Nico Rosberg World Champion!

[journeyman racer]

Mathematically, Rosberg won the title the same way Hamilton won in 08. In that he benefitted from having no mechanical problems during the races to Hamilton's one. A crucial failure at that while leading a later season race in Malaysia with 15 laps to go.

In 08. Hamilton suffered no mechanical failures to Massa's three. In including a crucial later in the season race in in Hungary with 3 laps to go.

Hamilton scored 98.7% of Rosberg's score. In 08, Massa scored 98.97% of Hamilton's score.

Where there's also a similarity in that despite driving well, they weren't necessarily the best performed drivers overall relative to the cars the drove. They benefitted from driving better cars. As is, Ricciardo was the best driver this season, as was Kubica in 08.

[journeyman racer]

What happened to my post???

[journeyman racer]

This is a screenshot of my post, which I seem to have accidentally deleted. I was meat to say that if it was for generous runoff areas, Hamilton would've suffered a dnf at Britain and Mexico.

Eh. I'll just write it again.

I think deeper, objective analysis is needed to justify the merit of Rosberg's title win. At worst, he was second best to Ricciardo relative to the cars the drove. He was the best MB driver. He had control.

Sure, he didn't have a mechanical problem stop a race of his. But this s a list of some of the adversity he faced last season.

Clobbered by Hamilton in Spain.
Pushed off the track by Hamilton in Canada.
An unfair penalty for legitimately passing Verstappen in Germany (Albeit an unconventional move)
Clobbered by Vettel in Malaysia (Rosberg would've eventually inherited the lead and won had it not happened).
Shoved off track by Verstappen in Mexico.
Being asked to move over for Hamilton in Monaco. A huge factor, of many, that contributed to Hamilton's win.
Mechanical hindrances in Azerbaijan and Britain.

On the flipside. Despite how the stats look. Hamilton was mediocre last season. When you consider that the idea of the track is to stay within it, and you're supposed to do everything possible to avoid hitting another car. Hamilton...

Drove off track and blocked Ricciardo in Monaco.
Pushed Rosberg off track in Canada. Adversely affecting Rosberg's chances to even finish 2nd.
Drove off track in Britain.
Drove off track in Hungary.
Drove off track in Mexico.

In all these races. Hamilton won despite driving poorly. Penalties were warranted in Monaco and definitely in Canada. No question that without the generous runoff nowadays that allow drivers to get away with being sloppy, a dnf would've occurred in Britain and Mexico.

On top of that. Rosberg let Hamilton past in Monaco because the team told him to. With the championship being a serious possibility after Japan. Hamilton benefited from Rosberg pacing himself behind him from the rest of the season.

Despite all the adversity. Rosberg still won the title!

Rosberg was steady. Playing the percentages throughout the season. That's how he goes about it. He didn't drive off track. He didn't push anyone out. He kept his nose clean for almost the whole season. When he did get rough, he rightly served the "natural justice" which is lacking in F1 nowadays. Going from 2nd at the point of impact in Austria, to 4th.

Despite not being considered spectacularly fast. He set 6 fastest laps, which is double the next best. He set the most fastest laps despite having a reputation for not being fast. Despite not trying!

So with that in mind. Despite not being dominant. Rosberg was the best driver last season. His win is highly meritorious!

[Nitrodaze]

This is a screenshot of my post, which I seem to have accidentally deleted. I was meat to say that if it was for generous runoff areas, Hamilton would've suffered a dnf at Britain and Mexico.

Eh. I'll just write it again.

I think deeper, objective analysis is needed to justify the merit of Rosberg's title win. At worst, he was second best to Ricciardo relative to the cars the drove. He was the best MB driver. He had control.

Sure, he didn't have a mechanical problem stop a race of his. But this s a list of some of the adversity he faced last season.

Clobbered by Hamilton in Spain.
Pushed off the track by Hamilton in Canada.
An unfair penalty for legitimately passing Verstappen in Germany (Albeit an unconventional move)
Clobbered by Vettel in Malaysia (Rosberg would've eventually inherited the lead and won had it not happened).
Shoved off track by Verstappen in Mexico.
Being asked to move over for Hamilton in Monaco. A huge factor, of many, that contributed to Hamilton's win.
Mechanical hindrances in Azerbaijan and Britain.

On the flipside. Despite how the stats look. Hamilton was mediocre last season. When you consider that the idea of the track is to stay within it, and you're supposed to do everything possible to avoid hitting another car. Hamilton...

Drove off track and blocked Ricciardo in Monaco.
Pushed Rosberg off track in Canada. Adversely affecting Rosberg's chances to even finish 2nd.
Drove off track in Britain.
Drove off track in Hungary.
Drove off track in Mexico.

In all these races. Hamilton won despite driving poorly. Penalties were warranted in Monaco and definitely in Canada. No question that without the generous runoff nowadays that allow drivers to get away with being sloppy, a dnf would've occurred in Britain and Mexico.

On top of that. Rosberg let Hamilton past in Monaco because the team told him to. With the championship being a serious possibility after Japan. Hamilton benefited from Rosberg pacing himself behind him from the rest of the season.

Despite all the adversity. Rosberg still won the title!

Rosberg was steady. Playing the percentages throughout the season. That's how he goes about it. He didn't drive off track. He didn't push anyone out. He kept his nose clean for almost the whole season. When he did get rough, he rightly served the "natural justice" which is lacking in F1 nowadays. Going from 2nd at the point of impact in Austria, to 4th.

Despite not being considered spectacularly fast. He set 6 fastest laps, which is double the next best. He set the most fastest laps despite having a reputation for not being fast. Despite not trying!

So with that in mind. Despite not being dominant. Rosberg was the best driver last season. His win is highly meritorious!

You articulate well, unfortunately you have not been very objective and evenhanded in your analysis. There is more of an anti-Hamilton slant in your view of things. And an obvious pro-Ricciado hint therein.

The parallel between 2008 and 2016 is partially agreeable but with a small difference that the mechanical failures in question happened across two teams in 2008, as opposed to within the same team in 2016. It is a shame that you took the trouble to list Rosberg's adversities but did not do the same for Hamilton. The comparison of adversities would have shown that Hamilton was the best driver on the grid this year. That said, Rosberg drove a methodical season that allowed him to take advantage of Hamilton's woes. His approach of taking it one race at a time was very effective in helping him keep focus on systematically stepping towards the end goal of winning his first F1 Driver's Title. Rosberg deserved the title as he was there to seize it. However, he was helped by some very questionable Mercedes reliability on the Hamilton car, which was without doubt instrumental to making the driver title available to Rosberg in the first place.

On Ricciado, he was rattled by the arrival of Verstapenn and at times was abit desperate. That said, l would say that he should have had three wins to his name really but for some very dodgy happenings he only got one. Verstapenn did well enough to take the shine off Ricciado's performances. At least enough to make one ponder what the situation might have been if Verstapenn had started the 2016 season alongside Ricciado in the Redbull [as opposed to the Torro Rosso for the first four races], what the outcome might have been at the end of the season.

But this sort of thinking distracts from the outstanding season that Ricciado has had. He made very few mistakes and no DNFs. Verstapenn due to his relative immaturity racked up 3 DNFs which accounted for some of the gap between Ricciado's points to Verstapenn. It certainly makes for a mouth watering prospect for what the 2017 season have in stock for us with a slightly more experienced Verstapenn having a full season along side Ricciado. I think Ricciado would have to dig deep to keep the pesky dutchman behind in 2017.

I think Kimi was the other driver that really had an exceptional year and was deserving of at least one win. Ferrari pitwall did their best to ruin most of his strong showing this season.

[journeyman racer]

There's no anti Hamilton slant. He just wasn't that good in 2016.

Just to back up my point. Here's some more to think about.

In these last three seasons. Hamilton has scored 384, 381 and 380 points respectively. In effect, it's the same amount of points. However, it's not the same output.

In 2014, Hamilton scored 384pts in 16 of 19 completed races. (17 in you include Abu Dhabi double points race negating a dnf)

In 2015, he scored 382pts in 18/19 completed races.

In 2016, he scored 380pts in 19/21 completed races.

So in effect. Hamilton needed 3 and 1 extra races to produce the same output of his 14&15 titles. When you consider that Rosberg wasn't/didn't bother challenging for the races wins in order to claim the championship. Hamilton scored 100pts in the last four races. So his output throughout the year was much worse than his title wins, as opposed to the marginal difference the stats I showed you shows.

Rosberg on the other hand.

2014. 317 from 16/19 completed races.

2015. 322 from 17/19.

2016. 385 from 20/21.

It's clear that Rosberg raised his game. Even if he didn't dominate Hamilton.

I could list the adversity Hamilton suffered. But it wasn't as much as Rosberg. What was also clear is that throughout the season, Rosberg dealt with the adversity better than Hamilton. Particularly when they had common problems.

Overall, is Rosberg better than Hamilton? Nope.

Was Rosberg better in 2016 than Hamilton was in 2014 or 2015? Nope.

Was Rosberg better than Hamilton in 2016? Yes.

[Nitrodaze]

There's no anti Hamilton slant. He just wasn't that good in 2016.

Just to back up my point. Here's some more to think about.

In these last three seasons. Hamilton has scored 384, 381 and 380 points respectively. In effect, it's the same amount of points. However, it's not the same output.

In 2014, Hamilton scored 384pts in 16 of 19 completed races. (17 in you include Abu Dhabi double points race negating a dnf)

In 2015, he scored 382pts in 18/19 completed races.

In 2016, he scored 380pts in 19/21 completed races.

So in effect. Hamilton needed 3 and 1 extra races to produce the same output of his 14&15 titles. When you consider that Rosberg wasn't/didn't bother challenging for the races wins in order to claim the championship. Hamilton scored 100pts in the last four races. So his output throughout the year was much worse than his title wins, as opposed to the marginal difference the stats I showed you shows.

Rosberg on the other hand.

2014. 317 from 16/19 completed races.

2015. 322 from 17/19.

2016. 385 from 20/21.

It's clear that Rosberg raised his game. Even if he didn't dominate Hamilton.

I could list the adversity Hamilton suffered. But it wasn't as much as Rosberg. What was also clear is that throughout the season, Rosberg dealt with the adversity better than Hamilton. Particularly when they had common problems.

Overall, is Rosberg better than Hamilton? Nope.

Was Rosberg better in 2016 than Hamilton was in 2014 or 2015? Nope.

Was Rosberg better than Hamilton in 2016? Yes.

You have a very interesting perspective. I find it amusing that you think Rosberg was better than Hamilton in 2016. Considering Rosberg lost a forty something lead and was in danger of losing the championship before the Malaysia engine blowout for Hamilton. Then there is the sweeping year by year points comparison that did not take into consideration the respective length of each season which have a bearing on the relative outcomes.

Just to help you get your perspective straight, please have a look at http://grandprixrankings.com/compare...ersus-rosberg/


Yes you do have an anti-Hamilton slant to your views.

[journeyman racer]

You find it amusing because you have a prejudiced view. I have some more stats that reflect Rosberg's superior performance to Hamilton in 2016.

Here are the fastest lap stats for the MB drivers for the last three seasons.

2014

Hamilton - 7
Rosberg. - 5

2015

Hamilton - 8
Rosberg. - 5

2016

Rosberg. - 6
Hamilton - 3

Is there a common correlation with these stats elsewhere?

Objectively. Tell me how great Hamilton was this season, scoring only 3 fastest laps in a 21 race season driving the best car in the field?

Even in Malaysia. The blown engine may've denied Hamilton a win. But it was late in the race and he still could've set fastest lap. After all, he was in the best car. He always had a clear track as he was always leading. But in fact it was Rosberg who set fastest lap. Rosberg had a damaged car and was in traffic for a large portion of the race.

3 fastest laps. Best car in the field. 21 race season. Rosberg was better.

[Nitrodaze]

You find it amusing because you have a prejudiced view. I have some more stats that reflect Rosberg's superior performance to Hamilton in 2016.

Here are the fastest lap stats for the MB drivers for the last three seasons.

2014

Hamilton - 7
Rosberg. - 5

2015

Hamilton - 8
Rosberg. - 5

2016

Rosberg. - 6
Hamilton - 3

Is there a common correlation with these stats elsewhere?

Objectively. Tell me how great Hamilton was this season, scoring only 3 fastest laps in a 21 race season driving the best car in the field?

Even in Malaysia. The blown engine may've denied Hamilton a win. But it was late in the race and he still could've set fastest lap. After all, he was in the best car. He always had a clear track as he was always leading. But in fact it was Rosberg who set fastest lap. Rosberg had a damaged car and was in traffic for a large portion of the race.

3 fastest laps. Best car in the field. 21 race season. Rosberg was better.

Hamilton with fewer engine to play with would not be interested in doing fastest laps. Hamilton won all of his races driving as fast as he needed to, without taking too much life out of the engine in the process. Those stats of yours are not good indicator of performance. I am beginning to wonder if you watched all the races this season. Yes, Hamilton was in the best car with a wonky paddy engine.

[journeyman racer]

Nico Rosberg's title defence is more effective than your reasoning to diminish his season or to boost Hamilton's.

[Nitrodaze]

Nico Rosberg's title defence is more effective than your reasoning to diminish his season or to boost Hamilton's.

I have no intention of diminishing Rosberg's season, he drove like a champion and deserves the title.