WHO TO REPLACE ROSBERG AT MERCEDES IN 2017?

Stopped reading here. It worked well? In what possible way did it work well? 3 seasons of a previous friendship in tatters, 2 drivers who could barely acknowledge each other, forcing the team into everything equal status including the pitstop as neither driver trusted the team enough that they where thinking in the drivers best interest. Slightest things going wrong and claims of sabotage from at least 1 half of the garage...No I don't think Mercedes can look back on their driver choice as a ''great success, and lets do that again''. The only reason they didn't need to change it is because they enjoyed such a huge advantage they could allow the in team competition. If they had actual competition from another team for the titles, if they didn't sack one driver they wouldn't have enjoyed the success.

 

Keke also drive in DTM for Opel for a couple of years, and then for Peugeot in WEC, after his F1 retirement.

Nico hasn't indicated if he wants still to drive in another category.

 

I wasn't aware that F1 teams main aim was to keep everybody happy, drivers who genuinely want to beat each other on the track won't always be best buddies.

Mercedes won the WCC trophy in 2014, 2015, and again in 2016, I would say that worked out pretty well for them don't you?

 

From Mercedes corporate perspective - 3 WDC, 3 WCC in a row. That's ALL that counts - they don't give the slightest bit of a care whether the drivers are buddies or enemies, that's the job of the team management to manage and control.

Seriously, why would Mercedes corporate care about the drivers relationships or the team management issues, as long as they deliver the desired results? It was 3 perfect years in a row. If Hamilton and Rosberg generated headlines, then that's just bonus free exposure - following the advertising credo that any news is good news, there's no such thing as bad press, etc.

The drivers' little ***** slapping and handbags at dawn feuds were nothing to Corporate - ie, the message from Corporate would have been "Toto and Niki, manage it so that it doesn't impact the results - deliver the WDC and WCC, that's all we care about".

We also need to acknowledge that Hamilton does actually have a large fan base and following outside this forum, you know...

 

According to Lauda, even in victory it often looked like a PR disaster on the podium for Mercedes, with the 2 drivers sulking and recriminating. The media soon caught on that.

The brass at Mercedes even addressed the team management asking why there was not a celebratory mood after a win, but a prolonged analysis instead.

Mercedes didn't look like a happy team you enjoy driving for. The atmosphere is not good.

 

Do you think it would have worked out that great if the car would have not been that dominant? Who says that the next season car will be and that they can afford the luxury of two equal drivers?

 

I think you two need to realize that if the Mercedes wasn't so utterly dominant, Rosberg + Hamilton partnership would be looked upon as an utter shambles (and wouldn't have lasted nearly as long). If they had competition from another team, they could've lost their one or both titles because of the bickering between the two.

 

IF - yes, you're correct. IF. But that wasn't the case.

In the past, we saw Mansell/Piquet lose the WDC in a dominant car, in 1986 IIRC, and Prost snuck through to win the WDC in an inferior car. Two #1 drivers can take enough points off each other in a closely competitive season to negatively impact the team's results.

But that wasn't the case, and in the actual circumstances, the team delivered perfect results 3 years in a row, so the Mercedes strategy proved in actual fact to work very well.

 

Yep, I think Toto would have been more focused if Mercedes had been struggling, and perhaps the bad atmosphere between the 2 drivers would have not occurred?

Or maybe we could have had a Piquet-Mansell type of situation and the title going to someone more shrewd - another Prost maybe?

 

Mercedes had no competition to speak of, so entertaining a rivalry among drivers was some sort of luxury they could afford.

 

Or that car was that dominant that Mercedes did not need any strategy at all as sometimes that was none visible

 

You don´t have to go further back than 2007....

 

Red Bull and Ferrari were competing strongly with one another, but rivalry between their respective drivers was apparently a luxury those teams could afford.

 

But they are only competing in the ranking in the WCC but not for the WDC title...

 

I agree with this. The Mercedes engineers ensured the titles were brought home, not the strategists. As for the management, they never looked like they had a grip on the drivers and discipline regarding team instructions over strategy or car order was particularly poor. The drivers capitalised on a dominant car, but didn't do anything particularly noteworthy for Mercedes prior to the dominant Mercedes engine era.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Yes but the car was so dominant, 2 donkeys would've won the title, so them fighting still had no real outcome, as they would've won all titles regardless.

 

+1

 

+1

 

Mercedes only strategy these three years was to try to undermine Nico with their backbiting and clear distaste for his success, both during throighout the three years, and after he won the title. Luckily, this year he managed to stay stronger mentally and beat them at their own game. I couldn't help but wonder all thru Abu Dhabi if someone on pit wall would press the 'engine explosion' button for him, luckily, they presumably realised that the stewards couldn't turn a blind eye to such a malevolent display. I've no doubt that Nico's decision to retire was partly taken knowing that next year, they will be watching even harder to make sure he couldn't realistically mount a successful challenge and retain his title

 

That also.

I doubt if Mercedes will be able to repeat that domination next year, with their new driver team, so I suspect some team orders will come into play, to guaranty Hamilton some chance to challenge for another WDC.

Next year, Red Bull will be breathing down their necks, and others too maybe I expect, so more no complaisance.

 

So giving Nico Hamilton's 2-title-winning team of mechanics this year was strategic to... deliberately undermine and compromise Rosberg? Interesting theory...

 

"Hamilton´s team"???
That says a lot...it is not Hamiltons team but that one of Mercedes. If you think that this is the better team and giving it to someone is a sign of favouritism than it would take away something of Hamiltons titles as well as they are partly a result of favouritism and a better mechanic crew
You are sure you want to go that way???

 

Are you seriously going to pretend this is the very first you've heard of the mechanic switch?

Further, calling the team of race mechanics assigned to support Hamilton's car as "Hamilton's team" rather than "the team of race mechanics assigned to support Hamilton's car" doesn't say anything other than being shorter to type. I'm not going any way by referencing this.

Nonetheless, conspiracy theorists have suggested since the beginning of the year that the switch of the teams of mechanics between the drivers was done specifically to disadvantage Hamilton and provide an advantage to Rosberg. Me, I think that's BS.

But then you get Sid who suggests that Mercedes was doing everything they could to disadvantage Rosberg (and I also think that's BS ) . If that were true, then they would not have assigned the allegedly superior team of mechanics from Hamilton to Rosberg.

Sorry Hamilton Haters, you can't have it both ways!

 

Nope...

??? I thought the Hamilton fans put it just as it pleases them in the moment....
Either the two teams of mechanics are equal then there is no advantage for anybody...
Or the team originally with Hamilton (the team you called "Hamiltons team") is the better one then Hamilton had two WDC seasons with the better team and Rosberg only one -> advantage Hamilton. But to deny the fact that Hamilton might have had an advantage in 2014 and 2015 but to point out that Hamilton had a dissadvantage in reliability because Rosberg got the better team in 2016 is unlogical (but heard here by some Hamilton fans...)

You can say it is a conspiracy but it remains that Rosberg had more DNF in 2014/2015 and Hamilton in 2016...is it coincidence? I don´t know...