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

+1

Perfectly articulated, accurate and non-biased.

 

Even so, it wouldn't surprise me if the rumor started with Hamilton himself. I don't see Ferrari ever bringing him into the team.

 

Yep, Vettel acted as a true gentleman by not interfering in the championship duel and not taking the opportunity to ruin Rosberg's chance.

Elton was p***** off his plan didn't work, and Rosberg handled the pressure very well I thought.

 

Good Lord, that can't be possible! Ferrari needs building, not demolishing!

Hamilton would completely demoralise the Scuderia with his schizophrenic character, and his constant paranoia.

The man is unable to motivate people. He is so self-centered. Ferrari is a team; in fact THE team.

Before long, Scuderia Ferrari would become Scuderia Hamilton, and even then, every member of staff would be at the receiving end of his arrogance.

Thanks for no thanks. I wouldn't wish Hamilton to my worst enemy ...

 

exactly!!

 

Sorry but you're incredibly biased and a hater of Nico in general, always have been. Nico is the guy who bested Lewis and made him show his true colors. Nico will be known as a genius for not dicing with that lunatic when he knew he had the advantage. Dicing with Lewis only provides Lewis the opportunity for Lewis to do something incredibly divisive, like shove Nico off-track or into a wall or some such nonsense. He more than proved he is capable of besting him anywhere anytime and acting like a grown-up in the process, which Lewis is not.

Prior to Mercedes most everyone was ok with Lewis, but once he ended up at Mercedes and really flew off the handle a few times, Lewis' is officially damaged goods. The popular consensus totally disagrees with anything to the contrary. Guy is a big baby, poor sport, primadonna, take your pic, and we would not have fully known the extent until Nico. Thank you Nico

Still waiting for you to eat that Himalayan slice of humble pie.

 

Are you joking? Lewis disobeyed team orders and tried to bait Nico again. Yeah that's strategic racing but that's hosing your team by not obeying team orders. Lewis will either get sacked (not likely) or banned for a few races (much more likely and already being discussed). So is that still smart overall racing if he gets banned?? Guy doesn't think about the consequences to his actions. Don't bite the hand the feeds you the golden car.

Nico played it cool allowing Lewis to again show his true colors. The popular consensus officially sees Lewis as the poor sport punk he is now, all thanks to Nico. Any suggestion that Lewis' name isn't further tarnished now as a result is simply ridiculous.

 

Well you're right to some degree. Lewis thinks about winning... Nico is more about not losing. Two different ways to skin a cat I guess. I'm not really commenting on him disobeying orders... I think that was silly to begin with. Let the guys race. If Nico actually has to race a bit in order to win... I'm okay with that. If you hate Lewis.. . you think what he did was horrible sportsmanship and confirms everything you already "know" about him. If you're somewhat indifferent about him, you probably didn't think what he did was that big a deal. Basically... if the "right" driver does the same thing we have a tendency to be okay with it.

Again, I'm not super Hamilton fan, but I don't think history will ever look back at Lewis as a "punk." He's a great driver... maybe has some flaws (most of which are greatly exaggerated). In turn, I don't think history will ever look back on Nico as one of F1's great champions. I don't believe we'll see a book or a movie being made out of Nico's career. For me, it's not personal. I'm a fan of racing. I'm sure Nico is a fantastic guy. He just doesn't impact me as a fan or even now as a champion. He's done nothing wrong, but to me, he just doesn't evoke any emotion as a fan. Even now, what are the people really talking about now and for the past several races: Max, Ricciardo, Seb, even Alonso. Why? Because they were racing hard doing great things in their cars that made people go nuts and cheer and want to see what they were going to do next race. Nico? Yep... he drove a very calculated race to second. Smart. Very smart... but hardly inspiring to anyone but his small following of ardent fans.

 

Good observations. As I've said before, Nico was very Prost-like in his final few races, which was completely due to him simply wanting to stay out of Lewis' way as the guy is certifiable. That IMO is the only way to beat Lewis. Let the baby have has his bottle then take the back road once you know his goose is cooked. I still find it hilarious Lewis figured only figured this out, by way of proof of his last antics, at the final event. He should have tried this stuff a long time ago. He was played like a fiddle.

Nico's big issue is he never walked into a big competitive team like Lewis, Max, and to an extent even Schumacher. Nico was always in the background until Merc started wiping the field. His fanbase and notoriety simply isn't that of others because he wasn't seen as a winner due to lack of a winning car from season 1.

 

On tire strategy generally, where overtaking is reasonably possible on a circuit, it seems like teams should more often utilize the Vettel strategy employed at Abu Dhabi (i.e. final stint on the fastest tire with the least fuel). When the rules changed to allow three compounds I thought we would see more of this but it hasn't been the case. Ricciardo has usually favored this strategy even when at Toro Rosso. With Mercedes it is unnecessary given their pace advantage. But, we could see a direct comparison with Ferrari at this last race. Ferrari followed the standard strategy with Kimi as he mirrored Hamilton's pitstops. Vettel ran a long middle stint and then finished on the supersoft to great effect. 3rd place vs. 6th place showed a clear advantage for the final fast tire strategy. With the cars even faster next year, we will see if this becomes more popular.

 

All this bickering over something that's history. Armchair/Monday morning quaterbacks "supporting" their guy.

Mine left us on a drizzly April day in Hockenheim.

The season is over. Racing drivers did what they do. Give it up.

 

+44 William, Elton is a loose cannon, the old man would have put a horses head in his bed before the end of the first few races if he came to ferrari with his bull**** and 'it's all about elton' Attitude.

Ferrari is bigger than any driver, if the GOAT (Schumacher) recognised that, then everyone else must too

 

Lewis the kid
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That wouldn't be racing as one should fight for position until the checkered flag drops.

 

Another problem with Lewis Hamilton is, he's great when he has a great car underneath him, but when the car's a bit mediocre, he doesn't seem to have the ability to win with it, as demonstrated from 2009 to 2012 with a mediocre at best McLaren, and in 2013 when the Mercedes was a bit mediocre.

In the five seasons from 2009 to 2013, Hamilton could only manage either 4th or 5th in the Championship.

Hamilton only started winning again once Mercedes had a car with a big advantage over it's rivals.

With Ferrari, the chances of the car being mediocre are pretty good (it's what frustrated Alonso so much, and it's starting to frustrate Seb a bit, too), and Hamilton isn't the Schumacher-esque miracle worker that Ferrari appear to need (Just as Alonso wasn't, and as it appears to be the case so far, Seb isn't either).

Saying that, if Seb wanted out of Ferrari, and Verstappen wasn't available, then like it or not, Hamilton couldn't be over-looked, because he is a great driver (in the car at least!), but he does come with a lot of baggage that could be off putting for the Scuderia - And this weekend has done him no favours whatsoever with his refusal to obey team orders/instructions.

 

+1

 

Schumacher part 2 was like that. Was no good until second half w02 season when they finally adopted the blown diffuser, cleaned Nico's clock. Them with W03, when the car didn't break on him, which was often, he was incredible. Pole lap at Monaco was bananas.

 

And on....


and on.....


and on.............

'Guess I need to turn this subscription off...nothing new here.

 

Best post in this thread

 

By all means. Please.

 

Thanks for the inspiration. If you can hang, so can I.

So shall I.

 

I'm not the one complaining.

 

Complaining? Heavens to mergatroids ee-fen , not me. 'Doin' no different than most of the above; just statin' my opinion like all the anti-Hamilton posters.

Deja vu all over again, ehhh?

 

Do it, you add nothing to any conversation you try to have from what I see, we aren't here to agree with you

 

Give him a break, he's doing very well for someone who's been dead for so long

I'm getting my username changed to Ascari