He has complained about getting a worse car i believe, but how can that be the case if neither of them are updated from last year?
Merhi is supposed to be running at a serious disadvantage I believe. I mean, he's not even allowed to use the Marrussia simulator, as his funding doesn't stretch that far. I'm unconvinced they're in equal machinery on track too.
Great comeback from Rosberg. Car was great all weekend. Congrats! Hamilton had a poor start and then a very poor first pit stop. Would have been interesting had he overtaken Vettel on the first stint because once he got in front of Vettel he opened a gap quickly. Ferrari seems to have gone backwards or didn't make much headway on Mercedes. Rosberg in the lead was lapping so much quicker than Vettel in second but Hamilton following was getting close but just couldn't get close enough to Vettel. Good step from Williams and I was hoping Alonso would finish to see if he would have been in the points.m he was going pretty good at one stage. Also great to see Hamilton congratulate Rosberg after the race with a little hug and did not show any signs of sulking, Rosberg should do the same when he loses.
Lends credence to the idea that Hamilton was only going as fast as he needed to in China and Bahrain.
It has probably been more difficult for Rosberg to be as magnanimous when he is under the pressure he has been.
Looking into my Merhi claims further, apparently he's 15kg heavier than Stevens, and the car isn't under the weight limit, so none of that weight difference is mitigated by ballast. James Allen reckons 10kg costs 0.3s a lap, so Merhi is giving away just under half a second a lap, or 30 seconds this race. Also to quote the man himself (translated): "I don't know, it is very strange, I have no traction. The car runs out of tyres even if I do not force it, in fact during the first laps I don't run aggressively at all and even so I run out of tyres very quickly. It seems I'm lacking some top speed and traction, and the front of the car is out of balance so I run out of tyres very soon. It is very easy to make a mistake, so we have to take a look at it because I don't think this is the way to go. [...] We have many problems and we have to work on them because there are too many differences with my team mate's car that are quite suspicious."
Really? I thought you had more sense than to think the 'they're allowed to race' was anything more than PR BS.
So many times we're denied the only chance of a decent race for the lead because the next fastest car happens to be a quick starter and has good top speed so is virtually impossible to overtake on these boring tracks... Let's face it, the second condition of a decent race for the lead, is that, having both made a good start, typically Hamilton needs to be in second place (the alternative is the strategy needs to workout so that Hamilton will be on very old tyres by the end of the race). He's just the faster driver over a race distance. Further back the race was actually alright today.. .
Rosberg deserved that, he was great all weekend! We were denied a possible great race between the two Mercedes' though, hopefully we'll see it in Canada and Austria unless this engine upgrade for Ferrari brings them back into play and we see a 4 way fight.
Good weekend from Rosberg there, just what the doctor ordered. Onwards and upwards, see what the next few races hold!
Thanks for this, I'd heard the rumours that he was carrying a significant weight disadvantage but couldn't find a source. I've followed Merhi's career in the lower formulas and he's always impressed me. For me, he was the best driver in WSR last season, and I'm including Sainz in that, He challenged for the title with one of the worst teams on the grid (his team mate didn't even score a point) and was a clear cut above Stevens. The way Manor are being run is a complete shambles, it's impossible to draw any sort of conclusions about their drivers.
Ouch.. after all the upgrades, they're actually further back in race pace than they were earlier in the season? Not sure the engine upgrade alone will help narrow a 40+ second gap.. and if it does whats to say the Merc's don't answer that with an engine upgrade of their own? If the Ferrari's don't up their game, then hopefully Nico can continue to take the fight to Hamilton otherwise this could be another 2011!! Good drive by Bottas! Maldonado was doing OK too, shame about his rare wing.. Progress for Redbull, of sorts but they were still lapped! McHonda, one step forward two steps back! Race was good in parts uber Meh in places though!
