Spanish GP (Circuit of the Americas) – May 15, 2016

Hamilton knew if he didn't snatch that lead back immediately, his chances at the win were basically dead in the water.
Ros would have had the upper hand coming into the pits, especially since this track layout makes overtaking a total nightmare. But hey, that's just how it goes, I guess.
Maybe we should be looking at that suicidal move in turn three as the real turning point.
Still, none of that explains why Hamilton's starts have been so pathetic this season. I mean, he’s never exactly been known for his launch, but lately, if he's starting on the front row, you can pretty much count on him to mess it up.

Everyone knows he had to go all in—it was make or break. Over the last two seasons, Rosberg would just back off, allowing Hamilton to shove him right out of the way, and everyone swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. They kept calling Hamilton this elite "racer" while painting Rosberg as the soft one.

But now that Rosberg has finally decided he’s done playing nice, Hamilton’s strategy is clear from what we saw at the Spanish Grand Prix: if Rosberg won't budge, then both of them are going off track. And that’s exactly what happened.

Naturally, while broadcasting the race on Sky, Martin Brundle did his absolute best to shield his fellow countryman by shifting all the blame onto Rosberg. Pathetic. Truly pathetic to watch and listen to.

Three former World Champions—Lauda, Stewart, and Prost—were blunt: Hamilton completely screwed up. He could have braked and aborted that move, but he didn't. He didn't even attempt to brake, even after realizing he wasn't going to make it. That’s the tactic I mentioned earlier.

Hamilton is on edge this season because things aren't clicking. Throwing the steering wheel after a collision is a textbook example of how rattled he really is.

We'll see what the upcoming races bring, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of these confrontations and collisions between the two of them.

Exactly.
That's why some of the posts here just don't make sense to me—it’s basic stuff. Hamilton was the one in the driver's seat who should have just hit the brakes and looked for an opening later on.
Even if we assume Rosberg pushed him off—which, let's be real, Ham denies—he still had plenty of time to react instead of just forcing the issue.

Amy Castillo4 said:Exactly.
That's why some of the posts here just don't make sense to me—it’s basic stuff. Hamilton was the one in the driver's seat who should have just hit the brakes and looked for an opening later on.
Even if we assume Rosberg pushed him off—which, let's be real, Ham denies—he still had plenty of time to react instead of just forcing the issue.

As I have previously mentioned, both drivers were at least 300 meters ahead of the rest of the pack... he could have slowed down... yet he chose not to... 🙂

steelmaker83 said:Actually, it's the exact opposite. Back then, Vettel had about the same amount of experience as Ricciardo does now. Vettel used to mess up constantly—just look at Kimi in the USA or Weber in Turkey—whereas Ricciardo doesn't make those kinds of mistakes.

Ricciardo is a better driver than Vettel, and he'll be the one taking over at Ford once Vettel completely implodes.

Ricc was at 93 career starts by the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, while Vettel was only at 56 starts during Spa 2010... so they're pretty much in the same boat. It's not even double the difference.🙂😁

And sure, because Ricc obviously never crashes—let alone crashes because of a totally brainless move...




🙂

Sure, Hamilton should have braked. While certain others in identical situations are hailed as "racers."

wanderingharbor492 said:Nico Rosberg tried to take a defensive line just before the corner, while Lujo attempted to squeeze through a gap that simply didn't exist—and apparently, he completely forgot that cars actually require brakes... Honestly, if any other driver had been in Rosberg's position, they would have reacted the exact same way, but it felt like Lujo didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late...

Yes, but he was too late.

wanderingharbor492 said:Nico Rosberg tried to take a defensive line just before the corner, while Lujo attempted to squeeze through a gap that simply didn't exist—and apparently, he completely forgot that cars actually require brakes... Honestly, if any other driver had been in Rosberg's position, they would have reacted the exact same way, but it felt like Lujo didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late...

A mistake.

Lujo already had his chance when he managed to get at least his front wing alongside Rosberg, on the track. There is no more closing the door. If Rosberg hadn't been late, or if Lujo hadn't been given the space to put his front wing on the track beside Rosberg, then Lujo would be solely to blame. In that case, Lujo would have hit Rosberg from behind or started overtaking him with the worst part of the car off the track.

wanderingharbor492 said:Nico Rosberg tried to take a defensive line just before the corner, while Lujo attempted to squeeze through a gap that simply didn't exist—and apparently, he completely forgot that cars actually require brakes... Honestly, if any other driver had been in Rosberg's position, they would have reacted the exact same way, but it felt like Lujo didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late...

Lujo doesn't care about Rosberg's problems.

wanderingharbor492 said:Nico Rosberg tried to take a defensive line just before the corner, while Lujo attempted to squeeze through a gap that simply didn't exist—and apparently, he completely forgot that cars actually require brakes... Honestly, if any other driver had been in Rosberg's position, they would have reacted the exact same way, but it felt like Lujo didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late...

We don't know that.

wanderingharbor492 said:Nico Rosberg tried to take a defensive line just before the corner, while Lujo attempted to squeeze through a gap that simply didn't exist—and apparently, he completely forgot that cars actually require brakes... Honestly, if any other driver had been in Rosberg's position, they would have reacted the exact same way, but it felt like Lujo didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late...

The only explanation. Fiddling with the steering wheel leads to lost concentration.

Some might say he did exactly what he did in Belgium.

William Bennett53 said:Following Lauda’s live commentary during the race, it seems Stewart has now stepped in to point the finger at Hamilton for the collision.

Honestly, both of them just missed the mark, and now they're making a huge scene just to stay in the spotlight, don't you think?

Both drivers broke the rules, which is why no penalties were handed out.

Rosberg closed the door too late, but Hamilton is the one at fault for the contact.

Hamilton's front wing and front tire were lined up about 0.7 seconds apart. Now, for those of you who have never actually raced anything other than a video game, all your theoretical scenarios go out the window. At speeds exceeding 120 mph, reaction time becomes nearly impossible. It’s all about milliseconds and split seconds.
Once Driver A commits to a maneuver, Driver B has to react instantly. Rosberg had every right to defend his line as the leader, and Hamilton could have simply backed off.
However, he didn't. He knew that if he failed to make the move, he'd drop another 7 points in the standings. Instead, he stays within 43 points because neither of them even finished the race.

On top of that, he just rattled Rosberg right before Monaco, once again proving what his mentality has been this season regarding teamwork. It's either me or nobody.

lonedriver43 said:Both drivers broke the rules, which is why no penalties were handed out.

Rosberg closed the door too late, but Hamilton is the one at fault for the contact.

Hamilton's front wing and front tire were lined up about 0.7 seconds apart. Now, for those of you who have never actually raced anything other than a video game, all your theoretical scenarios go out the window. At speeds exceeding 120 mph, reaction time becomes nearly impossible. It’s all about milliseconds and split seconds.
Once Driver A commits to a maneuver, Driver B has to react instantly. Rosberg had every right to defend his line as the leader, and Hamilton could have simply backed off.
However, he didn't. He knew that if he failed to make the move, he'd drop another 7 points in the standings. Instead, he stays within 43 points because neither of them even finished the race.

On top of that, he just rattled Rosberg right before Monaco, once again proving what his mentality has been this season regarding teamwork. It's either me or nobody.

You just reminded me of those old real estate proverbs I used to live by:

It’s either going to be me winning this fight, or nobody wins—period.

And there’s one more:

Are we splitting this like brothers—fair and square—or are we doing things the messy way?

William Bennett53 said:Following Lauda’s live commentary during the race, it seems Stewart has now stepped in to point the finger at Hamilton for the collision.

Now we've got former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve weighing in on that crash at the Spanish Grand Prix...
It's getting hard to know who to believe—the younger Villeneuve is adamant that it was 100% Rosberg's fault.
Here's the link for those who prefer reading in English:

http://en.f1i.com/news/56078-villene...ain-crash.html

swiftmaker12 said:Now we've got former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve weighing in on that crash at the Spanish Grand Prix...
It's getting hard to know who to believe—the younger Villeneuve is adamant that it was 100% Rosberg's fault.
Here's the link for those who prefer reading in English:

http://en.f1i.com/news/56078-villene...ain-crash.html

It seems to me that Villeneuve is being somewhat inconsistent, particularly when one considers his statement here:

You can ask if Lewis should have been so aggressive but if you want to blame someone its 100 per cent Nico

As for the notion that incidents like this simply didn't happen back in the eighties, I must say that strikes me as complete nonsense. Does anyone not recall Mansell and Senna, especially following those various altercations that reached a boiling point at Spa 2010? I believe there was an instance where Mansell, reportedly quite incensed after yet another moment of madness from Senna, stormed into the Lotus garage and shoved the Brazilian against the wall. One hardly needs to mention that after such events, Senna certainly learned to be more cautious when dealing with Mansell.

graniteharbor502 said:It seems to me that Villeneuve is being somewhat inconsistent, particularly when one considers his statement here:

You can ask if Lewis should have been so aggressive but if you want to blame someone its 100 per cent Nico

As for the notion that incidents like this simply didn't happen back in the eighties, I must say that strikes me as complete nonsense. Does anyone not recall Mansell and Senna, especially following those various altercations that reached a boiling point at Spa 2010? I believe there was an instance where Mansell, reportedly quite incensed after yet another moment of madness from Senna, stormed into the Lotus garage and shoved the Brazilian against the wall. One hardly needs to mention that after such events, Senna certainly learned to be more cautious when dealing with Mansell.

If anyone acted like an idiot there, it was Mansell...
He had the dominant car and went charging off into the first—well, maybe the fifth or seventh—corner... doesn't really matter which, the point is he could have handled it much more intelligently...
he basically screwed himself...
Senna just held his line, while Mansell looked foolish trying to force his way around the outside of him—probably because he felt his car was so much faster—so he ended up making his own mess...
just completely sabotaged himself...

graniteharbor502's driver ratings:
Fernando Alonso 7
Valtteri Bottas, Jenson Button, Marcus Ericsson 7
Jenson Button 7
Marcus Ericsson 7
Romain Grosjean 6
Felipe Gutierrez 6
Lewis Hamilton 4
Narain Haryanto, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvjat, Kevin Magnussen 6
Nico Hulkenberg 6
Daniil Kvjat 7
Kevin Magnussen 6
Felipe Massa 6
Jolyon Palmer, Felipe Nasr 6
Felipe Nasr 6
Sergio Perez 7
Kimi Raikkonen 9
Daniel Ricciardo 8
Nico Rosberg 4
Carlos Sainz 9
Max Verstappen 10
Sebastian Vettel 8
Pascal Wehrlein 6