Hamilton: I gave Rosberg space to avoid contact

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton says he gave Nico Rosberg space to avoid a collision when the pair made contact during the Belgian Grand Prix.

The two Mercedes drivers tangled on the second lap of the race, leaving Hamilton with a puncture that ruined his race, and Rosberg with a damaged front wing.

“Whilst I was driving I didn’t really understand what had happened,” Hamilton told reporters after the race.

“I felt quite a big thud at the rear and then I watched on the replay just now I gave the guy space and I don’t really understand.”

“But it’s just really gutting for the result and also really for the team. My guys work so hard every weekend and we’ve had such a tough year, the guys that are on my side of the garage, just generally in terms of the whole team. This is not good points for the team, we could have easily had a one-two out there today, and so it’s just overall not a great feeling.”

Hamilton eventually retired from the race while Rosberg took second after pitting for a new front wing. Rosberg did not wish to apportion blame for the collision immediately after the race.

“I got a good run on Lewis,” said Rosberg on the podium, “and I tried to go around the outside and we just touched in the end unfortunately”.

“So that hurt both our races and so from a team point of view of course that’s very disappointing, and that’s the way it is.

“I haven’t seen it yet, it wouldn’t be good of me if I were to comment on it now, I need to look at it on TV and then I can comment about it afterwards.”

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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294 comments on “Hamilton: I gave Rosberg space to avoid contact”

  1. To be honest I don’t really think either driver deserves to be slammed, booed or anything.

    It was a pure racing incident, Nico saw an opportunity to pass Lewis & he went for it & it didn’t pay off.
    Its called racing & sometimes in racing stuff like that will happen.

    Its also not as if Lewis hasn’t made similar misjudgements in the past.

    1. I agree with you, it should have been handled better by the team like open up a gap first and then both of you can race for the win as Eddie Jordan said in the BBC coverage, but as you said I think there’s no one to blame for this incident though.

      1. @stefmeister @t4bb3 There’s a new angle developing on this story now – Hamilton has apparently said that in Mercedes post-race meeting Rosberg admitted hitting him deliberately. Still waiting for the actual quotes to appear:

        https://twitter.com/Jason_A_Swales/status/503565893520355328

        1. Who can believe Lewis’s comments today… He also said he was not friend of Nico’s and took it away two days later… He is such a “drama queen”.
          I doubt Nico did it on purpose and if he did he will be expelled from the team sport… if Nico continues racing next week, we’ll know Lewis was having, yet another, tantrum.
          It was most probably Nico’s fault, but it was also a racing incident, otherwise the steward would have penalised him, which they didn’t.

          1. Well, before we call Lewis names, let’s wait for the rest of the Mercedes team who were in the debrief room, to have their say. Lewis says Toto Wolff can confirm it, plus journalists who were apparently there.
            Let’s wait and see.

          2. Considering how calm he was before the meeting, I doubt he suddenly became so aggrieved for nothing. Whether he misinterpreted is another matter.

          3. rather than true, its more “not completely off as far as Rosberg saying he could have done more to avoid it but didn’t” @timi.

            He more or less seems to have said that he followed Senna’s view that the if the other guy has more to lose, it should be him that gives room.

          4. How can you expel a German Driver in a German Team?

          5. Cheers @bascb I hadn’t seen the comments following Jenny’s tweets. It was a very fast developing story!

            However, to me it is just a play on words by Rosberg. Deliberately not avoiding someone is exactly the same as deliberately hitting someone because you’re not doing anything to prevent the collision.

          6. Also @bascb for me it was a racing incident. One which stinks, and might just have ruined the championship, but a racing incident nonetheless.

            What really irks me is that even when drivers think they’re in the right, but have ruined another driver’s race, they apologise. It’s the humane thing to do. Whether it’s genuine or not is irrelevant. For Rosberg not to have said sorry once in an interview tells me a lot about his character when he’s not all happy smiley and winning a race. In short I think his behaviour after taking out a team mate, and ruining the team’s possible 1-2, stinks.

          7. it’s very easy to expel a german from german team, find another german driver who consistently gets points in dog of car and just so happens to have a mercedes powered car. cough cough His name just so happens to be Nico , Nico Hulkenberg and because he’s heavier than hamilton. Granted , Lewis wants to be the number 1 driver at the beginning the real issue is now is just have equal footing as Rosberg has managed to take out of race effectively to prove a point. The team won’t allow for Rosberg to take any blame as it would hurt the THE TEAM, there’s no precedent for that though if future issues arise don’t be surprised if on the last race at Abu Dubai should Rosberg be leading and there’s another incident their might another Driver in place of Rosberg driving (test driver) assuming they’ve locked up the constructors championship.

        2. Wow, seems to me what Hamilton lacks in mental strength on the track he makes up with in Mud-slinging and playing psych games off it. Never in a million years would Rosberg say that, even if he DID do it deliberately he’d never admit it, it’s suicide. Round one to dirty tactics goes to Hamilton!

        3. @keithcollantine

          Anyone saying Nico did it intentionally is only complementing him…
          Nico was 100% likely to sustain damage to his wing, but the correct spot of Lewis’ tyre had to be hit to cause that sort of a puncture.
          If Nico did it on purpose, then he has superhuman precision!

          1. Additionally, it would add a new dimension to his friendly-dolphin smile.

        4. Hamilton is just interpreting too much, he should concentrate more on the next races and go on. Rosberg is not to blame in my opinion. It just happened, I don’t think he did it on purpose as he also could easily have been the main victim like damaging the frontwing more severely and not puncturing Hamilton’s tyre for example.

          I still agree with Eddie Jordan, the team is more to blame than the drivers.

        5. Toto confirms:
          “So they agreed to disagree in a very heated discussion amongst ourselves, but it wasn’t deliberately crashing. That is nonsense. It was deliberately taking into account that if Lewis moves or would open then it could end up in a crash.”
          http://www.crash.net/f1/news/207988/1/wolff-rosberg-felt-he-needed-to-make-a-point.html
          Rosberg risked it, failed but did not intentionally crashed on Hamilton. His mistake.
          But then again this is what I call racing… you risk to pass, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. Alonso maade teh same mistake today, just was lucky Vettel didn’t get a puncture… no penalties hence nothing else to say besides it was his fault.

          1. How is that confirmation by Toto? He says Rosberg didn’t do it intentionally. Ham says he did. Both are polar opposites.

            Alonso’s case was different I suppose. He wouldn’t have expected Vettel to cut back into that line after going outside of Mag.

        6. I think your wrong. Lewis made the same mistake on Massa in 2011 and was penalized BIG TIME. Yet Nico gets no penalty what so ever …. just a “Racing Incident.”
          Your wrong!!

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXKas-9N_2Q&feature=youtu.be

        7. I have been thinking about the incident since the race ended and knowing that ROS tried to “make out a point” kind of finally led me to understand the whole situation. All this year Hamilton have pushed Rosberg a little bit harder than any other driver when defending or trying to make an overtake. This was possible as he knew that Rosberg would always back off to prevent any form of collision (this, in my view, can go back to Bahrain). I don’t think that causing a collision is the best way to make this point clear, but also I believe that at some point this was bound to happen in racing if both drivers are on a really equal footing.

          1. Nonsense. The guy in behind is in the leaders blind spot and is not even half a car length behind. He then went into the leaders driving line. There is NO other possible outcome. This was quite clearly deliberate or a total amateur mistake but either way Rosberg doesn’t deserve to be in F1 much less leading. He’s only there because of the car and dirty tricks.

    2. +1 racing incident indeed

    3. Wolff said Rosberg’s driving was “absolutely unacceptable”.

      1. Trenthamfolk (@)
        24th August 2014, 15:29

        As did Lauda… +1

        1. You GOTTA respect Lauda’s opinion. His point was that if it happened late in the race would be one thing but to have it happen in the 2nd lap is what made it so unacceptable. There was nothing on the line at that point. He had the whole race to pass. Why make such a high risk move in the 2nd damn lap! Just really poor judgement at an absolute minimum. I’m convinced it was more than that.

          1. No you don’t, Hamilton is Lauda’s man and it is incredibly dishonest to claim him as an unbiased, neutral voice. Still we know of Lewis’s casual relationship with the truth so it is appropriate.

      2. Translating: Rosberg had plenty of time to try to get past Hamilton, but ruined the latter’s race with a reckless attempt to pass, and also compromised his own.

        It would be really great if Rosberg and his internet defenders could just once accept he was out of order. This is without getting into the merits of just how careful he was truly being to avoid contact with Hamilton’s rear tyre.

        1. Gideon Hadi (@)
          24th August 2014, 15:52

          You can say that, but the Stewards did not even do an investigation on Rosberg

          1. You can bet your last penny there would have been an investigation if they were in different teams.

            Merc are not going to report one of their own drivers to the stewards.

          2. You missed the point: irrespective of how deliberate you think Rosberg’s damage to Hamilton’s tyre was – I think it was deliberately reckless, he had far less to lose – the point was making an aggressive challenge so early in the race. That’s what the Mercedes team were presumably livid about.

          3. “the Stewards did not even do an investigation on Rosberg”

            I would like to know why this didn’t happen. Fact, Rosberg caused a collision this should raise an investigation from the Stewards, whether it was a racing incident, intentional, did/didn’t deserve a penalty, it should at least been investigated.

          4. there was no protest made about the move, AMG merc would have reported their own driver to the stewarts i think not

        2. That’s rich coming from a Hamilton fan. At any rate…this Rosberg fan thinks that Nico was at fault…Lewis had the racing line and Nico should have backed off.

      3. Sky guys think it was “clumsy”…

        I think it was a racing incident that could have been avoided and that’s why I can’t quite understand why Nico Rosberg refuses to apologize to his team and to his team mate. His lack of effort to improve the atmosphere at Mercedes really mystifies me.

        He had the chance to say sorry while standing on the podium and he didn’t. Again he could have done that when a journo directly asked him if it was a reason to say sorry to the team and Nico just said: “I don’t know!”…

        1. Personality defect, basically. For all the vitriol thrown regularly at Hamilton, he has very frequently and openly admitted his mistakes.

          1. Indeed. Somehow lots of people still think he’s just an “arrogant brat”…

        2. Hamilton has been pulling those kind of moves all season too, I suppose this time Rosberg didnt back off. Also, nothing happened with Hamilton ignoring the team in Hungary, so I doubt anything will come out of this one either.

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            24th August 2014, 17:07

            @austus Yes and no. It’s true Hamilton defends aggresively, as against Ricciardo in Hungary, and it’s also true he tend to make big noise when something happens. But he knows he is chasing in the championship, so I don’t think he “closed the door” to Rosberg. I don’t see something intentional in Rosberg either, it’s just that today he was making many mistakes, such as the big blocking when trying to pass Vettel, and getting stuck (it’s not a mistake but it was a consequence for the broken wing and “squared” tyre).
            It was a race incident in my opinion. FIA should really do something with the rules regarding front wing width, they are so wide that drivers keep cutting tyres and breaking wings.

          2. @omarr-pepper This year’s front wings are a bit smaller than last year’s, arent they? IIRC the main reason was to reduce the amount of bits that get chopped.

        3. To be fair, in a high adrenaline moment like that he would probably want to see it again.

        4. Sky – esp Brundle – spent the entire race trying to find a way to NOT blame Nico for the incident.
          Nothing new there, he has never liked Hamilton.
          But it was painful to hear them scrape the barrel for “clumsy” and “unintended” and similar words.

          1. Brundle has never liked Hamilton??? Are you high?

            He constantly says, to my annoyance, that he thinks Hamilton is the fastest on the grid.

            He probably doesn’t like Hamilton’s personality, but who can blame him? After all, Brundle is a mature grown man and Hamilton is an immature petulant child with an attitude problem.

      4. Wolff said “it” was unacceptable. I think this plays into Mercedes’ hands: they now have a good reason to impose team orders which I think they wanted all along. I don’t buy the Nikki-Toto good cop-bad cop routine. I think they’re company men and they want a situation that is the most acceptable to the corporation, which is to say the continuation of the current positions in the driver’s championship and continued and controlled 1-2s for the team. We can now kiss goodbye officially to “letting them race”. The only question is whether Lewis will go along with it because if he doesn’t he might as well forget about this year’s championship.

      5. Toto or Niki didn’t blame anyone specifically. All they said was what happened was unacceptable and a bad result for Mercedes.
        If you think they said something specific about Nico then you are making it up!

        1. I don’t think you listen to Toto’s comments. He clearly says that Rosberg was at fault and the first questions about the booing while on podium absolutely no defence of his driver.
          First listen, then comment.

      6. Haha, I love Lauda and Toto!

      7. It’s unacceptable from a team perspective, from a racing perspective it was fine.

      8. Wolff said Rosberg’s driving was “absolutely unacceptable”.

        Once again, people hearing what they want to hear. At NO POINT did Wolff say that about Rosberg. He said the situation was ‘absolutely unacceptable’.

        Get a clue people!

        1. “We had a collision that could have been avoided, a second-lap collision, it was Nico who attacked and he shouldn’t have done it,”

          –Toto Wolff

    4. It was a pure racing incident, Nico saw an opportunity to pass Lewis & he went for it & it didn’t pay off.

      Didn’t pay off? I think that gaining 18 points over your closest championship rival, instead of potentially loosing 7, is a very nice payoff.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          24th August 2014, 16:31

          |Yes, Nico has finally found a way to pass Hamilton on track:)

      1. Yes and Nico was the all-seeing eye and could foresee the future where his wing would be intact and Hamilton tyre would shred.. nicely done!

        1. That’s not my point. I never said the contact was intentional.

      2. Pretty much how I see it. Rosberg went in there either to pass Hamilton and win back the position or let Hamilton “risk the race” by defending (as he clearly has the right to do).

        A bit of a Senna move, when Rosberg is the guy with less to lose at that point (i.e. if they both crash he would still be ahead) @maroonjack. I have no doubt that Rosberg felt Hamilton’s defence and attacks have been based on the assupmtion that Nico will leave Hamilton space so as not to crash in previous races (i.e. “I learnt something in Hungary” from Rosberg)

        1. As about Hungary i think Rosberg could potentially have been devious there. If things like Monaco where deliberate then i wouldn’t have it past him.
          What i mean?
          I mean that he knew the team would say to Hamilton to move over because they told him so but he didn’t get close because not only he wanted to be let by but he thought that it will be a nice tactic to also force Hamilton to slow down along with keeping his tyres as best as possible.

    5. Indeed, what happened out there? As racing incidents go, this one could not be more normal. Completely shameful was the public reaction of Toto Wolf and Nick Lauda – you don’t through your driver to the wolves like that (no pun intended). Talk it internally if, you will. On a lighter note, we had one more of those make-it-up-as-you-go-along rules to join David Coultard’s “team orders should never be given by the race engineer” : “If you have to hack each other to pieces, do that in the end of the race, never on the 2nd lap”. Eddie Jordan was apparently content to have it done in the 4th or 5th, after they have settled in the race, but not the 2nd….

    6. OK, in just waiting to leave Spa, so haven’t seen any analysis, but here’s my 2p.

      First, the accident was Nico’s fault, but a racing incident. He was penalised as much as he deserved for it. It looked to me like he pushed for an overtake and slightly lost control, running wide into Hamilton.

      Having said that, I completely understand the booing. He has benefited from his own mistake, increasing his lead and robbing all of us from setting a good fight between the two of them. He came second, while the teammate he took out for no points. Nobody likes it when someone is so unfairly rewarded for their own mistake, and their rival so unfairly penalised for it.

      I cannot see this ending well for the team. Lewis will be (rightly) furious, and will not look kindly in team orders to help Nico when/if they come, pointing to incidents like this.

      Nico needs to grovel am apology. While I do think it’s a racing incident, the way it works out, rewarding Nico for his mistake, he needs to be very contrite of he had any hope of retaining any team relationship with Hamilton.

      1. Ham screwed himself. He went too fast back to the pits and damaged his car. After he closed the door on Roseberg and did not give him room as he was suppose to. This is all Hamilton.

        1. Wow– Didn’t realize Planet Bizarro scheduled their F1 races the same day as the real world… because what you’re describing didn’t happen in any race I saw today.

          Name one driver, one race, where someone has successfully pulled off the pass Rosberg was attempting. It was a doomed attempt and shows just how entitled Rosberg thinks he is.

          1. Name one driver, one race, where someone has successfully pulled off the pass Rosberg was attempting

            You’re kidding right? You’ve never seen anyone make a pass around that corner on the outside?

            Here’s a clue – WATCH TODAY’S RACE!

      2. Toto is angry mostly because Rosberg Turned up his engine to catch Hamilton and the fact that he hit his teammate just made it worse.

      3. He hit Lewis because he didn’t stop when he was suppose to because he never got himself in a position to make the move work. It’s poor judgement from his side.

        Get home well mate.

        I’ve been to Spa last year and it was a great experience.

      4. I fully agree with your third paragraph. I don’t see why fans can’t boo when they want to show some justified displeasure.

    7. At the point of contact, it was a racing incident. But it developed from Rosberg taking too high a risk that early in the race. Just because you get a run on a guy doesn’t mean the move needs to be made. Lauda and Wolff are steamed because it was too early in the race for such a high risk maneuver. The driver attempting an outside pass puts himself in a vulnerable position, as he is completely dependent on the inside driver 1) seeing him, as the driver is mainly looking inside to where his car is going, and 2) giving room rather than driving him off the road the way Mags did to Button and Alonso. Even when you are a few feet in front of the inside car after braking, you have to hope the inside car does not out-brake himself and crash into your sidepod. Too early for that maneuver, ie poor decision both tactically and strategically. And the fans were rightly upset that they had been deprived so early of what could have been a cracking back-and-forth battle between the two fastest cars on the grid.

      1. Yep agree with you there @slowhands

        Good angle

    8. Rosberg a Cheat. Good that he got booed by the knowlegable Spa spectators. As lauda said it cannot happen in the second lap of your race. Rosberg will pay the price for being a cheat.

      1. A cheat? Then about 1/2 the greatest F1 drivers of all time are cheats. Several of them are “Sir Cheats” after being knighted. You need to trade in your Lewis teddy bear for something more mature.

    9. It was a race incident. The moralists will keep arguing about Nico’s personality and fair play, bla, bla, but it was an incident, and the race for the championship still goes on, with Nico preserving a great advantage over Ham.

      1. Well, seems like you’re spectacularly wrong. Rosberg admits in the debrief to deliberately causing (‘not avoiding) the incident.

        I can understand a driver wanting to exact revenge for some kinds of incident, but I’m seriously struggling to imagine how Rosberg can believe anything at Hungary justified this action? Which means questioning his personality (or mental state) is perfectly legitimate in this case: he harboured an absurd grudge against Hamilton for not letting him past?? There’s a serious issue of deluded sense of entitlement going on in Rosberg’s head.

        1. David BR2, Rosberg admits? Admits what? You listen to him admitting anything? I heard him on sky sports saying that he had to look at the images to understand what happened. So, how on earth can you talk in premeditation? This novel of conspiracy is for nuts. For that reason, I’m out.

        2. Rosberg admits in the debrief to deliberately causing (‘not avoiding) the incident.

          Once again, people hearing what they want to hear. Rosberg admitted to not backing off – not hitting Hamilton deliberately.

          There’s a serious issue of deluded sense of entitlement going on in Rosberg’s head.

          Rosberg entitled? You’re kidding right? There’s only one Mercedes driver who has a sense of entitlement and that’s Hamilton. He’s been walking around with that massive chip on his shoulder since 2008!

          Honestly, anyone in their right mind who accuses Rosberg of being entitled beside Hamilton is clearly off their meds!

    10. Agree, race accident. The thing is magnified because they are team mates. Senna would done the same on Prost, Schumacher on all his team mates, Alonso with his eyes closed if he had a good car, Vettel on Webber and viceversa. It’s racing, for God’s sake! It’s the beauty of it!! Does anyone think Nico did that on purpose?
      By the way I liked NIco’s face on the podium. He was like “damn, I have to go to the briefing room now…”

      1. @nuvolari71, Agree with you entirely. Said it, a normal race incident.
        But this is a F1 fanatic forum you see. And fanaticism means: “wildly excessive or irrational devotion, dedication, or enthusiasm”. Therefore, in this forum, conspiracy theories are usually overrated.

    11. Fans shoudl be smart enough to know Merc is to blame for this heated rivalry… their poor management – much like RBR’s with vettel and webber – has led to this confrontation.

      Still amazed that KMag gets a penalty while the Mercs went uninvestigated. More amazing was Alonso putting all four wheels off in the previous corner too. Can’t spell FIA without Ferrari.

    12. +1 they were racing, let them race incidents happen, tempers flare everyone wants to win only one does thats racing

      1. “race incidents”? the 1st rule of racing is not to crash your teammate, which trumps the racing incident excuse, under no circumstances you are allowed to crash a team mate while racing its just not tolerated.

    13. @stefmeister it’s the responsability of the one behind to make the move stick. Lewis gave him room, was ahead, on the racing line, getting the better exit at the right turn at Les Combes. He did absolutely nothing wrong.

      Rosberg on the other hand, pushed it way too far with his team mate, tried an impossible overtake from where he was, tried to get back on the line way too soon and damaged both his races.

      Racing incident? sure. But ALL the blame, and it really is ALL the blame, lies on Rosberg. Such a careless and stupid incident.

      It’s one thing trying something that doesn’t work (Vettel trying to go for the lead on lap 1 for instance), it’s a totally different one when you take your team mate out while fighting for the win.

      He could’ve backed off. or gone a bit off road. But he made a huge mistake and it’s totally his fault.

      1. What is wrong with people today!!! No one remeber Hamilton got a penaulty for hitting webbed in the same way and puncturing his tyre???

        If you think racing incident then you seriously misunderstand racing.

        Roseberg used to have my respect but this season hes proved himself a usless racer.

        Atleast in F1 now you know on the last race double points if your behind your chapionship rival you can pull that move, ruin his race and get away with it.
        Sick of F1 rules that only apply for certain people.

        1. When did Hamilton hit Webber and punctured his tyre?

          I don’t remember that… it’s happened many times (Fisichella with Schumi at Brazil 2006 for instance) and there has never been a penalty!

    14. Total total rubbish. It as a deliberate take out. If a world class driver makes a mistake one in a season and it costs his teammate the race or to lose places …it is an incident. If it happens twice .. things start to look a little suspect, but when it happens three and four times in one season …I am sorry, this was deliberate … and cunningly so. Rosberg knew that it is impossible to prove he did it deliberately because he can just claim ..” oooops, my bad, I misjudged” Sorry, but someone who has been racing for as long as Rosberg has …do not “misjudge” like that.

      This proves whet everyone thought about Monaco and it is disgraceful. Rosberg is not as good a driver as Hamilton, but what he lacks in skill, he makes up for in deviousness and dishonesty

      1. I’m sorry, but what racing series have you been watching?

        Please list the four times when Rosberg has made a ‘mistake’ that has cost Hamilton?

    15. Nico was totally irresponsible to attempt that! Today’s commentary on his close wheel to wheel encounters suggests he is not that good and that forced this situation, he got annoyed at Hamilton taking him on the opening lap. His words are “I was proving a point!” What point Im still wondering? He took a chance actually, and he made mess of it. Exactly where was Hamilton supposed to go? He was in front and taking the racing line, Nico just cut into the line, he had space to move wide and take him again when DRS came online. the battle between them over the year was exciting, Im sure we all wanted it to continue, right? now its all but dead and gone!, Who knows perhaps he will continue attacks like that and come off far worse next time? Clearly a lot of F1 fans saw it as unsportsmanlike and unprofessional, I say i have to agree… !

    16. Rosberg will cheat to win – as is now by his own admittance.
      Just like Lance Armstrong – how low can anyone get – take credit and the glory and fame – all of which you have no right to.
      What will you tell your children one day – ?

    17. @stefmeister +1 precisely. My thoughts exactly. He had an error in judgement, spatial awareness went a bit koo koo

      1. @stefmeister *Why would he sacrifice his wing, and in turn sacrifice his race, to potentially get Hamilton out? People who think he did this on purpose are absolutely deluded

  2. Whether he meant it or not, Rosberg is to blame for losing the team a 1-2, 2-3 or 1-3 and denied every British (and Hamilton fans from other countries) fan who drove to belgium (which is a lot!) watching their driver racing which is sad.

    1. Trenthamfolk (@)
      24th August 2014, 15:30

      which is why he deserved to be boo’d on the podium…

      1. @trenthamfolk I think complete silence would’ve been worse. Booing is just awkward. They’re fans and its their opinion to boo him. It’ll be horrible for 5 year old Nico fans to watch though.

      2. and exactly why were they booing Bottas then?
        just boo everyone who finished ahead of Lewis??

        1. They weren’t booing Bottas! But you want them to just so you can complain.

      3. LOL, the level to which some ‘fans’ are willing to sink to is actually quite amusing.

    2. @trenthamfolk, Custard, booing Nico?? Grow up.

      1. “I wouldn’t worry about it… because I didn’t do it!” – Green Nascar from Disney Pixar Cars

      2. Trenthamfolk (@)
        24th August 2014, 16:55

        @yes-master Custard??? What are you on about? Tell the fans at the track, not me… the fans are king, without the fans there is no sport. The sponsors will speak when they realise Rosberg is making them look like a bunch of chumps. Grow a pair.

        1. @trenthamfolk, We are all fans, remember that. Booing Nico, or other pilot, in that conditions, is pure fanaticism and childish. And, as your comment reveals, you need to grow up.

          1. I booed Nico at spa. It wasn’t aimed (entirely) at him personally. I was showing my displeasure at the situation. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, his carelessness robbed us fans of seeing them battling it out on track. He was also rewarded for his mistake, opening up his lead over his main rival.

            Why should I not allow my displeasure? How is it childish? That was the first F1 GP I have been to, and although I enjoyed the entire weekend immensely, into feel robbed.

          2. Trenthamfolk (@)
            25th August 2014, 20:36

            @yes-master and trying to dictate to the fans how and when they should express their honest and passionately held feelings is appropriate is it? Sounds like a dictatorship to me… Try to silence the fans and they will walk, so will the sponsors, and then so will the drivers. There’ll be nothing left, so who cares about your, or Nico’s feeling? Not me! Have a lovely day.

          3. @drmouse, you’re allowed to boo whenever you want. Was Ham in Nico’s shoes, would you boo him? Or would you give him the benefit of the doubt? You see, booing is easy and irresponsible. But they are professionals. So, imo, we have to have all the details first (which you hadn’t) to judge in publicly. For that reason, I think booing is childish, as it is irresponsible. But that’s my opinion.

            @trenthamfolk, Oh my, we are so melodramatic aren’t we… I dictate nothing. This is a public forum. I give my opinion freely. I never judged a driver in public, and never booed any on the podium. Why? Because I respect them as professionals they are. But fans are free to do whatever they want, and they can boo too. But that doesn’t make them right. Or changes F1 for better. I still believe that everyone is entitled to the benefit of the doubt. Nico too. Ham as well. Period. So you see, I’m far from being a dictator (if you know what that is). A lovely day to you too.

    3. Whether he meant it or not, Rosberg is to blame for losing the team a 1-2, 2-3 or 1-3

      And Hamilton is to blame for losing Mercedes points in Hungary.

  3. Toto, Lauda and Lewis blame Nico very public. Can’t remember a team taking such a stance against their own driver.

    1. Liam McShane (@)
      24th August 2014, 15:13

      Do you not remember McLaren 1989, Senna & Prost?

    2. Nico’s all alone in this world…hehe

      1. Well at the end of the season his WDC trophy can keep him company.

    3. lauda is a pain, not the most balanced of commentators, ad surprised that Toto Wolf would so publicly speak against one of his drivers like that, this is something to be discussed ‘in team’ not with the BBC!

    4. Yeah but the reality is he’s their WDC leader. He might get told off but it’s not like they’re going to exile him for it. Lewis can’t do much really except come back in Italy and win… Or come back in Italy and do what he just got done

    5. What about RBR on Webber in Istanbul 2010?

      1. Gideon Hadi (@)
        24th August 2014, 15:30

        First i think it was Vettel, but as I learned it was Webber fault

        1. Turkey 2010 was Webber’s fault?

          WRONG!

    6. Rosberg a real cheat, looks like he is better than what Schumi during his racing days, Anything for a Victory.

      1. The only problem with that statement is that Rosberg did not gain a victory by this.

    7. McLaren 2007 was the last time I saw that …

  4. Just a clumsy incident but costing lewis right where it makes the difference

  5. Nico had a chance to apologise on the podium, he didn’t, which for me says pretty much everything about it.
    He might win the WDC, but it is clear from the Monaco quali incident and this incident that he is a cheat.

    1. I think that’s a bit harsh. It was a racing incident, not a good one, I do agree with you regarding the podium comments but Nico is far from a cheat

      1. Well, that’s my opinion. I think Lewis has raced quite fairly this season. Nico has not, and that’s why I think he is a cheat.
        But this is eventually a good thing, because it would be lovely to see Lewis reunited with Ron Dennis at McLaren, the best F1 team ever. And if Ron can hold onto Jenson, then we can have the best of all three worlds: the fastest driver in Lewis, the best overall driver in Jenson, and the best team run by the best team boss in the world.
        Wishes…

        1. @rantingmrp: In Bahrain and Hungary, Lewis relied on Rosberg back off. It worked twice into Hamilton’s favor, now it didn’t.

          I wouldn’t mind seeing Hamilton back at McLaren too.

          1. @xenomorph91 I think he will stay at Mercedes and having Wolff and Lauda voicing their disapproval to Nico’s move kinda helps the cause. Lewis was very cool talking to journalists and that’s a good thing.

        2. @rantingmrp – Your name holds up anyway, yeah?

          I rate it as a racing incident that ended poorly and that is more Nico’s fault but neither are blameless. I do think Lewis should have been wary as they were side by side and Nico would have had to get far out of it or go off track. Not to mention Lewis has previously misjudged someone with a front wing beside him at Spa before with calamitous effect.

          Furthermore, wings were being clipped left and right and the only reason it matters is because of the puncture. Alonso hit Vettel near the end and lost his endplate. No one says a word. The only difference was the bad luck of a puncture. And that is why it is a racing incident, in my opinion.

          Nico should have slowed, Lewis shouldn’t have moved on him. If it was ill-advised for Nico to try that move on lap 2, then it was ill-advised to shut the door so vigorously (i.e. next to another driver’s front wing) on lap 2.

          [[Hamilton used more powerful engine settings in Bahrain that were disallowed by the team. Neither are cheating. They are trying everything to win.]]

          1. @hobo
            Perfect analysis in my opinion, both drivers had a chance to avoid contact, neither did, and the result was unfortunate for Hamilton.

            Maybe Hamilton should think twice about trying to get under Rosberg’s skin off the racetrack next time, it never seems to end well for him.

          2. @hobo
            Thanks for the balanced view. Seems rare among the increasingly childish comments I’m seeing here.

    2. He said he didn’t see the incident. Why would he apologize then? Lewis hasn’t exactly been the diplomatic guy talking about inflicting pain etc as well.

      1. Yeah, he didn’t see the incident, except he was right in the middle of the incident.

        1. These kinds of incidents happen way too fast for him to remember every small detail. If you’d ever driven a racing car then you’d know that half of your moves are done so automatically that you barely realise you are doing anything at all.

          1. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/28921431
            Interesting development, what a mess at Mercedes now!

            Quoted:

            Nico Rosberg hit me on purpose, claims Lewis Hamilton

            By Andrew Benson
            Chief F1 writer
            Lewis Hamilton claims Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg admitted in a post-race meeting that he deliberately hit him during Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
            Hamilton’s race was effectively ended when he suffered a puncture on lap two at Spa after Rosberg collided with him.
            The German went on to finish second, extending his lead in the championship to 29 points with seven races left.
            “We just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose,” said Hamilton.
            The 2008 world champion added: “He said he could have avoided it, but he didn’t want to. He basically said, ‘I did it to prove a point’.”
            Hamilton said he was “gobsmacked” by Rosberg’s admission:
            “He just came in there and said it was my fault,” added the Englishman, who returned to the race after having his left rear tyre replaced only to quit with just a few laps remaining.

          2. And anyone who believes anything Lewis Hamilton says, especially when he’s having a pitty party, needs to give themselves and uppercut!

          3. Two things: this is the BBC – i.e. a very favourable platform for British Hamilton and 2. Lewis Hamilton claims only tells us Hamiltons version of the events, of the meeting and interpreting.

            Toto Wolff later said that while Rosberg did admit he might have done more to avoid the accident, he did NOT hit his teammate deliberately but feels Lewis should not have defended as aggressively as he did.

            Sure enough, Rosberg seems to have deliberately put Hamilton up with the choice of defending and risking contact or not defending and losing position. Not something that should be encouraged amongst teammates, but then again, its quite possible that Hamilton did more or less the same to Rosberg in the past (last in Hungary), be it later in the race.

      2. He only had the best seat in the house.

        1. Not the best seats actually. The best seat would have been from a helicopter :)

          Also why Sky chose to only show Rosberg’s onboard for the incident and not Hamilton’s, is puzzling. Sure, Rosberg turned his steering wheel. But Hamilton also went left cutting him off early.

    3. @rantingmrp F1F doesn’t need this kind of comments.

      1. Oh well, someone forcing you to read, then, eh?

    4. @rantingmrp, apologize? For what? For racing? Is F1 a kinder garden? Omg…

      1. Reading a lot of these comments it does seem like it ey? I’m actually giving up posting proper responses to it now. From what I’ve read it’s:

        “My driver didn’t get his way because of a racing incident?.. and the driver who caused the accident is a German? Well, I oughta!! He should be booed and labelled as a cheat!!”

        It’s pretty funny.

  6. storm in a teacup, hate the booing, if the boot had been on the other foot… rather concerned at the implications that Nico is being favoured by the team… but hey Ricciardo drove a great race

  7. Lewis did nothing wrong. Watching again, say other way it’s just ludicrous.
    And Rosberg just killed the championship. There will be team orders from now on.

    1. The problem is Ricciardo creeping closer: a bit more of the same and Mercedes may be forced into team orders to protect Rosberg. Imagine that going down well with Hamilton…

      1. I think Lewis has a huge mountain to climb, therefore, I think Ricciardo’s is even bigger…. they will not hit each other or have mechanical failures every other weekend. Dan has was three races that evolved very favorably for him, not taking anything from his amazing drives but he won in Canada when Mercedes had problems, he won a rain hit and SC influenced race in Hungary and today he collected the fruits from Mercedes problems again, so…

      2. Yes. This could be the mother of all sneaky championships by the guy with the slower car, just like Raikkonen’s or Prost in 86. Who knows what might happen? Bit of pressure applied to some fairly suspect egos and an untested management committee (never a good thing) by the team that’s won the last four titles (even if they’re incapable of preparing two reliable cars)

  8. Michael Brown (@)
    24th August 2014, 15:11

    It was extremely marginal. I don’t see how it could not be a racing incident.

    1. If it was Formula Ford, yes, it would be a typical racing incident. But it’s F1. Eddie Jordon had it right when he said that “Nico knew that if he lost the first corner to Lewis, he was gone”

      ROS was more than clumsy. He was desperate and unsporting–and he knew it. Did you see his body language after the race? If the roles were reversed, HAM would not want to gain points over a rival this way. That’s why he’s so loved.

      1. Rosberg needs to teach us all how to tell the future! You know.. how he knew that touching another car would not wreck his front wing and would with a 100% certainty puncture Hamiltons tyre. He sure is a powerful clairvoyant.

        1. Exactly! He lost time at the pits as well. And Hamilton has relied on Rosberg backing off when he aggressively tries to defend his position in some of the previous races. This time it didn’t happen and it ended bad for Hamilton.

          He escaped a lot of collision in Germany, unfortunate that the slightest contact gave him a puncture this time.

  9. How poor is Nico in traffic lol. He is awful he had a new wing far faster car and still lost the race. Vergne overate last race, massive lock up today. He was fortunate to be ahead in WC today and now this. Atleast Merc have shut some doubters up like me about being all for Nico

  10. He didn’t really give him space but then he didn’t need to. Racing incident borderline Rosberg’s fault.

  11. “Nicole hit me. Nicole has hit me.” Haha haha god, I loved that part of the race. The best radio message of all time. He sounded like a little child who just had his mom seat his hand away from the cookie jar…. That made my day.

    1. Nico, not Nicole lol, auto correct…

      1. @irejag

        It’s a shame Lewis is stuck in an abusive relationship :(

    2. Maybe he was talking about his girlfriend…

    3. Yea, maybe it was Nico’s fault, be Lewis really needs to stop complaining. If he was a true champion, he would suck it up and race hard. Lewis didn’t do that today.

      1. paul sainsbury
        24th August 2014, 15:49

        A ludicrous accusation. One only has to think back to the last race in Hungary to know what Hamilton can do in terms of racing through the field from the back, and at Spa overtaking is much easier, so clearly he had a car issue which prevented this. A lot of internet armchair warriors coming up with the same accusation, perhaps it would be different if you were the one knowing that, due to car damage, you might end up in the wall at 160 MPH?

  12. Still think it was Rosberg’s fault. Especially after watching Anthony Davidson’s analysis of the incident. I think in 2012 or 2013, if you give the guy in front a puncture with your front wing it was a penalty in most cases. All this said, I still don’t think booing the culprit will change anything, mostly a childish reaction to an injustice done to their favourite driver. Had Rosberg got a penalty I think he wouldn’t have been booed.

  13. Thats just Crap, that makes Alonso a cheat as well for hitting Vettel

    1. if that was cheating than 1/2 the drivers who have ever raced are cheats. Given the amount of wheel to wheel racing we’ve been treated to from these two, its amazing contact has not been made sooner than this.

  14. It’s interesting that Rosberg made a mistake but Hamilton paid the price…

    1. And again, nothing happened to him…

    2. Huh? Didn’t cost him anything? That 7 extra seconds in the pit changing the nose arguably cost him the race win. That’s a form of penalty, no?

      1. What about Lewis losing 50 seconds with the puncture and an unscheduled pit stop? Rosberg did lost time for his mistake, but at least he was still in the hunt for the win, whereas Hamilton’s race was completely ruined by Rosberg’s lazy mistake.

      2. @wacamo Arguably, flat spotting his front left compromised his strategy and stopped him winning the race today.

        1. After the start, winning wasn’t important to ROS today: only stopping HAM walking away with more points than him.

      3. petebaldwin (@)
        24th August 2014, 17:16

        @wacamo – It didn’t cost Nico. He is only really racing against Hamilton now. He finished +18 points to Hamilton. If he hadn’t taken Lewis out and managed to win the race, Lewis would have been 2nd so he would have scored +7 points.

        It’s better for Nico if he came 6th and Lewis got a DNF than if he won and Lewis came 2nd.

        1. There are a lot of points left on the table, including those (infernal) double points. I seriously doubt that Nico only worries about Lewis… Ricardo is a’comin…

      4. No. He gain in the Championship

    3. @robertthespy @edmarques Did you see how fast Hamilton was going without a rear tyre? That right there irrepairably damaged his car. If he wasn’t an idiot who would probably have made it into the top 7 or even 5.

    4. It’s called RACING

  15. “I got a good run on Lewis,” said Rosberg on the podium, “and I tried to go around the outside and we just touched in the end unfortunately”.

    There is absolutely no way ROS was going to make anything out of that maneuver. A nose level does not remotely come close to being a good run on the outside.

    1. He didn’t go around the outside. He went into the driving line and in the front guys blind spot. Either deliberate or a total rank amateur mistake. Either way the conclusion about Rosberg is pretty much the same for me.

  16. I’m trying my hardest not to boo Rosberg away from the adrenalin of the race. It’s a racing incident that could’ve been avoided, right? It’s a racing incident that isn’t just a racing incident, but one that has serious WDC implications. Rosberg’s actions, accidental or not, directly put in jeopardy a rival’s title chances.

    As a Hamilton fan this is harder to swallow than a faulty brake or PU.

    And I don’t understand why Eddie Jordan is telling possibly Lewis fans not to boo Rosberg. Why are we not allowed to boo rivals questionable racing decisions?

    1. Because its traditionally not sporting to ‘boo’ the competition. You can show disfavour in a ‘sporting’ manner by remaining silent, or even turning your back, but booing? Never!

      1. That completely depends on the fans’ evaluation of the sportingness of the competitor. Given Monaco qualifying, Rosberg’s repeated refusal to ever apologize for his mistakes or admit when he’s been beaten on the day, and now a collision he caused that takes out his title rival – yes, some people may have doubts about how sporting he is.

    2. Because booing shows a supreme immaturity and lack of intellect. It is NEVER an appropriate response in sport.

      It’s just sport after all.. it in no way impacts on your life.

    3. You are complaining about an unsporting-like action… through an unsporting-like action?

  17. If they were in different teams and Hamilton’s team had complained to the stewards, do you think they would have given a penalty? I can’t remember a consistent ruling in this regard, I’ve seen better examples result in drive through penalties and worse examples not be penalised.

  18. It’s really sad that fans of each other will start fighting! Worse is team openly criticising Nico is way too loud..

    1. From various interviews in the past months, Lauda obviously favors Lewis. That’d make it hard… no one wants to find out that dad prefers the other kid.

      1. This is the same Lauda that had anything but nice words for Hamilton before signing him?

    2. Erm, this isn’t football my friend. You can leave the fighting at the turnstiles.

  19. Cheers for Ricciardo!
    Lewis/Hamilton: So you think the back driver should not be allowed to put pressure on the front driver? If this is the conclusion for the Mercedes -board it will be a black day for Mercedes and F1.

  20. I won’t be surprised when they won’t be allowed to race any more this year.
    Stupid move from Rosberg. Ten centimetres forward and he would smash his wing on Hamilton’s rim.

    1. When it came to the point of contact Rosberg didn’t make a move. He had gone wide, oversteered and just as he got his wheel back straight again Hamilton ran over his front wing. At that point there was really nothing that Rosberg could do to avoid contact.

  21. Rosberg knew what he was doing, it was only lap 2 and he was trying to go around Lewis from that position???
    He knew exactly what to do.

  22. Oh to be a fly on the wall in the Mercedes garage after the race.

    It was just a racing incident, we’ve seen it many times before, it’s just a shame it happened to Lewis.

  23. Just regarding a penalty.

    Remember that at the Drivers/Teams request the FIA have relaxed the penalty’s the past few races to encourage the drivers to push a bit more when racing & overtaking.

    I think its right that he didn’t get a penalty to be honest as it was just a racing incident & it did also hinder his own race afterall.

  24. The incident today was just a small impact in the championsip, however, fans are now attacking Rosberg for a simple mistake he made. I’ve just had a discussion with a F1F who I suppose is a Hamilton fan, which now hates Rosberg for what happened. I’ll be straight, I think that the team orders in Malaysia 2013 were bad enough for Vettel to receive booing. Why? Because Vettel made Webber feel like a loser for 4 years! Today it wasn’t the big deal for a slight cut in the rear tyre for Hamilton. Yes, Rosberg got beneficiated by the contact, but maybe it was a slight mistake, not a intentional crash. Media and Mercedes will go mad offending Rosberg and pleasing Hamilton, which I think, its the most childish and pathetic thing I’ve ever witness in F1 since the Red Bull saga in 2010 (which had more sense than this one). I’m criticising any fan, I’m just saying that Rosberg was at fault (and he already admitted it) and he doesn’t deserve any booing or offense from anyone, even a Hamilton fan. I would say that it was more pathetic being whining every lap about the engine and retiring in the last 5 laps than cutting unintentionally the rear tyre of my rival.

    1. *I’m not criticising any F1 fan

    2. Gideon Hadi (@)
      24th August 2014, 15:34

      +3 finally a fair judgement from Lewis fans

      1. I’m not a Lewis fan, I’m an Alonso, so I’m looking the things from a different perspective.

    3. A. It was not a small impact on the championship.
      B. Rosberg has not yet admitted he was at fault.

    4. ROS did not admit any fault.

      1. @trublu @tino852 For what I understood on the podium he admitted it. Somehow. Not directly like “Yes it was my fault” but he did.

        1. @cocaine-mackeine ROS did nothing of the sort on the podium. He said he needed to watch video first

          1. @trublu Oh my….. then my mistake. Trash my comment then haha

  25. This might be an extremely unpopular opinion but I think Hamilton deserves a penalty.

    Not because of the contact, no. That was a 100% racing incident. But I think the stewards should start giving out penalties to drivers who don’t return to the pits with extreme caution while driving with a puncture. I’m not at all a fan of penalties in general but that was dangerous stuff that endangered others.

    1. I agree it was a bit dangerous but it is hard to give out penalties because delamination can be quite random and specific thing. A driver may be cautious but still create a lot of debris. It is a difficult thing to measure so some penalties could be given out unfairly.

  26. ResultantAsteroid
    24th August 2014, 15:29

    +1

  27. Thomas Gallacher
    24th August 2014, 15:34

    Rosberg too aggressive desperate, he made a clumsy move. He should be warned both their sakes or this will fester!

  28. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    24th August 2014, 15:35

    It was 100% a racing incident.
    But, Nico was 100% at fault.

    Of course he didn’t do it maliciously or on purpose. It was clumsy, he should’ve backed out, and he didn’t have enough of his car alongside Lewis’s to warrant such a move.

    I’m bitterly disappointing by this result (over the moon about Dan though!), but I know Lewis is very strong around Monza, so I have no doubts he’ll be back firing on all cylinders (if his car will allow it) at the next round.

    1. People are missing that. It’s a mistake, too bad he is only racing his teammate and championship rival. Besides, if he had malicious intent, I doubt all Hamilton would’ve ended up with was a puncture; more likely Rosberg would lock up, hit him, send him spinning into the grass.

  29. One thing that stuck for me the most is that Lewis got let down by his own head again.
    Yes, he didn’t have to leave room for Nico, but is he ever able to asses the risk and find the right amount of margin that he needs to leave when in this kind of situation while fighting for the championship? He keeps doing this.
    Especially, this time it really was marginal and I remember Lewis being really rude in this defending against Nico in previous races this year.
    You live by the sword, you die by the sword.

    I for one am happy that Nico is really overshadowing Lewis in every manner now. He is now past the point where Lewis always knew Nico will back out when it’s crash-or-yield situation. Now it’s Lewis who will have to calculate if he wants to crash and burn or yield the space to Nico.
    I find it quite satisfying to watch this transformation in Rosberg, because he started off quite benign and Lewis kept putting him down in interviews, talking how Nico is not as ruthless not as hungry etc. Well, now he got what he asked for and we are seeing that in turn, it is exposing Lewis’ childish and weak side, where he’s easy to give up and lacks belief in being able to overturn his bad luck.

    I’m cheering for Nico this year, because he is the one who seems to be rising to the challenge with every race, unlike Lewis who seems to be showing one weakness after the other. Reminds me of 2008, where Alonso and Kubica drove like true champs, but unfortunately, the title was between Lewis and Massa who both kept messing it up.

    1. You really are blaming Lewis for what happened? He left more than enough room and if you were the least bit objective it would be obvious to you. Never have I heard people blame the driver that was ahead AND on the racing line for an incident like this.

      It’s one thing to call it a racing incident but to blame Hamilton is just laughable.

      1. He left NO room whatsoever for 2nd corner of Les Combes. Nico’s front wing was on the inside a little bit and Hamilton just ran over it. Had he taken a little bit of a wider line he could’ve avoided Nico’s front wing and it would’ve all been fine.

        1. +1. Hamilton presumed he could take the line and that Nico would back off. Apparently, he hadn’t realized that those days are over.

          It’s not like taking Nico’s line was an impossible move- just that he was a tad too far back. Otherwise, had Nico been more forward, he would have forced Lewis to fall off to the right and blocked the upcoming left-hander.

          If the cars had been a Caterham and a Marussia, I think we all would have called it racing incident.

    2. It has been really interesting to watch the mental ebb and flow of this battle over the season, and while I am an Alonso fan and am not really cheering for either, you have noted some of the key strengths and weaknesses of both drivers. Today is a good example of both violating one of the oldest rules of racing: “To finish first, you must first finish.” This means thinking of self-preservation to make it to the chequered flag. Lewis could have saved his own skin on this one. While he certainly gave room in the entry to the chicane, there was no need for him to go so sharply for the apex of the first left hander (even though he was “entitled” to do so by being ahead). the next turn comes up quickly and is in his favor being a right hander, and he could have taken the racing line at that point from a position of strength. Both he and Nico showed poor instincts for self-preservation — Nico by forcing an outside pass that early in the race, placing himself in a vulnerable position dependent on Lewis’ car placement, and then Lewis by going straight for the racing line and chopping across Nico. They both seem to be showing some desperation rather than using their considerable experience to drive more maturely.

    3. Mark in Florida
      26th August 2014, 15:17

      A big thumbs up on that one, one hundred percent right. It’s all about Hamilton and what’s good for him. He’s been bad mouthing Rosberg all year now he’s got the animal not the gentleman to compete with.

  30. Is nobody going to point out how hard Hamilton drove with a delaminated tyre to wreck his floor? If he took it a bit slower down Blanchimont he might have secured some points with two prime stints…?

    1. +1. that is what most HAM fans are failing to acknowledge. If he would’ve kept his head cool he probably would’ve come out with some points

      1. Hamilton was still able to set a fast lap so this point is moot. If he had gone slower he’d have been farther back and in a more futile position.

        1. In that case he should’ve pushed on rather than complain about the engine every single lap

    2. @xtwl With 3+ miles to drive there was no point even continuing if he drove back slowly enough to stop the tyre flailing. 3 miles at 60 mph, for example, is 3 minutes, even if that’s slow enough. 10th place car is 2s a lap slower at most. How many laps are there? Do the math :)

      1. @lockup Through S2 he went at a good pace for his condition but in S3, through Blanchimon he suddenly almost floored it. I was on about that, not like he had to drive the entire lap very slow.

        1. @xtwl I don’t think they broadcast him through Blanchimont, do you mean Pouhon? He just had a wobble with cornering on 3 wheels. So he was doing the speed he had to, which was the speed to avoid being lapped.

  31. Very clumsy move by Nico, there was no room to overtake on the outside there, he was already behind. Anyway it’s not the end of the world for Lewis, he is only 29 points behind, the same deficit he had coming into Silverstone. So one retirement from Nico and Lewis is back in this. Or he can do it the hard way and win 4 races in a row.

  32. True, but that’s what makes it so much fun. It’s not just the racing, but the off-track drama that keeps us all hooked.

    Hamilton wasn’t at fault in any way on this one. But the Rosberg bashing is getting out of hand. To say that Rosberg “deliberately” touched Hamilton’s left-rear, is ridiculous. Everyone saw Hamilton’s puncture, but no one remembers that a big chunk of Rosberg’s front wing came off as well. He could’ve easily ended up with no front wing as Brundle pointed out.

  33. I watched the incident several times in slow motion. Nico’s jerk to the right looks very suspicious……or it doesn’t look like he was trying to avoid contact in the least. I’m beginning to think he’s one of those sneaky wormy kind of guys—-always nice on the outside but a crafty scheming cunning conniving little weasel on the inside

    1. This was clear from Monaco after not only ruining Hamiltons Qualifying, but everyone else’s as well, to get out of his car and fist pump to the camera shows he’s a snake.

    2. You clearly haven’t seen it enough times. He just recovered from a snatch of oversteer and he needed to go through the next corner as well. That jerk to the right was for the next corner where at the time there was enough room until Lewis drove into his front wing. Just a racing incident I’m afraid, Nico could’ve braked a little bit earlier to let Lewis go and Lewis could’ve left a little bit room to the inside of the second part of Les Combes.

  34. i can see this running to the end and if Ham gets within striking distance with double points, Rosberg will take Ham out anyway he can.

  35. World Champion Lewis Hamilton was driving ridiculously fast with an effectively missing wheel. That right there irrepairably damaged his car. Otherwise, with a smart strategy he could even have been in the top 5. But most people have already forgotten about it. Selective memory, the mantra of so many internet users. And Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda blaming Rosberg like that, wow! Who does that kind of thing? The incident could have been avoided by Rosberg, sure, but Hamilton didn’t leave comfortable space! And the podium-booers are back as well!

    1. Your comment is beyond absurd. If Hamilton didn’t push that lap, considering the length of the lap, he would’ve lost about a lap and a bit, best case. By being a lap down, you don’t benefit from any possible safety car (unless you’re somewhere between the leading drivers, in which case they let you get back on the leading lap). If he loses a lap to the 5th placed car(which he would have by driving slower), that means he has to make up 2 minutes in 43 laps against a Red Bull/Ferrari/Williams. That means a 2.8 delta between his lap and the lap from the 5th car. So no top 5 for Lewis. Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff are blaming Rosberg because he forced an overtake on lap 2 on the outside of a corner, gifting Red Bull a win.

  36. Talking about inflicting some pain LOL! :)

  37. As big of a Lewis fan as I am, there are truths about the Nico/Lewis incident that I need to state:

    – It was a racing incident. I don’t think you can fault Nico for wanting to get ahead at that stage in the race. Mercedes precedent has been that the car in front gets to decide primary strategy for the rest of the race. He had a chance, and he took it. In the (paraphrased), if you you don’t go for the gap, you’re no longer a racing driver.
    – Lewis had a choice to make. Drive at 30 mph and try to keep the tire intact or drive as fast as possible to get back to the pits. Either way, his race was ruined. As a racing driver, your task is to maximize your potential to have a result. Lewis chose the quickest route and the tire did not stay together. If the danger from debris was too high for other drivers, the FIA should have stepped in to neutralize the race and clear the track. It’s no different from a driver dumping parts, gravel, oil, etc all over the track after an incident. To call for a penalty is insane.
    – Booing is a completely legitimate way to voice your displeasure as a fan. Right, wrong, or otherwise, there is no rule that states you have to unconditionally support a driver. Fan support is not free. It is earned through actions. That is why we don’t all have the same favorite drivers, and cheering for/against our favorites is a paid privilege for attending a race.
    – If Mercedes uses team orders from here on out, it will be up to them. As much as we hate seeing or hearing about team orders, we should never forget that the driver/car combos on track are mere representatives of the hundreds of people in the pits and at the factory. From a pragmatic standpoint, a driver’s championship just plain does not matter as much to a team as a constructor’s championship, money-wise. This is why backmarker teams would give anything (and do, especially plenty of money) to move up 1 or 2 spots in the final constructor’s championship. It’s how the majority of bills get paid.

  38. “Let me tell you this: I come from a not-great place in Stevenage and lived on a couch in my dad’s apartment – and Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels and boats and all these kind of things – so the hunger is different,”

    I guess hamilton should be changing his mind now!

  39. Reminded me of when Hamilton clipped Massa’s rear tyre at Singapore. I don’t remember many saying that was a racing incident back then, it was clearly Hamilton’s fault.

    To me its clearly a mistake by Rosberg and he is to blame, but reading most of the comments here I guess I’m in the minority!

    1. i’m agreeing with you. we must be in the minority lol, and if my memory is right he was penalized for the contact with Massa, the lap before lewis and vettel was racing at the same corner and no contact was made.

  40. To the People who seem to think it may have been deliberate by Nico…

    Do you really think he would intentionally drive into Lewis like that & risk damaging his own front wing (Which he did which badly hurt his race)?

    1. Ruthless German mentality……….

    2. @PeterG Yes. Nico could afford to lose a front-wing endplate in exchange for puncturing Lewis. Routine outcome.

      He gained 18 points. Self-evident really, even without that second steering input.

      1. So Fisichella gave MSC a puncture on purpose in Brazil 2006 did he? That’s exactly how ridiculous you sound.

      2. Rosberg would gain a lot of respect from me if he was able to deliberately create an incident with that exact outcome, an exchange of endplate vs. puncture. That´s a whole lot of precision neccessary to do that, and he would also need to exactly know how the other driver would place his car. I do seriously doubt this is within the range of Rosbergs abilities.

      3. But as Martin Brundle said on sky having spoken to Pirelli, There’s a very small area of the tyre that is at risk from a puncture while the chances of damaging your front wing is 100% in that sort of contact.

        And like Anthony Davidson said you can’t actually even see your front wing from the cockpit so to aim to hit the very small area on the sidewall that guarantee’s a puncture without damaging your own wing is impossible.

  41. Oh please, it was a race incident. Nico did what he had to do. Bad luck for Ham, as he was probably the expected winner today. He has to fight back now.

    1. Nico did what he had to do

      Oh yes, he did what he had to do to win the championship!

  42. Pretty clearly a mistake on Rosberg’s part, but frankly really only a very small one. The puncture made it seem a lot more dramatic than it was – we’ve seen plenty of little bumps like that all season and before, and they don’t usually end in a puncture. Hamilton was unlucky that this did shred his tyre, but otherwise I think most people would just shrug it off as a fairly minor racing incident.

    It’s a shame it seems to be taking away everyone’s attention from the absolute farce of Ferrari sending mechanics onto the track while the cars are pulling away.

    1. And only getting a five second penalty for it? Highly unsafe!

  43. Racing incident, yes, but I think that Nico took an unnecessary risk very early in the race.
    Going into the braking zone Lewis was ahead, you are just not going to pass someone on the outside of Les Combes when you are so far back. Putting you front wing alongside even when you know you can’t pass is a cheeky move and I really hate it when they do it to me when I play racing games online. It’s legal, yes, but a driver of his experience should know when you can overtake and when you can’t.
    Rosberg should have just backed out of it, he wasn’t going to overtake Hamilton on that occasion anyway.

    Honestly, though, it’s amazing how many points they are throwing away. Today they clearly had the fastest car (two seconds per lap quicker than anyone else!) and they managed not to win.

  44. Anyone remember Singapore 2011 when a similar accident happened between Hamilton and Massa and Hamilton got the penalty? The issue is not whether it was racing incident. The real issue is that at the end Rosberg was clumsy and Hamilton came out worse. if the double points in Abu Dabi causes Hamilton to win the championship, I per say wouldn’t think that was unfair.

  45. Right, here we go…

    After that superb performance, Rosberg should not have been booed. He overcome a change in strategy, a broken front wing, and a bit of debris flying in his face at 200mph and still finished second. What a superb drive from lap 3 onwards.

    However, what happened on lap 2 baffled me from Hamilton, Rosberg and Mercedes. Mercedes clearly had a significant performance advantage here. That was clear from FP1. All that they would have achieved by going wheel-to-wheel like they attempted on lap 2 was only ever going to end in one of two ways: either contact, which happened, or both drivers holding each other up and the two Red Bulls capitalising on it as a result. I think it was a 50-50 incident in terms of the drivers. Hamilton took the racing line as he is entitled to but he could have left room too. It was a bit ambitious from Rosberg but without taking to the run-off, he had nowhere else to go. Mercedes should have ensured that the two drivers were absolutely clear of the Red Bulls before letting them go wheel-to-wheel like that. Mercedes should have come away with 43 points today. They came away with just 18. Something seriously wrong happened and it wasn’t with the car this time. Mercedes may need to change their stance on team orders for the second time in two races.

    1. 50/50. Honestly, I can’t believe this stance. If you’re going to go around the outside, make sure you get at least partly alongside or else back out of it.

      This has always been the case, let alone if you’re doing it to your team mate.

  46. I understand that some people reckon that it was “just a race incident” but I think you have to look at the consequenses. You shouldn’t be able to get away with ruining another drivers race, unless you ruin your own race even more. The situation was very similar of that between Hamilton and Massa in Singapore 2011, where Hamilton hit Massa with his front wing, damaging it and giving Massa a puncture. Hamilton got a drive through, although to be fair that was a slightly more reckless move than what Rosberg did today.

    “Oops sorry, didn’t mean to hit you but now thanks to my mistake I’m gonna win the championship”

  47. Apparently Nico has admitted to hitting Lewis on purpose.

    1. I’d like to wait and see an exact quote. Some reporting that Lewis told the press that Rosberg admitted deliberately hitting him, others reporting that Hamilton told the press that Rosberg admitted deliberately not backing off. Which isn’t the same thing as deliberately crashing.

      1. Im waiting for that quote as well

      2. “It looked quite clear to me but we just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose,” Hamilton said. “He said he did it on purpose, he said he could have avoided it. He said ‘I did it to prove a point’, he basically said ‘I did it to prove a point’. And you don’t have to just rely on me, go and ask Toto [Wolff], Paddy [Lowe] and all those guys who are not happy with him as well.”

          1. Trenthamfolk (@)
            24th August 2014, 17:12

            what a spoiled brat…

        1. I suspect that what really happened is that Nico was told to back off prior to the incident and instead – reportedly – ‘deliberately’ turned up the engine to disobey team orders.

          I doubt Rosberg had any intention of causing an accident, but the point that Merc will be hung up on is that Rosberg shouldn’t have been attempting a pass at that point.

          It’s one thing making a statement by refusing to slow down for your team-mate, but another to disobey orders to back off and instead cause an accident.

          Point made. Hypocrite.

  48. Rosberg was out of order, should have been penalised and has cost Mercedes Kant points from that race.

  49. If? He has admitted doing it on purpose, putting life at risk! He should get a ban. If ?

  50. On the next lap, Nico would have had DRS. Why did he leave his nose in there to get chopped off, instead of having another go next time around?

    1. Because he’s reckless and calculated that he would be better off.

    2. Why did he leave his nose in there to get chopped off, instead of having another go next time around?

      @bullfrog – We all know how important pole position is given two, well matched drivers in the most competitive car. We all know NR was leading the WDC at the start of the race. We all know there is intense, inter-team rivalry between LH & NR. NR started on pole.

      However, LH dived into the lead. Worse still, SV also made a good move at the start. The advantage of NR’s coveted, pole position was thus neutralised within a lap or two. With LH in the lead, NR no doubt thought he was likely to come second to LH. Every point counts and the (bonkers) double points initiative is a factor to consider in the arithmetical possibilities it throws up. These thoughts will almost certainly been running through NR’s mind after he quickly lost the advantage of starting on pole.

      NR probably saw the red mist. NR probably allowed his judgement to be subordinated to getting past LH – who was driving the car that had most chance of beating him – at any cost. NR reacted too quickly, rather than waiting for a less risky opportunity. “WDC rage”, which is something different to “aggressive racing”, might be the way to describe it.

  51. I’ve got something in my left mirror!. Take that number two……….oops.

  52. and by “gave space” he means “closed the door”… real classy fans booing the podium too.

  53. Britney should be penalized!!

  54. Stephen Higgins
    24th August 2014, 17:41

    No, Lewis.

    You didn’t give Rosberg ANYWHERE NEAR enough space.

    You turned in on him when you should have taken a wider line on the exit of Les Coombes and you could have defended easily into Bruxelles.

    Now, because in all liklehood you have lost the Championship, you are resorting to type and trying to blame anyone but yourself.

    Your. Own. Fault.

    1. So why did Vettel feel the need to bail the corner the lap before check out this pic

      1. +1 The same run off area available to Vettle was available to Nico.

  55. I would have thought a few things are obvious by now: Nico Rosberg is a spoilt little brat with delusions of grandeur. The only way he can beat Hamilton, given two reliable Mercedes cars, is by cheating. He so desperately wants to follow in Daddy’s footsteps that he will try every trick in the book to disadvantage his team-mate. The reason he’s no hero in Germany is because he holds a Finnish passport and lives in Monaco. The only thing that’s remotely German about him is his surname. If I were Toto I’d be putting him under team orders, in the next race, to take up position behind Hamilton, no matter what, and protect his back and enable Hamilton to win the next race, if he can, to redress the balance and put the brat in his place. Maybe, after that, he would learn some humility and discover how to be a team player. Any one of the top ten drivers could win consistently in Rosberg’s car. The same would have gone over the last four years for them all, given Vettel’s car. The only way we would ever know who the most consistently skillful driver is would be to put them all in IDENTICAL cars, bar their individual set ups. In that case I doubt we would ever see Rosberg on the podium from one end of the season to the other.

  56. Man, I read through all of this, and have come to the conclusion that an awful lot of you were watching different second lap than I saw. ROS came much farther alongside HAM by the time they both entered that corner, so there was no way HAM didn’t know he was there. By the time they touched, ROS had backed out of it to the point that only his front wing was along side, and there was clearly enough room for HAM to carry on without moving as far to the left as he did. I applaud ROS for pressuring HAM going into the turn and for backing out of it when it was clearly not going to work. This is what racing is about. The whole idea is to get ahead and be first, and they all work at it whether climbing from 14th to 13th, or 2nd to 1st. None of them are mind readers, and they all expect their cocompetitors to drive to the best of their professional abilities, and to the ability of the machines they drive. The fans and Mercedes have blown this completely out of proportion, and they have a professional whiner and drama queen fanning the flames. Lauda is too loud and Wolff is completely unprofessional. We all need to remember it takes two to tango, and sometimes the tango becomes a tangle. It happens. Are we hoping for this kind of drama, or are we actually hoping for some good fast professional racing, where the limits are pushed constantly, and sometimes gone beyond? HAM comes out of a closed door meeting, and says ROS did it on purpose. HAM does a lot of talking. The same could be true of HAM, wanting to make a point on ROS, and having it blow up in his face. Maybe he was hoping he would force ROS into the run off, and potentially ruin his race instead. I say stop talking, and race to the end. I know it is probably asking too much, but no more whinning.

    1. It’s hard to race when your team mate deliberately takes you out.

    2. Completely agree.
      Especially you mention a point that is being overlooked here. Hamilton keeps fanning the flames at any and every opportunity he gets. All year long he’s talking how he is not friends with Nico, how Nico is a rich kid that doesn’t have the motivation to win, how he wants to inflict the pain. He keeps trying to create a hostile environment while all this time Nico’s interviews were mostly in line with “nah, we are still friends”.
      Lewis was making himself into an innocent, naive victim back in 2007 too, and unfortunately, too many people bought it. Now as you said, Lauda and Wolff are being completely unprofessional. I’ve always knew Lauda is mouthing off all sorts of nonsense just like Helmut Marko, while I’ve never rated Wolff to high in the first place.
      I think Nico is the only one I can really respect here, because he is the only one who is being true to himself and is doing all of his talking on the track.

  57. Rossberg could have avoided the collision but didn’t.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28921431

    Its disgraceful behaviour and he should be banned for the next race.
    Its clear in the video replay that Rossberg had plenty of options to bide his time and come at Hamilton later, but decided to be malicious and take him out

    1. Have to agree. Watching the replay it wasn’t even a passing opportunity, he cannot seriously have expected anyone to yield the line to an outside pass with so little overlap.

      Doing it “to make a point” looks exactly like it, especially with the extra steering we saw.

      I really liked Nico, it’s very disappointing.

  58. I’m a Hamilton fan but it appears to be pretty clear and simple to me that he was at no fault whatsoever. Hamilton was the driver in front going into Les Combes, so he takes absolutely 0% of the blame in taking the racing line. It is up to Rosberg to lift off the throttle or miss the chicane to slot in behind as the door was closed. It was clumsy on Rosberg’s part, and he has been clumsy in wheel-to-wheel racing often this season. I’d call it a racing incident for which Rosberg was 100% at fault. Let’s move on.

  59. Rosberg is a calculating cheat. The team should replace him for the next 2 races with a test driver to show that the team management will not stand for it.

  60. “I really liked Nico, it’s very disappointing.”

    He has been too nice to everyone, too charming. Now we see his true colours…

  61. In Canada, HAM was leading when he retired. In Spa HAM was leading when ROS crashed into him. This is such a hollow championship for Rosberg. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  62. What point is Rosberg trying to prove? That he has to cheat to win? What a sportsman.

  63. Nico was nowhere near, trying to hammer home a non-existent opportunity. It was his responsibility to get out of it and not cause an incident as his car was clearly behind, not even close to level, and I can see no evidence on the replays that there was anything preventing him from recovering. So this begs the question to what precisely he was hoping to achieve by this? His head is clearly not in the right place right now and I think this was both dangerous and avoidable. The FIA needs to step in on safety grounds and do something, all drivers make mistakes and drive close to the edge but this goes beyond that and is way too aggressive. If they do nothing they set a precedent that this is acceptable and we will back to the days of deliberate crashes to bring out safety cars and team mates taking out rivals. I’d like to see Mercedes demonstrate some balls and put their own driver before the stewards for investigation. Normally I would never agree with booing but I have to say this was so unsporting that I think maybe it was not so far off the mark. Nico seemly has admitted to being able to avoid the contact but choosing not too, that is as positive an action as deliberately driving into someone. He should have his super license revoked, its not the size of the crash but the intention behind it that makes this completely heinous.

  64. Watch the in-car video in slow motion: nr did tjis on purpose and with the intention of damaging the tire. Period.
    You can see him jerk the wheel into LH.

    These guys can position the car within cm’s, they were going relatively slow and on a corner of only moderate radius.

    Nr is a spoilt little child. He actually expects LH to part way so he can drive through .

    In the meeting
    Nr said it was his fault
    Could have avoided it
    But wanted to prove a point
    MB brass confirmed this.

    The Monaco incident was also intentional. Nr would not be in F1 if not for family connections. Why is it so difficult to admit he is a ‘man’ of low moral fiber and character? He’ll still be a rich, smug self-entitled brat living in 5 star hotels and flying in private jets: the difference being he will be disrespected as he should be.

  65. plasticchicken
    24th August 2014, 23:34

    After the incident Nico drove very cleverly and did not get near any other driver!

  66. Anyone who thinks Rosberg did not intend to clip Lewis’ tire with his wing has no concept of the expertise of these drivers; this was a calculated move by Rosberg. The only uncertainty was how much he would damage his own front wing. But with a near certain retirement by Lewis, just finishing in the points for Rosberg would put Louis at a severe but not insurmountable deficit.
    I had no love for Hamilton when he came aboard at McLaren and I witnessed his shenanigans vis a vis Alonso. But Hammy has a world of talent and the desire to win. He never would resort to the bushleague tactics Rosberg employed today.
    Lewis fights like a man. Rosberg fights like a girl.

  67. This is very simple. LHamilton said he gave NicoR room to pass. IF this were true then NicoR would of not run into LHamilton. The distance between crashing into each other or being a near miss was probably a couple of inches / 5 mm. Very close when racing any car on any track. Thanks, RnR

    1. Unless nr intentionally swerved to hit him

      The only way lh could avoid that would be if he not on the same track

  68. Why wasn’t the race stopped to clear all the debris after the impact ? ….. it was patently a hazard …… if a safety car had been put out Lewis would have had some chance to recover ….he’s a better driver and Nico doesn’t like it ….. after four DNF’s and a dirty trick at Monaco he was still only 11 points behind until yesterday’s debacle ….

  69. Formula 1 is a team sport. In the end, both ROS or HAM could have avoided that contact. They both were completely aware of where the other car was. (Open wheel, drivers are aware, especially ones at this level of competition) ROS could have lifted and slotted back in behind HAM. HAM could have held the inside line instead of closing the door on ROS. This was a racing deal to me.
    The good news to Mercedes is that their points cushion is such that team orders aren’t really needed any longer this year. Unless HAm and ROS take each other out at each remaining race.

  70. Eric Brightwell
    25th August 2014, 16:12

    Hamilton does seem by nature to be a very competitive and possibly “aggressive” driver. It did appear to me that in his usual style he cut across Rosberg’s nose and collided with him as a result. One can only be sure by examining the vector diagrams prepared from the telemetry. However. there is no doubt that if Hamilton had allowed Rosberg room he would probably have stayed in front anyway and may well have won the race. It was his decision to cut across Rosberg, and he suffers the consequences of that decision – made in a split second with limited visibility and probably by instinct learned during his karting days. The decision can only reasonably be criticised with the benefit of hindsight.

    Nevertheless it was instructive to watch the 4 drivers battling for 5th place and driving safely side by side without any contact. It can be done, but as far as I am aware there is no rule saying that you must allow room for a driver at your side when there is overlap. Maybe there should be, so that Formula 1 becomes more entertaining and we can see more of these excellent battles in future.

  71. You can’t just say “it’s racing” and pass it off. This “incident” hurt the chances of the team. It was an immature move on Rosberg’s part. Had it happened near the end of the race, maybe it could be chalked up as a racing “incident,” but in the second lap? No way. All the former racers who have commented agree that Rosberg is clearly in the wrong.

    The real question is how conniving is Rosberg: How can Mercedes punish him when he’s the points leader? It’s doubtful that they’ll hold him back in any way. Maybe that’s the “point” Hamilton claims Rosberg was making: that since he’s the points leader, Hamilton should move over for him, because he has nothing to lose — yet, until Ricciardo gets closer to him on points.

  72. Considering how the 2 of them hate each other so much and no doubt all gloves are off I’m starting to think that Daniel Ricciardo might be worth a bet to win the driver’s championship.

  73. Watch the in car video
    Nr agressively and intentionally swerved into him

    If I were lh I would make sure riccardo won the WDC and nr did not finish a race due to ‘racing incindents’

  74. Some interesting statistics about Rosberg vs team mates:

    in the three years spent at MB, 2010, 2011,2012, Michael Schumacher had a total of 14 DNFs.
    In the same years Nico Rosberg had only 7.

    in the two years as Lewis team mate,
    Lewis has 4 DNFs to Nico’s 3.

    It seems then that Nico has an unusual amount of luck, his team mates having all the troubles.

    Even if the trouble doesn’t lead to a DNF it leads to a lesser amount of points than anticipated.

    Anyway, a man still fuming after four weeks over an incident that should have been blamed on him at least at 50% responsibility deserves to see a shrink. Of course I refer to the fact that even as he did not get in a position to pass he still expected Lewis to stop and let him through. It seems that his ego demanded to be let through in an ostensible manner.

    Prove a point: could it be: “I’ll take you out of the race and there will be no reprimand for it. I am more important than you.”?

    1. Nr has had life and success laid out in front of him, a velvet path and silver spoon… This is not a path that leads to character.

      He now expects F1, his team, the other teams and the fans to do the same…just lay a rose petal covered path to the WDC. What a sad example for our young.

  75. I don’t understand how people can think Rosberg was alongside Lewis and further state Lewis chopped him off. Les Combes is a chicane, and that second apex is late due to Malmedy being a right hand corner shortly after the exit of Les Combes. Yes, you can drive alongside your competitor on the outside during turn in, but that’s about it. Anything beyond that is a move of desperation (unless the move is completed before turn in). Lewis should only have given room if 1) he knew the passing car was a wreckless driver and would no doubt posture their car for inevitable contact 2) he himself was a true backmarker and in the way of the car behind. I think Nico’s move was wreckless and he, with his experience, knew this. I think a team player wouldn’t have reacted as he did (by trying to swerve back onto any sort of driving line), he should have used run off and bypassed the apex – a simple bail out move to survive (and also allow your team mate to survive,..who he clearly wished the worst for) and try again as the race developed.

    I think Nico refraining from apologizing to Lewis says a lot. He seemed really uncomfortable when being questioned about the incident. I don’t know what was going through his head, but if he really didn’t mean to have or even risk contact, don’t you think he’d appear a lot more comfortable when being asked about it? I keep trying to imagine what would have happened if roles had been reversed. Hamilton is a smart racer and wouldn’t have pushed for the pass until they had created a gap to the cars behind. That’s how I envision it anyway.

    As for the crowd booing… I can only imagine how devastating that was for Nico… But I understand where they’re coming from. I had been looking forward to that race for a long time and nearly turned my television off following the incident and its repercussions. Thanks a lot, Nico! :)

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