How Hamilton rebuffed Rosberg in the final laps

2015 Australian Grand Prix lap charts

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[interactivecharts]Nico Rosberg made at least two attempts to wrest the lead from Lewis Hamilton in the Australian Grand Prix. But his team mate never let him get within range.

Australian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2015drivercolours.csv

2345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758
Lewis Hamilton0000000000000000000000013.4150.85900000000000000000000000000000000
Nico Rosberg0.5991.2342.3792.6822.3682.6022.1631.611.2711.7131.9312.1922.0892.4882.3542.5062.4092.3052.4252.9393.5453.7023.825004.6723.5232.8072.5562.4892.2732.0581.9681.7481.5411.6372.0762.4332.4062.4591.971.6882.2382.242.3821.8251.9332.0512.492.1291.5651.5451.6831.6972.071.8591.36
Felipe Massa1.5382.1893.8465.0095.7946.4067.0837.3627.5057.9348.9869.8510.17110.51111.312.31113.09413.94214.77734.39840.9442.70441.85137.10418.11617.29517.27417.56818.47319.55220.41221.31321.09921.71622.76123.5424.8526.55227.50328.90329.27929.87930.27730.99532.09132.51533.09334.00134.77534.8334.44535.02635.53736.12336.88337.48338.196
Sebastian Vettel2.5982.6594.5275.7896.5427.1468.0018.0598.2228.9710.13511.15711.49812.17412.88913.9714.65415.47516.31417.23317.13517.00835.34636.116.64715.19614.62514.23314.74615.76816.25816.68316.46817.10618.11119.05320.43722.95823.77725.10325.77426.36227.00328.06228.93929.54930.36231.46632.27532.04931.26431.04831.62231.98332.46832.78534.523
Kimi Raikkonen6.7774.2487.98510.29112.2913.82315.18816.49417.80519.12420.69122.09823.64724.95650.09857.16556.66357.55857.36457.43357.22256.76657.85652.38933.70231.50330.21429.44329.02329.29428.86428.99228.9229.07928.94329.12629.75130.85350.082
Daniel Ricciardo5.3223.6596.8419.16811.29313.1214.73116.01117.33618.63120.22821.72823.04924.50126.12528.31730.81832.92734.90937.65739.90160.9167.79663.84346.03645.69946.03246.3147.24448.77549.96151.21451.3152.3253.82155.24157.00759.0360.37762.03363.08164.58566.26969.65571.27572.87975.67678.66480.8482.72683.70885.33287.40189.97797.218102.394
Carlos Sainz Jnr3.4713.277.4399.86911.74114.56516.05817.72919.16821.01423.14325.49827.20528.73630.51232.67734.73736.62239.01241.37243.76645.90899.957102.78384.44183.64283.86385.10686.66788.69790.81795.72898.161101.806106.072110.277114.924118.002122.448124.645126.091128.521130.357132.587135.279137.2139.205141.054143.133144.403145.807147.548151.252153.26156.341160.269
Romain Grosjean
Pastor Maldonado
Felipe Nasr4.7443.3236.1148.49710.57312.24313.84915.24616.49917.70219.31721.03722.18423.39224.5325.93127.31928.71730.52932.83734.15435.62736.79353.81943.08741.97341.66342.21543.66945.45947.09148.60148.76450.65652.52954.23656.12158.34259.64461.03661.90963.27364.63866.84968.28469.26771.05673.22176.04278.15779.71282.05783.79985.22987.60790.16495.149
Max Verstappen7.6584.6188.90711.87714.56217.00919.27921.06723.31325.69728.29430.39132.39234.19736.17838.33140.40442.89945.28347.88950.12551.81153.36850.38433.53334.74936.17137.87640.16643.31965.476
Nico Hulkenberg8.8915.0779.57512.75415.38317.95420.48222.45724.60326.88829.17731.45833.24535.18337.45940.07642.32444.79247.47368.30175.3876.1177.04273.65656.69657.13358.27759.86862.22964.8467.10269.23970.44472.20874.80977.16480.0182.81584.94687.96290.11296.071115.737125.365126.428127.052127.798128.75129.876130.478131.352132.375133.623135.215136.898138.828
Sergio Perez9.4815.71212.37216.83321.11527.08529.59632.75936.02239.08144.05447.79558.20860.6663.58267.09170.02473.4876.39180.13683.39485.84888.70686.35970.50372.97276.42379.46282.54785.91789.63994.4397.782101.551105.806109.163138.438146.625146.795147.473148.043149.703150.369151.414152.196152.672153.783154.972156.723157.479158.185159.869161.856164.222168.974172.571
Marcus Ericsson11.2476.74611.67915.57317.63619.79821.57623.5625.68427.78729.93232.09134.28636.29338.56341.10143.00845.40248.10251.29853.5355.93659.06658.24665.473.13473.61774.35776.21877.99579.380.88881.1483.1785.72388.0591.11896.10898.395101.833103.912132.921142.045142.917143.34143.672144.379145.267146.049145.805146.284148.189150.28151.391152.888153.631
Jenson Button10.3716.18711.26516.31220.08823.52227.29730.74234.75638.43243.3647.05651.56855.06758.85263.03266.56570.38174.21378.46682.27885.1387.77485.43369.7191.66199.962102.102104.995109.245114.239118.298122.188125.613128.944132.554136.365140.29143.325147.002151.103155.037161.708165.893169.242172.32175.608179.752186.687190.687194.133197.967202.038204.92207.265

As the graph above shows, Rosberg made at least two serious attempts to close down Hamilton’s lead in the second half of the race, beginning on laps 41 and 50. But each time one he got to within a second and a half of his team mate – almost within DRS range – Hamilton responded by pulling clear.

“The attack was most definitely there,” Rosberg insisted after the race when it was suggested to him that he never seemed able to put Hamilton under pressure. “Maybe you didn’t see it but it was there, for sure, inside the cockpit.”

“But Lewis made no mistakes so it was just not possible to get closer than that, let alone try some of attempt to overtake.”

Rosberg was cautious with his fuel use early in the race as he tried to save enough for a late attack on his team mate. But he suspected Hamilton was alert to the threat.

“It was just a matter of saving a little bit of fuel in the middle of the race to then be able to go full on at the end of the race but I think Lewis did a similar thing,” said Rosberg. “As soon as I started to save a little bit he saved as well, so he could push, so it didn’t really help me unfortunately.”

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Australian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2015drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758
Lewis Hamilton1111111111111111111111112211111111111111111111111111111111
Nico Rosberg2222222222222222222222221122222222222222222222222222222222
Felipe Massa3333333333333333333356554444444444444444444444444444444444
Sebastian Vettel4444444444444444444433333333333333333333333333333333333333
Kimi Raikkonen88888877777777711111111111010976655555555555555
Daniel Ricciardo7776666666666666666665109988888877777777766666666666666666
Carlos Sainz Jnr55577788888888877777776131313121212121212111111111110101099888888888889999
Romain Grosjean
Pastor Maldonado
Felipe Nasr6665555555555555555544447777777666666666555555555555555555
Max Verstappen99999999999999988888887655666668
Nico Hulkenberg10101010101010101010101010101099999111111101099999998888888877777777777777777
Sergio Perez111111131313131313131313131313131313131313131312121210111111111110101010101212121110101010101010101010101010101010
Marcus Ericsson131313121111111111111111111111101010101099888101110101010109999999988999999999998888
Jenson Button1212121112121212121212121212121212121212121212111111131313131313121212121211111110111111111111111111111111111111

2015 Australian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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27 comments on “How Hamilton rebuffed Rosberg in the final laps”

  1. Kimi had the pace to put under pressure Hamilton and Rosberg! Check his gap when he had no traffic, in the second stint.

    His race was jeopardized by the turn 1 incident, alas.

    1. Two stop strategy, so he went harder on his tires than everyone else.

    2. @a4p He was the only driver who went option/option/prime. Well, that was the plan. Fifth was most likely his place today.

    3. During that stint Kimi was on the softs while everyone else (except for Ericsson) was on the mediums, he was on a 2 stop strategy compared to the drivers ahead who all one stopped, so you would expect him to be fast at that point in the race.

      1. And the guys on mediums were saving it to go to the end, whereas Raikkonen was just flat on the gas.

        And still, he wasn’t clearly faster than Hamilton. The pace was pretty much the same.

        This W06 is a beast. I can’t wait to see what kind of domination they’ll have on Spain.

    4. Yeah, you are assuming he could have kept up that pace on soft tires. So no.

    5. Don’t fool yourself…the Mercs are in their own galaxy, Ferrari can only hope to be the 2nd best constructor in 2015.

  2. On the graph.

    1.- Select None
    2.- Tick Hamilton and Button
    3.- Cry

    He consistently lost 4 seconds a lap.

    1. @fer-no65 True, but I think they turned it up near the end and were only 2.4 seconds per lap slower (last lap)… that at least puts them fighting with guys like Perez on pure pace from now on (as we saw in the race, heh). Maybe in China or Spain they can turn it up to full..

    2. Wow Button has such consistent loss! His line is nearly perfect. Throw in Massa to see where McLaren has to go to meet Williams.
      I pushed Grosjean and Maldonado but nothing happened… Weird

      1. Not so weird as they were both out at the start of the race.

    3. Best comment of the year so far!

  3. hamilton teased rosberg the same way you’d tease a cat with a piece of string. its actually one of the best examples of gap management ive ever seen

    1. But Rosberg was breathing better.

      1. LOL. Rosberg…breathing better in the race…hyperventilating into a bag after the race. Lewis is probably just a bit too talented for Nico, and without failure of Hamilton’s Merc, Nico’s battle against his teammate will always be an uphill one.

  4. I think Hamilton knew he could just keep Rosberg out of reach whenever he liked so he just used the race as one big test session on how to manage the fuel & tyres, which even after so much work in off season for Rosberg he still can’t manage to match Hamilton on fuel consumption, the fact that even Mr Brundle had to eat some humble pie on last season as he had constantly repeated that Rosberg would be better and managing both tyres and fuel, turned out to be wrong on both fronts. Rosberg is saying all the right politically correct things off the track but on the track, where the talking really matters he isn’t doing so well. Early days though yet, Let’s see how that develops.

    I rated the race itself 5/10, I was happy Lewis won and has shown he is so focused, despite some of the media attempts to show differently throughout the weekend and even my own concerns of how emotionally stable he would be but he has put an end to those speculations, but the lack on runners made the race itself to be quite flat. I don’t need it to be a battle for the lead to be a great race, as long as there is battles on the grid, and I think once some of injuries and reliability issues, not to mention team mistakes have been sorted out I think this season will be a great season to watch. Seeing Red Bull fight mid field should be interesting as well, Although I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of good old Horner talking about how poor Renault are and how the FIA should be changing the rules. He moans more than teams on the back of the grid living on the breadline. Put up or shut up Red Bull & Renault. Deal with your problems and stop blaming the rules for your own failures…As it’s quite clear that you can make significant gains inside the current rules. It is ironic though that Renault were one of the OEM’s to threaten to leave F1 if they didn’t go to 1.6 V6’s, which could turn out to be the very reason they may leave F1 if their woes continue.

    1. And prior to the pit stops the gap between them was the biggest of the race.

    2. He knew nothing. They were racing like McLaren in 1998 – just were finishing the race from lap 1 with maintained order.

      1. And I suppose the team also told Rosberg to slide along the wall at one point just to make it look like he was really trying to push?

        1. Just like back in 1998. David had a point. But was told to keep stay behind.

          1. I really don’t know how to respond to such a silly comment.

    3. @woodyd91: First the Red Bull team needs to stop being eclipsed by Toro Rosso… same engine, less experienced drivers, far smaller budget, yet faster.
      Of course, it’s only race one. Too early to say, definitely too early for Mr Horner to be crying in his coffee. Won’t stop him of course.

      1. Yep, I fear this season will be dominated by Mr Horner and his tears.

  5. I know this is the first race, but I just expect more fighting from Rosberg. When you start attacking you DO attack and don´t back off, put the guy in front in REALLY HARD pressure. At least learn something with Hamilton.

  6. Lap chart does not appear on Google Chrome. Works fine with Microsoft IE.

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