Mercedes Inter team Battle - Hamilton Vs Rosberg

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Originally Posted by Schmit612

I do think that Lewis is just a bit more highly effective --can power a team to achieve just a bit more than NR. It will be interesting to see how this functions out . . . . . .

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

The prospect of this battle deserved a thread of its own I feel.

We have two top quality drivers who are going to be able to push each other to the limit. It's a great sign for Mercedes future.

So here's a summary of what has happened thus far.

Australia - Hamilton was outpaced by Rosberg in all practice and qualifying sessions until finally in Q1 Hamilton put in a storming lap and pipped Rosberg to out-qualify him. This was probably due to the changeable conditions we were witnessing in Oz, otherwise I genuinely feel Rosberg would have out-qualified him. Hard to compare the race as Rosberg retired.

Malaysia - Again Hamilton was outpaced by Rosberg in every single Free practice and qualifying sessions. Similar to Oz, Hamilton put in a storming lap in the last session of qualifying. The questions of whether or not Rosberg would have beaten him is hard to answer since he got held up by Kimi on a flying lap but I've a feeling Hamilton had the better of him here. In the race, although Hamilton was ahead, for most of it Rosberg was about 0.3 tenths of a second quicker than Hamilton per lap and Rosberg was able to make his tires last longer. Rosberg would have finished up on the podium were it not for team orders and ahead of Hamilton.

Now, as the year goes on, it's possible that Hamilton will embed more into the team and gain and edge over Rosberg. On the other hand, Rosberg has shown what he can do and surely, thus far, appears more than a match for Hamilton.

I think Seb will win the WDC again this year though Alonso might have something to say about it, so for me, the Mercedes teammate battle is the most exciting thing on the grid this season.

I can't wait to see how it pans out over the coming year. I also believe that Nico will out-qualify Hamilton in China. That's my tip! :)

Thoughts?

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I eat my words. Superstar! Incredible lap. That's 3-0 in qualifying to Hammy!

At least you have dignity to admit you were wrong.

Rosberg couldn't deliver in Q3 again. Even though his race pace has been fine so far this year, so we will see. In 2011-12 it was the opposite - fast in quali, but dropping off in the race.

However, people have the ability to learn and this is now a big lesson for Rosberg. For a long time he hasn't been paired with someone that fast on Saturdays - the days of Webber as a team-mate are almost forgotten. The speed of Hamilton can be shocking for him. This is the time to dig deep and bounce back. This is the big lesson and task to learn to deliver in crucial moments.

I remember back in 2003 Trulli was probably shocked to see Alonso being that fast straightaway. Jarno was struggling initially, but got his act together and gave the Spaniard a run for his money.

^ It's a strange situation that Lewis can be so dominant in qualy yet the tyres seem to remove any outright pace advantage he has over Nico on race day and with the joke soft tyres even making sitting out Q3 a viable strategy option... what a messed up state F1 is in right now!
Pirelli really need to get their act together, otherwise employing the very quickest drivers and even having a qualy session is almost pointless. Why can't they just produce a tyre with good longevity that doesn't disadvantage the quickest drivers by forcing everyone to drive at nine tenths?... is it to do with safety? It's peeing me right off!

Tires, tires and tires.....
I kind of like the current situation in F1. The tires just makes the whole enchilada even more unpredictable.
Very hard to guess the outcome of weekend.
Ferrari seem suitable for this track, yet Merc are fastest, and the lotuses are up there with Seb having an all together diff strategy.
What about the weather?
I freakin love it.

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Originally Posted by P3ws

Tires, tires and tires.....
I kind of like the current situation in F1. The tires just makes the whole enchilada even more unpredictable.
Very hard to guess the outcome of weekend.
Ferrari seem suitable for this track, yet Merc are fastest, and the lotuses are up there with Seb having an all together diff strategy.
What about the weather?
I freakin love it.

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not me
If I wanted to watch "strategery" I would turn on game of thrones
I want to watch F1 cars compete with at least 80% of their capability.
As it stands now, Qualy is a joke, tires are a lottery and cars are driving out there compromised for at least 3/4 of the race
If they are going to have joke tires then they have to give the teams something back, like the opportunity to select their own fuel strategy

This is like watching a 1500m race in the olympics with runners wearing shoes that fall apart if they go too fast so we watch them walk around a bit, others jog for a lap or two, while yet others employing different strategies. Then crowning the guy who finishes first as the best runner.

I've not been too critical of the tires up to this point, but Pirelli were bound to make the wrong selection at some point ( I wonder what their criteria are?) and it has culminated with disastrous effect here in China. Unless there is something wrong with your car, you should be required to set a representative time. And tires that fall off after 5 laps in a 56 lap race are ridiculous- made even worse because they are worn and already have 3 laps on them now compounded with heavy fuel load. :down:

^^^
What he said

Those softs make a mockery of F1 at the moment.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

not me
If I wanted to watch "strategery" I would turn on game of thrones
I want to watch F1 cars compete with at least 80% of their capability.
As it stands now, Qualy is a joke, tires are a lottery and cars are driving out there compromised for at least 3/4 of the race
If they are going to have joke tires then they have to give the teams something back, like the opportunity to select their own fuel strategy


This is like watching a 1500m race in the olympics with runners wearing shoes that fall apart if they go too fast so we watch them walk around a bit, others jog for a lap or two, while yet others employing different strategies. Then crowning the guy who finishes first as the best runner.


I've not been too critical of the tires up to this point, but Pirelli were bound to make the wrong selection at some point ( I wonder what their criteria are?) and it has culminated with disastrous effect here in China. Unless there is something wrong with your car, you should be required to set a representative time. And tires that fall off after 5 laps in a 56 lap race are ridiculous- made even worse because they are worn and already have 3 laps on them now compounded with heavy fuel load.

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I agree completely.


I've always been pretty critical of Pirelli. They hinder the out and out pace of the fastest drivers. Lewis is the prime example, unbelievably quick but completely stunted by these ridiculous Pirelli tires so much that any outright pace advantage is negated by having to nurse home the tires. Drivers are limited to the speed the tire can cope with opposed to their own outright pace. I watch F1 for the racing. This weekend in China was absolutely stupid having tires that fall apart after 5 or 6 laps. Mark Webber is completely right, it's all too WWF now. Too much about the show and not enough about the quality of the racing. There is a balance to be struck and it's not being struck right now.


I would also like to see refuelling back as I believe that provided true proper strategy. This limping around on rubber that doesn't last needs to stop.


Another thing that has to change is DRS. Stupid thing that should be abolished. It doesn't add to racing and drivers are sitting ducks with it.

Not that the dwarf gives a **** about what we're thinking, but we should petition to kick Pirelli the **** out of F1, they should never be allowed to get anywhere near ever again.