F1 - Spoilers ...

[sunny-dave]

... go on back of the cars ...

[weecalf]

I had a call from A researcher the other day ,after a few hours he hung up

[New Judge]

It needs to be asked why the team believed Lewis should have gone any faster than he needed to. He had suffered a number of mechanical failures this year and pressing hard unnecessarily would only increase the risk of another one. Coupled with that, there is always more risk of an error when pushing to the limit. Of course, if he was going so slow that Nico felt compromised he could always have overtaken Lewis (!).

It needs to be understood that the sport has teammates who are also rivals. Whilst I accept that “he who pays the piper, etc.” team managers also need to realise that their drivers are racing for their own glory as well as that of the team. If Mercedes had finished second and third yesterday, instead of first and second it would have made no material difference to them whatsoever and the team’s concern over the closing Ferrari was unnecessary. It made what was quite a dull race a little interesting and all Lewis was doing was trying to keep his very slim chances of the title alive.

Mercedes would be foolish in the extreme to jeopardise their relationship with Lewis. He is (at the moment) far and away the best racer in the pack over a long season. When in the best car (which doesn’t blow up) he is their best chance of future titles. But things go around in F1. The Mercedes dominance will end (as do all dominations) and they will need a good racer to compete when the cars become more equal. This may happen next year with the considerable number of rule changes. The dust will settle, tempers and disappointments will fade and common sense will prevail. And we’ll see what happens next year.

I take it you’re not keen on F1 then, weecalf? :-)

[Bazile]

//...The dust will settle, tempers and disappointments will fade and common sense will prevail...//

I sincerely hope so NJ

I also hope the chasing pack can bring a car to challenge the silver cars in 2017 , so that Hamilton & Rosberg , will be mixing it more with the other drivers .

I agree that LH is the best racer in the pack .
He has been very good ever since he came unto the scene .

Remember his rookie season; when but for the unforgivable error of McClaren , leaving him out too long on worn tyres , he would have won the driver's championship ?
I can't think of any other driver , who have come so close , to that achievement

Verstappen , in my opinion has been the only driver since LH , to have shown early similar talent

[New Judge]

"I can't think of any other driver , who have come so close , to that achievement "

I think Jaques Villeneuve came a bit close in his rookie season, 1996, Baz. He was pipped at the post by Damon after he broke down in the final race in Japan.

[Bazile]

You are indeed correct NJ

[Ninefingers]

Hamilton and Verstappen have been much more impressive as rookies.

Jacques arrived to drive the best car on the grid in the Williams FW18, between him and Damon they won 12 of 16 races that year.

[New Judge]

The McLaren of 2007 was reasonably handy, Ninefingers. They won eight of the seventeen races and would have taken the Constructors’ title but for the small matter of being stripped of all their points because of “Stepneygate” (a minor detail). But I agree Jacques probably had the better equipment in ’96 and in 2007 Lewis and Fernando were up against a very strong Ferrari package.