Official 2014 Belgian Grand Prix thread ***SPOILERS with monkey seats***
Posted by smoglessbutton4
Belgian GP: Wolff says Rosberg's crash comments were misinterpreted
By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Sunday, August 24th 2014, 17:31 GMT
Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff believes Nico Rosberg's comments about his Belgian Grand Prix collision with Lewis Hamilton have been misconstrued.
The 2014 F1 title battle erupted into a new controversy at Spa when Hamilton alleged that Rosberg had admitted to deliberately triggering their lap-two tangle to "prove a point".
But while confirming that Hamilton's account of Rosberg's phrasing was correct, Wolff said the German was suggesting he had simply not backed down when they were wheel-to-wheel, rather than confessing to deliberately hitting his team-mate and championship rival.
"Nico felt he needed to hold his line. He needed to make a point, and for Lewis, it was clearly not him who needed to be aware of Nico," said Wolff.
"[Rosberg] didn't give in. He thought it was for Lewis to leave him space, and that Lewis didn't leave him space.
"So they agreed to disagree in a very heated discussion amongst ourselves, but it wasn't deliberately crashing. That is nonsense."
Although he dismissed the allegation that Rosberg had hit Hamilton on purpose, Wolff said that did not mean his fury towards his driver had subsided.
"It doesn't change the scenario at all because the incident, as I see it, is not acceptable for us," he said.
"What we saw there was that Nico was not prepared to take the exit, and that caused the collision.
"That is not something we want to happen.
"We had a collision that could have been avoided, a second-lap collision, it was Nico who attacked and he shouldn't have done it.
"It was also to show he was not prepared to give in.
"With hindsight, if he could turn back time, Nico would probably not do it again in the way he did."
" Perfection is not a gift ....... it comes with practice."
Member of R.S.C.T Group
By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Sunday, August 24th 2014, 17:31 GMT
Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff believes Nico Rosberg's comments about his Belgian Grand Prix collision with Lewis Hamilton have been misconstrued.
The 2014 F1 title battle erupted into a new controversy at Spa when Hamilton alleged that Rosberg had admitted to deliberately triggering their lap-two tangle to "prove a point".
But while confirming that Hamilton's account of Rosberg's phrasing was correct, Wolff said the German was suggesting he had simply not backed down when they were wheel-to-wheel, rather than confessing to deliberately hitting his team-mate and championship rival.
"Nico felt he needed to hold his line. He needed to make a point, and for Lewis, it was clearly not him who needed to be aware of Nico," said Wolff.
"[Rosberg] didn't give in. He thought it was for Lewis to leave him space, and that Lewis didn't leave him space.
"So they agreed to disagree in a very heated discussion amongst ourselves, but it wasn't deliberately crashing. That is nonsense."
Although he dismissed the allegation that Rosberg had hit Hamilton on purpose, Wolff said that did not mean his fury towards his driver had subsided.
"It doesn't change the scenario at all because the incident, as I see it, is not acceptable for us," he said.
"What we saw there was that Nico was not prepared to take the exit, and that caused the collision.
"That is not something we want to happen.
"We had a collision that could have been avoided, a second-lap collision, it was Nico who attacked and he shouldn't have done it.
"It was also to show he was not prepared to give in.
"With hindsight, if he could turn back time, Nico would probably not do it again in the way he did."
" Perfection is not a gift ....... it comes with practice."
Member of R.S.C.T Group
smoglessbutton4 Wrote:
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> Hang on a sec... I've realised something!
>
Nope. This is Nico's definition of "Lewis left me no space!"
It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 03:26AM by Morbid.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hang on a sec... I've realised something!
>
Nope. This is Nico's definition of "Lewis left me no space!"
It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 03:26AM by Morbid.
Hahah at the end of the day it was a great race 
I sort of feel sorry for Daniel Ricciardo
Here he is doing great 2 wins in a row & today's headlines as always are 99.999% about
Hamilton & Rosberg
That aside I would say purely a racing incident
A stupid one fueled by emotion & nerves but still I do not think deliberate
as any driver at the rear is not expecting he can do damage to the front car alone.
I do not think Rosberg or any driver contesting the WC would want to risk losing a front wing or worse
Yet he felt the need to stuff it up on lap 2 & probably just nerves/excitement to get to the front asap
before Lewis gets on a pace.
But mainly agree with Wolff whom I respect for his opinion as principal as well as being there
with all the tools to see & judge what happened when it happened
As he said "unacceptable" period. Not good for the team & not good for the drivers
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 04:02AM by flying.
I sort of feel sorry for Daniel Ricciardo
Here he is doing great 2 wins in a row & today's headlines as always are 99.999% about
Hamilton & Rosberg
That aside I would say purely a racing incident
A stupid one fueled by emotion & nerves but still I do not think deliberate
as any driver at the rear is not expecting he can do damage to the front car alone.
I do not think Rosberg or any driver contesting the WC would want to risk losing a front wing or worse
Yet he felt the need to stuff it up on lap 2 & probably just nerves/excitement to get to the front asap
before Lewis gets on a pace.
But mainly agree with Wolff whom I respect for his opinion as principal as well as being there
with all the tools to see & judge what happened when it happened
As he said "unacceptable" period. Not good for the team & not good for the drivers
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 04:02AM by flying.
As you can see, no space. No space at all.
It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.
I still think it's a massive over reaction.
It's an over reaction on the part of Niki and Toto,
It's an over reaction on the part of booing spectators
It's an over reaction on the part of the media, who always stir things up
And it's the patented "OMFGZ INTERNETZ" mountain out of a molehill as it always with the smallest of issues.
This has been turned into a soap opera, in fact I'm half surprised that the Eastenders theme didn't replace the chain on the ending credits
It's a racing incident pure and simple. Nico got a run, but didn't make it stick because Lewis placed his car defensively, effectively and fairly. He did make a movement to close Nico's space out, but by then the corner was clearly his and all Nico needed to do to avoid contact was to micro lift and dab on the brake pedal. There was need at all what so ever for the escape road.
In this instance Lewis, on-track behaviour was correct, but problem with him is that he thinks he's always right even when he's a little (or very wrong) and he's almost never the one to back out of the wheel to wheel dice even when sense dictates that he should be. Up until now he thinks he's had the measure of Nico in that area, but it seems that Nico had had up to here with the 'holier than thou' ethos of Lewis and is no longer prepared to back out when wheel to wheel.
Now, let's flash back to 2011... The last time Lewis met a driver equally unwilling to concede in the wheel to wheel stakes, and it resulted in a series of increasingly pointless and hilarious collisions with Felipe Massa. I think, in a way this is Nico's point. He's got Bahrain on his mind, he's saying "ok if that's the way you want to race, that's fine, but it takes two to tango and sometimes you'll come of worse".
Neither Lewis or Nico can afford for this to happen because Ricciardo will seize the smallest of opportunities to exploit any weakness in the Merc camp especially if Nico and Lewis continue to trip each other up.
I think it's a shame that Nico seems to be getting villainised. He's stepped up to the championship fight, this ought to be applauded. If he'd have meekly melted away against Lewis he'd have simply been lampooned as weak instead. But society being what it is.. apparently he's now the pantomime villain.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 10:27AM by J i m.
It's an over reaction on the part of Niki and Toto,
It's an over reaction on the part of booing spectators
It's an over reaction on the part of the media, who always stir things up
And it's the patented "OMFGZ INTERNETZ" mountain out of a molehill as it always with the smallest of issues.
This has been turned into a soap opera, in fact I'm half surprised that the Eastenders theme didn't replace the chain on the ending credits
It's a racing incident pure and simple. Nico got a run, but didn't make it stick because Lewis placed his car defensively, effectively and fairly. He did make a movement to close Nico's space out, but by then the corner was clearly his and all Nico needed to do to avoid contact was to micro lift and dab on the brake pedal. There was need at all what so ever for the escape road.
In this instance Lewis, on-track behaviour was correct, but problem with him is that he thinks he's always right even when he's a little (or very wrong) and he's almost never the one to back out of the wheel to wheel dice even when sense dictates that he should be. Up until now he thinks he's had the measure of Nico in that area, but it seems that Nico had had up to here with the 'holier than thou' ethos of Lewis and is no longer prepared to back out when wheel to wheel.
Now, let's flash back to 2011... The last time Lewis met a driver equally unwilling to concede in the wheel to wheel stakes, and it resulted in a series of increasingly pointless and hilarious collisions with Felipe Massa. I think, in a way this is Nico's point. He's got Bahrain on his mind, he's saying "ok if that's the way you want to race, that's fine, but it takes two to tango and sometimes you'll come of worse".
Neither Lewis or Nico can afford for this to happen because Ricciardo will seize the smallest of opportunities to exploit any weakness in the Merc camp especially if Nico and Lewis continue to trip each other up.
I think it's a shame that Nico seems to be getting villainised. He's stepped up to the championship fight, this ought to be applauded. If he'd have meekly melted away against Lewis he'd have simply been lampooned as weak instead. But society being what it is.. apparently he's now the pantomime villain.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 10:27AM by J i m.
xSilvermanx Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> it's nothing like Prost and
> Senna-clashes
You know, I've been trying to imagine today what it'd have like following the Prost v Senna rivalry with today's extent of media coverage combined with modern internet social networking because I genuinely can not remember a rivalry between two drivers building up to this degree of tension and bitterness since then, although many have been hyped up.
Hill v Schumacher
Alonso v Hamilton
Webber v Vettel
They all pale in comparison to what's stewing between Rosberg and Hamilton at the moment.
I think if Merc retain the same line-up into the next seasons then they'll be crying out for another team to step up-to the plate to take the focus from the internal fight back out into the external one.
-------------------------------------------------------
> it's nothing like Prost and
> Senna-clashes
You know, I've been trying to imagine today what it'd have like following the Prost v Senna rivalry with today's extent of media coverage combined with modern internet social networking because I genuinely can not remember a rivalry between two drivers building up to this degree of tension and bitterness since then, although many have been hyped up.
Hill v Schumacher
Alonso v Hamilton
Webber v Vettel
They all pale in comparison to what's stewing between Rosberg and Hamilton at the moment.
I think if Merc retain the same line-up into the next seasons then they'll be crying out for another team to step up-to the plate to take the focus from the internal fight back out into the external one.
I agree entirely, I hate it, but it is what it is and that's the rules they'll have to play by.
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