Originally Posted by jens
Rosberg has shown that he can be very fast, but there is one thing, which has made me scratch my head about him – it is that he can struggle to deliver in Q3. It is not about the first qualifying sessions this year, this is something I have noticed in the long-run. Just as an example I remember he put in a stunning lap in Brazil 2011 in Q2 with second fastest time, but couldn't repeat it in Q3 and was somewhere like 6th or 7th on the grid.
It looks like one-hour qualifying session is a more complicated chess-game than it superficially looks like. It is not banging in a flier, but more about building yourself up during the whole session, learning about conditions and car with every run, and then delivering your best on the very last attempt. A skill, which I have noticed for instance Senna, Häkkinen and Vettel have/had mastered well. During the qualifying session you can never forget about the on-going learning process and big picture - you can't put everything on the table too early without being able to repeat it.
Perhaps Rosberg can improve in this as well, because evidently he has the speed. Maybe competing against Hamilton – a real qualifying ace – can give him the proper inspiration and insight to really raise his game on this level. But obviously there is a lot of speed in Nico somewhere, which he has been struggling to unleash properly.
Overall an interesting battle. Rosberg is younger than Button and can prove to be even a stronger rival to Hamilton in the long-run. And considering, how close Button was (even scored more points, though with the help of luck), it would be very impressive.
