as for the race i enjoyed it. rosberg really is on it this year and tbf after some of his performances this year he would be a deserving wdc. 7/10. lots of overtaking and a great circuit, although not a classic grand prix it wasnt the worst.
Poll: Japanese Grand Prix 2016, Suzuka - Race 17/21
- Thread starter Shimmy
- Start date
Yeah I agree. Rosberg has matured into a formidable driver this year and certainly deserves credit. I appreciate LH has experienced mechanical problems but overall Nico appears to be more complete, inc. his professionalism. Lewis is stuck on a petulance spectrum.
Soldato
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Nico did seem to switch off sulk mode after a few races this season, i know he won the first segment of races, but when he started losing them, sulk mode didn't automatically switch on.
Still think Lewis will win the season.
Still think Lewis will win the season.
Did it really kill the race? If both mercs got away cleanly they would both drive away into distance. Yeah maybe we'd get some action between them but this way we had lot more with Hamilton coming through the field.
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Unlucky
Soldato
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Just the once and it was to take his line whilst ahead of Hamilton.
Sainz was all over the place for the entire race.
Race was OK, nothing more. I lost most of my interest the moment Hamilton (or his car) fluffed the start, as it meant no real up front battle to get excited about and a Rosberg 1st was all but guaranteed. I think Rosberg is all but unstoppable for the title now unless he finally has his share of mechanical gremlins. I don't like the guy, but he has actually driven well this year (tomfoolery aside) and has really taken advantage of Hamilton's bad luck. I still want Hamilton to make a mega comeback and spank his butt, but if he wins the WDC this year, I think I'll nod (and sigh) and say he actually may deserve it for once.
Looks like Hamilton asked the team to drop it.
Man of Honour
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Was a little naughty, but I don't think it was penalty worthy on its own. Along with all of his other stupid moves, there should be a penalty. It will all end in tears at some point.
Man of Honour
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Yup, my thoughts too.
I've said my piece on verstappens late moves before. I really hope it doesn't end badly.
I thought the race was ok behind Rosberg - solid 6 / 10 for me. Verstappen drove really well - I don't think his move on Hamilton was as forceful as some of his others - it looked worse than it was because Hamilton was breaking very late. So late that I doubt he'd have made the chicane.
I think Hamilton's lost it a bit now. Another (subsequently deleted) outburst on social media after the race, calling one of the Mercedes team an idiot for wanting to protest Verstappen's move. Rosberg is still hard to like as a racer, and as a person, but he's right on it at the moment and getting the good starts to maximise his slight speed edge over Hamilton. Despite being a donkey a couple of times this year, and benefiting from Hamilton's technical failures, he's doing the only thing he can and delivering points.
I think Hamilton's lost it a bit now. Another (subsequently deleted) outburst on social media after the race, calling one of the Mercedes team an idiot for wanting to protest Verstappen's move. Rosberg is still hard to like as a racer, and as a person, but he's right on it at the moment and getting the good starts to maximise his slight speed edge over Hamilton. Despite being a donkey a couple of times this year, and benefiting from Hamilton's technical failures, he's doing the only thing he can and delivering points.
Think he was referring to someone in the media.
Not what I read. Apparently LH tweeted he'd asked the team to drop it but the team denied that. Mercedes said it was a team decision. Awkward.
I thought I would add my waffle to the discussion. 
1: I still feel Lewis is a better driver than Nico. Nico has always been a bit of a "quali setup bias" kind of driver, and to be fair, track position is often key. However, he has had more luck this season and is "due" some bad luck to even it out.
2: I am firmly in the camp of letting them race, however, some of the moves in the last couple of seasons have got silly. It's school boy behaviour frankly. Moving under braking and just plain waiting for them to pull out to overtake and slamming the door so aggressively. That's not racing. It's cheating. It's the kind of thing I expect to get when I go go-karting on a stag. Waiting until you are pretty much along side and just making a massive movement to block the over take off or force them into an accident or off the track. How can we race, when we are allowed to just chop people off so deliberately with no intent of allowing some actual side by side action.
The Verstappen move on Kimi at Spa is the best example of this, and the Rosberg move on Hamilton in Spain. The latter caused an actual accident as Lewis had no where to go. The former could have been quite literally a death had Kimi touched him at over 200mph.
I think you should be able to hold a defensive line (and stay on that line) from early on approaching a corner, but not to suddenly move totally accross the track when a vast closing speed is occuring from your opponent behind you. It's too dangerous and is leading to people having to lift to avoid an accident, and any decent racing.
3: Blue flags are being ignored and people are taking the biscuit. I firmly believe that blue flags ARE required and should be followed for I hope very obvious reasons. I can only begin to imagine how frustrating the racing would be for the leader to be first up to a back marker and lose 10 seconds totally changing the strategy and race just because someone was too stubborn to move out of the way early enough.
It was much more of a problem here at Japan because the track is narrow and you can't really over take as easily outside of the main and back straight. I think some drivers push the boundaries of what is acceptable and today went over that line. The drivers are right to moan. They are being held up and their races are being interfered with, with people that are not in the/their race. That's not fair. The argument should not be that "if they were fast enough they would overtake without blues" as that is very naive. The argument should be "you are a back marker and so slow that you are now being lapped and have no place to affect my race, get out of the way quickly and efficiently, then carry on with your race, even if you are in the middle of your own battle". The priority should always be to get out of the way.
4: The starts are becoming an issue. It's easy to say that it should all be manual and remain "harder" for the drivers. Yes. "Harder" is good over "automatic". But I would say right now the word that most closely resembles the starts is "lottery". That's not good for fans either when we want fair racing and close battles. Many races are being lost in the first 3 seconds of a race due to inconsistencies with the clutch feel, application and bite. No one clutch is the same supposedly.
Due to tolerance, manufacturing processes and temperature on a given day, one clutch bite point and grip can feel totally different to another. This is why Hamilton has not been able to iron this out. There is no ironing out to do. He could practice 100 starts and it would be meaningless until the actual race start, not to mention very expensive to test!
Right now there is no easy fix or they would have done it. Bit of a shame.
1: I still feel Lewis is a better driver than Nico. Nico has always been a bit of a "quali setup bias" kind of driver, and to be fair, track position is often key. However, he has had more luck this season and is "due" some bad luck to even it out.
2: I am firmly in the camp of letting them race, however, some of the moves in the last couple of seasons have got silly. It's school boy behaviour frankly. Moving under braking and just plain waiting for them to pull out to overtake and slamming the door so aggressively. That's not racing. It's cheating. It's the kind of thing I expect to get when I go go-karting on a stag. Waiting until you are pretty much along side and just making a massive movement to block the over take off or force them into an accident or off the track. How can we race, when we are allowed to just chop people off so deliberately with no intent of allowing some actual side by side action.
The Verstappen move on Kimi at Spa is the best example of this, and the Rosberg move on Hamilton in Spain. The latter caused an actual accident as Lewis had no where to go. The former could have been quite literally a death had Kimi touched him at over 200mph.
I think you should be able to hold a defensive line (and stay on that line) from early on approaching a corner, but not to suddenly move totally accross the track when a vast closing speed is occuring from your opponent behind you. It's too dangerous and is leading to people having to lift to avoid an accident, and any decent racing.
3: Blue flags are being ignored and people are taking the biscuit. I firmly believe that blue flags ARE required and should be followed for I hope very obvious reasons. I can only begin to imagine how frustrating the racing would be for the leader to be first up to a back marker and lose 10 seconds totally changing the strategy and race just because someone was too stubborn to move out of the way early enough.
It was much more of a problem here at Japan because the track is narrow and you can't really over take as easily outside of the main and back straight. I think some drivers push the boundaries of what is acceptable and today went over that line. The drivers are right to moan. They are being held up and their races are being interfered with, with people that are not in the/their race. That's not fair. The argument should not be that "if they were fast enough they would overtake without blues" as that is very naive. The argument should be "you are a back marker and so slow that you are now being lapped and have no place to affect my race, get out of the way quickly and efficiently, then carry on with your race, even if you are in the middle of your own battle". The priority should always be to get out of the way.
4: The starts are becoming an issue. It's easy to say that it should all be manual and remain "harder" for the drivers. Yes. "Harder" is good over "automatic". But I would say right now the word that most closely resembles the starts is "lottery". That's not good for fans either when we want fair racing and close battles. Many races are being lost in the first 3 seconds of a race due to inconsistencies with the clutch feel, application and bite. No one clutch is the same supposedly.
Due to tolerance, manufacturing processes and temperature on a given day, one clutch bite point and grip can feel totally different to another. This is why Hamilton has not been able to iron this out. There is no ironing out to do. He could practice 100 starts and it would be meaningless until the actual race start, not to mention very expensive to test!
Right now there is no easy fix or they would have done it. Bit of a shame.
I wouldn't say its a lottery, some car are certainly harder than others, Ferraris are brilliant of the line and mercs are the worst.
however its been hams weakest point, if what you say is true how has Ros adapted and usually keeps the place albeit the Ferraris and other are still clearly faster of the line.
hams had a bad season, for what ever reason and its hasn't just been reliability.
but some of ros moves have well been unsporting to say the least and has got of lightly. however he has done what's needed.
however its been hams weakest point, if what you say is true how has Ros adapted and usually keeps the place albeit the Ferraris and other are still clearly faster of the line.
hams had a bad season, for what ever reason and its hasn't just been reliability.
but some of ros moves have well been unsporting to say the least and has got of lightly. however he has done what's needed.
Soldato
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lol, grump in the pre podium room... massive awwks!
I really don't see a problem with Max's move today. It was a right hand corner so he was always going to go right, especially as he hasn't made a move along the straight bit. Bit naive of Lewis to think he could squeeze there from so far back.