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Previously on TheJudge 13:
#F1 Polls: 2014 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX – Driver of the Weekend
#F1 Race Review: As one Silver Arrow falters the other takes the win
#F1 Poll: How would you rate the 2014 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX?
#F1 Radio Special – #SingaporeGP
OTD Lite: 1996 – Villeneuve’s greatest over-take
Reason for Mattiacci appointment at Ferrari finally revealed
Rosberg baffled by cause of conspiracy problem (UPDATED)
Felipe Massa drives like a Grandma
No team orders as Ricciardo title unlikely – Horner (GMM)
Instructions supplied by FIA & FOM
The farce of the radio ban commences
Ecclestone gets social media’d up
OTD Lite: 1996 – Villeneuve’s greatest over-take
Jacques Villeneuve has become a figure of derision in the last few years. His often out-spoken views almost always attributed to his need to feel relevant to the current comedy that is internationally known as Formula One. Yet it wasn’t always thus…
His debut season in 1996 saw this maverick challenge his teammate, Damon Hill, for the world title and thrust him into battle with the best driver of his generation – Michael Schumacher. The fact that they held a grudging respect for one another had not boiled over into animosity at this stage but still his sight had been set on upsetting the Germans equilibrium.
On this day Villeneuve has instructed his engineers to set his car up for a pass around the fast final corner at Estoril, using his Indy experience to set up an unusual pass. Ever the eccentric, he was told that they “would come and pick me out of the guardrail if I tried.” Boy did he try...
As JV and MSC came up to lap the Minardi of Lavaggi, the Ferrari held back to get the run out on to the straight. The Williams darted to the left and went around the outside in a move that Alan Henry described as “one of the most breathtaking overtaking manoeuvres seen all season”.
The Jackal
Reason for Mattiacci appointment at Ferrari finally revealed
TJ13 began questioning the appointment of Marco Mattiacci as soon as the announcement came from Maranello that he was replacing Stefano Domenicali. Like a great thriller written by an esteemed author the convoluted corridors of power in Italy attempted to hide the truth from everyone.
When Il Padrino claimed he had called MM in the early hours to ‘tell’ him he had been appointed as Team Principal for the F1 team, brows became furrowed and observers around the world questioned how Ferrari was being run when the new ‘Old Man’ was so haphazard with his recruitment.
After a little research, TJ13 came to understand that Mattiacci, a celebrated manager who in 2012 had received the ‘Automotive Executive of the Year Award’ as CEO of Ferrari North America, was in fact placed at Ferrari under instruction from the Fiat top bosses – something that was consistently denied.
Over the past few months, we have witnessed Montezemolo taking over press conferences and in effect subjecting his ‘protege’ to an uncomfortable co-existence and still there remained the overwhelming feeling that LdM was trying to scupper his future.
On August 5th this year, TJ13 predicted a changing of the guard with this article and subsequently following Monza the fatal blow was struck. Sergio Marchionne has effectively lowered himself into the hotbed of the Ferrari Presidency and dismissed the autocratic chosen son of Agnelli,
But his presidency will not be a full time role for the man who has turned around a near bankrupt organisation into one of the top 5 manufacturers in the world in just ten years. He insists that Mattiacci will have far-reaching powers of change with cost being no object.
Until recently, the contract negotiations with Alonso have been handled by the out-going President directly but Marchione displayed a considerable vote of confidence in MM by explaining that it has become his decision alone. Sergio wants to be kept abreast of developments but ultimately has given Marco full control at Maranello.
Until now, Mattiacci has kept his own counsel as he went about re-organising the Gestione Sportiva but it has emerged he was chosen directly by the boss of Fiat-Chrysler Automotive with the explicit instruction to not counter Montezemolo in any way – ie leave his ‘non-indispensibility’ to the bespectacled one.
With his role involving the running of Fiat, Alfa-Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep – Marchionne is unlikely to devote time to the running of an F1 team. But it would have required his authority to step into the shoes of a legacy. This typical Italian opera is far from over…
Rosberg baffled by cause of conspiracy problem
As the season builds to a climax, spectators and other non sycophantic observers are questioning what is happening at Mercedes. Of course, with the state of the world in the 21st century, everything has to be accountable otherwise it becomes a conspiracy and so, lo and behold, today’s conspiracy is that Mercedes had deliberately sabotaged Nico Rosberg’s race.
“The whole steering wheel wasn’t working so I had no hybrid power and was shifting two gears at a time and had no DRS, so the car just wasn’t working at all. And then there was just no point in continuing. So a tough day really.”
“I was going as fast as possible but the car… definitely I was fighting, full speed and full attack, but there was no way to attack; no DRS, no hybrid power, no fourth gear, no sixth gear. I only had third, fifth and seventh.”
Rosberg was baffled by the issues because the car had been fine until the moment he stepped into it prior to the race.
“It started as I got in the car in the garage. They’d sat in the car five times just before I got in, doing all sort of checks, everything was OK, then I get in the car and it didn’t work anymore – which is crazy.”
“The dash was working, gearshift paddles were working, and that’s it. No clutch, nothing else – just gearshift, dash and lights. It’s strange, some things were working, some things weren’t.”
Mercedes later confirmed the problem was related to a broken loom in the steering wheel. Which considering they tried changing the wheel at his pit stop would suggest that Paddy’s drawing abilities and explanations leave a lot to be desired.
It appears as though Nico is hinting that he believes there may have been ‘interference’ from Mercedes. Telling a driver to give up the lead to his team mate is one thing, but this kind of behaviour would be a heinous crime which if ever proven would see a wide spread revulsion of Mercedes Benz, probably not seen before in F1.
For those who believe the Mercedes management is playing God and influencing the outcome of races and the eventual drivers’ title, it was revealing that immediately post race both Toto and Lauda were giving interviews in different languages, both suggesting that that reliability between the team mate’s was now equalised.
Wolff told the BBC, “We don’t want to have the spin that the championship was decided because one car let the driver down,” Paddy Lowe agreed, “That’s been my worry all year. I have a feeling that it’s reasonably even in terms of how we’ve let them down. Let’s hope this is the last time.”
Do these people know anything about Formula 1? Titles have forever been decided between team mates often because of reliability or bad luck.
For Toto to blame the media or those asking the questions is hypocritical as it was he who fertilise the soil of suspicion when he announced to the world that Mercedes were ‘disciplining’ Nico. This was unprecedented in a number of ways. Team’s have not disciplined their drivers for crashing into each other and particularly of note, this even was deemed a racing incident by the stewards in Spa.
To then refuse to reveal the nature of Nico’s punishment was moronic. It smacks of something being too unpalatable for public consumption. Further, this ‘discretion’ can not be proffered as protecting Rosberg from embarrassment, because Wolff clearly had no concern for this when both he and Lauda publicly heaped on Nico criticism and humiliation as soon as the chequered flag fell in Spa – before they’d even had the opportunity to speak with him.
The implication given and inference drawn is that Rosberg was punished for his on track misdemeanour’s.
In reality is most likely, that Nico has been ‘punished’ for something he said in the now infamous team debrief in Belgium – and NOT for colliding with Lewis. Maybe Rosberg threatened Roscoe would suffer a long slow death or informed Lewis’ he’d slept with Nicole…maybe he even claimed he had attacked Hamilton’s rear wheel deliberately.
Whatever… The simple fact is that Wolff should never have made public a secret punishment had been administered and leave the ensuing black hole to be filled with speculation.
Further, the reason this is not a mainstream media debate is because the paddock poodles want more pearls of wisdom from Wolff at the next race meeting.
What should be of grave concern for Stuttgart is that following the era of Red Bull dominance, many F1 fans took Mercedes to heart early this season, simply because they were something fresh and different. Yet now the abhorrent behaviour of the 3 headed serpent which is running the AMG F1 team, is creating a very unpleasant smell for many who love and understand the sport.
The backlash will be that Daimler-Benz fail to capitalise on the wave of popularity their ‘changing of the guard’ afforded them. And worse, they become reviled and despised as cheats and liars who secretly fix races and manipulate world championships.
TJ13 wrote in 2012 when Lauda was appointed to Mercedes AMG F1, the spirit of Lauda’s previous incursion into F1 team management would create carnage and chaos in Brackley and with the addition of Wolff, this has grown exponentially.
Felipe Massa drives like a Grandma
There are many who don’t think much to Felipe Massa – an over-rated little driver that lucked into a Ferrari team which danced to the tune of team-orders during the Todt-Schumacher partnership. His subsequent partnership with a clearly disinterested Kimi Raikkonen led many to believe that he would have been a worthy champion in 2008.
These same delusional individuals felt that after returning from his 2009 accident it was only right that Ferrari should have allowed him to win the 2010 German Grand Prix because there was a mistaken belief that Formula One was a sport but those nasty Italians robbed him for the glory of Alonso and got his sidekick Rob ‘Felipe baby’ Smedley to inform him.The fact that Alonso was chasing a championship was dismissed by all biased Ferrari haters.
Of course another three seasons against Fernando proved what many had suspected all along – he actually wasn’t as good as the Spaniard and thus he made way for the Ice-cream man. With Valtteri Bottas proving why Clare Williams likes him so much with his performance, little Felipe has had to raise his game to senility..
“After the safety car I was pushing, and then three laps after the restart I was told that I had to finish the race on this set of tyres, there was still 25 laps to go. It’s really a lot. I had to change my driving style. For me, that was a joke, it was impossible to finish the race on those tyres. Then, I drove like a grandma from there to the end, and then somehow managed to finish the race in fifth place, so I’m happy!”
(sourced from GMM with TJ13 comment)
No team orders as Ricciardo title unlikely – Horner
Christian Horner has all but written off Daniel Ricciardo’s chances of beating the Mercedes drivers to the 2014 title. Amid his impressive first campaign for Red Bull, Australian Ricciardo is undoubtedly the only real non-silver challenger for the drivers’ world championship.
In third place, he is 48 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, and 57 points ahead of his own teammate, the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel. But Vettel finished just ahead of Ricciardo under the Singapore lights, despite the Australian having called for team orders heading into the street race weekend.
“I would love to be quicker on merit and not need team orders, but the next couple of tracks are perfect for us so if we need to make any decisions if we can challenge Mercedes for the title then I am sure they will be made,” he had said.
But boss Horner said the performance and points advantage held by Mercedes with five races to go is now so big that Red Bull will not be asking Vettel to move aside. “It would be wrong to interfere,” he said, “given the situation we are in. We let them race as you saw. Daniel knew before the race – some time ago in fact – that that would be the case,” added Horner. “If there was a realistic chance of Daniel winning and Sebastian was mathematically out of the championship then of course we would do the best we can for the team. But the situation we are in at the moment — it’s a long shot.”
Horner is also quoted by Auto Motor und Sport as saying after Sunday’s grand prix: “The gap Mercedes has is enormous. Yes, Daniel caught up a bit on Rosberg but at the same time lost 3 points to Sebastian. Will it make any difference? It’s hard to say. But for the moment it makes no sense for us to intervene.”
It might be surmised that with Vettel now regaining his form amid reports of tough contract negotiations to retain him, Red Bull’s decision might be a political one.
Horner added: “They (Ricciardo and Vettel) still both have a chance mathematically, even though it’s a long shot as I said. So it’s down to them racing each other on the track. Both of them are still just in it, and both have taken a chunk of points out of Nico (Rosberg).”
Ricciardo says he is comfortable with Red Bull’s decision, despite admitting the matter had been discussed “briefly” behind closed doors. “It’s refreshing to be able to race your teammate,” he said. “We’ve had some great battles so if it continues like this for the next few races then that’s fine and that’s fair.”
Clearly, however, Ricciardo would prefer to be on the helpful end of some team orders, giving a coy “yes and no” answer as to whether he wants them deployed. “If anything, it (Red Bull’s decision) makes me more hungry to be in front without needing any help,” he said. “It’s nothing against him (Vettel) or the team. We race properly. It’s fair. And it’s not like if he helps me out, I’m definitely going to win. We’re long shots,” Ricciardo conceded. “We need a bit of luck more than we need small team orders. Whoever’s in front should be allowed to stay in front.”
TJ13 comment: It is surely saying something that the Formula One fans are beginning to notice the cynical marketing of Mercedes in regards the championship this year. Racing incidents punished by the team following an agenda. Team bosses that contradict each other in their biased support of one faction or another. The fans are beginning to ask questions beyond the mere incompetence of the three generals.
Whatever the general consensus of Red Bull circa 2010 – 2013, and team orders, one thing remains glaringly obvious. In 2010, there were no team orders. Even in the penultimate round Vettel could have supported Webber and secured the title but they were allowed to race with the high possibility that it would cost them the title. Of course the cynic will suggest that if Vettel had been in the lead they would have asked Mark to assist…
So we head towards the tail end of 2014 with the public preferring to watch the Red Bull juggernaut with all its various faults as opposed to a Silver winning machine that is pushing the limits of acceptability with its sporting behaviour. So much for letting the drivers race freely…
Of course of some worry is that the easy going Colgate kid has developed the same mindset as all who get close to touching the prize and is ‘demanding’ team orders be introduced; the message infused with a little charm.
Instructions supplied by FIA & FOM
Symonds questions radio ban
The main problem with F1 is cultural. Lying and deceiving are both a fundamental part of the Ecclestone way, and it becomes difficult to resist for those operating within the sport.
Monica Kaltenborn stated in the team press conference, “complaints that were raised by the fans”.
This is an astonishing claim, since when were F1 fans consulted on anything?
FanVision was binned because Ecclestone couldn’t extract enough coin out of the providers and ticket prices are astronomic because of exorbitant race hosting fees demanded by Mr. E to name but two massive fan complaints.
To be fair to Kaltenborn, maybe a focus group study of 3 men and a dog has taken place and the results remain secret. It could even be she was fed the lie at the F1 strategy group meeting that “complaints that were raised by the fans,”.though as an individual with the capacity for critical thought, she should still know better.
When pressed as to where he felt the idea had arisen to ban pit/car radio, Whiting was evasive stating, “it’s not for me to say what goes on in those meetings,” referring to the F1 strategy group.
Thankfully, there are those who at times refuse to be on message and when asked by Sky, Pat Symonds revealed, “Unfortunately Formula One doesn’t ask the public what it does enjoy and that’s a great shame.”
Nice one from old school Pat. Just don’t be planning anymore crashes please 😉
The farce of the radio ban commences
If Bernie wants to drive more interest in F1, then we need to encourage the bears to once again enter the pit. The team bosses visible hatred of each other/other teams was a sport enjoyed by many in days of yore.
Today we have handbags at dawn brunch.
Predictably the slap stick over coded messages has already begun. Eric the believable has been sent out by Bog Ron to kick off protest with medium to light strength. McLaren are questioning the legality of Red Bull Racing’s instructions to a struggling Daniel Ricciardo, who finished the Singapore race third.
The use of team radio to aid drivers performance was finally outlawed 10:00am Saturday morning at the Singapore GP. Advice on technical matters or for reliability reasons was allowed.
Specifically outlawed was comment or information pertaining to contact with the kerbs and Eric is on the war mild scuffle path.
Simon Rennie, Ricciardo’s engineer advised him, “Avoiding exit kerbs may help the problem with the car” in the closing stages of the race.
Eric the brave is apoplectic rather ticked off about this. “I think it was coded, yes. It is up to the FIA to investigate, so it is not for me to say anything. But it was a strange message. Once would have been OK, but twice or three times is a bit strange.”
Aha, a repeated message is then not to be taken at face value – thanks Eric, we’ll learn the lingo soon enough.
However, Christian Horner enters the fray mild mannered debate, revealing with relish, “Obviously we spoke to Charlie and told him Daniel had some reliability issues. That was why he was told to stay off the kerbs, because that was causing damage to the battery”.
Mmm. So no talk about the kerbs is allowed, except when Charlie agrees it is reasonable. Christian concludes by explaining the crafty most reasonable nature of Red Bull’s behaviour, “I think that was sensible and it’s about trying to find a balance with this radio ban.”
This could get complicated folks, but fear not….. the TJ13 operatives are making secret recordings, to assist us as we seek to crack the hidden codes…. Errr… that of course are not coded in any way at all – because Charlie says so … allowing specific banned information… for other reasons… which may be right or wrong… depending on the situation or circumstance….and could be responsible for global warming… or a cold cup of tea..
Ecclestone gets social media’d up
For F%^ks Sake (FFS) Bernie – make up your mind!!!
“I think the change that is currently taking place is very short lived, as these social media people are starting to think it is not as good as they thought,” said Ecclestone earlier this year. The when questioned if there was a pressing need for F1 to ramp up its social media efforts, the small one replied, “No. We’re commercial… If they find people to pay us [to do that] then I will be happy.”
Ecclestone’s incisive perception cut straight to the point when speaking to the Independent. “What would that person sitting there use Twitter for? I could put anything on Twitter.”
This said, the teams and Bernie are doing their bit. Primarily though their websites (Bernie owns Formula1.com) and facebook pages, trailing links to what they want the fans to consume on twitter.
Though this is primarily a one to many form of communication, not many to many and as such is therefore not social media as was discussed at length on the TJ13 podcast “300,000 f%^&king trucks”.
This week saw Bernie’s minions enact unprecedented levels of activity in the twittersphere. @F1 the twitter handle for the Formula1.com website was ablaze with activity – filling up timelines with gloriously banal and irrelevant garbage.
This was clearly a pre-planned even – F1’s ‘Operation takeover twitter’ – was enjoined by all the teams dutifully re-tweeting everything posted by @F1.
What’s amusing about all this is that F1 is a relatively closed loop in terms of social media participants. #F1 trending is not going to attract much incremental attention from those who don’t watch or read about the sport.
A smarter use of social media would see the team’s providing hangouts after the race, where the many from the team can interact with the many fans.
Even better, Bernie, Charlie and the stewards could host a hangout, though one suspects digital rotten tomatoes may be in mucho abundance.
“With Valtteri Bottas proving why Clare Williams likes him so much with his performance, little Felipe has had to raise his game to senility..”
What is the exact meaning of this article? If you hadn’t noticed, it was Felipe who managed to make the strategy stick, while Valtteri went for a skid into the Singapore escape roads..
I dont get it either. It seems a hater just tried to vent by means of an pointless article. Or a sore Bottas fan ofcourse.
Isn’t that the point? Bottas has been making Massa look a bit useless of late, this has been the first time that Massa has had the better race with all other things being equal.
My objection is that the overall tone of the article is disparaging, basically dragging Massa through the mud and diminishing his accomplishments or belittling his supporters. Maybe the author needs to clean it up a bit, to make clearer what she actually meant.
The bile is rising. Not sure why the shift towards editorial bias has occurred,but to the credit of the readers, it hasn’t gone uncontested (your post and others’ above only latest evidence of this).
Even when the Hippo was ranting so frequently that he didn’t get any separately-published “rants” (2013 – and earlier?), I don’t recall such nastiness regularly written to attack drivers. Team bosses and corrupt FOM and FIA executives? Sure. But slagging off drivers week-in and week-out in unsophisticated and derogatory terms? Not that I remember…
But oh well, you can’t halt Progress.
“But oh well, you can’t halt Progress.”
…or crypto-rac|sm. Don’t forget about that one.
😛
RE: Red Bull, I agree in general Judge.
By and large Red Bull have generally let their drivers race on track and not implemented team orders. To get around that where required they have previously given Vettel a superior strategy to Webber (e.g. Japan 2013), that’s exactly what happened in Hungary and Canada this year in DRs favour.
In general it seems that when Vettel has a clean weekend he can beat Ricciardo, but when that isn’t the case he struggles. I know I know, the media only mention differences in DNFs/Car Issues where Hamilton is concerned, but the difference between RIC & VET is even more pronounced in that respect. It actually had me wondering how many laps of running more RIC has had in the 2014 car than VET? Thinking back to testing I seem to recall VET barely turned a wheel as every time he got in the car it stopped. Then we add in FP, Quali & Races. What are we talking? 500 laps?
This weekends race was pretty dreadful. If one of the title contenders has a DNF then generally the race is dull, this race fell firmly into that category. This race was firmly alongside GB and Australia in that respect and unlike either of those races there was no real battle for the best of the non Mercedes AMG cars, that was static too.
Linking the two above topics together, it’s very interesting that when RBR were winning thanks a hugely dominant car (2011 & 2013) the media were alwasy keen to say it was all down to the genius of Adrian Newey, yet this season with a performance advantage that makes anything RBR ever had look insignificant how many times have we heard Aldo Costa mentioned? Don’t worry Aldo, I know it’s all down to you and the guys at HPPU !
As for Vettel’s lost running. Excluding tests, RTL calculated he lost 1.200km, so basically four GP distances. With the winter tests and the Bahrain test, which for whatever reason was given comletely to DR, he probably lost way over 1.500km
…DR broke the gearbox in the Spain test and the next day it was Vettel scheduled to run – but he got little time in.
We did a piece at the time saying Red Bull had no spare gearboxes…. They went to Monaco with just one spare which had been patched up
Interestingly, despite Horner’s assertions in Monaco – Vettel complained on the radio of having no gears just before he retired…
I also recall Finger Boy’s hissy fit.. You know, when the car wasn’t as dominant from the start as per Seb’s tastes, so he called it a day and curtailed RB’s test. Surely he lost a couple of laps there by his own doing..
RB packed up, not Seb
They had two carbon fibre fabricators in the garage all night trying to solve the over heating problems before the last day of the Jerez test
….Vettel went out 2 or 3 times on the final day of testing in Jerez and the car caught fire twice… so it was unlikely he would have got much running though he did say I’m not driving until you give me something decent about 10:45 (or words to the effect)
So it was probably fate accompli by the time Vettel expressed his frustration.
TJ13 tweeted around 11am Red Bull packing up and going home – Autosport reported it about 2-3 hours later.
@TJ13
THanks for reminding us of what exactly happened.
A tiny nitpick: you probably meant “fait accompli” (instead of “fate accompli”).
tj13 said “They had two carbon fibre fabricators in the garage all night trying to solve the over heating….ssnip….Vettel went out 2 or 3 times on the final day of testing in Jerez and the car caught fire twice”
Sticky-back plastic and UHU.
ps the podcast was much better listened to at 1.5x normal speed. 🙂
“the podcast was much better listened to at 1.5x normal speed”.
Lol. I do that on one podcast I listen too every week. It makes it more pacey
Did people see this in the race? – http://t.co/iCYaGHCeTf
apparently it was because the guy didnt raise the wheel gun, but ted in the race notebook on sky said that the team said it was juat friendly banter – well that’s BS lol
Ahh I wondered why he did that. The body language said he was annoyed rather than a jock style congratulatory friendly slap.
A slap and waving with his arms? Seemed hostile to me.
Absolutely, don’t know what the poor guy did to deserve that….
@formula
The helmed mechanics there look like a battalion of Star Wars clone troopers. 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clone_trooper
“Mercedes later confirmed the problem was related to a broken loom in the steering wheel.”
Thought the Merc technical analysis (ha!) was a fault with the loom in the steering column? So it didn’t matter how many new steering wheels they tried, something was fried further upstream.
This was clear to everyone who watched the race… except the writer who was out to make a point about someone or other.
Interesting to note Rosberg’s pace in the actual race. Considering he had no ERS (-160bhp), no DRS and only the gears he was given, he was able to overtake one Marrussia and keep pace with a Caterham.
Just shows how big the gap at the back of the field is.
re Reason for Mattiacci appointment
at Ferrari finally revealed
i imagine that The Don advised all candidates to be in meetings when Luca was on the hunt for a team boss, leaving only Mattiacci to take the call. Ferrari are a parody of ‘The Godfather’
…love it Paul
Nice.
I posted in a comment around Monza that MM must have been placed there By Fiat, most likely against LDM’s will.
It was clear to me there was a not-so-quiet coup going on in Italy, and LDM’s only play was to start airing the red knickers.
If Alonso announces he is moving to Mclaren before the end of the season, it will take Ferrari years to wipe the egg off of their face. If he takes Santander with him, there will definitely be something yellow on Ferrari, but it will be a liquid.
One thing is for sure, if Fred goes, the ice man will appear much colder than before. I would say he saw this coming, and kept his mouth shut knowing he would slide into the #1 seat next year, no complaining necessary.
Ferrari will be desperate to keep him.
“Rosberg baffled by cause of conspiracy problem”….
This read like another one of the Hippos rants.
… This is no slight on Hamilton. Hollywood was far quicker than Britney all weekend – 0.007 in qualy I believe.
Joking aside he would have probably have won the race anyway…. But IF Mercedes did this – then they should be reviled and despised as suggested…..
And when there was a conspiracy about Rosberg being favoured when Lewis was getting all the DNF’s, we were told that it was crazy, but now Rosberg has had 2, it doesn’t seem implausible that there’s a conspiracy against him?….
There was no indication that Lewis’s results have been tempered with, but we know for sure that Nico was instructed to chuck a race on purpose, which he did in Monza and suddenly the car breaks as soon as he sits down in it. I cannot remember a single instance of a car breaking that catastrophically by being stationary in parc fermé over the last 25 years. They always made it at least out onto the track. Nico’s car was ‘broken’ when they fired it up.
” I cannot remember a single instance of a car breaking that catastrophically by being stationary in parc fermé over the last 25 years.” – so because history dictates that something like that has not happened before, it is very suspicious, (to the point where the team go out of their way to to hamper a driver in the WDC lead), that it happens now in a time where the cars are at their most complicated and in the first year in one of the most difficult races on the components in a Formula One car?…..
Sergio Perez suffered similar problems this season, his car didn’t start nor did he make it out onto the track….so there’s 1
Again, you’ve not produce any solid evidence to prove that Nico was instructed to ‘chuck’ a race, all you’re goinf by, is the word of a ‘source’ within the team.
So now Nico has suffered technical issues, he’s being sabotage, why wasn’t that being said by yourself when it happened to lewis?
Well, how much more solid can it get than directly from within the team? And it wasn’t the cleaning lady.
…. we only have the Monza ‘event’ directly confirmed, this is all speculation. But as explained…it thrives in the most fertile soil laid down by Wolff et al.
a lot more,
No offence Fortis, but you seemed happy enough to roll out the unknown source thing RE: Monaco mate. Which way do you want it?
@thejudge13 “But as explained…it thrives in the most fertile soil laid down by Wolff et al.”
Which is why Ross Brawn was the perfect man for this job – him staying would have prevented all this crap but unfortunately Wolff was and is desperate for the limelight and boosting his reputation, a trait which we have recently seen in Lowe. Rather ironically though, Wolff may just have done the opposite in regards to his reputation.
I do wonder what Brawn would have set out from the beginning of the season and during it in terms of racing each other and i’m sure he would have placed more emphasis on reliability during the season…thoughts on that judge?
@paul, f*rtis likes the same non solid evidence if it’s in his favour.
@FH
“I cannot remember a single instance of a car breaking that catastrophically by being stationary in parc fermé over the last 25 years.”
Oh, sure, you wouldn’t care to mention Lewis’ dead cylinder in Australia or unprovoked flambé in Hungary. Surely these things are common occurrence..
As for Nico’s wiring bleep it actually makes a lot of sense: This year the cars have as much wiring (proportionally) as an A380. The wiring just gets insanely complex, and the likelihood of a failed wire is greater.
“Sergio Perez suffered similar problems this season, his car didn’t start nor did he make it out onto the track….so there’s 1”
Not to mention Kobayashi’s Caterham who gave up the ghost on the formation lap. Surely the Caterham was also stationary in parc fermé, breaking catastrophically a couple of km down the road.
I’d still say there is a difference between a car breaking on the first lap and a car being broken before it moved an inch
@Paul…..
My comments relating to Monaco is a completely different argument to this one.
Nico acted on his own accord and i attached a video to support my argument, that his lock up was deliberate and not a mistake, something that was also done and suggested by many others. I wasn’t throwing out some half baked conspiracy theory
Whats being discussed at present, is that the TEAM deliberately sabotaged Nico’s car, so as to benefit Lewis.
Chalk and cheese mate, completely miles apart.
I’m stating to think Mercedes are missing a trick by not have #6 & #44 tin foil hats…
There is no conspiracy, it’s F1, things break especially with such radically new cars.
When it happens to Hamilton fans his supporters cry foul and do silly things like cite the team is German or suggest it’s racism *rolls eyes*. When it happens to Rosberg his supporters, albeit less vocally, start saying conspiracy as well? Please…
This weekends problem is no different to what happened to Hamilton in Australia, car was fine in qualifying and until the warm up lap. Chances are one of Nico’s own mechanics did the damage when they were getting out of the car after checking it.
Mercedes often say on twitter they’ve got the best fans in F1, on the contrary Mercedes… I’d say you’ve pretty much got the worst.
Just reading what Toto and Paddy said I’m starting to think I might have to revise my opinion. No one in their right bloody mind says stuff like that if it’s just a genuine car issue.
You see, now I’ve gone from thinking Mercedes were a bit clueless and stupid to thinking they’re the biggest cheats in F1 since Ferrari in ye old early 2000s.
I knew buying a BMW was the right move.
It may appear flamable but the team is obssessed with equality.
The are allowed engine modes on equal terms. They rotate who choses when to start qualifying.
If Mercedes are voicing this out openly, it is possible they are doing it out of guilt as they probably tried to manipulate the championship in Rosberg’s favour initially. But Hamilton kept fighting back.
If we want to talk conspiracy, then Bernie had said Rosberg would win the championship before testing had even started. And he hasn’t been wrong for several years now.
“Bernie had said Rosberg would win the championship before testing had even started. And he hasn’t been wrong for several years now.”
…Indeed JM Indeed
And he hasn’t been wrong for several years now.
Yes, really sticking his neck out predicting those recent Vettel championships.
🙂
Agreed he would’ve beaten him anyways, but I’m not buying that his problem was a deliberate action by the team to sabotage him. I didn’t buy it when it happened to Lewis and I’m not going to buy it now that it has happened to Nico.
Furthermore why would they want to favour Lewis? Let’s not forget, Nico has a new contract until 2016 and like many have been harping on about all season, why is Merc paying Lewis so much money, when he’s getting beat by Nico, why not save that money and get a proper number 2 driver to partner him?
We’ve seen the team being hit by technical glitches so far this season, it has occurred up and down the grid. Reliability has always been everyone’s concern coming into the season and now that’s manifesting itself.
“why would they want to favour Lewis?”
…is it possible a deal has been done for Lewis to win the WDC and then leave the team?
Wolff has already admitted he is struggling to ‘control’ the drivers… 2015 will be another long year of pain and anguish for AMG F1’s management in that respect.
And Nico would be oblivious to this deal? And why would lewis agree to this when there would be a massive risk of it coming out later on his career, with the potential to ruin his reputation completely?
…just asking the question….
No it’s not possible at all, too many variables. They’d also have to pay off Nico as well as the mechanics within the team.
Also, can they guarantee Nico that when Lewis leaves, he will be a dead cert to win the championship the next year? What if the Mac/Honda partnership proves to be the best package next season? What if the RB11 turns out to be the Merc of this season?
Too many unknown variables for that to work.
I very much doubt that a deal of that nature would be struck, as it would have the potential to damage the Mercedes brand globally. Which is far more important than two racing drivers squabbling over a title. Too many conspiracy theories round here of late, all based on a dislike of either Nico or Lewis.
I think the most reasonable explanation for Mercedes woes ? Ross Brawn was the galvanizing force within the team. All you’ve got now is Wolff spouting PR spin nobody is buying, Paddy Lowe taking credit for Ross Brawn and others hard work on the 2014 Power Unit and Car. While Lauda looks on bemused at Wolff not understanding the mentality of Nico and Lewis being at each others throats.
It’s a comedy of errors rather than a conspiracy to rob either driver of the title. Mercedes better hope Ross Brawn decides to stay retired….
Re: Britney throwing Monza.
… is it possible that tj’s source within Merc had something to gain by giving oxygen to the conspiracy theory? Maybe someone on Britney’s side of the garage who would be keen to attempt to further the pressure on Hollywood?
The best way to spread an opinion is to share it with those willing to believe after all… did it cross tj’s mind he might have been fed this golden nugget of info on purpose?
Either way it’s done the trick as some are now spouting this as undisputed fact.
Re: Merc sabotaging Britney’s steering column.
Is a major road car manufacturer backed team really going to deliberately associate unreliability with their product, in front of a few hundred million potential customers? Or was it just in fact another glitch on a prototype, like we’ve seen up and down the grid throughout the season?
Just asking the questions 🙂
You would not believe how strict we are on verification of sources. 90% of what we hear never gets published.
I tweeted that to SiS the other night, almost in jest, the problem is it seems more and more possible as time ticks buy.
Very big IF! Why bodge Nico’s car when they can’t guarantee HAM will finish a 2 hour race?
Why throw away points when RIC has been doing a good job all season collecting them?
Ding ding ding. Common sense prevailed at last.
Add the fact that Mercedes top brass were furious about the point loss at Spa so they would be inconsistent as hell (read: crazy) if they would have sabotaged Rosberg.
@TJ13
I wrote this elsewhre, but it’s on-topic here:
Those who are still clinging to their conspiracy theories on this are simply delusional.
Merc clearly lost face with Nico sandwiched between Chilton and Ericsson (the irony!) for most of his race, and for the slowest motion pitstop in recent memory (that was fun in the ER!). This was Woof’s and Leprechaun’s worst PR nightmare, passing right in front of their eyes and in front of global cameras lap.. by.. lap.. in perverse slow motion.. and ending with a botched defibrillation attempt..
If Merc genuinely wanted to sabotage Nico, then they’d do all they can to make him come in second: less fuel, suboptimal tire strategy, etc., etc.
“Those who are still clinging to their conspiracy theories on this are simply delusional. ”
Perhaps it’s more a reaction to how Mercedes have treated Nico since Belgium which fuel these theories. I agree that it’s very unlikely Mercedes would sabotage Nico’s car. Firstly, it would make Mercedes look bad, and that is a big no-no. Secondly, Mercedes simply don’t need to sabotage Nico’s car when they can sabotage Nico instead.
After publicly blaming and shaming Nico for the racing incident at Spa, then inflicting some kind of secret penalty on him, and making big announcements about how it can never ever ever happen again, Mercedes has done a great job of undermining his confidence and knocking off any momentum he had built up going into the second half of the season.
@Mark Jones
Agree with all you say. And the secret discipline for a non-specified crime will create suspicion which simply will not go away for at least this year.
Yeah, all good points..
“… This is no slight on Hamilton. Hollywood was far quicker than Britney all weekend – 0.007 in qualy I believe.” – The Judge
😀 LOL
True, it’s not much… but it’s significant – Singapore is strong for both of them, but for Rosberg you’d say it’s one of his best tracks. How can he beat Lewis at Abu Double if he can’t beat him here, where he almost won in a Williams?
Seb beats Alonso by 0.002 in Hockenheim
But he might have beat Lewis at Singapore, we simply don’t know.
Apparently Alonso has informed Ferrari of his intention to leave and MM has come out and said Alonso stays “for the moment”……..
Any word on this Judge?
It’s a story that was written as a speculative piece in the Gazzetta dello sport. But not carried on any Italian website over the weekend. It’s why Alonso was so fed up with the Italian media and says he will out the person responsible.
The joys of being a Ferrari fan!!?
lol ok, perhaps take with a pinch of salt then haha. Btw do you mean he will find out the person responsible or actually try to force them out of journalism haha?
…I tweeted on Saturday – I think, “Rumours from Italy says BIG announcement to be made at Honda owned circuit”.
Story coming soon, though we are awaiting further details.
Is that why Eric the Believable said that there won’t be an announcement in Japan but it’s more or less decided who will be driving for Macca?
…. we are hearing Jenson is gone…. but need verification of that information….
…and Grosjean coming in, or richter-scale Fred!?
No need to answer, I’ll wait for the article
They must be paying Alonso gillions of pounds to come to McLaren at the moment. Can’t see why else he would risk moving before seeing what them and Honda come up with next year.
He already has money. At the moment that should not be a factor for him to jump ship considering the relative pace of Macca and Ferrari.
So Rosberg threw away the race in Monza. And Merc sabotaged his car in Singapore. But when the Hamfosi were talking about Lewis’ slow pit stops, multiple DNFs, Rosberg parking his car at Monaco, crashing onto Lewis at Spa, they were delusional. It was just bad luck, Lewis not knowing how to pit and racing incidents. What a joke!
You cannot pick and choose your conspiracy theories. As a site and a blog, you either promote them or laugh at them. Otherwise, I might as well keep promoting all conspiracy theories of the past 7-8 years, even as far as back as 2007 where Lewis botched his start so that McLaren are not thrown out of the sport and Ferrari win the title. How’s that eh? And by that thought, then FIA owe Lewis a title. So is it this year then? When Merc realised that people don’t like Nico they start conspiring against him as they did in the first part of the season against Lewis?
And a last thing. If Rosberg has indeed accepted to throw away the race win at Monza, then I’ve just lost a lot of respect for him, world champions shouldn’t be this way. Lewis would have passed him at some point. He was faster. No need to avoid the chicane and look silly.
…Following the behaviour of Wolff as outlined in the piece which happened both immediately after the race in Belgium and throughout the following week….
….I am open to a revisionist position of Mercedes behaviour earlier this season….
“….I am open to a revisionist position of Mercedes behaviour earlier this season….” – So going by that quote, you are now open to the fact that Merc were favouring Rosberg early in the season?
…we’ve always reported Lauda favours Hollywood and Toto Favours Britney….
I’m becoming concerned about Bahrain now…. what was apparently an epic duel… Mmm.
And what are your concerns then? Nico used the higher fuel mixture without team consent…..
…Broadly….the team playing one driver off against the other…. Toto has delusions of divinity and omnipotence….
“Ok Nico, extra power mode 2 please” (they are 1-5 with 5 being the most powerful).
Nico closes down Lewis
2 laps later
“Lewis it’s time to go to power mode 2 please”
Lewis stabilises his lead
1-2 laps later
“Nico power mode 3 now please – you have enough fuel”
He’s all over Hamilton like a rash again
etc etc
Surely this all can’t be – (repeat mantra) I still believe in fairies… I still believe in fairies… I still….
@the judge…
lol…..you’re adding more fuel to the flames. But whilst you’re at it, lets also add Spain into the mix
Interesting point re: Bahrain… The whole season needs a new eye cast back over it.
Just be careful Judge, you’re getting my two docile little creatures in a fit. It takes me hours to calm them back down.
😉
@thejudge – So it was still an epic duel where Nico was on a higher engine setting, with lewis on a lower setting and keeping Britney behind with faster tyres also….
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here
Could we see FIA in the garage again? That would be something
There’s all kind of odd things that have happened at Merc this year. A few that stand out for me (no proof yet so I struggle with conspiracies):
– Monaco qualifying. Hamilton blanked NR as soon as he got out of the car. How did he already know that NR did that on purpose?
– Monaco race. The thing in Hamiltons eye that suddenly slowed him down and yet he was desperate NOT to talk about that after the race, and couldn’t even consistently point at which eye was affected.
– Austria. Hamilton flies through the field, took a while to pass Bottas, but then barely managed a half attempt at a pass on Nico??
– Hungary. Issue team orders multiple times (which Paddy & Toto will have heard 1st time round let alone 2nd and 3rd times…), then post race say Hamilton right to ignore them?
– Monza. Rosberg etc.
…..” I cannot remember a single instance of a car breaking that catastrophically by being stationary in parc fermé over the last 25 years.”……
How about Australia 2014
The car came from Parc Ferme and was effectively retired on the way to the grid or on the parade lap.
Monza 2014
Electronic glitch at the start could have resulted in the car being rear ended at the start.
Interesting stat from yesterdays race….
Lap 52 was the first lap Seb has lead all season…..
Can’t believe the Hippo missed that. Would’ve been better to rant about that, rather than some half baked conspiracy theory.
lol…. Judge you’re starting to add more fuel to the flames…
Fat Zippo – I cannot remember a single instance of a car breaking that catastrophically by being stationary in parc fermé over the last 25 years.
I’ll give you an instance where it happened twice in one race – Brazil 2001. Häkkinen qualified third then had had complete hydraulic failure while on the grid which required the car be retired. Barrichello had total electrical failure while driving to the grid, which necessitated he switch to his spare car. Clearly you don’t know much about F1.
Or Coulthard when he was on pole at Monaco and then got stuck behind Bernoldi.
Clearly you don’t know much about F1.
Now that’s just unfair to all those of us with lousy memories.
(Though some of us sometimes pause to fact check our own pronouncements.)
🙂
They all got out of the garage though. Rosberg’s was done for as soon as he sat in it.
rosberg got out of the garage as well. they weren’t sure he would, but he did. you were wrong, plain and simple.
Helimped out of the garage with the car as broken as it was. It didn’t break on the first lap. It already was broken. You lie, plain and simple.
U mad?
😛
Wait, if Charlie is just the guy ‘who refers things of interest to the stewards’ why the bleeping eff do teams ask Charlie if something is ok or not? What if charlie says ok but the stewards then penalise the teams 20s after a race. Oh wait I forgot, the stewards are another piece of fine F1 work.
..Excellent point…Iceman
Oh and by the way – some cracking writing (about stuff other than conspiracy theories) form the TJ13 news team in the DN&C.
Much appreciated guys..
As to the social media piece there, TJ13 will be looking to deliver hangouts in the near future…
some cracking writing (about stuff other than conspiracy theories) form the TJ13 news team
Yes – eg Matt’s recent takedown of Whiting (which sadly got overtaken by a flurry of posts on this weekend’s race and didn’t seem to get the attention it deserved).
Blame Roger for that one, he was feeling a little lonely watching the race……lol… 🙂
For which there may soon be a solution….
Will the new site have a link that offers live updates during the race?
……we’re going to launch the new site live, with pretty much what we do not in terms of content (but better organised) and interactive contribution from the readers….
We have a host of new features to bring… but we’ll introduce them over time….
I’m not sure what you are suggesting – like a text commentary stream?
We have to ration our resources in terms of time from the TJ13 team – but open to ideas and new members fulfilling new roles…
@TJ13
Actually a live TJ13 chat / user supplied commentary of the race in Live could be nice. Debates might spark in real-time in the TJ13 community: conspirationists arise!
Yes and thast is something we’re considering.
TJ13 is run by volunteers who love F1. The DN&C is the flagship which drives people to return to the site daily, though I must say our historic writers are second to none on planet earth
who wrote that article about Massa, and why all that hate ?
also, what’s the news about McLaren, Alonso and Grosjean coming with backing of Total and the spanish or not
I can understand why Boullier was annoyed.
http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/09/19/charlie-whiting-we-believe-a-driver-should-drive-the-car-alone-and-unaided/
According to Charlie Whiting there should be no instruction regarding the contact with the kerbs.
As it happens Button told The Guardian he was confident about his odds for next year. Magnussen on the other hand was rambling to F1news (russian) about not being good enough if Mclaren says so. And he will look for something else if he is not good enough to fight for race wins as he is not in F1 for scoring points.
Sounds to me Button is reasonably safe because of Honda and Magnussen is infact the one in danger. Button is 7th in the standings after all while Magnussen is 12th. Id say Honda would prefer a proven points scorer who they worked with before like Button over a wild rookie like Magnussen.
So for next year:
Button-Magnussen
Button-Alonso
Button-Grosjean
?
…as I said, we don’t publish stuff in articles without proper verification….. ironically 3 cars may save Jenson….
Couple questions in relation to the 3rd car your Honor….
Any idea which team will elect to run a 3rd car?
What about cost?
Also, how will points be allocated?………..Surely those teams that run only 2 cars, won’t be at all happy if the team with 3 cars, are allowed to score points with all 3 cars…
The idea might sound good, but i can see a lot of problems arising from this
..We’re going to cover this on this weeks podcast…. patience young jedi 😉
And an article? I’m sorry but podcast aren’t my cup of tea. I have ignored that all for that reason. Even though I do find it amazing that you guys keep pushing on the good stuff in as many possible ways that you can think of.
TJ13 gets people to try new things. Hippo relented and finally joined the ‘twattershpere’. I also remember coaching someone on how to do an emoji.
@Judge
“TJ13 gets people to try new things. Hippo relented and finally joined the ‘twattershpere’. I also remember coaching someone on how to do an emoji.”
Yes this is true. TJ13 is what slowly motivated me to open a word press, then a twitter, learn how to use them, write a little better generally, publish articles etc. It’s infectious around here…
The issue I have now is my late-night porn time is severely hampered as I try to balance my social media / F1 ramblings against my, erm, “predilections”. I’m not a just a 5minute guy. Any suggestions welcome Judge…
Another thing with social media is the degradation of language. I actually said “totes jelly”… I am not entirely sure what that means but I am led to believe it is Totally Jealous. It was used in relation to Nico’s good looks. I.e. “Coco Sparkles is totes jelly about Barbie’s bodacious blonde beauty…”
OK, so you *have* officially earned your nickname with “Totes Jelly”. Surprised the sh*t out of me, LOL. Though I have picked up B T Dubs from the child, so new tricks still possible for me too.
They can easily say that only the first 2 cars will contribute points to the constructor’s championship.
Of course then the question becomes, what if the 3 Merc cars fill the podium? The first 2 will contribute to WCC and the third not. Does that mean then that (for example) Ricciardo in 4th will still get 12, or will he get the 15 of the 3rd Merc car? Or will the driver Ricc take 12 and his car will take 15 for the WCC?
With Wolff claiming it would cost 32m Euros to run a 3rd car, would all the teams actually want to run one? They would demand the money from Bernie that would have gone to the defunct teams anyway. Just give the backmarkers Ferrari’s ‘special payment’, and the bottom 3 teams would be catching up with the midfield.
This site has some great reporting and a number of other unique and excellent aspects to it.
However, the childish tit for tat pro- and anti-Hamilton stuff plus the pathetic conspiracy theories have driven me away. I came back after a short break, hoping that the Hamilton/Rosberg stuff would have died down but no, it’s still here. If it was only in the comments, I could avoid it…but it isn’t.
I can’t stand it and I’m afraid you’ve lost this reader until at least the start of next season. I don’t suppose losing one reader is of any concern at all, but I thought I’d let you know anyway.
Instead of just moaning about how upset you are about the comments section, which nobody cares about by the way I’m afraid, why don’t you bring some interesting debates to the table and try and dictate a different direction in proceedings. Just saying
He’s not moaning about the comment section. Which he can easily avoid. He’s talking about the articles.
Love the news today fellas, really cheered up what was otherwise has been a day I’d rather forget about.
Still my #1 site
GP winner v TJ13 DotW analysis:
GP. GP winner – TJ13 DotW
Australia Barbie – KMag
Malaysia Coco Sparkles – Coco Sparkles
Bahrain Coco Sparkles – Coco Sparkles
China Coco Sparkles – Teflonzo
Spain Coco Sparkles – The Finger
Monaco Barbie – Jules Bianchi
Canada Colgate Boy – Colgate Boy*
Austria Barbie – Valeri Bolt-Ass
Great Britain Coco Sparkles – Valeri Bolt-Ass
Germany Barbie – Coco Sparkles
Hungary Colgate Boy – Teflonzo
Belgium Colgate Boy – Colgate Boy
Italy Coco Sparkles – Colgate Boy
Singapore Coco Sparkles – Coco Sparkles
-Out of 14 races, only 5 did the TJ13 double of winning the race and getting the TJ13 DotW. In 9 races, the TJ13 community collectively decided someone other than the race winner was the better performer. Despite my previous comment, TJ13 clearly see beyond who actually won the race.
-Most DotW winners are Coco Sparkles who has 4 DotW, followed by Colgate Boy with 3 DotW and Valeri Bolt-ass with 2.
-Barbie has no DotW wins as KMag/Australia, Bianchi/Monaco, Valeri Bolt-ass/Austria and Coco Sparkles/Germany were all deemed better performers to Barbie’ race wins.
-Of Coco Sparkles 7 GP wins, only in 3 was he also considered the TJ13 DotW.
*Entry adjustment: Max ‘the model’ Chilton actually got DotW at Canada. Strange joke, clearly, considering he crashed on lap 1 and took his team mate out. Second place promoted in this single instance for the analysis. All others were genuine DotW contenders.
Additionally, of Mercedes having won 11/14 races collectively, they only have only been deemed worthy of a TJ13 DotW 4 times… I wonder if this veiw is consistent across other sites and fan bases. If so, ouch for Mercedes. I think, even subconsciously, many (NOT ALL Fortis and Formula, calm down kids) subscribe to #WhatAWastedArrow, even if only on a collective team basis. Interesting…
The mercedes should really have won all the races this year, yes, but to look at the cause of why this has not happened, you need to look at management. They have not done the job properly, and as i said before, under Brawn, this almost certainly would have been different…
I normally agree with what you’ve got to say, especially when it comes to SISsy, but not on this occasion.
You can’t blame management for the issues which has caused them not to win all the races. Even with Brawn’s ‘God like status’, not even he could’ve seen ahead the technical issues they’ve encountered and prevented it.
maybe, but i’m sure that the management between the 2 would have been handled much better and maybe Nico wouldn’t have gone off on one at Spa and taken lewis out. Anyway I think the point is, I think that the team would have been much better working in harmony and lewis close to wrapping up the title
No doubt the harmony would be better in the team. I touched on this last week, if Brawn was still in charge, this season would another bore fest. The disharmony in the team and the fight between both sides of the garage, made the season what it is.
There’s no more talk about the noise, taxi driving etc…. We are seeing flat out racing up and down the grid. People are tuning in to see the fight between Lewis and Nico, Ric and Seb, that can only be good from the sport, even if it’s just for 1 season.
You do know your whole analysis is flawed and pointless right? And here’s why……
The voting for who gets DoTD/W, is based on subjective views and opinions.
People are less likely to vote for any of the Merc drivers, solely because they’re in the best car in the field and as such, everyone says it was easy for them, so people will choose to focus on those who are in what is deemed as ‘inferior machines’. Also votes are dependent on which drivers people like or dislike.
Example: You won’t vote for Lewis, solely because of your open bias and dislike of him, likewise many others.
But here’s something interesting. The driver that you’re championing to beat lewis and the one you’ve been screaming conspiracy against since Monza, is yet to be voted DoTD/W. Why is that? Maybe you should do an analysis of why that is.
When Seb rompted away with the title last season, the same thing happened, he was rarely voted DoTD/W because he was in the best machinery and people automatically expects him to win, given he doesn’t encounter any technical issues.
Mercedes will be vilified across all other F1 platforms because they are the dominate team. We saw it with RBR for their championship run, saw it with Schummi and Ferrari during his run etc. It’s a common practice in sports, so it won’t be any different in modern day sports. Nobody likes a bully and Mercedes is the bully this season.
So again, an analysis that hasn’t really proved anything other than people’s opinion like always, remains subjective when it comes to voting for who they think is the DoTD/W
There, there Sortits, it’ll all be, ok one day…
😉
I really don’t know what that reply is suppose to accomplish. You gave an analysis and I challenged it by pointing out a major flaw within what you wrote.
But if a childish response is the only thing you can come up with, then ‘formula’ was correct, you really don’t like when your opinions are challenged by anyone.
@Fortis – As i said, typical toddler response. SISsy hasn’t learned to compose himself as of yet, he is the troll of TJ13
Awwww, don’t you little cretins enjoy your own medicine…
Sorry Sortits ‘n’ Mule, just playing by your rules now…
There, there… It’ll all be ok.
😉
There, there Sortits, it’ll all be ok, one day… 😉
Does Bog Ron dwell in the MTC lake?