2015 United States Grand Prix - Austin, October 23 - 25

[Shrieker]

When you know someone hates coming second to you, you should know it rubs it in if you toss the effin 2nd place cap to him.

Don't need a psychology Ph.D.It's called common sense. If you don't have it, it's bad, and if you have it and do such a thing out of spite... Well, what does it tell about your character.

[GrandAxe]

His unstable character has been the cause of some distateful details though his career.

Rosberg promised us to make a great comeback this season but the has been in an almost constant state of depression during the season. I think he has realised that 2014 was his opportunity to become a champion and he lost it.

On the other hand, has anyone explained to Lewis that he CANT ask for information during the race? because he was continually asking for coachinng when he should clearly know that he cant. Once its ok, the third time begins to be a quite annoying attitude.

It must have been out of sheer desperation. Its possible nightmares about losing the WDC (just when it was within touch) thoroughly mixed up his mind, giving him a fit of the vapours - especially with the Mercedes cars overheating the inters and Red Bulls having them for lunch. Things like that can make a grown man do things they wouldn't normally do.

[Henne]

Well... I'm convinced in less pre-race track time for drivers now. Woah, what a race.

Like (I guess it was) Hulkenberg said, give drivers less track time to setup the perfect car. Let them qualify in a shorter time and let them race it out. They've had less tracktime here due to the weather, and we had an awesome race. Loads of overtaking, loads of racing on the limit.

Congrats to Hamilton, to bad it didn't work out for Rosberg, but that's racing!

[Phil]

What a race.

It must have been destiny for Lewis to win this despite all the events and turns that happened in yesterdays race. I'm with Turbo in that Lewis was to some extent lucky. Circumstances outside his control came together brilliantly for him. But on the other hand, other things did not. He had a better start and he used the inside line to push Robserg wide and from then on, it was a race. Rosberg drove brilliantly, as he did many times this and last season and even overtook Lewis on track. From them on it was Rosbergs to lose. I personally felt Mercedes was too conservative during the first safety car when they decided not to pit, vs Ferrari who pitted Vettel onto mediums. I thought that was a very clever strategy and put Mercedes on the back foot with not being able to get to the end on the option tires.

At that point, it was Rosberg in the lead with Hamilton closing massively, inside his DRS zones. Then that Virtual Safety-Car phase. To pit the Mercedes was a no-brainer since pitting under these circumstances is a little less costly, yet they only pitted Rosberg. Okay, so Rosberg had priority thanks to being in the lead, but they IMO waited far too long until Hamilton was left out unsure on what his target exactly was. After the green lights, it was quickly apparent that Nico on fresh option tires is massively quicker and would have no problem catching Vettel who on that point was on older medium tires.

Kyviats crash then leveled the game once more and helped Hamilton to regain a chance for the title. He pitted and came out behind Rosberg. At that point, one can argue how unlucky Rosberg was; he was 10 seconds up the field after the first part of the race when the first safety car was called out, then the strategy blunder on Hamiltons part was nullfied with the last one. But - he still had track position. It was still in his hands - and he had every chance to win it by driving better. He should have. So considering this, it's hard to feel sorry. In Bahrain 2014, it was the other way around when Hamilton faced Nico behind not only on much better tires but the safety car nullfied his gap as well. He somehow made it stick. Rosberg had every bit the chance on identical tires yesterday when he successfully pulled a gap after the safety car came in. It was Hamilton though after 3 laps that started to reel in Rosberg again and perhaps this pressure was that forced Rosberg into that crucial mistake.

Hamilton may have won his 3rd championship today with 3 races left this season, but IMO this doesn't quite do Rosbergs ability justice. I understand that he was severely disappointed yesterday - but being realistic, with a point gap of 73 points prior to Austin, facing at the time 9 wins vs 3 - on some level he must know that it wasn't yesterdays race that lost him the WDC title. It was the sum of all his performances (and a bit of bad luck, that just accelerated the inevitable) where he just came that little bit short.

As for Ferrari - IMO - Vettel once again was very impressive. Going to be very interesting how the next 3 races shape up. Also very impressed by Ricciardo yesterday - surely he deserved better than 10th.

[Vasconia]

I understand that he was severely disappointed yesterday - but being realistic, with a point gap of 73 points prior to Austin, facing at the time 9 wins vs 3 - on some level he must know that it wasn't yesterdays race that lost him the WDC title. It was the sum of all his performances (and a bit of bad luck, that just accelerated the inevitable) where he just came that little bit short.

I think it was more how he lost the race itself rather than WC, which was already lost.

[iotar__]

Ricciardo asking for "intelligent" driving is the second most ironic thing this weekend. After getting away with four collision penalties: Raikk (Mon), Rosb (Hun) and two carnages with multiple casualties at starts (Austria and Japan) he has a nerve to say that, OK...

The most ironic thing was of course a win thanks to two safety cars, dominant driver's mistake and after getting thoroughly out-paced, the opposite of what Lauda claimed. The only redeeming quality of F1 is that for every annoying loudmouth there's irony coming back to bite him.

I thought Rosberg stayed too long on the outside at the start but replays showed Hamilton turned into him on purpose to push him off track. If they were from different teams fine but after '14 Spa's public hysteria from Wolff and internal penalties you'd think it should be unacceptable. Unless they have different approach to drivers which shows in every aspect.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Everytime Hamilton makes a move on Rosberg, I see smiles on the faces of Lauda and Toto.
Rosberg has been unlucky in many ways, but the atmosphere since Spa 2014 sure doesn't help.

That's partly down to the director cutting together footage out of context, don't believe everything you see. Also, they usually crack a smile when it's the other way around, they just enjoy seeing their cars up top fighting for 1-2.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I always thought Alonso was a guttersnipe for all his antics, and unfortunately Hamilton isn't proving much different.

Who was the last GENTLEMAN champion you PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED, MET, OR even had as much information as you have today about someone (personal vids, pics, etc.,)?

He is fantastic on the track, but if he keeps acting like this, he'll never be half the man his idol Senna was, which for a fan is 10 times more disappointing than watching him fight for titles and lose.

What was Senna? A moral teacher or some sort of HIS HIGHNESS of great behavior? He also did similar crap that many other drivers have done. Worst, he drove another driver purposefully out. Please stop using Senna as a bench mark for every other driver. Like many other great champions, he has his place in the history. That's it.

That's exactly why many, many people didn't think Schumacher was better than Senna.

And Many many people also think Schumacher was better than Senna. I think so.

[sAx]

I don't see how throwing the cap back makes Rosberg a loser. Hamilton was just being tasteless adding insult to injury. He has to go ahead and make something daft like that on the moment he wins his 3rd title.

Or it could be like, hey man here is your hat. Not everything drivers do is some pre-planed attempt to get at their opponents, or done with malicious intent.

At best it seems inconsiderate. A classier act might have been to hand it to him presuming that would have been more acceptable to Rosberg, or just leave him the space to deal with his disappointment. Only they know if there was anything deeper behind it, but we now have a new phrase to join the lexicon of insulting invective....*Texas-H@t*(re Tw@t, Pr@t, etc.)!!

[Phil]

At best it seems inconsiderate. A classier act might have been to hand it to him presuming that would have been more acceptable to Rosberg, or just leave him the space to deal with his disappointment.

I didn''t want to comment on the hat scene, since I think it's being over-extrapolated into meaning something it doesn't. It's sadly, I think (hope) some of these situations you find yourself doing something, that you then realize can be interpreted in many different ways that it wasn't meant to. I'm sure most people have found themselves in these situations; Doing or saying something in an inappropriate moment and thinking later "oops, that shouldn't have come across that way". I think it's one of these situations.

I genuinely believe Hamilton has the up most respect for Nico. He has to; He is the only team-mate in the last 6 years, maybe ever, that is challenging him in qualifying at the rate he does. And the 'hat' incident or the way it is portrayed doesn't stack up to what he said post race in regards to Rosberg and how well he drove.

[turbof1]

I also feel the hat accident got a bit excagerated. Hamilton was a bit inconsiderate, Rosberg was a bit mad. No big deal.

However, I think that the first corner incident will weight heavier. Admittingly, Hamilton was agressive there, although there's always the possibility he had huge understeer.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

What a race, really!
1. After having driven out by Lewis (very harsh and he touched too), Nico really was EXTREMELY smart to take advantage of first VSC.
2. In a strange situation, while Lewis was chasing Ricciardo for 2nd place on softs, Nico was faster than Lewis by 1.2 seconds while leading!!!
3. Once again Mercedes strategy team screwed Lewis before KVYAT decided to do the justice ( ).
4. I have a feeling that, even without that mistake, Nico would have been overtaken by Lewis. Before HULK caused VSC, Lewis was attacking Nico withing DRS range. Even after the last SC, Lewis was getting faster than Nico. After the mistake, Nico still had difficulty keeping Vettel behind, while Lewis edged away to create a 4 second gap. On a track that is extremely helpful in overtaking, Lewis would have certainly overtaken Nico.

Did anyone notice how annoying the race coverage on TV was? Manor, Sauber and Toro Rosso got more screen time than Mercedes did. None of the overtaking moves of leading cars, Nico's last mistake was live. It all came as a replay. FOM and Bernie sucks!!! Such filthy levels of personal grudge. TV audiences have already declined and on top, you get to see the non significant cars now on track.

[Phil]

However, I think that the first corner incident will weight heavier. Admittingly, Hamilton was agressive there, although there's always the possibility he had huge understeer.

Paddy said in the post race interview that Hamilton came on the radio to apologize that the move wasn't intended that way. IMO, it was legit. Hamilton was on the inside and from the position Rosberg was in, he was always going to be crowded and dependent on how much room the guy on the inside leaves. The only way to avoid that from his point of view was to have a better start, be further ahead so that he is on the line he wants to be and then it's Lewis choice of either to crash into him or stick on his side of the track. Lewis knew that if had left that crucial room, that Rosberg would have the inside line into the next corner, so much depended on him using his advantage gained at the start if he wanted to capitalize on it.

I think it's also very telling that Rosberg didn't complain on the radio and even in the post-race drivers conference, he didn't have much to say about it until he actually watched the overhead-footage. That tells you how different you can interpret the situation and that from the racing-seat view, it was perhaps less clear. That goes both ways - to Lewis and Rosberg. Much easier to judge this stuff from the overhead view on camera.

If I was Rosberg, I think he should have slot in behind Lewis and then put pressure on him throughout the race. He perhaps didn't, because last year showed how strong Lewis is on track - so he perhaps was less confident on "beating him" in a more standard on track battle which makes him want to put all eggs into the first corners at the start. I think this race should have given him some confidence - he actually overtook Lewis on track and it was all in his hands. Too bad he lost it at the end. Would have been interesting to see what had happened if not - Hamilton was gaining quite a bit leading up to him losing it on the kerb.

[Jonnycraig]

However, I think that the first corner incident will weight heavier. Admittingly, Hamilton was agressive there, although there's always the possibility he had huge understeer.

Nah, Brundle watched the onboard replay and called it as what it was, a deliberate move to edge Rosberg out. With 150+ starts and having driven the 2015 Merc in the wet just a week or so ago, I fully trust his thoughts on the matter.

That said, it was once again poor from Rosberg. He was the only person in the world who didn't see it coming. He had Hamilton alongside on the wetter part of track, yet rather than brake earlier, concede the corner but get the switchback and high ground into T2, he tried to hang onto a move Hamilton has past form for being naughty over.

That in itself is the difference between an average driver like Rosberg and a top driver. Rosberg spends races thinking about the next corner and worrying about what other drivers are doing, whereas top drivers are thinking about their own race and are thinking several corners, if not laps ahead.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I think the key thing about the start, and a lot of the starts this year, is that in Rosberg's mind, he wins/loses the GP in the first corner. Mentally, this is a big advantage for Hamilton because he really doesn't think this way, if he doesn't get him in the first corner or lap, Hamilton knows he will get him later in the race. Rosberg, however, thinks his only chance is at T1. He thinks the only way he can beat Hamilton is to qualify ahead and stay ahead.