2016 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, 07-09 October

[Mandrake]

Hamilton should quickly rethink if he want to continue blaming "someone" (a higher force?) not wanting him to become champion....

Today "someone" certainly wanted him to finish higher up than he could have after his slow start. RIC fails to overtake the Renault properly and slows down himself and RAI to an extend that let's Hamilton get out ahead despite having been undercut by RIC / RAI.

Then Ferrari do their usual tactic --- and and let Hamilton pass Vettel as well. No way Hamilton would have gotten past RAI / VET on track on performance only.....

[sosic2121]

I agree with proteus. someone made mistake and someone should pay for it.
IMO this young "supertalent" has done more damage to racing than he contributed to to it.
He just stole another great overtake from us with his stupid moves like he did so many times this year.

[matt_b]

Even if Lewis won in Malaysia I would still favor Nico at this point. Lewis' bad starts are far too common, I can't see him making 4 good starts in a row let alone 4 poles as Nico has grabbed every pole in the V6 era (USA, Brazil, Mexico, Abu Dhabi)!

[Edax]

Verstappen moving under braking. Wonder how far they will let him take it before he gets a penalty. Another howler from Ferrari.

Cornering does involve turning the steering wheel at some point. Since he does not steer beyond the apex he is not changing lanes. He is just taking the corner a bit earlier than Hamilton expected. But I don't see that as erratic. It was not so much blocking as straightening out his braking into the corner if you ask me.

There was no gap, there would not be a gap, and even if there was a gap Hamilton would be too far behind to behind to be in it. So I think the stewards were correct in this case ( in contrast to Spa with RAI)

[Sonador]

I agree with proteus. someone made mistake and someone should pay for it.
IMO this young "supertalent" has done more damage to racing than he contributed to to it.
He just stole another great overtake from us with his stupid moves like he did so many times this year.

Wel the people who voted for driver of the day, disagree with you.
I do not think it as a stupid move.

It was harsh but a fair move, Hamilton could have made the corner but opted the safe way out.
I would've love to have seen a Merc 1 & 2 at Suzuka, but this battle was nice to see, regardles of its outcome.

What would you do in that corner, put the door wide open like a Bottas (no offence to Bottas fans)?
Hamilton said once: this is not a friendly game of chess.

There needs to be a rule clarifiation regarding this type of racing, MV is not the only one to do this type of racing.
I think it is born out of DRS, and of the current tyres, and the current Aero regulations.

[AMG.Tzan]

Did you forget LH - MV 'pure racers' backslapping after moves that were 10 times dirtier?

- Rosberg - dominant win, probably luck,
- Hamilton just panics at starts this season, you know why he talked about them and why I mentioned it. He's lucky competition is pathetic when he does it: Monza, here, Australia, Bahrain. Although engines must work extra hard .
- if he was better at Q, at starts and had better pace he'd be winning everything, unfortunately it's the opposite.

- Haas wasted Grosjean's excellent (2nd stint pace compared to Force India and overtakes) race with a pitstop
- Fake gearbox change at Ferrari switching team-mates positions, they used to do bad pitstops, so much faith in their 2nd driver, quickly justified.

So remind us of a dirty move by Hamilton that put another driver in danger...! We know your beloved Rosberg won today(and probably the championship with 3 fewer engines) =D> but it's ok sometimes to accept that your rival was in a position that could have cost him many more than just 10 points!

Rosberg had the failures last year, this year it's Lewis' turn.

Man both had failures in both 2014 and 2015!! It's just a silly argument saying that only Rosberg had failures and that costed him the 14 and 15 championships! Anyway i don't want to get anymore into fanboyism stuff!! Racing was good this time around and the cars look bloody fast around this track...can't imagine how they'll go next year!!

[f1316]

Really don't understand why Ferrari didn't double stack with Vettel and Kimi. Clearly worked with Kimi getting past Ricciardo and same would have happened with Verstappen.

Again we have a race where Ferrari marginally quicker than RB but they can't find the strategy to beat them.

[leo777]

Verstappen moving under braking. Wonder how far they will let him take it before he gets a penalty. Another howler from Ferrari.

Cornering does involve turning the steering wheel at some point. Since he does not steer beyond the apex he is not changing lanes. He is just taking the corner a bit earlier than Hamilton expected. But I don't see that as erratic. It was not so much blocking as straightening out his braking into the corner if you ask me.

There was no gap, there would not be a gap, and even if there was a gap Hamilton would be too far behind to behind to be in it. So I think the stewards were correct in this case ( in contrast to Spa with RAI)

Agreeing 100%! Nothing wrong Max had done here...unlike some previous situations with Kimi couple races ago.

[sosic2121]

I agree with proteus. someone made mistake and someone should pay for it.
IMO this young "supertalent" has done more damage to racing than he contributed to to it.
He just stole another great overtake from us with his stupid moves like he did so many times this year.

Wel the people who voted for driver of the day, disagree with you.
I do not think it as a stupid move.

It was harsh but a fair move, Hamilton could have made the corner but opted the safe way out.
I would've love to have seen a Merc 1 & 2 at Suzuka, but this battle was nice to see, regardles of its outcome.

What would you do in that corner, put the door wide open like a Bottas (no offence to Bottas fans)?
Hamilton said once: this is not a friendly game of chess.

There needs to be a rule clarifiation regarding this type of racing, MV is not the only one to do this type of racing.
I think it is born out of DRS, and of the current tyres, and the current Aero regulations.

I think Verstappen should have gone to the inside earlier. IMO, at that stage he already committed to the outside. But since I'm not Hamilton fan, I don't care.
What I do care is that Lewis "lost control" and ran wide, but paid no price for it. F1 needs gravel traps!

[sosic2121]

Again we have a race where Ferrari marginally quicker than RB but they can't find the strategy to beat them.

Ferrari's strategy is incredibly disappointing this whole season.

[iotar__]

Really don't understand why Ferrari didn't double stack with Vettel and Kimi. Clearly worked with Kimi getting past Ricciardo and same would have happened with Verstappen.

Again we have a race where Ferrari marginally quicker than RB but they can't find the strategy to beat them.

- 3 places penalty meant they wouldn't beat Red Bull with a normal start. Nothing to do with strategy. 5 places penalty - same, regardless if you consider it a bad luck or a strategic decision.
- Against LH. I didn't follow it closely but the only thought I had was softs were for a quick re-overtake while tyres last. Didn't happen and later tyres didn't last.

If you still pretend that F1 is not a manipulated farce. http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verst ... nce-836526: "Max Verstappen was spoken to by F1 race director Charlie Whiting"

Again ? Last time worked like a charm then. I didn't know that Whiting did educational one one ones. Only with selected few of course: marketing chosen ones. I stupidly thought that sport works based on clear rules that apply to everyone and proper procedures: investigations and penalties. Same as in Hungary when it was all fine until Hamilton asked personally for 'clarification' which triggered BS late investigation it all depends on who is involved.

[F1NAC]

Mercedes lodged protest against VES

[Phil]

I'm really annoyed over how the starts have ruined so many races this year.

[Sevach]

https://cdn-e1.streamable.com/video/mp4 ... af02a326b9

No way there isn't a crash if Hamiton actually goes for the inside there.

[f1316]

Really don't understand why Ferrari didn't double stack with Vettel and Kimi. Clearly worked with Kimi getting past Ricciardo and same would have happened with Verstappen.

Again we have a race where Ferrari marginally quicker than RB but they can't find the strategy to beat them.

- 3 places penalty meant they wouldn't beat Red Bull with a normal start. Nothing to do with strategy. 5 places penalty - same, regardless if you consider it a bad luck or a strategic decision.

Well that doesn't make any sense.

As I already said, Vettel was less than 2 secs behind Verstappen; if he'd undercut him he would have been ahead - which would have happened if he'd pitted same lap as Kimi (and the gap between made that possible) - simple as that.