Rosberg vs Hamilton

[luke g28]

Originally Posted by andy666

I also think it is too early , but over the whole weekend i think it was pretty even . Lewis qualified better but if it had stayed wet i think it could have easily been the other way round , Nico was rapid in Q1 .

I wonder if Nico had gone for more of a wet setup?

[FAS33]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Solid start for Hamilton anyways, as you'd expect. He has already achieved more at Mercedes than Michael did in three years.

I think the Mercedes is much faster compared to last year, besides Michaels won 6 more Titles, Hamiltons got a bit way to go before we can start comparing.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by FAS33

I think the Mercedes is much faster compared to last year, besides Michaels won 6 more Titles, Hamiltons got a bit way to go before we can start comparing.

I think he's talking about his venture in Mercedes not the whole career.

[beau1]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Solid start for Hamilton anyways, as you'd expect. He has already achieved more at Mercedes than Michael did in three years.

Care to explain how Knowlesy?

Michael qualified 4th at Melbourne last year and was running 3rd before he retired. He was ahead of Rosberg by 0.3 seconds and was 0.4 seconds behind the pole sitter.

In his first race for Mercedes in 2010 he qualified 7th and finished 6th; in contrast Hamilton qualified 3rd and finished 5th. Hamilton was 0.4 seconds ahead of Rosberg and 0.6 seconds behind the pole sitter.

I think it is really too early to judge. The first pointer is that Hamilton is roughly on the same pace as Michael was early last season rather than being well ahead.

[Beryl]

Rosberg had a wet setup, Hamilton had more of a dry setup.

Rosberg was far faster in the wet, Hamilton was slightly faster in the dry.

Because of the setup split, you can't make conclusions about who was faster in Australia. It's still 0-0 in terms of the fight on track.

[wnut]

Australian GP

Qualifying - Mixed changeable conditions

Hamilton 3rd on grid @ 1:28.087 Race 5th 10 pnts
Rosberg 6th on grid @ 1:28.523 Race retired electrical failure while running immediately behind Hamilton.

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by Beryl

Rosberg had a wet setup, Hamilton had more of a dry setup.

Rosberg was far faster in the wet, Hamilton was slightly faster in the dry.

Because of the setup split, you can't make conclusions about who was faster in Australia. It's still 0-0 in terms of the fight on track.

Is that confirmed Beryl, or more of a guess? I wonder if later in the race when it rained a bit more Rosberg may have closed up on Hamilton, if he was more wet setup...

Re whinging, just the bit where he was saying there's no way the mediums are going to last although he'd already done way more laps on the super softs already. He made the ss last quite well actually, but then couldn't on the mediums so I guess Mercedes still have their tyre issues, just like RB can't fix the DRS on Webber's car.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

Is that confirmed Beryl, or more of a guess? I wonder if later in the race when it rained a bit more Rosberg may have closed up on Hamilton, if he was more wet setup...

Speculation but with good logic behind it, unless you think Rosberg is actually consistently 1-2 seconds faster than Hamilton in the wet/damp!

[FAS33]

Originally Posted by Beryl

Because of the setup split, you can't make conclusions about who was faster in Australia. It's still 0-0 in terms of the fight on track.

as far as I know, Hamilton crossed the finish line ahead of his team mate, no matter what sort of setup they had, it's as simple as that, they're not gonna look back and talk about the ''what if's this or that''.

1 nil to Hamilton.

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by FAS33

as far as I know, Hamilton crossed the finish line ahead of his team mate, no matter what sort of setup they had, it's as simple as that, they're not gonna look back and talk about the ''what if's this or that''.

1 nil to Hamilton.

Well that's what the thread is about, the "what ifs". But either way, Hamilton had the upperhand and was most likely going to beat Rosberg.
At least it was close - I'm looking forward to Malaysia. I hope Rosberg doesn't feel demoralized yet.

[RF_Racer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Solid start for Hamilton anyways, as you'd expect. He has already achieved more at Mercedes than Michael did in three years.

.

And how do you work that out after just one race?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Solid start for Hamilton anyways, as you'd expect. He has already achieved more at Mercedes than Michael did in three years.

Huh

[chillibowl]

perhaps a little bit of hyperbole on Knowlesy's part there but its not an unreasonable thing to say imo. in just one race (and his first) LH has offered a brighter glimpse of things to come from Merc than MS offered in his three years there.

i wouldnt be surprised if thats the feeling of everyone in the team as well.

[davyboy]

But he was talking about what Lewis achieved, not what's to come. There's a difference.

[Bononi]

Achieved as a sense of what will come ?

[stripedcat]

For all of those people expecting Hamilton to bury Rosberg this year, I don't think that it will happen. I suspect that the final result will be actually quite close.

[jedrinck]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

perhaps a little bit of hyperbole on Knowlesy's part there but its not an unreasonable thing to say imo. in just one race (and his first) LH has offered a brighter glimpse of things to come from Merc than MS offered in his three years there.

i wouldnt be surprised if thats the feeling of everyone in the team as well.

The car seems to be more competitive than in the years before, which Rosberg has been able to demonstrate, too. Funny how people give Hamilton credit for that.

[luke g28]

Originally Posted by jedrinck

The car seems to be more competitive than in the years before, which Rosberg has been able to demonstrate, too. Funny how people give Hamilton credit for that.

LOL.

If the car is good then it is nowt to do with hamilton, if the car is ****e then its his fault

The mclaren "designed around" button is doing well.

If the Mercedes is still a contender in the 2nd half of the year then hamiltons influence will be obvious. Too early to decide either way yet.

[chillibowl]

LH's performance yesterday, for me anyways, was signaling something positive for the future which i also see as an achievement because for the first time in their short history my expectation for their next race is now higher than the last race - something neither MS or NR inspired me to feel.

im not trying to take away anything away from Nico either but his win was early in the 2012 season and neither he nor MS really were able to build on it. its one of the reasons that most people completely dismissed LH's move there because there was so little improvement over the course of 2012 and as a result little hope that 2013 would be better.

maybe its NR and MS who got them there and maybe they just got it right with the car but for me the perception of Merc changed yesterday and that was something neither NR or MS managed to do with their 60 odd races each for the team. thats the achievement imo.

[beau1]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

perhaps a little bit of hyperbole on Knowlesy's part there but its not an unreasonable thing to say imo. in just one race (and his first) LH has offered a brighter glimpse of things to come from Merc than MS offered in his three years there.

i wouldnt be surprised if thats the feeling of everyone in the team as well.

It is unreasonable when Michael got slated after his first race for coming 6th. Hamilton loses two places and finished 5th yet gets praised for turning the team around.
Strange.

Merc were only really crap at the end of last year. This time last year they were the 3rd or 4th best team on the grid. That is exactly where they are now so realistically the team has nnt progressed.

[jedrinck]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

LH's performance yesterday, for me anyways, was signaling something positive for the future which i also see as an achievement because for the first time in their short history my expectation for their next race is now higher than the last race - something neither MS or NR inspired me to feel.

im not trying to take away anything away from Nico either but his win was early in the 2012 season and neither he nor MS really were able to build on it. its one of the reasons that most people completely dismissed LH's move there because there was so little improvement over the course of 2012 and as a result little hope that 2013 would be better.

maybe its NR and MS who got them there and maybe they just got it right with the car but for me the perception of Merc changed yesterday and that was something neither NR or MS managed to do with their 60 odd races each for the team. thats the achievement imo.

So P5 is more inspiring than a dominant victory? I must be missing something about Hamilton's saviour aura. I don't want to debate his qualities but that's just what F1 has always been like. New season, new cars, new luck. Now would 44year old MS be as good as Hamilton now? Very likely not.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by beau1

It is unreasonable when Michael got slated after his first race for coming 6th. Hamilton loses two places and finished 5th yet gets praised for turning the team around.
Strange.

i didnt say he turned the team around with one race just that i have more hope for their future results based on hammy's 5th then i did by any of either MS or NR results from the last 3 years.

always a few haters out there but i dont really remember too many slating MS for a 6th on his return. i certainly didnt but i take your point that as the seasons wore on and results were not coming a lot of people really questioned the logic of his comeback. likewise if results dont come for hammy (and come quickly because the perception is that the bar has been raised) i expect people will start slating him and all will be well with your world again

Originally Posted by jedrinck

So P5 is more inspiring than a dominant victory?

sure it was an impressive first victory but at that point of the season we had had 4 winners in 4 races. as you can tell by my avatar i was happy that day but iirc i didnt think that it was anything more than just a fortunate day during an adjustment period to the new tire formula.

anyways this is a just a subjective feeling on my part only. time will tell if im off my rocker or not!

[beau1]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

i didnt say he turned the team around with one race just that i have more hope for their future results based on hammy's 5th then i did by any of either MS or NR results from the last 3 years.

always a few haters out there but i dont really remember too many slating MS for a 6th on his return. i certainly didnt but i take your point that as the seasons wore on and results were not coming a lot of people really questioned the logic of his comeback. likewise if results dont come for hammy (and come quickly because the perception is that the bar has been raised) i expect people will start slating him and all will be well with your world again

I don't really care if others slate Hamilton or not. He was merely average on Sunday just as Schumacher was during last season.

I just don't really get the idea of giving praise to a driver that fell backwards in the race.
There was far more hope at the beginning of last season when the Mercedes was pretty much a podium car with terrible unreliability. Their performance at China last year was far more hopeful than a consistent but average 5th place from a new driver who is expected to immediately be faster than Schumacher.

The fact is that if you compare this point in the season with this time last year then the 2013 Mercedes is behind the 2012 car and 2013 Hamilton is behind 2012 Schumacher on performances.

[Marbot]

I don't think that Hamilton would have gone to Mercedes if someone hadn't whispered in his ear that they had got the whole tyre-chewing issue under control.

In the wet conditions, Rosberg was superior, and by some margin. Not so much difference in the dry. Would have been interesting to see where Rosberg would have finished in the race, but Mercedes reliability gremlins struck again.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by beau1

The fact is that if you compare this point in the season with this time last year then the 2013 Mercedes is behind the 2012 car and 2013 Hamilton is behind 2012 Schumacher on performances.

early days of course but after 1 race merc looked better yesterday then in OZ last year but regardless yes thats basically what im saying with the addition that after yesterday i have more faith that they are now moving up the grid and i didnt get that feeling in prior seasons from MS or NR hence my original comment.