Rosberg has looked tired and worn out since the start of the season. It almost seems like he has mentally and physically lost it. Maybe marriage is not agreeing with him? He has definitely lost his mojo.
Maybe it's too early to say, but I think he has just reached the limit of his talent and he's realised he doesn't have another gear to step up. The more times Hamilton maximises his potential the less Nico can rely on taking advantage of his mistakes. I think that's all he has.
Also last time out his excuse was that the team hustled him in the final run of Q3 and that really put him off (even though he elected to run last as Hamilton said). But Hamilton was last this time out and it looks as though it was close to beat the the cut off time but he still went there and put in a smashing time. Is it that Rosberg is losing it or has Hamilton really put the disappointing years behind him and is now realizing his real potential? It seems he is making much less mistakes, he is way faster in qualifying and sometimes I think he is out thinking his team in the races. While Rosberg is too computerized or robotic. Vettel seemed to have stepped up his game wh can't Rosberg do the same? Another thing why is Kimi so erratic in qualifying? One minute he is faster than Vettel but at crunch time he falls behind, yet he is faster in the race, but has to come from way back to challenge. He has to do better in qualifying...or ...is he setting up for better race pace?
Oh..one more question... Rosberg said after qualifying he totally underestimated Vettel's speed in Q3. Does that me he has totally given up on catching or beating his team mate? Or that he is content on sitting 2nd on the grid?
Wow, Vettel sure pulled that out the bag, The Ferrari's are much, much closer on one lap pace so suddenly their practice pace DOES look representative. Advantage Ferrari.
Wouldn't rule Kimi out either, especially if he can jump Rosberg early. His race pace this season in practice has looked the stronger of the 2 red cars, just has never been in the right place in races to show it or make real use of it. if they can have track position to take Rosberg semi out the game, 3rd place with the front 2 hopefully scrapping could well hand him a massive advantage in terms of strategy. Who does Hamilton cover? has to be Vettel. The Ferraris seem faster than them in race trim. My guess is they will pull Vettel in first to try to undercut Hamilton and get a jump on him, Hamilton will have to come in immediately to cover it as Ferrari will be quicker and the undercut probably will work if they don't, they'll give Kimi a longer first stint and all of a sudden he has track position and clean air to finish his stint in and show that race pace from practice he has threatened all season. If that works, it's not totally inconceivable Ferrari will get both cars ahead of both Mercs.
Tend to agree. Rosberg is a good but not great driver. Partnered with many others he'd probably be the #1, but alongside Hamilton his limitations are obvious to everyone including himself.
Agree on Rosberg btw, last season was the ceiling of his ability, he realises that was his chance, the stars aligned for him and he won't get a better one so he had to do things differently and try to find that next gear, but sadly he is fitted with a 7 speed gearbox and no matter how many different ways he looks for 8th gear, he won't find it because it just doesn't exist with him. Now all we have with him is a desperate, crunchy mess.
Or or or or or orrrrrr..... Rosberg is so intelligent and cerebral that he wants Vettel ahead so he attacks Lewis to burn his tyres out while he waits 3 seconds behind and preserves them for the end?
I'll quote Rosberg on the BBC's inside f1 feature "We're much faster over one lap, so we'll definitely be 1 and 2, well, we should be" I'm leaning towards, "no"...
Rosberg is going to have to attack Vettel tomorrow, if he doesn't then he's going to potentially end up off the podium.
Rosberg? Attack? surely if he gets close to the back of him, he'll just get on the radio to Toto and ask him to pop next door and ask Vettel to speed up?
My uneducated prediction... Rosberg will come to the grid full of determination to show everyone that he's a contender - ready to bring the fight to Vettel, and then chase Hamilton down and duke it out. Trouble is, when the lights go out, he'll end up watching them drive away from him. Instead, he'll have Kimi climbing all over him. With last year's mindset, in last year's cars, he might have been ok with that fight. Right now, with this year's cars, with his race plan out of the window, and with his apparent shortcomings being exposed in front of the whole of F1 world, a fired up Kimi isn't what he wants. He'll have enough to frustrate Kimi, but pit stops will put Kimi ahead. Suddenly Rosberg will rise to the occasion and we'll see a good fight for a while, until his tyres go off and his game is up. Podium will be Mercedes, Ferrari, Ferrari. Or, with Kimi's recent luck, there'll be a coming together and it will put him out of the race while Rosberg hangs on for some points that provide no consolation for a chastening day. Podium will be Mercedes, Ferrari, Mercedes. My 'back up' prediction is that the race will pan out completely differently. Podium will be McLaren, Manor, McLaren.
Lynn really was pathetic, the Nico Rosberg of GP2 radio. "HOW IS MY FRONT WING?!?!" "Pace is good Alex" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!. HOW. IS. MY. FRONT. WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!?!?!" "I can't control the car waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!". Shut up you whiny twat. He was talking about winning on his debut before the race and ended up last. Yeah typical GP2 comedy to bring out the safety car. Marciello's move was half-hearted and didn't get the criticism it deserved. Nato with no peripheral vision is too busy watching Marciello and punts straight into the back of Pic and Gasly's left with nowhere to go. That's what the series is for though, as long as they learn from it. Looking forward to the second race. Hoping Vandoorne can come through to take it but I think Evans will win from 3rd.
Not as optimistic about the race as I was for Malaysia and China. Just got a feeling Rosberg is going to take Vettel off the line and let Lewis get away. The start is going to be crucial, if Vettel's ahead of Rosberg we've got a race on our hands.
