Have we seen the best of Rosberg?
- This topic has 18 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by
.
- Posts
Have we seen the best of Rosberg? is a question i have been asking myself as it seams clear to me with his answers to the press (Lewis drove like a world champion)/ comments to the team over the radio (C’omn… after qualifying in china) that he isn’t as happy this year as he was last year. If you forget/ put to one side how competitive the relevant car is the year after and assume that they are in a position to win the title the next year after losing their first title chance
The argument for yes
It is a overlooked aspect that the physiological aspect of losing your a world title battle at the last race or last chance due to bad luck/ mechanical problems etc can affect some drivers more than others. For example look at Hamilton in 2007 he “got over it” and still believed he could win a title and went on to do so, Hill in 1994 he “got over it” and still believed he could win a title and went on to do so. Look at Webber in 2010 he didn’t “Get over it” and won several races but no title, look at Moss in 1955 e didn’t “Get over it” and won several races but no titleThe argument for no
It is a sad fact that when a driver is in an intense drivers title fight they become more mentally/ physically tired, then they realize so need time to learn from the their mistakes in the last title fight and how to react differently in wheel to wheel racing, and believe they still can win a title another year. As well as sadly more often that not the driver isn’t in a position to carry the form over into the next season as the car isnt as competitive any more for example Massa in 2008 world champion for a few seconds then was struggling to score points/ podiums in 2009 (before he had his accident of course).I think we’ve seen the best of him. He was closer to Hamilton last year, but this year Hamilton has taken a step up. A step up in performance that Rosberg can’t match. As soon as Ferrari catch up properly, I can’t see Rosberg achieving much more than 4th.
He hasn’t done really anything to impress me and I personally find him a little overrated. He was beat convincingly by Webber. He did out performed Nakajima. Was ahead of Schumacher for a while who was 42 and in his first year if his return. Now he has lost to Hamilton in every year they have been teammates. I can’t see him being more than a solid number 2. His 2014 title loss was a blow he will never recover from. – Something I believe happened the same to Webber; the difference being Rosberg is younger.
Moss in 1955 is an odd comparison- he wasn’t in title contention quite like the other examples you gave. He didn’t win his first ever race until the penultimate round of the championship, and he was still relatively new to being in a competitive F1 car, while also essentially being understudy to Fangio. That year he also had 3 retirements from 6 races, and 2 of those were right at the start. It wasn’t as though the title was even possible at the last race. He had nothing to really ‘get over’.
He then went on to be runner up for the next 3 years, and 3rd for the following 3, in that time winning 15 races, which was almost 58% of those he finished (plus pole in 33% of races he contested). To say the loss broke him like Webber is incorrect.
I think Rosberg is finished. He won’t accept reality, which in China was that second was all that was on. The team even pitted him before Lewis to bail him out but all he could do was complain that Lewis didn’t look after him. In reality Vettel trying and failing with the undercut was ideal – predictably the sooner they got the Ferrari onto primes the better. It can only make things worse for Rosberg in the team, and that comes on top of 3 bad episodes that they won’t have liked. I’m so disappointed in Nico. But I guess being the only child of a wdc growing up in Monaco is a pretty severe test of character.
I accept what you say about Moss in 1955 and that i was wrong to include it in the above examples. However the pointvi was trying to make is that some drivers have the extra mental capacity/ strength to overcome psychlogical challanges when compared to others i.e not let another driver “get in your head”, Hamilton had this problem last year which affected his qualfying after the events of Monaco. But sgnifcantly found a way to overcome it and won 5 of the last 6 races, Rosberg arguably hasnt been the same since the race at Spa
I understand your point, and it may be correct. It feels too early to judge properly, but today was a very bad day for Rosberg. His post race complaints won’t help him, certainly within the team- if anything he will be given a talking to. He essentially called the rival who dominated him in the same car too slow, and if he realises that’s what he told the world today, that could really play on his mind. Then again, things swing in F1, and it could be that one event reverses the situation. At this point a win where he actually shows greater pace than Hamilton or forces him into an error for the first time since Monaco (questionable qualifying aside) last year could work wonders.
I always thought this year Rosberg was going to have a harder time than last year. With more competitors from other teams battling with them he is just going to lose more from Hamilton. Of course if it’s a race between those two Nico can hope to stay close to Lewis and, like last year, if he has luck and a great form in qualifying the odds can turn in his favour. Otherwise, with the perfect Lewis we’re seeing this year, his hopes are for second place. And the more he gets the more his morale suffers. China’s qualifying may have boosted his confidence a little, but if other cars get in the fight like in Malaysia he’s just going to struggle more.
Sadly yes, it appears we have seen the best of Rosberg. He has turned into the new Mark Webber – beaten in one championship battle, and effectively broken by that battle. And similar to Webber, Rosberg still believes he is equal to his main rival. Rosberg’s complaints today about Hamilton backing him towards Vettel makes things even worse – it only makes him sound like a whiner who can’t drive fast or overtake.
Rosberg needs to turn things round both psychologically and in terms of performance – and fast.
I have to agree with Rodney’s Webber comparison. It certainly seems like Rosberg has been ruined by championship defeat. And now that Mercedes seem to have genuine competition from other teams, he can’t afford to give Mercedes any reason to stop letting him and Hamilton race freely.
Having said all that though, we were saying similar things about Rosberg after last year’s Spanish Grand Prix, so perhaps we should give it more time…
I think that we have already seen the ”best” of Rosberg, which isn’t exactly ”world class” or ”championship winning”. He is the Mark Webber of the Mercedes team. Good enough to get close to a WDC and win a few races, but would make a better number 2 supporting driver of the team. He does not have the race pace of Lewis, the overtaking ability of Lewis, or general wheel-to-wheel racing ability. I thought that Rosberg was good at qualifying judging by last year, but now Lewis has improved on that, so now Rosberg is worse than Lewis in every aspect. I think that last year was Rosberg’s only shot at winning the WDC and deep down, he knows it. He was leading the championship for most of the season, but he was constantly beaten by Lewis in the races and kept finishing second, which is not enough. That trend has carried into this year. Rosberg has also seemed to have developed a bad attitude, and now he is constantly crying and making up excuses as to why he keeps coming second behind Lewis. He is now not the Rosberg we all know and like, because the fame has got to his head and now it is arrogant, whiny Rosberg.
Have we seen the best of Rosberg?
Yes, Ayrton Senna wasn’t WDC yet back then. Neither was Mansell. :P
And now that Mercedes seem to have genuine competition from other teams, he can’t afford to give Mercedes any reason to stop letting him and Hamilton race freely.
You mean “And now that Mercedes seem to have genuine competition from other teams, he can’t afford to give Mercedes any reason not to stop letting him and Hamilton race freely“?
We have only had 3 races this year. As we know, this is F1, so anything could happen for the rest of the year. Maybe Rosberg will not be as good this year, but will come back stronger next year.
I am not surprised. What we are seeing is what I think would have happened last year if another car had been able to take the fight to Mercedes on a more regular basis, as Ferrari, at least in Vettel’s hands appear to be this season.
Rosberg knew that last season he was basically guaranteed P2 minimum at each race if his car was reliable. Its the reason the championship was reasonably close despite Lewis winning 6 more races. Nico finished second 10 times in total and 9 of those were behind Hamilton. Now with the Ferrari’s seemingly closer he can’t just rely on finishing second to Hamilton and hoping he has better reliability.
I thought it was interesting you included Damon Hill in your initial example as someone who bounced back to win the title. He did but it took him a year to regroup in order to do it. He was very poor in 1995. In fact its the reason Williams decided to replace him with Frentzen for 1997, because they thought he was past it based on his performances in 95. If Damon had driven in 95 like he did in either 94 or 96 he probably would have been a lot closer to Schumacher at the end of the season.
I also think the Webber comparison is valid with Rosberg, as like Webber he got close to a world title because his teammate suffered worse reliability. Vettel lost a lot of points in 2010 from mechanical breakdowns, and as I recall Mark was rather more fortunate in that respect that year. But I think it was the change to Pirelli tyres that really affected Webber rather than some sort of mental weakness, Vettel could deal with them so much better. Don’t forget 2010 was the last season on Bridgestones, I think I’ve seen Mark say himself in interviews that he never really got to grips with the Pirelli tyres. There was that and also the team perfecting the EBD system, which always favoured Vettel’s driving style over Mark’s.
Whether we have seen the best of Rosberg or otherwise depends on the way one looks at it. IMO, he certainly has the skill to match Hamilton but lacks the drive. He seems oddly hesitant when it comes to wheel to wheel racing these days, which I find odd since he was more than prepared to do that a few years ago. I think after he lost the WDC narrowly last year, he had developed all sorts of mental demons and doubts which are affection his performance and behaviour. In this sport where fractions of seconds make a big difference, being slightly off key can out a driver right out of the picture.
Instead of being petulant and blaming others for his perceived lack of success, Rosberg should look at himself, correct his own problems and come to the race in a determined state of mind.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.