Vettel changes engineer in Red Bull reshuffle

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In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel will gain a new race engineer in 2015 as Guillaume Roquelin will move into a new senior position within the Red Bull team.

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Sebastian Vettel to get new engineer for 2015 F1 season (AutoSport)

“Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel will have a new race engineer next season, with long-serving Guillaume Roquelin moving to a new role within Red Bull. Ahead of the start of a new era at Red Bull as technical chief Adrian Newey steps aside for a new role, the outfit is to undergo a reshuffle of its technical staff.”

Nico Rosberg could be punished by FIA after Lewis Hamilton clash (BBC)

“The FIA has the power to re-open a case and reconvene the stewards of a meeting if further evidence comes to light, as it now has following Hamilton’s remarks and Mercedes’ admission that they were a “broadly accurate” reflection of the meeting.”

Lewis Hamilton v Nico Rosberg: Childhood friends to all-out war (BBC)

“The two are tussling for the world championship but tensions have grown between them over the course of the season, boiling up to what is now one of the most fascinating inter-team battles since the fierce rivalry between two of F1’s greatest adversaries, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.”

Daniel Ricciardo not ruling out his chances of snatching this year’s Formula 1 world championship (SPEED)

Ricciardo: “If I’m within fifty coming into Abu Dhabi then yeah, but there’s still a few races to go. While it’s still mathematically possible, yeah, we’ll keep fighting. Today was a big day for that.”

Raikkonen: Incident-free race was all I needed (Formula1.com)

Raikkonen: “We had decided to tackle this race more aggressively, making an early stop to get ahead of the cars that had yet to pit and that meant I was able to stay with the leaders for much of the race. We did our utmost and for the first time, we managed to have a clean race without any problems.”

Tavo Hellmund Brings Formula One To Mexico City In 2015 (Live Trading News)

“Mexico has a 5-yr hosting contract with an option for a 5 yr extension. The annual hosting fee comes to around $23-M, and it escalates by 10% every year which brings the fee income to a total of $392.3-M. It is thought that the Mexican Grand Prix contract gives the organisers the right to retain a percentage of the income from the trackside advertising and the Paddock Club.”

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Comment of the day

After yesterday’s dramatic collision between the two Mercedes rivals, reader @svianna feels the incident was the culmination of a season long psychological battle…

I believe that we should NOT analyze/evaluate the incident today, forgetting the context of what has happened so during the season: after DNF’ing the first race of the season, LH won the next four races, and at least in a couple of them, NR had a faster car than LH. In many instances, LH squeezed NR in many, many instances, just like we have seen Alonso doing with his opponents in many cases this season. If you remember, in the last lap of the Hungarian race, LH squeezed NR on the outside of turn 3, as he would not be denied the podium, in his mind and had to finish ahead of NR.

I think NR mentally told him: enough of being squeezed by LH. And the result, we saw it today.

LH can be a ruthless drive if he thinks he needs to be. However, NR through his behavior in Monaco qualifying showed he will cheat, in order to win. The fans booing happened NOT ONLY for what happened in the track today, but a collection of acts and decisions during the whole season.
@svianna

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122 comments on “Vettel changes engineer in Red Bull reshuffle”

  1. I although I can agree with some of the cotd. The fact that it assumes that rosberg cheated in Monaco makes it lose all credibility to me…

    1. Rosberg is as much of a cheat as Lewis, this season Rosberg has been the one who always avoids contact, this time he didn’t, so good for him I say. Bring your A game Hamilton, that said I don’t think the rest of the calendar is much to Lewis liking, apart from Monza perhaps.

      1. @peartree how is it not to his liking? He has won on all besides Russia and brazil

        1. @wil-liam I don’t think Lewis will beat Rosberg because there are only a couple hard braking tracks and most of the tracks are rear limited.

      2. In the 2 races at COTA, he won once and beat Rosberg in the other. He was leading in Brazil in 2012 before being taken out, so even though that seems like one of his biggest bogey circuits he definitely can do well there. Abu Dhabi is one of his strongest tracks, and he’s always been pretty handy around Singapore. Excluding Sochi, Interlagos and Suzuka are the only races left he hasn’t won at before. I don’t understand why you think Monza is to his liking but not Singapore, COTA or Abu Dhabi.

  2. Ricciardo: “If I’m within fifty coming into Abu Dhabi then yeah, but there’s still a few races to go. While it’s still mathematically possible, yeah, we’ll keep fighting. Today was a big day for that.”

    Just imagine that happening!

    1. Lewis (and I) thinks 29 points behind Rosberg is a lot to climb, imagine 64. Whish him good luck anyway.

      1. The point is though that he only needs to catch up 15 to be within 50 points. I still think it’s very unlikely, as I don’t see Mercedes imploding quite so badly often enough that Ricciardo can steal a march on both Rosberg and Hamilton without them then extending the gap again.

        1. Ryan Fairweather
          26th August 2014, 12:31

          Let 2007 be a reminder. Anything can happen yet and quite possibly will. If Nico and Lewis are not playing the team game, Red Bull can creep up and snatch the drivers title from both of them. The constructors is a foregone conclusion.

  3. About the Booing, I think the fans had all the right to Boo today. This may come across as me just being bitter, but those people traveled all that way and payed all that money, so they deserve the right to voice their opinion if something avoidable lessened the experience for them. It is completely different to last year. That was shameful as Vettel was doing his job perfectly and the booing had become more of a gag by the end of the season. If Nico Rosberg continues to be Boo’d in future races without doing anything wrong, then it will be equally as bad.

    1. Totally agree. Eddie Jordan was just trying to be like Martin Brundle last year with his comments. However, this time the booing was totally right. NR robbed a lot of us today when he ruined the race. I say this as a hardcore Ferrari fan but it doesn’t mean i do not want to see great racing between LH and NR.

    2. You are right. Rosberg has shown his true colors as a somewhat dirty driver, between Monaco Q3 and of course this incident.

    3. After the race i felt sorry for nico to get booed but now after he reportedly told he did that to Prove a point i dont think its wrong any more , Compare that to vet of last year he did any racing driver will do the winning and he did so effectively for that it is utterly disgrace to get booed.
      But past is past nico get ready to see more boo bus from now on.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        25th August 2014, 5:44

        Reportedly…

      2. he probably said it with sarcasm to Hamilton, as it was so obvious it was not on purpose. people just love to hate.

        1. OOPS looks like i missed ;)

    4. Totally agree. I’m not British or German as Rosberg was interpreting the booing for him today. If I were there I would gladly join to the booing group after that move. I only hope Hamilton keeps his head cool. Otherwise we could remember a similar situation in 2007 when a Finn won the Championship….

      1. @camo8723
        This time an AUSSIE :D

    5. “If something avoidable lessened the experience for them”. So basically the spectators are free to boo at the podium ceremony if there is even one crash during the race that lessens their experience? I completely disagree with you. The spectators only pay to see the race, not to choose how it goes. Booing is nothing more than childish and disrespectful. It is a comedy act that belongs to lowest common denominator “sports” like wwe wrestling.

      1. Booing is just a verbal display of emotion, the same as cheering. If you’re not allowed to boo at Rosberg’s stupid error that denied us a race at the front, you shouldn’t be allowed to cheer at the excellent 4/5/6 fight towards the end.

      2. So basically the spectators are free to boo at the podium ceremony if there is even one crash during the race that lessens their experience?

        No. They’re allowed to boo specifically at the driver at fault, which I believe is what happened.

    6. Could not agree more.

      People will clap their hands if they like it and boo if they don’t like it. Simples as that. Applauses and boos are two faces of the same coin, it’s the way a group uses to send a common/similar message. Booing is a way to communicate as group when there’s not the chance to do individually. In such situation how could people show Nico they did not like his move?

      1. Can’t agree with you the booing is the opposite of cheering here @jcost and altitude2k. Booing in my opinion should be reserved for someone who uses questionable morals and devalues the sport. Vettel stating he would stay behind Webber and then pretending not to hear is an acceptable time to boo. Schumacher passing Barrichello with 100m of the race left is an acceptable time to boo. However, a man racing for a world championship at 200 mph and hits a contact patch of 2mm in a move which only has a motive to benefit himself is not an acceptable to boo. Regardless of his clumsy execution, Rosberg could not have known he would get out of that situation better than Hamilton. I think in this modern era of F1 people forget to respect the drivers for risking their lives on a weekly basis for our entertainment. Had Alonso been killed in Belgium 2012 of Schumacher in Abu Dhabi in 2010 I think we would respect these men more. This is a crucial element missing from the portrayal of the sport just now. That the sport is safe. These men deserve our respect and do not deserve a classless booing session from ‘fans’ of the sport who can not tear themselves from their own alligences.

    7. Those who support the culture of ‘booing’ I can only describe as completely transparent and shallow minded. There is and will never be a right time, place, or situation that deserves hundreds to bully an individual with boo’s in Formula 1. Booing is a mob mentality that is far from harmless, it can cause prolonging psychological damage. Not only is booing an act for the shallow minded, it’s a defunct way of constructive communication. What do ‘boo-ers’ hope to achieve other than to make the recipient feel bad? Booing will never be mutually beneficial, so why bother?

      If you support booing, if you participate in this booing culture, if you feel a sense of camaraderie and gratification among your peers whilst bullying one person… Geez. Take a long hard look at yourself, because 100% guaranteed that you are no better than than the person you are ‘booing’

      Regardless of who’s on the podium, where, when and what happened -when the crowd boo’s it’s genuinely embarrassing to this sport. If you want to illustrate your disapproval on something, in this scenario Nico Rosberg’s on Lewis, then don’t clap, don’t cheer and don’t boo. Simply do nothing. This communicates your message just as effectively without being derogatory. And the same applies when there has been a great achievement, cheer louder, chant Kamui’s name over and over again. But for the love of humanity, stop embarrassing yourself and others, DONT BOO.

      they deserve the right to voice their opinion if something avoidable lessened the experience for them

      @theo-hrp
      Fans can voice their opinion, but ‘booing’ is a derogatory act and absolutely the wrong way to go about it. It’s embarrassing and should not by any means be encouraged no matter the circumstance. This is a sport, things happen in sport, that’s what makes it dramatic. The spectators surely have to acknowledge this, or would they prefer Toto Wolf to write up a pre-determined script before the race allowing Hamiltion to take the lead on lap 1, then Nico does the under cut on lap 14, Lewis then slipstreams past after turn, and then Rosberg….

      the booing was totally right

      when he ruined the race.

      @eoin16
      Booing is never right mate.
      Did we watch the same race? All I saw was drama, great racing, and a result nobody had expected.

      If I were there I would gladly join to the booing group after that move

      @camo8723
      And by Booing what do you hope to achieve?

      Booing is nothing more than childish and disrespectful. It is a comedy act that belongs to lowest common denominator “sports” like wwe wrestling.

      @socksolid
      I’m glad you wrote this buddy, fully agree

      In such situation how could people show Nico they did not like his move?

      @jcost
      Don’t Boo. Don’t Clap. Don’t Cheer. This is how people can show that they did not like his move.

      Saddest part about all of this is I’ve just wasted my time on the internet. Meh.

      1. Don’t try and take some superior morale high ground here. Fans have the right to Boo in the same way they have the right to cheer, laugh and cry at the race. It is a way of expressing emotion. Regardless of all the championship battle, somebody made a mistake but the other guy payed for it hugely and seemed to show no guilt what so ever. If the people who have PAYED money to go to an event can’t give their opinion about this, then they should also not be able to cheer when another driver comes on. And anyway, Rosberg probably doesn’t care. He had a really bad race but gained hugely in the championship, he has recently married the woman of his dreams and he is unbelievably wealthy. If Booing ruined all of this to him (which it clearly hasn’t) then he should not be an athlete as modern sportsmen are showmen as well.

        1. Fans have the right to Boo

          In the same way that fans have the ‘right’ to chant insults, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right thing to do.

          If the people who have PAYED money to go to an event can’t give their opinion about this

          Once again, Fans CAN give their opinion, but Booing is a shallow derogatory act of bullying, especially in the context of a mob singling out one individual.

          And anyway, Rosberg probably doesn’t care.

          This is the mentality of a bully? I can’t see how hundreds booing him publicly, and being broadcasted to millions across the road would not in the slightest bit harm him.

          But hey, next time you’re at a grand prix remember to pack rocks in your backpack to throw at people you don’t like, because you PAID for the event and deserve to express your emotions and opinion in the least humane way possible that is completely derogatory to the recipient.

          Senseless and illogical, nothing but a shallow act of bullying.

          1. I know we have vastly different opinions on the mental repercussions of booing, but calling me, a complete stranger, a bully is a bit wrong. Lets just agree to disagree.

  4. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    25th August 2014, 3:08

    How can that be the COTD? I mean, “as Rosberg cheated in Monaco” means you have some info the stewards don’t have. And about saying that the booing is justified, again, do you have more info than the stewards? This is not an intended an obvious-for-all Austria 2002. as much a Ham fan you are (and as much I’m not) this was a racing incident. It can definitely be Rosberg’s fault, but I don’t see a Senna-vs-Prost pre planned crash here. Just my opinion.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      25th August 2014, 3:38

      NR through his behavior in Monaco qualifying showed he will cheat

      Just in case I quote the exact phrase

    2. I don’t think Nico is a cheat either but he definitely drives more carelessly when he’s upset, we saw how locked his wheels trying to pass Vettel for example.

      And now for the first time I’m starting to think that if he wins the championship it will be more luck than anything else because on equal terms Lewis seems slightly better all round.

    3. The funny thing was that Rosberg wasn’t even sqeezed, they were coming off a very fast straight and Rosberg was giving way too much room.
      Vettel had even more claim to a need to hold his ground as he was further alongside Hamilton, and even though he was left room, he still yielded the corner.
      Rosberg wasn’t even committed to making a move as he was so far back.
      The race stewards it seems have tried to not interfere with the championship and it is making the whole thing seem strange because Rosberg references their inaction as proof his move was okay.

      1. “because Rosberg references their inaction as proof his move was okay”
        That’s a good point. But even Nico himself knows that he messed up big time at Spa.

    4. I think the question that needs to be asked about Monaco is “Why did Rosberg try to reverse back out on to the track, so late in Q3?”
      It would have been more logical to move forward further out of danger, rather than risk being hit by a fast moving car on track. Now I am not saying he cheated there, but you do have to question his move somewhat, and his subsequent questionable moves, to some, will all add up to proving he is cheating. (Did he spend too long with his previous teammate a proven cheater.)

  5. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    25th August 2014, 3:22

    Also, a comment no so related to F1… But this way to “get awareness” about ALS also means “wasting water awareness”?

    1. So the money raised to help those suffering from ALS is a waste? The world really is so worse off because of 500 buckets of cold water right? C’mon!

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        26th August 2014, 4:27

        @jcost @matt90 of course it’s good they have raised all this money that quick, but the “viral” that it has become includes many people who don’t donate a dime. Call me hypocrite if you want but stating that “because there’s plenty you can waste it” doesn’t sound logical to me. I congratulate everybody who has donated this money, but I don’t like the second message they are sending.
        At least I agree with you that they have acomplished something good, now everybody else do a Charlie Sheen and also save some water.
        And let’s move back to F1, where we also have more to disagree.

        1. You are a hypocrite then. Of all the ways that water is used unnecessarily, complaining about people doing it for charity, even if a lot of people don’t donate, is petty. And it is entirely logical that you don’t really waste water, for exactly the reasons I stated.

    2. Maarten van Berge Henegouwen (@)
      25th August 2014, 7:28

      another view on the ice bucket challenge – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la86Dr4Nzpw.

    3. I think there’s plenty of water at Spa…

    4. I saw this argument once before. Frankly, it’s one of the weakest arguments I’ve ever seen. It might be that you’re joking, but I’ve seen people self-righteous enough to say this and mean it, so for the benefit of them…

      How do you really ‘waste’ water in a place without drought? It stays in the water cycle anyway, so unless there is a pressing need for water conservation at that moment in that area , then you’re not taking it from anybody. You could potentially complain about the fact that processing water uses energy, and so throwing water on the ground wastes energy and isn’t environmentally friendly. However, if you were to argue that you would have to be extremely pedantic and presumably never wash your car, watch TV, or even really be a typical, functional person in the modern world, otherwise you’d also be a hypocrite.

  6. I would like to congratulate Max Chilton on passing the remaining Caterham on track and finishing ahead, he takes a lot of unkind comments here but he obviously is not as bad as some other drivers who may be faster but destroy a lot of cars in the process.

    1. Singapore 2011?

    2. But isn’t the Marussia supposed to be quite superior to the Caterham? He passed a car which shouldn’t have even been ahead of him and was being driven by one of the other most derided drivers on the grid. Maybe I missed an issue Chilton had which set him back, but what he did doesn’t strike me as special.

  7. I wonder what Keith was thinking when he chose the COTD. I mean when someone says “However, NR through his behavior in Monaco qualifying showed he will cheat, in order to win” they should be automatically disqualified for being utterly speculative. As much as we know, it was a mistake on Rosberg’s part, that’s what the stewards thought as well, to say he cheated is a serious allegation and such a comment should never be a contender for COTD. Completely agree with @omarr-pepper.

    1. I’ve actually seen from a few sources (Peter Windsor who is Rosberg’s biggest fan) that inside the team, they all know Nico did it deliberately but just see it as water under the bridge(not exactly but I can’t find a better way of phrasing it). Of course none of this is 100% confirmed. At the time, I believed Rosberg made a mistake. I couldn’t imagine him doing it. But now… After all the lies to the media about what is going on in the team and proving a point by risking the safety of a driver he has known for almost 2 decades, I see the Monaco incident as something that is much more open to interpretation now then it was when it happened.

    2. I think @keithcollantine has explained a number of times COTD is not necessarily his opinion. It is just a quote with a line of though worth discussion. You can either agree or disagree with it.

      You say assuming Rosberg cheated in Monaco is speculative but makes saying he played fair less speculative?

    3. The stewards never said that it was accidental, only that that wasn’t enough evidence for them to decide it was deliberate. Without commenting on whether it was deliberate or not, stating that the stewards decided it was all innocent it inaccurate.

      1. +1
        in scottish law we have a “not proven” verdict as well as guilty/not guilty: “not proven” means no further action to be taken. My reading of stewards comments fall exactly in that line.

  8. My 2 cents on COTD .

    Don’t agree calling Rosberg a cheat,
    Don’t agree on this being a COTD,

    We analyze everything in F1, we analyze it some more and then the next person analyzes it as well,

    1. The best part of the COTD was when he dove into analysis right after telling us not to dive into analysis. Classic internet.

      1. Erm no, its says dont analyse it without taking it in context with whats gone on in the season so far.

        You’re right, typical internet.

    2. Maarten van Berge Henegouwen (@)
      25th August 2014, 7:38

      @keithcollantine
      I cannot see this as COTD either; at least not the whole comment.
      the first (part of the first) sentence could have made this.

    3. Gideon Hadi (@)
      25th August 2014, 9:43

      I not agree the COTD as well, why It seem Rosberg is a human who make most mistakes in the world, come on don’t always think negative. I just think its completely unfair

  9. AJ (@ascar2000us)
    25th August 2014, 4:01

    There are 2 parts to the Ham-Ros battle so far:

    1) There is no proof that Rosberg deliberately staged the Monaco incident or that he crashed with HAM deliberately with a huge risk of ending his own race. That said there is no doubt that ROS was at fault for the crash. Punishable based on TV evidence? I don’t think so. We will find many examples of similar crashes that have been ignored by the stewards. The difference here is the stakes are higher and so every little move is being scrutinized.

    2) Secondly, HAM has been very vocal about his teammate all season. It seems he is trying to gather sympathy from the media and fans in case he loses the championship. He is always worried about his image and “legacy”. Rosberg would have to be a fool to come out and say this was deliberate. HAM has convinced himself that ROS is out to sabotage his chances.

    Hamilton is the faster driver, but this is not karting. You need much more than pace to win a WC. ROS has nothing to lose. His mind is only on the championship.

    I wish Hamilton would go complaint to the FIA instead of whining in public. No one is going to hand him the championship because he thinks he deserves it. The next 8 races will be awesome and Nico will have to be careful as everyone will be watching him.

  10. Daniel Ricciardo for WDC! After ignoring as much as possible of the petty immature psychobabble infighting between Rosberg and Hamilton all season long, I’m hoping Red Bull can wring every last bit of performance out of Ricciardo’s car to put him one point ahead of the crybabies at Mercedes. I absolutely love how Ricciardo let’s his driving on the track do the talking and off track he just keeps on smiling.

    1. Daniel has done a phenomenal season so far, but guys just don’t get too excited. He has won three races in very special occasions. He’s picked very well all the opportunities but Mercedes duo will not brake or crash into each other every other weekend.

      It would be a huge achievement from the Aussie but if wins the title I’ll eat my shoe.

      1. If the stewards “reconvene” and give Rosberg a time/points penalty maybe he loses those 18 points he scored today, Danny Ric could be within that magic 50 point gap already, and Lewis would be within 11 points of first as well. That would make the Merc minders go absolutely bonkers for the remainder of the season, as Red Bull will do all they can to exploit the festering wound that is Mercedes F1 right now.

  11. That’s the worst COTD I have ever seen. It doesn’t even make sense in its own universe. It starts out one way, and than it basically does nothing with what it just points out, but rather goes off on a something ridiculous and just throws a stupid remark out of nowhere.

    1. It might help if it made sense. It looks like a bunch of random words thrown together in a mixer.

  12. Rosberg’s defense (via the BBC article) is pathetic.

    “I was quicker at the time and there was an opportunity, so I gave it a go around the outside as the inside was blocked.
    “I didn’t see any risk in overtaking, or trying to overtake, so why should I not try? The opportunity was there even without DRS because I was so much quicker, so I gave it a go.
    “Inside was not possible, so I tried around the outside. Should I have waited? That is very hypothetical. Who knows what happens afterwards?
    “The opportunity was there and, for me, it wasn’t a risky situation.”

    – Every angle and replay and even real-time showed Rosberg clinging onto Hamilton rear tyres, so no he wasn’t faster if he was he would have done as Bottas did to Raikkonen later at the same corner.
    – Damaging two cars is not a risk? Especially a tight high-speed corner. Toto and Niki have said this already, but L2 is not when you should be attacking. Fine, I get that he had a horrible start and was trying to make up for it as quickly as possible, but did he forget he has the quickest car on the grid? Could have easily slotted back behind Hamilton and chipped away at the race leader over a 7 km track!
    – What opportunity? Being 3/4ths of a car length behind and on the outside of a quick right-left-right is no opportunity. In the end, you still damage your front wing, which required a replacement. Not risky, my aunt fanny.

    1. Basically lewis has been driving against nico all season with the mindset that either nico will yield or there will be contact. Maybe lewis thinks is he senna or something. So in this case nico didn’t immediatelly jump out of the way when hamilton went for his typical squeeze. Hamilton being the intellectual he is thought this mean that nico drove into lewis on purpose and tried to take him out.

      I don’t see nico taking lewis out on purpose. When doing that with his front wing there is imho a bigger chance that you will lose your front wing than the guy in front gets a puncture. When front wing meets rear tire the rear tire usually wins and the guy behind loses his front wing or at least his front wing end plates.

      1. There is a point where a driver must yield a corner he has not claim to and that is standard driving. At the start of the right turn Nico had not even committed to his outside move, he only shoved his car there because Hamilton gave him room.
        I won’t go as far as saying he did it deliberately. I believe Nico made a massive error in judgement and rather than simply raise his hands and admit it, chooses to take the tough stance which in my own opinion is stupid.

      2. @socksolid so Lewis should park his car and let Nico through? Maybe he should let Seb through before that as well, right?

        Nico made a clumsy move risking not only his team mate race but his own race too… and it was lap#2!

        I can see what people would be saying if it was the other way around.

        1. Gideon Hadi (@)
          25th August 2014, 10:38

          A intelligent people like Nico will do caluclations while overtake, and he will not deliberately because it could broke his front wing, he will be disqualified, and will be blamed by the teams

    2. If Nico wasn’t faster at that point how did he manage to get into a position to be even partly alongside?

      At that point through Eau Rouge & the run down the straght to Les Combes Nico WAS quicker, Thats how he managed to catch Lewis.

      One more point on those who seem to feel he should have waited, When you see even the smallest opportunity at getting the lead you go for it. We have seen before the leader pull out a big gap after the 1st 2-3 laps so sometimes you only get 1 chance so you go for it.

      Nico’s comments on the BBC seem perfectly reasonable to me.

      1. – Slipstreaming and late-braking. If he was truly faster than Hamilton at any time being on the Kemmel Straight, he (Rosberg) could have done as Vettel tried to do on L1 and pulled to the left and simply try and outrun Hamilton into Les Combes however he wasn’t; so most likely he broke as late as possible to get into the position he was in just prior to the hit.
        – If Spa was short and overly technical (e.g. Monaco) then yes, I can understand making a move early because you might only get one shot, but Spa isn’t; and while it’s not overtake city like other tracks on the calendar, there are spots to attack (the Bus Stop chicane, Le Source, even Les Combes [given the right conditions; see OP]). Plus, it’s not like he’s in one of the backmarkers. He could chip away at any reasonable lead Hamilton has with relative ease, being in the sister Merc.

        If he can’t, then he just can’t, and live with your opponent being faster than you and having closed the gap to 7 points with 7 races to go. Would have made the focus and interest be about what’s going on on-track instead of off it. Instead…

        1. Nico was 1 second behind Lewis at the line, He was 4-5 car lengths behind going into Eau Rouge & he was right behind Lewis before they hit the brakes.

          In what way was Nico not faster than Lewis down that straght & into the corner?
          And yes he did brake later, Again because he was faster & able to do so, Was nothing stopping Lewis from braking just as late.

          Vettel was able to get a bit further alongside Lewis because Red Bull were running a lot less downforce & both Red Bull’s were faster than the Mercedes down the straght because of that.

    3. He misses the fact that nobody actually had any problem with him trying to go around the inside. The issue was that by the time the next corner came up he was positioned on the inside but had fallen too far back to legitimately keep his wing there. I doubt any driver would have given him space given how far back he was, as any reasonable driver backs out at that stage. Trying to go around the outside was fine. Not yielding having failed at that was not fine.

  13. Wolff just said that Lewis over exaggerated it a bit. Here is how I see the meeting happening form what I can gather from his and Lewis’ interviews. This is not what I think. I’m just having a guess what their mind sets were ;)
    Nico: Was probably saying how Lewis has been way to aggressive so far this season and pointed at Bahrain as an example. Every time this season they’ve come together, Hamilton has won out so he was probably trying to prove a point in that he wasn’t a push over to Hamilton’s ‘bullying’.
    Lewis: Thought Rosberg was blaming him for being to aggressive and saw Nico’s if we crash we crash attitude as “I’m taking you out!”

  14. One word.
    RACING.

    Get over it people. It was a racing incident

    1. @brunes, so lets say you and I are racing. You’re in P1 and I’m P2. By your reasoning I guess you’d be OK with me striking you from behind and taking the P1 position? Racing incident right? I just wrecked you out of the lead and possibly out of the race, but hey “get over it, it was a racing incident.”

      Why do you I get the feeling you won’t be cool with that situation? And you’d be lying if you said you would take your own advice of calling it a racing accident if I struck you out of the lead. This is what we call hypocrisy :) Look it up in the dictionary.

      1. @sudd

        It has happened to me. I was leading and my brother came beside me and pushed me into a massive puddle of water which cooled my tires and left me soaking wet.

        That really upset me because he looked at me in the eye and turned into me. He knew nothing would happen to him.

        The difference is that Rosberg had a lot to lose there. He genuinely tried to overtake LH but Lewis completely shut the door on him very quickly, which arguably left him with nowhere to go.
        That, in my eye is a racing incident. It NR gets punished then drivers will just stop trying to overtake.

        The World is already over regulated. Do you want the FIA to stop drivers from even trying to overtake as they could take a penalty if something went wrong?

        1. Rosberg had nothing to lose, it was a classic case of spin the car ahead and it loses massive amount of time.
          If Rosberg was alongside then he would have been in a worse situation.
          How was Rosberg going to turn into that corner, and if there was a wall there would Rosberg have attempted that move.
          The stewards used that argument against Ham vs Rai Spa 2008
          If a wall on the track limits shows Rosberg was going to eliminate his own car with that line he took, then Rosberg has no argument.

    2. So Senna Prost at suzuka 1990 was a ‘racing incident’ we should all ‘get over’? Hamilton took his line just like Prost did back then, and Senna and Rosberg just let the crash happen.

      RACING

      1. Do you seriously think that Rosberg actually wanted to crash into Hamilton? What if he’d smashed his front suspension or the wing had gone under the car a la Alonso?

        Seeing as you apparently have a way into Rosberg’s mind, perhaps you could find out his bank account details and his PIN?

    3. So what’s the point F1F? It’s a bunch of guys commenting on RACING. Why bother be here anyways?

      1. F1F is a bunch of guys who have an opinion about F1.
        Everybody is entitled to an opinion.

        I also believe Prost could have avoided the crash and won the championship. It was Senna’s fault and it was NR’s fault. HOWEVER, the crash could have been avoided by the other driver.
        Same case applies to Han vs Mal

  15. I think ROS’s weaknesses were really exposed yesterday. He’s not as a consistently good starter as other drivers on the grid, he’s certainly not as adept in close quarter racing as his peers (ALO, HAM, RAI, RIC, VET for example) and he puts his own personal issues with HAM above those of the team. Add the intense pressure of the WC and the rivalry with HAM, then what you get is Spa 2014.
    I don’t think he’s endearing himself to his fans and F1 fans in general with how he has responded to the recent events. And certainly within his own team he’s created a fragile relationship with his bosses which will not bode well for him for the rest of the season. HAM on the other hand has responded in a more mature manner than I would have expected from him and clearly has the team behind him. I am expecting a HAM fightback that will secure him the WC at Abu Double in the last round.

    1. Can I remind you that ALO crashed into VET just about… yesterday?

      1. Vettel crashed into Alonso more like as Vettel was changing his line mid corner.

        1. No he did not, he took a different line from the beginning of the corner and it’s not as if Alonso run into the side of Vettel.

    2. Gideon Hadi (@)
      25th August 2014, 10:42

      If hamilton keep showing attitude like this, he lead 1 point before Abu Dhabi, he will deliberately crash into Nico. Also in 2011. Hamilton is more crash prone and aggresive than Rosberg.

      1. @f1indofans

        he will deliberately crash into Nico

        Winning the championship by doing that has been outlawed, I think.

        Anyway, what does “indo” in your username mean?

        1. Gideon Hadi (@)
          25th August 2014, 16:12

          @davidnotcoulthard thanks for that info, I’m from Indonesia, and Indonesians usually say Indo

          1. I thought so! (not fully) Enjoying the 2013 Curriculum as I write!

          2. Formula Indonesia (@)
            25th August 2014, 16:21

            @davidnotcoulthard yeah, its really suit my learning style actually :)

    3. Rosberg leads by 29 points. and he doesn’t even look remotely fazed by the intra team battle, even after yesterday. he seemed level headed, while yesterday Hamilton gave up and sulked again. Rosberg also again beat Hamilton fair and square in qualifying on a “drivers circuit” while Hamilton again made qualifying mistakes.
      Hamilton should have the team behing him, as he has a much higher salary.

  16. terrible COTD. By those standards then we should consider Senna a cheat for his MULTIPLE contacts with Prost. Rosberg deliberately didn’t back off like he’s done in Bahrain and Hungary, something that is completely different from deliberately crashing into your teammate.

    I not only put equal blame on the drivers but also the Mercedes team management. They must have known since the beginning of this battle that if their drivers were going to be allowed to race neck and neck there is a very high Probability that they would collide at one point or another. Now if they are going to implement team orders I wonder who will have preference….

    1. @f1freek, I agree with you 50/50. I don’t think we can blame the team here. They have been kind enough to let their drivers go at it provided they act like Professional racing drivers. Rosberg broke that trust. If he decided to be that aggressive with Hamilton at the final 5 laps and going for the win or something like the final laps of Bahrain. Everyone would understand. But that kind of driving on Lap 2 is a backstabbing betrayal to his team and teammate.

      The incident was Rosberg’s own doing. He let his ego outpace his talent you could say. This is what happens when people go balls out with a chip on their shoulder to prove something. I think Rosberg is still trying to prove himself as a top driver that is just as equally talented as Hamilton and is not ahead in the championship because of good fortune. Ironically, he ended up proving to us that he isn’t a top racer, especially in close quarters. Instead he reinforced the idea that he is simply leading the championship because Hamilton keeps suffering from an unreliable car.

      1. It was just a racing incident. ROS was a bit too ambitious and HAM, like he tends to do, didn’t really leave much space. Just a freak accident, there’s just a bunch of hype about about it because it deals with the championship contenders.

        Also I find it very unfair to discredit Nico Rosberg’s effort this season just because his teammate has had poor reliability. He’s outqualified Lewis in the last 4 races and in my book this guy has proven himself. Before you go on defending Hamilton remember how my collisions he’s had with other drivers in the past, and if I could add, very similar incidents like the one that occurred this race

        1. Ham left too much space at the first turn which was all he needed to do as Rosberg was too far behind, that is a very fast chicane and very tight especially at speed.

        2. @f1freak As I say above, that’s like saying Prost didn’t ‘leave much space’ in 1990 when Senna didn’t back off.

          Please tell me the difference?

          1. I think its pretty much the same yeah. Senna didn’t back off because he knew the other guy had more to lose from crashing. Rosberg most likely knew that Hamilton had more to lose (as he is behind in the WDC) and more or less decided to give him the choice between losing out or losing the lead then and there.

          2. @john-h @bascb

            Guys, ! your talking Suzuka , right?

            Senna drove into Prost ?

            Take a look at the video, see how far Rosberg got along side Lewis, it was a legit attempt and he backed out , just a few inches not enough, If Rosberg wanted to take Lewis out like Senna did to Prost , dont you think he would have done so , ?

            Rosberg Clipped his wing On Lewis’ rear tyre ,

            how is this comparable ?

          3. Im struggling with my video link thingy, someone PM me on how to do it properly please, ,
            the above is an onboard shot from Rosbergs car,

          4. Well, @greg-c Senna only drove into Prost because he dived into a space that would most likely not be there anymore in case Prost defended his position, which he was almost certain to do. In that sense, Rosberg also gave Hamilton the choice between defending and risking damage (to both cars) or yielding.
            You are right that Rosbergs move had a bit more chance of working, but it still depended on Hamilton thinking the better of defending his place

  17. How can there be sparks through Eau Rouge if the cars have wooden planks? the screws holding it are scratching the floor?

    1. debris from Lewis’ merc. ? :)

    2. Maarten van Berge Henegouwen (@)
      25th August 2014, 10:20

      Sparks were caused by the bags of money in Chilton’s car to pay the ‘rental company’ ;-)

      1. @coldfly
        are you saying because Max was late with payment that he broke into the Piggie Bank and therefore the sparks where caused by coins ?

        bhahahahaa

  18. Now all we need is for Kimi to get a full time handle on that Red Tractor and this can happen within Ferrari as well.

    Now all we need is for Seb to get a handle on that Red Bull and this can happen within Red Bull as well.

    Now all we need is for Massa to get a handle on that Martini W and this can happen within Williams as well.

    Imagine 8 drivers punching on every lap for the one trophy
    How much joy would that be :)

    1. They’d all still have strategies to run. @greg-c

      1. @davidnotcoulthard

        michelins and full tanks ? plz ?

  19. When drivers who went wheel-to-wheel with Senna reminiscence, you often hear: “He used to put other drivers in a position when they had a simple choice: Either there will be a crash, or they make room for Senna.” (Many) drivers did not like Senna very much then. And because Senna deliberately put driver’s lives at risk, it disqualifies him as a candidate for “the greatest driver ever” in my eyes, despite his many undeniable achievements.
    Judging from what we saw on track and what allegedly happened in Mercedes debriefing, Rosberg “did a Senna”. Not the “intentionally driving into someone” Senna of the ultimate Senna-Prost meltdown, but the “yield or suffer the consequences” Senna.
    This is not supposed to exonerate Rosberg. I think it was not smart at the circumstances. But the amount of flak he is catching now seem way out of line, especially when we take into account that quite a few drivers we see on track and cheer for had their senna-esque moments as well, including Hamilton. Hamilton has shown several times that he is not going to give any quarter to Rosberg this season, putting Rosberg in “yield or suffer” position, and there have been times when he was not exactly owning up to his mistakes as well. I see no reason to make a villain out of Rosberg for doing the same (but I’d call him more clumsy). Those two guys are fighting for the highest trophy in a field they dedicated their lives to, ruthlessness is a part of the game and Rosberg (and Hamilton) have a long way to go before reaching “qualities” of Senna and Schumacher. We can enjoy the competition without making it into a good-vs-evil Star Wars saga.

    1. I totally agree with you. Rosberg was clumsy in his move, but the flak he is receiving is totaly undeserved. Almost every driver on the grid has shown/ will show this ruthlessness given the opportunity. Be it Alonso,Vettel,Hamilton ,Rosberg or anyone else. But when Alonso or Hamilton does this thing, they are cheered and praised for how good drivers they are and when someone else does,they are booed and jeered.

      Infact in yesterday’s race during the last few laps i saw Vettel and Magnussen side by side on main/start straight and Vettel just turned his steering right onto Magnussen’s car for a moment so that Magnussen could just loose the momentum and give up his place. Although no contact was made and Vettel passed Magnussen on Kemmel straight. But here he showed his ruthlessness. Every Championship winning driver has it.

      I’m very sure had Rosberg made that contact with any other driver,he would not have received this flak. It was just because he hit Lewis , he is being booed. Had it been the other way round, F1 fans would have treated it like a RACING INCIDENT (which it was) and the matter would have been over by now.

  20. Wouldn’t it be ironic if we finished season debating, NOT that double points had settled the Championship …

    … but the points lost by Daniel Ricciardo in Melbourne … just a thought.

  21. Surprised there are no comments about Vettel and Rocky splitting up, he’s not going to be easy to replace.

    1. @george I disagree. I think Vettel will be fairly easy to replace.

      1. Yes, as we know how many drivers have 4 championships worth of experience under their belts. Bring Prost or Schumi back from retirement!

      2. Your right @george .

        there is quite a line up at Red Bull Junior HQ

  22. @fractal @omarr-pepper @wsrgo @jcost @greg-c @coldfly @f1indofans @jules-winfield @f1freek I’d just like to point out that I was the one who selected the COTD, not Keith.

    With hindsight, I regret the decision. Mainly due to the fact that I clearly did not read it as thoroughly as I should have and I apologise for that.

    1. Formula Indonesia (@)
      26th August 2014, 9:17

      @willwood i understand, at the first time its really unfair because its not good when COTD is really favouring one driver. At the end, human make mistakes, we all make mistakes

    2. @willwood The fact that most didn’t notice the

      August 25, 2014 at 12:26 am by Will Wood

      part of the article means you’re doing some thing(s) very, very right!

  23. @willwood
    Don’t sweat it mate,
    you made a call and chose that piece COTD
    I can see why it may have been considered in the first place,
    But ,I dont agree and why is not irrelevant here,

    I applaud you (golf clap) for comments above ,

    Also, Defending Keith is honorable , but , Its not your fault that folk can’t at least confirm the author before apportioning blame .

    this is worthy of repeating i think,

    quote from @jcost
    I think @keithcollantine has explained a number of times COTD is not necessarily his opinion. It is just a quote with a line of thought worth discussion. You can either agree or disagree with it.

    1. typo, sorry,
      “not relevant “

  24. I think Rocky and Seb have been one of the most successful duos in the sports history,
    Congratulations Rocky on your new appointment

    4 WDC’s , massive effort,

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