The Formula 1 Thread - 2016
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From: Frustration
Congrats to Nico - he deserved it. Hamilton did exactly the opposite of what I predicted - I really thought he'd just run away with it to prove a point. He clearly thinks he's bigger than the team.
So, moving on to wrap up...
4 out of 7 Correct for me (although Haas did score points in the 2nd race).
I'll take that.
So, moving on to wrap up...
I'm gonna kick this off with my predictions 
WDC - Rosberg
WCC - Merc
Ferrari 0.3-0.5 behind.
McLaren better than Williams
Red Bull with a Renault engine
Haas first score points in the second race and better than Sauber/Manor/Lotus-Renault over the season
Alonso still threatens to quit
WDC - Rosberg
WCC - Merc
Ferrari 0.3-0.5 behind.
McLaren better than Williams
Red Bull with a Renault engine
Haas first score points in the second race and better than Sauber/Manor/Lotus-Renault over the season
Alonso still threatens to quit
I'll take that.
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From: South Coast
First off, congratulation to Nico. He has driven a very consistent season and deserves his WDC.
If there was a poor show, then that title belongs to the Merc pit wall, those calls were completely unnecessary towards the end of the race and only go to fuel the tin foil hat brigade.
If I'm not wrong then the WDC was still up for grabs during this final race and Hamilton was doing what he could to try and win another championship. It's called racing and there are many ways to do it.
There have been the reliability issues, but the main reason why Hamilton lost and Rosberg won was the ability/lack of ability to launch the car in an effective manner.
Fingers crossed that 2017 will bring a serious competitor for Merc as this orchestrated procession has been awful at times this year.
If there was a poor show, then that title belongs to the Merc pit wall, those calls were completely unnecessary towards the end of the race and only go to fuel the tin foil hat brigade.
If I'm not wrong then the WDC was still up for grabs during this final race and Hamilton was doing what he could to try and win another championship. It's called racing and there are many ways to do it.
There have been the reliability issues, but the main reason why Hamilton lost and Rosberg won was the ability/lack of ability to launch the car in an effective manner.
Fingers crossed that 2017 will bring a serious competitor for Merc as this orchestrated procession has been awful at times this year.
Last edited by LTB; Nov 27, 2016 at 10:16 AM. Reason: .
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From: Ulaanbaatar
A predictable outcome given the Mercedes superiority and reliability. Rosberg will be a much more an urbane establishment champion. He is already on the way, interviewing in several languages and being happier than in ages. Hamilton on the other hand being obviously grumpy as hell and a most ungracious dude to boot 
.
Next season? Well neither of them is stupid and both will not be willing to take a leap over to another car until the Mercedes is caught. So it will be more of the same and a real danger for Hamilton that, with renewed confidence, Rosberg and he are more equal than hitherto on the track. There is a possibility that Hamilton will implode, crash and burn. But there again this is an opportunity for him to mature in adversity. We shall see.
My dream is that they are both forced to drive elsewhere and, taking that fantasy (Fan tasy?!) further, that the top drivers are forced to play musical chairs so they all get several rides in each car so that the drivers' and constructors' championships are effectively de-coupled and so we can really see who are the best drivers in all conditions and on any machinery.
Hamilton's tactics, sort of race track rope a dope, were not bought in to by the other drivers, who had no incentive to bust a gut to take the championship away from Rosberg by attempting a pass in the dying laps. Maybe they didn't love or hate either of them enough to take the risk. Poor show by Hamilton.
.Next season? Well neither of them is stupid and both will not be willing to take a leap over to another car until the Mercedes is caught. So it will be more of the same and a real danger for Hamilton that, with renewed confidence, Rosberg and he are more equal than hitherto on the track. There is a possibility that Hamilton will implode, crash and burn. But there again this is an opportunity for him to mature in adversity. We shall see.
My dream is that they are both forced to drive elsewhere and, taking that fantasy (Fan tasy?!) further, that the top drivers are forced to play musical chairs so they all get several rides in each car so that the drivers' and constructors' championships are effectively de-coupled and so we can really see who are the best drivers in all conditions and on any machinery.
Hamilton's tactics, sort of race track rope a dope, were not bought in to by the other drivers, who had no incentive to bust a gut to take the championship away from Rosberg by attempting a pass in the dying laps. Maybe they didn't love or hate either of them enough to take the risk. Poor show by Hamilton.
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I;m not much of a Hamilton fan but he did exactly what he needed to do and the calls from the pit lane were bang out of order, The team had won the championship so already had their pot of gold so didn't need to interfere and try to stop racer's being racer's
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From: The Beautiful South
Whilst I generally don't like team orders, i have a certain amount of sympathy for the calls from the pit wall to Lewis telling him to get a wobble on.
Mercedes have invested a vast amount of money to get to their current preeminent position. Toward the end of the race they could see the real possibility of Lewis's (understandable) strategy handing a race win to Ferrari, hence the call imho.
Mercedes have invested a vast amount of money to get to their current preeminent position. Toward the end of the race they could see the real possibility of Lewis's (understandable) strategy handing a race win to Ferrari, hence the call imho.
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From: Brighton - ish
If Lewis was holding Nico up that badly why didn't Nico simply overtake him? The team orders were pathetic imo. What did they expect Lewis to do? All the greats through the years would've tried something similar.
Having said that I'm pretty happy for Nico, he's clearly not as good a racer as Lewis and had a bit of luck to win his title (who hasn't though?) but he's driven very very consistently this season and generally made himself difficult to beat. I don't see him adding to this championship though.
Please please let there be some proper competition for the Mercs next season though! I'd like to see their cage really rattled.
Having said that I'm pretty happy for Nico, he's clearly not as good a racer as Lewis and had a bit of luck to win his title (who hasn't though?) but he's driven very very consistently this season and generally made himself difficult to beat. I don't see him adding to this championship though.
Please please let there be some proper competition for the Mercs next season though! I'd like to see their cage really rattled.
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From: The Beautiful South
Whilst I generally don't like team orders, i have a certain amount of sympathy for the calls from the pit wall to Lewis telling him to get a wobble on.
Mercedes have invested a vast amount of money to get to their current preeminent position. Toward the end of the race they could see the real possibility of Lewis's (understandable) strategy handing a race win to Ferrari, hence the call imho.
Mercedes have invested a vast amount of money to get to their current preeminent position. Toward the end of the race they could see the real possibility of Lewis's (understandable) strategy handing a race win to Ferrari, hence the call imho.
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From: Frustration
Mercedes left it till they thought they were in danger on Vettel becoming a threat. Otherwise they'd have told Hamilton to get up the road when Max was in 2nd place.
Team orders are nothing new. Nico obeys them, Hamilton doesn't.
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From: Banbury, Oxfordshire
Pot of Gold isn't enough these days. WIth the board looking on and the $1/2 billion per year expenditure, you need to be having a pot of diamonds and being as close to perfect as possible.
Mercedes left it till they thought they were in danger on Vettel becoming a threat. Otherwise they'd have told Hamilton to get up the road when Max was in 2nd place.
Team orders are nothing new. Nico obeys them, Hamilton doesn't.
Mercedes left it till they thought they were in danger on Vettel becoming a threat. Otherwise they'd have told Hamilton to get up the road when Max was in 2nd place.
Team orders are nothing new. Nico obeys them, Hamilton doesn't.
I think given their relative performances over the three years of Mercedes domination 2:1 is a pretty fair result.
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From: Market Harborough, Leics.
That race was the first one in a very long time that had me on edge for the whole race and i watched from start to finish without fast forwarding. Some will call Lewis backing Tosberg into Vettel and Verstappen unsportsmanlike, but i thought it perfectly fair. Rosberg could have overtaken Hamilton if he was good enough, but wasn't so it made for a very exciting race. The most disappointing thing was Vettel not being able to make any sort of significant move on Rosberg. Hamilton probably got it wrong by not pulling his slowing down stunt till the stage of the race that he did.
I'm not a natural Hamilton fan, but with Button gone i have to transfer my allegiance somewhere so its probably going to be Hamilton as a British driver.
I'm not a natural Hamilton fan, but with Button gone i have to transfer my allegiance somewhere so its probably going to be Hamilton as a British driver.