Man, that was a great race but I have to say, one of the worst podium interviews ever.
I also think Hamilton deserves no blame for the contact with his teammate. He left Rosberg plenty of room coming down into that turn.
Lauda seems to be rooting for Nico and against Lewis and has defended Nico numerous times when the facts would suggest otherwise. Perhaps there's something going on behind closed doors that the rest of us aren't aware of, but Nico's action in the last race could hardly be considered fair or justified. The relationship between there drivers is toxic and I expect more bad things from them going forward. Let's hope neither one kills the other or someone else...
Brian
German TV (RTL, not Sky) were mentioning how Lewis was Niki's favourite. I don't think Niki has favourites though - he merely appreciates some things more than others. On safety matters, I doubt Niki and Lewis will ever see eye to eye, for example.
Also, a ten second penalty for "avoid 7th gear" and "yes, you have to shift through it" -- radio rules are awful, and I'm no Nico fan.
German TV (RTL, not Sky) were mentioning how Lewis was Niki's favourite. I don't think Niki has favourites though - he merely appreciates some things more than others. On safety matters, I doubt Niki and Lewis will ever see eye to eye, for example.
Also, a ten second penalty for "avoid 7th gear" and "yes, you have to shift through it" -- radio rules are awful, and I'm no Nico fan.
It also takes away the insight into the relationship between a driver and his race engineer. Massa and Smedley, Vettel and "Rocky" - those were always interesting to listen into, and I think taking them away doesn't make the driving any harder, since before those guys gave the drivers even more to do and their interventions helped the viewer understand what was going on in the car, since as a viewer you also knew when the tires were going away, where a car would gain an advantage over another, and you'd also get an actual insight into how many settings the car had.I don't know, it seems Lauda has stood behind a number of the bone head moves Nico has done this year.
I think the rules about driver coaching are absolutely stupid and need to be changed. When a car is having problems that could result in an accident or incident the prohibition against assisting the drivers is dangerous. I know it's a slippery slope kind of thing but when the consequence of this prohibition might be someone getting hurt or killed then it's time to rethink the rules even if it opens the door to driver coaching.
I would LOVE to hear Kimi talking more on the radio -- love his attitude..
Brian
Once it was clear that Verstappen was done, Rosberg should have lifted as soon as Vettel got near, and let Vettel try to catch Hamilton.
Since Hamilton wanted to play racing games...
Hamilton would have just turned up the wick and left Vettel in the dust. Which wouldn't have changed anything anyway.