2016 Formula 1 Season Paddock

Like Hamilton and Alonso

 

This.

 

"Little Ballerina" is what Jackie Stewart called Hamilton after the Abu Dhabi race lol

 

Main difference would be that the Merc engines don't tend to fail or have the power equivalent of a "GP2 engine"

 

Who am I going to root for next year? My criteria has almost always been "who pisses off Hamilton the most?"

 

I think Verstappen may fill that role nicely next year.

 

Read some articles that suggest Vettel might make sense for the 2nd seat at Mercedes , he and Ferrari's honeymoon seems to be over and German driver in a German manufacturer team

 

I can dig it

 

I was referring to this:
Who am I going to root for next year? My criteria has almost always been "who pisses off Hamilton the most?"
Not that Verstappen would move to Mercedes.

 

We will have to wait and see. I think Mercedes will still be the car to beat, and still have a power advantage, but you know redbull is #1 in aero. I think it will be tight between Ferrari and RedBull.

 

That'd be great. Then I can go back to liking Ferrari. Prior to the Verstappen swap, I never thought I'd say I like Red Bull, but here I've been rooting for the team since May.

 

Verstappen's original deal was 2 years at Toro Rosso then 2 years at Red Bull. They wanted to keep Ferrari and Mercedes away from him. I'm not sure how that changed with the early swap.

 

Nice:
http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/formula-ones-max-verstappen-is-thirsty-as-hell-for-nico-1789604957

 

Hamilton and Alonso back together at McLaren - now *that* would be a funny outcome.

If I was Ricciardo I'd be doing everything in my power to exit Red Bull as expeditiously as possible; that early pit stop spelled out "number two driver" plain as day. They're doing to him what they did to Weber.

Lewis was not my favorite driver in that race for sure. But before the race MB brass said that they were staying out of the championship fight -- except if Lewis tried to back Nico into the competition, in which case they would pit Nico early and let him jump Lewis on pit rotation. Once they showed their hand, Lewis played his. He waited until there could not be any more pit stop trickery by his "team". He also never went so slowly as to allow Nico to be passed. What he did was to put Nico under pressure. We've seen what that can do to Rosberg. Nico was up to the challenge this time. Well done Nico.

Like I said, not my favorite move. But he played it fairly IMO.

So Nico has his championship, hopefully finally settled his daddy issues, and can retire from a sport that he appears to not much love. Imagine Alonso retiring after winning the WC! Or Lewis, or damned near any other driver. They wouldn't dream of it. They live to compete. Not so Nico.

I truly wish Nico the best for him and his family, and great good luck in his next venture. Hopefully it will be something that better fits his demeanor.

 

WTF

 

Cat got your tongue?

 

"1/2 of grid has offered to replace Nico Rosberg" ~ Niki Lauda

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lauda-half-of-the-grid-has-offered-to-replace-rosberg-856479/

 

Mercedes reluctant to persue contracted drivers Alonso or Vettel to replace Rosberg ~ Toto Wolff

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127386

 

I see Mercedes going to a definite #1/#2 driver set up at least for next season ( Wehrlein ) and then reasess their options when Alonso and Raikkonen are out of contract

 

I think it depends on how competetive the respective teams are next season with the new rules