Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2014, Yas Marina - Race 19/19

Lewis is so relaxed in P1 at the moment he's had time to tweet '#TeamLH I'm still in front and should win this!'
 
The only way Hamilton is going to finish lower than 6th is if he makes a massive mistake or his car breaks down. What pressure is on him to make that mistake in 2nd? Why push his car harder to possibly spoil his tyres or cause mechanical problems.

Does everyone here honestly think Hamilton would risk racing Rosberg (someone who has deliberatly hit him in the past!) when he effectively just needs to finish?

What pressure is on him to make that mistake in 1st? He's not stupid, he knows he could realistically let Nico pass rather than throw his car in the barrier desperately trying to stay in front. The pressure is no different.
 
Looks like Lewis is doing just enough to maintain the gap rather than pulling away - be interested to see their relative fuel figures.

Rosberg closing the gap or Hamilton just managing his car?

Yup, he does this at every race. Again the difference is Hamilton behind, gets to within a second, stays there, Rosberg can't pull away and more often than not Hamilton ends up passing. Rosberg closes on Hamilton, Hamilton just beats his time and extends the gap out again, does it at will. Doing it again now, he'll go faster pushing the time out while managing tires better and using less fuel.

It means if something happens later, safety car or whatever, Hamilton has more fuel and more ability to push harder later in the race.

Being ahead and managing the gap means he can get Rosberg to push harder to try and catch, use more fuel and leave himself less strong later in the race as a result.
 
Rosberg needs Hamilton to finish lower than second! How is letting him disappear into the distance and make a huge gap to third place any good to him!?
What if Rosberg had kept 1st. Hamilton isn't a muppet - he won't take any sort of risk to him not finishing the race, such as going toe to toe with Rosberg for the lead.
 
What pressure is on him to make that mistake in 1st? He's not stupid, he knows he could realistically let Nico pass rather than throw his car in the barrier desperately trying to stay in front. The pressure is no different.
Given that Rosberg has a history of dubious overtakes? Hamilton is the driver with everything to lose in this situation.
 
What if Rosberg had kept 1st. Hamilton isn't a muppet - he won't take any sort of risk to him not finishing the race, such as going toe to toe with Rosberg for the lead.

This applies equally whether Hamilton is first or second, he won't risk things, he'll simply let Rosberg go and roll home in second, this is no different whether he is in front to start with or not.
 
What if Rosberg had kept 1st. Hamilton isn't a muppet - he won't take any sort of risk to him not finishing the race, such as going toe to toe with Rosberg for the lead.

What if he gets a puncture, what if he spins, what if his tires go, or locks up, he's still have to stay ahead of Massa. Having a 5 second gap to Massa instead of 15 second gap by letting Hamilton go out ahead. It's not about Rosberg, Rosberg's ONLY chance was helping to manage the gap between Hamilton and Massa(well whoever was in third). Hamilton can have a bad lap with the tires gone 5 seconds slower, he'll stay ahead of Massa, he can spin off or mess up a corner, lose 10 seconds, still be ahead of Massa. If Rosberg was causing Hamilton to be half a second slower a lap, that one bad lap could mean ending up behind Massa.

No one ever would purposefully concede track position in this situation.
 
This just shows the difference between Hamilton and rosberg. When rosberg is out front, Hamilton is all over him. When Hamilton is out front, he manages a comfortable gap. Fair play to rosberg in quali though...shame there are no points for a good quali setup and fewer DNFs :D
 
Given that Rosberg has a history of dubious overtakes? Hamilton is the driver with everything to lose in this situation.
That relies on Hamilton resisting the overtake sufficiently that Rosberg has opportunity to put Hamilton out of the race but still place well himself. That's sounding more and more Hollywood movie and less and less realistic racing likelihood.
 
Difference is Rosberg isn't fast enough.

In the current situation Rosberg is now pushing the car as hard as possible to catch, he's using more fuel and using his tires harder, none of that works to Rosberg's advantage. Every time Rosberg tries to close Hamilton just cruises to a faster lap comfortably and increases the gap again.

Which car is making mistakes now? Rosberg is flat out and risking everything, Hamilton is just keeping the gap.
 
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