Just a guaranteed loss of the title if he damages his car in a collision with Hamilton. Hamilton doesn't have to worry about that scenario anywhere near as much. Even if he is pushed wide and loses a couple of places, he knows with the Merc he can get them back if necessary.
The race that Ricciardo won because of a collision between the two Mercs? So yes, if that happens again then Nico won't win the title and I'm presuming that might play on his mind come any wheel-to-wheel action.
Fair point, but as Niky says, he was lucky that time whether anyone considers it deliberate or not (I don't btw). I would have thought that with front wings as large and delicate as they are these days, anyone planning on deliberately hitting another car with the intent of then carrying on is taking a huge gamble. I doubt any driver would consider that a viable tactic unless absolutely desperate.
He hasn't done much wrong on the track, apart from what you've already mentioned. But the way he lied to the media to manipulate the public view of Rosberg was just horrible. In my mind there is no doubt that Lewis wanted to turn the fans against Nico, in order to damage his mentality, and give his own mentality and focus a boost; by making himself seem like a victim of some horrible crime that never actually happened. Luckily for him, people bought it! If the tables were turned, Nico would never have been able to have gotten away with that. Not that I'd even want him to try. This is just my opinion but as far as sporting tactics go, mind games like that are the lowest of the low!
Lied? I'm fairly certain Wolff said Hamilton was accurate about him trying to prove a point. I imagine the conversation went something along the lines of LH: "What were you doing?" NR: "I was trying to prove a point." How do you not interpret that in the way Lewis did after Monaco and Canada? You'd be fuming if you were in Lewis' shoes after the incident.
Wolff confirmed that Nico said he "hadn't pulled out of the move to prove a point", and not what Lewis claimed to have been said by Nico, which was apparently an admission of deliberate contact. You only have to think about it for five seconds, just to realise what a load of tosh that actually is! I mean what driver is going to use his car as a battering ram against his main rival mid-season, when the result of doing so could easily be forcing themselves into retirement, and their opponent gaining an even larger lead? It's not guaranteed to work in their favour you know.
I don't believe that he's intentionally tried to puncture Hamilton, I think he's went in committed and tried to pull off a move which deep down he knew wasn't going to work but because he had yielded to Hamilton multiple times before he didn't want to lose out again.
Exactly! And I'm sure Hamilton knew this as well. I would have sympathized completely with Lewis had he come out and said Nico had ruined his race with an extremely daft misjudgement (or something to that effect), but instead he basically accused him of doing it on purpose. And that's just going too far in my opinion.
Actually yes, I would have. Because as much as I believe there was no malice in Rosberg's driving, it was a moronic move on his part nonetheless. So sorry pal, but your 'hunch' is way off!Call it a hunch, but something tells me that you would not sympathise with Hamilton had he done as you suggest
