Lewis Hamilton’s antics during the season finale at Abu Dhabi have attracted the ire of his team and polarised popular opinion.
Despite threats from Mercedes that he could be disciplined, with even the possibility of him being benched, the most likely outcome is that they’ll wait until the controversy blows over and forgive all wrong-doings. Perhaps with some public stern words to satisfy Nico Rosberg.
But even if Hamilton goes unpunished in the short-term, he might have stressed his relationships within the team, even to the point that sympathy will slide to Rosberg’s side of the garage.
Certainly Hamilton’s tactics in the final race didn’t break any FIA regulations. However it doesn’t follow that they were sporting or admirable. You only have to look at Max Vertappen moving under braking or even the infamous Multi-21 incident for examples of contentious driving that aren’t against the regulations.
Hamilton certainly has his defenders, but two former world champions are less than impressed with the his antics.
Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart was most vociferous in his displeasure. “When you are paid between 20 and 30 million pounds a year and you are told to do something you have got to do it,” said Stewart, adding, “I don’t care who you are.”
Amen, brother!
Fellow British champion and frequent Hamilton-defender Nigel Mansel took to twitter to condemn the strategy.
“I am a sportsman no I would not do this thank you {sic}” and “This is wrong sorry” he tweeted.
Testify!
Asking whether the average punter thinks Hamilton’s driving was “right” or “wrong” will only bring out their bias against him, either positively or negatively, because they are loaded terms.
Although the tactic wasn’t illegal, nor immoral, there is something desperate and almost infantile about it. I feel icky about it, and that’s the best way I can describe how it sits with me.
Add to this the highly credible rumours that Hamilton threatened to quit the team. This came after Rosberg romped to four wins on the spin to start the season, and followed the team’s refusal to sanction or punish Nico for their crash during the Spanish Grand Prix. Any sympathy I might have felt after his misfortune this year is long gone.
Hamilton didn’t deny the rumour when asked about it by Martin Brundle for Sky F1, but his lengthy and awkward pause before claiming the matter was a private one spoke volumes. Hamilton has shown throughout his entire career that wears his heart on his sleeve and openly speaks his mind. Refusing to confirm nor deny the rumour suggests there is some truth to it.
Backing up the scuttlebutt is the fact that Pascal Wehrlein was drafted for the tyre test following the Spanish Grand Prix in place of Esteban Ocon, presumably to allow him to familiarise himself with the car in case Hamilton’s threat to walk away became a reality.
It wouldn’t be the only testing session that Hamilton would miss, a mysterious recurring ankle injury flared up which kept him from contributing to the October test for Pirelli which rectified itself ahead of the following race weekend, and just this week Lewis put in a minimal effort before delegating his testing duties after reportedly feeling “unwell”. Clearly Hamilton is driving for himself first and the team second. His problem now is that the gap between these positions has grown wider than ever.
It’ll take time and energy to repair the damage done, and Hamilton isn’t in the right headspace to even recognise it.
We’ve seen Rosberg crowd-surfing on top of the Mercedes engineers many times this season, but after Abu Dhabi the significance of it seems to have heightened. It’s as if their enthusiasm for Nico extends beyond the fact that he is now a world champion, but that he’s their champion.
Enough columns have been dedicated to the fact that Hamilton and Rosberg’s engineers were switched for this season. Clearly switching engineers won’t win or lose and championship, but it’s possible that along with it the team’s sympathies have switched from the all-conquering Hamilton to the never-say-die Rosberg.
With new regulations being introduced in 2017 and the chance of an actual threat to Mercedes dominance from Red Bull and Ferrari, Hamilton can’t afford to lose any favour within the team.
Naturally Hamilton will say the team let him down and reliability cost him enough points to ensure the championship, but as I’ve said previously the final result being so close just shows how costly Hamilton’s poor weekends in Baku, Japan and even Singapore really were.
And ironically, putting Rosberg under such intense pressure actually turned what could have been a mediocre drive into a stunning one, and thus even more worthy of praise.
Jacko
Guest
The thing is Rosberg said he completely understood why Hamilton did what he did. I have zero problem with it TBH as his job is to win the GP drivers title. If slowing another person down without breaking the blocking rules had worked he would be world champion. Seems like a fair payoff to me. Ive seen some of the old guys race who are quoted as saying it was bad or wrong or whatever and they were no angels themselves. Different at 55 looking back than at 25 trying to win a world title I guess
Mad Dog
Guest
He's there because he's good enough to win a championship in the most dominant car in the history of the sport (there's at least 5 other drivers who would have at least matched his results if not exceeded them) the reason he's STILL there is because until this season there hasn't been much reason to get rid of him. The thing he has over those other 5 or more drivers is that he is more marketable which is also very important to a new team trying to be relevant (just remember how big and important the mercedes team was before the hybrid era) just try and think how excited you'd be to watch Bottas and Rosberg 'battling it out' on and off the track.....about as excited as you'd be to find plain oats for breakfast.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
An interesting angle on this is what would a lesser driver than Nico do? Having a clear number 1 and number 2 allows the team to load all of the points behind one driver to give them the best chance of winning the drivers' title, but were it not for Rosberg's determination and never-say-die attitude he wouldn't be champion right now and that needs to be respected.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
It's a double edged sword having one of the best drivers in your team when he's actively and intentionally working against the interests of the team and disobeying orders while demanding preferential treatment. It's a very difficult situation.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Schumacher had the added benefit of knowing that driving into the other car and knocking them out meant that he'd win... not a position Lewis was in. I wouldn't expect either Rosberg or Lewis to do that to be honest, although Hamilton cryptically said in 2014 he liked the way Senna handled situations like that
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Yeah, so to threaten to walk out on the team that gifted you a car worthy of two drivers' championships.... smdh
Guna
Guest
Don't be stupid.if Hamilton wasn't that good,why Mercedes still hanging to him.without him,mercedes will be sacked by red bull
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Racing incident to me. Lewis entitled to go for the gap, but he went for it just a split second too late that Rosberg shut the door and forced Hamilton wide at the very last moment possible.
Beny Iniesta
Guest
I thought team orders were banned in Formula 1? What was all that hullabaloo about a few years back? Maybe he should have just done what Schumacher sis and drive into Rosberg. Schuey did that Atty least twice and he's still remembered as a great of the sport - probably the greatest.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Yes indeed, and hopefully there's at least some competition - whether that includes Mercedes or even Ferrari fighting Red Bull! (Alright, maybe not but I can dream)
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Agreed I think he'll see how next year goes, things might improve and he might stick around but if next year is anything like a struggle I doubt he'll stick around after his current contract is done.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
I guess Rosberg defined what it means for a teammate to be a threat this year.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
What does "HAM lets me get excited instead of running his teammate off the road on lap one" mean? If you're referring to Spain, Rosberg is completely entitled to shut the door and defend his position... that both drivers got knocked out wasn't either's fault in my eyes.
Simoc
Guest
Part of winning a WDC is getting yourself into the right car at the right time. Hamilton can drive exceptionally fast and has got himself a couple of easy titles in a far superior car. But he cost himself the 2016 title through his poor weekends as stated in the article. He likes the rock star adulation he gets from the British media and the BBC commentators barrack for him embarrassingly. So in a Poms eyes he can do no wrong. F1 is pretty big in England with several teams based there, so criticism of him is limited. But once other teams are on par with the Mercs it's guys like Ricciardo, Vestappen that look to be the fastest drivers on track currently. Hopefully the Merc era is at an end.
BrainsTrust
Guest
Hamilton should be thanking the stars that Rosberg was his teammate the past three seasons. He seems to have soiled the bed, when Rosberg was a safe choice as a teammate who was not much of a threat. The only thing Hamilton has going for him is he is British thats the only reason they could keep him.
John Flush
Guest
The mistake Hamilton made was not doing this same thing for the last four races. Instead of Ham trying to win with the last race (blah blah sportsmanship) it would have instead turned into a whirlwind of 'Mercedes losing their touch?' F1 needed this ending. Instead of Mercedes 1/2 by 30 seconds... again... we got a tense finish. We got to see other cars in the field actually competing instead of only talking about how one 'always shifts under breaking' or the other calling everyone stupid and 'what is going on out here?!' as he once again finished behind the completely socially awkward 'ice man' Just imagine if the last four races would have been like this? That is to say, if more than the last race would have actually been a race? Am I a Ham fan? Probably, but in the end both of them are highly competitive and do stupid stuff. At least Ham lets me get excited about it instead of running his teammate off the road on lap one. And anyone that didn't think Rosberg wasn't already the golden boy of Mercedes must be watching a different sport than me. The team happened to get most of the reliability problems into Hams car this year and he didn't lash out. They have lost him races in previous seasons with dumb box calls in Monaco and others and he didn't lash out at the team then either. He (Hamilton) made F1 interesting to the last lap this year and instead of getting at least a little praise for raising up the excitement he is being dragged all over the coals. Oh well, next year one can hope someone other than Mercedes can actually build a fast car.
John Flush
Guest
The mistake Hamilton made was not doing this same thing for the last four races. Instead of Ham trying to win with the last race (blah blah sportsmanship) it would have instead turned into a whirlwind of 'Mercedes losing their touch?' F1 needed this ending. Instead of Mercedes 1/2 by 30 seconds... again... we got a tense finish. We got to see other cars in the field actually competing instead of only talking about how one 'always shifts under breaking' or the other calling everyone stupid and 'what is going on out here?!' as he once again finished behind the completely socially awkward 'ice man' Just imagine if the last four races would have been like this? That is to say, if more than the last race would have actually been a race? Am I a Ham fan? Probably, but in the end both of them are highly competitive and do stupid stuff. At least Ham lets me get excited about it instead of running his teammate off the road on lap one. And anyone that didn't think Rosberg wasn't already the golden boy of Mercedes must be watching a different sport than me. The team happened to get most of the reliability problems into Hams car this year and he didn't lash out. They have lost him races in previous seasons with dumb box calls in Monaco and others and he didn't lash out at the team then either. He made F1 interesting to the last lap this year and instead of getting at least a little praise for raising up the excitement he is being dragged all over the coals. Oh well, next year one can hope someone other than Mercedes can actually build a fast car.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
I'm not about bashing Hamilton, or anyone, without reason. And I'm not trying to fool anyone! Motorsport.com have an article today going even further than I did and saying Mercedes might change their approach to how they handle pitstops and the rules of engagement.... maybe THEY should admit that when they write their nonsense that they don't like Hamilton too?
steve
Guest
I doubt he retires. I cant see him simply walking away from FL just yet when he has one final big payday left in the final year of his deal. End of next season possibly, not this year.
Jumbo mambo
Guest
You write as if Hamilton did something to you.The pain you have and all the wonderful nonsense you write.Nobody is forcing you to like Ham.You are a Rosberg supporter why not just be honest about it instead of pretending to be an unbiased reporter. You fool no one. Ham is not holding a gun on Toto to do anything Toto doesn't want to do. If Ham is so bad and crazy like you are trying to potray him to be, Toto is free to fire him so why doesn't he pull the trigger.