Quote:
Originally Posted by acediac
Did anyone else think that Nico made those two "mistakes" on purpose? I just get the feeling that he just pretended to brake too late, knowing that he could just shave a few seconds off each time, and hand Lewis the lead without being overt about it.
Consider this:
1) First time he did it, Lewis was catching up and overtaking Bottas, and this was after Nico had pulled a few seconds on the two of them.
2) Second time Lewis was behind him, but still too far for DRS, and Nico was nowhere near under immediate threat to be "forced" into overbraking. Also, he didn't even seem to try to turn in, almost like he was already committed to going down the escape road as soon as he started braking. It's very unusual to start braking so late as to miss the turn-in by such a huge margin when not under pressure, so it's much more likely to be premeditated.
3) Both merc cars were on the same strategy with tires within a lap of each other, and Nico was pulling away initially, but seemed to stall when Lewis started fighting back up through 3rd and 2nd, when he should have been pulling away even more. It was still halfway through the race, not like tires were going off.
4) He seemed to stay with Lewis reasonably after Lewis got ahead, so it's not like Lewis had a huge speed advantage.
5) At the post ceremony interview, he was very quick to just say it "didn't work out, congrats to Lewis", and didn't elaborate any further. He also didn't seem too upset about not winning, on the contrary seemed a bit relieved.
The Spa incident was definitely an error of judgement by Nico, no question, but he needed time to review the video and accept that conclusion. I doubt he did it on purpose because the more likely scenario would have been a damaged front wing that needed to be changed, while Lewis romped away. As it turned out, he was the big benefactor of his own mistake again, just like Monaco.
I wouldn't be surprised if Nico decided to try and alleviate some of his guilt and some of the team and public pressure on him by handing Lewis a win, but in the back of his mind knowing that he would still be second and still have almost a race win worth of points in his bag. Maybe he even told Lewis of his plan in a private chat, but I doubt that because Lewis would have blabbed to the press about it.
I'm not a fan of either driver (though I respect Lewis' speed and Nico's strategery), I'm just wondering if other people had this feeling too. In the end though, I doubt this will change anyone's opinion towards Nico.
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I'd say there's basically no chance he did it on purpose. You don't get to be a Formula 1 driver by atoning for mistakes by giving points away. Besides, people were blowing that corner all weekend. We watched several practice sessions, three qualifying sessions, five support races and the F1 race and it would be hard to exaggerate the frequency of drivers blowing that chicane.
He got into the brakes too late and knew he wouldn't slow it down in time, so he never tried to turn in. That was how the better drivers missed that turn. Some drivers would lock it up and try to turn-in very late. But then they'd have to straighten it up and try to make the escape route or bound over the sleeping policemen.