Rosberg vs Hamilton

[maximus]

I like Crofty but I thought that was a load of rubbish as well.

[Knowlesy]

Crofty is terrible, he really is.

And on the other side you have Martin who, while still good, tries far too hard to be contrary these days.

Get some balance you two!

[SiRCRX]

Heyyy guys ... newbie here ..

Can't help to jump on this as its my home circuit ;-).

Rosberg is faster than Lewis almost throughout the race.

Something I noticed in between stints
> after pitting : Nico is ~4 -5 seconds behind Lewis
> juz before next pit stop : Nico is ~1+s behind Lewis
> the pattern repeats for all stops.

Team Order sucks . Not healthy for real racing.

Nico definitely would have #3 or might even challenge RB for 2nd spot.

Now this Nico vs Lewis - if there's protection for 1 driver , the final score is meaningless.

[rantanamo]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Crofty is terrible, he really is.

And on the other side you have Martin who, while still good, tries far too hard to be contrary these days.

Get some balance you two!

From my understanding, the race had been shut down by Red Bull and Mercedes prior to the radio signal we heard on the broadcast. Was certainly clear that Red Bull had shut it down and wanted to make sure on tyres/fuel/engine/gearbox conservation and to not wreck each other. Seb knew this and passed anyway. I'm guessing it was the same with Mercedes. I'm guessing they both had fuel issue and were both told to shut it down and conserve the cars. Just because you don't listen doesn't make you some hero competitor. Remember the reliability issue Mercedes had last year.

[OZ_HCR32]

Rosberg looks world class next to Hamilton. Hats off to him !

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by SiRCRX

Heyyy guys ... newbie here ..

Can't help to jump on this as its my home circuit ;-).

Rosberg is faster than Lewis almost throughout the race.

Something I noticed in between stints
> after pitting : Nico is ~4 -5 seconds behind Lewis
> juz before next pit stop : Nico is ~1+s behind Lewis
> the pattern repeats for all stops.

Team Order sucks . Not healthy for real racing.

Nico definitely would have #3 or might even challenge RB for 2nd spot.

Now this Nico vs Lewis - if there's protection for 1 driver , the final score is meaningless.

Hi there, welcome...


Did I hear Team Orders ???????????????????????

[P38 in workshop]

Originally Posted by OZ_HCR32

Rosberg looks world class next to Hamilton. Hats off to him !

Agreed,and he seems able to do it without destroying his tyres.Sheds new light on the performances of TGF last year. The outcome of the weekend is that the men in Stuttgart who authorise the programme will have seen one of their drivers on the podium.Had a passing move not been cleanly executed,there could have been two silver cars in a gravel trap and no points.From a constructors chapionship perspective an entirely rational decision was made.From a racer's perspective,the wrong man was on the podium as a result of following his team's instructions.Kudos to Nico for the mature way he dealt with the situation when told to hold station.

[luke g28]

Originally Posted by OZ_HCR32

Rosberg looks world class next to Hamilton. Hats off to him !

+1

[garcon]

It's always fun deciding which F1 thread contains the most nonsense. This one's currently winning.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

I think we learn from today that these two are currently very evenly matched.

Almost certainly· We cannot tell completely for certain since we don't know how fast LH would have been in the closing stages if he hadn't had to save fuel. Or if NR would have had to save fuel as well.

We'll have to wait for a few more races I think.

[kartincolin]

It was painful to watch Rosberg being restrained by Mercedes in the latter part of the race. Nico earned the right to challenge Lewis for the podium spot on merit, so why should he be obliged to sit behind Lewis until the finish whilst his team-mate saves fuel?

Rosberg has every right to feel that it was an injstice, and if you ask me, he should have done what Vettel done and took matters into his own hands. Mercedes simply wanted their star signing to be the one to get the first podium of the year and not Nico.

[Aysedasi]

Because they were both low on fuel. They either both raced (and ran the risk) or both didn't.......

And in any case, Nico is honest.

[Adam43]

I think Rosberg had a little race pace over Hamilton even before the fuel saving. Difficult to tell.

Whatever they are looking closely matched at the moment...

[wnut]

Originally Posted by kartincolin

It was painful to watch Rosberg being restrained by Mercedes in the latter part of the race. Nico earned the right to challenge Lewis for the podium spot on merit, so why should he be obliged to sit behind Lewis until the finish whilst his team-mate saves fuel?

Rosberg has every right to feel that it was an injstice, and if you ask me, he should have done what Vettel done and took matters into his own hands. Mercedes simply wanted their star signing to be the one to get the first podium of the year and not Nico.

Yup, Rosberg clearly better!

Score 1 each.

[Knowlesy]

Was he clearly better though? I think Rosberg had a slight edge on pace, but a bit difficult to judge when there is all that fuel saving going on. Over the stints before they were quite even, Hamilton would pull away on fresh tyres and Nico, by the end of the stint, would be a smidge closer than he was at the start of it.

I don't think Lewis was caning it so much more than Nico that he had to save a that much more fuel than him. There is perhaps an element of Nico putting on a bit of a radio show for the broadcasters as well.

But yeah, overall I think Nico shaded it. Which is what I expected at Sepang quite honestly, Hamilton is not quite at his best there for whatever reason.

[Bononi]

In the end, well done for Mercedes, they're doing better than last year... oh wait, didn't they start like this last year ?

[Knowlesy]

Well this is an even better start. I know they got the win, but the car is a consistent front runner at the moment. And they have not one, but two star drivers now.

The key is whether they can keep this level all season long.

[Bononi]

Basically, now they have a winning team, hopefully they'll keep the pace, the next step for a top team.

[TF110]

Rosberg passed Hamilton guys. Three separate times and Hamilton gained the position back. This was going on with Red Bull as well. You saw how close that became. Team orders or not, let them finish how they were running, Rosberg had his chance late in the race and couldn't make the pass stick because he chose to overtake on the first DRS zone while Hamilton came back and passed him on the second DRS zone. That's why the race between them was called. Rosberg may have had more pace, but going faster and passing are two different things!

[chunder]

To be fair on this, all I saw of their battle was them passing and repassing each other on DRS a few times in a row on the last and first straights.

You cant blame Brawn for issuing an order after seeing what was going on with team cretin ahead

[Razzzor]

There's no way last year Mercedes could have come from behind and both closed up on RB like they did at Malaysia. The only time they had any pace in 2012 was China.

Mercedes is definitely better this year. BUT, McLaren is also out of their way now with their own problems, and Ferrari ruined their own race.

I think Rosberg was consistently faster throughout the race. Once he got within a couple secs of Hamilton, that was it, he couldn't get closer, and ALL 4 pit stops had Hamilton coming in first, so he always got a big advantage because of it.

It does indeed paint new light on Michael's performance last year, considering he was often quicker than Nico. Still early days but...

[Bononi]

Certainly they are better this year, but until Spain, nothing can be predicted about the other theams.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by chunder

To be fair on this, all I saw of their battle was them passing and repassing each other on DRS a few times in a row on the last and first straights.

You cant blame Brawn for issuing an order after seeing what was going on with team cretin ahead

[bravo]

Originally Posted by TF110

Rosberg passed Hamilton guys. Three separate times and Hamilton gained the position back. This was going on with Red Bull as well. You saw how close that became. Team orders or not, let them finish how they were running, Rosberg had his chance late in the race and couldn't make the pass stick because he chose to overtake on the first DRS zone while Hamilton came back and passed him on the second DRS zone. That's why the race between them was called. Rosberg may have had more pace, but going faster and passing are two different things!

I thought that was their team tactic to catch the RBR boys. NASCAR style 'shake n bake' down the straights. You get DRS boost this straight, and then I get it back on the next. Must be worth a couple of hundreths per lap?

[Swedish Brick]

Yeah but neither had the fuel for it