Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[Richard]

Also the TV feed will be selective. It's more interesting for the viewer to hear the outbursts. We don't get to hear the stream of dull operational comms.

[turbof1]

Also the TV feed will be selective. It's more interesting for the viewer to hear the outbursts. We don't get to hear the stream of dull operational comms.

Correct. For instance during the formation lap there's intense communication between the drivers and their racing engineers: clutch bite point, tyre temperatures, brake temperatures,... .

[Edax]

Rosberg was leading in Britain, so I have that fixed for you.

Thx.. I usually have a good memory for races, but got this one wrong

I do believe that Nico would have won in Silverstone despite Lewis's marginal pace advantage, because he had track position.

Not on his home race. I would say that Hamilton either would have won or they both would have ended in the barrier. It is difficult to launch a kamikaze attack in Silverstone but I think Hamilton would have found a way.

That's 7-4 in favor of Lewis. Hence, on balance, there's:

1. A 63.6% chance that Lewis will be quicker.
2. A 36.4% chance that Nico will be quicker.

If you divide that among 6 races - Nico should be faster in 2 of them, and Lewis in 4 of them. All speculation of course.

I thinks that's fair assesment, perhaps I would put Germany in the unknown category since Hamilton started so far back.

But still it is a pretty sorry statistic. Can't imagine Rosberg being to happy about it.

[Kingshark]

But still it is a pretty sorry statistic. Can't imagine Rosberg being to happy about it.

I think he would happily accept the title with both hands if it meant being "slower" than Lewis.

Remember, Piquet in 1987 and Prost in 1989 also drove dominant cars and they were significantly slower relative to their teammates than Rosberg is to Hamilton; yet at the end of the day, a WDC is a WDC.

[dans79]

But still it is a pretty sorry statistic. Can't imagine Rosberg being to happy about it.

I think he would happily accept the title with both hands if it meant being "slower" than Lewis.

Based on Nico's own words/actions I think it's pretty easy to see that he wants more than just the tittle, he wants to beat Lewis. How many times this season has he said "I hate finishing second to Lewis"? He has admitted that his errors at Monza where because he was pushing because Lewis was coming fast, that's not something you do if all you want is the tittle.

[turbof1]

One more 'remarkable' possible path to WDC: If they keep finishing 1st and 2d, and Hamilton wins the next 5 races in a row, Rosberg still wins the WDC if he wins in Abu Dhabi, no matter what Hamilton does.

IMO, if Rosberg wins this way, I think Rosberg will feel very mixed about his title. Going down that way in the history books always leaves a sour taste.

[AnthonyG]

A world title is a world title, if you don't feel as good/tallented/fast as your opponent, the way you beat him is less important.

[adrianjordan]

One more 'remarkable' possible path to WDC: If they keep finishing 1st and 2d, and Hamilton wins the next 5 races in a row, Rosberg still wins the WDC if he wins in Abu Dhabi, no matter what Hamilton does.

IMO, if Rosberg wins this way, I think Rosberg will feel very mixed about his title. Going down that way in the history books always leaves a sour taste.

So Hamilton would have what, 11 wins to Rosberg who would have 5...I think that would lead to a lot of people to call for the double points at the last race rule to be scrapped...

Although is that correct? Points difference between 1st and 2nd is 7 points, so Lewis would gain 35 points against Rosberg...Lewis is 22 behind now, so that would put him 13 ahead... Wow, yes you're spot on... That really would be a stupid state of affairs in my opinion...

That said, I wouldn't bet against Lewis winning in that situation...

[Pierce89]

All of Lewis' results at Merc are of his own smart thinking with very little help from his race engineer. So many times Bonnington comes on radio when Lewis does not need it and seems sleeping when he actually need him. And whenever he gives inputs, most of the times Lewis ignores it. Yesterday's was also a classical case.

Lewis tells his engineer, "Don't talk to me Man" when he is going for the last quali lap in Q3 in Belgium. See what happened in the last race. That says something, isn't it?

Hamilton has always been like that on the radio. We've heard similar comments from many other drivers.

Also if Hamilton's wins are purely due to his "own smart thinking with very little help from his race engineer", are you saying a driver can drive the car at the same time as knowing the track position of every other car on the the track, working out if their pit stops would put them in clean air, while also interpreting all the car telemetry?

F1 is a team sport, don't let driver ideology lead you to a conclusion that the boffins in the back rooms are a waste of space.

This is a real question. What is it about Lewis in particular, that has always inspired this sort of attitude and behavior more so than any other driver?

[NoDivergence]

Absolutely nothing... Alonso/Kimi/Vettel have all made comments similar to Hamilton.

The thing is, you don't hear all the radio calls that are made by the team. You only hear the choice picked and chosen broadcasts by the networks. Lewis actually had an entire conversation with the race engineer regarding whether he should go or not.

And the point about Spa, so what if he said don't distract me while i'm going flat out on the track. He was in first position and was doing great until Nico punted him.

How many times has Lewis made his own judgement call and have it be the right one? Quite a few times. How many times did he listen to pitwall and pay severely for it.

A certain world championship comes to mind...

[NTS]

IMO. "Lewis is gaining 0.2 in Parabolica with early apex" is too much, however. (the phrase is fictional).

It's interesting how people keep saying Rosberg benefits so much from Lewis' data while the last few races I've heard multiple radio messages exactly opposite of what you just made up: Lewis being told where Rosberg is faster.

My theory however is that this is mostly down to the television feed directors playing more messages about Mercedes because of all the controversy. I don't think they are doing anything different compared to the other top teams.

[SiLo]

Can you imagine the uproar if either driver benefits from the double points in the final race? If it was Rosberg winning or Hamilton winning, I'm pretty sure there would be huge unrest from the press and possibly some of the drivers. If you want to make the race worth twice as many points, make them race for twice as long!

[NTS]

Well, it's not as if the rules change during the season. Everybody knew about the double points going into this season. If you don't want to be affected by it in any way you should go into the last race with a 50 points advantage.

So would be a bit hypocritical to start a big debate about the double points after losing the championship. So I expect the drivers not to make a big fuzz. But of course that doesn't stop the media from generating big headlines

[Shrieker]

What's holding back Hamilton is clearly reliability and plain ol' simple luck if you look at the charts. Hamilton has 3 retirements and two critical failures in quali sessions so far, without a doubt the unluckiest driver in the top ten alongside Massa and Vettel.

Rosberg has finished 2nd 7 times, and crucially 2 of those came when Ham retired in Canada and Belgium. Rosberg's only retirement so far balances out with Ham's oz retirement since they've both won when the other dnf'ed. Basically, what keeps Ros afloat is all those second place finishes. If Hamilton does not suffer any more mechanicals, my money is on him.

[adrianjordan]

I think ifthe drivers are close on points (within 7 or so) then there won't be uproar, but if Hamilton had a 15 point lead but lost due to coming second when Rosberg won...then I think there would be outcry among some parts of the press and fandom...