff. Again and again and again.

        1. Hehe, well rules are, on braking if significant part of the lead car is alongside front car, leadwr must leave car width of space.

          No right to racing line, his track is narrowed by car width, thus new racing line is choosen by the driver, to make room.

          Lewis left 4-5 widths of space, he did the classic undercut, going deep on the outside, then tried to cut accross… Hence slam dunk penalty by Stewards.

          Rosberg tried to drive Hamilton off road “legally” like Hamilton usually does, but somewhat failed.

      4. Nup, Rosberg could of prevented it. He pretty much blatantly ran him off the road. He wasn’t subtle at all, it was his to loose and he made himself look like an amateur

    14. Even more flagrant on this angle.

    15. Something tells me Lewis will become a 6 time world champion and Nico will become a Team principal in the future and win 8 championships with his team.

      1. Nico won’t have any credibility if Lewis keeps breaking him in public like he does. Better hope for more bad strategy calls and reliability issues.

    16. Great fan footage! It really drives home how clumsy Rosberg’s manoeuvre was. It didn’t look so bad to me when it first happened but every replay makes it look worse.
      Rosberg is fooling himself if he really believes he did nothing wrong. Still, I don’t think it was the kamikaze move that some have painted it – not a cold, cynical move; rather the reaction of someone who has been pushed into a desperate, elbows-out defensive lunge.
      It was such a shame to see him struggling over the line in fourth, it must have been heartbreaking for him.

      1. Isn’t that a contradiction?

    17. While Lewis looks even stronger this year, Nico has gone weaker than ever

      1. Lewis looks stronger this year than last year? No way. He looks way too relaxed in my opinion. Rosberg looked like a true champ in the first races, but when the pressure is high he always falters.

      2. What are you talking about? Lewis is way off last years form.

        And Nico finaly grew a pair and is flexing some muscle and nudging elbows around.

    18. Two words: Racing Incident.

      Nothing else to see here…

      1. Yes there is…..Rosberg not turning the steering wheel…..AT A CORNER.

        1. Pause at the 9 seconds mark and then at the 11 seconds mark, and you see Rosberg going completely off the racing line to prevent Hamilton from making the corner, you then see the Williams and the other cars taking the proper line.

        2. Please stop repeating this lie.
          Videos (especially the head shot) clearly show that Rosberg did start turning before they made contact. He was trying to take the outside path through the corner, which would be a perfectly legitimate decision if the corner was his. Unfortunately for Rosberg, Hamilton was already ahead entering the corner, so Rosberg was no longer free to choose his way through the turn, he was obliged to give room. He didn’t and pid the price.

          1. He only starts turning his wheel when the collision is impossible to prevent (if Hamilton stays on track).

        3. >paid<
          sorry

      2. Rosberg wasn’t very subtle with his defense of that position was he. Total Desperation

    19. This angle made even more clear that Rosberg didn’t tried to make the corner.
      Desperate move, with no real punishment from the stewards.

    20. This is what Rosberg was trying to do – before Lewis turned into him.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X9KOh-5_bY
      Hamilton driving like Schumacher in Jerez 1997, but gets away with it – as well as overtaking on the yellow flag. Both cars were still going at a normal speed at the time, although Rosberg may have slowed down for the yellows. Hamilton didn’t.

      1. lol no. there is nothing in common between this overtakings.
        you have to understand that every corner is different from another.
        you must be crazy if you think it is normal for Rosberg to go so deep into the approach of a corner to keep position. On Austria i NEVER saw no one doing this succesfully.

        another thing : the onboard from Rosberg clearly shows Hamilton slowing down too.

        too me he was wrong. and considering that it was Hamilton there, with the another car of the team, he was mean spirited. he doesn’t care about bringing the car home if it means to take hamilton out.

        1. How was he trying to take Hamilton out? Did you watch the video I posted? He wanted to block Hamilton to force him wide and pass him, like he did with Raikkonen in Bahrain last year. I agree he left it a bit late, especially considering Hamilton’s ‘magnetic attraction’ to Rosberg’s car (this is the 4th time he’s made contact with him this year alone), but when Hamilton turned into him, he still had at least another car’s width on HIS left. Rosberg was already turning right at this point, but not fully, so as to keep Hamilton wide. Hamilton is lacking in awareness this year. He showed it in Spain, Baku, and again here.

          Or perhaps he knew exactly what he was doing. Perhaps he ‘took a dive’ to try to ‘win a penalty’.. and it worked. He turned into Rosberg, while Rosberg was still there. You can’t dispute that. You must be a LEWnatic if you think Rosberg was really trying to take him out, when at that point, in his mind, it was still his race to win.

          1. Take a look at the move Rosberg made on Hulkenberg at lap 6.

            He could brake earlier and still exit the corner first as he had the inside line and this line is shorter.

            On the exit he could squeeze Hamilton out, that it is what Hamilton does to him frequently.

            But i don’t know why i’m still discussing this. Rosberg got screwed and penalized and people just can’t accept that he was wrong. You can watch 30 years of F1 or more and drivers who does what he did are wrong on every single case.

      2. Sorry, but you’re completely backwards on this.
        1) In the video you shared, Rosberg is attacking. In the incident with Hamilton he is defending.
        2) In the video you shared, in the braking zone and turn in point, he is AHEAD of the Ferrari, or at the very least, wheel to wheel. On Sunday, Hamilton had almost his ENTIRE CAR AHEAD of Rosberg in the braking zone and turn-in point.
        3) In the video you shared, you can see that Rosberg is braking hard and deep into the corner, outbraving the ferrary, but that he is going for the corner and fighting the car. On Sunday it was clear he was NOT doing any of those things. He drove straight on, making no attempt at the corner.

        Whatever he was “trying” to do, it’s pretty clear that what he ACTUALLY did put him well in the wrong. If you just look at how and where he contacted Lewis’ car, it’s clear he had no right to the corner anymore. His defense was sloppy and crude. Lewis, Button, Alonso, Ricciardo, and probably even Verstappen would have defended this corner by taking the normal inside line and assuring they had enough exit speed to hold their ground, take the normal exit line, and force the car on the outside to back off.

      3. @pantha, since you mention the yellow flag situation, the regulations state that drivers can overtake under a yellow flag situation if the driver in front has a clearly damaged or malfunctioning car.

        Rosberg was already slowing because his front wing had just collapsed and was partially wedged under the car – under the regulations, Hamilton was entitled to pass Rosberg as his car was clearly damaged and not fully under the control of the driver (technically, the stewards found Rosberg to be in breach of the regulations by continuing to drive a damaged car around the circuit, creating an additional hazard for other drivers).

        Since the marshals were waiving yellow flag through Sectors 2 and 3 due to Rosberg’s car dropping debris on the track, Raikkonen and Verstappen also technically passed Rosberg under a yellow flag – do you believe that they also broke the regulations then?

    21. @pantha yeah right on, hit the nail on the head. /sarcasm. 🙄

      I think what you actually mean is that Rosberg is trying a few of the old Schmacher moves. Seems Rosberg learnt a lot whilst they were teammates; how to crash in to your greatest rival. Win at all costs. And Not forgetting the other “brake problem” how to mess your greatest rival up at Monaco and how to deny any and all knowledge when asked afterwards even when everybody including the stewards lay blame at Rosberg’s feet.

      That’s the difference between them. HAM has a subtlety about his moves which are frequently well executed to the point whereby his rival has to back out or bin it. ROS just hasn’t got that ability. ROS is quick but he’s fallible and easily flustered. HAM has the measure of him but unfortunately the way things are playing out it is appearing like Mercedes are protecting ROS more so than ever. Even if he had a BbW failure then why are they so intent on blaming HAM for actually hitting ROS? Why aren’t they berating the FIA about the rules of team radio. If he had a failure they could have warned HAM about ROS failure. Something doesn’t sit right. That’s not HAM fault but Mercedes appear to be apportioning more blame to HAM than the stewards or popular opinion. My crystal ball tells me team orders will now decide the championship from within Mercedes and it’s already gone to ROS. Cue massive toys out of pram moment from HAM.

      1. What are you talking about? It’s Hamilton who said he will do whatever it takes to win in Austria, and he did. He also showed as much in Spain, on the first lap.

        Monaco – are you referring to 2014? You must be confused, he was investigated and cleared, unlike Schumacher in 2006. You sound like a typical Hamilton conspiracy theorist. Did you see what Lewis did in Q3 in Baku? He locked his brakes up, causing a yellow flag at the second last corner, with Nico behind him, ruining his lap. Then when Nico went first in the second run, he crashed into the wall, trying to ruin Nico’s lap with a red flag! Luckily, it didn’t work! You see what I did there? :P

        Maybe because Hamilton DID actually hit Rosberg? Reminds me of Marquez crashing into Rossi in Sepang last year. Another ridiculous stewarding decision, which ruined the championship – but that’s another story.

        To be honest, I don’t know why Mercedes didn’t tell Rosberg about the brake issue? Surely that is a legitimate safety concern, seeing as that is what you use to STOP the car!

        I don’t see how team orders would affect Lewis, since he doesn’t believe in following them, unless they benefit him. I can see another Multi-21 happening if they go down this route..

        I honestly can’t see how Hamilton fans think that Mercedes are favouring Rosberg. Did they watch 2014 and 2015? Did they watch Monaco this year? Malaysia 2013? Spa 2014? If anything, Monaco proved that his problems before that were real, and they’ll do anything to bend over backwards to help Lewis win. Letting him pit first in the second round of pits in Austria was another example of that. Maybe they listened to Ted Kravitz crying about it the whole race? :P

    22. “Hamilton tried to pass him race-leading team mate on the outside of turn two only for Rosberg to run wide into his team mate. The contact broke Rosberg’s front wing and left him to collect fourth place while Hamilton clinched the victory.”

      That’s not what I saw. It doesn’t matter though, it does taint an otherwise great story, last lap victory, on the other way the rest of the race was quite forgetful. 9 out of 10 times the car on the outside gets it worse, this was that one time and that’s for Nico to worry about. I agree that there should be no stewards decision on this. In the end it was great for the championship.

      1. Yes, I didn’t see that either. He didn’t run wide “into his teammate”. If anything, Lewis ran “narrow” into his teammate, as he was the one out wide and turned in – I guess he was emulating Prost, rather than Senna, this time :P

        1. If there’s a turn to the right there, the guy who goes straight is the one going wide.

        2. Hamilton had no more room to the right. Besides, Hamilton was ahead and then Rosberg cannot pull stuff like that anymore. That’s only allowed if you are actually in front. Even if only by a hair.

        3. You need to take off the blinkers mate. When you look at how far Rosberg is from the apex and how much room Hamilton left your whole notion crumbles.

        4. Seriously?!… Every pundit + journalists + stewards + all drivers who gave opinion saw it as clearly Rosberg error?!… None of them placed any blame on Lewis. But hey you are entitled to your opinion and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise! ;-)

    23. One thing that weirdly no one talks is Rosberg problem is his own in making because he clipped the inside kerb on T1 (according to Hamilton). I watched again the last 2 lap, and when they started final lap the gap is 0.6s which is enough to defend the lead on normal circumstances. However, at the exit of turn 1, the gap is 0.3s and Hamilton has much higher acceleration, just like in Spain and the rest is history.

      In conclusion, Rosberg still buckles under pressure from Hamilton chasing him just like in 2014.

      1. Yeah, I would like to know what happened there. They seem to have glossed over it as the beginning of his brake problem, but then why did he hit the inside? Unfortunate, but he still had the inside line into turn 2.

        1. @pantha Looks like driver mistake, trying to be more aggressive, but turning too early instead. Just like Verstappen in Monaco qualy and Hamilton in Baku qualy, but they hit wall instead of kerb. The inside of T1 has 1 of those high kerbs which severely reduce his speed.

      2. jayteeniftb
        5th July 2016, 5:07

        Hamilton has a wanna-be-Senna tendency while racing, no driver would be idiot enough to just ignore it.
        And Hamilton buckles under pressure by making mistakes (see this race’s outlap alone and several other quali laps) trying to keep up with Rosberg too.
        He maybe the better natural driver but if you don’t learn and grow, you fall behind.

        1. Yet it’s Hamilton who keeps on beating Rosberg even though he has heaps more technical issues. It’s also Rosberg who keeps cracking under pressure making dumb mistakes which cost him the win. Over and over. Monza (straight on at T1), Texas (“gust of wind”) and now in Austria again he falters in T1 which allows Hamilton past a bit later.

        2. Uhh, we talking about Rosberg here, not Hamilton. Also it’s true that Hamilton also buckle under pressure a lot this year but that doesn’t even contradicting what I said about Rosberg. So what’s your point?

          1. Ham has three WDCRos has zero.

    24. Lewis has been wrong at times, likewise with Nico. But for this race it was clearly Nico. However i would have deemed it a racing accident rather than giving a 10 second penalty. which made no difference anyways. Regardless Nico should just be happy winning races. He doesnt have what it takes to win a championship when push comes to shove. Given a competitive or somewhat equal package, Lewis & Vettel would be each others only main rivals for the championship. Yes others might win a race or two at most, but those two would dominate the top step of the podium. I’d probably include Alonso in that list although whether he is past his prime is debatable.

      Rosberg & Ricciardo have proved they can win races. Verstappen is up and coming, Kimi & Button albeit world champions are just not in the same league. Button was never in the same league. Yes the 2009 Brawn was far superior than the rest with the introduction of the double diffuser, and it was impressive that he took the first 6 out of 7 race wins. But he basically fell off the grid right after, something a true champion with a superior car would never do. (Senna, Alonso, Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton).

      Kimi back in Mclaren was a different story. His one and only title should have come in 2003 had he been given a reliable engine, or rather if he was able to conserve the engine given to him to the end of a race. Yet his lone title came as a result from a mismanaged partnership of Lewis & Alonso, which itself was 9 years ago.

      Alonso has had the worst luck with teams since leaving Renault. I feel the 2007 title should have been his. He came to the team as a 2 time reigning world champ with a rookie teammate. Sure, everyone fights their own race, but it is a team sport too and he was robbed off the full support promised by Ron Dennis. Ironic he is now racing with them again in what is probably the worst package they’ve ever had. Then came 2012, what should have been his one and only title with Ferrari. In reality its been 10 years since his last title. and i cant see him winning another right now.

      Then there’s Massa. Who never quite recovered from that near miss in 2008 for the title. Which rightfully should have been his if not for the refueling pit crew mess up in Singapore. A pit stop that shouldnt have happened if not for Piquet’s crash, while leading the race by 3 secs and pulling away from Lewis. I know, accidents happen. But this was no accident. Shame. Dont like the guy but that was probably his one and only shot.

      If so, and just bare with me here, even in a parallel universe where the deserving driver won the title, Kimi’s only title would have been in 2003. 13 years ago!!! way past his prime. MSC would have instead only taken 4 out of his 5 titles with Ferrari. Alonso would have taken the titles in 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2012, with 3 different teams. Massa in 2008. Button in 2009. Vettel in 2010, 2011 & 2013. Lewis in 2014, 2015 & most likely this year too. So really, who else is there that can give us the competitive racing we want besides Lewis & Vettel?? Button Kimi & Massa need to make way for younger talented drivers, and dare i say it probably Alonso too. As you can see i’m an Alonso fan, purely based on his driving style and raw talent, but his days are over. Welcome to the new world of F1, where the fastest car wins, not necessarily the best driver. Im a Lewis fan too, but c’mon, we wait for F1 Sunday to see who will win, not by how far a margin Lewis or Nico will likely win by. Until the other teams step up their game, we’re in for a boring season yet again.

      1. @faiz30 I’m tired of people who think Button is undeserved WDC or second tier. He consistently delivered good results and the only one who battle with both Hamilton and Alonso as teammate and give them run for their money.

        1. theres a massive difference between a race winner & a world champion. and dont get me wrong i think Button is a great driver, but c’mon, the year he won it he actually almost blew it. Most fight back from a poor start to the season to win the title, not the other way around. Other than 2011 where he finished higher than Lewis (although both had 3 wins a piece), he hasnt shown any signs of being remotely close to the top tier drivers. He gives them a run for their money, not the other way around. Thats the diff. Although i was extremely happy for his 6th place finish recently, im sorry but putting him with the likes of Alonso Hamilton or Vettel is just ridiculous. He sits with Webber, Massa & Kimi. Every generation there are only 2, maximum 3 drivers that stand out amongst the rest. Unfortunately he wasnt and isnt one of them.

          1. @faiz30 It’s a fact that BGP001 only dominates on first half of the season and actually 3rd or 4th fastest car at the end of it. Non-top drivers might even failed to secure the WDC. Also he consistently showed good results which is why Williams and BAR are willing to go to the court for securing his drive. Look at 2004 for example, the most dominant MSC-Ferrari year, and who right behind them? Button. 2006? The year of Renault and Ferrari with McLaren completing the top 3, and after them? Button on BAR-Honda, who also conveniently beating Barichello which is not a bad driver by any means. His stat might not be great, but it’s not his fault that he only get a car that can compete to winning races from 2008-2012.

          2. If anything Button won that year because Vettel kept on crashing. The Red Bull was actually very close in performance to the Brawn at the start of the season and much faster later when they got their double diffuser on. The Red Bulls held the entire first row at start of the second race.

            Vettel crashed in Australia (ran clean into Kubica) which cost him an extra penalty as well for the next race in Malaysia. That race in Malaysia he spun off. Monaco he crashed into the barriers and Hungary was also full of incidents costing him any chance of points.

            1. @patrickl If Vettel kept crashing while Button don’t, and he win the WDC with the car that actually not that dominant, doesn’t that even make Button more superior of a driver? So if he beat Vettel for WDC, on par during his tenure with Hamilton and Alonso (and actually has beaten them both in a season) and those 3 regarded as the best driver we have now, doesn’t that mean Button should belong in the same group?

            2. How does it make Button better if he beat someone who crashed in 4 races?

              I was very impressed with Button that season though. Especially the first half two thirds. People write that one off as luck, but he really fought hard. Trouble is, apart from 2009 and one season before (I think the one they were found cheating with the fuel) he never impresses much. Even in 2009 he started choking at the end.

              He just does his laps and finishes. He’s like Heidfeld, Hulkenberg, Bottas. Steady, but somewhat invisible.

            3. @patrickl The fact the he not crashed while the one he beaten is crashed or need to really pushing the limit until he goes over and crashed instead already told who the superior here. An extreme analogy is if you have the chance to drive the Mercedes and you crashed while trying to equaling or beat Hamilton time. You can’t argue Hamilton didn’t beat you and the better driver because you crashed.

            4. Yeah, no.

              It’s also the situation. For instance in Australia, Button was easily cruising at the front while Vettel was fighting for third with Kubica. I’ll agree that Vettel performed somewhat poorly that year, but then so did Webber and Barrichello.

    25. jayteeniftb
      5th July 2016, 5:02

      Rosberg did not even attempt to turn lalalala. Do these people have a freaking brain? I guess not.
      Approach any corner even 2 kmph faster and turn the wheel, let’s see if the driver doesn’t spin out.
      There is just no limit to egos.

      1. Finally someone gets it. If Rosberg started to turn at that speed he either locks up as he is still braking, or he spins out like you mentioned.

        1. @hsvdt15 So yes, even with this ‘oops’ scenario, causing an avoidable collision as he had overdriven the corner, and another car was in his way to bounce off.

          Oops indeed!

          1. There was no car in Rosberg’s way. Hamilton turned his wheel to the right and turned in on Rosberg. Verstappen pulled off a similar move on Ericsson in China last year. Verstappen braked late, completely missed the apex and ran out wide. Ericsson decided not to crash (unlike Hamilton) and avoided Verstappen, almost completely stopping until Verstappen got out of the way.
            Hamilton could have slowed down or used the huge tarmac run off area in front of him to avoid a collision.

            1. Yes, that’s why Rosberg got the penalty …

              It’s really shocking how poorly people know the actual rules. Including Rosberg for that matter. Having the “inside line” means nothing. Being ahead and therefore being entitled to the racing line is what matters and that was Hamilton.

              If Rosberg had come in with smoke coming off the tyres, Hamilton would probably have let him slide past, but Rosberg was just going straight with no blocked wheels or anything. How is Hamilton supposed to know Rosberg is going to keep going straight? He can’t see him in his mirrors and Hamilton could’nt wait turning because then he would have gone off track.

            2. tomnryan – “Hamilton turned his wheel to the right and turned in on Rosberg.” I love this double-think! And I’d love to see you drive round a right hand bend without turning the wheel to the right. The aim of the game is to go round the track, not drive straight at the run off.
              Do you really think that Rosberg didn’t expect Hamilton to follow the track around to the right? If so you do his intelligence a disservice. I guarantee you that Hamilton had already turned right at that right-hand bend seventy or more times that afternoon.

    26. I feel it is Hamilton’s fault, at least partially. He was just too insistent. He could do a small braking, let Rosberg go out, and then take the corner and pass him. We’ve seen this kind of moves so many times in F1.
      And I wouldn’t blame Rosberg for the crash. I watched several times this video, the onboard camera in Rosberg’s car: https://youtu.be/9Yr44gBkfhQ?t=64 At minute 1:04, before the collision, Rosberg’s steering wheel is almost 90 degrees to the right. Now, he is obviously coming in too fast, and the car won’t go right. But at least he was trying. I imagine that steering more at those speeds would have sent Rosberg into a spin.
      So, while Hamilton may have had the right to take the racing line first and do the corner, he could have been much more cautious. And I believe it was his responsibility to avoid the collision, Rosberg couldn’t do it.
      But hey, I am not a racing driver, so this is only my humble subjective view.

      1. He couldn’t see Rosberg there and couldn’t know Rosberg would be so sloppy.

      2. That’s what he did, he held as wide as he could and turned in to a space that there should have been no car unless the other driver was doing something wrong, as confirmed by the stewards decision that Rosberg did something wrong.

        You have to perform some moves with the trust the other driver will do the right thing otherwise every single move you attempt is compromised and will fail, and you have to have the trust that if the other driver does something wrong they will be punished for doing so. His trust in the other driver to do the right thing bit him, but the stewards came through and ruled against Rosberg so Hamilton is vindicated here.

    27. You are supposed to turn at a corner and not keep going straight. As others have said at no point did Nico attempt to turn and Lewis was ahead by the time they got to the corner. I just think Nico was willing to crash to not lose on the last lap and he hoped it would be Lewis who would come off worse, like in Belgium. In my opinion- Nico has shown alot of underhand tactics especially under pressure but when you have a team mate who, despite the odds just won’t go away and keeps pressing you against the wall- it may lead to desperate measures as we saw.

    28. I think that this angle confirms that the crash was Rosberg’s fault. He probably saw an ice cream van outside the track straight ahead, and decided to go there instead of turning right.

    29. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      5th July 2016, 14:50

      There could’ve been an incredible collision as Lewis joined the track when Nico was blocking his entry, of course and was doing it with a front wing failure which Lewis had no clue about. Lewis lifted off to avoid it but it was so close… Very reminiscent of the start of the race this year where Nico came in front of Lewis, bogged it down, and Lewis had to brake to avoid a collision losing all kinds of positions.

      I think we should give Nico’s maneuver of getting in front then slowing down to force you to break and lose pace a name. He’s really banking on the reflexes of the other driver and their willingness not to hit the sister car. I really doubt Nico would avoid those collisions himself if Lewis pulled the stop-in-front-of-you-move.

      1. Sorry, but it’s up to the driver rejoining the track to do so safely, not collide with another driver who is on the track.

    30. DC commented on L70 [of 71] that Hamilton always seems to overrun slightly into T2. I reckon he was just cleaning up the outside entry line for a possible late braking/passing attempt on a wide line. That corner has the added safety net of a tarmac runoff so he probably wouldn’t lose 2nd place if it went pear shaped.

    31. There are only a few openminded people here, in terms of F1 racing.

      A few laps earlier SAI did the EXACTLY same move like ROS on the very same turn. I can’t remember the other guy now, but he stayed away of trouble. I guess he knew that SAI had the right to do that.

      This incident between HAM and ROS reminds me of Malaysia 2002 when Schumacher, being on the back, hit Montoya and Montoya was penalised! We’ ve seen HAM performing NUMEROUS and MUCH MORE “dirty” moves than ROS, and somehow there is always ROS on the court of justice. Canada is the perfect example.

      I am sure that HAM is UK’s favorite puppy.
      Prost was Ballestre’s puppy, Schumacher was Mosley’s puppy, I hope that Hamilton is not Todt’s puppy.

      The decision for penalising ROS was a bad hint to this direction…

      1. Hahaha pathetic.

      2. Use eyes, engage brain!

      3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPC17yDA8tk
        if ROS really did take SAI’s line, HAM would not have crashed into ROS.
        ROS is way off the line and he said he had the car totally under control so he DELIBERATELY put his car at that spot and he deserves the penalty.

        there are only a few openminded people here, and you are not one of them.

        1. Indeed @andrew26, and also, SAI was ahead into that corner, on the inside, which is why he could make that move, and HUL could see him.

          1. exactly

      4. It is clear SKYs bias with Ted’s line of questioning of Lauda and Wolff post race. I loved Wolffs reaction to him.

    32. I really fear for the future races between these two. It’s getting silly now. tit for tat. Hamilton in the past has given Rosberg no room around the outside forcing Rosberg to either brake or go off the circuit. Rosberg did it back in Austria, but made it even more obvious and for me (and the stewards) broke the rules just too much. but the thing i’m worried about is if either one even goes close to the other in an overtake from now on, we’re just going to see bumper cars. It’s not F1. Rosberg definitely went too far this time and that needs to stop. Race hard lads but keep it fair. you sometimes have to accept the other guy is faster than you without deliberately taking him out as he comes past.

    33. Rosberg’s “driving style” and his attitude have no place in F1, but when he eventually retires and inevitably moves to NASCAR, that type of driving and attitude will not only be welcomed, but encouraged.

      1. At times I don’t like how Hamilton drives and times I don’t like how Nico drives. At times I absolutely love their drives.
        And now I’m starting to understand why James Hunt called Niki Lauda a rat.

        1. A rat because he pointed out Rosberg had a brake problem?

    34. This article from 5 years ago is somewhat relevant again :P
      http://www.upstart.net.au/is-lewis-hamilton-insane/

      1. How exactly? None of the incidents listed bare any resemblance to what happened in Austria.

    35. Nico didn’t even turn until contact was made. How is anyone still defending him on this?

    36. Did NOBODY watch the post race interview with Lauda and Wolff? Lauda says Nico had a clear brake problem, and Wolff said he had a “brake by wife FAILURE”. I don’t know why FIA made their decision, but do you think those two are lying against the situation???

      1. “I don’t know why FIA made their decision”

        I’m assuming it’s because the brake issue had about as much impact of the incident as the colour of Rosberg’s helmet.

    37. Can you imagine what we would be talking about if this crash was between let’s say Esteban and Nasr,… not the crash would be the right answer. Whenever these two crash it’s being overanalyzed with every armchair expert on high alert.

      1. Im sure the Esteban and Nasr fans would be having a lengthy discussion ;)

    38. It’s not understeer when you’re braking in a straight line. Additionally he speeds up briefly; if his brakes were going it was his fault for going deep into Hamilton that way. That he changed direction into Hamilton should be a race ban.

      That he seems prone to “borderline reckless” driving behavior before means he should probably be out of the sport, but that’s just my crazy IMO. He seems to get frantic when he knows Hamilton is about to get the best of him and then makes brash decisions.

      On the other hand – great camera shot, makes me want to go to Austria.

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