2016 Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay, 16-18 September

[Chuckjr]

The contortions Lewis fans make to dismiss Nico's skill set is incredible. Consider this. Since F1 has been only a two horse championship since the new engine regs, the more Nico’s skill set is repeatedly degraded, the less of an accomplishment it becomes if Lewis beats him, and the greater embarrassment for Lewis if he loses.

[atanatizante]

1.Paddy Lowe : " ... A great job too from Lewis after a tough few days here in Singapore. He didn't quite have the car underneath him this weekend for reasons we need to study in more detail. ..." so after all he didn`t lose 7 tenth a lap on a sudden without a reason ...
2.Why didn`t they put Lewis on US tyre on the last stint?!? Why on Earth gave him the SS tyre who was the least tested tyre from them? There were just 15 laps to go ...
3.It`s the second race in a row when Lewis didn`t have the pace once he is stuck in the pack ... it`s W07`s pace that much influenced by following another car?
4. Lewis said he got also warnings on his dash in the last 10 laps but ignored them and had a go until the end ... what?!? how can you ignore such an important issue and I`m thinking not for the race result but for the for sake of your life ...

[Gothrek]

The contortions Lewis fans make to dismiss Nico's skill set is incredible. Consider this. Since F1 has been only a two horse championship since the new engine regs, the more Nico’s skill set is repeatedly degraded, the less of an accomplishment it becomes if Lewis beats him, and the greater embarrassment for Lewis if he loses.

Well in general it just shows how mediocre Hamilton is actually. Rosberg is not regarded the greatest talent. So when Hamilton cannot even beat him, it puts things in perspective.
And fanboys don't like this, because they believe there driver is some kind of demi god.

[ME4ME]

Well in general it just shows how mediocre Hamilton is actually. Rosberg is not regarded the greatest talent. So when Hamilton cannot even beat him, it puts things in perspective.
And fanboys don't like this, because they believe there driver is some kind of demi god.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Well in general it just shows how mediocre Hamilton is actually. Rosberg is not regarded the greatest talent. So when Hamilton cannot even beat him, it puts things in perspective.
And fanboys don't like this, because they believe there driver is some kind of demi god.

[Gothrek]

I was talking from a fanboys point of view. They feel threatened because a guy with is not considered as a great talent is beating their demi-god. And this cannot be true in any case, because their demi-god is the best and truest driver ever to have driven an F1 car on this earth. So they start to degenerate the other driver skillset, or blame it on luck, or bad luck or whatever they can invent, because they cannot handle the truth that their demi-god is not winning every time. Whenever Hamilton loses, it is never Hamiltons fault... Strange in my opinion.
Hamilton had 1 awesome year, him vs Alonso. Against Button he did not so well, against Rosberg he is doing ok-ish, but he is not destroying the guy.

[Schuttelberg]

The contortions Lewis fans make to dismiss Nico's skill set is incredible. Consider this. Since F1 has been only a two horse championship since the new engine regs, the more Nico’s skill set is repeatedly degraded, the less of an accomplishment it becomes if Lewis beats him, and the greater embarrassment for Lewis if he loses.

Well in general it just shows how mediocre Hamilton is actually. Rosberg is not regarded the greatest talent. So when Hamilton cannot even beat him, it puts things in perspective.
And fanboys don't like this, because they believe there driver is some kind of demi god.

I think if you're categorizing Hamilton as mediocre, you probably don't think anyone on the grid is good. Your 'fanboy' comment probably stems from the media that are putting this more down to Hamilton's lack of performance than Rosberg's brilliance. Anyone who's read any of my posts here knows I don't rate Rosberg at all. However, he put in his career best performance at Singapore and I think even an on form Hamilton would have found it tough to beat him that weekend. Having said that, Hamilton's reliability has been a sheer mess this year. The matter has been compounded by his starts. If he can get these two things right for the rest of the year, I have no doubt in my mind what the result will be.

I will say one thing though- I'm a little disappointed in Hamilton with his inconsistency ever since he won his 3rd title. I expected him to eat Rosberg alive after he recovered to 3rd in Spa, but he's been blowing a bit hot and cold. Hamilton needs to be careful from here on. He needs to catch the bull by the horns and lay down the marker. A bit like Vettel in the second half of 2013. He's perfectly capable of winning the next 6 races or at least keep winning till the time Rosberg is mathematically eliminated.

[Vasconia]

The contortions Lewis fans make to dismiss Nico's skill set is incredible. Consider this. Since F1 has been only a two horse championship since the new engine regs, the more Nico’s skill set is repeatedly degraded, the less of an accomplishment it becomes if Lewis beats him, and the greater embarrassment for Lewis if he loses.

This happened a lot in Spain with Alonso and all his rivals who were constantly dismissed(Schumacher, Kimi, Hamilton, Vettel,etc). And I tended to ask always the same, if your main rival is mediocre, whats the big thing of beating him?

[Vasconia]

[quote="atanatizante"]
3.It`s the second race in a row when Lewis didn`t have the pace once he is stuck in the pack ... it`s W07`s pace that much influenced by following another car?
[quote]

It reminds me the dominant RB which was a car made to lead the grip. The car sufffered from high temperaturas in the brakes and engine if it was following another car. Maybe does it happen the same with the Mercedes?

And Singapur is one of the worst tracks for it with lots of corners and high temperatures.

[szilva01]

I think what's being forgotten is that Hamilton ran in clean air for most of the time as well. You can count "clean air" as a gap of around 2s.

Not to say he surely had some more issues, but both Mercedes cars where quite marginal on it. Mercedes highly compromises on brake cooling for an aerodynamic advantage.

So do you reckon it was more likely a combination of overheating and wear that they expected, and that they were just keeping an eye on it turbof1 ?

Hungarian commentators covered this topic pretty well. It's the wear caused by overheating. If the discs go up to temps 1000°C+ they need to be cooled more and more to get back to the optimal 8-900°C range. And if they don't, they start to lose braking power and start to wear exponetially.

[Schuttelberg]

The contortions Lewis fans make to dismiss Nico's skill set is incredible. Consider this. Since F1 has been only a two horse championship since the new engine regs, the more Nico’s skill set is repeatedly degraded, the less of an accomplishment it becomes if Lewis beats him, and the greater embarrassment for Lewis if he loses.

This happened a lot in Spain with Alonso and all his rivals who were constantly dismissed(Schumacher, Kimi, Hamilton, Vettel,etc). And I tended to ask always the same, if your main rival is mediocre, whats the big thing of beating him?

I think the situation with Alonso and Hamilton is vastly different. Circumstances are never the same, just like opinions. I repeat, it's petty to always dismiss Rosberg's performances (Singapore 2016, last three races of 2015) but it's equally important to note that Rosberg has won an awful lot without Hamilton in the picture. It also is a whole new ball game when you're in the same team. If we have to be championship specific, then it's hard to argue against Lewis' misfortune this year. This doesn't mean Rosberg is bad, it just means he's not as good as Hamilton over a season. On his day, Rosberg can run away with it.

I think, the biggest reason why Rosberg is looked down upon as much as he is, is because of his race craft. Whether he's defending or attacking, you just seem to get the feeling that a clumsy daft move is around the corner, If you notice, this doesn;t happen against a driver who's not the cream of the crop, it's always against guys that are renowned champions or winners. To me, more than race craft it's his bottle in a pressure situation that seems to crack. All the other names you've taken against Alonso are WDC and they can fight and win battles wheel to wheel when the pressure is at it's maximum.

Personally, I think Hamilton will make a phenomenal 4xWDC. I'll take it over a 3xWDC and Rosberg as a WDC. However, like I said earlier as well, Schumacher's and Vettel's domination in certain years is often frowned upon, but it just goes to show that winning is never easy and no matter how good the car, you still have to beat the guy next to you! Hamilton seems to have a habit of making things tough for himself.

[turbof1]

The contortions Lewis fans make to dismiss Nico's skill set is incredible. Consider this. Since F1 has been only a two horse championship since the new engine regs, the more Nico’s skill set is repeatedly degraded, the less of an accomplishment it becomes if Lewis beats him, and the greater embarrassment for Lewis if he loses.

Well in general it just shows how mediocre Hamilton is actually. Rosberg is not regarded the greatest talent. So when Hamilton cannot even beat him, it puts things in perspective.
And fanboys don't like this, because they believe there driver is some kind of demi god.

Well in general it just shows how mediocre Hamilton is actually. Rosberg is not regarded the greatest talent. So when Hamilton cannot even beat him, it puts things in perspective.
And fanboys don't like this, because they believe there driver is some kind of demi god.

https://media.giphy.com/media/EJIFaXV55556M/giphy.gif
https://media.giphy.com/media/D6XJsMA2cfIdy/giphy.gif

Fanboy baiting and Fanboy trolling, gets a moderator boiling. Can we please cut the crap, before I have to resort to mod slap. I wish you all a goodnight, and hope I do not find tomorrow a b*tchfight.

[ChrisDanger]

Some Pirelli graphics summing up the race.

[sosic2121]

The contortions Lewis fans make to dismiss Nico's skill set is incredible. Consider this. Since F1 has been only a two horse championship since the new engine regs, the more Nico’s skill set is repeatedly degraded, the less of an accomplishment it becomes if Lewis beats him, and the greater embarrassment for Lewis if he loses.

This happened a lot in Spain with Alonso and all his rivals who were constantly dismissed(Schumacher, Kimi, Hamilton, Vettel,etc). And I tended to ask always the same, if your main rival is mediocre, whats the big thing of beating him?

I think the situation with Alonso and Hamilton is vastly different. Circumstances are never the same, just like opinions. I repeat, it's petty to always dismiss Rosberg's performances (Singapore 2016, last three races of 2015) but it's equally important to note that Rosberg has won an awful lot without Hamilton in the picture. It also is a whole new ball game when you're in the same team. If we have to be championship specific, then it's hard to argue against Lewis' misfortune this year. This doesn't mean Rosberg is bad, it just means he's not as good as Hamilton over a season. On his day, Rosberg can run away with it.

I think, the biggest reason why Rosberg is looked down upon as much as he is, is because of his race craft. Whether he's defending or attacking, you just seem to get the feeling that a clumsy daft move is around the corner, If you notice, this doesn;t happen against a driver who's not the cream of the crop, it's always against guys that are renowned champions or winners. To me, more than race craft it's his bottle in a pressure situation that seems to crack. All the other names you've taken against Alonso are WDC and they can fight and win battles wheel to wheel when the pressure is at it's maximum.

Personally, I think Hamilton will make a phenomenal 4xWDC. I'll take it over a 3xWDC and Rosberg as a WDC. However, like I said earlier as well, Schumacher's and Vettel's domination in certain years is often frowned upon, but it just goes to show that winning is never easy and no matter how good the car, you still have to beat the guy next to you! Hamilton seems to have a habit of making things tough for himself.

While I don't agree with everything you said, I find your comments to be fair and objective.
I believe Hamilton lacks in certain areas that are less important in modern F1, but sometimes it bites him.

[Phil]

Hamilton seems to have a habit of making things tough for himself.

I agree. Though I think the margin for winning and losing is extremely tight - so tight, that if something doesn't run according to plan, it raises the stakes beyond the point where winning is still possible. Not against a team-mate as strong as Rosberg and in a car that far beyond the rest of the field.

I too expected (was hoping) that Hamilton would wipe the floor starting with Monza. And he did, at least in Qualifying. Then the start happened and that tiny little error at the start made fighting for the win an impossibility. He was never, ever going to close that gap. Once he found himself as far back down as he was, Rosberg had the win served on a platter. The only thing that could have turned that around, was circumstance, a safety car, something out of the ordinary that would have handicapped the driver leading in some way. It didn't and Rosberg won that one, fair and square.

Singapore is another one of those. The weekend didn't go according to plan and for reasons still unknown, Hamilton just didn't have the pace. I find 7 tenths a huge difference and considering how strong Hamilton ususally is in Singapore, I'm inclined to think that the issue he had in FP2 and the set-up must of had something to do with it. Likewise, Rosberg performed masterfully and simply aced it.

It must be hard this year for either driver. You might stick it on pole, but the starts have been somewhat of a russian roulette for both. That can't be exactly confidence inspiring, especially not for Hamilton who with the exception of Canada I think, never made his pole position stick (well, he didn't there either technically).

Given how tight the margins are and the fact that Rosberg has won more races than he ever did in a season, I'm still inclined to think it's his this year for taking, except a technical issue on his side of the garage turns the tide somehow.

For what it's worth; I think Hamilton needed this bad race in Singapore to give him a kick to perform even better. Given Rosberg now has won 3 races in a row again, it will be absolutely important for Hamilton to strike back next race. If he doesn't, that gap will keep on growing and IMO will also lead to quite a mental advantage for Rosberg. Momentum will be on his side... it already is.