Mercedes did prepare for Hamilton going against his own team in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Rennanalyse GP Abu Dhabi 2016: Frühere Boxenstopps wegen Bummeltempo - AUTO MOTOR UND SPORT Prior to the race Hamilton was threatened that they'd bring Rosberg in first for the pit stops, should he not sufficiently keep his pace. They called Hamilton in 5 laps earlier than planned for the first stop to avoid an undercut of others as a consequence of Hamilton bunching up the field. They called in Rosberg at the same time to come in, should Hamilton decide to defy team orders. When Hamilton came in, Rosberg waited to come in the following lap. Astonishing that a team has to go to such length to plan against their own.
Well the rumors of his departure mount now LOL - Amazing if true. I have my doubts but in a technical sense he is in breach and faces sanction in terms of his contract. Lewis Hamilton reportedly facing the sack or suspension over his Abu Dhabi GP rebellion | F1 News
Give it a couple of weeks and it will quieten down and they will start focusing on next year. The team were naive if they think that a driver with a chance, no matter how slim, of winning the WDC would not try to do so. That is all Lewis tried to do. Pete
Can't imagine they would sack him. This year it would appear Rosberg is indeed the best F1 driver though it is way more complicated than that. However it would certainly mix it up next season if LH was driving for another team . Which is a good thing.
I think that makes sense but more bad news came out in the press about him threatening to sit out after Spain incident. How much does the team need to accomodate an adult at this point....
After watching Hamilton (once again) completely avoid his teammate in the post race lounge it solidified my assessment that he is nothing but ******.
Hamilton has proven time and time again he needs to be managed constantly. More trouble than he's worth IMO. If they kick him out, give Sainz, Perez or Hulkenberg his seat. Problem solved.
I've got my doubts a little, too. Hamilton initially backing out the 2016 season with an actual championship on the line though...if he was willing to do that, because he got blamed by Lauda for a crash, what's to say he won't do it again? I think Hamilton has simply proven he's not worth his trouble. Of the drivers I mentioned I think Sainz in particular could be a huge asset to Mercedes. He's done some great things with the Toro Rosso this year and worthy of a decent car. Best thing, they can get him for very cheap. Easily 1/10th the cost of Hamilton, if not 1/20th! He's far more easy going, not a prima-donna and will be grateful for the car he's received. He'll be motivated fighting Verstappen and Red Bull next year. He's well liked world wide, even though he's very much in the shadows compared to any driver from the top 3 teams. It's a no brainer, if you ask me.
Bas, while I agree with you re Sainz ability, any big team signs the driver not just for his skill but also for their fanbase and marketing etc. The have actuaries calculate what that particular driver's advertising worth is to the company the sale as they calculate the advertising worth of a Monaco win etc. Would be nice if it were pure ability but it's just not.
I agree there. I know I'm simplyfying it here, but would Hamilton really sell 45m worth of Mercedes more than Sainz? Lets say Mercedes hires Sainz, and Sainz wins in one of the opening races (in particular Spain). That'd be huge I reckon. Ferrari hired Massa, he was pretty unknown as a back marker from Sauber and spend a year at Ferrari not racing. Mclaren hired a baby faced Kimi in trade of their World Champion...after all he only had 1 season in F1.
I hope they can his whiney ass. Let's see how great he is in less than a far superior car. Congrats to Nico, mostly for pissing off LH, the only driver he needed to beat anyway.
Hamilton is an idiot. So is Verstappen. I'm no Rosberg fan either, but at least he kept his cool and was honest even in the interviews afterwards, I'm happy for him. I'm sorry, but if a racer is going to slow down his teammate to try and win, then the teammate should ram both of them out of the race a la Senna / Prost. It's a whiny beeotch thing to do, so turnabout is fair play. I never heard of such a thing - strategy my ass, it's not what racers do. F1 paddock is full of whiny beeotches IMHO.
LH need them way more then the other way around. MB could have their pick of anyone to fill his seat. SV, FA..the list goes on.
For this reason the WDC should have an * next to it. It was a foregone conclusion early in the season that one of the two would be WDC. Criticizing one driver (or the other ) for using tactics which an independent team would use in this situation is disingenuous.
Maybe we'll all luck out and Elton will put his money where his gigantic ego is and leave to be the rap star he thinks he can be.
