2016 Russian Grand Prix

English fans are some of the absolute worst when it comes to accepting another driver, team, nation, etc is performing better than their own.

You can't discredit Rosberg for Hamilton's misfortune, nor can you argue this isn't a simple rebalancing of the odds. Remember when Rosberg's car failed whilst leading the British GP, when it failed a few laps from the end at Monza and finally, when it failed during the 2014 title decider!

By contrast, Hamilton has issues but at least he is finishing the races in the points and not taking a complete 25 point loss.

Just accept that the luck is on Rosberg's side...currently.
 
I'm a massive Hamilton fan and even I think Rosberg is a pretty good opponent when he wants to actually put in the effort. I think he deserves a championship as well, he's just as fast a Hamilton in equal cars. Hamilton usually beats him due to actually having a little bit more skill, but overall he doesn't get outright beat by Lewis. I think if all things were equal the championship would be going either way.
I'm not saying that every Hamilton fan is rabid, just that there is a small, vocal minority who ruin it for everyone. In my experience, Hamilton and Räikkönen fans are some of the most difficult to deal with - just try offering a negative opinion of either of them on the Autosport forums or F1 Fanatic and see what happens.

English fans are some of the absolute worst when it comes to accepting another driver, team, nation, etc is performing better than their own.
And people wonder why I don't care for British motorsport outside Rally GB.
 
I didn't mean to stir up so much controversy sharing my opinion on Rosberg. I just feel like I'm the only person that seems to remember when his greatest accomplishments before getting an unbeatable car were beating the likes of Nakajima, Wurz, and a 40 year old Schumcher. Out of all of these perhaps beating Schumacher was the only noteworthy accomplishment.

I shouldn't be so definitive with my statements, because then I'd have to question the ability of every champion or almost champion in the sports history, as you can be sure they all had a good car at the very least to help them maximize their talent, but I just can't shake the feeling that Rosberg is what would happen if you took a driver on Hulkenberg's level, threw them into a top team and didn't designate them second driver in the way Ferrari did it Massa or Barichello.
 
My problem is that Rosberg will carry his momentum to the WDC and then carry the idea that it was all on merit when it wasn't. I like Nico a ton more than I like Lewis, and I place Lewis lower than Haryanto, who I still have to Google to make sure I spelled his last name correctly. But Lewis inarguably earned at least two of his championships, whereas Nico would have gotten the leg up early and just played defense. Now, that could all turn around, and Lewis could pull back to within 10 and Nico can outduel him to really impress, but F1 is a matter of extremes now really I think.
 
My problem is that Rosberg will carry his momentum to the WDC and then carry the idea that it was all on merit when it wasn't.

There's no WDC scoring system for merit, it's points for the winner on the day. The person who is in a position to score the most points overall wins. Simple as that.

If you go down through history there are many championships that were won because the highest point scorer benefitted from a potential opponent's bad luck/reliability. You have to go all the way back to 2015 to find a reasonable argument for that.
 
No one discredited Mika's '99 championship when Schumi broke his leg. If Nico can carry this momentum to a WDC, then it's a well-deserved victory.

Going back to the Russian GP, Nico basically got handed another free win, all he has to do is make a good start and then run away. It's his race to lose.
 
Any news yet on Hamilton's start position? As I recall Mercedes thought he might take a grid penalty based on which parts would eventually require changing?
 
Any news yet on Hamilton's start position? As I recall Mercedes thought he might take a grid penalty based on which parts would eventually require changing?
Starting 10th still according to F1 app.
 
Starting 10th still according to F1 app.

Cool :) Just saw a confirmation on Sky, Mercedes were able to fix with no penalty. They flew parts to Sochi overnight, apparently.

Sky
The world champion's power unit has been fitted with a new turbocharger, MGU-H, energy store and control electronics after a failure in qualifying but Hamilton remains inside the five unit limit for each element so no penalty is applied.
 
I didn't mean to stir up so much controversy sharing my opinion on Rosberg. I just feel like I'm the only person that seems to remember when his greatest accomplishments before getting an unbeatable car were beating the likes of Nakajima, Wurz, and a 40 year old Schumcher. Out of all of these perhaps beating Schumacher was the only noteworthy accomplishment.

Is that not the same for any driver? He had four years in a Williams that was never more than 4th or 5th fastest and he was getting good solid results, particularly in 2007 and two podiums in 08. 2009 was again solid with the new regs, Williams weren't up there but he scored points most races.

Then he went to the building Merc team and he again started very well in 2010, despite inheriting the Brawn the car was clearly not up there but he was solid all year and ended with double the points of Schumi. Sure it was old, not at his best Schumi but that is still a heck of an accomplishment. Mercedes slowly got better over the next few years and so did he, started taking poles and three wins across 2012-2013. They were still third or fourth best at most weekends (mostly thanks to their tyre wear) until 2014 though and I think he got the most out of it most weekends up until then.

He also won GP2 in one season albeit not against the greatest competition, the best being Kovalainen.

I don't think he's in the ultimate group of the best of the best drivers but to say he's never amounted to much and wouldn't be a worthy champion is hogwash, IMO. He's a top driver.
 
Doesn't Sky show any coverage of the support races any more?
There aren't any. Or if there are, they're just local events. The move from October to May made it impossible for GP2 and GP3 to be ready on time. Neither series even has a full grid yet.
 
And the insane fans strike again, flooding Sky F1's Twitter feed with accusations of conspiracies and sabotage against Hamilton. Shame on Sky for giving the bottom-feeders air time, but Toto Wolff handed it well - he looked apoplectic that people would even think that much.
 
And the insane fans strike again, flooding Sky F1's Twitter feed with accusations of conspiracies and sabotage against Hamilton. Shame on Sky for giving the bottom-feeders air time, but Toto Wolff handed it well - he looked apoplectic that people would even think that much.
I thought it was great that they named and shamed that small minority. Toto handled it with class, as usual. I got a good laugh out of the segment, anyway.
 
And the insane fans strike again, flooding Sky F1's Twitter feed with accusations of conspiracies and sabotage against Hamilton. Shame on Sky for giving the bottom-feeders air time, but Toto Wolff handed it well - he looked apoplectic that people would even think that much.
Bet he never expected that kind of bs when Crofty started reading, that he even took his earphones off! In usual Toto Wolff fashion, he still takes it like a pro.
 
Great tribute to Senna, Crofty.

A bit surprising that this is the first time F1 has raced on May 1st since that fateful weekend in Imola.
 
I thought it was great that they named and shamed that small minority. Toto handled it with class, as usual. I got a good laugh out of the segment, anyway.

That's why I'm glad I haven't got Sky. Still, no competition for Rosberg means one I don't mind missing anyway. Just saw the Jerez MotoGP race on ITV4. Much better entertainment than F1.
 
And the insane fans strike again, flooding Sky F1's Twitter feed with accusations of conspiracies and sabotage against Hamilton. Shame on Sky for giving the bottom-feeders air time, but Toto Wolff handed it well - he looked apoplectic that people would even think that much.

Yep, and shame on Sky for even trying to further it. "Everyone loves a good conspiracy". No they don't, Crofty.

 
Yep, and shame on Sky for even trying to further it. "Everyone loves a good conspiracy". No they don't, Crofty.
The operative word is "good". If he said "everyone loves a crazy conspiracy", he might have been closer to the truth.
 
Thank you Toto for being professional... This is starting to sound like 2014 all over again. Hardcore Hamilton fans just can't stand the fact the Rosberg can beat him
 
The operative word is "good". If he said "everyone loves a crazy conspiracy", he might have been closer to the truth.

I took it to mean "good" as in "comprehensive, considerable" (eg a good dollop of mash), personally I think they were right to ask Toto what he thought. I also thought Toto's response was perfect.
 
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