2016 Grand Prix of Brazil - Interlagos, 11-13 November

[wesley123]

Great drive by Max. He had the instinct to choose a different line.

Not just instinct.
Look at the safetycar runs again.
While everybody is following that in a docile manner, Max is all over the full width of the track.
He is feeling out the grip levels

At first it was funny, but now it is just getting annoying how commentators can turn literally anything into praise for Verstappen.

[Phil]

@Vettelswonmeover

I'm a bit baffled how you are only counting two qualifying for Hamilton. Rosberg had his 5 grid penalty cause of the gearbox if I remember correctly, but apart from that, Hamilton was prevented to contest in qualifying on at least two occasions (China & Spa) and from contesting in Q3 in Russia. On all 3 occasions and 1 from Rosberg, this has pretty much accounted for at least a 7 point deficit due to inability to challenge for the win. At least in Rosbergs case, he still contested in Q3 and missed out on pole (which translated into starting from 6th), so perhaps we can say that despite the penalty, he wasn't going to start from pole anyway.

What hurt most is that DNF however in Malaysia that resulted in a 28 point swing (LH losing 25, NR gaining 3). No matter how Barcelona would have turn out, that double DNF would have likely only accounted for a 7 point swing either way.

[FrukostScones]

The Mercedes was quicker...Hamilton pulled away from Max after Max passed Rosberg. Hamilton was cruising at the front and still left Rosberg behind.

Can I borrow your telemetry eyes for winter testing next year?

If car A is in front of car B and the gap between them increases, then A is quicker than B. No telemetry required.

Can you share the telemetry you used to show that the RedBull chassis is better in braking, traction and cornering?

HAM had VES in S2 covered.

HAM was faster.

VES drove very well (and brave ) yesterday in the wet, as expected, but HAM was untouchable yesterday.

Maybe RIC wasn't just as brave and therefore couldn'd post the laptimes of VES. Or he is just lacking...

[rscsr]

Can I borrow your telemetry eyes for winter testing next year?

If car A is in front of car B and the gap between them increases, then A is quicker than B. No telemetry required.

Can you share the telemetry you used to show that the RedBull chassis is better in braking, traction and cornering?

HAM had VES in S2 covered.

HAM was faster.

VES drove very well (and brave ) yesterday in the wet, as expected, but HAM was untouchable yesterday.

Maybe RIC wasn't just as brave and therefore couldn'd post the laptimes of VES. Or he is just lacking...

I read that RIC's visor was fogging up due to a broken heating element and therefore saw not a lot. german source

[FrukostScones]

ah, interesting.

[Restomaniac]

Max verstappen was something else. Driving an F1 car like a rally car. He basically destroyed Ricciardo. The way he caught the car and prevented it from hitting the guardrail was amazing. Going around the outside to pass guys like clockwork. 11 overtakes in 16 laps. The guy is a genius. Senna-esque.

A word of praise for Hamilton too. He was able to pull away from Verstappen. Probably the only guy who could beat Verstappen in the wet in a straight fight.

I am seeing a lot of Rosberg hate on the forum. I agree that he is not technically as gifted as Lewis or even Alonso, Verstappen or Vettel. But he has been consistent this season. He has beaten Lewis fair and square twice. He is playing a smart game. Do realize that he does NOT NEED to win. He needs to finish 2nd. His priority is to finish the race. No need to take unnecessary risks which is exactly what he did yesterday. People forget that he was able to match or beat Webber and Wurz in his Williams days. He was also the youngest driver to record a fastest lap in his rookie days. He may not be the best but he is nowhere near as bad as people are making him out to be.

He is a fully deserving WC. Give him his due credit. Look at Vettel for example. Best car and total team support (Istanbul Crash, Multi 21 etc.). Will you all say that he is undeserving? Id like to mention what Webber said in his autobiography. Vettel was under severe pressure to prove the success of the RB young drivers program. At that age and under that pressure he did reasonably well. 2008 Monza and 2014 show his driving skills. Even yesterday, Kimi crashed but Vettel managed to finish 5th even after a spin. Shows that he has decent skills.
Kimi in 2008 won only because Hamilton and Alonso crashed into each other. Does that make him an undeserving WC? Even Schumacher had the best car for 4 out of his 7 titles. But he has proved his worth hasn't he?

Car, luck and opportunity all make a champion. Appreciate that Rosberg had the ability to bounce back from 2 successive defeats to lead the WC now. Its not easy having Hamilton as your teammate. You need tremendous self-belief and a great mentality especially after back to back defeats.

He has beaten him fair and square twice in 21 races. Wow yep that's deserving of a WDC if you are willing to discount the other 19 races. He has been able to bounce back because his team mate has had a broken car for large parts of the season.

What you are calling hate is actually honestly for those who are willing to see it.

Technically, Hamilton had 2 technical retirements in the races and 2 in qualifying. Rosberg had one each. Not that big imho. Yes there is a little luck but not THAT MUCH as you are saying.

I did agree that Rosberg was not as good a driver as Hamilton, Alonso, Max Vettel or RIC. But he has bouned back after the summer break after being spectacularly blitzed by Hamilton. Give him some credit

When someone earns a WDC I give credit.when someone falls into a WDC because his car is almost bullet proof whilst his team mates car is falling apart I state that as well.

Ah yes right after the summer break.
Didn't Hamiton have to start from the back of the grid in Belgium? Didn't Hamilton have Wheel spin at the start which pushed him back into the pack that nobody could understand looking at the telem in Italy? Didn't Hamilton have brake issues in Singapore?
Yep Rosberg clearly did well bouncing back against such hardship.

[ChrisDanger]

This graphic is interesting. I didn't realise Bottas and Magnussen finished on inters.

[Andres125sx]

Finally new Senna proved some merit for such praise. Awesome drive in the rain. Apart from the half spin he saved he drove impressively the whole race. Special mention to Raikonnen and Rosberg passes, those were epic!

Apart from Max, to me driver of the day is Carlos Sainz. Going from p15 to p4 in the rain with a Toro Rosso was impressive. Unfortunately he couldn´t hold that position versus Ferrari and Red Bull, but that´s not a surprise and finishing 6th is still a great achivement


Rosberg must be REALLY gratefull with Red Bull. That pit-stop for inters was so dumb it surprised me, specially coming from Red Bull who IMHO are the best team strategy wise. I guess they were too optimistic and tried to go for the victory, but it obviously didn´t work out and that was like a gift to Nico who otherwise would have never finished 2nd. Without Red Bull mistake probably Nico would not depend on his own to take the title in Abu Dahbi


Looser of the day: Pirelli. What a shame wet tires. There was not so much water to cause those red flags. At the spanish TV they said they miss those sunday warm-ups where they could set-up the car for the rain raising ride height. Pirelli wet tires are useless, but FIA is not any better, they both share responsability for this farce where any rain means 80% chances to see a red flag

[turbof1]

When someone earns a WDC I give credit.when someone falls into a WDC because his car is almost bullet proof whilst his team mates car is falling apart I state that as well.

Ah yes right after the summer break.
Didn't Hamiton have to start from the back of the grid in Belgium? Didn't Hamilton have Wheel spin at the start which pushed him back into the pack that nobody could understand looking at the telem in Italy? Didn't Hamilton have brake issues in Singapore?
Yep Rosberg clearly did well bouncing back against such hardship.

The wheelspin is something both drivers have to deal with, not just Hamilton. Rosberg up to this point simply managed that better. Same for the brake 'issues': Rosberg had to deal with that as well. It wasn't an issue btw, but a deliberate choice to minimize brake cooling for optimal aero performance.

I agree with Vettelswonmeover: Rosberg had luck, but not more luck than other cases where championships were very tight between 2 or more people. Restomaniac, also note he says that Rosberg is "a deserving WDC". He does not state he is the most deserving one. Hamilton deserves it more, but Rosberg did enough to earn the title as well. I never heard of a driver undeserving to the title when he has won 9 races.

This is still a mechanical sport. Luck plays a huge factor when there's little to pick between 2 drivers.

[f1316]

I think one of three things was very clear at all the safety car restarts; either:

1) Nico has no idea how to maximum a restart in order to pressure his opponent
2) he was very nervous about getting close to Hamilton
3) they had some kind of intra team agreement about not pressuring each other at restarts

Because Nico gave acres of room every single time - in stark contrast to Max or Checo who were pressuring the guy in front in order to get the jump. He seemed to be making it very easy for Lewis but maybe that's just him playing the percentages (which I guess is understandable).

[turbof1]

I think one of three things was very clear at all the safety car restarts; either:

1) Nico has no idea how to maximum a restart in order to pressure his opponent
2) he was very nervous about getting close to Hamilton
3) they had some kind of intra team agreement about not pressuring each other at restarts

Because Nico gave acres of room every single time - in stark contrast to Max or Checo who were pressuring the guy in front in order to get the jump. He seemed to be making it very easy for Lewis but maybe that's just him playing the percentages (which I guess is understandable).

It's also the advantage of being the one in front when the safety car comes in: Hamilton determines the pace up to the safety car line. Nobody is allowed to overtake him until he accelerates to race pace. No matter how quick your reflexes are, he'll always be earlier on the throttle and unless he makes a mistake, you'll only be able to see him accelerate away.

It even gets worse when spray is involved; you see less what the one in front does, delaying your reaction even further.

That being said, Rosberg did got quite easily overtaken by Verstappen. Verstappen was constantly driving very near him and looking for the drive lines with better grip. Verstappen did everything to keep Rosberg on his toes, yet he still got mugged. Rosberg did not leave any comfortable impression at all. I think you have to look at option 2. It's reasonable to play safe, but he did got dangerously close to losing atleast 3 extra points towards Hamilton.

[Vettelswonmeover]

He has beaten him fair and square twice in 21 races. Wow yep that's deserving of a WDC if you are willing to discount the other 19 races. He has been able to bounce back because his team mate has had a broken car for large parts of the season.

What you are calling hate is actually honestly for those who are willing to see it.

Technically, Hamilton had 2 technical retirements in the races and 2 in qualifying. Rosberg had one each. Not that big imho. Yes there is a little luck but not THAT MUCH as you are saying.

I did agree that Rosberg was not as good a driver as Hamilton, Alonso, Max Vettel or RIC. But he has bouned back after the summer break after being spectacularly blitzed by Hamilton. Give him some credit

When someone earns a WDC I give credit.when someone falls into a WDC because his car is almost bullet proof whilst his team mates car is falling apart I state that as well.

Ah yes right after the summer break.
Didn't Hamiton have to start from the back of the grid in Belgium? Didn't Hamilton have Wheel spin at the start which pushed him back into the pack that nobody could understand looking at the telem in Italy? Didn't Hamilton have brake issues in Singapore?
Yep Rosberg clearly did well bouncing back against such hardship.

Rosberg had a technical retirement too. Vettel crashed into Rosberg at Sepang. he came back from last to a podium. Consider this too.

[Jolle]

This graphic is interesting. I didn't realise Bottas and Magnussen finished on inters.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxLHNU2XUAEv88s.jpg:large

Interesting that Max, according to this graphic, wasn't on new wets for the last stint.....

[Jolle]

I think one of three things was very clear at all the safety car restarts; either:

1) Nico has no idea how to maximum a restart in order to pressure his opponent
2) he was very nervous about getting close to Hamilton
3) they had some kind of intra team agreement about not pressuring each other at restarts

Because Nico gave acres of room every single time - in stark contrast to Max or Checo who were pressuring the guy in front in order to get the jump. He seemed to be making it very easy for Lewis but maybe that's just him playing the percentages (which I guess is understandable).

It was prob all to do with taking risks, or more how to avoid them. 2nd or 3rd in tricky conditions without to much risk was the obvious choice. Being close to the guy in front, especially one that is going to fight you and prob win in these circumstances is taking a big risk. The main concern was not to crash, second to finish on the podium.

[TAG]

In a race where we saw three world champions spin, two world champions complain about impossible driving conditions, one world champion complain about everything else it was refreshing to see a Kid drive like a man's man, and a wold champion drive like a world champion.