2016 Formula 1 Grand Premio de MexicoFormula 1

[SVT Cobra GT]

In Texas, Lewis Hamilton trimmed his teammate's championship lead to 26 points after a untroubled drive to victory. A week later we head south of the border to Mexico City where last year Nico Rosberg took the win and will be looking to do so again to ease his title hopes. The smart money will be on one of the Mercedes boys winning this but we all know anything can happen. Red Bull may spring up a surprise and mount a challenge or we could have a repeat of Spain where the Mercedes drivers take each other out. If Nico failed to score here and Lewis wins, that throws the title race back open. This should be good. Bring on the Mexican Grand Prix.

AUTODROMO HERMANOS RODRIGUEZ
FIRST GRAND PRIX
1962

NUMBER
OF LAPS
71

CIRCUIT LENGTH
4.304KM (2.674 Miles)

RACE DISTANCE
305.541KM (189.854 Miles)

LAP
RECORD
1:20.521, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 2015

TYRE ALLOCATIONS
Super-Soft, Soft, & Medium

SKY SPORTS CLASSIC RACE SCHEDULE
Tuesday - Spain 1996
Wednesday - Mexico 1986
Thursday - Mexico 1991
Sunday - Australia 2003

2015 RESULT

1 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

2 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

3 Valtteri Bottas (Williams-Mercedes)

2015 Fastest lap - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:20.521 (lap 67)

For those of you taking part, don't forget to submit your picks in @LMSCorvetteGT2's fantasy F1 league. Here.​

 

[Jimlaad43]

Hoping for a better race than last season

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It seems that Hamilton doesn't have complete confidence in his car's reliability:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/126828/hamilton-hoping-for-breath-of-fresh-air

Even when everything is working exactly as it is supposed to, doubt tickles the back of his mind.

 

[TheElbows]

Can you blame him though? If the season ends within a handful of points the engine failure he had will be the primary factor in him losing the world championship. In an era where we rarely see cars genuinely fail (the COTA race reminded me of 2002-2005 etc. where cars frequently gave up mid-race) his season has been marred by engine issues moreso than any other driver. It's perhaps a result of his driving style (?) but I personally think it sucks that it really will be the determining factor for the season as opposed to genuine race wins vs. each other.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

If the season ends within a handful of points the engine failure he had will be the primary factor in him losing the world championship.

Not necessarily - after all, he's been struggling with the clutch at the start, and that's a driver error.

 

[TheElbows]

So that's cost him a couple of spots at best...the engine blowout cost him 25 points. That's the biggest factor by far.

 

[Peter.]

Cost him more than 25 considering his retirement gave Rosberg 3 more points. He has every right to be worried, considering that when he does no wrong and all seems perfect his engine has gone already.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

So that's cost him a couple of spots at best...the engine blowout cost him 25 points. That's the biggest factor by far.

If he wins the next three races and Rosberg finishes second, Rosberg is champion by two points. Sure, the engine failure in Malaysia cost him a full twenty-five points, but his bad start in Japan meant that he ultimately finished third; if he had made a better start, he could have finished second, picking up three extra points, which would be enough to become champion. And he had far more control over his starts than he did the engine failure.

If Hamilton loses the championship, it won't be solely down to his reliability issues. His inability to get the car away from the line cleanly plays a significant role. It's not a mechanical issue; it's driver error.

 

[DesertPenguin09]

I vote for Max Verstappen as Driver Of The Day.

 

[TheElbows]

If he wins the next three races and Rosberg finishes second, Rosberg is champion by two points. Sure, the engine failure in Malaysia cost him a full twenty-five points, but his bad start in Japan meant that he ultimately finished third; if he had made a better start, he could have finished second, picking up three extra points, which would be enough to become champion. And he had far more control over his starts than he did the engine failure.

If Hamilton loses the championship, it won't be solely down to his reliability issues. His inability to get the car away from the line cleanly plays a significant role. It's not a mechanical issue; it's driver error.

How does any of that matter if he lost 25 points? It doesn't.

 

[Roo]

If he wins the next three races and Rosberg finishes second, Rosberg is champion by two points.

5 points. 26 point gap, 7 point gain per race, 3 races.

 

[TheElbows]

Yep, and I haven't heard anything about a silly double-points final race...they ditched that correct?

 

[Dotini]

Interview with Renault director Cyril Abetaboul discusses possible changes to F1 to make it more exciting and relevant.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a31287/renault-sport-cyril-abetaboul-how-to-fix-formula-1/

 

[prisonermonkeys]

How does any of that matter if he lost 25 points? It doesn't.

Actually, it does. There are some people who would have us believe that if Hamilton loses the championship, then it will be solely down to his reliability issues, and that's not true at all. You could easily make the case that he has lost just as many points through driver error.

 

[Pupik]

Yep, and I haven't heard anything about a silly double-points final race...they ditched that correct?

2014 was the one-and-only time they did that.

If they held a full-distance race in the snow, or a double-distance event at Spa, I'd welcome it back.

 

[bluetusk]

Crystal ball crystal ball... wet race day conditions. On rostrum are P1 Ricciardo P2 Hamilton P3 Raikonnen...

1st lap turn 1 dramas Vettel leaves no room compromising Rosberg (grid position drop from gearbox penalty) resulting in two DNFs.

Then again there is no crystal ball and P1 Verstappen P2 Hamilton P3 Rosberg

 

[GTFan24]

 

[TheElbows]

Actually, it does. There are some people who would have us believe that if Hamilton loses the championship, then it will be solely down to his reliability issues, and that's not true at all. You could easily make the case that he has lost just as many points through driver error.

So having engine issues which resulted in him starting dead last (finishing 3rd I believe) and losing 25 points due to an engine blow out won't be the reason he loses? Even if he wins the next three races? Curious. Then again you're Prisonermonkeys and we're talking about Lewis Hamilton.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Mech failures would be to blame for Hamilton losing the title (if he does) ONLY if he hadn't screwed up elsewhere. At the beginning of the season, it was Mech failures ruining his grid position and leading to him battling back to second. Fair enough. Malaysia was also somewhere that he lost 28 points to Nico through no fault of his own. However, he's chucked away so many points with mistakes in Italy, Japan and just generally being poor at the start. With such a car advantage, your team mate is going to win if you don't and he has thrown it away a lot this season. I actually agree with PM here.

 

[TheElbows]

Yep, and I disagree completely.

Mechanical failures are always an X-factor. How many world championships have been won by less than 20 points? I'd imagine a ton. Now insert an engine failure into any of those and you have a completely different result. A driver can only do his job when he has working machinery. We're being deprived of a genuine world championship shootout because of a blown engine (and other engine failings).

Without an engine failure the two guys would be neck and neck, where they belong. Countering the loss of 30+ points due to mechanical failures by simply saying "well...he should have won all the races" seems a bit silly to me.

 

[Tired Tyres]

So much Hamilton this Hamilton that going on here. It won't be him losing the World Championship. It will be Rosberg winning it. Possibly at this race - with TWO whole races to go. Why aren't people going on about how good a job he's done this season?

 

[Carlos]

So much Hamilton this Hamilton that going on here. It won't be him losing the World Championship. It will be Rosberg winning it. Possibly at this race - with TWO whole races to go. Why aren't people going on about how good a job he's done this season?

Because Germans are not funny. ( )

Personally, I just don't really like the guy. His press conferences are awkward, gets in positions he's the one being made fun of, wines too much over the radio, doesn't really seem to recover when losing a position..


Or the opposite

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Very clever Johnny - treating Bernie like your senile, slightly racist aunty Mabel, and on his birthday.

Is it any wonder Bernie came back with a mild one-liner that forced Rachel to apologise?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Now insert an engine failure into any of those and you have a completely different result.

Hamilton has made so many errors this year that he could still be World Champion even with those engine failures. It's not just his bad starts, but other mistakes - like when he clipped the wall during qualifying in Azerbaijan. You could even argue that his engine drama in Baku was compounded by driver error, given that he lost his cool while Rosberg had the same problem and found a solution straight away.

We're being deprived of a genuine world championship shootout because of a blown engine (and other engine failings).

Really? If Hamilton hadn't had those problems, he would be leading the World Championship by a considerable margin. How exactly would that be "a genuine world championship shootout"?

Then again you're Prisonermonkeys and we're talking about Lewis Hamilton.

Sure, it's easy to disregard me. But that doesn't mean that I'm not right. Hamilton has made a lot of mistakes at the start of the races this year. Wouldn't you agree that making a good start is a key skill for a driver to have? And if so, what excuses Hamilton from having it?

I'm not disregarding the impact that reliability issues have had on his championship - I'm simply pointing out that he has lost just as many points through driver error, so you can't really say "Hamilton would have been champion were it not for reliability issues".

 

[Northstar]

Why aren't people going on about how good a job he's done this season?

Because even people that hate Hamilton love talking about Hamilton.

It's like the idiots that go on Youtube to say how much they hate pop music in the comment section of pop videos.

 

[Terronium-12]

whines too much over the radio

You must scoff at literally every single driver during every race across the entire season then, no?

 

[RACECAR]

Personally, I just don't really like the guy. His press conferences are awkward, gets in positions he's the one being made fun of, wines too much over the radio, doesn't really seem to recover when losing a position.]

Wait, he drinks while driving? That explains the Germen Grand Prix quite abit then.

Seriously though, have you heard other drivers radios?

Because even people that hate Hamilton love talking about Hamilton.

It's like the idiots that go on Youtube to say how much they hate pop music in the comment section of pop videos.

Ah yes, the same ones that continually contribute to the view count of the song (or channel) they hate so much

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

So much Hamilton this Hamilton that going on here. It won't be him losing the World Championship. It will be Rosberg winning it. Possibly at this race - with TWO whole races to go. Why aren't people going on about how good a job he's done this season?

Cause it's not that simple I'd say, I agree that Nico has done an amazing job post summer break. But all it takes is a quick refresher to see how desperate at times he became just to not lose his lead, and when it wasn't that it was just not even been able to stack up to his team mate. Now to change that all around like a switch, is amazing and to me is exactly what it means to be WDC.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Why aren't people going on about how good a job he's done this season?

As Jenson Button said, the title is Rosberg's to lose. He has, in theory, a car that can finish second in the remaining three races and give him the title. So the question becomes what Hamilton can do about it - and how will others react to what he does? What, for example, will the stewards do if Hamilton forces him wide, the way he did in Austin and Suzuka last year?

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

As Jenson Button said, the title is Rosberg's to lose. He has, in theory, a car that can finish second in the remaining three races and give him the title. So the question becomes what Hamilton can do about it - and how will others react to what he does? What, for example, will the stewards do if Hamilton forces him wide, the way he did in Austin and Suzuka last year?

I see you wont let the U.S. gp last year go, I give you Suzuka every time, but the other one isn't as simple. I agree he could have been a bit more considerate due to the conditions they were in. For the actual situation to pop up...I doubt anything would come of it, it seems to always be seen as a racing incident unless it's blatantly obvious it is one person's fault, and that usually requires a wreck. The only time I recall there being a negative call on it was when Rosberg forced Max wide after he tried to defend off too late into the braking. So I don't expect to see anything really of it, especially if it's Mercedes on Mercedes.