Nico Rosberg became world champion in Abu Dhabi in a race of nail-biting tension which endured until the last lap of the season.
An audacious and unprecedented bid by Lewis Hamilton to back his team mate into their rivals kept Rosberg’s title hopes in doubt until the end – and put the outgoing world champion sharply at odds with his team.
And while the party started for Rosberg he had little time to reflect on just how close Hamilton’s plan had come to succeeding.
Hamilton speeds away them slows down
Behind them the Red Bulls paid the price of starting on the harder super-soft tyres. Kimi Raikkonen was immediately past Daniel Ricciardo into third. And Max Verstappen had Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India driving around the outside of him.
Understeering out of the first corner, Verstappen bounced off Hulkenberg’s sidepod and spun in front of the pack. He straightened the car up and headed off in pursuit, but losing the feisty young driver from the fray was not something Hamilton wanted to see in his mirrors.
Because, for all his pre-race talk of how difficult it would be to spoil Rosberg’s race at Yas Marina, it was clear from lap one Hamilton intended to give it a go anyway. Instead of cruising away from his team mate Hamilton was clearly managing his pace, allowing the chasing pack to keep in touch.
But with the ultra-soft tyres he had started on good for only a few laps, Hamilton couldn’t afford to hold the pack up for long. And before making his pit stop he needed to put in a quick lap to reduce the risk of being jumped by a rival if he had a slow stop himself.
On the fifth lap Hamilton backed off to a 1’46.8 – the top five were now covered by less than four seconds. Next time around he put his foot down. Raikkonen, third, was quick to warn Ferrari: “He’s really going now so don’t waste time”.
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Rosberg’s near-misses
Even so the benefit of the undercut made him a potential threat to Rosberg. And when he pitted with Sebastian Vettel on the next lap and was held up by the Ferrari to an even greater degree than his team mate, it was clearly going to be close.
Rosberg threaded his way through Yas Marina’s pit exit tunnel and popped back onto the track fractionally ahead of Raikkonen. This was a major moment in the championship fight: Raikkonen ultimately finished last among the top six cars and a stint stuck behind a Ferrari on similar-age tyres could have cost Rosberg the top-three result he needed.
But Rosberg wasn’t out of the woods yet. Ahead of him lay Verstappen, who had made quick progress following his lap one slip-up. His best hopes of a good result now lay in a one-stop strategy, a plan which Hamilton’s slow driving had made a more realistic option.
“Don’t take any risks with Verstappen, you’re doing the right thing,” the Mercedes pit wall told Rosberg at first. But as the reality of Verstappen’s strategy dawned and the laps ticked down the advice changed. “It’s critical now we start passing Verstappen,” was a message Rosberg did not want to hear.
Going wheel-to-wheel with the driver who has attained notoriety during 2016 for his uncompromising moves was not an attractive prospect for Rosberg with the title on the line. “He went full-on aggressive of course, he didn’t given an inch as usual,” Rosberg reflected afterwards. “But fair play, we didn’t collide and I got by, so that felt amazingly good. It was an awesome feeling at the time.”
Notwithstanding Rosberg’s significant advantage thanks to his fresher tyres, this was still a gutsy piece of driving. The pair tiptoed around the slow chicane at turn eight and nine before Rosberg used his superior traction to out-drag Verstappen from the corner, keeping the Red Bull tucked up at turn 11. This was a vital job done.
Hamilton waits for Vettel
Hamilton and Rosberg made their final stops on laps 28 and 29 respectively. Raikkonen had already been in by this point, but having lost time scrapping with Ricciardo he was no longer a threat and nor was the Red Bull, despite having finally jumped the Ferrari.
Vettel, initially frustrated at having missed the chance to pit early, now converted to a long middle stint with the aim of running the super-soft for the final charge to the flag. With his rivals all on the softs, this made him a threat which the Mercedes pit wall took seriously.
Sure enough by lap 45 Vettel was seven laps into his final stint on super-softs and in that time had torn over 11 seconds out of Hamilton’s lead. With ten laps to go he was six-and-a-half seconds behind with the two Red Bulls separating him from the Mercedes.
Hamilton continued to lap far off his potential pace. Long prior to the race Mercedes had made it clear it would be ‘business as usual’ on the pit wall irrespective of the fact they had already won the constructors’ championship.
The team had previously warned Hamilton about holding his team mate up in other races. But with the championship hanging in the balance and the season laps away from ending, Hamilton took things to new extremes, putting Rosberg in an excruciating position.
Slowing Rosberg ‘not unfair’
The circumstances of the championship fight were also weighing on the race leader’s mind, particularly as the team made increasingly insistent calls for him to speed up. “I’m in a position where I’ve obviously had a lot of points lost during the season so for me, I’m out there fighting and I generally never try to do anything to harm the team or the brand or anything like that.”
“But we’ve won the constructors’ championship so it was down to me and Nico today. And however, they still felt they needed to make comments.”
Rosberg, who in his mirrors could see two rivals threatening to deprive him of the championship, warned the team “this is really slow”. With an abundance of optimism he suggested they “maybe invert the cars and if, by the end of the race, Lewis is still second I’ll let him by”. Unsurprisingly this did not come to pass.
Hamilton had evidently planned his defensive mode carefully, slowing Rosberg around the parts of the track where passing was impossible and drawing clear elsewhere. “Lewis was using all his skill to do it perfectly,” Rosberg conceded afterwards, “there was absolutely no way for me to manage to get by”.
“I didn’t want to be in his shoes”
Still Hamilton refused to relent. Now Vettel had Rosberg in his crosshairs: “I didn’t want to be in his shoes,” Vettel admitted. But the Ferrari driver’s performance advantage was already waning.
“Daniel was fairly straightforward to pass. But then when I arrived behind Max, the problem is that you have car after car after car and you begin to slide, so my tyres got worse.”
On top of that, Rosberg’s close proximity to Hamilton was actually helping him on the straight, giving him the ability to use DRS to thwart Vettel’s passing efforts. “Max didn’t have DRS, whereas at the end Nico had DRS,” said Vettel.
“The second straight was the spot I was having a look, but Nico defended well and closed the inside so I couldn’t really go anywhere. I couldn’t try something really stupid because Lewis was just ahead, so if I really dived down the inside or down the outside then I have a risk of hitting Lewis at that point.”
In the final laps Hamilton edged far enough ahead that Rosberg no longer had the benefit of DRS. Even so it took two laps for Vettel to get close enough to make a move, which Rosberg was easily able to resist.
On the final lap Rosberg was back in DRS range of Hamilton, and Vettel’s last attack was to no avail. Hamilton crept around the final sector but finally accepted the inevitable. Incredibly, his tenth victory of the year was also the one which ensured he would lose the championship to the man who followed him home.
Button bows out
Jenson Button’s fine career came to an unfit end with suspension failure. Felipe Massa at least managed to bow out with a points haul in ninth, though the two Force Indias ahead sealed fourth in the constructors’ championship the moment the other Williams retired. The final point went to Fernando Alonso.
The Haas pair finished just outside the points, Romain Grosjean ahead of the departing Esteban Gutierrez. Kevin Magnussen, who will take Gutierrez’s place next year, retired early with steering column damage.
Toro Rosso capped a dismal weekend with a double retirement. Daniil Kvyat parked up early and Carlos Sainz Jnr’s gearbox gave up after he was assaulted from behind by Jolyon Palmer at turn 17.
Rosberg finally wins the championship
Rosberg became a world champion 34 years after his father accomplished the feat with Williams. Already both have been called fortunate to win their championships. And others have suggested their talents are under-appreciated.
But the new world champion is unconcerned by such suggestions. “I don’t drive for credit,” he said, “I drive to win the world championship and I have achieved that.”
“It was my childhood dream to win the world championship and that’s done and that’s what I’m excited about.”
2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Lowe refused to give Hamilton a second order to speed up
- 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix driver ratings
- Rosberg’s rivals (and relatives) on his championship win
2016 F1 race reviews
- Rosberg denies Hamilton a winning end to his championship year
- Rosberg frustrates Hamilton as Vettel gives hope to Ferrari
- Rosberg gets his revenge as Hamilton holds back
- Hard-fighting Hamilton pounces on Rosberg error to seal third title
- Rosberg’s misfortune brings Hamilton within touching distance of title
Tom
27th November 2016, 23:27
The only downside of the race was the Mercedes radio calls. I can fully understand them, but all this talk of “we let the drivers race each other” and the moment Hamilton tries to help himself by slowing down he’s told lies over the radio. I understand they were looking out for the 1-2 finish but Vettel still had 4 cars to pass and a 12-second gap to make up in less than 15 laps. It was obvious he wouldn’t be able to do that so there was no immediate threat to Hamilton. The team would have known Hamilton will be racing for his own Championship out there and to warn him before the race about giving Nico the undercut if he tried it meant his only options were to leave it until after the pitstops. They can’t really blame Hamilton as they gave him no different options to win the Championship. That’s not a complaint as they didn’t help Nico either but Hamilton knew his only real hope was a reliability issue or backing him up in the final stint so realistically what choice did he have ?
altitude2k
27th November 2016, 23:33
I really hope nothing comes of that.
David BR
27th November 2016, 23:33
+1 this was quite interesting from Horner: “We know that Toto likes to control most things in the paddock, including other teams’ drivers. I understand that Toto has suggested that Lewis followed my instruction rather than his, and he should come and drive for Red Bull.”
Hamilton’s assessment proved all too correct that Vettel wouldn’t win the race – he couldn’t even pass Rosberg. Wolff complained that Hamilton ignored team instructions in public. Well firstly it’s FIA that makes those communications public for ‘entertainment’ reasons, and you have to question how much ‘entertainment’ fans gets from teams telling their drivers to stop trying to win a race or championship. Second those instructions should be no more than advice. The image that drivers are micromanaged and bossed is destroying the sport. Audiences are declining worldwide, the kind of attitude expressed by Wolff is a big reason why.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
27th November 2016, 23:36
FOM, not the FIA. Key difference. Basically ‘Bernie, not Todt’! :)
Wihan (@wihan)
28th November 2016, 6:24
Last time i checked Hamilton is employed by Mercedes. Doesn’t like how they handle the race he is free to go work for someone else, but as long as he wants to race for that team he needs to play by their rules. The question weather the call was good for F1 or not is a separate issue, and quite frankly in my opinion it is not a team’s job to make sure they make decisions that the fans like.
David BR
28th November 2016, 10:12
It’s also not the job of fans to watch dull races. And they don’t, increasingly so.
I watch Formula 1, still, because of the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen. Not to see Mercedes micromanaging their dominance, insisting on a 1-2 at the end of the season where they’ve won everything already, irrespective of the desires and battles of their drivers – you know, the human beings doing this dangerous stuff.
If you want corporate obedience, go watch live feed of some office spaces. I’m sure it’s thrilling stuff. They may even have made a sitcom about it.
N
28th November 2016, 10:31
Exactly.
Anna
28th November 2016, 11:49
Last time I checked, Mercedes are paying Hamilton to race their cars. They don’t like how he races their cars, they’re free to replace him with someone else. I’m pretty confident they won’t do that though. That’s what happens in a dynamic workspace. Opinions of how to handle things differ and conflicts will happen. Hamilton won’t abide by their rules at all times and neither will Rosberg. It’s up to them on how they wish to handle that.
And honestly, as a racing fan, Hamilton’s decision was befitting of a driver with world championship-winning ambitions. Would’ve been weak of him, had he listened to Mercedes.
chris (@9chris9)
28th November 2016, 13:49
@wihan
From the post race review on sky, after Spain Lewis quit but Mercedes persuaded him to stay.
A lot of Peacocking going on from Ferrari, redbull, Max and Lewis. Ferrari finally got a decent strategy, max showed he can do almost anything, redbull showed how quick they can react and give their drivers the best opportunities when they want to.
Lewis can go to any team he wants and Mercedes know that. The best chance Mercedes have in 2017 is to ensure no one else has Lewis.
A world champion doesn’t give up, Lewis faught to the end, Nico was happy just coasting and not winning. I know who’d I’d want in my team.
Charles King (@charleski)
27th November 2016, 23:48
Guess I must have missed the part where ‘slowing down’ becomes ‘racing’ … The best you can say about it was that Hamilton showed his technical mastery of the car and he clearly has a deep understanding of its strengths and limitations – he’s complained about being stuck behind Nico in the past as a result of the dirty air and he put that experience to use today.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
28th November 2016, 14:51
@charleski
Wouldn’t be the first, after Spain 1981.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
27th November 2016, 23:56
When did they lie to him?
Tom
28th November 2016, 1:14
When they said vettel was a major threat and if he doesn’t pick the pace up he won’t win @keithcollantine Yes vettel could technically catch him lapping 1.3 seconds a lap faster at that stage, but he still had to catch and pass both Redbulls and Nico in 13 or 14 laps before the win was in any kind of danger. Looking at the laptimes and gaps he would have needed to pass all those without losing any time at all, so it was obvious the win wasn’t in danger at that stage. I understand they told him then so he wouldn’t slow down more, but we’d just watched 40+ laps of cars running in formation so overtakes weren’t exactly easy here. I just didn’t like the urgency and making the threat seem larger than it was. That along with the warnings before the race made it clear they didn’t actually want Hamilton to fight for the Championship. Thats not to say they didn’t want him to win it. Just they wanted to avoid any of the tactics he did decide to do and that was realistically Hamiltons only option. For a team which always says ” we let them race” I’d say well not unless you control every aspect of the race first.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
28th November 2016, 5:15
I disagree, in hindsight it was probably obvious that it wasn’t a true statement, but at the time Vettel was lapping faster than both Mercedes, so it wasn’t obvious that Vettel wasn’t a major threat. At one time the race commentators even suggested Vettel might actually finish the race first.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
28th November 2016, 9:53
@drycrust It was always obvious that Vettel wasn’t a threat to Hamilton. The suggestion that Vettel was lapping faster than Hamilton is irrelevant, as we all know (and knew then) Hamilton was driving intentionally slowly and had he found Vettel behind him would simply have driven faster.
Toto claims after the race Hamilton was lapping 1.5s slower than they wanted him to, in other words Hamilton could have driver faster than Vettel at any time he wanted. If Mercedes knew this and still suggested to Hamilton that they thought Vettel could win the race then the implication is that the advice given to him was a lie (or at least intentionally misleading) as Tom stated above.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
28th November 2016, 14:52
@jerseyf1 If a Canada 1991 happened, though?
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
28th November 2016, 15:30
@davidnotcoulthard That happened because Mansell had a commanding lead (assuming the theory that it was his fault is true), if he had driven slowly and been under more pressure he wouldn’t have made the mistake. So Hamilton was helping avoid that scenario too by keeping his rivals just behind him!
evered7 (@evered7)
28th November 2016, 5:52
Rosberg should have just left Vettel by and continued in third. Hamilton would then have to pickup his speed in order to get the win that he needs to put Rosberg under any pressure. In turn, Rosberg would pull away from the rest as well.
Mercedes didn’t lie. Vettel simply ran out of laps and spots to put Rosberg under pressure and in turn get to Hamilton.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th November 2016, 9:05
I don’t agree they were lying by making this claim and there’s a clear reason why: this was exactly what Hamilton wanted. He needed Vettel to become a major threat in order for the Ferrari to overtake Rosberg. And the lap times bear out that this is exactly what was happening: from lap 38 to 45 Vettel’s progress was very rapid and Mercedes obviously couldn’t take for granted how quickly he might pass the Red Bulls.
Did they actually say that? I don’t remember that message.
Tom
28th November 2016, 13:33
It’s just been on the news @keithcollantine and one message was “we need a 45.1, 45.1 for the win” The fact they brought the win into it just seemed a little underhand. I was looking at the times and while Vettel was charging it was obvious he would run out of laps. We’ve seen many races where drivers close the gap but can’t overtake. With Hamilton being faster in Sector 1 to avoid the DRS it was quite clear that Vettel actually had no chance of the win. I think it was the undercut warnings before the race too which while I can fully understand just felt like Mercedes wanted anything but the two guys racing, especially Hamilton as they knew with him racing would actually mean backing up Rosberg.
damonw
28th November 2016, 5:59
Just goes to show how much of an amazing driver Lewis is, I mean he was toying with Nico at the end.
He can’t have been driving that slow as Verstappen was struggling to keep up with the trio.
Mercedes need to get a grip especially Toto, talk about kicking someone when they’re down. We all know you bend over backwards for Rosberg but try not to make it so transparent…..
James Coulee
28th November 2016, 0:10
“Unprecedented” is the keyword here: there’s a reason for that. It’s just the poorest kind of sportsmanship. Hamilton was manipulated by Christian Horner as if he was a toddler.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
28th November 2016, 0:20
Wait, so you think Hamilton was playing to Horner’s script book? Give the man some credit – he used all the tools in his arsenal to try and win the championship.
Nico could quite well have tried harder to pass him, but obviously wasn’t going to because it would put his finish at risk. You could say that his strategy was no more untoward than Rosberg’s moves in Austria & Germany or Verstappen’s ‘moving under braking’ tricks?
N
28th November 2016, 0:20
You really think hamilton wasnt thinking of it long before horner mentioned it? Lol its also not unprecedented at all, many drivers have employed this tactic, and why is it all of a sudden unsportsmen-like when hamilton drives slow but its been fine for rosberg to completly drive within his pace for a number of races now in order to fall over the winning line? If rosberg didnt like hamiltons tactic he had every chance to actually up his own pace and try to actually go out and win the race
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
28th November 2016, 5:26
Hamilton made choices based upon his own priorities. I don’t think it is credible to say he was doing what Christian Horner wanted. The crux of the matter is Rosberg was ahead on points at the start of the race and Hamilton was second, and the most obvious outcome of the race was Rosberg was going to win the World Driver’s Championship. Hamilton admitted that before the race started.
Hamilton knew that if he tried anything too obvious, which he did, then it was likely his reputation would be tarnished, and that is exactly what has happened: he is seen as a sore looser.
jayteeniftb
28th November 2016, 4:18
Mercedes have a PR image to maintain.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
27th November 2016, 23:30
Nice last picture!
bull mello (@bullmello)
27th November 2016, 23:42
Not even a Rosberg fan, but that is a perfect photo!
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
27th November 2016, 23:38
Shouldn’t this read – Mercedes got its revenge?
Where did the clutch issues go after Nico was guaranteed the championship? Seriously… once Lewis leaves Mercedes, let’s hope they go back to the position they deserve.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
27th November 2016, 23:58
@freelittlebirds Mercedes getting their revenge against the driver they employ to win the championship because he won the championship for them twice?
Surely we can all agree this makes absolutely no sense.
Rosberg was guaranteed the championship when he crossed the finishing line at the end of lap 55. Beyond that point the state of his clutch didn’t matter an awful lot.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
28th November 2016, 0:18
@keithcollantine
Sorry, I didn’t mean it literally:-) The clutch issues magically disappeared after Nico got a 33 point lead… They plagued Lewis throughout most of the season. Last 4 races, he hasn’t had any issues.
Did Mercedes fix it? Did they finally decide to fix it once enough harm was done? It’s been awfully silent on Mercedes’ side about it. It was obvious to anyone with a heartbeat that Lewis was the one most affected by it.
ColdFly F1 (@)
28th November 2016, 1:55
If you really believe this, then how come the clutch issue did not ‘magically’ reappear today?
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
28th November 2016, 3:10
@coldfly Well, it didn’t did it? It was there throughout the year and now it’s suddenly gone. Where did it go?
Did Mercedes have no clue what was causing it? Was it so easy to resolve that they nailed it forever with none of us being the wiser? Did it resolve itself? What happened?
Once the championship was out Lewis’ reach even with 4 P1s, it disappeared. Of course, had Nico suffered a DNF in Mexico, maybe it would have made another appearance and unresolved itself again until it was out of reach again…
Thomas
28th November 2016, 11:48
Extremely far-fetched. More likely:
1. There was a clutch problem that they had not yet understood the reasons behind.
2. By unfortunate happenchance it affected one driver more than the other.
3. Over time they finally understood it and fixed it and were happy that a technical issue was now resolved for Mercedes GP.
4. As it is their business to fix things all year long, they did not dwell on it, but started focusing on other pressing matters.
End of story.
pH
28th November 2016, 8:01
Where did it disappear?
The answer might be hidden in a newsbit a few GP’s ago: Hamilton said he spent several days working on his starts, getting to grips with the new clutch. It seems that it worked.
Selbbin (@selbbin)
28th November 2016, 8:36
Well, Rosberg is more technically proficient, while Hamilton is a more natural driver. That’s why Rosberg could handle clutch problems better, and fix his engine problem himself which was the same as Hamilton’s, who struggled and asked for help the team couldn’t provide.
Traverse (@hellotraverse)
28th November 2016, 11:30
No. Nico asked for help at Silverstone and got it immediately, unlike Hamilton. Team biased?
iCarbs (@icarby)
28th November 2016, 19:09
To insinuate that ROS is smarter than HAM is insulting. Both drivers had issues with the clutch, several times both MERC drivers got jumped/swamped at the start, but i would wager ROS worked on the problem a little more than HAM did or HAM possibly relied more on his engineering team to do the leg work for him than do it himself. When HAM did put the work in on the clutch, his starts improved how or what the bottom line was in relation to the clutch i don’t think has been made public.
DonSmee (@david-beau)
29th November 2016, 0:07
Lewis and one of the engineers fixed it hy modifying the clutch paddle before austin. They put a wedge on the back it to make the release gradual.. Apparently Nico has thicker fingers so he had a better release of the paddle.
Kribana (@krichelle)
27th November 2016, 23:52
I am slightly disgusted at some of these calls at Mercedes. Good that Toto understood this because… I mean… What else could Lewis do? I have some possibilities that I thought during the race:
1. Brake test Nico into one of the heavy braking zones.. (Unsportsmanslike behavior though)
2. Slow Nico down at the point of the pitstops, therefore risking an undercut by one of the other cars…(Though I think Mercedes would have covered this as usual)
3. Slow down Nico by battling him and winning it. (Extremely risky and unlikely for it to slow him down)
4. Anticipating Nico’s stop and double stacking with him being first. (LOL This would have been epic and definitely unsportsmanship but extremely hard to do)
5. What he did today.
With what we saw, I am starting to think something fishy there… Who thought that Vettel could have won this race? If somehow he overtook Nico, Lewis would have just subtracted 1-2 secs off his pace and be in normal mode. Plus, as he said: Vettel would need 1.1 seconds at least, in terms of delta time to overtake, and to note that his tyres were already falling off, highly doubt that would have been possible.
N
28th November 2016, 0:00
Exactly, the calls to hamilton was never about the race win being at risk, anyone is anyone knows Hamilton would have bolted had vettel past rosberg, the ‘orders’ where about protecting Rosberg, its so transparent its a little sickening. I cant imagine how Hamilton must feel in that team now knowing this, being threatend by his own bosses with the undercut should he try an slow rosberg up, it gives greater weight to his comments about telling the public of what went on in that team once he retires.
Josh
28th November 2016, 0:01
+1 man, I’m not a Lewis fan, not even a Rosberg fan but Lewis earned his money today. He fought all the way to the end and I gained so much respect for his fight. I also gained a ton of respect from Rosberg. He did what he had to do the last few weeks to close this deal out. If I was Toto I’d be thrilled.His number 1 ace fought like a lion and his number 2 drove beautifully. Such a strong lineup even with that car.
James Coulee
28th November 2016, 0:14
He could be an honorable sportsman, though I understand that would be out of character. He did insist all week that we would never do what he actually did from lap one, though.
Josh
28th November 2016, 1:00
Well James Coulee, last time I checked, Lewis is an F1 driver, not a UN member.
Josh
28th November 2016, 1:09
This will be my last response to you. Ive been posting on here for about a year and you are by far the most uneducated poster I’ve seen.
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th November 2016, 2:05
@jamescoulee, And people think I’m an old phart living in the past, get real, this is not anymore a gentlemans sport, it is big business with mega-bucks at stake.
pt747 (@pt747)
28th November 2016, 14:36
Lewis couldn’t have upped his pace after Seb got past Nico as he also needed Max to get past. If Lewis had increased his pace to keep Seb behind, then Nico would also have increased his pace and therefore (probably) extended his lead over Max and consolidated his 3rd place.
Lewis would have had to continue to back up Nico into Max and therefore put his race lead/win in jeopardy from Seb – it was that concern IMO that gave way to the messages we heard from the team.
Willem Cecchi (@)
28th November 2016, 0:05
Will Rosberg take number 1?
David BR
28th November 2016, 0:34
He’s earned it. For throwing Ecclestone in the air.
ColdFly F1 (@)
28th November 2016, 1:58
And lost it for not dropping him (head first).
Zim
28th November 2016, 8:42
Ha ha ha :D
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
28th November 2016, 5:27
I liked Bernie’s comment to Nico, “Job done”.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
28th November 2016, 0:54
Interesting Wolff remark: “Maybe we want to give them even more freedom in racing each other, or we could to go the more harsh side if we feel the values were not respected.”
David BR
28th November 2016, 4:10
It’s like he’s running a kindergarten. It does nothing good for the image of the sport. It’s utterly ludicrous in fact. The race was tense and fascinating. Both Mercedes racing more or less flat out and winning comfortably would have been the worst possible finale for anyone watching. Do Todt/Mercedes really not care about Formula 1’s popularity? Insisting that the drivers obey them absolutely ruins the public’s sense that a competition is taken place between the drivers on track, not remotely by team managers and data crunchers. Hopefully Ross Brawn can instill some sense into them and get people like Todt to see outside their corporate bubble.
David BR
28th November 2016, 4:14
*Toto Wolff in fact…
Nikos (@exeviolthor)
28th November 2016, 10:19
Well judging from Brawn’s years in Ferrari, if he was still in charge we would have Hamilton win 20 races this year…
David BR
28th November 2016, 12:33
It’s a fair comment in terms of the past, but the task now would be entirely different. F1 needs a smart insider who loves the actual racing and can work with all the teams to improve the sport’s appeal. That should be Todt of course…
Matthes
28th November 2016, 1:04
All Toto and Mercedes cared about today was the best possible result for the team, which all they ever care about. With the championship standings being what they were before everybody came here, this meant Lewis winning the title was directly contradicting Mercedes’ goal.
Toto and Paddy urged on Lewis towards the end of the race because they saw the 1-2 endagered, not because they didn’t want Lewis to have a shot at this title.