2016 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE: RACE *** SPOILERS ***

Well sometimes basic is always the best. Just go back when the steering wheel was just a steering wheel..

 

It's no good them coming out hours or days later with excuses. At the time, Lauda and Wolff were clear. If what you've posted is correct, neither would have needed to make the statements they did.

It's a clear case of defending their driver from criticism, which has been coming from every corner recently, with the latest being over his lack of understanding of the controls for his own car

If you are paying millions, you need to justify your decisions when the guy gets it so wrong

 

+1
Pete

 

Toto Wolff made his statement live on Channel 4 @ 15~20 minutes after the race ended, not hours or days later, and it was repeated by another Mercedes source around 45 minutes after the race had ended.

I'm sorry it doesn't fit in with your: "Lewis Hamilton is incompetent" theory, but what I have posted is exactly what was reported live, straight after the race.

 

Lauda reported immediately after the race that Nico fixed it sooner than LH. End of. He sorted it rather quickly, bluntly and live on SKY. They both had the exact same problem and LH did not fix it as swiftly. Argue with Lauda
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It's possible that Lauda's remark was made off-the-cuff without diving into the issues, while Toto's statement came after the team investigated and reflected those results.

Just something to consider..

 

Impossible....look at the ice cream they are eating...no way

With the engineers right at the pit wall during the race I would think Lauda's info was rather timely?????

 

On sky IMMEDIATELY after the race, toto Wolff was of the opinion Elton didn't know how to fix his issues, and that he could have if he knew what was going on, and that Nico had the same issue and fixed it.

If he changed his tune later, so what? He was on the pitwall throughout the race and was party to the correct information at the end

 

Lauda does shoot of the hip before thoroughly investigating - I've developed a disdain for his comments

 

The amount of information the team gets throughout the race is beyond belief. The figures are astounding.

Not a chance they didn't have a pretty damn good idea of what was going during the race (and obviously before Lauda's comment).

I get their later statement, protect their driver etc. They'll look pretty stupid paying someone 40m per season but he doesn't know what to do with the stupid switches, yet the ''underpaid'' guy does.

 

+1 the episode was somewhat embarrasing and live on Tele

 

Let´s ask the other way round...Does anybody remember any occasion where Toto actually criticized Lewis in public or simply did not come to his defence? Honestly I do not remember, maybe I am wrong but I do not think that he ever did...If someone knows better please provide a link...

True...Just as in his career Lauda rarely thinks about the consequences of his words. It might have been OK when it was just him driving but today he is responsible for a whole team so it might be better to shut up sometimes. Team leaders have to get out the best of their empoyees and depending on their character harsh criticism does not help at all. With Lewis it does not look like doing too much damage but as seen in the past Rosberg seems to be to sensible for that...

 

Jolyon Palmer: Radio ban is a good thing for Formula One | BT Sport

Fully agree with this. Nice to see a driver say its good for F1.

 

Sorry if it is a repost. From the BBC article it would seem that the engine mode did not lead to a notably significant disadvantage in Lewis' race. Am I getting something wrong? Then something else must have been out of order with his car. I know Hami to easily lose his head but I have never seen him have an off race to a degree of just being a snail.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/36571249

 

Yep, drivers should manage their own car and their own race without constant assistance.

Also, who wants to hear the constant whining of some of them?

 

I love the radio messages. Connects us more to the driver.

 

Well, I don't.

Can you imagine other sportmen like in football, tennis, running, etc... commenting live on their progress during an event?

It's bad enough to hear their excuses after the race, I don't need them during it !!

 

Well...you see during the current Euro Championship in Football that the coach asks his players to the side to give them instructions during the match...Would be difficult to ask the F1 drivers to come into the pits just to give them instructions So I guess radio is just a logical step...

And to be honest: the cars do have so many sensors in the car for the pit wall to monitor everything at any time...But where is the sense in that when they can not tell the driver about it? So actually Mercedes did know what was wrong with Hamiltons car all the time but they were not allowed to tell him...So there is actually no need to monitor everything as reading out the sensors after the race would be the same when you are not allowed to use these datas during the race anyway...

People here allways say that the drivers should do their race on their own without help from the pitwall but when looking at it realistic one should come to the conclusion that it is a team sport anyway and not just a one man show. So if team radio helps the team to get the best result by instructing a driver what to do it is OK as long as it is the same for everyone...Just my opinion...

 

That's a great idea.

 

Disagree strongly.

Once the race starts the driver should be on their own completely. The driver should decide tactics and when to push and when to conserve, when to pit, etc.

The WDC is supposed to select the best driver in the world, not a muppet who can follow team instructions!
Pete

 

Racing had never worked that way, even in the good old days. They used pitboards instead of radio and telemetry because that's what they had available, but the driver always got instructions from the pit. A driver can't know where his rivals are, what tyres they're using, what pace they have. Even in basketball with 10 guys in a court of less than 400 square meters single players can't have a picture of the whole game.

 

True but detailed driving instruction to include settings to aid driving is not good. Drive unaided is the rule other than pit board and allowed radiocomms. Its working other than for Mecedes and LH in Baku. Nico fixed the same issue. Other teams appear to have no major issue with the rule.

 

When did the WDC last time actually select the best driver in the world? In the last two years it selected the best of two Mercedes drivers, before RB and before Ferrari....
Even with coaching it is not only like a muppet following team instructions, one still has to drive. And comparing to the degree the WDC is depending on the constructor, mechanics and pit crew I think radio instructions are a small amount of influence on the outcome over a year.

If you want to have the drivers independant of the pit crew you do not have to ban radio but telemetry...As soon as the pit wall knows more about the current state of the car than the driver they will try to find a way to tell him, be it radio or signs!

 

Hi guys ,back from my "forced" vacations"...seems i lost some action around here, i guess Andrew did a pretty good "housecleaning" while i was gone!!
Well, i'm glad to be back, missed you guys...it was a very hard ban to endure, i'll show just what i had to do to pass the time!! it really sucked not be here!!
I hope in the meantime Mercedes added up a few more switches and buttons to their steering wheels
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Welcome back, Pedro; happy to have you on board again...

Rgds