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Rosberg driving like Lorenzo tomorrow?


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Poll: Is driving slow on purpose acceptable tomoorow? (122 member(s) have cast votes)

Is driving slow on purpose acceptable tomoorow?

  1. Yes & I want Rosberg to win the WDC (24 votes [19.67%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 19.67%

  2. Yes & I want Hamilton to win the WDC (38 votes [31.15%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 31.15%

  3. Yes & I don't care who wins the WDC (28 votes [22.95%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 22.95%

  4. No & I want Rosberg to win the WDC (3 votes [2.46%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 2.46%

  5. No & I want Hamilton to win the WDC (21 votes [17.21%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 17.21%

  6. No & I don't care who wins the WDC (8 votes [6.56%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 6.56%

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#1 LeMans86

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:25

Rosberg has two hopes: a mistake from Hamilton or an other car getting between him and Hamilton. The second one is one that he can maybe influence a bit more. I'm wondering whether people would find it acceptable if Nico drives like Lorenzo in the MotoGP title decider last year? A lot of people applauded him from doing it and were even mad he gave up at a certain point and just drove for the win.
Same for the first corner, can Nico lift a bit to slow Hamilton down and maybe allow a Williams through?

I myself would have no problem with it. Is it the best way? No. But it's nothing illegal or anything. It could even be tactic to try in the final laps, if he's 1st and still Hamilton 2nd; a last chance to try and get a car between them. It ain't pretty, but nothing wrong with it either. If Nico's too slow (by purpose or not), Hamilton should simply pass him.

(For the people that don't know what I'm talking about: Lorenzo drove as slow as possible to keep the field bunched up in the hope of getting enough drivers to overtake Marquez. Basically how both Mercedes drove at Monaco last year(?) but then with the purpose of keeping their tyres alive.
So not talking about 'brake-testing' or anything, just driving slow / holding up.)

Edited by LeMans86, 22 November 2014 - 18:32.


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#2 jcpower13

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:28

Lewis would take him in a DRS zone if he tried to back him up.



#3 cheekybru

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:28

Id have no problem with it because it would get Lewis past him faster than normal  :kiss:



#4 MortenF1

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:29

So you think he'd go slow even on the straights… OK.



#5 Ducks

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:29

I hope so, look who that title went to.



#6 LeMans86

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:30

Lewis would take him in a DRS zone if he tried to back him up.

I could be risky yes, but might be one worth to take for Rosberg like in the finals laps? All or nothing.
We've seen the Merc is capable of holding the other Merc at bay in DRS zones, while the Williams has an advantage over the Merc there.

Edited by LeMans86, 22 November 2014 - 18:31.


#7 HPT

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:31

Rosberg has two hopes: a mistake from Hamilton or an other car getting between him and Hamilton. The second one is one that he can maybe influence a bit more. I'm wondering whether people would find it acceptable if Nico drives like Lorenzo in the MotoGP title decider last year? A lot of people applauded him from doing it and were even mad he gave up at a certain point and just drove for the win.
Same for the first corner, can Nico lift a bit to slow Hamilton down and maybe allow a Williams through?

I myself would have no problem with it. Is it the best way? No. But it's nothing illegal or anything. It could even be tactic to try in the final laps, if he's 1st and still Hamilton 2nd; a last chance to try and get a car between them. It ain't pretty, but nothing wrong with it either. If Nico's too slow (by purpose or not), Hamilton should simply pass him.

(For the people that don't know what I'm talking about: Lorenzo drove as slow as possible to keep the field bunched up in the hope of getting enough drivers to overtake Marquez. Basically how both Mercedes drove at Monaco last year(?) but then with the purpose of keeping their tyres alive.
So not talking about 'brake-testing' or anything, just driving slow / holding up.)

 

Miller did it to Alex Marquez in the Moto3 decider this year too. But it's not so simple with F1 cars I think. Both Lorenzo and Miller were passed on a few occasions when bunching the pack up, but it is much easier to retake the lead when that happens in a bike as opposed to in a car, especially in a track like Abu Dhabi. I think his best strategy is to win the race and see what happens from there.



#8 jcpower13

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:33

I could be risky yes, but might be one worth to take for Rosberg like in the finals laps? All or nothing.
We've seen the Merc is capable of holding the other Merc at bay in DRS zones, while the Williams has an advantage over the Merc there.

On tracks where unless you have a distinct advantage you're not overtaking. Lest we forget Lewis took Nico in Austin, in a DRS zone no less.



#9 LeMans86

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:33

Miller did it to Alex Marquez in the Moto3 decider this year too. But it's not so simple with F1 cars I think. Both Lorenzo and Miller were passed on a few occasions when bunching the pack up, but it is much easier to retake the lead when that happens in a bike as opposed to in a car, especially in a track like Abu Dhabi. I think his best strategy is to win the race and see what happens from there.

It's also much more difficult to get overtaken in the first place. We've already seen that the Mercs can keep each other at bay in DRS zones. The Williams has a straight line advantage over them...

#10 LeMans86

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:34

On tracks where unless you have a distinct advantage you're not overtaking. Lest we forget Lewis took Nico in Austin, in a DRS zone no less.

Because Nico made a mistake in using his power in the right way :)

Edited by LeMans86, 22 November 2014 - 18:34.


#11 MP422

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:34

It could only really work if you had a big speed advantage over your title rival. Otherwise it would make Nico vulnerable to getting passed and no margin for error.



#12 jcpower13

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:35

Because Nico made a mistake in using his power in the right way :)

A mistake he had never made before, hmmmm.



#13 jcpower13

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:36

It could only really work if you had a big speed advantage over your title rival. Otherwise it would make Nico vulnerable to getting passed and no margin for error.

If he backed Lewis up enough, that Bottas was in play and Lewis took him in a DRS zone he could be looking at Bottas sneaking through as well.



#14 MissingTheApex

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:37

It reminds me of an olympic sailing event where all Ben Ainslie had to do, was ensure he finished in front of his main rival, so he blocked him all through the race, finishing 2nd last.  If it's in the rules, it's acceptable.  But Ros has to be aware that straight is long when someone has DRS, it isn't like Brazil.



#15 Kobasmashi

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:38

Because Nico made a mistake in using his power in the right way :)


What about Suzuka then?

#16 Rurouni

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:39

If Rosberg can do that, then it would be one of the greatest F1 drive that I have ever seen! I don't think it's the wise thing to do because like everyone has said, it's harder to do it on F1 vs MotoGP (or motorcycle racing in general) because in motorcycle racing, you have some sort of a safety net if you believe that you can be faster than the guy that you try to hold up by being able to re-pass him. Although having said that, you're right that it probably can be done in a circuit like Monaco. But I'm pretty sure that you can't do it here.



#17 jcpower13

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:39

What about Suzuka then?

Clearly the rain made his steering wheel buttons slippy and he couldn't press the right button in time...



#18 Exb

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:43

It would be incredibly risky with the DRS zone making passing much easier these days, however a track like Abu Dhabi would be more possible than say Bahrain as the last sector is almost impossible to overtake so could back someone up there and then get back to flat out on the pit straight. I would say the start would be more likely if Rosberg can pin & block him into the 1st corner and allow the Williams round the outside but again its risky as it risks a collision or Rosberg losing position to the Williams as well. I think his best bet is to go for the win and leave it down to luck if Hamilton has a reliability problem (after all that's the main reason he is so close in the first place).



#19 LeMans86

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:45

If Rosberg can do that, then it would be one of the greatest F1 drive that I have ever seen! I don't think it's the wise thing to do because like everyone has said, it's harder to do it on F1 vs MotoGP (or motorcycle racing in general) because in motorcycle racing, you have some sort of a safety net if you believe that you can be faster than the guy that you try to hold up by being able to re-pass him. Although having said that, you're right that it probably can be done in a circuit like Monaco. But I'm pretty sure that you can't do it here.

I would really like it as an 'all or nothing'-title bid during the last laps :)

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#20 RubalSher

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:51

We all forget that Rosberg needs to win the race. Focus on anything else, and he is likely to not even end up winning.

 

His best bet really is reliability or lack of for Lewis, nothing else is in his hands really.



#21 John Player

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:53

He could do it in the first laps before DRS gets enabled



#22 JuanPablo

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:55

Say Bottas did get ahead of Hamilton, as soon as Rosberg has to get back on with it pull a gap on Bottas, Hamilton can just worry about Bottas and either under cut him at stops or try an overtake on track. With pit stops giving the chance to run in clean air, it becomes very complex to back up another driver.


Edited by JuanPablo, 22 November 2014 - 18:56.


#23 midgrid

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:55

Jacques Villeneuve did this during the 1997 Japanese GP.  He qualified on pole position but was racing under appeal after initially being excluded from the event due to not slowing down for a yellow flag in practice (the result of some similar infringements earlier in the season), and in the early stages drove at reduced pace, with Michael Schumacher behind, in the hope that some of the other cars would overtake his rival and minimise the potential points loss if the appeal was not successful.  The plan didn't work because Eddie Irvine was on an alternate strategy: carrying much less fuel, he was able to pass Mika Hakkinen, Schumacher and Villeneuve at unconventional places and storm off into the lead.  Villeneuve then picked his pace up, abandoning the plan, but lost track position to Schumacher in the first round of pit stops.  Irvine (still leading) was then given the call to slow down.  He allowed Schumacher to overtake but then baulked Villeneuve for several laps; Williams called him in early but then suffered a delay during the stop and Villeneuve was restricted to fifth whilst Schumacher won the race.  Villeneuve's exclusion was upheld, meaning that Schumacher carried a single-point advantage into the season finale at Jerez...

 

The blatant delaying tactics used by both Villeneuve and Irvine in this race tend to be forgotten in light of the infamous collision between Schumacher and Villeneuve that took place afterwards.



#24 SpartanChas

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 18:56

Hopefully he'll be the one in second place, behind Lewis  :)

 

He's just got to take care of his own race, surely. Trying to do anything like that is mad, there's probably more chance that it'll work against him. 



#25 f1RacingForever

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 19:02

All the pressure is on Hamilton. let's hope he doesn't press any wrong buttons again. 😉 Massa and bottas will have enough sense not to try anything stupid in turn one and even if a Williams got through, Lewis will be fine. biggest problem could be getting screwed over by a back marker.

#26 Spillage

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 19:09

It's his best chance I think. There's nothing wrong with it, but if I were Hamilton I wouldn't be too worried. I'd just have a go in DRS and then hightail it into the distance, taking comfort from the fact that my racep pace is usually better than his and is always better than any other driver that might get in the way.

#27 surbjits

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 19:15

We all forget that Rosberg needs to win the race. Focus on anything else, and he is likely to not even end up winning.

 

 

 

 

He doesn't if Hamilton DNF's.



#28 Ducks

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 19:18

He doesn't if Hamilton DNF's.

 

If Nico DNFs Lewis just needs 11th :up:



#29 Nathan

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 19:49

I'd love to see this tactic!!  I did it once to a friend playing a F12012 season  :clap:


Edited by Nathan, 22 November 2014 - 19:50.


#30 PlatenGlass

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:13

To me, it's the obvious thing to do. People are saying it could go wrong and that his best bet is just to go for the win and hope that Hamilton hits trouble. but I'd say that's more likely to go wrong! Hamilton is very much favourite to beat every non-Mercedes driver, so bunching up the pack, even if it could go wrong, seems a better tactic. Also, if it does go wrong and Hamilton gets past, Hamilton is just as likely to have a mechanical failure as he would in a normal race, so I'd say there's very little to lose in doing this.

#31 jcpower13

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:17

To me, it's the obvious thing to do. People are saying it could go wrong and that his best bet is just to go for the win and hope that Hamilton hits trouble. but I'd say that's more likely to go wrong! Hamilton is very much favourite to beat every non-Mercedes driver, so bunching up the pack, even if it could go wrong, seems a better tactic. Also, if it does go wrong and Hamilton gets past, Hamilton is just as likely to have a mechanical failure as he would in a normal race, so I'd say there's very little to lose in doing this.

Except it leaves him open to the Williamses too, and they have the straight-line speed to be a true menace if you end up behind them. The best tactic is to ignore everything else and drive your own race, the moment you try and influence someone else's race you leave yourself vulnerable and over the years many drivers have suffered because they focused too much on what they want their rival to do and not the race itself.



#32 ArkZ

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:27

He can try to repeat Brazil 2007 "sandwich" start, where Massa blocked Hamilton immediately allowing Raikkonen pass, moreover Raikkonen blocked Hamilton in T1 to allow Alonso pass.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=4Gvz1cU90T0


Edited by ArkZ, 22 November 2014 - 20:30.


#33 LeMans86

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:31

Except it leaves him open to the Williamses too, and they have the straight-line speed to be a true menace if you end up behind them. The best tactic is to ignore everything else and drive your own race, the moment you try and influence someone else's race you leave yourself vulnerable and over the years many drivers have suffered because they focused too much on what they want their rival to do and not the race itself.

It would actually be quite fun to see Mercs pitstop tactics if both get passed by a Williams. Prioritising Rosberg to get ahead would prioritise him to win the WDC (and 'help' the guy that 'caused it'), while vice versa with prioritising Hamilton. It could be a real nightmare for the team to handle without questions being asked. Although they should simply stick to 'the guy in front gets priority', everyone can imagine the shitstorm from the other driver's fans.
Giving neither driver priority wouldn't go down well with the management as they would unnecessarily give away a win.

Edited by LeMans86, 22 November 2014 - 20:35.


#34 PlatenGlass

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:41

Except it leaves him open to the Williamses too, and they have the straight-line speed to be a true menace if you end up behind them. The best tactic is to ignore everything else and drive your own race, the moment you try and influence someone else's race you leave yourself vulnerable and over the years many drivers have suffered because they focused too much on what they want their rival to do and not the race itself.

Well if Hamilton passes him, he would immediately go into "race mode", so it would have to be quite a big mistake for Hamilton and a Williams to get through. But, yes the tactic can go wrong - it's just that on balance I'd argue it's more likely to go wrong if he does nothing.

#35 redreni

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:43

If this was Monaco it would be the obvious tactic. Here, I don't know if he'll be able to lose enough in places where Hamilton can't get a run on him to allow the Williamses to put serious pressure on Hamilton. It's an incredibly difficult one to pull off, because even if you manage to engineer it so Hamilton falls to third, you wouldn't be able to stop Hamilton from re-passing the Williams easily. But he has to try. If he's clever he won't try it too early. Just try to control the pace and keep the gap to third at around 8-10 seconds for most of the race, try to frustrate Hamilton and make him run in the dirty air in the hope that he uses his front tyres, and then start backing him up in the last half a dozen laps. If he manages to back Hamilton up enough to get the Williamses involved, the wheel-to-wheel stuff will be dangerous for Rosberg because if they take each other out, he will lose the title and his name will be mud. So it's better to wait until near the end before taking such a risk, because there's always the possibility that Hamilton will have a problem in which case Rosberg will be able to drive on into the sunset.

 

For Hamilton, if there's a big enough gap between Rosberg and the third placed Williams, his best tactic is probably to just sit in that gap. But if Rosberg starts backing him up, he'll need to pass Rosberg. Once Hamilton gets in front, it cuts out any chance for Rosberg to engage in such nonsense.

 

But for me these are all tactical considerations. It's completely unreasonable to expect Rosberg to just push on and drive a normal race and wait to lose the title. If he does that, he deserves to be second this year.



#36 apoka

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:48

Not an easy choice - I finally voted for it being acceptable in this case. However, his driving should not be too dangerous for other drivers.

 

(And as others pointed out, it would be a very hard thing to do.)



#37 george1981

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:56

If Rosberg starts playing silly buggers then I think Hamilton will just try to pass him. Given Hamilton's generally been quite good at getting passed Rosberg this season he'll probably get passed him. 

Rosberg still needs to build a gap for pitstops so he doesn't get stuck in traffic, or even an emergency pitstop for a blown tyre etc.

He might want to slow Hamilton down but it isn't in his own interests.

Rosberg's best hope is that Hamilton gets a bad start or has some unreliability.



#38 HamiltonFanboy

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 20:57

however a track like Abu Dhabi would be more possible than say Bahrain as the last sector is almost impossible to overtake so could back someone up there and then get back to flat out on the pit straight.

This is the only way he can realistically achieve a drive like Lorenzo's. He needs to go extremely slow in the final sector, parking on the apex in each of those corners will be enough to keep Lewis behind and then accelerate for the final 2 turns and try his hardest to get a gap before the DRS zone. This is very difficult though because it relies on A) Rosberg being fast enough to pull 1 second on Hamilton before the DRS zone. If Hamilton gets DRS there will be no way the Williams can overtake him and he will also be challenging Rosberg for the lead. B) The Williams needs to be fast enough to stay with Hamilton through sector 1 to have a shot at overtaking. 

 

A better chance is off the start. Assuming they get similar starts Rosberg would need to push Hamilton to the inside and have an extremely slow turn 1 letting the Williams around the outside. I believe if Rosberg had of been starting 2nd he would of had a much better opportunity in this corner by diving in and forcing Hamilton wide. That would be a lot easier than pinning Hamilton to the inside.

 

Another thing I am unsure about is the Mercedes pit situation. An ingenious way of Rosberg affecting Hamiltons race is just to simply stay out on the circuit. Say for example the Williams both pit on lap 6. They are going for the undercut and Rosberg has a decent lead over Hamilton. As far as I am aware the lead driver for Mercedes has to pit first so that on track position is maintained. Can Rosberg just refuse to pit knowing that the Williams will be gaining fast on Hamilton behind or would Mercedes allow Hamilton to pit in that situation which would presumably put Rosberg at a disadvantage?



#39 redreni

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:06

Except it leaves him open to the Williamses too, and they have the straight-line speed to be a true menace if you end up behind them. The best tactic is to ignore everything else and drive your own race, the moment you try and influence someone else's race you leave yourself vulnerable and over the years many drivers have suffered because they focused too much on what they want their rival to do and not the race itself.

 

Driving his own race without worrying about anyone else is a luxury Rosberg would have if he'd won a couple more battles against Hamilton earlier in the season. As it is, he has no such luxury. He made it clear in the post-qualy press conference, he didn't just go to Abu Dhabi to win the race, he went there for the title, so he has to try this.

 

As I say, in my view the best tactic is to wait until near the end of the race, because for all we know Hamilton's car is only destined to make it to lap 40, in which case it would be unfortunate for Rosberg to say the least if he tried to force the issue and get Hamilton out of the top 2 on lap 20 and ended up in the wall. Also, if he suceeded in pushing Hamilton down to P3 on lap 20, Hamilton would have 35 laps in which to make his way back into the top two.

 

The best thing is to wait until after the final stops and then try. I don't think it will work, because I think Hamilton would pass him. But I guess this is where the seed Rosberg planted at Spa may finally come good for him, because Hamilton knows that closing the door on Rosberg can be dangerous.

 

I'm actually really looking forward to this race. I think it would have been a lot more straightforward for Hamilton if he'd got pole. And I think if he ever gets into the lead, it will probably be straightforward for him again as long as he has the pace to control the gap to Rosberg. But while Rosberg leads, there are ways and means to make things awkward for Hamilton.



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#40 redreni

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:09

This is the only way he can realistically achieve a drive like Lorenzo's. He needs to go extremely slow in the final sector, parking on the apex in each of those corners will be enough to keep Lewis behind and then accelerate for the final 2 turns and try his hardest to get a gap before the DRS zone. This is very difficult though because it relies on A) Rosberg being fast enough to pull 1 second on Hamilton before the DRS zone. If Hamilton gets DRS there will be no way the Williams can overtake him and he will also be challenging Rosberg for the lead. B) The Williams needs to be fast enough to stay with Hamilton through sector 1 to have a shot at overtaking. 

 

A better chance is off the start. Assuming they get similar starts Rosberg would need to push Hamilton to the inside and have an extremely slow turn 1 letting the Williams around the outside. I believe if Rosberg had of been starting 2nd he would of had a much better opportunity in this corner by diving in and forcing Hamilton wide. That would be a lot easier than pinning Hamilton to the inside.

 

Another thing I am unsure about is the Mercedes pit situation. An ingenious way of Rosberg affecting Hamiltons race is just to simply stay out on the circuit. Say for example the Williams both pit on lap 6. They are going for the undercut and Rosberg has a decent lead over Hamilton. As far as I am aware the lead driver for Mercedes has to pit first so that on track position is maintained. Can Rosberg just refuse to pit knowing that the Williams will be gaining fast on Hamilton behind or would Mercedes allow Hamilton to pit in that situation which would presumably put Rosberg at a disadvantage?

 

You're right, Super Mario Flap has ruined several races this year (Austin for one) and will likely ruin this one as well.



#41 TecnoRacing

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:17

It's one thing to do this to a rival from another team....Don't think Merc would be at all happy seeing one of their team cars attempt to overtly back the other car into striking distance of other teams.



#42 Riverside

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:23

Massa passing Lewis for Nico to win would be the biggest burn in the history of the sport ...   but ... lol ... it won't happen. 



#43 Fastcake

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:35

The downside with having a championship. Race to win, or don't bother turning up.



#44 Juan Kerr

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:48

Lewis would take him in a DRS zone if he tried to back him up.

Well obviously you haven't thought about this point enough, the idea is you slow in areas where you can't get passed anyway and then go for it to make sure you stay ahead and build up a small lead into the DRS zones. It wont work anyway because I don't think anyone could get ahead of Lewis from behind him regardless.



#45 LeMans86

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:51

Well obviously you haven't thought about this point enough, the idea is you slow in areas where you can't get passed anyway and then go for it to make sure you stay ahead and build up a small lead into the DRS zones. It wont work anyway because I don't think anyone could get ahead of Lewis from behind him regardless.

Frustrations, doubts on what to do, it can all lead to small mistakes that allow an overtake

#46 DrF

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 21:54

All Lewis has to go us follow Rosberg around, finish 2nd and win the WDC

I guarantee he will try to overtake, bin it, get passed and then have to overtake just to regain P2.

#47 F1Newbie

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 22:08

Worst thing that can happen to Lewis is to lose 2nd place at the start but yet, don't think he'll have problem to regain position by overtaking or undercutting the Williams. I fail to see how doing a "Lorenzo" will help Nico? He'll risk to join in traffic after his 1st pitstop and lose the lead; it would be a risk for him too. If Lewis keeps his calm, only a car failure should prevent him from at least 2nd. His race simulation looked strong. nothing to worry about apart from incident or failure, IMO.

#48 redreni

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 22:10

It's one thing to do this to a rival from another team....Don't think Merc would be at all happy seeing one of their team cars attempt to overtly back the other car into striking distance of other teams.

 

Yeah, but they've already won both champonships and they've decided to let them have at it, which is undrstandable when you consider how it would go down with the public if they just said "right, team orders, get a safe 1-2, Rosberg to win the race, Hamilton to win the title". And, of course, the good publicity that they will get if they don't interfere and let the boys put on a show.

 

If there was another driver, say, 49 points behind Hamilton, I think they would possibly be more inclined to manage the race to guarantee that they would not take each other out, and the easiest way to do it would be to offer Hamilton a deal - let Nico win, and Nico will stay clear of the Williamses and allow you to cruise home second. But since Mercedes literally can't lose the title, for the sake of not robbing the fans of a fight, I think they'll accept the risk that they could take each other out and lose the race win.



#49 velgajski1

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 22:26

I think that Rosberg will try to provoke an incident. He probably has around 10% chance of winning if he doesn't go for it. I also think he has around 20% chance of winning if it comes to crash with possible scenarios being both getting out of race, only Rosberg getting out of race, only Hamilton being out of race, Hamilton avoding contact and succesfuly passing him. There's also a significant chance that Rosberg gets (severly) penalised in case of an incident where only Hamiltons car is damaged, but even with that its a smarter strategy for him than just hoping Hamilton DNF's through technical problem.

 

Hope for Hamilton to win here, he has been better this season and with equal luck would probably already secure the title, but I do not think it would be unfair from Rosberg to emply strategy of holding up Hamilton.


Edited by velgajski1, 22 November 2014 - 22:30.


#50 McLaren

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Posted 22 November 2014 - 22:32

The Williams cars were nearly 10 kph faster through the speed traps than the Mercs in quali:

 

 

Bottas 341.8 kph

Massa 340.1 kph

Button 335.9 kph

Kvyat 335.0 kph

Rosberg 333.1 kph

Hamilton 332.8 kph

 

 

So it is vital that Lewis gets a good start and stays clear of them. I can see them being right behind Lewis through S1 & S2 given their relative performance there in quali. 


Edited by McLaren, 22 November 2014 - 22:35.