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I feel like I've missed something here. I didn't catch Qualifying when it originally aired (if that was when he said this), so someone enlighten me.
2016 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Thread starter TenEightyOne
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I feel like I've missed something here. I didn't catch Qualifying when it originally aired (if that was when he said this), so someone enlighten me.
Dotini
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I don't recall Hamilton himself saying that. But I think if was Leigh Diffey (?) who quoted him as saying something vaguely like that.
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It was during the Thursday press conference. Hamilton and Rosberg were discussing the mechanic swap earlier in the year; Rosberg said that it was done to promote team morale and prevent an us-versus-them mentality from settling across both sides of the garage (a point Anthony Davidson agreed with during FP1). When Hamilton took the question, he alluded to a deeper root cause, but then refused to go into detail and instead promised to tell everything in a book that he will publish ten years from now.
However, given that be fielded the question and then threw it to Rosberg before answering, I suspect that he was taking the mickey. For a moment, it actually looked pretty choreographed between Hamilton and Rosberg, almost as if they saw a question about the team coming.
Dotini
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That's right, it was about the team moving mechanics around between cars. Matchette made the dark comment that it was a grave matter when a team moves even one mechanic from a successful driver's car, like it affected his delicate ego, karma, luck or something superstitious, intangible. Bad joo-joo. Racing drivers are titanic egos, poised on a razor's edge. Everything must be done in order to keep them from going Rambo, it would seem.
Doing it for the start of the race after beginning behind the SC, I totally get behind but from what I understand they're planning to do it for EVERY SC period. That is just a gimmick to try and mix up the order as far as I'm concerned. It's going to be very unfair in so many scenarios.
Standing start when there is a strong drying line on one side and still wet on the other?
Standing start 15 laps from the end when one side is dirty, covered in marbles?
Or just the simple concept of having a 20 second lead which already gets wiped out by the SC, then you've got to go into the lottery of a standing start. It will undoubtedly "spice up the race" but it's not fair or organic.
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There are two sides to it: on the one hand, you don't want opposite sides of the garage digging in and getting competitive to the point where they don't get along and the team as a whole is dysfunctional. But on the other hand, breaking up a group of people who work well together can be detrimental because the new group will take time to establish a rapport and work as effectively as the old group.
For me, the issue was not that Mercedes swapped the crews about, or even the way they did it; rather, I felt that Hamilton could have handled in with much more decorum. Publicly questioning the team's decision was deliberately disruptive, and extremely embarrassing for the team. After all, Mercedes was forced to defend themselves, which was completely unprecedented. Hamilton's actions looked like little more than an attempt to use the fans and the media to put pressure on the team and make a decision that favoured him.
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How so, he's one of the few drivers that's made it a habit over the years to thank the people who actually work on his car and design it back at the shop. If people have trouble understanding why he or others (Webber comes to mind) detail the negatives of the management side of F1, then not sure what to tell you.
I've seen Benson write some pathetic articles at the BBC in the past but this one takes the biscuit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38086602
The sport doesn't need moronic journalists like him.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38086602
The sport doesn't need moronic journalists like him.
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Abu Dhabi GP: Would a crash help Lewis Hamilton steal F1 title?
Picture the scene: the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Two laps to go.
Lewis Hamilton leads by just over a second from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg but he knows that will not be enough to win the world championship.
Rosberg has the luxury of being able to finish third and still claim the title even if Hamilton wins, so something drastic needs to happen to derail the German.
A car failure? Unlikely. Puncture? Can't rely on that. What about a crash? Yeah, that might do it, if done right.
But Hamilton wouldn't do that, would he? And there's nothing to stop Rosberg from wiping them both out, either.
Although such action by both is highly unlikely, pressure does funny things to the mind, and there's not much more pressure than in the white-hot furnace of a world title battle.
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With all due respect, I have to disagree with you when you say it's one of the most pathetic articles posted to the BBC. Mostly because it's just one of the most pathetic articles in the history of pathetic articles.
What is Benson thinking here? Does he really believe that Hamilton would engineer a crash to win the title? More to the point, does he really believe that Hamilton would get away with it?
Tired Tyres
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That was a deeply pathetic article. 👎
There is precedence for things like that. (Schumacher) I don't think either of them wants that. One of them will get the best start. If it's Rosberg then the championship is won. If it's Hamilton he'll run away and hide and hope Red Bull can work a strategy to get both their drivers on the podium.
There is precedence for things like that. (Schumacher) I don't think either of them wants that. One of them will get the best start. If it's Rosberg then the championship is won. If it's Hamilton he'll run away and hide and hope Red Bull can work a strategy to get both their drivers on the podium.
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Yeah cause Ferrari will probably flop with Kimi or something will cause his car to break, I don't want to mention Seb cause it's a given his strategy is bust before the races even start these days.
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I just find it utterly bizarre that Benson would even suggest it. Sure, there's the Schumacher precedent, but given the FIA's response to Nelson Piquet Jr.'s actions in Singapore, they'd likely ban Hamilton for life on the spot. And yet Benson seems to think that Hamilton would get away with it without penalty. Why on earth would he think that? Does he think that Hamilton being British would prompt the FIA to look the other way? Does he think that the fan backlash would make them think twice? Or does he think that the media would be able to pressure them into backing down?
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One I doubt he'd get banned for life, two that is most likely the case as to why he thinks he'd get away with it, which I don't agree with. Fan and team influence only go so far in today's FIA.
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Remember when Balestre had the pole position slot moved at Suzuka? The accusation - I don't know if it was ever substantiated - was that he did it because he wanted Prost to win, and that he wanted Prost to win because he wanted a French World Champion. Benson evidently thinks that a British World Champion is what is best for the sport, and seems to think that the FIA will be amenable to this and thus enable the press (less so the fans) to exert influence over them. Especially since the stewards have an unspoken policy of not overtly influencing the race (and by proxy, the championship) result unless absolutely necessary.
To which I can only say that this particular crazy train will be stopping at Lewisteria and Hamilton-upon-Podium station.
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They just announced that Max is the DOTD 
Hopefully we get another race to remember with a lot of emotions and heroic scenes. May the best one win this race and the championship, because next year we already know who....aaah never mind.
Hopefully we get another race to remember with a lot of emotions and heroic scenes. May the best one win this race and the championship, because next year we already know who....aaah never mind.
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I hope for Rosberg's sake that he wins it. If he doesn't, I don't see him winning the WDC ever.
Hopefully some sort of controversy comes out of this. F1 really needs something to reinvigorate it and capture the public's attention, similar to 1990 when Senna purposely took Prost out to win the title. It just seems like there isn't much of a rivalry between two of the top drivers anymore. And that's sad. But enough of the complaining. I hope Button can finish up his career on a high tonight, he deserves it. Same for Massa.
I hope you like your new Honda Jazz as it's definitely happening. Well, I hope it does anyway.
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Funny, I took my daughter for a walk to the Honda dealer today to check out the Magic rear seats and driver's eating position. I'd order the pearl Yellow. We'll see.Hopefully some sort of controversy comes out of this. F1 really needs something to reinvigorate it and capture the public's attention, similar to 1990 when Senna purposely took Prost out to win the title. It just seems like there isn't much of a rivalry between two of the top drivers anymore. And that's sad. But enough of the complaining. I hope Button can finish up his career on a high tonight, he deserves it. Same for Massa.
I hope you like your new Honda Jazz as it's definitely happening. Well, I hope it does anyway.
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It's inevitable to see people suggesting some kind of collision-based manipulation of the championship. It's happened at least 4 times before (Senna-Prost, Senna-Prost, Schumacher-Hill, Schumacher-Villeneuve) and has a pretty high 75% success rate.
But it probably won't be Hamilton who does it, because the result he would need from such an incident would be for the other car to be crippled but his own car still capable of at least a 3rd place finish. It's too high a risk for him to use his car to damage another and survive - and if he tries he doesn't understand maths.
If anyone would benefit from both cars being damaged it's Rosberg. And let's be fair, Rosberg has tried exactly that at least once this season (Austria), arguably twice (Spain) and possibly even three times in three years (Belgium). If you include all three he has a 66% success rate of trying to take out a rival and getting the outcome he needs here. If you only include the most blatant one, it's 0% - but only Rosberg knows which of those two is right.
But it's not likely he'll do it either. The likeliest form of results manipulation will be Hamilton backing Rosberg into - he'll hope - Verstappen. Or Mercedes hitting the magic Explode The Engine button.
It's still a sidebar that merits discussion - after all, one driver compares himself to Senna and the other is a Schumacher-substitute (you know... German) and there's three titles between them from final race collisions with their rivals.
But it probably won't be Hamilton who does it, because the result he would need from such an incident would be for the other car to be crippled but his own car still capable of at least a 3rd place finish. It's too high a risk for him to use his car to damage another and survive - and if he tries he doesn't understand maths.
If anyone would benefit from both cars being damaged it's Rosberg. And let's be fair, Rosberg has tried exactly that at least once this season (Austria), arguably twice (Spain) and possibly even three times in three years (Belgium). If you include all three he has a 66% success rate of trying to take out a rival and getting the outcome he needs here. If you only include the most blatant one, it's 0% - but only Rosberg knows which of those two is right.
But it's not likely he'll do it either. The likeliest form of results manipulation will be Hamilton backing Rosberg into - he'll hope - Verstappen. Or Mercedes hitting the magic Explode The Engine button.
It's still a sidebar that merits discussion - after all, one driver compares himself to Senna and the other is a Schumacher-substitute (you know... German) and there's three titles between them from final race collisions with their rivals.
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