Zoxxo

My credibility??? You must be mistaking me for Walter Cronkite.

Every response that *every* person has to *everything* is tempered by their opinions and experiences. Trying to use the facts of life as some sort of verbal weapon is silly at best.

I think Hamilton is a smug, arrogant, whining, self-centered brat. He's a champion by virtue of scoring points but not a bit by virtue of character. That said, he's an exceptional race driver. He's exceptional enough that he doesn't need to be an ***hole to cement his legacy. That's the trap that he and Schumacher and Senna fall/fell into stemming from an apparent, and strange, lack of true self-confidence and a lack of class. See Sterling Moss or Jackie Stewart, for just two of many examples to the contrary.

Yeah, I get that. But thanks for reminding me.

That Hamilton would want to "win" the championship via such a chicken-s**t tactic is the point here.

What does THAT have to do with anything? Are you saying that anything is valid on track so long as it isn't unsafe?

I never said that what he did was illegal or unsafe. I say it shows he hasn't the personal ethics and/or class to match his driving skills.

What a sad statement that is. I feel sorry for you. A true champion not only would NOT do it but would speak out against those who do/would. "It's how you play the game", remember?

Yeah. Sure. Whatever.

Ah, the Hamilton apologists. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. #sorelosers

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Zoxxo

Nico on being told he had to pass Verstappen: "That was not a nice thing to hear. Critical to pass Verstappen? That was a horrible feeling!"



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sunsalem

I remember that well...complete Horse Poop and MS at his worst.

True, but MB/Nico didn't know that at the time.

Zoxxo

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/me...ethink-854829/

It ought to force an employee rethink. I find it beyond understanding that an employer paying an employee the amount of money that Mercedes pays Dr. Araganto* continues to tolerate his nonsense. He's accused them of conspiracy and of favoritism. He's publicly defied them more than once. He questions their strategy decisions in public. It makes Mercedes look like fools and represents them to the public very poorly to say the least.

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*see season 4 episode 4 of Big Bang Theory

VetteDrmr

Here's what I don't understand about this whole issue with Rosberg and Hamilton: Why did the team issue orders at all? The constructor's championship was long sewn up, and it's been stated more than once (paraphrasing) that "we're going to let them race, as long as they don't take each other out." The driver finishing positions were also long settled as 1-2, and supposedly there are no favorites between the two drivers.

So why the orders? The only reason that makes any sense to me is that Merc *did* have a favorite, in this case Rosberg. If that's the case I can see why Hamilton would be rebellious. If that's NOT the case then Merc needs to explain to Hamilton why they issued those orders.

Have a good one,
Mike

Bill32

You think better of him than I do.

Zoxxo

The fact that the constructor's championship was already decided isn't really the issue. Merc is in this game to *win* *races* and from that POV this was just another race. So long as they were still going to get a 1-2 finish, then all was fine re: whatever the drivers did. But once that result was under threat - and even more on point - *artificially* under threat due to unnecessary and selfish actions by one of their drivers, then the "let them race" idea loses out to corporate goals.

Wolff explained it yesterday:

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/wo...se-win-854598/

And Adam Cooper told a more complete story this morning:

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ra...wn-854925/?s=1

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Zoxxo

And then there's this:
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns35400.html

Gee, Carlos Sainz says he would do it, too. Color me stunned! Not.

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sunsalem

Absolutely right on the money.

It helps to understand WHY Mercedes is in F1 to begin with.
For them, it is all about marketing.
The image and prestige is something to help burnish the brand and increase profits on roadcar sales...their bread & butter business.
They are not a strict racing company, like Williams, for example.
Also, they have made it plain they won't guarantee their F1 Team will exist after 2020.

LH has constantly been a PITA for management.
He has been warned MANY times in the past.
A brilliant driver, but a self-centered child who now has decided he is in charge of the racing team, not the current Management.
As Toto Wolff pointed out, it's "anarchy."
This will not play well in the Board of Directors conference room in Stuttgart.

I won't take odds on whether or not they pull the plug on Hamilton.
The amount of money involved is pretty insignificant for a company the size of MB.

I, for one, wouldn't be completely surprised if Pascal Wehrlein is Nico's teammate next year.
And, if so, I wouldn't be surprised if MB wins the Manufacturers Championship again.

Nowanker

RE: Driver's character:
I don't know enough about Sterling Moss' personal or professional life to comment, but as for Jackie Stewart... if you read his book then you know, without question or hesitation, that he is the absolute finest, best, most wonderful, most supremely talented, greatest gift to all of motor racing ever created. If not to the entire human race.
I vomited for an hour.

Zoxxo

It's been interesting to watch how Wolff and Lowe have excused Hamilton's act over and over again. (It takes Wolff about 8 seconds to "be of two minds".) I can't really tell if they believe what they are saying, if they are trying to moderate it all in order to set up Toto's defense for the next BOD meeting or if it's just a standard ploy fed to the press to calm things until they get the drivers into the woodshed for their proper beating. I dunno. For sure they will refuse to "try the defendant in the media" and rightly so.

There has to be a hefty amount of "we're already committed up to our eyeballs with this clown" reality to all this. Sacking Hamilton would be an admission of (expensive) failure - something that no one in the corporate world does lightly. Could they easily replace him with another driver who could win them the championship again? Sure. (Hulkenburg would have been the obvious choice.) Do they really *want* to do so given all the factors involved? Unknown.

The other variable in all this is that next year's cars force another major change on the whole field and could (probably will?) once again upend the pecking order. Now that the power units have come reasonably close to parity the new rules move the pendulum back towards aero as a/the major determining factor for overall performance and we all know what Adrian Newey can do. So maybe that works in Hamilton's favor - that extra one-to-two tenths that he can bring to the game won't be tossed aside lightly. Momentum is a powerful thing; better the devil you know and all that.

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sunsalem

LOL!

I noticed that too.

This year MB still retained approx. a half second per lap advantage.
Considering how well they began the era of the hybrid powerunit, no reason to think they won't have the superior unit again next year.

After all...they've had a lot of time to prepare.

It is going to be EXTREMELY interesting to see what he comes up with next season.

63Corvette

Toto Wloff has only to say THIS to say to Hamilton: "We will give you a "reliable" car to race. You will NOT ever hit your teammate! If you do, then your car will become "less realiable." Got that?

Zoxxo

I ran across this earlier this morning. I'd missed it when it was originally posted right after Brazil. This is Wil Buxton's take on Verstappen's "amazing" performance in the rain. Very interesting.

https://willthef1journo.wordpress.co...rily-ordinary/

He also has this op-ed piece on Racer.com re: the changing cars for 2017. As usual, he leaves out a key element driving the rules changes which is that the fans don't like the current format (remember all that stuff about "entertainment" and "the show", Wil?) but it is an interesting read nonetheless.

http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints...portunity-lost

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