Head To Head Nico Rosberg vs Lewis Hamilton

[snowy]

Jenson Button has been grossly underestimated in the past and no one gave him a ghost of a chance up against Lewis at McLaren. However, the 2011 season and the activities of Fernando Alonso's blocker have skewed the Hamilton vs Button statistics.

Lewis Hamilton's racecraft and tactical awareness are very good and have been for a very long time. 32 GP wins do not drop out of thin air. Jenson Button may perceive a weakness or people may infer a weakness but it doesn't necessarily exist. If you count up the good calls, bad calls and exclude the "shit happens" events I am confident you would find little to differentiate Lewis and Jenson's racecraft, tactical awareness and nous.

 

[teabagyokel]

I am equally confident that had Button not been ahead of Hamilton in terms of racecraft, tactical awareness and nous, then the situation could well have been far more parallel to Alonso and Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton's racecraft and tactical awareness are very good and have been for a very long time. 32 GP wins do not drop out of thin air.

I agree. My statement is not that Lewis Hamilton is not very good at any of these things, I am working on a comparative basis. Worse than Button at this particular aspect does not imply poor. Ayrton Senna was behind Alain Prost when it comes to tactical awareness and mechanical sympathy but certainly does not make him a Grand Prix driver.

No-one has ever been the best at every aspect of being a Grand Prix driver; Montoya was outqualifying Schumacher for most of 2002...

 

[Mephistopheles]

In terms of poles, isn't it 9-7 to Rosberg with two races left? How does that mean that Nico has won the trophy?

Yeah I guess the official "Pole Position" trophy is still up for grabs, but Rosberg has won the 2014 Quali battle,

Nico has won it because even if Hamilton gets pole for the next two races, Nico wins it on countback due to him having more second places on the grid...

 

[siffert_fan]

Given Rosberg's performances since then, I cannot but wonder what was said to him at that time. Was it along the lines of "Hamilton is paid more than you. Do you understand?". Or is he really so psychologically weak that not being praised to the heavens led to the fall-off in his performances? If the latter, then I would say that his days in F1 are numbered.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Nico has won it because even if Hamilton gets pole for the next two races, Nico wins it on countback due to him having more second places on the grid...

As it currently stands, Hamilton has 6 starts from P2 and Rosberg has 4.

I couldn't care less about the Pole Position Trophy, but if Hamilton notched PP at the next two GP, with Rosberg lining up 2nd, then they would both have 9 Poles and 6 P2's. Nico has started from P3 on 3 occasions and Hamilton none, so I guess that would be the final tie-breaker.

siffert_fan - I would suggest that it's neither. Especially the bit about the pay packet. What happened was that Hamilton stopped having major dramas on Saturdays.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I don't care about the pole position trophy either I was just relaying what Crofty said on Sunday about it when Brundle brought it up

 

[KekeTheKing]

So it was Crofty that gave out the bum info huh? It took all of 30 seconds to find out what the actual state of play is. Hamilton can still win the thing, but I think a wet Quali session in Brazil would be necessary.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Yeah it was bum info and I could have checked but just like you I don't care about it so I didn't bother and took him at his word...

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

The statistic being presented is "how many pole positions does each driver have". What on earth has countback got to do with it?

 

[FB]

Like any competition there has to be some rules and this is a qualifying trophy so it's logical to see who has achived the higher number of lower placed grid positions if the same number of poles is scored.

Interesting though that Nico has been the better of the two in qualifying (to date), who would have expected that at the beginning of the season? Rosberg seems to have taken a step back with the limitations on driver instructions from the pit wall, wasn't he complaining about something wrong with the car this weekend that he couldn't sort?

 

[Splash]

Shouldn't Pole at Abu count as a double pole?

 

[Brogan]

 

[snowy]

A double shaft...

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Talking about statistics it seems that Rosberg broke a record a few races ago and it seems to have gone unnoticed.

He now holds the record for most 2nd place finishes in a single season surpassing Barrichello in 2004.

 

[snowy]

According to Ted "I believe anything you tell me" Kravitsz, Nico and Lewis are allowed to race, however, they have to make the same number of pitstops during a race. That is if Nico stops first and plans to make two stops, Lewis can chose a different tyre but must also stop twice.

The Mercedes fascicle idea motor racing and race strategy is even more twisted and insipid than I had previously imagined.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Yeah I heard him say that and I immediately thought.. And then I thought what happens when it rains then do they still have to use the same strategy...

 

[cider_and_toast]

The trouble is that they are all caught between a rock and a hard place. Earlier in the season there was multiple finger pointing sessions about one driver using this setting or the other running longer by pressing that button. I guess the management just banged their heads together and said ok, from now on you do everything exactly the same and then there's no argument.

Still, for us it would be far better to let them crack on and do what ever they like on the track.

 

[snowy]

I'm pretty sure I could not endure another year of Mercedes warped conception of racing...

 

[Brogan]

Still, for us it would be far better to let them crack on and do what ever they like on the track.

Would it?

It seems to me that having them on identical strategies means they are close to each other throughout the whole race.
As we saw at Austin.

Then it's a case of the best driver wins, rather than strategy.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Strategy is part of the sport though...