Hamilton vs Rosberg

Soldato
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My wife pointed out that Nico seems like a different person this year, no longer a whinging loser, I wonder how long Hamilton can keep calm.
Andi.

Its hard to be a whinging loser when your winning... :p However I'll reserve judgement until he gets caught by Hamilton. Hamilton has now won 3 championships and there's probably a lot less pressure on his shoulders these days which is why he seems pretty laid back about this season so far.
 
Soldato
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Of course he's not whinging - he's winning.

I did say at the end of 2014 that I'd like to see what Rosberg could do in 2015 as he's had the experience of his first title fight... of course that never happened as Hamilton demolished him early in 2015 and it was all over fairly early on, but it will be interesting to see if he handles the pressure better this year than he did in 2014, because of course he's not going to have all the good luck.
 
Soldato
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He's doing a Vettel atm, get out in front and stay there, no fault of his as Lewis has had some shocking starts this season and then this weekend was a write off.

It'll be interesting to see if he stays the same when Lewis finally starts pushing him in a race again i.e no lock ups or silly mistakes like previous seasons.
 
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It is easy to be all smiles while winning, if/when that changes, we will see how Rosberg responds. So far this season, Rosberg has not been under serious pressure for the race result, he has taken full advantage of Hamilton's misfortunes.

I have a hunch that Monaco could be a title decider, in that Ferrari and Redbull might mix it up with the Mercedes in qualifying, which ordinarily is the race result. Lewis really needs to win that one, ideally with other teams preventing Rosberg from being second.
 
Soldato
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Associate
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Its far too early to make any judgements on whether he has what it takes to beat Lewis this year. The 36 point cushion helps obviously, but he's had exceptional luck so far this year. In Melbourne the red flag and Ferrari's messup handed him the win. In Bahrain both his nearest challengers had issues and in China every car that could have posed a threat had problems. You could have put anyone in that car and they would be in the same position as on the only two real head to heads (qualli in Aus and Bahrain) he came out second best.

It'll be interesting how he copes when Lewis has a normal weekend. In 2014 he was very conservative when he had a points cushion and didn't respond well to pressure. He's spent the last three races time trialling so wouldn't be surprised if he's not quite as fast as he thinks he is.
 

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Soldato
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Its far too early to make any judgements on whether he has what it takes to beat Lewis this year. The 36 point cushion helps obviously, but he's had exceptional luck so far this year. In Melbourne the red flag and Ferrari's messup handed him the win. In Bahrain both his nearest challengers had issues and in China every car that could have posed a threat had problems. You could have put anyone in that car and they would be in the same position as on the only two real head to heads (qualli in Aus and Bahrain) he came out second best.

It'll be interesting how he copes when Lewis has a normal weekend. In 2014 he was very conservative when he had a points cushion and didn't respond well to pressure. He's spent the last three races time trialling so wouldn't be surprised if he's not quite as fast as he thinks he is.

Sometimes you need a bit of luck though... remember 2014 went down to the wire and Rosbergs car was dying half way through the race. That's call bad luck to Rosberg, but good luck for Hamilton.

If you look at most championships won in any sport there's usually an element of luck that goes towards the winner.

Anyway nuff about that, I have a feeling it's Rosberg's year, I think mentally he looks stronger and tougher this year. He looks like he's matured quite a bit since 2014/15. And let's be fair - he's no slouch. How many races has he won in a row now? Didn't he win the last 4/5 of last year as well?
 
Soldato
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He looks stronger and tougher this year because a) he's winning and b) this end of the season has the least pressure.

The real test will come when he's lost a few to Hamilton - both races and some 50/50s going into a corner. Great start to the year for him though. It isn't his fault that everyone else around him is floundering, crashing, can't get off the starting grid or is suffering from unreliability.
 
Soldato
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It'll be interesting how he copes when Lewis has a normal weekend. In 2014 he was very conservative when he had a points cushion and didn't respond well to pressure. He's spent the last three races time trialling so wouldn't be surprised if he's not quite as fast as he thinks he is.

He beat Hamilton three times outright at the end of last season didn't he - and I don't believe Hamilton had a single issue

Not his fault Hamilton took it too easy then, and is now having problems (and an engine down, unless they can mend it)

Its unfair to compare Rosberg three years ago to the guy now, he will have learnt from his mistakes then and putting them into practice now - otherwise its unlikely he would still be in that car to start with

At some point LH is going to really start throwing his toys out of the pram - and then it can go one of two ways...............
 
Man of Honour
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Rosberg has done all he can so far, so hat off to him. I think some forget how long the season is though. It could shape up nicely between the two like in 2014 :)
 
Soldato
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I did hear on the F1 commentary that they both swapped race personnel, and it looks like Hamilton is getting all of Nico's reliability issues from last year, and thats also played a big part.

So one side of the Merc. garage is less competent than the other? Unlikely.
 
Soldato
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I did hear on the F1 commentary that they both swapped race personnel, and it looks like Hamilton is getting all of Nico's reliability issues from last year, and thats also played a big part.

They mixed up the teams, they didn't just straight swap.

Facts currently say they are..

Race 1, a poor start from both mercs and Hamilton came out worse after turn 1. Clearly nothing to do with the garage crew

Race 2, moderate starts from both, slightly better from Rosberg, then Hamilton makes a poor choice for lap 1 turn 1 and gets torpedo'd by Bottas. Unless one of 2015 rosberg crew was piloting the Williams this is again nothing to do with the pit crew.

Race 3, Gear box change and then PU issues. Gear box comes down to reliability as it was a synchronisation issue, not a garage crew issue. PU could have been, so this is the first time we could see the smallest slither of a possibly less able garage crew...again unlikely. Then the race, Nasr literally jumped on Hamilton in turn 1, or has another one of Rosbergs 2015 garage crew got a race seat now?

Nothing at all pointing to the mixed garage crews being the "Fact" that Hamilton has had a worse start than Rosberg this year.
 
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Caporegime
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My wife pointed out that Nico seems like a different person this year, no longer a whinging loser, I wonder how long Hamilton can keep calm.
Andi.

How can you be a whinging loser when you are winning?

Hamilton has just had a bad start this season. There is a very long way to go yet. One win for Hamilton and a DNF for Rosberg and he is right back in it.
 
Soldato
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He looks stronger and tougher this year because a) he's winning and b) this end of the season has the least pressure.

The real test will come when he's lost a few to Hamilton - both races and some 50/50s going into a corner. Great start to the year for him though. It isn't his fault that everyone else around him is floundering, crashing, can't get off the starting grid or is suffering from unreliability.

With a lead in the Championship, he should never yield in a 50/50 Lewis. If they tangle then so be it. Think Lewis did him quite easily in 50/50s over the past couple of year. Perhaps this year Rosberg will have grown a pair.
 
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