‘I wish you could see Rosberg’s data’ – Hamilton

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton raises suspicions over Nico Rosberg’s driving at Mirabeau when he went off the track during qualifying at Monaco.

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Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg relationship hits new low in Monaco (The Guardian)

“I wish you could have seen the data. I saw something late on last night and all I could do was smile.”

Hamilton-Rosberg feud began before Monaco (The Telegraph)

Toto Wolff on Hamilton and Rosberg using powerful engine settings when they are not permitted to: “It’s never going to happen again. I think they are probably exploring how far you can step above the line and what the consequences are. But isn’t that normal?”

Rosberg keen to avoid Prost/Senna end (ESPN)

“He said in the press conference that it’s been turned around, saying that he thinks he has the most passion, or whatever, from his childhood. He didn’t talk so much about me he just was mentioning himself and that’s what he said in the press conference.”

Flavio Briatore backs Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku as an ‘F1 kind of place’ (The Independent)

“I have a lot of friends there (in Baku), have had for many, many years, and we hope it happens in 2015.”

Ecclestone rules out French GP return (Autosport)

“They are knocking on the door, but I don’t think we can do that.”

Pirelli F1 tyres too hard – Alonso (BBC)

“When they bring normal tyres with good grip, we finish the tyre in two or three laps. When they bring harder tyres we finish the tyre in eight or nine laps but we go very slow.”

Alonso sure Bianchi has a great career ahead of him (Reuters)

“Hopefully with this result he can have a more competitive car next year and show his talent even more.”

Mercedes W05 – new front-wing endplate (F1)

“Despite their dominance, Mercedes keep developing their car in the hope of keeping their advantage for as long as possible.”

Where has the glamour gone? (James Moy)

“There is another type of Monaco Chav. The ones that sit on their boats, hugely overweight, surrounded by pretty Russian hookers whilst blasting out RnB at full volume. The ‘nouveau riche’ Chav.”

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Comment of the day

Many were delighted to witness Marussia’s breakthrough points finish last weekend:

The highlight for me was Bianchi and Marussia scoring their first points, it is something I didn’t expect to see this year. Those points are so valuable to them, it is easy to forget how smaller they are than other teams (even Caterham), not only is it a morale booster for the team it also brings them valuable FOM points.

I am a big Marussia fan so seeing them celebrate like they won the race was so special it almost brought a tear to the eye. It was not a points scoring occasion like in the past where a Jordan or perhaps a Minardi would only get in the points because of the high attrition rate that used to happen during races in the past. They did a better job on the weekend than the other teams, Marussia have built a reliable car, obviously got the strategy right on race day, Bianchi did everything he could dragging that car into the points, a brilliant overtake on Kobayashi all culminated in a fantastic weekend for them.
Lucas Wilson (@Full-Throttle-F1)

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Ferrari, Sauber, Tyrrell, Minardi and Larrousse were the only teams to participate in the first practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix, held 20 years ago today. The remaining nine teams sat it out while they confronted the FIA over its plan to introduce drastic changes to the cars on safety grounds.

Once they did return to the track disaster struck again. Andrea Montermini, who had taken Roland Ratzenberger’s place at Simtek, crashed at the final corner. Fortunately his injuries were not serious.

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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294 comments on “‘I wish you could see Rosberg’s data’ – Hamilton”

  1. The media’s already inflating tensions between Hamilton and Rosberg. All Hamilton seems to be doing right now is adding fuel to the fire. Whatever people think of Rosberg, at least he’s trying to keep things sane.

    1. @raceprouk Hamilton can only blame it on himself. Honestly, he was playing with matches and a tank of fuel for the last couple of weeks with those comments about Rosberg having an easy childhood or whatever. He was on a roll, and seemed to have the world under control, then something happens and he snaps…

      There’s no way to keep things sane anyway. One of those two is going to win the world championship and all it’s glory. It surely is their last chance to have a championship so “easy”, with no other contender bar your team mate, on equal equipment. Cannot get any better than that, they know it, hence the tension was always going to raise, unless, of course, Hamilton kept winning and Rosberg kept finishing second… then it’d have been easier for the team, but no… Now, it’s equal between the two.

      1. +1
        Lewis looks set to win it on merit.
        Nico also looks set to win it through dirty tactics.

      2. The funny thing is, and what Button mentioned too, the only one it seems to affect is Hamilton himself. Nico knows Hamilton well enough to recognize these tantrums for what they are and simply ignores it while looking at the data to find a way to go quicker.

        I just think Hamilton needs to vent a bit like this, not unlike Webber got himself worked up at times playing the “no2 driver” card.

        1. @bascb +1 I think in all the politics that Hamilton puts on for the media, whether its driven by him or by others, his venting really does affect him more than anyone he may be trying to target.
          Don’t get me wrong, I think HAM is the better driver and will only have himself to blame if he doesn’t win the championship, but I’m starting to think that HAM can’t handle pressure, if you look back at the season he was teammates with ALO, I can now see why ALO was going spare week after week with all the media. ROS on the other hand, damn calm and damn cool… Forget kimi, I think Rosberg, if he can win the championship this year should be dubbed the ice man.

      3. Hamilton intimates that Rosberg had a priviledged childhood etc
        But it is him who is behaving like a spoilt brat, wether its the way he deals
        with his team mate or his team over the radio. The Guy needs to man up
        and let his driving do the talking.

        1. William Jones
          27th May 2014, 21:13

          Rosberg DID have a privileged childhood, that is objective fact not an intimation. Also you’re making up a quote loosely based on what was really said. He said that they had a different type of hunger due to their different upbringing, which when taken in context both makes sense and is not insulting. He certainly didn’t call Rosberg a spoilt brat, though my misquoting him, you actually have.

          What does “man up” actually mean, should he stop saying what he thinks? Do real men let their PR agencies write everything they say? Do real men adhere to sexist caricatures where they may never show emotions in public? Perhaps real men write snarky comments on the internet. We don’t want or need more PR quotes in F1, we should celebrate that drivers are showing some personality these days, rather than punishing them for it by distorting their words and making assumptions about what they meant.

          1. +1
            its amazing how many people want to react when they hear the worst but are not willing to read the truth for themselves.

          2. Dress it up any way you like, the Fact is hamilton behaved like a sore loser and a child who didn’t get his own way. I did not make up a quote I said intimates as that is the way I saw it and a lot of other people judging by the comments. I am neither a Hamilton or rosberg fan but rosberg is rapidly gaining my respect and Hamilton losing it.

          3. Why did you capitalise the word fact right before giving a subjective opinion and drawing on false similes? It’s almost like you don’t want anyone to take you seriously.

            You also don’t seem to understand that colourful interpretation of a quote is exactly making it up. Nothing in Lewis’ words imply that Rosberg is spoilt, but that you did interpret it that way proves that you believe in your heart that Rosberg is a spoilt brat. Shame on you sir.

            Anyway, you didn’t answer my question, why are you using tired old sexist stereotypes such as “man up”? We are in the 21st century, we’ve all moved on from the idea that men are strong and women are weak.

    2. I completely agree. I even think this should be the next COTD. Getting some exposure and putting things right in this mess in other people’s mind.

    3. This is a quote from Sunday ie “saw data last night” I am not sure how he can be blamed for dragging it on if the media are the ones printing it on Tuesday. The most important/fascinating thing will be how they deal with it at next race, if Ham is still sulking then it will be fair enough to have a go at him, but you can bet the media will spend the first two days talking about it first……

      1. The media wouldn’t have as much to go on if Hamilton kept quiet though.

    4. Excuse me, but as much as I like Hamilton sometimes, he seems stupidly childish. After the stewards and the team have settled that Rosberg has not cheated, Hamilton coming out after the race weekend, during which has has consistently been outperformed by his teammate, claiming that fundamentally the reason for that lay with Rosberg’s foul play, is pathetic. Despite Rosberg having been cleared by pretty much everybody (including the pundits), it looks like a sign of a bad looser. Alternatively, I guess, he could always tweet the telemetry; he’s done it before, why not again Lewis?

      In fact, I would not be surprised if this turns out to be a 2011. I just looked it up and Hamilton was indeed on top form until Monaco, that is before the ‘Ali G’ incident. For Hamilton there always seems to be an ‘Other’, something separate from himself, that justifies his loosing. Whether that’s racist stewards, a worse set-up (which he has an urging need to tweet to the world) or, now, a cheating teammate. If he’s not in that sort of mindset he’s simply slow or clumsy, like through half of 2011 where he was apologising for stuff that in my opinion were not even his fault.

      But even if we give him the benefit of the doubt, and he has indeed found something indicative of Rosberg’s cheating, then surely he knows that he cannot come forward with it. Thus, chances are he’s making it up or a it’s simply a case ‘I’ve got something, but I can’t show it.’ It just seems to me like Hamilton is enjoying the Senna/Prost rivalry comparison – as long as he’s Senna, of course. He seems to revel in it, it bloats his ego. When you look at Rosberg he doesn’t care (but hey, maybe he is simply too posh for that). He accepts that they’re not closest of friends, but doesn’t go to the TV cameras with it like it’s some reality TV show. The whole saga to me is just Hamilton being immature again and relishing the ‘rivalry’ which he is to a large extent fabricating himself.

      1. “Consistently outperformed” Lewis was faster in FP1, FP2, FP3 and Q2, leaving a run on primes and a run on scrubbed options in Q3 as the only times Nico outperformed Lewis, there is not enough evidence to say Lewis was faster in the race but neither did Nico romp away.

        Bottom line is whether Nico did it deliberately or made a mistake he was not punished or disadvantaged in fact he was rewarded by guaranteeing pole position and effectively the race win, I don’t think that is right or fair, it might just be life, it might just be tough luck, it might just be F1 but it wasn’t right or fair so given what is at stake I can understand Lewis being frustrated about that for the outrageously long period of 24 hours especially as he was asked about it consistently. I have yet to see a quote from him “after the race weekend”.

        Let’s wait and see what happens from here before condemning anyone.

      2. “After the stewards and the team have settled that Rosberg has not cheated”

        I disagree with your interpretation there. There is a difference between not being able to prove he cheated and saying he didn’t. The stewards have not been very forthcoming on this and I’ve heard it was a split decision but I’m trying to find a good source to confirm that.

        And certainly the team is not going to say he cheated because they stand to lose. They’re happy as long as they can lock out the front row in Monaco as it nearly guarantees a win and lots of points so even if they thought it was bad, they’d only talk to Nico privately.

        1. derek warwick was very clear about the decision when interviewed on Sky on MB’s grid walk

      3. Spot on!

    5. The real test may come when one has an advantage and the other wants to review their telemetry to figure out why. Lewis has been very quick in Montreal so if he’s significantly faster after P1, it might get very interesting. At least we have something to follow between races. World Wrestling anyone?

  2. I’d like to see Rosbergs logs too. This Rivalry is great for F1. Hamilton keep adding fuel!

    1. I’d love to see it. Hamilton clearly feels hes seen something there, but what could the Fia miss ? Mercedes would obviously backing Nico in the investigation, but I cant see how they could hide anything from the Fia ? Could there be something more Mercedes specific that the team could know about but the Fia dont? I really doubt that. Genuine question tho.

      1. I’m sure the telemetry shows something very suspicious, the onboard footage certainly does. But suspicious is not enough to penalise someone. To penalise they would need more than that,they would need proof.

        I’m sure the stewards saw the same as Lewis but to prove it was intentional would be extremely hard.

        1. It was always gonna be difficult to prove beyond doubt that Nico was indeed guilty.
          I cannot blame the FIA for their ruling.

        2. Mark in Florida
          27th May 2014, 21:14

          If you noticed it during the race Nico was locking up his front wheels in the exactly the same spot where he lost it in qualifying. I don’t think that he was trying to do anything wrong. If Lewis had set a fast time the previous lap no one would have cared everyone would have said that he over cooked it coming into the turn too bad for him. It amazes me that Lewis needs a good enemy to justify whatever problem he has at the time. Nico seems to have one thing that Lewis can’t buy, Class.

      2. but what could the Fia miss ?

        Nelson Piquet deliberately crashing at Singapore 2008? After practicing his spin in the same spot earlier? When it clearly favoured just ONE driver who happened to be his team amate? And that didn’t set any suspicions off? Unless they hire Benedict Cumberbatch to do more than just interviews for them, I wouldn’t take their findings as exactly watertight.

        1. The FIA didn’t “miss” anything back then. They just had no proof. You can’t simply punish people on the basis of “suspecting” something. And the principle is and remains “not guilty until proven otherwise”. The proof was Piquet coming out and stating it was done intentionally.

          In this case here, apparently there’s no proof Rosberg did it on purpose, otherwise he would have been punished. No doubt in my mind, if the FIA could give another team a shot at second place or victory (Ricciardo starting well taking the lead, for example) they would take the opportunity. But they didn’t. So no proof, just like Crashgate. And it will take Rosberg owning up to any deliberate wrongdoing to punish him or to have proof. Just like Crashgate.

          1. @mattds I’m not entirely sure what your argument is, but comparisons to crashgate in the nature you have just made seems to imply you feel Rosberg has wrong done.

          2. No proof? Had they even looked at the telemetry?

          3. @vettel1: David BR2 made the point that the FIA might easily “miss something”, just like they did for Crashgate.

            My argument is that the FIA didn’t miss something back then, rather that they can’t convict someone without solid evidence.

            Past weekend the FIA didn’t punish Rosberg which means the telemetry didn’t prove deliberate wrongdoing. If it was deliberate, we’ll only really know if and when Rosberg owns up to.

            At no point I implied Rosberg did do wrong. I am not judging or debating that.

      3. To be honest, Hamilton also thought he saw something strange in the overlaps of him and Button he posted on Twitter, I wouldn’t put too much value in it.
        Its well possible that Hamilton just saw what he wanted to see (confirmation of his thoughts on the matter) as humans tend to do, especially when under stress.

        1. spot on!

          1. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
            27th May 2014, 16:12

            @ifelix @bascb

            Hamilton DID see something in the data posted on Button. If I remember correctly he was saying that he was loosing more time on the straights than he was gaining on the corners, and thus he was a couple of tenths down with that set up. His engineers could obviously see this, yet were advising him it was the best set-up which clearly it wasn’t – the reason for his outburst.

            So if Hamilton’s previous data analysis is anything to go on, then he is probably right about this too.

          2. ehm, @ryanisjones the point was, that while Hamilton did see that in the data, he was in fact wrong in his understanding of the data.

          3. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
            28th May 2014, 10:07

            @bascb
            As far as I remember his interpretation of the data was spot on. Do you have a source that confirms why he was wrong. Or can you explain why he was wrong? I’m genuinely intrigued.

        2. Maybe it shows he broke later/harder than at any other time that they’ve been teammates, so Hamilton already knows his driving characteristics. The stewards cannot punish him because it just looks like he was pushing too hard.

        3. when fools want to see what they want to see – ie conspiracy theorists… not every human is paranoid.

    2. I still not sure who to believe but it does seem suspect how quickly it was determined. With Schumacher it took over eight overs to analyze his data.

      1. Overs hours

      2. @trublu that could be solely down to computing speed quite easily. That was back in 2006 – 8 years ago – and the systems will have improved vastly since then for data analysis one would presume.

        1. Are you Kidding me????? Computing speed ??? Comment of the day for sure

          1. Look up Moore’s Law sometime :-P

    3. At first I thought Nico made a genuine mistake but if take a second look at it… seems to me he did not miss his braking point by mistake. There was so much room to turn in and the line he chose was so off his pole lap…

      1. I think he made a mistake pushing it. Not the first time anyone made a mistake at that point in Monaco, nor the first time Rosberg lets the pressure get to him and mess up his best lap.

        Now whether he helped those yellows stay put a bit to make sure Hamilton was impeded, I wouldn’t completely dismiss. What driver wouldn’t.

        1. It’s not that no one has made a mistake in that part of the circuit before, its the manner of the mistake, its bizare. People, including Hamilton, have made errors there before. Look at Erikksons and Hamiltons own mistake into that corner while actually trying to make the corner while pushing too hard….rear lost and into the barrier heading right.

        2. Michael Brown
          27th May 2014, 17:33

          It was a win-win for Rosberg. If he pushed harder, his time would be faster. If he pushed too hard, he’d go off or crash and yellow flag the session.

      2. @jcost Okay , let us assume he locks up or the car bottoms out a bit . The only thing I find suspicious is how early he decides not to try to make the corner and not even take the line. Very suspicious indeed .

    4. Hamilton said this on Sunday, not yesterday. This isn’t new fuel at all. Here is the quote:

      “We’ve sat down and cleared whatever air was needed to be cleared. We’ve been through the data and seen what needed to be seen. I wish you guys could see it. Otherwise, we’re good.”

      Sure, Hamilton has acted like a child, but for me in this case he’s just answering honestly. Rosberg’s post quali interview (and the wacky races steering input) was the givaway for me, but then again I am wearing my Hamilton bias glasses so I guess I’m incapable of objectivity.

      Anyway, just to say, pleased to be talking about this and not engine noise!

    5. If it shows something as suspicious as when Hamilton posted Button’s and his Telemetry overlaps …

    6. Eddie (@wackyracer)
      27th May 2014, 8:46

      I think what happened is, HAM used more power in Spain, ROS lost, HAM apologized, ROS didn’t need an apology he needed a win then ROS causes yellow flag to keep HAM from taking pole and winning, now they are kinda equal, both of them cheated.

      1. No you are wrong here. The score for sort of cheating is 2 to 1 then ’cause Nico used more power in Bahrain first. At Spain, they got squared.
        But it’s not so sure thing of cheating using the engine maps which is said not to use by the team, not the FIA.

        1. Nobody other than Lewis backed the occasion in Bahrain and Lewis is a proven liar (Australia 2009) and rash in accusations (Jensen’s telemetry).

          1. and Lewis is a proven liar

            I think it’s fair to say that his team pushed him along in that, and also that one event from 5 years ago doesn’t mean you should dismiss something from the present.

          2. ‘…and Lewis is a proven liar (Australia 2009)…’

            This is an extract from the stewards hearing at the time
            “During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake. Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given.”
            What would you have done as 22/23 year old kid sitting next to your Team Manager, would you have contradicted your Team Manager? Without taking the circumstances into consideration calling somebody a liar like that is unjust…

          3. LotsOfControl (@for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge)
            27th May 2014, 12:51

            @ifelix
            Agreed. Guess that’s the page he’s taken a from Senna’s book.
            Some role model.

          4. @shoponf: if he had done that in a court he would have gone to prison for perjury. And this was no kid at that point: he claimed that he has (in his own words) “blown away” double champion Alonso and was already a World champion. This was no Piquet about to be fired and ready to do anything to get more of a chance.

            They went to the stewards knowing what they want to say and he could have told him that I am not going to lie. I personally that the 2008 got into his head, because the 2007 Lewis was decent enough not to play dirty politics when McLaren wanted to get the championship with disqualifying the two BMWs saying that he wants to win it fair and square which he did next year! What happened to that nice boy…

        2. But then in Bahrain Hamilton pushed Rosberg off the track in a aggressive overtaking move in which was obvious that Rosberg was the one that backed off to avoid collision.
          It’d hard to say who’s playing dirtier here.

          1. @ifelix: ‘They went to the stewards knowing what they want to say …’
            I am glad you are saying ‘They’ instead of just LH. You must recall LH paid the price by loosing is 3rd position (now also being called a liar) by abiding his Team Manager’s instruction, with no fault of his own…

          2. @debeluhi

            in Bahrain Hamilton pushed Rosberg off the track in a aggressive overtaking move

            It was perfectly legal and there was nothing wrong with it. I don’t understand why some people keep bringing it up.

          3. @keithcollantine
            I didn’t write the comment to question the legality of that move. Hamilton’s pass was legal and that’s why he wasn’t punished for it, and the same goes for Rosberg’s mistake.
            However, Rosberg wasn’t too happy with that pass and Hamilton obviously has different opinion about the Rosberg’s mistake.
            I didn’t explicitly say it in the post but my point was that the last couple of comments, (to which I replied and some more in a different articles) turned into the ‘chicken or the egg’ question. However, unlike with the real ‘chicken or the egg’ question it seems a lot of people here know the answer of who started it first with Hamilton and Rosberg question.

        3. First Hamilton used more power in Spain, now Rosberg uses more power in Bahrain?

          1. Reverse the order. Score-wise, same, but sometimes there’s causation thing when finger pointing sets in the game.

      2. You must know it was Ros who started it in Bahrin then Ham in Catalunya.

    7. I think Hamilton sees what he wants to see. Remember that ridiculous tweet that Hamilton posted of his and button’s telemetry, pointing out that button gained on the straight and clearly glossing over how he was faster in the corners – it was as if he didn’t understand the impact of having more downforce /and/ more drag.

      1. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
        27th May 2014, 16:25

        That is exactly what he was trying to show! There was like a 0.7 gain with the car set up to be quick on the straights, and a 0.4 gain with the car set up to be quick in the corners (both numbers made up for example). His highly intelligent engineers were advising him to set up the car for the corners, instead of the straights, putting him at a 0.3 deficit to Button’s set-up. It was the reason he could not keep up with Button in the race, and the reason for his anger, as he thought he should have set up the other way, but was advised against it by the team.

        Technically, they handed that race to Button. The telemetry also shows that he braked later than Button in almost every corner, meaning had the car been set up the other way he would have most likely been quicker. People took issue with the fact he posted confidential data, but his argument was completely correct.

  3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    27th May 2014, 0:24

    So Hamilton saw something that the stewards didn’t? To me, the only possible reason is that the debris in his eye has given him the superpower to see beyond reality.

    1. It’s quite possible the stewards saw something but chose not to do anything. If I was a steward I might done the same in that position. Going into the race, anyone would have thought not having the two Mercedes up front would make a boring race.

      1. anyone would have thought not having the two Mercedes up front would make a boring race.

        Then again, a well-starting RBR taking the lead would be a possibility and a great prospect for the F1 to break the everlasting dominance of Mercedes.
        Especially when it’s Monaco and when in the lead you can keep it even with a car that’s a bit slower. Next tracks we’re going to have Mercedes dominance again.

        So I’m doubting the FIA’s motives would lead them to benefit Rosberg – rather the opposite.

    2. Tom (@newdecade)
      27th May 2014, 5:02

      The stewards didn’t see Piquet Jr crashing deliberately in Singapore. That wasn’t even investigated at the time. I have to ask, exactly what level of confidence you place steward’s decisions at. There was also a report that the decision on Rosberg was also split – however I have yet to find evidence for that. I have nothing more than anyone else who watched quali on TV, but the absence of proof does not stop anything being deeply suspicious.

      1. @newdecade why they should’ve investigated Piquet Jr. crash ? To me, and I’m sure to the vast majority of spectators out there, at the moment it was a loss of control in a corner by a mediocre, at best, driver on an absolutely new track. Sure like hell everybody was like, “Holy cow, that SC helped Alonso” but also sure, nobody thinked that it was intentional at the time.

        1. @crandreico Indeed. IMHO Piquet did a much better job than both Schumacher and Rosberg. I know that stweards would like to look at Nico’s logs but a simple video footage would be enough.

    3. It’s pointless now anyway. The stewards have already ruled no action so the only thing that Hamilton’s comment does now is add to the speculation and fueling the fire. Unnecessary really.

      1. It’s actually very necessary.
        If Nico is allowed to easily get away with this, he might do something even worse next time.

    4. @omarr-pepper, Hamilton studies telemetry all the time, knows how the car should be driven, and probably even knows how Rosberg drives the car. If there’s an anomaly in Rosberg’s data, Hamilton is much better placed to detect it than the stewards. Sure, if Rosberg had braked 15 meters later and went straight on in a clould of tyre smoke, it would have been easy to determine it was intentional. As it was, the Rosberg incident may not have been conclusive enough for the stewards to rule a verdict of guilty. Doesn’t mean he could not have kept it on the track even if his initial approach to the corner was a mistake.

      1. If there’s an anomaly in Rosberg’s data, Hamilton is much better placed to detect it than the stewards.

        @adrianmorse, the stewards analyse telemetry data at every grand prix in reviewing incidents for potential transgressions. That and the video are their primary investigation tools. They have plenty of experience at using the telemetry data to determine whether driver inputs were a bona fide mistake or something else.

        The stewards also have the advantage of being objective.

        Hamilton made it clear as he was getting out of the car at the end of qualy that he was very unhappy with Rosberg’s incident at Mirabeau. That is, he had decided it was a deliberate act by his teammate

        before

        he had even had an opportunity to look at the data. It is hardly surprising that when he did review his teammate’s telemetry, he saw what he wanted to see (psychologists call it confirmation bias).

        And frankly, given the comments which came out of Hamilton’s mouth over the weekend (eg. “I also knew you guys wouldn’t pit me”) it’s plain that he not only lacks objectivity about the incident, he has entered the land of the paranoid.

        1. @tdog I think your analysis is absolutely correct. However the comments on this page show that Hamilton has achieved his objective as despite the data based analysis his unsubsubstantiated innuendo has already caused people to question the facts. I don’t think he will be allowed to tweet the telemetry al la Button’s so it will remain innuendo – which is unsavoury.

        2. The Blade Runner (@)
          27th May 2014, 9:15

          I agree with you. I used to be a huge Hamilton fan but his petulant behaviour and paranoid ramblings now completely turn me off.

          1. What petulant behavior ?

          2. The Blade Runner (@)
            27th May 2014, 10:33

            @lewisisabamf

            The dictionary definition of petulant is below. Take your pick!

            pet·u·lant ˈpeCHələnt
            adjective

            (of a person or their manner) childishly, sulky or bad-tempered.
            peevish, bad-tempered, querulous, pettish, fretful, cross, irritable, sulky, snappish, crotchety, touchy, tetchy, testy, fractious, grumpy, disgruntled, crabby, grouchy, cranky

          3. @thebladerunner I may not like the Lewis is acting all the time, but I’m not surprised. At this level, the best guys are egotistical as hell and driven.

            As my father always told me: Show me a good loser…and I’ll show you a loser.

        3. @tdog this is probably the best summary of the event i’ve seen, i agree entirely. In any case, Lewis, Nico and Mercedes can’t be trusted to give honest and objective opinions for obvious reasons. All we have to go on is the footage we’ve seen, and the stewards decision.

          1. Its obvious that Mercedes would not come out vehemently coz its their team which would get the penalties, I can imagine if it was Vettel in Rosberg’s shoes but driving a red bull car; remember the fuel sensor Issue how the Mercedes guys stormed into the court to demand big penalties; but now every one at Mercedes has to pretend on behalf of Rosberg so Hamilton can never get the fair hearing so he has to do the data queries himself after the race…..to achieve the only objective left as explained by @tog

        4. @tdog

          And frankly, given the comments which came out of Hamilton’s mouth over the weekend (eg. “I also knew you guys wouldn’t pit me”) it’s plain that he not only lacks objectivity about the incident, he has entered the land of the paranoid.

          I don’t agree that indicates paranoia – that indicates Hamilton understood that because Rosberg was ahead he would get first call on strategy and Mercedes wouldn’t give Hamilton the advantage of the undercut (unlike as Ferrari did with Alonso in Spain).

          1. That’s a really good point. I had forgotten that side of it.

    5. The stewards don’t drive the sister car to know its handling, how it behaves on that point of the track or anything like that.

      It’s easier to believe in Hamilton reading that data than them.

  4. Hamilton might be in the right, we don’t know.
    But he has to learn to keep it inside, and don’t show it this much.
    He tried to keep quiet, but his body language wasn’t good.
    Lauda will help him I am sure, but his reaction is why so many ppl dislike him.

    1. If it’s not his personality to be that way, have things bottled up might be detrimental for him. Personally, I’m tired of the over-the-top political correctness that people seem to like these days. I rather have the directness of Vettel, Hamilton or Kim.

      1. While I like drivers that is more direct as you say, I think they must also have the tough skin to be at the receiving end of what they dish out. Hamilton doesn’t seem to have that and his actions when it happens makes me cringe.

      2. Amen @trublu! The irony is that people/fans dislike the political correctness of drivers. They complain about the usual PR lines that are spouted out week-in week-out. That is, until someone goes against the norm. And then they complain that they went against the norm, and suggest lines like ‘I’ll come back better next weekend’ or something. It’s hilarious really, and sums up just how confused some F1 fans really are

        1. @timi

          I don’t see why those two are mutually exclusive.

          Just because some drivers are overly political correct (which, btw, haven’t heard anyone complaining about in a very long time) it doesn’t somehow change the childish behaviour of others.

          Not being boring doesn’t magically make Hamilton less petulant.

    2. In the contrary I like it that he’s honest with his emotions.
      I dislike people who fake their appearances just for PR.

  5. It’s clear that Nico was sawing away at the steering wheel during the breaking phase, he was intentionally trying to upset the balance of the car. Ergo he had a tiny lock-up and took the escape road. He knows Monaco, he knows the ease a yellow flag waves there in particular and most importantly he knew Hamilton was behind. Hamilton has seen the steering telemetry from Nico’s car and I bet its like a polygraph chart from Jeremy Kyle.
    Nico did the dirty, of that I’m sure. Hamilton needs to stop being so touchy and just beat him on track. Simple.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      27th May 2014, 0:34

      come on! You see any video of any driver IN MONACO and they shake their hands all the time because Monaco is not a flat track, it’s all bumpy everywhere.
      If you want me to buy the theory of Nico’s doing something intentional, it could be, just maybe, braking a fraction of second later than normal, so he missed the right apex and had to go into the escape.

      1. The swirl with the steering wheel should have been caused by rear wheel lock up, but he did not lock up his rear wheels. He just swirled around with his steering wheel and then pressed hard on the brakes to create smoke from the tyres (front wheel).

        1. Do you have the telemetry to back that up?

        2. I was giving Nico the benefit of the doubt, but looking at it more and more I’m getting pretty sure it was deliberate.
          An ode to his former teammate :)

          1. Put it this way, if Rosberg had to go round that corner or have a huge pile of horse dung poured over his head, I’m sure he’d have got round the corner.
            Incentive to go round the corner versus incentive to not go round, end up in a nice alley and win pole. It’s clear on the video which was strongest in this case.

      2. @omarr-pepper advice my friend.

        1. Go to YouTube
        2. Forget Hamilton is not your favorite driver
        3. Watch comparison of Nico’s two Q3 laps

        It doesn’t take an engineering degree to see what happened there.

        1. One video is not proof.

      3. @omarr-pepper
        Okay , you seem dead sure of your opinion . He didn’t even try to take the corner . The sawing off was to induce a lock which he does at the last moment and goes down the escape road . This is suspicious , whether you like it or not . Unless it is a multiple lock up or a big shunt , one does not just avoid making the corner .

        The stewards would have noted that there was a lock up , checked on that and then he went off the road , did not block it . so fine .

        Rosberg could have pulled this off so ingeniously . You may argue , that it is perfectly legal to do that .

        1. Get over it! You all sound like Lewis, its done, stop it with wah wah what about me comments. It’s racing, it’s mind games, it is what it is! Next round!

          1. @funkyf1

            its done, stop it with wah wah what about me comments.

            This is a website where all opinions and thoughts of the fans are expressed without any bias as long as they are done without offense to other fans . If you don’t want to read comments about this , just skip the comments section man.

            it’s mind games, it is what it is!

            No it isn’t .

            Next round!

            Of course . Let us look forward :) .

    2. Kimoni Nakamoto (@)
      27th May 2014, 1:05

      Claiming that what you would like to be true is “clear” does not make it so. Why on earth would he saw at the wheel like he was driving the A Team van in order to induce a “mistake” when all he had to do was brake fractionally later than usual with no steering input? What was this in aid of? A signal to the Illuminati who told him to throw the corner that he’d done it deliberately? Utterly absurd reasoning.

    3. Looked like indecisiveness to me. He wasnt sure which way to go or if the wheels would grip.

    4. Guys you’re all making too much of a big deal here when we all know it was clearly Maldonado’s fault.

      1. @reiter Finally someone speaks sense!

    5. How do you, or Lewis, or anyone distinguish the difference between a mistake and a deliberate mistake? What would you look for in the telemetry?

      Hint:You can’t!

      1. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
        27th May 2014, 16:31

        Historical data. Hamilton most likely has access to the telemetry data of all 100+ laps that Rosberg drove during the weekend. I’m sure with enough time, even I could work out if something was off, and I’m not a seasoned driver who has spent most of my life analysing my own driving data like Hamilton has.

        1. Firstly, you seriously think Ham went through 100+ laps of Rosberg’s data to compare that corner, are you serious? Also, Rosberg probably had not even done a dozen low-fuel qualy simulation runs prior to the incident.

          But that is not important here, what is, is that you did not answer my question! How would one tell the difference between a mistake and a deliberate mistake?!

          Tell me please, I’am curious, since you claim this would not be a problem even to you. What would be evidence in the telemetry for a deliberate mistake?

          I would like to be proved wrong, but unfortunately I feel you would do what Hamilton did, look for a mistake in the data, then claim:Here it is! Proof.

          Because a mistake is a mistake,and looks like a mistake, deliberate or not, and will show up us such in the telemetry. And frankly we already know he made a mistake, he did not post a lap time! Unless one of the telemetry channels is real time brain activity monitoring system, prior calibrated, to recognize devious acts of sabotage, to my knowledge, there is no way to make a distinction here. So please, enlighten me!

          1. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
            27th May 2014, 21:51

            How would one tell the difference between a mistake and a deliberate mistake?

            There are certain things that are hard to fake, such as reaction time. Then there is Rosberg’s style of driving. Look at a random 10 laps (you don’t need 100), he does exactly the same thing, then on the crash lap he does something completely different like inexplicably turns left when the cars G force register that it was not in a slide.

            What I’m saying is you can lie to someone easily and fool them. But try doing it whilst hooked up to a lie detector. To fake a lie detector you would need to learn ultimate control of breathing and heart rate. To fake a crash you would need to practice. I’m sure Rosberg has not spent his time practising crashing but he is a smart man, therefore if he did it on purpose, it is likely that he would fool some people, but extensive data analysis would show the truth.

            Also I never said Hamilton went through 100 laps. I said he has access to them. Rosberg had 3 practice sessions worth of data. before qualifying. If you can’t understand my point and are not yet enlightened then lets not debate it any more, and simply agree to disagree. Enlightenment will come to you soon ;-)

          2. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
            27th May 2014, 21:56

            @mateuss
            P.S. Because I know you will catch it, by g-force, I think I meant accelerometer, either way, I’m sure the data can work out if the car is in a slide.

          3. @ryanisjones We would first have to agree what it is we disagree on, I feel you either have not thought your position through or have not yet sufficiently explained to me that which you are claiming, to give you the benefit of the doubt.

            “There are certain things that are hard to fake, such as reaction time. Then there is Rosberg’s style of driving. Look at a random 10 laps (you don’t need 100), he does exactly the same thing, then on the crash lap he does something completely different like inexplicably turns left when the cars G force register that it was not in a slide. ”

            Accelerometer data alone would not show he was or wasn’t on a slide, but yes, wheel speed and car speed data would. But that still does not answer the question. Even if the rears were not locked up (which we don’t know, but from the on-board it looked like they were), how would you tell the steering movements were a deliberate mistake, as opposed to an honest mistake? How would a different reaction time in the telemetry show that it was a deliberate mistake and not just a mistake, a failure to react?

            All you are saying still, is that certain things would be different in the telemetry than on normal, non-mistake, laps. But that would be the case even if it was not deliberate. So, I will rephrase my question, maybe you will then tell me that which I’m curious to hear, how would the telemetry data be different on a normal lap, on a lap with a mistake AND on a lap with deliberate mistake?

            “Also I never said Hamilton went through 100 laps. I said he has access to them.”
            It did seem like you were implying it though, to make your argument seem more valid, don’t do that. If you claim you were not trying to do that, then I fail to see what was the relevance of that point. Sutil has access to 100+ Hamburgers, we can see it is not relevant, to him this year.

            P.S. “lie detectors” can not detect lies, they are crude reaction monitors, data from them would not even be considered in the court of law, and there is no subjective way to interpret the data from them (to be able to say someone lied or not, you can subjectively say a person had sweaty hands etc., but nothing more). They are only sometimes used as a prop, to squeeze out confessions from gullible unsuspecting folks, from what I hear.

          4. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
            28th May 2014, 11:47

            @mateuss
            Having access to all of Rosberg’s previous 100+ laps is completely relevant even though you have made it clear that you don’t understand why. I think this is because you don’t understand statistical norms.

            It’s really simple. Patterns. With enough data you will see patterns. Patterns as to how Rosberg takes a corner, patterns to how he tries to recover a sliding car, patterns in his reaction times. The data showing Rosberg trying to stop a crash, and Rosberg trying to make one happen WILL be different from eachother. We are not talking about a split second decision, the event went on for like 3 seconds. In that amount of time you are making multiple decisions, and trying to unsettle the car purposefully (not reactions) will show in the data.

            All you are saying still, is that certain things would be different in the telemetry than on normal, non-mistake, laps. But that would be the case even if it was not deliberate.

            NO. If it was not delibarate his reaction times would be the same when he was trying to recover the car as it is normally. Also it wont just be his reaction times, he may have turned the wheel sharply even when the car was balanced (not a reaction). Making a mistake is not the issue here, it is what he did before and after the mistake that will indicate whether he genuinely forced the mistake and wether he adequately attempted to save the car.

            >> A deliberate mistake is NOT a reaction… that is how you tell. <<

            Of course, nobody can get in his head, but I'm sure you wouldn't be trying to make a silly argument based on absolutes. Beyond reasonable doubt… that can be determined by the data.

          5. @ryanisjones So what you are getting at, is that a deliberate mistake is caused by the driver, and that can be seen in the telemetry, but non deliberate mistakes has no causes, they just happen, like supernaturally? Whith the driver’s prior inputs having no effect?

            A big mistake will of course show up as an annomoly in the data pattern, everything leading up to the off (which I would include under my definition of ‘the mistake’) and everything after, but that is the case regardless of the drivers intentions.

            It seems that you have gotten into your head that a mistake that can be seen in the data is automatically a deliberate mistake, and you are just plain wrong! I hope data analysis is not a part of your job discription.

        2. @ryanisjones Oh, and one more thing, since you invoked “historical” data, you should know that what people who study history do, is they look at the evidence and make an explanation based on what is most probable.
          Although not quite as improbable as invoking aliens, short of that, this conspiracy is the most improbable explanation.

          You will notice that the most improbable explanation can not be the most probable explanation. If one were to give a historical account of what happened, one would have to say Rosberg made an unintentional mistake, since that is the most probable explanation, since that happens all the time, even more so in Monaco, even more so in qualifying. Nothing ever is certain, but there is no evidence to suggest otherwise, or to substantiate any of the more improbable explanations.

  6. Wish we could see Rosberg’s data?…well Tweet it then.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      27th May 2014, 0:34

      @jaymenon10 COTWEEK!!!!!

    2. @jaymenon10 – Good one!

    3. @jaymenon10 +10 LOL…… COTW….

      Mclaren must be thinking “Good Riddance….When will this kid ever grow up “……

      1. @jaymenon10
        Good lord, you gave me the best laugh in a long time!

      2. Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
        27th May 2014, 9:45

        @tmax I’m fairly sure McLaren will be regretting having Hamilton getting away from them, given how poor they’ve performed every since he left.

        1. @magnificent-geoffrey

          Unless Hamilton is the best engineer in the paddock, he’s absence has little to do with McLaren’s performance.

          1. @magnificent-geoffrey @Albert I agree that a Key driver is important in developing a good car. Having said that the Team also needs to be upto the mark. Look at Ferrari they have Alonso who is a brilliant driver but the car is a lemon for no fault of Alonso. Similarly with Mclaren they have other problems than needing a good lead driver. A general cleanup is needed there. it is just that Lewis timed his exit well. Both Mclaren and Ferrari have problems which cannot be solved by having a lead driver.

            Coming back to the topic Lewis is a very heavy maintenance person. Now it seems like everything is coming together. Starting from his Monaco 2007 I am a Number 2 driver Quote , to the Maybe I am black Quote, to Ali G Quote to Tweeting Button’s setting to Tweeting Button Unfriended Me to I have a poor childhood et all. He has been whining all along but never came so much to the Limelight. I am even starting to rethink why was Alonso so upset with Leiws about qualifying in the Hungaroring 2007.

            If he continues this attitude there might be vacancy soon in Mercedes. While Nikki is is nice and everything thing they will not let him spoil Mercedes image. Maybe it will spice up F1 for a little bit but then people will be bored soon. Given the Dominance of the Mercedes car, They know pretty well that even without having Lewis they can win WDC with Nico !!!!

      3. @tmax I wonder how long before Mercedes have had enough of “Turbo” Hamilton as well? He’s very fast, but very high maintenance.

        1. Speaking as a guy who’s had women who were so high maintenance you wanted to choke them….it is strangely addictive, that feeling that there is something special there and “if you could just get through these rough spots” it would be worth it LOL

    4. @jaymenon10
      Yea I think they should just be allowed to share the data with the public.

    5. Lol nice one :)

    6. This was my thought too, you got there first ;)

      But seriously Lewis, pull the other one. Of course he’s gonna keep making comments like that, it doesn’t add anything to the evidence as he’s clearly not impartial. Nico knew he had done a good first lap so went a bit too aggressive on the second lap, carried too much speed, braked too late, chose to bail rather than risk ending in the barrier. He got lucky and it probably gifted him the win, but i don’t believe it was premeditated.

  7. Hopefully if Bianchi gets a faster car, it’s the MR04!

  8. As usual, Hamilton’s detractors are already rubbishing his insinuation that there was foul play, but, to be honest, I don’t think we need to see the data. The TV footage is fairly conclusive, as far as I’m concerned, and I’ve yet to see anyone explain away any of the peculiarities of Rosberg’s incident.

    1. tiredoldfeck
      27th May 2014, 4:32

      Yes, we all saw how Hamilton without seeing any data knew Rosberg did it on purpose. Commented more about it before stewards hearing as well. I mean it was rather uncouth, given Rosberg is not just his teammate, but they were quite good friends.

      Video does explain a lot. Stewards must have had a look at all angles and then must have had decixded there wasn’t a case to answer.

      1. we all saw how Hamilton without seeing any data knew Rosberg did it on purpose

        The people questioning Rosberg’s spin off on my TV were the commentators before Hamilton got out of the car. Hamilton was annoyed because Rosberg was backing towards the track when he went past, not because he span off – that he didn’t see. Even so, he may have been immediately sceptical – and on the video evidence was indeed right to be. Half the grid was.

        1. Healthy skepticism is one thing, getting in front of a camera and imply through your statements that your team mate has cheated, without any evidence or proof, is another. You continuously defend his behaviour without recognising how rash and unprofessional it was.

    2. No it’s not. And the stewards already did; no action.

    3. Maybe you should go back and read the dozens of posts made on this thread and several others.

    4. You clearly think you have it all figured out. Well done. You should send your CV into the FIA, they’re clearly in need of people with your incredible abilities and insights.

      Rosberg made a mistake on a very difficult circuit. He was pushing himself over the limit. It seems to be the simplest and most likely explanation. But you go ahead and keep saying what you say, after the Stewards have cleared him of any wrongdoing.

      1. @colossal-squid

        Rosberg made a mistake on a very difficult circuit. He was pushing himself over the limit. It seems to be the simplest and most likely explanation.

        Exactly. Rosberg made a mistake in China, and that’s okay. But, no, it’s impossible to make a mistake at Monaco, according to some people.

  9. I think Lewis is becoming a bit paranoid, he has won 4 races in a row and has the most dominant F1 car in decades, he should be enjoying every minute of it, instead he fights with his teammate and puts in jeopardy his relationship with the team.
    But at least it gives us something to talk about.

    1. If Mercedes seriously think Rosberg’s escapade was anything but intentional, I’d be seriously worried about their professionalism. Likewise I would never expect them to do anything but defend their driver publicly. If that’s correct, then the people who’ve done the jeopardizing are Mercedes themselves, not because they had much the choice though. Hamilton has to accept that’s the reality though. Rosberg got away with it. In the end it’s just a few months he can win back next race, if it’s business as usual. Monaco is an aberration in all senses.

      1. *points, not months…

      2. That said… What I don’t like about this situation is the way Mercedes (a) share all the data between drivers, and (b) coach their drivers on track in how to beat the other driver. This ‘equalization’ strikes me as mostly one-way, boosting Rosberg, bringing him closer to Hamilton. I can see how that’s beneficial for the team, but after the team effectively backed Rosberg over Hamilton at Monaco, it’s starting to look fairly unbalanced. I think this is what is eating at Hamilton. With reason.

        1. tiredoldfeck
          27th May 2014, 4:38

          Thank you for the laugh.

          However, on a serious not, would you please explain how team favoured Rosberg over Hamilton at Monaco? If anything, Mercedes do prioritise their lead driver, so one could technically claim that they have favoured Hamilton more than they have had Rosberg so far.

          1. Two separate points. I said Mercedes backed Rosberg over Hamilton, meaning in relation to the qualification issue. I thought that was fairly obvious. ‘Favouring’ is something else: you’re right, they gave strategic preference to Rosberg in the pits, perfectly normal.

        2. My god you can’t be serious.

          Anyways, if Mercedes’ policies are so bad, Hamilton is always welcome to go back to McLaren and fight for the 8th place.

        3. I’m not sure about exact numbers but my impression is that most of the times this year Hamilton goes after Rosberg in Q3. Unless they have an agreed system about it, this favors Hamilton.

          1. You might find this interesting

      3. David BR2

        Usually the driver who is timed to cross the line last in qualifying is seen as the ‘favoured’ driver, as that’s when the track is fastest. So you could argue Hamilton was being favoured, unless the decision on when to run is purely down to the drivers. Or maybe you think Mercedes knew of Rosberg’s ‘plan’ to bring out the yellow flags?

        1. It is the drivers decision and at Monaco is was Rosbergs choice to go first. Peter Windsor discusses it here

      4. For “just a few points” he’d have two championships, or none.

        1. True. Let’s hope these few points won’t matter over the course of the season.

  10. Can someone please get a pacifier to this guy so he can shut up. Rosberg beat him fair and square just move on!

    1. Rosberg might not have done it on purpose but fair and square is a stretch isn’t?

  11. knowing the nature of the relationship between Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, it didn’t took me too long to realize Flavio’s role in this new middle of nowhere race, as long as these guys are in control the sport is only going backward. I don’t know about the political situation in Azerbaijan but i think that whoever wants to promote his image pays Bernie a lot of money just to get a race. Similar to the way the great fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman has been organized
    Found this link about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan by Human Rights Watch.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      27th May 2014, 1:01

      @tifoso1989 first of all, don’t get me wrong, I know many countries have problems with human rights. But to say a race shouldn’t be set in those countries is no longer a real excuse. Just yesterday 7 poeple were killed in the US by (no surprise) a madman with the right to hold guns. The father of one of the victims said “People here have rights to carry guns, but where’s my sons right to live?” Every country has problems (see the info about protests in Brazil just before the soccer world cup) but sports are sports, corruption is in sports but not only in Azerbajan, it’s the same everywhere… ask Bernie.

      1. wait a minute @omarr-pepper, what does a murder has to do with abuse of power from the government? I’m not even talking about Azerbaijan’s humans rights record but your comparison is just wrong.

        Brazil is a democracy, that’s why those people a protesting against the world cup because they think their government misused public funds.

        F1 can go wherever they want but they really should avoid the quote “we do not mix politics with sports” when they know autocrats host F1 races with political purposes.

      2. @omarr-pepper there’s a fundamental difference between a constitution that allows a man to wield a gun (he wasn’t legally allowed to shoot people) and a human-rights violation by a government or corporate body.

      3. @omarr-pepper according to news accounts:
        The killings began with the stabbings in the apartment that Rodger rented, inside a two-story courtyard building fronted by palm trees.
        He was a killer, regardless of the weapon used.

    2. @tifoso1989 A shame I agree.

      I don’t know about the political situation in Azerbaijan

      It’s bad, as it is in:
      – Bahrain
      – China
      – Singapore
      – Russia
      – United Arab Emirates

      F1 should not race in those countries, but my opinion counts for little :)

      1. @spoutnik I’m sorry but you need to do a quick research on what you are talking about. The political situation in Singapore isn’t not bad like Azerbaijan’s. In fact, it is good. I don’t know how you managed to include that country in your list, and hence I don’t see how F1 should not be raced in Singapore.

        1. Correction: isn’t bad

  12. I reeeeeeeeally wonder what Lewis might have seen.

    I’m still not convinced Nico was deliberate in overshooting the corner. I mean why not just park it close to the edge of the track, why go that far up on the service road? OK, he reversed back in, but that’s what everybody does regardless of the situation, that’s what Ericsson did in FP…1 or 3. He nearly collected, incidentally, Rosberg during the process, but I guess he was entitled to do what he did, because there was nobody telling him not to do that, marshalls, or anyone else.

    I respect Lewis, I think he’s a brutally quick driver, but I also feel like he’s just intentionally adds fuel to the fire, as others also said above this comment.

    1. @atticus-2 because if Rosberg indeed did that deliberately , that would have been too obvious . He would want to get away with it , wouldn’t he ?

    2. My guess is he found pictures of Roseberg’s GF while searching through his data files :)

  13. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    27th May 2014, 1:40

    No doubt Mercedes have got a lot of very very clever and important people in their team. If what the media are reporting on the Rosberg-Hamilton relationship to be true, then easily the most important person in that team right now is Niki Lauda.

    His experience and knowledge when it comes to these kinds of things will be a great help to Mercedes in trying to get their two drivers to have a good working relationship. Because at the moment, even their professional relationship looks to be going downhill… If media reports are to be believed.

  14. Lewis could learn alot from Kimi, and not about partying.
    I have four words for Lewis: Shut up and drive.

    1. Well, he listens to another female starlet from Hollywood, haha. :)

    2. If Lewis said “Leave me alone!” to his engineer, you would probably be the first on the attack.

  15. My most persistent regret in regards to F1, and racing in general, is the untimely death of Jim Clark. Not only did the world lose one of the best race drivers ever, we also lost a true gentleman. As a 10 year old kid in the mid-1960’s I found Jim Clark to be a hero on track and off. He set the bar quite high for all future race car driver comparisons for me. There are few in his league talent and character-wise.

    There are many stories and legends in F1 where truth may be stranger than fiction. There is nothing wrong with different personalities and a colorful history. I celebrate James Hunt as being a great talent and a fascinating character. The stories of today make up the history of tomorrow.

    But, there is absolutely nothing wrong with drivers of today emulating Jim Clark on or off track. Especially off track in Lewis Hamilton’s case. On track he is as good this season as he ever has been. For the first part of the season he seemed to concentrating all his focus onto racing. Now he thinks he’s playing mind games that are helping him beat Rosberg. If that’s what he really believes, it is delusional. He’s really playing right into the insatiable clutches of media spin where he is doomed to be endlessly surfing tornados.

    What is wrong with just shutting up off track, and proving your points on track? The constant ever sharpening drama is somewhat entertaining, but ever so childish. The focus now is more on the sad soap opera, not his 4 wins so far. What would Lewis most like to be remembered for, his words, or his accomplishments on track? It’s his choice, the world is watching.

    1. Let’s hope he is reading @F1fanatic and accepts your excellent advice @bullmello

    2. +1 If F1 is the pinnacle of motor sport then the drivers should be the ones setting the example on and off the track to those in junior formulas. What happened to the camaraderie between drivers such as Graham, Hill, Clark… those men raced hard and perhaps more aggressive than by today’s standards. Some say there are no friends in F1 but to me that just kills the whole origin of this sport; a couple of guys getting together on weekends to race the hell out of each other.

    3. I agree. Great insight. Hamilton runs the risk of tearing himself apart by his actions.

    4. In the end, Lewis is not the only one making too much out of. We really see balanced comments advising Lewis to reserve his frustrations whether their justified or not and then we see loads of people predicting Lewis has broken down and Nico has the upper hand now. Lewis actually finished second in the streets of Monte Carlo, a place where overtaking a car in equal terms is almost impossible. Jenson Button thinks he will be stronger than ever in Canada.

      He did nothing stupid or wrong in the process of trying winning the Monaco GP. I think he’s just fine guys.

      1. @jcost – Very good points. The drama has taken on a life of its own. The real proof of his mettle is on track results and you are correct, nothing lacking there this season so far.

        In the past the perception has been that his off track emotions have affected his on track performance at times. I believe Lewis even eluded to that himself. I hope for his sake that him contributing to the media feeding frenzy doesn’t come back to bite him. It all just seems so unnecessary. My preference is for on track drama in the form of competition.

        In the meantime I wish for much success to Lewis and Nico both in their race to be champion in 2014.

  16. Don’t suppose anyone is interested in what Alonso has to say about Pirelli tyres when we have more important things to talk about.

    1. Seems Alonso has been vocal bout the tires, but I don’t hear much from the other drivers unless they’re masking the complaints. Personally I feel the tires are fine, at least they don’t have to pit after 5 laps, that’s ridiculous.

      1. Perez said much the same a race or 2 back already @johnbt

    2. I think this year’s tyres are also crap. But when you look at the whole scene from Pirrelli’s angle, it is not surprising that they went for too conservative tyres given the flak they received throughout the last year. Seems like Pirrelli are unable to find that middle zone where tyres are not aggressive and also not too conservative, but somewhere whrre drivers are able to push the car 100% for quite some laps.

      All I can think of is introduction of another competitor for manufacturing tyres which might result in drivers getting better tyres to drive although it will definitely lead to increase in costs.

      1. I guess the biggest issue was that they had to develop the tyres from experience with quite different cars an minimal data on torque that the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault were able and willing to supply @mjf1fan, making it very hard to guess right.

        In that light, I think Pirelli has done a reasonable job this year @hohum, let us hope that at least they get their compound choices right for most races and with more testing allowed this year, I sincerely hope that they make another step up next year.

        That said, the superfluous rules dictating tyre strategy (have to stop, must use both tyre compounds in the race as well as the starting on Q2 tyres for the top 10) should just be done away with to allow teams to decide their own approach.
        And I would also like enabling teams to choose what compound(s) to use at races – off course the choice would have to be made 2-3 months in advance, just like Pirelli now makes the allocation, that way a team having trouble get heat in them can choose softer and a team overheating their tyres can maybe choose harder, choose a bigger gap, etc.

        1. @bascb, actually the narrow band of operational temperature is the main problem in my opinion, in that it determines the grip and durability levels of the tyres, and even if a team know exactly what is needed to bring the temperatures up/down they cannot control the track temperature on race day having set the car up for Saturday. It should be in Pirellis skillset to make a tyre with a broader operating range.

        2. @bascb I agree Pirrelli had very limited data before them to make this year’s compounds. But being in motorsports for such a long time and keeping in mind the size of company, it is expected of them to make the ‘Right’ kind of tyres. Since in-season testing is permitted this season, even I am hoping that next year’s tyres will be much much better than the current ones.

  17. Soap opera is good for this season as we know Merc will take the WDC and WCC which can be very boring. I know we can watch the best of the rest fighting but it’s totally different when a few teams are fighting for the championships. So I support the intra team duel, as Merc are the untouchables so now the soap opera is most welcomed. What’s next between Lewis and Nico, that will be interesting. Toto and Niki must be scratching their heads in tandem.

  18. So Hamilton is a better data-interpreter than the entire FIA?

    1. And we know the FIA has made some brilliant and consistent decisions in the past rite.

    2. In terms of being able to read the F1 W05’s telemetry…probably.

    3. Lewis and his engineers are

      1. and those engineers couldn’t convince Paddie, Totto or Niki who is himself a driver that Nico played foul?

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          27th May 2014, 11:22

          @ifelix – If they had, do you think they’d publicly admit it and throw away a 1-2?

          It all seems very dodgy to me – both Hamilton saying what he has and the incident itself…

          1. No, but they would have certainly punished him, for instance by pitting Hamilton earlier so that he could undercut him or any other means. I am a manager and would never allow an employee to get away with foul-play even if I can’t show it in public.

        2. Even if they did think or have evidence that Nico played foul, it wouldn’t be in the team’s interest to stitch up Nico. He would have been sent to the back of the grid, which would have likely resulted in fewer points for the team (i.e. not a 1-2 finish in any order).

          1. @johnh: as I replied to @petebaldwin above, they could have punished him internally: pitting Hamilton earlier for instance would have been one way to go. At the moment it seems that Mercedes managers see Lewis as the paranoid and petulant one, not the victim of a perfect crime.

          2. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
            27th May 2014, 16:39

            @ifelix: Maybe that’s why Hamilton was so angry about the pitting situation, because he felt the team should have evened it out by pitting him first.

          3. @ifelix
            SC forced Mercedes to pit both drivers on the same lap – otherwise they could have lost a 1-2. So even if Mercedes’ original plan was to pit Lewis earlier, they couldn’t have done it.

            But otherwise I agree with you. It seems Mercedes’ managers are more annoyed with Lewis than Nico. That probably wouldn’t be the case, if they thought Rosberg ran wide on purpose.

          4. @ryanisjones: hmm, thinking of that annoyed “I knew you guys wouldn’t do that…”, could support your deduction. However, in that case, I think Hamilton reactions would have been (justifiably) harsher, because not only the team protected a supposed cheater, they even back tracked. And even though the SC intervened, considering the signal Hamilton gave that he wanted to pit, I don’t think they really intended to give him the track position by the undercut.

            Anyway, we are now too much speculating. In two weeks somebody might spill all the beans that we will be all wiser :)

        3. Why would Paddy, Totto or Nicki want to be convinced ? So they could go to the FIA and get one of their drivers punished and lose team points ?

  19. I find it interesting that new articles on the possibilities of Azerbaijan and France hosting Grands Prix have come out on the same day. There is no need to say things like “Azerbaijan is an F1 kind of place” to make the race sound like a good idea. We all know why Azerbaijan wants a race and why FOM/FIA would consider hosting a race there: it is a country with bucket loads of cash which wants to market itself on a global platform. That’s why there is a possibility of going there. That’s why they sponsor the team that just won the Spanish Football League. Azerbaijan is no different to any of the countries which have been more recent additions to the calendar.

    France on the other hand really is an “F1 kind of place”. It is a country that currently supplies F1 with engines, fuel, drivers and engineers. In the past it has given us world champions, teams, tyre suppliers, circuits and priceless memories. But they don’t have, or aren’t willing to put up, the sort of cash Azerbaijan has to host a race again, that’s why Bernie doesn’t “think we can do that”.

    1. @geemac, exactly and don’t forget France held the 1st. ever “Grand Prix” for automobiles.

      1. @hohum Actually you’re wrong. Everybody knows that the first ever Grand Prix was the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix. Everything before that is entirely meaningless to F1! ;)

        1. @colossal-squid, Hoisted by my own petard, damn !

          1. Haha! Very good! :)

    2. @geemac then we get to Baku and the first 2/3 years races are sold out only to give place a declining crowds to the point entrances become free on Fridays and low attendance becomes a common place.

  20. Also on this day: Michael Schumacher’s Rascasse moment in the 2006 Monaco GP Qualifying session, which put him to the back of the grid; the 2007 and 2012 Monaco GPs – both were won for the second time by a driver (Alonso in 2007, Webber in 2012)!

  21. They’re both being as bad as each other at the moment… I’m surprised Laura hasn’t bashed their heads together already.

    1. Exposing your teammate wrong doing is as bad as the dirty tactic itself.
      Double standards…..

  22. Some interesting comments regarding the collision between Kimi and Chilton: “Nobody talked about the safety car thing until I asked. They said we don’t know anything about it, and I said how can it be possible. Then One guy said we haven’t got anything from Charlie, then Charlie said that he told them, but these guys are telling me 10 minutes later that nobody said anything.”

    1. Given that he had been unwell before the race, I guess that race must have been hard to drive for Kimi once the adrenalin of being in the top 5 wore off.

      But it sure is strange that we see Magnussen getting penalties handed to him for incidents in the first couple of laps all the time, but Chilton doesn’t get more than a reprimand (and only as a bit of an afterthought) for hitting Kimi when he is unlapping himself behind the SC. Surely there was no reason what so ever to push as they would have to wait for him to get by regardless of where it happened on track.

  23. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
    27th May 2014, 8:45

    Thanks for the COTD @keithcollantine !

    Interestingly, I believe my first COTD was also about Marussia :-)

  24. Corrado (@)
    27th May 2014, 8:57

    Well, HAM doesn’t seem to be such a nice/fair-play guy in reality… At the end of the year, we might see 2007 with different eyes: it wasn’t just ALO’s fault for the tensioned situation at McLaren in 2007.

    1. Yes it was and Hamilton hasn’t done that much wrong this season expect for the engine mode in spain.

      1. No It wasn’t, It all started in Hungary when Ham tried to cheat ALO out of track position in Qualifying!! God forbid you say that out loud in the UK though!

        He starts all this crying and finger-pointing whenever his team mates start showing him up, he even tried it with Jenson and I hope Nico takes the same tack that Jenson did, largely ignore/laugh it off leaving Lewis with nothing but having to take his ‘Talent’ to another team.

        1. “It all started in Hungary when Ham tried to cheat ALO out of track position in Qualifying!!”

          No he never tried to cheat nothing, the team released him before Alonso, unbeknowns to them, Ferrari also released their cars right behind Alonso meaning Hamilton couldnt let Alonso through without letting both Ferraris through as well, which would have been detrimental to both him and the team. I can understand Alonso’s frustration at that moment because he dosnt have that knowledge at hand, but if you go watch the footage again, maybe you’ll understand how that situation arose.

          1. Haha….of course he couldn’t! despite being told repeatedly to let ALO through by his own team!
            RAI was BEHIND ALO and HAM in Q3

            it was all about Fuel Credits and track position and HAM’s theft of both was the start of it all.

          2. “RAI was BEHIND ALO and HAM in Q3”

            Erm, thats the point, Hamilton couldnt let Alonso through without letting Ferraris through, thats why he didn’t, it had _nothing_ to do with stopping Alonso himself.

  25. What Hamilton is doing is starting something that he cannot benefit from.

    Rosberg has that classic German mentality that won’t let anything phase him. Hamilton can talk about whatever he wants, as much as want to the media, but it won’t affect Rosberg one little bit. Hamilton on the other hand is the kind of person that will let these little things get to him. Remember how much his form was affected by his girl problems?

    Rosberg has started to gain an edge because of this and I have a feeling it could get a lot worse for Hamilton.

    1. totally agree!

    2. Even I had the same thoughts as you had. The more Hamilton will be dragging this controversy, the more he will be alienating himself from the team which might be hurtful for him in later stages of championship.

      All he is doing is making tense atmosphere in the garage and I’m sure people like to work in a good environment and not in a one where someone is always sulking and whining about things.

      If Hamilton thinks Rosberg cheated, he should respond to him on track by winning the next race which (luckily) happens to be Montreal – one of his favorite circuits.

    3. petebaldwin (@)
      27th May 2014, 11:18

      @jarnooo – I agree with what you say but I don’t think you can say “Rosberg is starting to gain an edge”

      Hamilton won 4 in a row and then following a highly controversial qualifying, there was no way for Hamilton to get past. His only real chance was at the pit stops but the safety car stopped that from happening.

      We’ll see in Canada where they are but I wouldn’t say Rosberg won comfortably and on a track where overtaking is possible, I think Hamilton would have beaten him.

      1. I think that all this talk from Hamilton is showing that it’s getting to him. Rosberg is getting that edge through Hamilton losing it. I guessing I could have worded that better.

    4. if it was a mistake,then that means nico made yet ANOTHER mistake in q3 while under pressure.alot of ppl are over looking this.lewis has moved on,he’ll get the win in canada.

    5. Actually it is Nico who is cracking under pressure. He made mistake in China and here to in qualifying.
      Had he completed his last lap without this driver error then whole saga could have been avoided.

      1. If you ask me this only began this week. Also, I don’t think it was a mistake in qualifying ;)

  26. Rosberg is handling this with the appearance of a magnanimous gentleman in complete contrast to Hamilton.

    Let’s review the facts shall we? Between the pair, Hamilton is the proven liar (in Australia 2009 he

    lied

    to the stewards to get on the podium, then when his lie was detected he was disqualified but escaped a harsher punishment by writing an apology letter). Besides, it has emerged that he is the one who has also cheated in Spain and has apologized for it. He claims that Rosberg did the same in Bahrain, but so far nobody else has backed that claim.

    Now he is insinuating that the data obviously is showing that Rosberg did the lock-up, but between a proven liar and cheat and suspected one, I for one would not side with the liar and one who jumps to accusations (Jenson unfollowed me in Twitter?!). As Raikonnen and Alonso mentioned, only Nico knows if he did it on purpose or was a genuine accident.

    At any rate, I think the whole thing is suddenly destabilizing him completely and if can’t manage to beat Nico in Canada, even if it is totally out of his control e.g. an engine blow-out, his downward spiral would accelerate. If, however, Hamilton wins in Montreal, he probably can resume his mojo and drag himself out the self-created mess. If by then he also breaks up with Nicole again then it’s curtain down for the season (not that I wish that for any man) ;-)

    1. @ifelix

      He claims that Rosberg did the same in Bahrain, but so far nobody else has backed that claim.

      Sorry buddy, Mercedes has acknowledged it. Actually Nico dismissed any feud related to that…

      1. @jcost: can you show a link that Merc has admitted that Rosberg used the boost button? Everywhere I saw it was they say Hamilton did it, but the only reference to Bahrain is from Hamilton.
        As for Rosberg dismissal, he is trying to (or at least pretending to) to downplay the whole thing and as I said even he was incensed by the “boost” in Barcelona he didn’t show it. All these would help him (true or otherwise) to be seen as the more mature person within the team.

        1. Neither Merc nor Rosberg disputed what Lewis has said about Rosberg’s use of boost button in Bahrain!!! At least I can’t recall seeing anything…

          1. @shoponf: of course they wouldn’t!!! That would be tantamount calling their driver a liar or deluded in public which hardly help defusing the row.
            Furthermore, if the Barcelona was a tit for tat in Bahrain there was no reason for apology, nor Niki would have put it like that: he would have said something like: “they have a history starting from Bahrain, and now it’s getting out of hand…”

            But Hamilton is used to making accusations based on his own perceptions and in proven cases downright lying to get his way.

          2. @ifelix: “…deluded in public which hardly help defusing the row…”

            Why the heck Toto Wolff brings it up about Barcelona in the first place!!! It wasn’t in the public domain. TW started it…

          3. @shoponf Thank you.

            Rosberg was in the same room when one journalist raised this episode and did not dispute… c’mon @ifelix. I understand Lewis is not your fave driver, but he can’t be as bad as you trying (hard) to paint him.

          4. Rosberg was in the same room when one journalist raised this episode and did not dispute…

            @jcost: I have already addressed this point in my first sentence: “Rosberg is handling this with the appearance of a magnanimous gentleman…” (wh0o knows how authentic that is)
            It would be a terrible gesture of magnanimity to insinuate the Lewis is lying. He tried to deflect the question by saying “I don’t know what Niki is talking about…”

            And no I don’t want to display Lewis worse than he is, but I am incensed that his fans completely ignore his own short-coming and vilify mob-lynch his opponents for unproven offenses.

  27. Toto Wolff ” Lewis Nico is faster than you”. Just want to know LH’s reaction after that.

    1. not even soap operas would be able to match that :))

  28. James Moy post about the state of the Monaco GP is spot on. Glamour will always be associated with Monaco but there’s a gulf separating good taste and manageable dose of elitism from exacerbated show-off. That’s why I don’t fantasize about going to Monte Carlo for a GP. I’d rather pay twice as much to be part of a Tiffosi filled Autodormo Internazionale di Monza F1 race than mingle with drunk techno lovers and middle age millionaires with little interest in F1 but desperate to show-off their big boats and young female “friends”.

  29. petebaldwin (@)
    27th May 2014, 11:16

    Whatever anyone thinks about Hamilton or Rosberg, I’m delighted they’ve fallen out! We were already in for a potentially brilliant season but it’s going to be epic now! Neither are going to give an inch and with both likely finishing 1st and 2nd in most races, there won’t be much to separate them. With double points at the end, it will almost definitely go to the last race.

  30. I’m losing respect for Hamilton pretty quickly.

    He just can’t stop whining.

  31. It’s a coy move on Hamilton’s part. He gets to play the downtrodden hero now, and turn the media against Rosberg, especially in the UK. The British media love their pantomime villans and this is perfect for them to have the narrative now become Hero Hamilton vs. Cheater Rosberg.

    I suspect he saw only what he wanted to see. There’s precedent here with Hamilton seeing what he wants to see at times – look at Belgium 2012 with the telemetry. He can also percieve slights where there are none – his tantrum over Jenson Button ‘unfollowing’ him on twitter after Hamilton signed for Mercedes, when in reality Button had never followed him at all.

    Furthermore he gets to say what he said with relative impunity. The telemetry will never be made public. Mercedes will not come out and say Hamilton is wrong as they’ll run the risk of upsetting their highly expensive driver and plunging the team into chaos by publicly saying he was wrong or lying. Rosberg can deny it all he wants, but Hamilton has raised doubts in peoples minds and nothing Rosberg can say will change them. Perception is everything.

    Hamilton is a hell of a driver. No question. But his easily bruised ego, petulant and childish behaviour and (to me) his need to always be seen as the burdened, struggling or conspired against hero means while I respect him for his awesome skills behind the wheel I have very little of the same for him when he steps out of the car.

    1. The Blade Runner (@)
      27th May 2014, 11:54

      +1

    2. Well said +1

    3. I agree, but he has also created bad press for himself and he cares more about this stuff than the cerebral Rosberg.

    4. “There’s precedent here with Hamilton seeing what he wants to see at times – look at Belgium 2012 with the telemetry.”

      There’s also precedent of people purposely stopping Hamilton completing his qualifying laps because they fear his speed.

      1. The only thing I can remember where your statement is true is Hungary 2007, and if I remember correctly, before Alonso held up Hamilton in the pits, Hamilton himself had impeded Alonso on his flying lap. So your ‘precedent’ doesn’t hold much water when Hamilton had instigated the whole affair.

        You couldn’t possibly be referring to the events of last Saturday, where Rosberg was cleared of any wrongdoing by a panel of highly trained, experienced stewards with access to far more data and information than any of us. That would be preposterous and make for a rather weak argument.

      2. “Hamilton had instigated the whole affair.”

        The situation arose because Hamilton couldn’t let Alonso through without letting Ferrari’s through as well, as they left the pits right behind Alonso, Hamilton couldn’t have known this was going to happen and made an instant judgement call based on the facts he saw at that given moment. Unfortunate situation at very best, not a cause to go purposly cheating your teammate out of doing _any_ final quali lap.

        “where Rosberg was cleared of any wrongdoing by a panel of highly trained, experienced stewards with access to far more data and information than any of us.”

        The stewards make bizarre decisions all the time, practically every race weekend theres debates being had about penalties or lack of them, the stewards are not perfect and they do make clangers, its interesting how much people big them up when they make a decision they agree with.

        My opinion on this matter is that they came to a quick decision because it was essentially a Merc vs Merc fight. Not because there wasnt any ambiguity in the evidence. Had Vettel been the one to cause those yellows in that manner, you can bet your very last penny Merc would have been in there to argue the contrary. You can be certain much more would have been made of the situation than actually was.

    5. Actually I believe what he cares about is winning and more importantly doing it fairly.

      1. Well said @colossal-squid and @Rick then how do you explain LH starting this whole mess by going against the team and cranking his boost so NR wouldn’t be able to challenge him in Spain?

  32. Glamour can go to hell as far as I’m concerned.

  33. “I wish you could see what you are doing”

  34. I really like Nico, I do not understand why Hamilton is not focus on comeptition instead of breaking the team.

  35. I have some advice for Hamilton:

    Drive more, talk less.

    1. How can he do that when people stop him driving? ;]

    2. William Jones
      27th May 2014, 21:51

      Sadly, we have limited tyres at races and limited testing, so he’ll probably just have to ignore your sage wisdom and drive just the same amount as he already is.

  36. all of us moan and complain when we are not happy about something.and lewis drove well in monaco,he stayed to within a second of nico for most the race.he didnt try any rash moves,and was controlled in his driving.it was actually nico who made the mistake in quali,ANOTHER mistake under pressure.nico got away with it this time tho.and this engine mode thing in barca,in a interview,when asked about it,nico said i dont know what NIKI is referring to.he said its normal to switch engine modes.

  37. Hamilton had 4 wins in a row. In two of these races he “destroyed” Rosberg and in the other two he still managed to win although, in his mind, he had a slower car. That would be a big confidence boost for any driver. Then people (media) started asking themselves whether he can win the rest of the races. It appears Hamilton believed that he can do that, judging by the interviews before the last race.
    For a person obsessed to become one of the greats, I believe he already won all of the races in his mind. But then the Q3 happened.

  38. I don’t know if Rosberg cheated or not. But one thing is for sure – Nico could only beat HAM this season on 2 occasions:
    1. HAM had a car failure in Australia
    2. HAM was prevented to finish the lap for pole on a circuit where is VERY difficult to overtake (due to Nico’s mistake)
    HAM needs to get his act together and win in Montreal (like in the old days). Seven years ago at Monaco people were falling for this “victim” stuff, but now nobody is buying his tantrums.

  39. Rosberg may have been started playing tough, but Hamilton won four races in a row even after head-to-head fighting and Rosberg, who lost those duels, always congratulated his team mate. Now Hamilton finishes second once and suddenly he’s the victim, Nico is the evil guy and the world is unfair. That looks all too much like childish behaviour to me.

    1. Problem is, as I see it, LH did not win 4 straight head to head fair and square…he started this downhill trend of childishness when he cranked up his boost to keep NR back, in Spain. Yes NR did not take the high road, and he too did it at the next race, but LH set the tone by potentially robbing NR of a win. In a perfect world perhaps NR should not have done or said anything about LH cranking his boost, taking the win, and apologizing after the fact, but I think that a WDC level driver would not let that alone, which I’m starting to think NR is just that, WDC level and not one to let himself get rolled over.

      1. Correction…after re-reading the quotes from Toto Wolff LH cranked his boost in Spain, and he LH only suspects NR did back in Bahrain, but since Wolff doesn’t mention that I would say it is pure spin from LH. LH has set the tone they are now in with his cranking of the boost in Spain and therefore did not win 4 straight fair and square imho.

        1. William Jones
          27th May 2014, 21:55

          Why on earth are Mercedes even preventing their drivers from extracting more performance from their cars in a perfectly legal way? Seems weird to me.

          1. I think it might be that they don’t need to crank things up to beat the competition, so might as well conserve their engines and gearboxes.

  40. Wow…so much to weed through here but in general I see this all having started by LH needing to crank up his boost to stay ahead of NR. Seems to me LH started this path and NR has had to now play the game. They’ve both now been guilty of tabloid junk…LH moreso…but I certainly no longer believe that LH won 4 in a row fair and square. Some have argued NR has needed LH’s ozzy DNF to be ahead, and otherwise LH has been trouncing him…but now we know LH started a downhill trend by cranking up his boost first. No question LH sees NR as a legitimate threat, and he may like to boil it down to “I’m faster” but if that is the case he shouldn’t have had to crank his boost to maximum in order to beat NR. All the crap since LH has brought upon himself IMHO.

  41. the strange data Hamilton saw from Saturday was rosberg outbreaking himself and going down the escape road… wow big revelation. Hamilton must have looked at it and thought “hmm, that is strange, he is not completing his lap” that is about all that is strange about it… the data will correlate to what the whole world saw, a driver braking in the wrong spot, nearly losing control of his car, and choosing to go down the escape road instead of continueing to brake and turn in to an apex he wont hit, and instead hit the barriers ala Hamilton in qualifying a few years ago.

  42. Why does something dodgy always happen when flavio briatore is around?

    1. Question of the day!!! LOL

  43. What Lewis should post is the pit times of both drivers since the start of this Championship…

  44. Here is my analysis of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg:

    Lewis is naturally aspirated V8 and hence slightly faster but very noisy while Nico is turbo charged V6 and hence faster but less noisy :P

  45. I’m not going to say I’m happy with the way Lewis is responding, but then again, I think Nico either made a very poor move or a deliberate move and either way it cost Lewis his shot at poll. Then he celebrated like he’d earned a clean poll afterwards which really put me off when I watched that. But he’s Nico so nobody says anything about that. Had that been Lewis celebrating after pulling a questionable move on Nico’s lap, most of you would have been screaming for his scalp.

    1. I think I understand more now as to why NR celebrated as he did, and to me it started when LH was the first one to turn up the boost to keep NR back. LH, as it turns out, did not win 4 straight fair and square prior to Monaco, and he is the one that set the tone and brought this rivalry down to the level it has come, with of course NR’s help. It takes two to tango, and I’m sure if it had been NR that made the first unfair move with the turbo boost, LH would be all about the excess celebrations too, and perhaps would have even gone public about it.

      1. Why you just want to ignore it was Ros who used it 1st in Bahrin?

        1. Because that is only a speculation on LH’s part, and not something Wolff said anything about when he was explaining that LH did it in Spain.

          1. @robbie, you sure it’s just speculation? Merc never denied it in any way and Toto says “there have been little fouls left and right on both sides and that will not happen again”.
            So, what “fouls” has Nico done then? Either he did something in Bahrain or he did something in Monaco. Which is it? They will say all the right things publicly, but those little slips tell a different story.

          2. @daved Yeah I think you are right and we don’t know what the little fouls were. It just seemed to me that the notable one (as pointed out by Wolff himself) was the one that LH committed in Spain after the team thought they had all agreed neither driver should do again but LH did anyway and then apologized for.

            I’m starting to think of it this way…they both started off feeling each other and the team out as to how they could advantage themselves…both guilty of minor things….then LH cranked the boost in Spain to keep NR behind and even apologized for it ie. it was ‘apology worthy’ but of course that was not going to be good enough for NR.

            So whereas I have been defending NR for Saturday in Monaco perhaps he was exacting revenge after all. Perhaps NR thinks they are now even which is why he has now said he thinks this will soon be in the past. Perhaps in their hearts both drivers know this is the stuff of a close rivalry and they have both been guilty. I get the impression the team is not going to have much more patience for much more shenanigans, nor the fans, and they will have to both get back to the job at hand and not the game playing.

          3. @robbi Yes, it is really hard to judge anyway. Even if you assume all parties are seeing the “facts” the best they can, it is well known that we humans have a tendency towards “confirmation bias”.

            – Lewis sees intent in Nico’s data.

            – Nico sees that it was just an honest mistake and he didn’t want to wreck his car so he took the runoff rather than try the corner and end up like Massa last year.

            -Toto sees no problem because he doesn’t want to deal with bad publicity for Merc so everyone needs to just behave and stop airing this in public!

            – Niki doesn’t mind a little cut throating as he sees it as important for the best drivers to be aggressive). so he just wants them to understand it’s part of the game, be professional and move on so they don’t embarrass Merc.

            -FIA sees it as good that Lewis doesn’t run off with the championship by the end of the 8th race…so it’s good for Nico to keep it close.

            Do the personal interests of the parties involved shape how they “see this”. Yes, they’re human.

            I’m a huge Lewis fan, so I see Nico completely off line and doing strange things with the steering wheel and VERY late braking. I like Nico, but my bias makes me see it as either really stupid or really dishonest.

          4. @robbie

            No, its is not speculation on Hamiltons part.

            This is a quote from Mark Hughes:

            “Re your questions
            1) Did really Rosberg use an unauthorised engine setting, prior to Barcelona as Hamilton claimed he did?

            Yes. Confirmed by the team on Sunday at Monaco. He used it in Bahrain when he was trying to pass.”

          5. @N But from what I have read I think it is very possible that in Bahrain NR did not think he was doing anything unusual, hence his answer where he opines that Lauda’s comment was a bit strange since adjusting boost is normal. I don’t think the team had really discussed this scenario yet. They then discussed it collectively and agreed that both drivers shall leave their boost alone unless instructed otherwise by the team. LH ignored that in Spain and even apologized afterwards, thus admitting guilt.

  46. In the last two races, NR’s fuel consumption has been higher that LH’s. If during the first occurrence it could be attributed to dirty air, the reversal of driver’s positions failed to confirm that theory, as, in both instances, NR’s was higher than LH’s.
    It is logical to infer that, with identical engines, greater fuel consumption points to higher power output. Therefore, if MB is the one that henceforth regulated this parameter after Bahrain, more power was available to Nico than was to Lewis during the Monaco race and during the Spanish GP.
    It would explain why Lewis was not able to put real pressure on Nico at Montecarlo.

    On the subject of the Rosgate, it is evident from watching the onboard camera replay that Rosberg was not set up to round the bend as his line was perfectly wrong to do so. Suffices to watch with attention the several other onboard laps of NR and others and compare these with the failed lap.

    It seems to me that a genuine abortive manoeuvre would have happened after a full wheel locking event. Now this, if it had happened, would have taken away any doubts about the situation.

    Then, there is a gesture of Nico as he nears the podium after qualifications that betrays stress: He brings his finger to stroke his nose, typical of those that fear being caught after a lie.

    So, if LH starts tying loose ends, higher power to Nico, faster pit stops for Nico, better tyre choice strategy for Nico,
    mysterious and unfortunate tweaks to a yesterday perfect machine that leave him struggling while Nico improves,
    he will be starting to feel real uneasy at MB.

    LH could have rubbed somebody the wrong way at MB. Who knows?

  47. @ifelix

    Agree with your assessment that this is likely Hamilton lying again and with others who say it all stems from his wanting to be the next Senna and produce similar feuds etc.

    This feuding with team mates and throwing tantrums in the team is probably the core reason why Red Bull and Ferrari turned Hamilton down but which Lauda thought he could manage. Of course he really can’t but is lucky Mercedes’ advantage is too great for it to really matter.

    Must also point out that part of the reason Hamilton is making a fuss despite winning 4 on the trot is obviously that those were gained thanks to the team protecting his starting advantage as Rosberg was generally faster in the races and would have likely had a few more wins had they been free to race with pit stops etc like normal F1. I doubt Hamilton would have bothered starting this feud if he felt he was on really on top like he was with with Button.

  48. KeepTurningLeft
    27th May 2014, 22:29

    Lewis wishes we could see it? We can! All he needs to do is Tweet it again!

  49. “We’ve sat down and cleared whatever air was needed to be cleared, and we’ve been through the data and seen what needed to be seen. I wish you guys could see it.”
    This is what he says in a different interview on planetf1.com. Not so controversal or suspicious. I can imagine obe day Hamilton replying “no comment i am worried what the f1fanatic readers might think.

  50. This was no Rascasse-gate. While the jury still might be out on Nico (in the court of public opinion at least), I think there is little to be gained by Lewis getting himself into a tizz about it. Revenge is a dish best served cold so they say, and he should let his actions on track do the talking. Otherwise, he runs the risk of getting so involved in the mind games that he scuppers his best hope so far of the elusive second WDC.

    Personally, I thought Nico just overcooked it going into the corner. Whilst it was fortuitous that it secured pole for him, I didn’t think it was deliberate. However, I thought the same thing with crash-gate so time may indeed prove me wrong.

    1. You deserve your own opinion but when current top 4 drivers except Merc are said to have opined it was intentional, I would put more weight on their call. But yeah, case closed and Nico whatever reason got away with this 25 points under his name. What will be interesting is what goes around will come around. Will see.

  51. They must have told Hamilton & Rosberg to talk up the rivalry to create some tension in the season.

  52. FIA must now look at the data from Rosberg’s 78 racing laps plus the qualifying lap against the ‘mistake’ lap to see if there are any discrepancy in positioning his car and unusual movement of steering wheel prior to causing the yellow flag to be brought up at the right place at the right time.

    I still believe if one benefits from his own mistake to the detriment of others, that benefit is illegal i.e Rosberg should have been disqualified in the first place, mistake or not.

    1. You better forget it, ’cause it may be what they actually wanted to. Reading thru what Niki and other said, esp bearing the commercial focus of the sports itself in mind, they wanted to tip the scale toward Nico and it came in a perfect opportune if this guess holds some validity.

      Say if Nico could not come back again in Monaco, the scale will tip heavy deep to Lewis and they thought it does not good to the F1 and the Merc, simply too boring and way too predictable.
      So Lewis’ reaction has already been in the equation and it would add good material to the story making big out of media. Not Nico is playing sane and cool nor Lewis petulant and over-reacting thing. Maybe he just didn’t think they will go this far and now the reality transpires in his mind.

      Saying is that in private top 4 drivers said Nico deliberately caused this. Then why this unfairness prevail? As far as this contributes to the biz, why not? kinda approach I assume.

      1. I usually don’t like conspiracy theories. But when it’s in the best interest of the people in charge, I’ve seen some amazingly corrupt things in my life. I hope you’re wrong on this one, but I can’t say i would rule it out 100%. Even if it just affects their judgement and they don’t realize it.

  53. To stop future conspiracies or cheating during qualifying, what they should do is, if someones on a flying lap and the yellow flag impedes their lap, if they were quicker at that point before the yellow flag they should be awarded the place, would keep em on these toes

  54. Darren Danga
    28th May 2014, 13:57

    For we shall see in Canada if he makes the same mistake! I believe it’s gonna be all out war?

  55. ” I wish you could have seen the data……”

    We too Lewis..why don’t you tweet it..?

  56. Also interesting from Mark Hughes report:

    “2) Did all of the drivers who publicly stated that Rosberg did not deliberately go off in qualifying (Prost, Hill, Brindle, Warwick etc) privately say that he did?

    Not all, no. But bear in mind a lot of those comments were on tv in the immediate aftermath, before detailed slow-mo and front-on footage had been seen. Warwick later said there was something ‘slightly strange’ about 1 part of the data, but not enough to prove anything.”

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