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Fat Hippo’s Rant: A Word About Fan Hysteria
Best races of the year for beleaguered engine manufacturers
Fat Hippo’s Rant: A Word About Fan Hysteria
As of yesterday the three top drivers of recent years share a rather undesirable memory – losing the results of their hard work to errors of their team. The first to suffer that fate was Fernando Alonso at Abu Dhabi 2010. His Ferrari team gambled on covering Mark Webber instead of the leading Sebastian Vettel and lost precious track position causing the Spaniard to get stuck behind a Russian paydriver in a clapped out Clio for the rest of the race. The Result: He lost the title in the last race to a driver who had never once led the championship all year.
Next time round Vettel was on the receiving end himself. Genuinely faster than his team mate for the first time all year, he would have inherited the win after the two Mercs cooked their brakes at last year’s Canadian GP. Instead the pitwall boffins misread the GPS output and released Vettel right into traffic after a mistimed pitstop. The Result: precious track position lost and Ricciardo inherited the win instead.
And yesterday Lewis suffered the same. A catastrophic mistake behind the pitwall cost Lewis valuable track position first and then the win.
So you would say that’s pretty much the same, right? Except for the fact that the Internet imploded yesterday. If you read the comments around social media and internet forums, you’d think Nico Rosberg has shagged Lewis’ girlfriend. The hysteria and the hate that suddenly erupted was nothing short of hilarious.
Probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve read – and I read it in hundreds of different permutations – was criticizing Rosberg for celebrating his lucky win. I’m sorry, what? People celebrate winning the lottery and they did absolutely nothing to earn a sudden influx of currency. People celebrate winning a bet, and all they did was being right in a guess. Nico grew up in Monaco. Even though he’s got a German passport, Monte Carlo is his Oviedo, his Heppenheim or Stevenage. He had every right to celebrate. I would have understood the uproar had he greeted Lewis with the L-sign on his forehead – a gesture that interestingly is used primarily only in Britain. On the contrary, Rosberg readily acknowledged that he only won because of luck.
What I don’t really get my head around is the hysteria. Lewis is still ten points ahead, a number that Rosberg will never make up if Lewis drives remotely as dominant as he did yesterday. It’s not like he has a year like Vettel or Alonso had last year. The amount of teeth-gnashing about a third place for a man who won all but three races since Belgium last year is bewildering to say the least.
After all, it’s only a race.
Best races of the year for beleaguered engine manufacturers
To say Renault and Honda didn’t have much to laugh about this year would be an understatement. But on a track where a good chassis is much more important than the most powerful engine, both Red Bull and McLaren collected their best results of the year.
Red Bull looked like dipping into Ferrari territory all weekend. Danny Ricciardo was right on Lewis’ tailpipe at the end, having been switched to a two-stopper during the safety car and the team waved him past Daniil Kvyat with the permission to attack the podium, but the caveat that he was to give the position back if he couldn’t make the move stick. He didn’t and the Russian got his fourth position back.
McLaren had once again a mixed race. Jenson Button proved that he is capable of delivering top results when he feels halfway comfortable with how the car behaves and collected the first points for the renewed McLaren-Honda marriage. Fernando Alonso’s race was a mixed bag. Punting off Hülkenberg at Mirabeau was not exactly his finest moment, but afterwards he ran strong until his gearbox packed in.
Lotus cars doped in Monaco
US musician Pharrell Williams becomes a marketing partner of team Lotus. According to Williams, the French team and his own business ventures will create a “worldwide multimedia partnership”. The cooperation started with yesterday’s Monaco GP, during which the cars were adorned with Logos of Williams’ movie “Dope”. Williams further advertises his own brand “i am OTHER”.
Wow, how times have changed! If this was last year then there would be hundreds of posts suggesting that Mercedes deliberately engineered the “mistake” to allow Rosberg to win.
Not that I believe that for an instant, by the way.
However, after all the hard work put in by Hamilton, and everybody in the team, surely someone’s head should roll for such immense incompetence.
The Team Principal…..if he had any principles, that is……
I have read just such comments on other forums.
That would be James Vowles then. Actually they would have to fire their computer. Toto said afterwards that they strictly go by what the simulations suggest
“Actually they would have to fire their computer.” – Hippo
Well their programmer and developer, not the computer itself one would think…
You know, those damn programmers are a rare breed; especially those hardware programmers. Aren’t they, Hippo. Fire the lot of ’em; lets get back to pad and pencil! 😉
(Be gentle… Please.)
No Hippo.
The TP should have over-all veto. He didn’t exercise it here. Massive fail.
Yes Hamiltons. he was told to stay out, but refused.
To say that Ricciardo inherited Canada is not right. Vettel had every ample opportunity to overtake the Force India – yes his pit stop did not go exactly how they wanted to – however, the difference there was Ricciardo’s in lap and his ability to pass the Force India when it mattered – something Vettel was incapable of even though he had plenty of time. The comparison made with the Canadian GP is wrong and disregards the factors of the race I mentioned as well as being a disservice to Ricciardo’s first win.
As far as Mercedes, things happen. It will be discussed, things learned from it, and they’ll move on to the next GP.
I find it sad that yesterday an article was tweeted by Formula1.com with Bernie and Nico discussing nappies and today he’s criticizing Nico and Sebastian and saying they’re part of the reason there’s no German GP. Also, yesterday Toto supported him as far customer cars (which are the wrong direction for Formula 1 to go for several reasons) but today Bernie criticized Toto and the other team principals for not promoting the sport and being recognizable enough. People know who the team principals are and are aware of the sport. They’re are also aware of Bernie’s deeds and greed and how it’s harmed the sport.
The criticism of Nico and Seb was done in the ‘changing nappy’ interview.
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/interviews/2015/5/in-conversation—bernie-ecclestone-and-nico-rosberg.html
Thank you Fortis. I get so posses off as I watch these clips with Bernie that I miss things. Bernie needs to look in the mirror and finally admit that his actions and comments are a large reason why Formula 1 is in the state/mess that it’s currently in instead of blaming my cousin (Toto) and the other team principals, the drivers, etc. The way that he is constantly down talking the sport that he runs is a huge turn off to everyone too.
If only people would stand up to Bernie, if only.. Its a bit of a bad joke how he still rules supreme.
If it gets to the point where it looks like Formula 1 might fold as a result of Bernie’s actions and greed, I think that people will start standing up to him because jobs, etc. would be lost. I also think if it gets to the point where Formula 1 might fold, the British government might get involved because of the possibility of thousands of jobs being lost in Formula 1 valley and not just at the factories but also in the cottage industries that service Formula 1. It would affect the economy and the British social welfare system to a small extent.
If Rosberg had been thinking, he would have asked Bernie why he wasn’t attending the same rad carpet events as Lewis. Then again,maybe he was thinking and decided discretion was the better part of valor.
Still. it would have been priceless to see Bernie’s reaction.
It’s only a race???? It’s Monaco baby.
But does not excuse the Rosberg bashing you refer to.
I do not understand the hyteria, Hamilton and his fans should grow up. He is World Champion,he leads in points,he is in the best car and probably the fastest driver on the grid. Mistakes happen ,he has made a few himself. A real champion take defeats in his stride!!!
The hysteria you are referring to has nothing to do with Hamilton, the hysteria revolves around the way in which Mercedes contrived to make such a monumental cock up.
Maybe you should also do some growing up, rather than come here labelling people just because you are so well grounded that expressing disappointment or shock, is against everything you stand for.
Why then is Rosberg the one who gets criticized?
I don’t know, I’ve not made reference to Nico on his celebrations. I did however say that he didn’t acknowledge his teammate after the race, something which Seb did. It was Lewis who went up to Nico and shook his hand.
Personally I could careless about how he celebrated, because that victory was like his birthday and Christmas came at the same time.
But in saying that, why is it ok for some to criticise Lewis for his demeanour but yet it’s somehow inappropriate for some to criticise Nico? Should it not be fair game?
Unless you’re Lt Data and have inability to express emotions, then it’s perfectly fine for how both drivers reacted.
All I can say is that I stand by my comments,nothing further to add.
Dear Fortis,
As monumental cockups go, how would you compare this cockup by committee to f.ex driving into someones gearbox at a red light in pitlane?
First off Hippo,why are you coming on here and moaning about other people moaning on other platforms…..The right thing to do is address them on their platforms.
[mod]
[mod]
The way you were leaning into calling Lewis a tax cheat for leaving in Monaco, your constant claiming of lewis mental weakness, [mod] for example within minutes of Lewis wining the tittle you came on early to say the hamfossi are gonna be insufferable….[mod]
[mod] …what Hippo dont seem to get that unlike his apples to fish comparison.Lewis stop was completely unnecessary…..Its like a doctor cracking some one chest for a panic attack then clipping a major artery
I agree. After all Rosberg did win. How doesn’t matter. And he’s certainly not the first one to inherit the lead. By far not. I can remember hakkinen s car break down in germany on the last lap. So was Schumi not allowed to celebrate back then? Because hakkinen could not be responsible for the loss of his win. And in this case Lewis might be a bit responsible for his loss. So in my opinion Rosberg van celebrate all he wants. He won. That’s all that matters. He didn’t say the team should bring Lewis in. He didn’t use some sort of nasty trick to get Lewis out of the race. He did however be second all of the time ( Wich is something he must do to have a chance) so that when he finished the old saying came back: to finish first, first you have to finish.
Too many cooks at Mercedes causing unnecessary problems for the drivers on the tactical front methinks rather than some inane conspiracy to annoy a driver whose just signed a big money contract. It will cost both drivers in the end as the other teams start to catch up with them. Mercedes lacks the discipline Ross Brawn instilled into the team during the development of the Power Unit and Chassis prior to 2014. He also showed the right way to deal with the drivers to get the best result for the team over his career (a ruthless pragmatist). I still think Mercedes will rue the day they got rid of Brawn but perhaps not for us the fans as the fireworks might be worth watching explode into life.
If there is any anger, it should be directed at the team not the drivers.
https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/interviews/2015/5/in-conversation—bernie-ecclestone-and-nico-rosberg.html
Have you seen this joint interview between Bernie and Nico? Check out the questions about Lewis. Bernie is being so blunt and against Nico as a champion IN FRONT OF HIM!
I am a Lewis Hamilton fan.
Right, now that that is out of the way, well done Nico. Yes he had it handed to him on a plate, which he very graciously acknowledged, but, he had to be in the right place to gain the advantage and he was. If the tables were turned and it was Lewis that won and Nico was third after leading most of the race I don’t think there would have been as much fuss.
I have no time for those so called “fans” of any driver who cannot appreciate the race as a whole and have only got eyes for their hero, if he wins he is great, if he loses the other one did not deserve it….
Yes, it was sad for Lewis, but it most certainly was not Nico’s fault.
Well done Max Verstappen.
I blame Sam Michael. Even though he never worked for Mercedes and doesn’t even work within F1 anymore, I bet he has something to do with it.
I am about to be guilty of plagiarism: I’ve just read on another forum that this incident was undoubtedly Mercedes’ way of waving two fingers at Bernie for his “Nico and Toto are bad for my business” comments. That is just too good a thought not to share…….
Why the hysteria?
Really Hippo,where have you been last years?
Heard of Hamfosi, the bunch of people who left reason and sense out of equation the day one coloured and colourful wonderfully talented driver entered F1.
I like Hamilton, in a way I like Hamfosi too, they are so entertaining in their single minded way.
“The Result: precious track position lost and Ricciardo inherited the win instead.”
Well… Danny boy went into a lot of trouble to get hold of that win, including some breathtaking overtaking maneuvers (one on the grass), so “inherited” that win wasn’t. There is no telling if Seb would have managed such overtakes, and his record last year suggests he wouldn’t’ve.