Vettel's 4 vs Hamilton's 6.

[Kingshark]

I had to laugh myself. Hamilton did a master class of defense and tactics.

No he didn’t. I always felt that Hamilton’s “attempt” at winning the world title at Abu Dhabi 2016 was very half assed and weak.

He should have slowed down much harder. Instead he kept going flat out in the first two sectors, which meant that Rosberg was never truly under threat and he never had to make a serious move.

Hamilton played it very safe at Abu Dhabi 2016. He moderately inconvenienced Rosberg’s race without taking any real risks himself.

[dans79]

He should have slowed down much harder. Instead he kept going flat out in the first two sectors, which meant that Rosberg was never truly under threat and he never had to make a serious move.

you do realize, that if he just slowed down too much in sector one and sector two Rosberg would have most likely used DRS to get past him.

Given the limitations of the track Hamilton did pretty much the only thing he could do to try and get someone behind him overtaken.

[NathanOlder]

He should have slowed down much harder. Instead he kept going flat out in the first two sectors, which meant that Rosberg was never truly under threat and he never had to make a serious move.

you do realize, that if he just slowed down too much in sector one and sector two Rosberg would have most likely used DRS to get past him.

Given the limitations of the track Hamilton did pretty much the only thing he could do to try and get someone behind him overtaken.

To be honest, it would have been nice to see Nico pass. Then maybe see Lewis just send it and see what happens.

I guess if Nico got to the lead, they would have left Seb and Max behind and then Lewis would have had to pull a Schumi

[Jolle]

He should have slowed down much harder. Instead he kept going flat out in the first two sectors, which meant that Rosberg was never truly under threat and he never had to make a serious move.

you do realize, that if he just slowed down too much in sector one and sector two Rosberg would have most likely used DRS to get past him.

Given the limitations of the track Hamilton did pretty much the only thing he could do to try and get someone behind him overtaken.

To be honest, it would have been nice to see Nico pass. Then maybe see Lewis just send it and see what happens.

I guess if Nico got to the lead, they would have left Seb and Max behind and then Lewis would have had to pull a Schumi

Doing a Schumacher only works when you are ahead in points

If Nico somehow got in front of him, good chance Hamilton would have overtaken him within a few laps.

[NathanOlder]

Ok, trying to do a 97 Schumi but getting it right

[Kingshark]

He should have slowed down much harder. Instead he kept going flat out in the first two sectors, which meant that Rosberg was never truly under threat and he never had to make a serious move.

you do realize, that if he just slowed down too much in sector one and sector two Rosberg would have most likely used DRS to get past him.

Given the limitations of the track Hamilton did pretty much the only thing he could do to try and get someone behind him overtaken.

Hamilton should have forced Rosberg into battle. He should have let Rosberg overtake him into turn 8 and then re-overtake him with the second DRS zone in turn 11. That would have slowed them both down enough to bring Verstappen and Vettel into contention.

His actual driving tactics that race (slowing down in S3 only) meant that Rosberg was never truly threatened by the cars behind and never had to make a serious move under pressure.

It was a very half-hearted attempt at winning a world title.

[Just_a_fan]

He should have slowed down much harder. Instead he kept going flat out in the first two sectors, which meant that Rosberg was never truly under threat and he never had to make a serious move.

you do realize, that if he just slowed down too much in sector one and sector two Rosberg would have most likely used DRS to get past him.

Given the limitations of the track Hamilton did pretty much the only thing he could do to try and get someone behind him overtaken.

Hamilton should have forced Rosberg into battle. He should have let Rosberg overtake him into turn 8 and then re-overtake him with the second DRS zone in turn 11. That would have slowed them both down enough to bring Verstappen and Vettel into contention.

His actual driving tactics that race (slowing down in S3 only) meant that Rosberg was never truly threatened by the cars behind and never had to make a serious move under pressure.

It was a very half-hearted attempt at winning a world title.

Hamilton's problem was that Rosberg could afford a "clumsy moment" between them as he was leading the championship. Direct racing wasn't the answer - Hamilton needed others to come in to the fray but Vettel didn't want any of it. Of course, it would have been the title that allowed Hamilton to match Vettel's 4 titles so he perhaps wasn't so keen on Hamilton winning that year. Had Vettel been able to take the title that year too, well, that would have made the slowing down tactics much more effective.

[Jolle]

Ok, trying to do a 97 Schumi but getting it right

In 97 Schumacher was one point ahead of Villeneuve when he did his Suzuka move

More the hope Rosberg would do an ‘86 Mansell

[NathanOlder]

Yeah, would have been nice to see Rosberg have a rear tyre failure
Well, good for me anyway lol

Obviously you know it, but it was Jerez

[Jolle]

Yeah, would have been nice to see Rosberg have a rear tyre failure
Well, good for me anyway lol

Obviously you know it, but it was Jerez

Before it was called “to do a Schumacher “ it should have been called “a Suzuka”, because of Prost on Senna in 1989 and Senna on Prost in 1990

[Kingshark]

you do realize, that if he just slowed down too much in sector one and sector two Rosberg would have most likely used DRS to get past him.

Given the limitations of the track Hamilton did pretty much the only thing he could do to try and get someone behind him overtaken.

Hamilton should have forced Rosberg into battle. He should have let Rosberg overtake him into turn 8 and then re-overtake him with the second DRS zone in turn 11. That would have slowed them both down enough to bring Verstappen and Vettel into contention.

His actual driving tactics that race (slowing down in S3 only) meant that Rosberg was never truly threatened by the cars behind and never had to make a serious move under pressure.

It was a very half-hearted attempt at winning a world title.

Hamilton's problem was that Rosberg could afford a "clumsy moment" between them as he was leading the championship. Direct racing wasn't the answer - Hamilton needed others to come in to the fray but Vettel didn't want any of it. Of course, it would have been the title that allowed Hamilton to match Vettel's 4 titles so he perhaps wasn't so keen on Hamilton winning that year. Had Vettel been able to take the title that year too, well, that would have made the slowing down tactics much more effective.

If there was a “clumsy moment” between the two Mercedes drivers, there would always be a chance that Rosberg ends up worse than Hamilton, like Austria earlier that year.

Hamilton made it too easy for Rosberg. He had to slow down more aggressively for his tactics to work.

[Just_a_fan]

Hamilton should have forced Rosberg into battle. He should have let Rosberg overtake him into turn 8 and then re-overtake him with the second DRS zone in turn 11. That would have slowed them both down enough to bring Verstappen and Vettel into contention.

His actual driving tactics that race (slowing down in S3 only) meant that Rosberg was never truly threatened by the cars behind and never had to make a serious move under pressure.

It was a very half-hearted attempt at winning a world title.

Hamilton's problem was that Rosberg could afford a "clumsy moment" between them as he was leading the championship. Direct racing wasn't the answer - Hamilton needed others to come in to the fray but Vettel didn't want any of it. Of course, it would have been the title that allowed Hamilton to match Vettel's 4 titles so he perhaps wasn't so keen on Hamilton winning that year. Had Vettel been able to take the title that year too, well, that would have made the slowing down tactics much more effective.

If there was a “clumsy moment” between the two Mercedes drivers, there would always be a chance that Rosberg ends up worse than Hamilton, like Austria earlier that year.

Hamilton made it too easy for Rosberg. He had to slow down more aggressively for his tactics to work.

Slowing down wasn't enough. It needed others to actively get involved and they showed no signs of doing so. And any small knock could easily have punctured a tyre resulting in a trip to the back of the pack for Hamilton.

There was nothing he could do other than what he did. He couldn't be anymore forceful on a driver sat behind him who was just intent on shadowing him. If he did try too hard, Rosberg would have passed him and then Hamilton would have been trying to overtake him. Which would give Rosberg the perfect "sorry, didn't see you as I turned in" excuse.

[Kingshark]

Slowing down wasn't enough. It needed others to actively get involved and they showed no signs of doing so. And any small knock could easily have punctured a tyre resulting in a trip to the back of the pack for Hamilton.

There was nothing he could do other than what he did. He couldn't be anymore forceful on a driver sat behind him who was just intent on shadowing him. If he did try too hard, Rosberg would have passed him and then Hamilton would have been trying to overtake him. Which would give Rosberg the perfect "sorry, didn't see you as I turned in" excuse.

You are completely missing the point: that random puncture could have just as easily happened to Rosberg. We’ll never know because Hamilton didn’t back him up enough.

You keep naming random incidents that could have hypothetically happened if Hamilton slowed down more, but what you fail to realize is that a random incident is the only thing that could have won Hamilton the title at Abu Dhabi 2016.

[hUirEYExbN]

Regardless of how optimal one's view of a driver's tactics are, if those tactics end up with him winning a title, then they did the job. Doing the job is all that is required, them also being clean and within the rules of racing is just the cherry on top.

I don't know what this debate is about, someone didn't win the title the way a random spectator thought they should. So bloody what?

[El Scorchio]

Slowing down wasn't enough. It needed others to actively get involved and they showed no signs of doing so. And any small knock could easily have punctured a tyre resulting in a trip to the back of the pack for Hamilton.

There was nothing he could do other than what he did. He couldn't be anymore forceful on a driver sat behind him who was just intent on shadowing him. If he did try too hard, Rosberg would have passed him and then Hamilton would have been trying to overtake him. Which would give Rosberg the perfect "sorry, didn't see you as I turned in" excuse.

You are completely missing the point: that random puncture could have just as easily happened to Rosberg. We’ll never know because Hamilton didn’t back him up enough.

You keep naming random incidents that could have hypothetically happened if Hamilton slowed down more, but what you fail to realize is that a random incident is the only thing that could have won Hamilton the title at Abu Dhabi 2016.

A random event (out of his control) is also the only thing that cost him that title- Malaysia engine failure while leading the race by a country mile.