Will Mercedes now use team orders?

[Nitrodaze]

With all due respect, but that was utter tripe. There were no strategic mistakes by Merc in Austria. They tried a two stopper to get Nico up the field, which sort of worked. Lewis was unlucky due to the botched pitstop and the timing of the safety car. If you are alluding to the differing tyre choices in the last stint, I'll have you know that it was dictated by what tyres had been selected before the weekend. Lewis simply didn#t have any Supersoft sets left whereas Nico had run out of softs.

I wasn't talking about tyres in thr last stint, as l was aware that Nico would have gone unto the yellow walled tyres as well but he did not have any hence was put on a used supersoft.

Hamilton had 10 laps life more on his soft tyres than Rosberg. I think they could have at least left him out for those laps before bringing him in. But they brought him in one lap before Nico which was not enough opportunity for a realistic under cut, bearing in mind traffic and time to switch on the tyre etc. I remain unconvinced that it was a fair strategy. You need a lap to bring the tyres up to temperature and a second lap to hammer out a fast lap to produce the undercut. We see it all the time during qualifying. The thing looked staged for a Rosberg win, much like Monaco 2014. It looked very similar when you stop for a moment and really think about it.

[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.

[driveace]

Team orders is not the way to go ,at this moment.There needs to be some orders given about driving standards .Rosberg was awarded 2 points on his Racing Licence,and a 10 second time penalty ,whilst Hamilton had NO restrictions ,so according to the stewards who see far more that any of us by watching many screens ,saw this situation far better than all the armchair critics .Unless Rosberg starts to understand that his actions may kill another driver,or even spectators by his dangerous actions ,nothing will change.Hamilton may gallivant off to the USA every week to chill with his friends ,but he don't wreck his hotel rooms ,and can still come back and qualify half a second faster than his team mate.Maybe they should no longer be team mates as of next year ,maybe Vettel and Hamilton would make better team mates if not at Mercedes then at Ferrari

[Bagwan]

... he don't wreck his hotel rooms ...

Maybe not his hotel rooms , but his private prep room in Baku apparently took quite a beating after he crashed out of qualifying , according to Lauda .

[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.

[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.

[Nitrodaze]

Maybe not his hotel rooms , but his private prep room in Baku apparently took quite a beating after he crashed out of qualifying , according to Lauda .

I like Niki Lauda for his frank and unadulterated statements. He tells it like it is. But l am not sure why he released that fact to the press. That said, it reveals more about the state of affairs at Mercedes. We get to see the human side of this hard fought competition within the Mercedes camp.

We get to see through a small parting of the curtain of how incredibly hard Hamilton is feeling the impart of his engine related problems. The road back seem very steep and the competition is more robust this year than in any other year. All credit to the man, he keeps it together inspite of all his woes and tribulations. A true example of dignity and worthy champion.

[Bagwan]

I like Niki Lauda for his frank and unadulterated statements. He tells it like it is. But l am not sure why he released that fact to the press. That said, it reveals more about the state of affairs at Mercedes. We get to see the human side of this hard fought competition within the Mercedes camp.

We get to see through a small parting of the curtain of how incredibly hard Hamilton is feeling the impart of his engine related problems. The road back seem very steep and the competition is more robust this year than in any other year. All credit to the man, he keeps it together inspite of all his woes and tribulations. A true example of dignity and worthy champion.

And , all credit to you , my man , for being such a superfan that you can read what was seen as being childish and petulant behavior from both Lauda , and Marko , as dignified .

[Mekola]

I think F1 organizers will persuade Mercedes GP to do not so... For the benefit of the show.

[Zico]

I think F1 organizers will persuade Mercedes GP to do not so... For the benefit of the show.

You think Merc would buy into it for that reason? I don't think Bernie would be able to dissuade them from doing whatever they feel they have to do.