Will Mercedes now use team orders?

[Nitrodaze]

The dodgy strategy that Mercedes put out to Hamilton at Austria really gives me cause for concern if they introduce team orders. I think Mercedes has lost some credibility at this race. I doubt they are genuinely being equivalent in their support for both of their drivers. there is mounting suggestions that Mercedes is seeking to engineer a WDC for Rosberg. Baku seemed suspect when Hamilton got the car just right and was quickest in all practise sessions then had a clearly dodgy car during the qualifying sessions and the race.

The strategy at Austria had all the hallmarks of Monaco 2014. I wasn't convinced that was an error and Austria confirms it to me that it wasn't.

Team order would give Mercedes the unfettered opportunity to more effectively achieve the outcome they are after. Ok, you may argue that they pay the driver's so it is up to them to decide which driver to support. I don't have a problem with that argument. But just do it openly. Trying to play on the intelligence of the fans, press and the wider F1 community is just insulting.

We would have a situation where a team would have used a three time world champion as a number two driver. You can read whatever you like into that one. But Rosberg would not be a credible world champion in this circumstances. He would certainly not hold a candle to his father who did it in an era that was incredibly dangerous and on his own effort against some of the finest drivers of his time. I doubt he would have much respect from other world champions on the grid either.

Nico need to beat Lewis fair and square to be a credible world champion. With the margin he has at the moment and some clever calculating driving, recognizing his strength and weaknesses and maximizing his strenghts would win him the WDC on his own effort. That would make him a very memorable world champion and the first driver to beat Hamilton in championship fight in the same machinery. Anything short of that would only be a mockery of the F1 driver championship. And us the fans would recognize it for what it is.

[gm99]

We would have a situation where a team would have used a three time world champion as a number two driver. You can read whatever you like into that one. But Rosberg would not be a credible world champion in this circumstances. He would certainly not hold a candle to his father who did it in an era that was incredibly dangerous and on his own effort against some of the finest drivers of his time.

Nico has won as many races this year alone as his father has in his entire career. Keke is the only driver ever in the history of the sport to only score one victory in his championship winning year, and he only became world champion because his main rivals (Villeneuve & Pironi) managed to kill or gravely injure themselves.

[Bagwan]

Nico has won as many races this year alone as his father has in his entire career. Keke is the only driver ever in the history of the sport to only score one victory in his championship winning year, and he only became world champion because his main rivals (Villeneuve & Pironi) managed to kill or gravely injure themselves.

Yeah , but that doesn't fit with the "Nico is useless" story nearly as well , so let's just leave out the facts can we , please ?

[henners88]

Yeah , but that doesn't fit with the "Nico is useless" story nearly as well , so let's just leave out the facts can we , please ?

Nico isn't useless, nobody has said that. He's just not in the top tier of current drivers and this shows when he rams others off track when he cracks under pressure

[steveaki13]

For anyone interested as of right now I rank the top drivers thus

1. Hamilton
2. Vettel
3. Alonso
4. Rosberg
5. Verstappen
6. Ricciardo
7. Raikkonen
8. Button

[Big Ben]

For anyone interested as of right now I rank the top drivers thus

1. Hamilton
2. Vettel
3. Alonso
4. Rosberg
5. Verstappen
6. Ricciardo
7. Raikkonen
8. Button

The one thing I don't get about this ranking is that you said one post above you would rank Hamilton higher if not for his ability to **** up sometimes. How much higher than that?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[steveaki13]

The one thing I don't get about this ranking is that you said one post above you would rank Hamilton higher if not for his ability to **** up sometimes. How much higher than that?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

I meant in historical company. I view him as the best around today, but not amongst the very best drivers in history.

[Nitrodaze]

Nico isn't useless, nobody has said that. He's just not in the top tier of current drivers and this shows when he rams others off track when he cracks under pressure

Quite right. I would not call Nico useless, he is a top drawer driver. Over the last three years, he has pushed Hamilton really hard. And it is clear that he would have won the drivers title, if Hamilton was not in the team. That said, you have the beat the best drivers on the grid to be a credible world champion. With Mercedes having such a dominant car, that means beating a great driver in the other Mercedes.

I think if Rosberg is going to win a world title, 2016 is the year that he is most likely to do it. He may have squandered away a number of valuable points unnecessarily, but he still has 11 points. He needs to keep his head down and choose his battles carefully in the future to ensure he hangs on to as many of these points as he can. The odds are in his favor with Hamilton having potential engine related penalties to serve.

He is competing with a three time world champion. One of the very best drivers in a F1 car at the moment. It is not going to be a walk in the park winning the 2016 title; even with Mercedes help. And he cannot go toe to toe with Hamilton who is one of the toughest racers on the grid. Much to Ricciado's discovery at Monaco.

[Nitrodaze]

Nico has won as many races this year alone as his father has in his entire career. Keke is the only driver ever in the history of the sport to only score one victory in his championship winning year, and he only became world champion because his main rivals (Villeneuve & Pironi) managed to kill or gravely injure themselves.

I would be cautious to undermine drivers, especially champions of Keke Rosbergs era. As you pointed out Villeneuve was killed and Peroni was badly injured if l remember correctly. Keke raced in hardcore days, one lap of that period is equivalent to at least two race weekends in the present era. The mortality rate was simply out of the scale of present day safety parameters.

To become champion under any circumstance in the Keke Rosberg period was nothing short of remarkable. Regardless of how it came about. The Spain incident between Hamilton and Rosberg would easily have been a life ending event in Keke Rosberg's day. So when you compare drivers between these era, you should pause for a moment and give due respect to drivers of that glorious but fatal era.

In my book, even if Nico Rosberg wins the 2016 WDC fair and square, l would not rate him anywhere near Keke Rosberg. Because l am quite sure that he would not make it through that era driving the way he drives at the moment. Actually, l do not think he would make it [alive] through half a season of the Villeneuve and Keke era. Respect buddy, respect.

[gm99]

I would be cautious to undermine drivers, especially champions of Keke Rosbergs era. As you pointed out Villeneuve was killed and Peroni was badly injured if l remember correctly. Keke raced in hardcore days, one lap of that period is equivalent to at least two race weekends in the present era. The mortality rate was simply out of the scale of present day safety parameters.

To become champion under any circumstance in the Keke Rosberg period was nothing short of remarkable. Regardless of how it came about. The Spain incident between Hamilton and Rosberg would easily have been a life ending event in Keke Rosberg's day. So when you compare drivers between these era, you should pause for a moment and give due respect to drivers of that glorious but fatal era.

In my book, even if Nico Rosberg wins the 2016 WDC fair and square, l would not rate him anywhere near Keke Rosberg. Because l am quite sure that he would not make it through that era driving the way he drives at the moment. Actually, l do not think he would make it [alive] through half a season of the Villeneuve and Keke era. Respect buddy, respect.

Actually, the 1980s where Keke did most of his driving was not a particularly fatal era of F1 (1982, the year he won his WC, was the last year a driver died on a race week-end until Imola 1994). And from what I remember, there were way more collisions between drivers than there are now (especially as drivers would hardly ever be punished for them, unlike today); apart from the misunderstanding between Mass and Villeneuve in Zolder, none resulted in a driver fatility. All other deaths of that era were from single car accidents (of which I feel Hamilton has had more than Nico Rosberg over the course of their career).

Keke no doubt was a good driver, especially over one lap, but he was not top of the class of his era - that were Piquet, Prost, Lauda, Villeneuve, Pironi (who in spite of having done five GPs less than Keke in 1982 still only finished five points behind him in the final standings), later the emerging Senna & Mansell.