F1: Is Nico Rosberg a Cheat?

Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix was brilliant from start to finish: throughout the 44 laps of the Spa-Francorchomps circuit we seen some world-class overtaking manoeuvres; action on every lap and a twist in the title race.

The twist I'm talking about is that of an incident that occurred on lap two of the race. Lewis Hamilton got himself into first at the first corner, whilst pole sitter Nico Rosberg dropped to third as countryman Sebastian Vettel got past him. By the second lap, Rosberg was past Vettel and was breathing down Hamilton's neck.

Rosberg went on the outside of Hamilton at Le Combes and managed to get slightly ahead. However, he didn't have the racing line so it would be likely that he'd let Hamilton go, however he committed to the next corner and that's when the two cars came together. Hamilton took his line expecting Rosberg to give space, Rosberg didn't give him space and clipped Hamilton's rear left tyre - which resulted in Rosberg also losing his front wing.

Hamilton had a puncture and was in dead last when he pitted. He realised that there was no point in continuing after a while and he retired the car. However, Hamilton went out to the press and told them that Nico admitted to him that he did it "on purpose" to "prove a point".

Since Monaco, the former best friends haven't seen eye-to-eye

Either the media took it out of context or Lewis was being melodramatic. Turns out that the Mercedes team heard it as he made the move to prove a point, not crashing into him to prove a point - and why not? Rosberg has came under criticism for not attacking enough so he tried it. Unfortunately, it all went wrong for Mercedes. Whether it was time and place to try an overtake is another matter, but the question is: Is Nico Rosberg a Cheat?

I do not believe he is. Why? Because I believe the British media fabricate to favour their home driver against one who is from Germany.

The only one I can really think of to be a possible form of cheating is at Monaco where in qualifying he went down an escape route because he apparently lost control of the steering a little and couldn't make the corner. This prevented Lewis having another lap.

Even that is a little far-fetched. If you watch Sky Sports F1, I believe you're more likely to be brainwashed into thinking "Britain is great, it's everyone else's faults" when there is more to it than that. Some paranoid Lewis Hamilton fans have went as far to think that Mercedes would tamper with their own driver's car to favour his rival team-mate. Obviously a German team are going to let their German driver win the title by sabotaging his team mate's, all at a cost of millions! Seems logical.

The reality is Nico tries to bend the rules a bit and sometimes gets away with it whilst Hamilton has been unlucky. As much as I dislike Hamilton (mainly because of those paranoid fans) he has been really unfortunate not to be leading the championship so far. Nico has been lucky, Lewis hasn't. But to go as far as sabotage is moronic. I wonder why Lewis fans don't complain when Sebastian Vettel suffers from the same number of mechanical misfortunes as their hero? Because it's just bias that people believe.

It can't be all down to the media though. Hamilton usually uses the media as a sob story opportunity to play himself as the victim of a crime. Crimes committed by Rosberg. Yes, Nico was more in the wrong because he made the move on Lewis that resulted in the crash and in other races he's involved in controversy, but Lewis' hero Ayrton Senna was worse yet Hamilton condemns Rosberg at nearly every race.

Anyway, opinions aside, it has to be said - with the exception of the lack of drivers fighting for the title - that this has been a really exciting year for F1 and whether you think Nico Rosberg is a cheat or not, I think most want to see this feud carry on for the sake of entertainment.

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Let me know what your opinion is on the matter by commenting below.

Sportsman: F1 - How My Predictions Look So Far

So two races have passed in the 2014 season with the third race taking place this weekend in Bahrain. So now after two races I have a decent idea of what will happen this year. I predicted what would happen this season here if anyone wants to see my predictions:  http://modernlifeisrubbissh.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/sportsman-f1-predicting-unpredictable.html

So what have I got wrong so far?

Ferrari Aren't As Strong As I Thought

I predicted Alonso and Raikkonen would finish third and fourth with the team finishing third. I still think they will probably finish third, however Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen have struggled so far. Kimi may have been unlucky in Malaysia, but Fernando was struggling to take over a Force India, even if Nico Hulkenberg was driving it. 4th and 7th in Australia wasn't exactly amazing either, but then again, Ferrari can't get much worse than they are currently.

Rosberg and Ricciardo Could Win the Title

I placed Nico in 5th and Daniel in 6th in my predictions and already they seem head and shoulders above the Ferrari pair as well as scaring their team mates. Rosberg is currently leading the championship and Ricciardo could easily have been in 2nd right behind him if he didn't have the luck of a Kennedy. A questionable disqualification and a botched pit stop has ruined any chance of points so far this season, but it can only get better from here.

I Under Rated Some Drivers

So far there have been many drivers that have wowed me. I certainly underestimated Ricciardo's ability to adapt to the Red Bull who now looks like a genuine title contender. Then there were the rookies. Kevin Magnussen managed a podium on his first race and Daniil Kvyat has managed to get himself into the points in his first two races. I wrote both of them off as weak links in their team, when in reality they are contributing a lot to their teams. Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg have also impressed me this season. Bottas was hit with a poor car last year so we didn't get to see much from him, however, now he is keeping up with team mate Massa. Hulkenberg has a pretty poor car and I assumed that would lead to poor results, but Hulkenberg exceeds expectations as usual, showing that he should be in a quicker car.

Toro Rosso Have Improved, Sauber are in Danger of Becoming a Number

Toro Rosso were looking like a car constantly finishing just outside the points and getting the odd one here and there. They already look like they will improve on the team's 8th place finish in the Constructors' Championship. Meanwhile over at Sauber, it feels like they only go backwards (in the words of Tame Impala). They have became the back team out of the competitive ones if we take away Lotus - and even at that, Grosjean seems to be enjoying his season more than Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez. Sauber havea  habit of picking it up in the second half of the season, but with the regulation changes, will they be able to keep up? They certainly look like the way Williams were last year.

So what can I expect to happen? I think Red Bull will catch up with Mercedes, but it won't be for a few races. Ferrari need to get into (sorry for the pun) gear as McLaren can look deadly on a good day and Williams may improve, although it is unlikely. Toro Rosso should be focusing on beating Force India and Sauber, whilst Lotus should be trying to beat some of them cars and get back to competitiveness. And to end this post, I think Kamui Kobayashi could spark a surprise at the back if Caterham can improve the car like they said they would.