Lauda thinks Mercedes' rival cars are ****

I assume Mercedes want to give Mclaren as little as they can get away with in their contract, for fear Honda will make use of it next season.

 

That looks reasonable, but if I were the owner of Force India I´d be pissed for not getting the same material than Williams.

Having said that, I don´t know what kind of deal Williams and Mercedes have. Apart from the obvious Wolff connection, maybe Williams is paying more than Force India or McLaren. Maybe it´s just that Williams owes so much money that Mercedes can´t let them fall.

 

Lauda has always talked like that, even when he was a young driver. Love him for it.

 

lmfao i really liked this comment.

 

Me too, good one!

Niki forgot how bad mb sucked the last 4 years, they are kicking azz now but I have a feeling their reign will be short lived.....

 

Yep, I'm sure some honda engineers had access to the mb plant and took some notes on a post-it...

 

I disagree. Mercedes have done their homework and probably have a very good idea of where changes and improvements can be made. Much like Red Bull I expect them to be very competitive for a few years.

This is not a team that was looking for a 1-off type of result. The planning and execution thus far, coupled with more than ample resources should yield good results for a longer term.

Others have much work to do. Look at the gaps between Rosberg and the rest of the field. No one is in the same league. This track flattered the Williams heavily.

 

Loving the Lauda quotes, but he's been this way for his entire life for anyone that looks at the history. If I'm not mistaken Wolff owns 15% of Williams still? Is that another way to ensure Rosberg the WDC by keeping a Williams or two on the podium in between Nico and LewHam? Conspiracy theorists should have been all over this one.
I for one have just enjoyed the racing!

 

I suppose that their idea was to put the Williams between the Mercedes and everybody else, but probably they didn´t expect so many reliability problems in their own cars.

As things are now, I see Williams finishing the season 2nd ahead of Red Bull in the constructors championship.

 

I *believe* you are mistaken - I'm pretty sure he sold it a while back.

How can that possibly be!

- F1 is dead.....
- It's all fixed....
- It's boring....
- Blah, blah....


Cheers,
Ian

 

Apparently he still owns 10%:

Toto Wolff sells some of his remaining Williams F1 team shares - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

 

I stand corrected. Thanks!

I guess I remember him trying to sell it rather than actually doing so.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I am with you 100%.

Mercedes has forgot how many years they have struggled to get to the front line.
They should know better than criticize others when they struggle.

 

Or they could be 2009 Brawn GP...we know how 2010 went....

 

Frankly, I find Lauda's comments a bit disrespectful!

I'll give Red Bull their due - In all their years of domination, none of their team felt the need to belittle their rivals in the manner that Lauda has!

As I see it, these comments are the equivalent of someone like Ferrari or Red Bull declaring the Sauber, Marussia or Caterham to be s:censored:t cars! - Basically there's no need for it!

Still, the good thing is, one day Mercedes' reign at the top will come to an end, just as Ferrari's did and Red Bull's did, and these comments will come back to bite Lauda in the arse big time!

 

Who's to say that Lauda wasn't critical of his own team back then too? As a result whipped them into the shape they are now? He has always been critical in the past - even of his own team when he was at Ferrari.

 

Seriously? Have you not read some of the things that Helmut Marco has said over the years?

 

horner at red bull said he wouldnt issue team orders(critizing ferrari), ask webber about that.

 

More than a bit disrespectful.
At his age, in his position and with his experience, he should be above petty comments like that: very disappointed of the man.
Comments like that make me wonder if there is more to the story, like that he may have offered his services to some other team and was politely told his services were not needed.

 

+1

Sure, criticize your own team if you want (I'm sure Michael did just that many times behind closed doors) but saying your competitors cars are **** is way out of line.

OK Niki, your guys are kicking ass right now, well done. But, there's never any need or good to come from, as Phil says, belittling the efforts of others.

Another guy who's often been told by the peanut gallery to STFU!

In fact, seems both of these guys have pretty much 'indeterminate’ roles - they're both 'special advisers' to their bosses (Merc & Mr Mateschitz respectively) without any real role in the running of their teams.

Kind of the team clowns maybe?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Trash talk is trash talk. You'd like to think that Niki is better than that.

 

What's puzzling is....This is Niki Lauda. He is known to give silly, baseless, and senile comments every once in a while. So what's the surprise here?

 

I don’t Lauda's comments were made because he felt like making a press announcement to say how good Merc is and how crap all the others are – no doubt it was an answer or statement extracted by a reporter or journalist in response to the criticism from teams like Ferrari who are making claims that the Mercs are too dominant and unbeatable.

 

I think that Ross Brawn made the dirty work, Mercedes paid the big checks, and then Lauda and Wolff came at the last minute and reaped the benefits.

 

If he did say those things, I find his candor refreshing.