2016 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi - Yas Marina, 25-27 November

[krisfx]

Hamilton had got out and was pushing his car around by hand and Vettel still only barely managed to catch them (the rest couldn't even stay within touching distance of the Mercs). Given how much life he would have had left in his tyres, fuel reserves for high-performance engine modes and the normal advantage the Merc has over the Ferrari I don't see how Vettel would have passed him.

There wasn't even a realistic chance that Vettel would pass Rosberg.

I think Mercedes main concern was for internal team harmony. If, for instance, Hamilton backed Rosberg into Verstappen and there was a race-ending collision as a result I can't see how the Rosberg/Hamilton relationship survives. That, in turn, splits the Mercedes team as a whole as people will take sides.

Exactly.
Mercedes are German, and so is Rosberg. They think it is good for company prestige to have WDC as a German. This is probably correct.
I actually think that Hamilton has been unlucky this year but Rosberg has driven consistently if not spectularly and so deserves his WDC.

Next year is a new specification for all the cars. This will be interesting in theory but we shall see.

What do we think about the possibility that Mercedes needed the 1-2 to qualify for an ongoing increase in their Heritage Bonus? Or perhaps something else. I think its certainly a plausible explanation as to why the team orders were so strong.

Marketing. Two champions in one team is more marketable than one champion and a second driver.

[Fifty]

It's still a business. 1,2 is more money than 1, 3 or 1,4 or 2,3 or 3,4 or a crash...

Team Merc cares less about the wdc than it did about CWC and cares more about points in their coffers.

Hami risking Nico getting more points was the issue.

[iotar__]

Hamilton had got out and was pushing his car around by hand and Vettel still only barely managed to catch them (the rest couldn't even stay within touching distance of the Mercs). Given how much life he would have had left in his tyres, fuel reserves for high-performance engine modes and the normal advantage the Merc has over the Ferrari I don't see how Vettel would have passed him.

nThere wasn't even a realistic chance that Vettel would pass Rosberg.

I think Mercedes main concern was for internal team harmony. If, for instance, Hamilton backed Rosberg into Verstappen and there was a race-ending collision as a result I can't see how the Rosberg/Hamilton relationship survives. That, in turn, splits the Mercedes team as a whole as people will take sides.

Exactly.
Mercedes are German, and so is Rosberg. They think it is good for company prestige to have WDC as a German. This is probably correct.
I actually think that Hamilton has been unlucky this year but Rosberg has driven consistently if not spectularly and so deserves his WDC.

Next year is a new specification for all the cars. This will be interesting in theory but we shall see.

What do we think about the possibility that Mercedes needed the 1-2 to qualify for an ongoing increase in their Heritage Bonus? Or perhaps something else. I think its certainly a plausible explanation as to why the team orders were so strong.

Ugh this is even beneath usual level here
- "Team orders because Rosberg is German" What team orders? To not slow down too much and cause collision and/or allow Vettel to jump one or two Merc cars = lose win. Didn't stop Hamilton did it? Did he win 'despite' 'team orders'? Count of TO is 3:0. Shame on pure racer and German Mercedes.

- "No realistic chance for Vettel to pass" A. Tell that to Hamilton. B. Not obvious C. Depends on what you consider realistic, see above. Realistic = Hamilton was capable of doing infinite amount of dumb things after slowing down pseudo tactic display.

- " Rosberg has driven consistently if not spectacularly and so deserves his WDC." Throwing a bone of backhanded compliments are we? No, he didn't spectacularly crash and Q 10th in the car quicker 0,7 than nearest competitor in Baku. Didn't spectacularly crash into team-mate in Spain losing Merc 1-2. Didn't spectacularly get a gift of Monaco win through team orders and 10 s pitstop. Instead disgusting consistency of dominant wins (Italy. Singapore, Japan, Baku) and BS penalties (no luck involved).

Didn't have as many spectacularly bad starts like Italy. These incurable/hardware software problems that were magically solved in the last ~5 races which suggest that the problem was the driver = Hamilton. Can't be bothered with the rest.

Anyway:
- How was Palmer's driving into back of a car a 5 s penalty ? That was worse than most 10 s penalties this season including Rosberg vs Ham (Austria) and of course vs Raikkonen in Malaysia or Nasr Palmer. They're not even trying to pretend.
- Palmer is the new Button, anyone close to him gets penalties while he gets away. That was a drive through.

[dans79]

It's still a business. 1,2 is more money than 1, 3 or 1,4 or 2,3 or 3,4 or a crash...

Team Merc cares less about the wdc than it did about CWC and cares more about points in their coffers.

Under the new rules for 2013, the team that wins the constructors’ championship will pay a basic fee of US$500,000 and then $6000 US for every point scored. The other teams will pay the same basic fee plus US$5000 per point.

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/11/ ... will-work/

[Fifty]

Yes but how much earned per point?
If you earn $600k permpoint, paying an extra $1k isn't much.

[dans79]

Yes but how much earned per point?
If you earn $600k permpoint, paying an extra $1k isn't much.

You don't earn money per point, you earn by the place you finish.



765- 468 (what RBR scored) = 297

297 * $6,000 = $1,786,000 USD that's a lot of money the cold have gone to Christmas Bonuses that didn't.

The we must finish 1-2 and nothing else matters is purely a vanity thing by management. Personally, I think a lot of that vanity is tied up in the head of Wollf, the wannabe racer, that couldn't cut it.

[Fifty]

What about sponsor cash? Could it be petronas pays a certain amount per win? Same thing with Merc? The execs get "$x" per point won or per 1,2 or podium finish?

There has to be money or people would always sandbag the end...

[dans79]

What about sponsor cash? Could it be petronas pays a certain amount per win? Same thing with Merc? The execs get "$x" per point won or per 1,2 or podium finish?

No one out side of Merc is going to know this.

There has to be money or people would always sandbag the end...

Teams do this a lot, this why you hear about teams shifting development towards next years car.

[Gaz.]

What about sponsor cash? Could it be petronas pays a certain amount per win? Same thing with Merc? The execs get "$x" per point won or per 1,2 or podium finish?

There has to be money or people would always sandbag the end...

You're clutching at straws now.

[Fifty]

Always!!!!

[Vasconia]

This isn't the WRC though, Vasconia, there are other cars on the track that are to be engaged in combat. This is what racing is about.

So what? I perfectly know this. I am just saying that if Nico would have tried to overtake Lewis "something" would have happened, for sure.

Moreover, othe drivers were enganged thanks to Hamilton´s wise strategy.

[Vasconia]

Marketing. Two champions in one team is more marketable than one champion and a second driver.

Wow, I though that Red Bull were the masters of Marketing, but I was wrong. Just tell them how to do it because they weren´t doing it right during Vettel´s reign.

[basti313]

This isn't the WRC though, Vasconia, there are other cars on the track that are to be engaged in combat. This is what racing is about.

So what? I perfectly know this. I am just saying that if Nico would have tried to overtake Lewis "something" would have happened, for sure.

I do not know, why you even discuss Nico overtaking Lewis. We should respect other opinions here, but this is plain bull$hit. You can see it nicely in the live timing: Nico was close to Lewis in S3 as close can be. But at the DRS line Lewis always had at least 0.6s gap, sometimes nearly a second due to the fast corners in S1 where following a similar car is impossible.

Moreover, othe drivers were enganged thanks to Hamilton´s wise strategy.

No. No one was engaged. Due to Lewis giving Nico DRS and slipstream, there was no way to get alongside. Vettel had at least half a car length gap before braking, so not even close enough for diving.
It would have been different if Lewis would have put his foot down for the last laps. Without DRS Nico would have been a sitting duck with his old Soft tires as Vettel could follow a bit better through S1.

[Vasconia]

It would have been different if Lewis would have put his foot down for the last laps. Without DRS Nico would have been a sitting duck with his old Soft tires as Vettel could follow a bit better through S1.

We dont know how much faster was Nico. You are taking for granted that that he was much slower tan Vettel and I am not sure about this.

[basti313]

It would have been different if Lewis would have put his foot down for the last laps. Without DRS Nico would have been a sitting duck with his old Soft tires as Vettel could follow a bit better through S1.

We dont know how much faster was Nico. You are taking for granted that that he was much slower tan Vettel and I am not sure about this.

You can take the Haas as a measure. Gut pitted for Soft on the same lap as Ros and Gro pitted for SS on the same lap like Vet. Unless cruising it home, Gro had easily 1sec to 1.5sec advantage. Taking a bit of advantage of the Merc, Vet would have had a second. Plus the fact, that Nico was running the full stint in dirty air. I see no reason how Ros could gap him in S3 with the older tires.
Of course, one second advantage on this track is not very much, but it would have surely been better than DRS for Ros.