Hamilton vs Rosberg @ Spa

[Scott]

I watched the lap one replays they showed at the end of the race, so I don't have the entire picture yet...not sure how Rosberg passed Vettel, since Vettel had him on the first corner, but here's how I see it: 

Rosberg attempted the pass on Hammy, slid back as it wasn't going to happen there, but instead of just lifting and slotting in behind, he tried to keep his speed (probably because he was so impatient that he wanted to give it a go at the very next corner).  Hammy came over when Rosberg wasn't yet out of the way and well...pop goes the tire.  That said, there was a slight wiggle by Rosberg during the moment he was falling back and you could say that was caused by a slight loss of traction, or the conspirators would say Rosberg was trying a bump pass of sorts.  I will assume it was the former.  If it was the former, then that's it, racing incident.  Merc may not have liked that it happened so early, but what difference does it really make if it was destined to happen at all?  Why do they care if their drivers take each other out on lap 3 or lap 53?  Not very helpful at either end of the GP.

Again, I only saw the two replays, the one off the grid and then the attempted pass of Hamilton.  Off the grid it seemed like Hamilton easily had Rosberg and even had Vettel between them.  For Rosberg to have made up so much time within the same lap and cut Hamiltons tire?  Well, I don't know what could have happened to Hamilton to have let Rosberg so close so quick.  Point being Mr. Hamilton, if you don't want that kind of thing to happen, don't let him get so bloody close.

So, if I have it all out of context, be nice to me, I will watch the race tomorrow and get it all sorted out. 

Have at 'er...

[Andy B]

I didn't see anything different than the Lewis v's Vettel at the same corner when Vettel did the right thing and bailed out. Rosbergs statement that it was intentional has amazed me and shows his arrogance he needs pegging back a bit.

[Scott]

Rosberg's statement didn't say it was intentional.  Hamilton's did.  Rosberg said it was a racing incident and he didn't see the pass attempt as risky.  Merc bosses said it was far too aggressive, but in fact that any reports of Rosberg saying he did it on purpose have been misinterpreted.  Most reports from the team meeting between them all suggest that Rosberg said he opted to not let off when he found himself on the outside and that Hamilton should have given him space to stay there.  That he stayed there intentionally was probably true.

I can't remember where I saw it, but somewhere it was written that the team even changed Rosberg's tire strategy on the last stop to intentionally give him tires that wouldn't win.  I find that a bit insane, but you just never know...

[Ian]

Lewis was tight on the kerb and on the racing line. What's he supposed to do, brake and let Rosberg through ?

[J.Clark]

A racing incident in which Rosberg misjudged a couple things.  Hamilton gave him no room, but he was not required to do so.  Comparing it to the same turn pass of Vettel is a bit different, as they were side-by-side with  the attacker completely along side at the apex of the first of the two corners, and Rosberg never got completely along side of Hamilton.  In fact, he barely had his front wheel next to the cockpit of Hamilton's car.

[John S]

Now a vid has appeared of the incident, so anyone who hasn't been able to watch it again fill your boots. Well for as long as Bernie's little grey suits allow us to anyways. 

Now where oh where did Nico think that outside line led to? 

[Ian]

Lewis is a racer, if there's a chance he'll take it but I cannot see how any blame can be attached to him over this, there was just no way round the outside because of the left hand corner following. Rosberg's fault. Dummy 

[Scott]

I wasn't really attaching blame to Lewis.  What I meant was how did Lewis even allow Rosberg to catch up to him so quickly?  Rosberg was a dickhead during and after the race.

[cosworth151]

Lewis claims that Nico said he hit Lewis on purpose. Merc appears to be siding with Lewis:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/28921431

[Scott]

lol...that ought to take it down to a simmer.  Wolf and Lauda putting all the blame on Rosberg.  Bunch of amateurs if you ask me.  Keep the laundry at home, no need to do it in public.  I bet Rosberg is feeling ever so cooperative towards them after THAT. 

I read that article before Cos, but I've read quite a few that quote Rosberg as saying it wasn't on purpose, but he didn't back off to prove the point.  So that's a bit open to interpretation, though I would say he did it by negligence by making that poor decision to not back off at that point.  I'm not trying to split hairs, but I found that BBC article a bit one sided (surprise, surprise).

[Jericoke]

On one hand, I understand how important it is for teams to work as a team, and win in the name of the team.

On the other hand, it's great to have something to talk about like this.  We've got 2 conflicting stories of who said what.  We've got teammates who were supposedly best buddies in lower Formulae and now appear to heading down the road of becoming irreconcilable antagonists.  We've got national conflicts.  We've got management picking sides.

If I didn't know better, I'd say this was orchastrated to keep Mercedes at the top of the sports news cycle.  I'm not entirely sure this will help sell cars, but they say there's no such thing as bad publicity.   

[Scott]

If I didn't know better, I'd say this was orchastrated to keep Mercedes at the top of the sports news cycle.  I'm not entirely sure this will help sell cars, but they say there's no such thing as bad publicity.   

On the BBC feed Eddie mentioned at one point that viewers were down something like 30% on RTL, so although I don't think the incident itself could have been scripted, the aftermath could have been.  You could be right Jeri.

[lkjohnson1950]

There have been several incidents this year where Lewis chopped down quite aggressively on Nico. Only Nico taking evasive action prevented a collision. I think Nico is just tired of Lewis acting like he is the chosen one and Nico the supporting cast. If nothing else, Lewis should be a little more careful how hard he chops Nico in the future. I take Nico's side in this, Payback is a B+#@h. Oh, Hobbs and Matchett agreed it was a racing incident, 50/50 blame.

[Monty]

Sorry to come into this late but....
I was watching live on Sky and I am a neutral. When Rosberg started to go up Hamilton's outside I was asking where the h*ll is he going; it is impossible to pass there.
As Hamilton naturally took the racing line Rosberg had two easy options; lift and drop in behind Hamilton with no risk or let the car run a little wide (there is no kerb and about a metre of astroturf on the left) again with no risk. Instead he made two abrupt steering inputs both turning the car right. Even at the time I thought he was trying to spin Hamilton out. Having watched the replay many times I actually think he was trying to impact Hamilton's car wheel to wheel, which would definitely have caused Hamilton to spin.
I think Hamilton's fantastic start had just caused Rosberg to let the Red Mist develop. I now fear a Senna v Prost situation. The points situation means that Rosberg knows that he can risk to DNF as long as he makes sure Hamilton doesn't finish.
I really hope that the FIA exclude Rosberg from the points - it may be the only way the championship stays interesting.

[Scott]

Interesting theory Monty.  Not sure he was really trying to spin Lewis, I saw the steering correction as well, but that's what I thought it was, a correction.

But the way, Bottas passed Vettel there cleanly.