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

[PlatinumZealot]

Hamilton indeed has more the capability of looking several corners ahead.

I think it is the experience from his youth in lower formula classes that shaped this, and perhaps one race in particular helped enormously:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDkK8a4jHZ8
During that race, he got stuck behind Vettel. Hamilton made numerous attempts to pass Vettel, but in each attempt he had to compromise his own line into the corners, which Vettel used to get back in front. Finally, Hamilton compromised Vettel's corner entry on every single corner to compromise his traction and speed on the small straight to get past (skip to 5:45 for that awesome battle!). Hamilton had to plan for almost all the corners of the circuit in order to get in front of Vettel.

Rosberg probably should have seen it coming that Hamilton would try to push Rosberg out - it would not be the first time in a long shot. Rather, as mentioned, he should have conceded the corner to Hamilton or even better conceded it but made it look like he's still trying to battle for it, cut underneath and get earlier back on the power, then attack Hamilton through the fast turn 2.

I still think it was quite agressive from Hamilton (not against the rules or anything, just agressive). He could have done it a tiny bit less extreme by leaving a bit more room for Rosberg. The door was shut for Rosberg in any case; in that position Rosberg would not been able to get the position back. It's quite nitpicky I know, and it does not really matter anyhow. However, when I said Hamilton was agressive, I mean that he banged wheels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZhh2Kk2MUk
I personally feel it's one thing to bluff and push your opponent wide, but if he calls your bluff and does not move aside it gets tricky. Hamilton afterwards told the team he did not meant to do this and I believe him in that. Just that he needs to be a bit more careful with these things since if either driver their tyres hit the other his front wing, it's a slow and painful crawl back the pits to change a flat tyre.

I have to say though: Hamilton did try to turn more to the left, but his car seemed to understeer straight through.

EDIT: Hamilton's side of the story seems to confirm he understeered into Nico: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121516

Hamilton is a clever boy. He knows that when the Stewards look at the telemetry they are going to be checking the steering angles, the the throttle input and the car's line across the track.... Notice that HAM never turns the wheel to the right...he keeps turning it left.... but veerry slowly... tight enough to say he was taking the turn as it was his inside line, but wide enough to push Rosberg out. This is just hard old school wheel to wheel racing.

[turbof1]

Hamilton is a clever boy. He knows that when the Stewards look at the telemetry they are going to be checking the steering angles, the the throttle input and the car's line across the track.... Notice that HAM never turns the wheel to the right...he keeps turning it left.... but veerry slowly... tight enough to say he was taking the turn as it was his inside line, but wide enough to push Rosberg out. This is just hard old school wheel to wheel racing.

At one point in the corner he tried to turn more left to avoid collision, as evident by him pulling the steering wheel quite suddenly more to the left. But as Facts Only stated the steering lock exceeded the grip levels, and Hamilton instead understeered into Rosberg. No doubt there's some intent from Hamilton by taking that trajectory into the corner, trying to pushed Rosberg wide into the corner and not allowing Rosberg to go earlier on the throttle, but he did not look to want to make contact.

I still it was quite agressive for the conditions on the track, but it does looks like he did not meant that.

[aral]

Hamilton is a clever boy. He knows that when the Stewards look at the telemetry they are going to be checking the steering angles, the the throttle input and the car's line across the track.... Notice that HAM never turns the wheel to the right...he keeps turning it left.... but veerry slowly... tight enough to say he was taking the turn as it was his inside line, but wide enough to push Rosberg out. This is just hard old school wheel to wheel racing.

At one point in the corner he tried to turn more left to avoid collision, as evident by him pulling the steering wheel quite suddenly more to the left. But as Facts Only stated the steering lock exceeded the grip levels, and Hamilton instead understeered into Rosberg. No doubt there's some intent from Hamilton by taking that trajectory into the corner, trying to pushed Rosberg wide into the corner and not allowing Rosberg to go earlier on the throttle, but he did not look to want to make contact.

I still it was quite agressive for the conditions on the track, but it does looks like he did not meant that.

Hamilton claims that he understeered into Nico. From my knowledge, understeer would mean that the wheels should have a lot of left hand lock on them, something that was not evident from the on-board.

[bonjon1979]

People (obviously non-competition drivers) seem to think that because Hamilton didnt wind on more left-hand lock he was deliberatly pushing Rosberg wide. Whereas anyone with an ounce of driving skill knows that if you are understeering just turning the wheel more makes things much worse. You need to try to get the wheels back to a point where they can grip which can mean reducing the amount of steer angle. (this is for RWD though, the same is not always true of front and 4WD cars where you can use the power to pull the front wheels in)

There is always some amount of initial correcting of the trajectory on an understeer situation that was absolutelly absent in this case. So..

... either Hamilton is able to predict understeer before experiencing it.
... either he didn't correct because he was scared he would lock (but, man, this you do with a bike were you can't lock your front in the wet).

Or he just wanted to push Rosberg out, wich he could rationaly try to do with the cars amost in parallel.

Every driver worth their salt can predict when they're going to get under steer. Hamilton did what any decent driver should do when on the inside. Claim the corner and make the person stupid enough to hang around on the outside pay for it and not be able to come back at you. You're not a racing driver if you don't do what Hamilton did.

[Just_a_fan]

Hamilton claims that he understeered into Nico. From my knowledge, understeer would mean that the wheels should have a lot of left hand lock on them, something that was not evident from the on-board

A tyre has only so much grip which you can use to turn and brake. If you ask it to do lots of one then it can't do much of the other. If Hamilton was braking hard, as is to be expected in this situation, then his front tyres wouldn't have allowed much steering angle before they started to understeer.

[sAx]

People (obviously non-competition drivers) seem to think that because Hamilton didnt wind on more left-hand lock he was deliberatly pushing Rosberg wide... (this is for RWD though, the same is not always true of front and 4WD cars where you can use the power to pull the front wheels in)

To be fair so did Martin Brundle, whose analysis of Lewis' in car feed was that he didn't wind in maximum lock so in essence nerfed Rosberg to the outer edge of the track. Kind of agree with you though as I didn't see it as being overly aggressive, but it only gave Rosberg a crash or go wide option, though as a non-competition driver I wouldn't really know.

[dans79]

Hamilton claims that he understeered into Nico. From my knowledge, understeer would mean that the wheels should have a lot of left hand lock on them, something that was not evident from the on-board.

You can get under-steer when barely turning the wheel at at all. A good example would be driving in the snow, if you are breaking just a little to hard, and turn the wheel at all you will get under-steer.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

What I don't understand is what Rosberg is thinking during that move. ''Oh wait, Lewis didn't give me any room in Japan but hey let's try again around the outside''. Why not changing your line and even if that doesn't work, he will exit the corner as P2 not P4.

[basti313]

Every driver worth their salt can predict when they're going to get under steer. Hamilton did what any decent driver should do when on the inside. Claim the corner and make the person stupid enough to hang around on the outside pay for it and not be able to come back at you. You're not a racing driver if you don't do what Hamilton did.

Exactely this. I really can not count Lewis as a poor driver not being able to go alongside without understeering into his team mate. But the problem is: When Rosberg did the same thing (stick it where it fits), the team got nuts. Now Merc had the chance to go 1-2 after the first round on two races and both times Lewis screwed it by "being a racing driver". Now: Is all this "we are a team" bullshit or not? Or is it really Ros=Nr2 since Spa14 and he has to brake when Lewis is alongside?

Regarding all this "Rosberg must act smarter": This is the first corner. Please guys, stop this "he can cut behind him" stuff, it is nonsense. You just crash if you do this at COTA and you loose if you try this in Suzuka.

[bonjon1979]

Every driver worth their salt can predict when they're going to get under steer. Hamilton did what any decent driver should do when on the inside. Claim the corner and make the person stupid enough to hang around on the outside pay for it and not be able to come back at you. You're not a racing driver if you don't do what Hamilton did.

Exactely this. I really can not count Lewis as a poor driver not being able to go alongside without understeering into his team mate. But the problem is: When Rosberg did the same thing (stick it where it fits), the team got nuts. Now Merc had the chance to go 1-2 after the first round on two races and both times Lewis screwed it by "being a racing driver". Now: Is all this "we are a team" bullshit or not? Or is it really Ros=Nr2 since Spa14 and he has to brake when Lewis is alongside?

Regarding all this "Rosberg must act smarter": This is the first corner. Please guys, stop this "he can cut behind him" stuff, it is nonsense. You just crash if you do this at COTA and you loose if you try this in Suzuka.

im not sure what rosberg instance youre talking about? I really hope its not spa 14 when he was on the outside and misjudged/made a point by cutting back into hamiltons rear tyre. I think i would lose all faith in this board!!

[dans79]

Now: Is all this "we are a team" bullshit or not? Or is it really Ros=Nr2 since Spa14 and he has to brake when Lewis is alongside?

You can be a team and still fight really hard. What matters is intent, and in spa Nico made his intent very clear with his "I needed to make a point " comment.

No to mention The touch was as much Nico's fault as it was Lewis's. it's blatantly obvious that Nico was trying to squeeze Lewis to the inside, because they are both way off the standard racing line, even though they are well clear of the cars behind. If Nico has stayed closer to racing line, he probably could have inside outed Lewis, by carrying more speed through the turn because his turn was a bigger circle. If Memory serves Vettel did this a few times during the race.

[ringo]

dans79,

I don't think it was premeditated. But it shows Hamilton has no respect whatsoever towards Rosberg. I wrote this in another place, more than %60 of communication is nonverbal, and seemingly two similar actions can have two entire different meanings, as was the case here. Read between the lines my friend. He didn't take a step and reach out to Rosberg to hand him the cap, he threw it, to add insult to injury. I'll give him the slight benefit of doubt that it was out of neglect rather than spite, in the heat of the moment. But gotta remember true character shows in important moments like victory or defeat.

I always thought Alonso was a guttersnipe for all his antics, and unfortunately Hamilton isn't proving much different. 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. Greatness is not just number of wins and titles. That's exactly why many, many people didn't think Schumacher was better than Senna.

I think he is like this only to Rosberg. We don't know the type of relationship they both have. There is a saying that familarity breeds contempt. These guys a very familiar with each other, and so we cannot understand how they fool around or joke with each other. It may well be a inside joke or a bet behind the scenes. Suppose Rosberg told Lewis that he will be throwing the P2 cap at him when he wins the race. Then Hamilton goes on to win and says oh yeah? here's your hat!
We really don't know. We just have to go with what Nico says. it's just games. I wouldn't look too much into it.
It's much the same with Shumacher running Barichello into the wall. They have an understanding within themselves.

[GrizzleBoy]

People (obviously non-competition drivers) seem to think that because Hamilton didnt wind on more left-hand lock he was deliberatly pushing Rosberg wide. Whereas anyone with an ounce of driving skill knows that if you are understeering just turning the wheel more makes things much worse. You need to try to get the wheels back to a point where they can grip which can mean reducing the amount of steer angle. (this is for RWD though, the same is not always true of front and 4WD cars where you can use the power to pull the front wheels in)

There is always some amount of initial correcting of the trajectory on an understeer situation that was absolutelly absent in this case. So..

... either Hamilton is able to predict understeer before experiencing it.
... either he didn't correct because he was scared he would lock (but, man, this you do with a bike were you can't lock your front in the wet).

Or he just wanted to push Rosberg out, wich he could rationaly try to do with the cars amost in parallel.

Both Merc drivers on the formation lap complained of low grip on the fronts. They knew what the tyres felt like already.

Also, if you are already understeer img, literally the only correction you can make is:

A) Keep braking with the same lock and wait for the car to slow to a speed that the tyres can handle

or

B) UNWIND the steering and try to continue braking in a straightER line

Lewis chose A. If he chose B and chose to visibly lessen his steering lock even more....we all know what people would be saying.

[Andres125sx]

What I don't understand is what Rosberg is thinking during that move. ''Oh wait, Lewis didn't give me any room in Japan but hey let's try again around the outside''. Why not changing your line and even if that doesn't work, he will exit the corner as P2 not P4.

Probably because second corner was to the right, so if he would have managed to stay at the outside, he´d have earned the best position for next corner and could have recovered P1

[Andres125sx]

Congratulations for Lewis

It was a fun race until the track was dry enough for slicks, then it become as predictable as usually. As spanish comentators said yesterday, maybe the water sprinklers idea was not that crazy