61 responses to “Daily #F1 News and Comment: Saturday 24th May 2014”

1. Literally ten minutes ago Lauda said in German TV that the contract extension has not yet been made public because Rosberg hasn’t yet scribbled his ‘Wilhelm’ at the dotted line, but its a mere formality.

   As for the #1 status of Lewis. That one’s so obvious and again it’s Lauda who gives it away. Lauda normally is so unemotional, he could out-Vulcan Surak, yet you see him hugging Lewis in public. After the China race he personally flew Lewis home in his private jet (Lauda has a commercial pilot license) while Rosberg was left to wait for a scheduled airline flight.

   How much more obvious can it get?

   • Lauda was just wishing Alonso good luck with half an arm round the shoulder… getting soft or signed the Spaniard?

   • Your boy pulls the old German Monaco qualifying trick, I see…

     • And you seem to pull the green ol’ monster out of the hat

     • It didn’t make sense to botch the lap deliberately. He had posted a purple sector in S1. And since 2006 everybody knows that this sort of trickery doesn’t pay off. Rosberg isn’t stupid.

       • He’s a thinking driver … Know what I mean 😉

       • So why try to reverse back onto the track, when he knew, that he wouldn’t be able to do another lap and other cars were still behind him?

         Remember he said, “he didn’t know where Lewis was, but he saw him in his mirror when he was reversing”….

         • Because he has to bring the car back to the pits? This years rules demand that you bring the car back after quali unless it is not safely possible to do so. And his car wasn’t damaged.

         • Good point…

         • I’m with you on the reversing, when my objective judgement returns Fortis, he should have parked it and hoped for the best.

           But it’s not just Hamilton that got impeded by the yellow flag.

         • You might want to rephrase that as why try to reverse back onto the track while others are still on their hot laps ?

         • Fat hippo,

           There were 9 other cars behind him on their hot laps. So he could’ve waited until all the cars had passed him, then reverse back on to the track. By doing that, he messed up everyone else’s lap.

           Even if he wasn’t able to bring the car back under it’s own power, would not have affected the time he had set previously.

           When I first saw it, I thought it was a natural error, but my views changed when he went to the press conference, where I felt he blatantly lied, when he said he didn’t know where his teammate was, which let’s not forget, the both left the pits single file and then saying he saw him when he was reversing.

         • Bit telling…… Was there any pit to car communication?

         • You are forgetting one important bit in that Fortis. Unless you’ve forgotten – F1 engines are air cooled and that means any prolonged period of being stationary endangers the engine, which is especially critical if you only have five of them.
           How many cars were behind him is utterly irrelevant as yellow flags are immediately show if a car ends up in the escape road and they will be shown as long as it is there. Reversing back out was the only useful thing he could do as the yellows were out already anyway.

         • Fat hippo

           That’s nonsense… At the start of qualifying, he say at the exit of the pitlane for nearly a minute and as Brundle said many times before, the cars can tick over on 1 or 2 cylinders and they’ve pretty much sorted out cooling issues.

           You can’t make excuses for him reversing back on to the track, when you’ve 9 cars behind him closing at the rate of knots. So that argument doesn’t fly at all.

           As for the yellow flags, if he had gone down to the end of the escape road, the flags would’ve been removed. He had nothing to gain after that lockup, even if he had maybe the corner, his lap was already ruined.

         • You only read the parts of comments that fit your little conspiracy theory, don’t you? That escape road is a dead-end. There are only two ways out of it. on the back of a flatbed truck or back on track. As soon as a car is in the escape road ony any track in the world, there are yellow flags until it is gone. Which part of that is so hard to understand? Those 9 cars behind him were screwed the moment he missed the corner, because that meant instant yellow. With less than 2mins to go that meant game over for the lot. Accusing him of having done that deliberately without any data to back that up is ridiculous and just shows the mindset of some ‘fans’.

       • See below. That purple sector was only due to the location of the timing post at the end of S1, right before Mirabeau where he went off.

         The previous lap was slower because cars with a locked front wheel tend to go a bit quicker, but then they also tend not to make the corner.

2. That was a true Schumacherian move there.

   The Mercede Fight is FINALLY ON!!!!

   • Jeez, the conspiracy theorists are away already. BUT, the way Nico was sawing at the tiller as he locked up stuck out a bit. Funny.
     Doesn’t Dan botched it by his own admission, that could have pole right there – the cat was put back in its cage, away from the scrapping silver pigeons. Bugger!

     • I have visual evidence on footage (sending it to the Judge right now) where you can “see” how Roserg is lying like a bitch.

       He should be Whoop Assed tomorrow for this clearly “Schumi-move” there.

       • Do you also have ALL the telemetry ?

         If not ……. your so called ” evidence ” is merely subjective musings ….

         • Did you hear Herbert Manky? “Us drivers know” what a tw@t. I’m with you, let the stewards investigate with telemetry etc. having said that, how long will we have to wait for the answer?

         • The stewards may have more telemetry than us but they also have bosses to answer to, limited time to make a decision, and media to worry about, and they know the consequences to the championship of any possible penalty. They are not going to disqualify a driver from pole unless they have 100% irrefutable proof.

           Sorry “Manky” but not having those pressures applied more than makes up for not having a graph of Nico’s exact throttle and brake inputs. From the onboard anyone can see what gear he’s in, what steering inputs he’s making, you can see the braking input by watching the front wheel.

           I think it’s totally valid for any of us to make our own minds up on what really happened.

       • Indeed Don_Q

         Brundle’s reaction when commentating live was far more interesting, as he clearly thought it was a pure mistake.

         As you said – lets see what the telemetry and the stewards have to say – instead of these idiotic fanboy comments we’re seeing posted here.

         And Herbert is indeed a Right Old Herbert 😉

         Plus – it’s the MARSHALLS that decide whether to put out a yellow flag – not a driver !

3. Far out, he didn’t even apologise until prompted by JA. What a tosser.
   Certainly shouldn’t be fist pumping the air in victory. I reckon he needs a good fist pumping by some of Lewis’ shady friends!
   I agree – the footage looks v suspicious.
   How will Lewis respond – should be an interesting 1st corner!

   • It will be really interesting to see how Hamilton reacts. True champ will just trounce Rosberg but Hamilton has a habit of getting emotional… gonna be a great race…

     Oh and that is 5 out of 6 that Ric has given the spoon to Vettel in quali 🙂

     • Vettel still has mark’s car. Had only partial ERS since mid-Q1, so I’d say the .2 Danny is up on him is not exactly speaking for the quality of RIC’s lap.

       • To be fair tho Danilo – I think Danny Boy has been faster than Seb all weekend.

         The ERS issue only exacerbated the situation.

         • He’s been faster than Seb the whole season so far and probably will be at least until Silverstone. Totally unlearning a counter-intuitive driving style that you have carefully crafted over five years isn’t a two-week project.
           That Danny has had a lot more testing time puts him further ahead. He’s been given a golden opportunity and he seems well on his way to use it, because once they figure out how to keep vettel’s car from having its own innards for lunch and Seb has unlearned the EBD style, I’m not so sure RIC will get too many chances to shine. we saw glimpses of that at Barcelona, where VET outshone him quite thoroughly.

         • Bring I the team battles! 🙂

         • ” Totally unlearning a counter-intuitive driving style that you have carefully crafted over five years isn’t a two-week project. ”

           Which implies that Seb maybe hasn’t as much natural or instinctive talent as others – such as Fred and Lew Lew, and maybe even Danny Boy – otherwise he would have adapted far more easily than he has ?

         • I think it’s more that Danny was used to drive a car with much less downforce than Vettel. All of a sudden Vettel has to relearn and Ricciardo is in cloud 9 because he’s never had such downforce.

           RB’s only drawback is the Renault in the back, the car is strong.

         • But Don_Q

           surely Danny Boy has ALSO had to relearn ?

           Does this years Red Bull actually have more downforce than last years Torro Rosso ?

           And didn’t he also drive last years Red Bull ? And was damn quick in it too …..

           Your argument is the same as all the TV commentators argument – and I’m sorry but I just don’t agree with it 100%. Some of it might be true, but maybe none of it is ?

           And don’t think I’m rubbishing Seb with my comments – there are plenty of former F1 champions that have had to work very hard to achieve success – and to some it just came very easily …..

         • Yeah I think RB just had all the tricky bits on the car but I get your point and I for one hope Danny boy is as good or better than Seb… Not because I don’t like Seb, I just want him to work for his next WDC 🙂

       • Yeah think Mark left all his luck to Vettel… bad as it is :S

   • @DomVeto

     How do YOU know when he did or didn’t apologise ?

     You have NO evidence to substantiate your claim.

4. “@DomVeto

   How do YOU know when he did or didn’t apologise ?

   You have NO evidence to substantiate your claim.”

   – they didn’t talk for the photo session
   – it was only when JA asked rosberg does he have anything to say to Lewis regarding the incident which prompted Risberg to say – oh yeah, sorry bout that.
   Am presuming that was their first exchange as I saw no evidence to the contrary and not even a handshake for the photo.

   • As I said – YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE !

     All you have posted is what was shown on TV

     And indeed you ARE presuming – because none of us know what happened during the weighing or any other private moments ” off camera “.

     So calling Nico a ” tosser ” is based upon your own prejudices not facts.

     Maybe the only ” tosser ” is you ?

     😀

     • Order order! Gentlemen lets not call each other names pls… Very controversial affair today but this is F1, I love this!

       • OK Dom

         I’ll just call Lewis a ” tosser ” instead 😉

         He said in his post quali interview he was 2/10th quicker than Nico when he had to abort his lap.

         Which, as was shown on the SkyPad was total and utter bollocks !

         • Ha ha! May have to get o’ll H.A.M called in as a witness 🙂

           I see there is a hearing at 5:15 local time …

         • Well the interview I heard, which the BBC quoted, Lewis actually said, he was 2/10th up on his own lap, which was true.

           I think everyone might need to go and have a cup of tea on here today, there are one too many tossers and fanboys being thrown about, rather than a discussion of what happened, and why.

         • Had coffee and cake Adam, still want Rosberg on pole 🙂

           For me a big deal gets made about Hamilton loosing pole but who said he would not have made his own mistake? Also, what about the other drivers? Could Vettel have pipped Ricciardo?

         • mmmm coffee and cake, sounds like a plan!

         • >Well the interview I heard, which the BBC quoted, Lewis actually >said, he was 2/10th up on his own lap, which was true.

           That doesn’t mean squat, as he was also down on Rosberg on that particular lap. after the first secor he was behind. There’s an equally big chance that without missing the breaking point Rosberg could just as well have improved, too (and it looked to be the case if a purple S1 in anything to go by) and stayed in front.

           If it had been Lewis missing the corner, nobody would have come out, saying he cheated Danny Ric out of a last attempt. And I though I was the one with the short temper, but some of the Hamilton fanboys really take the cake over a lousy pole. HAM will win the race anyways, so what’s all the whining about?

         • Rosberg was up in S1 because he braked late and locked a wheel through the timing point at the end of the sector. IF he had slowed down enough to make the corner the timing would have looked like his previous lap. This is obvious.

           If the sector ended just past Mirabeau it would be a far different story. Of course having a sector end just before a hairpin corner means everyone who is forced to use the run off road because they are carrying too much speed to make the corner will show purple on the timing screens.

5. Now Spanky, err Manky Spanky!
   Not difficult to read body language regardless of evidence.
   If you HAVE evidence that an apology was given prior to the driver interviews then kindly share. Otherwise don’t criticize me for having an opinion…

   Will see what happens in the investigation. 5 spot grid penalty for reversing back on track possibly??

   • I hope it’s just a reprimand to be honest Dom. It spices things up a bit… Hamilton being pissed off going into first corner *rubs hands gleefully*

   • @ DomVeto

     there’s a difference between having an opinion and making spurious and unsubstantiated allegations …..

     and I am entitled to criticize you 😉

     Plus – I never said there was an apology made prior to the interviews – I simply said none of us knows if there was or wasn’t – so how would I have any evidence either way ?

     DOH !

     Maybe if you took off your blinkered fanboy glasses and read what I said – that would help !

     😀

6. At least nobody can say rosberg isn’t in on the mind games. If it was or wasn’t deliberate, hamilton will think it’s own of it(and we all know what that is, certainly after his rosberg isn’t agressive enough comments from earlier this week) and this is yet an other chapter in the book of how to win a championship if the other contester has the same car. And we all like it because it makes the championship more interesting for us…

7. This is very interesting. I think the lock-up was “convenient”, only the stewards can decide whether it was deliberate or not. Ultimately, Rosberg’s lock-up cost everyone their hot laps and Rosberg knew that given he was at the head of the queue for the second round of laps.

   Now it’s Hamilton’s turn to show what he can do, going into Turn 1 on the first lap tomorrow is going to be rather interesting. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a collision between the two. People kept telling Rosberg he has to be more aggressive, well : I’ll give him points for that move (deliberate or not). He has pole, that’s all that matters and Hamilton knows it.

8. I actually don’t think Rosberg had his incident intentionally. However, what I’m sure he said to himself before he went was “f*ck it, I’ll try my hardest and if that’s too hard… So be it… I have nothing to lose…”

   Maybe qualifying for – and only for – Monaco should revert I being a shoot out, one lap only for each driver to prevent the possibility of games like this.

9. so, who is taking a bet that hamilton and rosberg are going to crash tomorrow?

   • Me! They don’t!

10. I think Rosberg purposefully drove off in Q3. if you look closely he starts turning in a lot earlier than other laps and other onboard shots in the same corner. it looks like he is trying to purposefully lock up the right front with all that odd steering input. I call foul!

    • As Damon Hill – who is quite an expert on deliberate ” accidents ” said –

      if you were going to crash deliberately, why not do it properly and stuff the car into the barrier and block the track ?

      Not go down the escape road ….

      Alonso nearly did it, Erikson and Massa did do it – all you’d have is a broken front wing.

    • Could be. Nico was doing a lot of strange stuff considering where he was on the track. It is plausible that he locked it up on the last lap on purpose in order to protect his earlier pole time. If this was his plan of course he wouldn’t stick the nose in the barrier and block the track like Shumi did, too obvious, nobody would be stupid enough to try that a second time.

      A crazy theory is that Nico already had a banker so was trying to get some extra heat into the front tires before the slowest corners. The tires seemed to be difficult to get up to temperature and a bit of extra temp in the fronts would give better turn in on the sharpest 3 corners of the track and might give another 1/10th. Could have been a “too smart for your own good” plan that backfired. Would have been better to experiment in practice but not if it worked and the other driver is reading your telemetry.

      The counter argument is that none of this was on purpose. He missed his timing around the bump and turned in too early, jinked back to fix the mistake, turned in again and the car was too unsettled at that point to get it slowed down in time. Unintended Scandinavian flick.

11. hamilton, Hamilton. He was leading the championship, Nico was already under pressure, he didn’t have to do anyhing but to keep being faster than him, then comes the media talking about mind games and problems between them, Nico does nothing and Lewis buys it and starts talking bad about Nico. Who lost pole today, Nico or Lewis? Who was mad after qualifying and probably lost also his focus, Nico or Lewis? Smart people don’t fight other people’s fights, and they don’t change the rules of the game when they are winning. It shows again Lewis’ weakness. He was already showing in Spain his usual problems handling pressure when leading a championship, now he has shown -again- how limited he is intellectually.
    This is going to get better.

    • Nico is hardly ecstatic after losing out to Hamilton in qualifying, he is at least as angry about it and doesn’t mind showing it. In fairness, we’ll never know if Hamilton would have challenged for pole on his second lap. This is good for the show though, expect fireworks tomorrow at Turn 1.

12. Bernie looks really poorly this weekend the poor old thing…….

13. Accidental or not, Nico did himself no favours by celebrating as if he had won pole on merit. As for Lewis, the kid hasn’t put a tyre wrong in 2 seasons IMO. Yes he wears his heart on his sleeve and is easily riled, but on track he has already shown what he is capable of. Those that insist on presuming his level of intellect only show their own bias. This is not Mastermind or a college exam, it is about driving and thus far Nico has been royally trumped! Can’t wait for the start tomorrow!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.