Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
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.
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.