F1

Why did Rosberg stay in front of Hamilton after the front wing failure?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #133732
    Michael
    Participant

    I’m trying to understand why Rosberg stayed in front of Lewis after the front wing failure.

    Lewis was obviously able to keep up with him as he was right behind him so Rosberg’s pace was compromised by the failing front wing.

    So why didn’t Rosberg give the spot back on the way to the pit?

    I just thought it was ridiculous and very dangerous because if the front wing had come off, it could have hit Lewis’s car and destroyed his race or even worse injured him.

    We saw similar behavior at another race recently where Rosberg was trying to slow down Lewis even though they were on different races and Rosberg didn’t know if Lewis was fighting for P1.

    Of course, Mercedes should have boxed Lewis especially after he explained that the tires were gone but to see Rosberg function as a roadblock that’s about to explode and take Lewis with him on purpose made no sense.

    #242822
    Fisha695
    Participant

    Rosberg was keeping a pretty good speed and thus allowed Lewis to draft off of him down the straight.

    #242823
    Kingshark
    Participant

    So Lewis would get DRS, and Rosberg was actually still pretty fast even with a broken front wing (kind of like Alonso in Malaysia).

    #242824
    Michael
    Participant

    Doesn’t look that way according to F1F’s lap times. Lewis had a time of 108.33 on lap 27 and a time of 110.8 on lap 28 following Nico which is 2.5 seconds slower.

    Nico’s time dropped from 105.5 to 114.41 but there was a delay for entering the pits. Overall it was over a net 2 second delay for Lewis even though he was drafting and using DRS…

    The point is more of the common sense type of the wing goes off clips Lewis and both cars are out or of the type the wing goes off and hits Lewis himself a la Massa 2009 (that can injure drivers, right?)

    If Rosberg is incapable of being able to move over on his own, then Merc should have done it for him. That’s a double failure from Mercedes there for failing to bring in Lewis when he said he needed new tyres and then for allowing him to be Rosberg’s front wing target.

    If Merc would not do it, the FIA should have given Rosberg and Mercedes a massive penalty. It is ridiculous to be driving with a part that may come off at any second and injure another driver.

    I CANNOT believe that Webber got a reprimand and a 10 spot penalty and Rosberg can drive with a a compromised wing at 300km/h that may fly off at any moment and kill anyone include the audience.

    I know that Rosberg is a bright kid but sometimes he just appears to have the iq or the eq if you prefer that of a toddler.

    #242825
    tmekt
    Participant

    Are you serious?

    #242826
    Michael
    Participant

    @tmekt I guess I was but you have me second-guessing myself now:-)

    #242827
    Mike
    Participant

    I think, to be honest, that Rosberg wasn’t in a position to be thinking about his team mates race. I think all of his attention would have been on his own car. Remember that he couldn’t actually see the damage to his car and he only knew how he should be driving by what the team was telling him.

    As for Lewis, I think he was pretty brave to be as close as he was to Nico, I think in hindsight you can say, yeah sure Nico should have let him past. But at the time, given what was going on, I think that really was not an important issue.

    #242828
    Mads
    Participant

    I actually think it was the right thing to do.
    Rosberg’s wing could have failed completely at any given time. That would have meant a massive loss of downforce, or even worse a front wing jammed underneath the car.
    Then he wouldn’t have been able to neither stop or turn.
    With Lewis ahead, both of them could have been wiped out if Rosberg’s wing had fallen off.

    #242829
    Fisha695
    Participant

    That’s actually a really good point, rather have him skid off track infront of Lewis instead of skidding off track into Lewis.

    #242830
    Michael
    Participant

    @Mads

    Have we seen how a dislodged wing at the tip behaves? Is it guaranteed to go down or can it fly if the separation happens in a corner or in an unexpected manner when 1 side of the wing is still attached and the other is not?

    I’m sure it’s called a front wing for good reason as opposed to the front bumper…

    For all we know it could have flown off and chopped Nico’s or Lewis’s head off. How would Lewis have dealt with a headless Nico driving in front of him?

    When a piece of equipment is not fastened to the car and there are sparks flying about you like it’s the 4th of July, you don’t try to stay ahead but more try to keep your head – see how I subtly led into that:-)

    I don’t think there’s any excuse for Nico staying in front and doing 300km/h with Lewis right behind him…

    #242831
    matt90
    Participant

    I thought it was bizarre that Mercedes didn’t move Rosberg behind Hamilton. Yes, there would be the danger of Rosberg having a failure and sending him ploughing into Hamilton, but I think most would assume that Hamilton would get clear fairly quickly. Instead he was left behind where he was losing time and at risk of having a nosecone or Rosberg’s entire car spinning in his path.

    #242832
    Fisha695
    Participant

    At the same time with Hamilton behind if for some reason his nose would break in the same way before they got back to pit in then they could call him in too and do a double (but costly time wise) stop.

    #242833
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Just to throw a scenario at the topic, what if Rosberg moved out of the way of Hamilton, only for his wing to go under the car and go straight into the back of him at the next turn?
    Just about anything could have happened.

    #242834
    Aish Heydrich
    Participant

    Because Rosberg couldn’t see the sparks. And Hamilton was amazed and was thinking, “I have had it fiery Germans.”

    #242835
    matt90
    Participant

    Also, had Hamilton been allowed past, they could have finally pitted him while barely inconveniencing Rosberg.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.