Nizer

You should check out Nico's FB feed. He posted childhood video thanking his parents. Gives a sense of what kind of father Keke was. FYI, I think Pro Coach shared it on his FB feed as well.

multi21

That was a great tribute. Thanks for the heads up.

Love how Daniel Ricciardo is in there partying with the Mercedes crew afterwards..LOL... he's only missing this racing shoe!!!

ChrisFL

two camps: 1) win at all cost 2) be a good sportsman.

I like #2. There are too many in all sports that idolize or excuse douche behavior because of #1.

JustinL

Not much to add other than I don't think Sebastian had a chance against the Mercedes. His tires were going off and the Mercs for sure had a lot of pace that wasn't being unleashed. Lewis was never going to lose that race. His plan was to get Nico tangled up and then turn his engine mode back to max power and sprint away.

I've got no problem with Lewis racing like that. Nico could have taken a shot at the win if he wanted, but he backed off with a clear goal of 2nd. Lewis' wins in the last races were all against the only guy on the grid with a car that could compete, but who was aiming for 2nd place. Not especially hard fought victories.

My993C2

Great interview from Keke and good comments from Vettel concerning appreciating what Nico did this year and that people need to respect that Nico is the 2016 WDC, fair and square.

RobertR1

The issue here isn't what Lewis did but that he disobeyed team orders twice:

#1: There was a pre race instruction by the team to tell the drivers to drive quickly to win and not do any of what Lewis was doing

#2: Lewis continued to ignore no 1 and then in the last part of the race, when he was given firm instructions repeatedly by the top management tier of the team, he continued to ignore it

For Toto and crew, they need to shut this down or risk losing respect and control of the drivers similar to what happened at Redbull with Vettel/Webber and Alonso/Hamilton.

How Toto reacts to this will determine the power structure at Mercedes going forward.

multi21

Mercedes management stated that if Lewis was going to try to back down Rosberg, they would bring Rosberg into the pits ahead of Lewis. The only problem is that Lewis started to back him down after the last pit stops so Merc couldn't do that.

Fully concur that Mercedes top management need to have a talk with Lewis and blatant disregard for team orders will not be tolerated. IMO, Lewis has been the golden child of Lauda and to a lesser extent Wolfe within the team. When things don't go right for Lewis, from both a strategy stand point where the pit wall messed up or pure dumb luck, as has been the case this year, Hamilton always cries that there is a conspiracy against him. The mere mention that he will come out with a book after he retires and tell all about what happened this year is a sure sign we are dealing with someone who either feels entitled to be the clear #1 driver or someone who is paranoid when EVERY THING doesn't go his way.

Manifold

And let's not forget that these drivers are hired guns, contract workers under obligation to follow team orders. At this level, seems to me that the competition is more between the teams and their engineering of the cars than between drivers.

I'm not saying that the drivers are totally interchangeable, but if Hamilton had switched cars with Ricciardo, Verstappen, Vettel, Raikonnen, Alonso etc. at the beginning of the season, I seriously doubt that he would have been in contention for WDC. If he had a bit of humility, he might realize that and count himself lucky to be in a car destined to win.

paradisenb

Exciting finish to a predetermined season. Nico should have passed LH or just ran him into a wall. That would have settled things.

Nothing in the rules against backing up the field like LH did, but it does not change the golden rule, 'He who has the gold makes the rules', and Merc signs his check. When Patty Lowe comes on the radio and gives a direct order, the recipient should pay attention. If it were me, I would bring down the Hammer. Disobedience can not go unpunished. I would suspend him for 2 races next year or perhaps the entire season depending on how the post-race conversation went.

Vettle was the class of the race. He could have challenged Nico more aggressively, but would have been injecting himself into a championship battle where he had nothing to gain. I doubt he had enough left in his tires to overtake Nico and Lewis. The win would be his only victory. Probably requires maturity to make that call in the heat of battle.

FGL28

Funny, that is what I want for Christmas.

multi21

Same!

Coochas

And Keke still looks cool!

F1CrazyDriver

Congrats to Nico.
As a very competitive individual, perhaps it's just me, however i did not understand Hamilton's actions.
If I'm the boss of MB, i want my team to finish 1-2 every single race because it's to my Corp. benefit. A individual that undermines - my company from getting the best result possible for my Corp - you're on my list to get fired as we're not on the same page of what is best for the Corp, but rather selfish egocentric individual.

As a fan, I'm disappointment in Lewis how he keeps bringing up his motor failure/ transmission failures. Excuses. Schumacher lost the WDC in 2006 suzuka when his motor let go. First time in years. Class act how he handled it. That is the guy i want in my team and Corp.

If i'm, Nico and driving, i understand why he did not take the risk in over taking Lewis. I'm sure he thought about it but the thought that Lewis is willing to risk everything- and perhaps risk his car getting a DNF and Lewis car surviving a collision, hell the f no. Won't give him a slightness chance of doing that to me.

pete95zhn

Thinking the history of this wannabegangsta's moves the risk of him trying to push Nico out of the track was more than obvious.

333pg333

Many of us are targeting Lewis for poor sportsmanship but forget not long before when Max was still out on the 1st set of tyres and apparently holding the others up waiting for DanRic to catch up. Ironically Max's spin worked out well for him in terms of tyre strategy and DR was sent on the wrong path when brought in immediately after he set the then fastest lap.