Former Swiss F1 racing driver, Marc Surer is backing Nico Rosberg following his coming together with team mate Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the Austrian GP.
Rosberg was held to be the guilty party by the stewards following the race and awarded a 10 second race time addition along with 2 driver license penalty points.
The incident sent Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff into a rage and he described both his drivers as ‘brainless’. Threatening team orders to prevent any further incidents on track between them.
Yet Marc Surer believes Mercedes should be less reactive to the incident because it is belies the frequent complaint being made that, “Formula One is boring because Mercedes always wins.”
The Sky Germany commentator thinks Mercedes will upset fans further by bringing in team orders, thus killing the prospect of do or die duelling Mercedes drivers during F1 races.
Nico Rosberg also gets the thumbs up from the ex-Arrows team driver for not conceding any ground to his team mate. “I think it’s great that Rosberg now holds his own and the result is Mercedes have suffered a few collisions. But this season, but Nico is finally an equal opponent for Hamilton. “
1-2 Mercedes victories week in week out for Mercedes are hardly going to set the world’s sporting press alight, but as Surer observes, “People still talk about Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna”.
The worst case scenario is Lewis and Nico will crash again, but ‘so what?’ says Surer. “Then again – Mercedes will be all the talk on everyone’s lips”.
Marc does not believed Rosberg will receive a bad reception from the fans at the British GP this weekend, despite their hero being booed in Austria. “The English are very fair and well-informed public. They have an incredible knowledge about motorsport, which is why I don’t believe that Rosberg will be massively abused by them”.
The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
“The English are very fair and well-informed public. They have an incredible knowledge about motorsport, which is why I don’t believe that Rosberg will be massively abused by them”.
Oh dear. I’m Expecting Mr Surer’s opinion to change somewhat by the time the weekend is over. This is the crowd that cheered with delight at the mechanical failures on the cars of Rosberg, Vettel and MSC breaking his leg. Ze Germans are the enemy, UKIP are the next big political party. Fair and well informed ? More like delusional and insular. The only other F1 fans I’ve seen who surpass this hatred level is that of Russians towards Finns, though I don’t know the background to that.
Always looking on the bright side aren’t we.
Well I could always pretend I didn’t see or hear anything a’la Mr Wenger
I’m ashamed to say that Paul is right. Nico. If you are reading this dont bother taking your earplugs out as an ear bashing is inevitable. Still you can have the last laugh if the fatherland win the footy!
Russians against fins is actually the same reason why English hate the Germans. WWII. Russia tried to conquer a big piece of Finland( after, alleged, talks between to countries. Where Russia asked Finland for some of their land in order to make the defence buffer between the border and Stalingrad bigger. Which Finland naturally declined) Russia went to war against Finland with 3 times more men and a lot more equipment. But the fins brought them bigger blows then the Russians had ever expected. Not to name the bad name the country got for invading a country for more soil in their hands… Russia got kicked out of the league of nations, as a consequence. And this failed war on behalf of the Russians were the direct reason why Hitler wanted to attack Russia. It made them look weak and a good pray for Hitler and his people. But we all know how that turned out for Dolfie.
Were should be was.
Thanks for the history Bruznic 🙂 That explains it.
The pleasure is all mine. 😉
So even without F1 and rally we should be thankfull for Fins.
Very much.
Err Leningrad. Stalingrad is in the south, Finland in the north, but the basic point is right.
I stand corrected. Thank you
The Finns were fast even then…wearing white ski suites they skied around the slow moving tanks and threw Molotov cocktails under them to blow them up! Molotov was the Russian foreign minister who denied he was bombing Finland – he said he was dropping food supplies – so the Finns returned the favour with cocktails:)
I did not knew that, jennie. Interesting
Fascinating stuff Jennie !
“I think it’s great that Rosberg now holds his own”
Bwhahaha. He was penalized, lost 20 points compared to Hamilton (7+13) and is viewed by 90% of the world as the idiot who caused his own fall. Surer’s opinion does not change one bit about it all.
Besides that I think that no driver or rider should ever be cheered at in a negative way (unless they deliberately do something so bad that it could be lethal). At motorcycle racing it never happened. Only when Rossi attracted new crowds to the tracks it started to appear. It is pathetic behaviour.
“I think it’s great that Rosberg now holds his own and the result is Mercedes have suffered a few collisions. But this season, but Nico is finally an equal opponent for Hamilton. “….
And almost every time he does, he comes off second best. Only thing Rosberg proved on Sunday, is that yet again when Lewis really applies pressure to him, he cracks.
Nice journalistic interpretation of “I think it’s great that Rosberg now holds his own” to mean ‘Surer says Rosberg was right to defend’ i.e. giving the impression that Surer says that the stewards and the rest of the world are wrong!
Nice journalistic interpretation of ‘Surer says Rosberg was right to defend’ to mean ‘Surer says that the stewards and the rest of the world are wrong!’
🙂
Do the stewards make faultless decisions? Are people able to hold delusional opinions? What is the standard of care here?
Hamilton knew he was being forced off the track and decided to turn in as opposed to taking avoiding action. Frankly, the rule needs to be applied equally to everyone and it is the lack or consistency that drives me mad. But what do I know, I’m not a former F1 driver.
“Hamilton knew he was being forced off the track ”
No. He knew he was being held wide, that is all he knew.
😀
Perception is a funny thing, isn’t it?
Try altering it…it’s even funnier!
: P
So what would have happened if Rosberg did turn in earlier to avoid Lewis? Wouldn’t he have spun out, most likely colliding hard into Hamilton, preventing either car from probably finishing? Rosberg was damned either way. Reverse the drivers and I’m sure many people here would have a different position.
A mental reversal of drivers in such racing situations often helps to balance one’s views. You’re right and I agree; it’s an effective technique.
@Paul’s ‘bad precedent’ comment a day or two ago is resonating more and more with me.
@MarkJones is correct, imo. That ties in with @Paul’s ideas.
“Fins”;” fins”. This must be TJ 13!
Marc Surer, I remember Marc Surer. Averaged 1.7 points per season over almost a decade in F1 (what would we do without Wikipedia?). It makes a change from hearing The Rat’s opinions but their relative track record makes for an interesting comparison.
Regarding the Rat’s opinions, his recent retraction and lewis’ assertion that nothing happend i think that Mercedes best team order might be to silence the Rat! Nurse! Warfarin please!
Let me get this straight, Surer says that asshat behavior must be tolerated because otherwise the racing would be boring?
I honestly think the race would have been great without that last lap crash, regardless of whether Hamilton passed or not.
Free practice 1… Halo or g-string?
Anyone else interested, Here is a good read on one bit of history with the russians and the finns.
https://www.damninteresting.com/white-death/