2015 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka

[Moose]

The tv coverage in this race was sketchy. I'm hearing Bernie is pissed at Merc. for some reason and sort of 'punished' them by ordering the tv crew to show their cars only on the odd occasion. They didn't even cover the battle for the lead at the start of the race... Lauda says he'll be looking into it and even ask Bernie what's up.

The same thing was done last year to a few teams because they pissed bernie off as well. It may have been from all the boycott talks. I think its hilarious...and mercedes arent the first to get this treatment.

In all honesty who cares to see someone driving by themselves several seconds ahead of all the action. Why would they pick that over the actual battles which just happen to be in the midfield. If anything, F1 broadcasters are learning from declining viewership because of entire eras of dominance.

Well, I would quite like to have seen a replay of Hamilton and Rosberg fighting from more than one on-board. I'd also have liked to actually see the qually laps.

[Roman]

Sometimes I have the feeling we are dealing with children here. Bernie not showing Merc on TV because they pissed him off, RB threatening to leave if they dont get what they want, etc. Makes you wonder, are they here to race or to play their little games between each other?

For the race, my man of the day was Hulk, he gained 7 positions while his teammate lost 6.

Ham should have let Ros some space, Ros was next to Ham and (as Alo would say) you always have to leave space. Just look at Hulk vs Massa last week, Hulk was in front, on the racing line and still should have let some space to Massa. But, due to the aforementioned little boys' game, I could not really see the situation during the race and due to acute boredom I did not watch any highlights of the race. So I might be wrong and he actually did leave space.

I think that is almost all I can tell about this boring race...

[Andres125sx]

Carlos said three times, but his examples are so bad you can't imagine. The one in Malaysia, Max was miles faster and it wouldn't make any difference if he let Max through or not, the difference in tyres and pace was so big that Carlos was a sitting duck. The other time was Monaco, where he didn't notice Max overtaking him, because he followed Vettel. And the third time he couldn't remember, well Carlos that was very convincing =D> =D> .

I know Max is the evil one according to Spanish media, AS, I guess Lewis Hamilton was the evil one in 2007 against Fernando Alonso. Imagine that there actually isn't favouritism when a Spanish driver is beaten.

Wake up and come into the real world.

How do you know those were the three situations Carlos was talking about? Looks like you´re assuming what you prefer....

And no, Max is not any sort of evil for spanish media, please ignore your prejudices, they´re doing you no favour

About the real world, ask STR people if Max ignoring them is real or not... nevermind it´s not needed, we all saw it.

[Sebp]

Sometimes I have the feeling we are dealing with children here. Bernie not showing Merc on TV because they pissed him off, RB threatening to leave if they dont get what they want, etc. Makes you wonder, are they here to race or to play their little games between each other?

Sadly, this is not news. It has been going on for decades, ever since Bernie went power mad. Or even before that...

[Andres125sx]

The only driver who did worse there was Sainz..... I honestly can't work out why Sainz appeared to actively move out of the way of Verstappen, particularly after last week.

[...]

Likewise when Verstappen passed Sainz they said he was 9 seconds behind and finished well over 20 behind. If they asked Sainz to let him pass to have a go at Maldonado under those circumstances he should give the place back. But after last week I couldn't imagine them asking him.

I just can't figure out what Sainz was doing, has he given up. Feeling a bit like a no.2 driver after last week? I watched some of the post race but didn't see anything about that situation.

After last GP it wouldn´t be weird assuming TOs

Anycase Max was on mediums while Carlos was on hards, so even if there was no TO they surely said something in the line of "do not block him" at least. As any team should do in that situation, let alone if it´s the team´s favourite.


BTW, if Max ignores TOs that does not mean Carlos should be doing the same. Taking other´s actions to justify yours only shows weak principles.

[Sebp]

But Verstappen's move on Alonso wasn't all that extraordinary. NBC commentators were jubilant about how young Max overtook a double champion on the outside, but with the speed deficit the only extraordinary thing is how long Alonso managed to keep so many guys behind him.


People seem to make a big deal about Alonso's radio comment, too, but for perspective: it was said in the heat of the moment, and he couldn't know whether or not it would be broadcast. Also, we don't know when exactly he said it.
The notion that it was a deliberate thing to ruffle some feathers is ludicrous, IMO.

yes i agree . if i go by the perception and they way commentators get excited by next year verstappen will be declared better than Senna without even being world champion.

Who can blame the commentators though. The Verstappen story is the only exciting thing going on in F1 at the moment. Everything else is kind of meh. Vettel and Hamilton overhauling/equaling Senna was somewhat interesting to follow. No challenger for Merc and BS politics are such a turn off. And why can't we get rid of Maldonado already? What am I saying, keep him for the show!

[Andres125sx]

IMO Hamilton should have been penalized after pushing Rosberg out of track. That way overtakings are imposible, you must let some space once the other car is parallel to yours.

Anycase Rosberg is no rival for Hamilton

[iotar__]

Sometimes I have the feeling we are dealing with children here. Bernie not showing Merc on TV because they pissed him off, RB threatening to leave if they dont get what they want, etc. Makes you wonder, are they here to race or to play their little games between each other?

For the race, my man of the day was Hulk, he gained 7 positions while his teammate lost 6.

Ham should have let Ros some space, Ros was next to Ham and (as Alo would say) you always have to leave space. Just look at Hulk vs Massa last week, Hulk was in front, on the racing line and still should have let some space to Massa. But, due to the aforementioned little boys' game, I could not really see the situation during the race and due to acute boredom I did not watch any highlights of the race. So I might be wrong and he actually did leave space.

I think that is almost all I can tell about this boring race...

It was even more boring watching the replay: fast forward-fast forward-fast forward. So where was Mercedes when Ecclestone did TV trick to Force India in Bahrain? Why weren't all teams protesting it, not interested?

As F1 experts Brundle and Couthard say Hamilton has "a very long history" of moves like that: Raikk, Sut, Butt - Germany '14, Bott, Ricc Hun '15, Bott Brazil '13, Maldo Monaco '11, Button Canada '11, Koba Spa '11(?) and many more - all "my corner or space". IMO:
- Drivers push each other off often enough, if it's more or less side by side and one runs out of the track depending on severity and speed it's fine (although Magnussen got 2 BS penalties Alo/Bott). Here Rosberg was quick enough and had every chance to stay there, then there was a cut and a collision-or-off. Maldo on Perez Hun was cleaner.
- Lack of Mercedes' reaction to team-mate doing that and in contrast with Spa '14. Imagine the opposite - the outrage, not a team-player etc.

"My man of the day was Hulk, he gained 7 positions while his teammate lost 6." It wasn't Perez's fault, first lap nut Ricciardo caused it (where is Webber?). It shows that losing Force India would be worse for developing talent in F1 than Red Bull teams. Perez, Hulk, Di Resta even Sutil got their chances and had great periods because of their no BS approach.

[CBeck113]

Mercedes is a company and they can decide whether to give or not engines to Red Bull. I think Bernie shouldn't interfere so much to situations between teams. Not covering Mercedes during race is a bit cruel. Bernie shouldn't act like a dictator

Bernie is pissed, because if the grid drops below 16 cars, his 99 year contract with the FIA is worthless.

This is exactly the issue, and I have a gut feeling that this is also what Jean Todt is hoping for, to then revamp F1 the way he sees necessary. Then they could redo the TV money equasion, making the teams happier, and get rid of the current formula to allow more competitive variance without a huge budget. He knows how to get things done right - his time at Ferrari showed this, so maybe his "lack of presence" was actually his way of slaying the giant.

[George-Jung]

I had set my alarm clock etc.. woke up, watched the first couple of laps..
Found it that boring that I fell asleep again.

I used to be a hardcore fan, watched al the qualies and races.. but nowadays I doesn't interest me that much anymore.
It is so boring that you already know who will be winning after the first corner.

Lets see what next race brings.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

I had set my alarm clock etc.. woke up, watched the first couple of laps..
Found it that boring that I fell asleep again.

I used to be a hardcore fan, watched al the qualies and races.. but nowadays I doesn't interest me that much anymore.
It is so boring that you already know who will be winning after the first corner.

Lets see what next race brings.

So nothing has changed then, first Schumacher, then Vettel and now Hamilton.

[mrluke]

IMO Hamilton should have been penalized after pushing Rosberg out of track. That way overtakings are imposible, you must let some space once the other car is parallel to yours.

Anycase Rosberg is no rival for Hamilton

Rosberg was driving into a wedge, he left the door wide open in T1, what happened in T2 was inevitable.

Rosberg even did the same thing to Ham in Hungary and there were no penalties there.

[ChrisF1]

Yeah, there is a big difference between chopping across somebody and running them out wide. Hamilton just ran Rosberg wide, but for comparison, Rosberg chopped Ricciardo at Hungary, and Grosjean chopped Stevens in Canada, Hamilton chopped Kobayashi at Belgium.

Running people out wide is standard, just look at Rossi vs Pedrosa

[NathanOlder]

Does anyone know why Rosberg finished the race on a set of used Hard tyres ? If im correct he started his final stint on tyres that had done 4-5 laps.

Anyone know why considering he would have had new sets of both compound available.

[Andres125sx]

IMO Hamilton should have been penalized after pushing Rosberg out of track. That way overtakings are imposible, you must let some space once the other car is parallel to yours.

Anycase Rosberg is no rival for Hamilton

Rosberg was driving into a wedge, he left the door wide open in T1, what happened in T2 was inevitable.

Not true, Hamilton could have left some space perfectly, as we´ve seen on every race since 1950 when two cars run parallel

Rosberg even did the same thing to Ham in Hungary and there were no penalties there.

If we take any example of a rule infringement as the proof about that rule shouldn´t be applied, then there would be no rules