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

Alas. A lapse in the repetitive Hamilton bashing!

Now I'm the victim for opining (incessantly, I admit; hmmm...like the LH bashing) against this tide... Is there a difference? Or is it only because I don't have the same opinion?

Nico won the WDC. Lewis won the race. Mercedes finished 1-2. Le voila....

 

My view of the race:

Prior to the race and the weekend, Mercedes held several talks with the drivers and the team. They agreed on racing fair, and tactics such as endlessly backing another driver into the chasing pack was forbidden. Mercedes didn't trust Hamilton completely, so they made another strategy if they thought he was doing what they thought he'd do: Ignore team orders and back Rosberg into the pack. They would pit Elton early if he was doing this, and call Rosberg in at the same time. If Hamilton didn't pit, Rosberg would get the undercut and get out ahead. They would do this for both stops if Hamilton ignored the pit call. That's all they could do as far apart from asking on the radio...but they can't control his right foot of course.

-Hamilton:

Brilliant pole lap, did what was expected (despite people saying he was a ''genius'' for doing so, note that half the world already knew he would do this and publicly said if he was smart he'd do this). Actually didn't do it so well as he gave Rosberg DRS which meant Vettel couldn't overtake anyhow! Hamilton should've publicly said ''I'll do my own thing to ensure I win this title'', instead of agreeing to one thing and doing the other. I could've respected the former and understood it. He yet again proves he's a snake by playing mr nice. It gave me a lot of joy to see his reaction that he lost the title. No one deserves to lose the title more than this ungrateful turd.

-Rosberg
A very wise race (last few races actually), my heart stopped when he had to overtake Verstappen though! They're friends in real life but I almost closed my eyes! Whilst he was stuck behind Verstappen on old tires it was obvious Hamilton wasn't pushing...on newer tires he should've been miles ahead but it was only a few seconds. The last few laps must've been crushing mentally. Does Vettel make a move? Do Verstappens aging tires lock up and will he torpedo me? He knew FULL well that an attempted overtake on Hamilton meant he'd be pushed wide or worse, and almost certainly lost 3rd place at that, and the title. A deserved champion.

-Toto Wolff
I've been very skeptical of him ever since Spa 2014. I was sure he'd try something to make sure Hamilton won the title. Engine failure, botched pitstop...whatever. Until Rosberg was over the line I would feel this way. Pleasantly pleased.

-Vettel
Great race from him, deserved podium and always the gentleman.

-Kimi
IMO he deserved the podium. A great quali, great start made him 3rd immediately. Once again strategist failed him. He defended so well against Ricciardo, who couldn't pass him. We know how good Ricci is on the brakes. It's unbelievable how many times Kimi has been ****ed by the strategy this year, Ferrari can STILL only think for one car. Quite an achievement!

-Ricciardo
Not much to say about his race as we didn't see him much. Couldn't overtake Kimi and suffered from a rare error in strategy from Red Bull. He should've finished higher as well.

-Verstappen
Mistake into T1, kept a calm head didn't scream onto the radio. In 7 laps he was already into P8 or something crazy, 2-3 cars had to pit in that time, but he still overtook around 10 drivers in that time! A few laps after the pit window opened he was already up in 2nd...His pace and tire management kept him into play for a podium. Once again great stuff. Next year will be great.

We didn't see much from the rest of the drivers so can't comment much. Felipe finishing in the points on his final F1 race, a nice send-off. Obrigado Felipe. Button finishing his race with ****ed suspension was a big downer, I don't think he even wanted to drive after that even if they fixed the car...I think he was on the beers very quickly as he was pretty tipsy when he commandeered Ted's mic for the notebook! I'm sure this isn't the last we've heard from him. A character for sure and what a great guy.

 

+1

My Driver of the day and not Max as so many voted for.

Max collided then spun with Nico Hulkenberg, so it was his own fault and whilst he made a valiant charge through the pack, he failed to finish on the podium.

 

What was actually not discussed over here that his tactics were not that clever...
He was driving slow to keep Max and Vettel close but to avoid being overtaken by Rosberg he could only drive slow in the parts of the track where overtaking is impossible. But this means in these parts of the track Max and Seb could not overtake either so nothing gained. And in the parts where overtaking was possible (DRS) he had to go full throttle to avoid Rosberg to overtake. So this tactic would never work out!

I think the only possibility would have been to let himself (and Nico behind him) drop behind the two RB or Ferrari during the pit stops and then drive full throttle to get by and hope that Nico is not able to do the same. So instead of hoping two cars would be able to overtake Nico he should have tried to find two cars Nico might not be able to overtake himself...Might have not worked either (as Nico passed Max) but at least it would have been a chance...

 

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Mercedes denies Hamilton refusing to test



Mercedes has played down reports that Lewis Hamilton is refusing to get back to work this week.

In Abu Dhabi, it had been agreed that whichever Mercedes driver won the title would head to a Petronas event in Malaysia on Monday.

And the other would stay in Abu Dhabi to drive Mercedes' modified 2015 test car for the Pirelli tyre test.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen told Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that he was actually looking forward to trying the 2017 slicks for the first time.

"For me, the tyres are new so I'm curious," said the Dutchman.

But the German newspaper Bild claims that Hamilton, who is reportedly facing sanctions by Mercedes by refusing team orders on Sunday, is now refusing to test on Tuesday.

A team spokesman is quoted by Germany's Sport1: "That is not correct.

"Lewis is still on the schedule and expected to drive."

It is clear at least that some tension has crept into the Mercedes-Hamilton relationship, with boss Toto Wolff bristling that Hamilton found an ally for his tactics on Sunday in the form of Red Bull's Christian Horner.

"Maybe he (Hamilton) should drive for him (Horner)," Wolff said on Sunday, not just to British television Sky but also separately to the Channel 4 broadcaster.

A rumour even swirled in the Abu Dhabi paddock that Hamilton had threatened to quit the team altogether following his collision with Rosberg in Spain.

"That's all private stuff," Hamilton said, refusing to deny it.

"It's all in the past so it doesn't really matter."

 

And has done the morning seesion

 

The spin was more Hulkenburg's fault, he squeezed Max a bit, but then again racing incidents like these happen right after start......

and not finishing on the podium was more Vettel's achievement than Vertappen failing.

 

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Nico and Keke Rosberg not critical of Hamilton tactics



Nico Rosberg and his equally famous father are not joining in the criticism of Lewis Hamilton following the 2016 title finale in Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes led the criticism after Hamilton ignored team orders in the closing stages of Sunday's race and deliberately left Rosberg exposed to the chasing Ferrari and Red Bull.

Many others also hit out, including 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell.

"I am a sportsman so I would not do this," he said on Twitter on Sunday.

But afterwards, Hamilton's tactics were also defended by many, notably including Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

Horner's Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff said: "Maybe he (Hamilton) should drive for him (Horner)."

The Rosbergs, however, are conspicuously not critical of Hamilton, even though Nico said the pressure he was under in Abu Dhabi and especially the last few laps was "ridiculous".

When asked to summarise Hamilton's tactics, Rosberg said: "Ridiculous.

"No, no, no, ridiculous is the wrong word," he added. "It was ridiculously intense -- for me."

Actually, Rosberg said Hamilton's defensive driving was "perfect" for the situation, even though British newspapers said Mercedes was contemplating punishing the triple world champion.

But writing for the Telegraph, journalist Tom Cary said: "Hamilton's tactics were within the rules, hurt no one and made F1's finale more exciting -- why the fuss?"

Max Verstappen agreed, admitting: "Of course I would have done the same as him."

And even Rosberg's dad, the 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg, was not surprised by Hamilton's 'go slow' tactics.

"It was not unexpected," the Finn said as he broke a six-year media silence in the wake of his 31-year-old son's title triumph.

"In the last two laps I might have even expected more, so you have to say that it was ok," Keke added.

But he also said the end of the race was tough to watch from his Dubai hotel room, after vowing to keep the pressure off Rosberg by staying away from the track until the win was secured.

"I think it was the hardest world championship ever, right down to the line of the last race," said Keke.

He also rejected any claim that Nico is not a deserving world champion, because Hamilton suffered more reliability dramas during the season.

Referring to Hamilton's reasoning for not winning the title, Keke said: "That is the sport.

"Button broke his suspension in Abu Dhabi because he hit the kerb so hard he was lucky the car didn't break in two, but he said 'Oh, bad car'.

"It is the nature of the drivers," said Rosberg snr.

"I thought Lewis was lucky twice already, so why shouldn't Nico be once?"

 

^^^ oh dear, this won't go down well with the Hamilton haters. All seems very logical and sensible to me. Ros deservedly and on merit won the championship. There was no Bernie pleasing repeat of Senna/Prost. The stewards didn't ruin the race or results. The action on track was hard, intense at times and within the rules at all times. The Merc internal team 'crisis' will blow over like it always does.

The season is over. It would be nice to see the F1 banter dominated by thoughts and considerations about Ferrarinand our prospects for 2017 rather than fixating on one Mercedes driver alone....

 

Well, as for myself, I stayed away from the whole debate, mainly because others have already expressed thoughts that were along the same line than mine, so I didn't see any purpose to add anything.
However, I must say that I am unfortunately rather lost at Ferrari prospects for 2017...so will probably remain equally silent.

Rgds

 

https://twitter.com/hashtag/AbuDhabiGP?src=hash

 

Unwell Hamilton pulls out of Abu Dhabi test

''unwell''.


Lol

 

Presumably the same bug that forced out of the Spanish test......

 

Quite.

 

I am not surprised.

Has zero moral at the moment after losing the WDC.

 

Not surprising. I'm more curious in the next episode of the soap opera : )

 

Indeed

As for the MB "crisis": that's a self inflicted shot into the foot, MB should have never given those instructions in the last battle for the WDC, no self respecting driver would follow those

 

Nothing new. Typical things that are said to media and typical media spin. This just shows once again Nico's class, taking the high road and staying far away from the Lewis drama.

As has basically been stated so much. Lewis has a lot to learn. I for one hope he does.

 

Re MB - correct. History shows that time again, teams have sought a to put in place logic based controls for their drivers to try and control their on track behaviour. Anyone remember Vettel / Webber? It never works. Drivers are not computers that you program and run. They are racers and they always want to win. And the biggest race to win is the wdc. And this was the last race with absolutely everything at stake for the drivers and nothing at stake for MB. MB had only one job to do at this race and that was to give their drivers equal equipment and allow them to get on with their jobs. Which is exactly what happened...

 

Elton is ill today?, can't test?, hope it's nothing serious hehehehe

Guess it certainly isn't the screaming ****s, he isn't fast enough to catch them

Presumably poor loser syndrome, or maybe sour grapes disease

 

Exactly.

Hami wisely played the game until his last tire change.
Then the WDC competitor came out.

 

They can if they want but then they should have started to educate their drivers 3 years ago to get them actually doing what they want...now it is to late

Again: I am happy that Rosberg did not lost the WDC due to letting Hamilton pass in Monaco, otherwise he would have looked like a naive dreamer thinking he might get it back somehow...

 

Good point re monaco and its potential impact on the wdc if Ros had lost. Just goes to show how unhelpful team orders are to the drivers. The teams should concentrate on delivering the best cars, the best strategic guidance and the best pit service. Engineering place swaps and trying to convince drivers to stop racing each other is pointless.

 

It is kinda ironic how 2016 relates to some events of 1982 where the two favorite drivers to win the title had a gentleman agreement going into Imola. Then one ignored it and the ensuing red mist took both out of contention only to leave the title to the one driver who had a direct "impact" on the WDC of 2016

 

I'd drown myself in booze and women...suspect you might also ; )