2016 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX **SPOILERS**

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Sad isn't it - The Queen of England is more German than the whole Mercedes team!

 

A few months back I heard an interesting rumor that Ferrari wants Hamilton in the future. Hope this isn't true.

 

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

Hamilton faces sack over Abu Dhabi behaviour



British newspapers say Lewis Hamilton could be suspended or even "sacked" after ignoring Mercedes' team orders during Sunday's Abu Dhabi finale.

Nico Rosberg duly won the world championship by finishing second to his British teammate, but the German said he endured a "horrible" race at Yas Marina.

That was mainly due to the closing laps, when Hamilton ignored Mercedes' instructions for him to speed up, as the Briton backed Rosberg into the chasing Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

Hamilton had earlier ruled out backing up his teammate, and Rosberg admitted afterwards that he was surprised by the sister silver car's tactics.

"I didn't expect it but maybe I was naive," he said.

Otherwise, Rosberg did not want to comment on the episode, but Ferrari's Vettel said the "tricks" played by Hamilton were "not very fair".

Not just that, Hamilton's driving had also been strictly forbidden by Mercedes, not just beforehand in meetings but conveyed to the Briton via radio as "instructions" during the race.

The British newspaper The Daily Express says Hamilton "could be sacked", while the Times said the triple world champion "faces (a) team ban" for his behaviour.

Team boss Toto Wolff confirmed: "Anarchy does not work in any team and in any company. Everything is possible."

Hamilton, however, denied being "unfair", and he was even supported by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

But Mercedes' team chairman, the F1 legend Niki Lauda, said: "As drivers we always try every trick in the book, but you always must have respect for your teammate."

However, some backed Hamilton's tactics, including Kimi Raikkonen who said the Briton's behaviour was "not ridiculous" in Abu Dhabi.

And Carlos Sainz added: "I would have done it too. If you want to win the title you have to try everything, as long as it's within the rules."

But there is also controversy about Hamilton's ongoing comments questioning the legitimacy of Rosberg's title, including the claim that he lost many points through unreliability.

Germany's Welt newspaper says Hamilton's behaviour in Abu Dhabi was "childish".

"This is a mechanical sport," Wolff insisted. "You need to win and to lose with dignity.

"I think it's a pity we are talking about this," he added. "Nico Rosberg has won the world championship after a terrific season."

 

I would agree with a ban for a couple races. His antics cannot go unpunished. Cut him loose and he will ultimately take a seat with Red Bull. I have no doubt Horner is supporting him to court him as a driver.

 

Yes, poor Rosberg...He finally fullfilled a lifetime dream and people are talking rather about Hamilton and his behavior than about Rosberg winning. Once again Lewis managed to get all the attention. He lost, end of story...all the rest is history

 

+1

Lap 40 Sebastian passes Kimi
Lap 46 Sebastian passes Daniel
Lap 50 Sebastian passes Max
Lap 54 Sebastian closes up on Nico


Two RB Drivers in one race.

Sebastian the Driver Of The Day.

 

I'm not outraged by Hamilton's controlling of the pace, trying to back Nico up into trouble - that was the last throw of the dice of a guy desperate to win WDC the only way left to him, and within the rules.

I'm just disappointed with Lewis for not being big enough to take the defeat on the chin, and be a bigger man and congratulate Nico properly once the race had ended.

He made it blindingly obvious that he was not happy Nico had won the WDC, pretty much completely ignoring him until forced to make a public display of congratulations, and he made it obvious that he didn't really mean it.

He made more of an effort to be more congratulatory publicly later on (to a degree), but that had all the hall marks of having been advised by his PR people that he wasn't looking too good in the public eye due to his spoilt child reaction.

After the race Lewis was basically asked if he felt Nico was a worthy winner of the WDC, and rather than simply saying that Nico had driven well all year and had given him a good fight throughout the season and was a worthy winner, his reply was how he had had poor car reliability for a lot of the season, how the team had swapped his mechanics to Rosberg's side of the garage for mysterious reasons, how many he had lost so many points in the season, and that without that happening, he would have easily have beaten Nico to the title!

Yes Lewis, you had some bad luck this season - And Nico has had similar bad luck for the last couple of seasons, but he never felt the need to belittle your Championships by making a big deal out of it!

As for:

To everybody on Fchat: Feel free to ignore My posts or even place Me on ignore if that's what you personally want to do, just as william has - But if you are going to do it, do it because you want to and not because william is telling you to!

My advice would be for anyone lacking a sense of humour, anyone who is a bit highly strung and are easily upset when people disagree with them, and for anyone who gets stressed up easily, to all put Me on ignore, because sooner or later I'm probably going to p:censored:ss you off too!

 

Agree Phil. I mean why is this so difficult to swallow. Nico proved he can beat Lewis, but if he knows the title is in the bag why take risks with the man? Lewis knows himself but I believe he is politicizing the scenario rather than doing the right thing. Sad day for F1 of a guy like that bags another title.

 

Nico was smart and knows firsthand that Elton is immature and crazy. The class act is Vettel, who observed the gentlemen's rules of not pushing your own agenda when those in front of you are racing for the title. He could have made a bigger play on Nico, but he wouldn't take the risk. I wish others were taking notes, including those in Moto GP.

 

Seb had a great drive on those sticky, brand new super-soft tyres in the dying laps of the race, but driver of the day has to be Mad Max!

A spin into turn 1 putting him right at the back of the field, racing back through the entire pack to put pressure on Nico, making incredible use of his worn out soft tyres to make a one stop strategy work, and still coming incredibly close to getting a podium finish!

Sebs drive was good - Max's drive was incredible!

 

Great post. Absolutely.

 

Nope, Horner is too smart for that. Horner has 2 utterly fantastic drivers who can go toe to toe with Hamilton any day of the week. Why swap either of them for Hamilton and his huge pay demand of 50m? I think Ricciardo has a base of 5m!

Red Bull doesn't need Hamilton and spend the time massaging his ego and obeying his demands.

IF Alonso somehow goes to Mercedes, I could perhaps see a swap coming, but I doubt they'd be willing to pay that much (maybe Honda).

Ferrari doesn't need 2 recent WDC's in their car either and a 100m bill for their services.

If Hamilton burns the Mercedes bridge he could well be out of F1, and I doubt he'll return after playing in LA.

 

exactly right. vettel clearly had the speed and handling to take the fight to nico, even if his tires were losing a bit of grip. but he was the bigger man and didn't want to be the guy to potentially knock out the driver's champion. he also would probably MUCH prefer that nico take the title and not lewis and he knew that was possibility if he challenged nico. some in the field are the bigger men and some are not. lewis is a diva.

 

+1

I don't think Nico needed to worry as much as he may have been. The racers behind him re not like Lewis..they actually have class. Well, Vettel does but I'm not certain about young Mad Max lol. Watching the last few laps I believed that Vettel never was going to pass Nico. Immediately after the race just before going to the podium when Lewis was by himself pouting. Seb spoke to Nico in German (I believe). I imagine he told Nico, "no worries bro, I was never going to pass you."

 

First let me say I was a Nico fan for years including watching his rise in F2 and stated so here on Fchat.
I took many lumps in the Nico vs Webber threads.
When he had to face MS there were but a few of us that thought Nico would do better.

That said I think he has turned into a whiner even beyond Hami.

I was waiting and watching for when he thanked his dad on the podium.
Never really did other than a passing mention.
Ingrate IMO.

PS I would have done the very same thing on track as Hami.
Contrary to most opinion here this is not a Team sport concerning drivers.

 

last night
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Exactly this. And ROS implicitly acknowledged that his teammate is an untrustworthy bell-end by not attempting the pass. He knew what would come of it.

 

I can't see the Scuderia doing anything like that. This was probably Hamilton floating the rumor himself.

 

Hamilton not up for a party?

 

Actually, it came from a friend who works for a supplier to all the F1 teams.

 

I don't see the big deal with what Lewis did. He's there to win... as what a racer should be always trying to do. He's certainly not my favorite driver by any stretch, but thankfully he was racing and created a bit of excitement to an otherwise very boring and uninspired championship race. Take a away some fantastic moments from Seb and Max and you basically would have had yet another string of cars going around a track. At least Lewis made it somewhat interesting with a tactical drive.

I don't dislike Nico. I think there is such vitriol for Lewis that whatever he does, there will be a contingent out there who will always look at it in the worst way. Nico, is benign. I don't think people really like him a whole lot or despise him a whole lot. But from a purely race fan perspective, he's just not the kind of driver that I can get behind. He certainly deserves the WDC, but I fear spending the last part of the season content to not win any race to get there will make him a forgotten champion. Even now, most of the commentary about Nico is in reference to Hamilton. It may not be fair, but I think fans just gravitate towards charismatic people who define themselves in a bold way... good or bad. All the drivers we love to talk and fight about were very much the scoundrels of their day.

 

+1

The amount of smoke emanating from Max's tyres mid-spin must have incurred some flat spotting. Competition Pirelli's are good, but not that good.

 

One of the best posts in this thread.