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This is why I still don't get why Alonso got a penalty for his action against Lewis during the Hungarian qualifying in 2007.

But then again, Max and McLaren..

Correct. And I've always been of the belief that should never have been penalised. It was great theatricals for the sport. But it wasn't only Alonso who got penalised remember, as McLaren also were stripped of any constructors points they would score that weekend.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
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I totally agree. It should have been handled inside the team and not with interference from the FIA, let alone two penalties.

Which I believe is how the Monaco situation was dealt with. That's not to say Nico's incident was intentional like Michael in 2006.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
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http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Apparently the mind games have not stopped there. Before Qualifying, supposedly Nico kicks a football about. In Monaco Lewis complained to the team this was distracting him. On the face of it, that seems like a childish whine from Lewis, but it could just be a way to annoy Rosberg. Mind games are all fine and well, but Lewis needs to be careful with them as his comments against the team during the event will not end well. He's been driving with them for only 2.5 months so far, and he's already accusing them of unfair play.

Yep. Agreed that Lewis should perhaps avoid biting the hand that feeds. I'm assuming you mean 2.5 months plus the 2013 season ellis?

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Yeah. Last year wasn't too important as he wasn't fighting for titles, so he was relaxed and fine. This year it's gotten serious and he's getting mouthy after only 2 months. If this continues on, how will he be when it gets really close to deciding the title? Or what if Nico beats him at Silverstone?

He can be calm and sensible. The podium interview was more what I expected from Lewis. Annoyed, not happy but with a sensible head.
It's going to be interesting to see how this season plays out.

This isn't gonna happen. The Red Bulls are way too far behind, have got quite the points gap to catch up, and are just as likely to steal points from each other too. 100% sure it's Nico or Lewis who's gonna be champ this year.

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ma twatter (F1/motorsports, footie, games and general nonsense ramblings)

By the way I'm sure it's not news and discussed to death in the billion previous pages, but I still can't believe Nico wasn't penalized for that qualy incident, onboard looks clear as hell it was intentional, you don't continuously swing the wheel like that if you want to save the car so early in the braking, you do that if you want to induce a lock-up lol.

... I think that was a direct result of Lewis saying Nico wasn't "hungry enough" though - Nico just went into a whole new level of cynical games nobody thought he was capable of (I certainly could never imagine him doing it before watching that onboard). Lewis' mindgame totally backfired, and was successfully called by Nico. It's getting ugly.

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ma twatter (F1/motorsports, footie, games and general nonsense ramblings)

I don't think it was intentional. However. I do think that Nico was fully conscious of the fact that he had next to nothing to lose, so if he did go over the edge he would create a yellow and therefore keep pole while unintentionally impeding Lewis.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

But the stewards had a lot more to go on then we did with the onboard. Same with Schumacher in '06.

I don't see it as intentional. He braked too late and was going to attempt to force the car to make the corner (on a normal track you'd just run wide) but eventually bailed down the exit road. Given the effect was the same, if he wanted to do it intentionally then he'd have just braked 10m too late, saying his braking marker was something trackside like a light pole, he caught the wrong one and he'd have went down the access road and we'd not even question it.

The only reason we're questioning it is because of the sawing at the wheel, which I see as his panic attempt to get the car to grip to turn in, something which you don't normally see because the driver has miles of run off to live with.

That's not the only reason we're questioning it

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It is the only objective, factual reason. Anything else is speculation on the state of mind of an individual and his motivations.

I tend to agree with Ellis' explanation, except that usually you'll start swaying at slower speed to get it to turn in, he seemed to start wobbling at the beginning of the braking, still in a straight line. Brundle said that wobbling upsets the car when approaching a corner, it doesn't help grip it.

Maybe he was indeed under pressure and just massively panicked before the corner. He seemed really confused once in the run off area, I've seen people go off there and be much more decided on what to do to get out.
This is probably not a good argument, but I've seen my mother doing similar stressed wobbling at the wheel when she's confused in a difficult corner and unsure about the "grip" of the car.

He eventually reversed back onto the track. Reverse gear isn't the easiest to find, so the delay and confusion could be explained by that. I also think that if he wanted to cause a yellow then he'd have parked it there and got out, forcing the marshals to deal with the car rather than reversing backwards. Some have said that reversing the car back on was a waste of time because the session was coming to a close, but don't you have to return to parc ferme?

It's a logical and factual reason yes plus I'm not disagreeing with ellis. The speculation is only intensifying due to the facts that have emerged from Bahrain and Spain, which I mentioned earlier.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I think he found the runoff just wasn't as big as he thought it was.

Sure, the reverse was fine, and I agree with the above.

It's just that omething felt clumsy with Rosberg's driving to me despite the pole/win. He is giving the outside image of someone confident that brushes everything with a laugh, but I feel he's more vulnerable inside than it looks. His repeated lock-ups under Hamilton's pressure in the race, even under caution (!!), the way he was a bit on the defensive side in the post-qualy paddock interview and felt he had to justify himself, are there to show it.

As was said before in this thread, even if Hamilton seems more affected off-track, mind games go both ways and are going to wear both men as the season goes on. This is exciting.

To sum up Mercedes' drama:

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Gael