What did he say? It's true they were allowed to make reliability changes.... I didn't hear his comment, did he say it in a negative way?
He was talking about engines being frozen for development for all the teams, then he said unless of course you're Ferrari
It may be true but as an suposedly unbiased announcer you just cant say that stuff. The guy is English. No ? A Cossie did blow as well. Being Bernie's engine of choice and their lack of pace I wouldnt be surprise to see some "reliability" mods coming soon.
Totally agree. Button and Webber have been able to nurse their cars better and has been paying off. Button was well held by Schumacher who finally got a better performance than his team mate Rosberg. Hamilton and Vettel are young drivers still with the the blood burning on their veins..they just want more and more but still miss some experience
Let's cut the crap here. BOTH drivers requested the car be changed to reduce understeer but it was only ONE driver who could get the set up somewhat correct. MS ran a 1.20.727 faster than all but the Red Bulls. Nico struggling with his chassis is no one's fault but Nico's. He asked for it, he got it so stop calling it what it clearly is not.
Passing opportunities in F1 have got to improve. Overtaking now is only done if the car is vastly superior, its raining, or the driver pulls what can be deemed a high risk move. Succeed and he's a hero. Fail and he's a irresponsible fool. The aero rules need to be made to facilitate drafting. And no more blocking moves. We're going to see more lots more processions in the dry. Bahrain now this. The guy in front with clean air is labeled "being kind to the tires and wise" while his team-mate is stuck behind another car sliding around in turbulent air slowly destroying grip is labeled inexperienced and foolhardy. Results ? Back off and wait for the car in front to break. Exciting stuff.
Mercedes now has the advantage of two proven wheelbases from which to choose. I think Matchet said they did it by moving the pickup points and not by changing the tub. With the rules saying no spare cars a change from one to the other during a weekend would be a pain but possible. I hope Nico has been kind to MS so that he can tap the old masters experience on how to drive Shumi style. Either that or learn on his own. I think he will do just fine. Funny how the bandwagons empty and fill. Must be their wheelbase.
Yes the pickup points were changed as lengthening the tub would have warranted another crash test which takes many weeks. I want to believe that Nico realizes the volumes of experience he has at his disposal via Michael and would not burn that bridge.
An unbiased reporter would have pointed out that the FIA has the discretion to allow manufacturers to upgrade their engines, and that Renault just had theirs upgraded and allegedly leap-frogged the field in terms of hp(no doubt helping Red Bull even more). Ferrari supplies three teams-wouldn't it be in the best interest of F1 to have cars actually finish the race? BTW, if Ferrari starts improving pace suddenly expect Mercedes to apply for an upgrade-and hopefully they will be granted one seeing as this is supposedly the pinnacle of motor racing. It may be in terms of technology, but the racing sucks...
It's been established Hami had a rim failure, so his driving style can be left out of it. Heikki had the same failure at the same corner in 08, someone from the team needs to tell Enkei they're doing something wrong.
Agreed. Clearly Merc needed to make improvements to their car irrespective of MSC. The old setup was not a front runner and even though Nico was #2 in the standings, he knew the car needed help to challenge at the front. Even now, I doubt he would want to go back but the fact is- even the new car falls well short of the top 3. As to MSC being faster than all but Red Bull, that may have been true in practice... but it certainly wasn't where it counted. His qualifying pace did not retain a P3 start and his race pace would not have supported a P4 finish without attrition, pit stop advantages and good blocking tactics at a track where passing is already difficult. Also important- Nico's best lap was better than MSC's best in the race. Granted, he went back to options but no ones race pace came close to practice or qual times... they were some 3 - 4 seconds off. Red Bull is still king in qual trim but I believe Ferrari and McLaren are starting to challenge in race trim. Merc- not so much.
Agreed. Scumi is a relatively new phenomenon so it is not like there isn't enough well documented history for everyone to study and base their opinion on. I think it is fans vs. worshipers kinda thing.
That'll be interesting to see. I'd hate to see it happen but seems like Nico was knocked out cold in Spain and the chances are he'll never be the same racer. It happens a lot in boxing where some of the greatest have lost it all after a KO loss. Roy Jones Jr. and Mike Tyson lost their minds way before they lost their bodies. It happens in F1 too, the latest example being Kovalainen. I don't know him but I know many people who do and also know racing inside out. All of them agree that he's still a very gifted and fast driver who just happens to crumble under pressure. Years back there was a feud between the Rosberg and Kovalainen camps when Heikki stated that Nico was a Golden Boy whose road was paved by Keke's money. Keke retaliated by being the first one to say that Kovalainen talks big but will crumble under pressure. And Keke was right. But Camp Kovalainen could be enjoying a payback now if "Miss Rosberg" decides to roll over and play possum. Neither have the charisma to make me a fan but I really hope that Nico will recover and salvage his career. Unlike Heikki, he can still do it. But if I was a betting man, I'd have to bet against it.
It's one race. A little early to dig his grave but it would conviently close to the one dug for MS earlier this season.
Are you guys serious? Webber was driving the wheels off the car until the final 8 laps. Hamilton's times were very similar to the top 6 drivers, nothing out of the ordinary (although he did get fast lap at one point). Vettel's driving didn't do ANYTHING to aggrivate his car...he had a damaged spoiler that didn't allow the left front brake to cool which led to its melt down. I would NEVER classify Webber as a "smooth driver" who is absent of the red mist. He shows it MORE than anyone else. Sometimes people make comments on this site based on their like of a particular driver and ignore facts. Button's two wins were the result of NOT coming in for tire changes in the wet when everyone else did. He gambled and won...that's it. He's a smooth driver, true, but that ususally results in a finish in the lower part of the top 10. Webber has a strong car and he drove the hell out of it to win this weekend. The Speed crew were even wondering why he continued to drive so hard when he had a 14 sec lead, knowing he needed to protect the engine. Props to him for the win, but let's not re-write history to conveniently fit the argument. While I'm at it, Nico got screwed. The team changed the car to benefit MS, which would force Nico to adopt his style. He should have been left with a SWB car that still received the aero upgrades.
Also to add to that, because Vettel brakes were cooked, the commentators noted that Webber must/may be on the limit also and were hinting that if Hamilton has got word of this he smelt blood and put the hammer down incase he eased off, but it seems Webber didn't.
I agree, and also has Andreas has pointed out it is debatable whether Merc have made a step forward with the car.
Nico asked for the chassis upgrade for the same understeer reason MS asked for it. Nico is just having a difficult time getting used to the changes. BOTH asked for the change though, so he got what he asked for......
+1 Young Nico would do well to sit at the feet of the master, STFU (which he has done pretty well in fairness) and *learn* - He's got plenty of time to be "the man" once the great one has ridden off into the sunset - After bagging another WDC IMHO Cheers, Ian
