planetf1.com

Sorry if it’s been done to death (slow news day), but I have been wondering this for a few weeks.

I’m referring specifically to comments from Hamilton/Brawn and some Merc management in terms of how Hamilton is going to ‘come in and turn the team around, build the team around him, build Merc into a winning team etc. etc.’

Well is that not a massive slap in the face for Rosberg?

Much as I support Hamilton I can’t help but feel that Rosberg is being slightly belittled by some of the comments from his own team. If I were Rosberg I’d be mightily pissed.

Agreed. I also find it quite insulting when Brawn comes out and says they will give Hamilton a winning car and that he will fight for race wins. So, they try harder as soon as Hamilton comes along but not for Nico? I can understand that Lewis is the more popular driver and this team change is huge. But even still, doesn't look like much support is going Nicos way.

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Drivers I like:
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Grosjean
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Teams I like:
Lotus
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I suppose Rosberg has been in motorsport long enough to know that drivers don't turn teams around.

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Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity.

Maria de Villota

I imagine this experience will be completely new to him as there was no hype at all surrounding his last team mate. Nope. None what so ever.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

Yes OK I get the sarcasm, but don't agree. Shumi was novelty this time around, never a serious contender

I think there was more hype around Schumacher's return to be honest... and at the same time when Rosberg was new to the team, I think he will have struggled to cope moving from being the main man at Williams to not even being talked about in the build up to the 2010 opener.

Rosberg has been number 1 driver for three years now at this team and has coped with all of the annoying questions he is probably being asked at the moment.

Hey is this a goood time to start a conspiracy theory? Here one... Ross Brawn Is biased towards English drivers. He did that with Button. He sidelined Barrichello for him. Then with both German drivers he didnt make a good car for 3 yrs now Hamilton is in the team he says they WILL make a good car for him. So logically next is Rosberg. It all makes sense.

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How?

Go out and drive his ass off every single session and every single race. That what he needs to do in order to beat Hamilton.

I wonder if we will see a similar situation like in 2007 when Heidfeld picked up when Kubica arrived.

Its going to be closer than many think. Nico is talented and this is his opportunity to show he is one of the best on the grid.

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Felipe Massa fan/supporter since 2002 and counting!

I feel sorry for him, but don't get surprised if he does better than Hamilton. Rosberg is no slouch.

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The end is near

Oooh, now you've done it.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

I wouldn't be surprised at that at all, but am still surprised that Nico has almost been dismissed out of hand (by his team) before a wheel has turned. Meh maybe Merc have employed a new person to be in charge of inter-team motivation (Marko for example )

No, it's not. Pretty sure Ross come out and said on record or something that he felt sorry for Rubens and didn't want him to feel like his time at Ferrari all over again, so one could argue he biased towards Rubens. And why would a German team, with Norbert Haug, who is German, deliberately NOT make a good car for their two German drivers?

Apologies if you were of course joking

rosberg will have no pressure whatsoever on him when facing hamilton because he is the underdog, he will shine

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Ask no questions, hear no lies

13-7 in qualy
12-8 in races

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Ask no questions, hear no lies

The plan was that he would be number 2 to Schumacher already, but Schumacher was found out without priviledges he enjoyed during first career. This saved Rosberg's face, as he has beaten the most successfull F1 driver, which may be described as a success itself. But people Mercedes are not stupid, they exactly knew their cars had much more potential to show and were simply limited by their drivers, hence the move to hire Hamilton, the true top driver. Rosberg is dead on arrival, he stands no chance against Hamilton, who is superior to him in every aspect. We won't see repeat of a situation at McLaren, where they did everything to comfort Button and in effect hampered Hamilton. Here at Mercedes Hamilton is hired to win and no matter what Brawn publicly says, he will be N1 at Mercedes.

Achievements of Nico Rosberg:

-lost to journeyman Webber in 2006
-won by only 7 points with old Wurz, whose last full season in F1 was 7 years earlier
-won againtst crap pay driver Nakajima in 2008 and 2009
-won against 40+ years old Schumacher 3 years in a row, with Schumacher getting upper hand in 2012, at 43 years of age!

Nico Rosberg RIP 2006-2012

You'd better read the interviews better

"Obviously we're working very hard to give both him and Nico the opportunity to win and take pole positions. That's our ambition, our objective. ..."

Brawn said more than once there will be no Nr 1

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

How did the Merc have more to show? They couldn't keep tyres on the thing.


On more than one occasion they didn't set a time in Q3 just to keep the rubber fresher for the race. So how was anyone supposed to get more out of that car? Sure it probably could have gone faster, probably at the expense of doing 2 extra stops.

By the end of the year they admitted themselves they could go nowhere in development because the DDRS the car was built around limited the scope they could change the front wing.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

I read them pretty well thanks, there were plenty of interviews where Hamilton said he was going to Merc to try and build a winning team around him, and Brawn and much of the mgt backed that up.

Does not every driver want to do it & say this?
Button: I want to be the new team leader, mould the team bla bla bla
Hülkenberg: looking foreward to be the new team leader bla bla bla
BTW heard nothing like this from Hamlton, about being No 1 etc.
Ross Brawn said , Lewis never asked for Nr 1, he is happy about it, because there will be no nr1& nr2


Come on

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

He's just beat a 7xWDC 3 times in a row, am sure he's up for the challenge and will relish it. Rosberg is very underrated and he will show why he's one of the top drivers in the field next season.

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Driver Instructor & Test Driver

Yep, but my point was not about LH asking for no.1 status, which I don't believe he has, it was more about comments from LH and the Merc mgt about LH coming into the the team 'to sort them out and turn them into winners' paraphrasing of course, but nevertheless pretty dismissive of Rosberg's contributions thus far.

I don't see it as dismissing Rosberg, when Hamilton talks about his future plans with the team
He goes to a struggling team and will help them to improve into a winning team , etc etc

Even Nico Rosberg said Lewis arrival will give the team a huge boost: Does he dismiss himself? Suggesting Lewis is going to do what he obviously could not?

IMo Rosberg is happy about Hamilton & all the expectations laid on him. It will be Hamilton who stands in the spotlight, like Michael was the at last few years. Michael was heavily criticised for every mistake, while Rosbergs flew beyond the radar. Same as with Hamilton & Button at McLaren. When Button hits a HRT nobody cares, but if Hamilton does...
Button can have some bad races, nobody criticises, but if Hamilton has some, hell breaks lose...
It will be the same at Mercedes, Rosberg will have an easier live with Hamilton there as shield in front of the media & public attention. Nico will be applauded when he beats Lewis, but when Lewis beats Nico, it will not be a big thing, because the most expect from him doing that.
Rosberg has the easier job of both, IMo he happily relinquishes the "hype" to Hamilton ( or formerly Schumacher)

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

I would like to see Rosberg beat Hamilton just to see all the conspiracy theories that would appear as to why it happened

But in all seriousness Rosberg has been in the sport for 5 years and is more than ready to take the fight to Hamilton, I'm looking forwards to it.

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Rosberg will have to show me a lot. I am not saying that he's a slouch, but if he can beat or even match LH's performance, who IMO is the fastest man in F1, that will bode very well for him.
Unlike some, yes, I would be very surprised if he does outperform Lewis.

To deal with the Hamilton hype Rosberg would have to do the same thing he did to deal with the Schumacher hype.
Beat him on track.

That was one thing with an old guy guy who'd been away for 3 years, quite another with a guy entering his prime.

Except for 17 new threads on this forum machine-gunning Button every time he has a bad race.

No, you're right. Nobody criticises Button.

The easy way to remedy this is if Rosberg can crush Hamilton on the track.

Some are talking like its an impossibility for Rosberg to beat Hamilton, however, in their first year together i fully expect that Rosberg will beat Hamilton. Different constructor's cars all vary massively, and it'll take Hamilton some time to settle in, especially due to the fact its going to be the first time that he'll be driving for a team that isn't McLaren. He will have to learn how to look after the wacky tyres in a whole new car, and maybe even completely alter his driving style entirely to suit the Mercedes car.

No doubt if Rosberg wins there will be a million threads about it and certain people will have an absolute field day but the fact of the matter is this is going to be tough for Hamilton and it isn't ridiculous to image Rosberg outperforming Hamilton for a season.

Once again the bar for Hamilton has been set ridiculously high, first he was supposed to demolish a highly ranked and WDC winning team mate, now he is expected to join Mercedes and beat Rosberg, who is without doubt a solid driver, with ease in his first season in the new car

I know...Haribo have you done been in an accident, done a Sam Tyler and woken up and think you're in the year 2000 when Button was at Williams?

Hamilton hype?? The guy faced Schumacher!! It can't get any bigger than that

Mercedes will have the best driver line-up next year hands down. It's going to be very exciting

Answer to Topic Title, By Braiding his hair.

The same question was asked from his father Keke, when Nico was paired against Michael. Keke just said "it's simple, with a foot on the gas".

A lot of people probably expect Hamilton to go and immediately outpace Rosberg. I'd say they're in for a surprise. I rate Hamilton higher than Rosberg, and in the long run, Hamilton might come out on top, but I predict Rosberg to beat Hamilton next year. That's my prediction, based on nothing more than a hunch.

A lot of people say Rosberg is overrated, that he's shown nothing spectacular yet and that beating MS of today meant nothing. Well be that as it may, I think Rosberg is very professional, fast, intelligent and has the potential to be a WDC. He wouldn't have had a multi-year deal at Merc if they thought otherwise. Also he's still younger than Hamilton while having started a year earlier in F1.

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"OHO!-magazine number 46/2006: - I read somewhere that I drive with the luck of a drunk."

This forum counts nothing. It's the big papers and TV guys & f1 expert who tend to look away from any mistake JB made this season
Next year it will be different.

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

5 months younger is not much. Rosberg is quick ,it will not be easy. The question mark is about his motivation. He lookes very lackluster some times. Brawn said it's good Hamilton will push Rosberg. Maybe it the motivation Nico needs.
Hamiltons biggest strenght is not only his speed, but his never give up attitude, he fights for every single lap. This is sometimes a disadvantage, but usually it helps him in difficult races with a difficult car. Like Korea 2012.

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

I know but that wasn't exactly the point I was trying to make. What I meant was, that Rosberg has quite a lot of experience for his age, he's worked in two respectable teams and seems like a very technically informed, mature and professional person. Maybe he's looked lackluster at times, but we don't see what's going on in the background and what that car has realistically been capable of. We know that this year they abandoned the development quite early on. Generally, Nico has been outpacing Michael, despite the few odd races. Although you're probably right, that having a midfield or a nearly podium capable car year after year isn't probably very motivating for a guy who used to fight for championships before entering F1, and at least next year Nico has the incentive to try to beat one of the fastest if not the fastest guy on the grid. Then we'll see what he's truly made of and I expect him to at least match Hamilton.

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"OHO!-magazine number 46/2006: - I read somewhere that I drive with the luck of a drunk."

I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all plays out. I have no idea which driver will come out on top, but I think they will get the best out of themselves trying to beat the other. I hope Rosberg does well, because I like his professionalism and he seems like a nice guy, but Hamilton is a top driver, and very very quick, so if Rosberg equals or betters him, it will be an effort worth recognising.

With the Merc match up, a (hopefully) re-invigorated Massa, and a resurgent Raikkonen, no team should dominate totally next season. Can't wait!

Well in fairness, he is a WDC and they said the same kind of things for Michael....

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Aprilia RSV Mille.

So what? That's the same Ross Brawn who in 2009 knowing what a rocketship of a car they had, was hampering Barrichello's chances by putting him on worse fuel strategies and not providing for him brake specification Rubinho wanted until British GP. Since British GP Button and Barrichello were equally matched with Rubens getting upper hand. The thing is championship was wrapped by then, so by helping Rubens they could secure WCC too. Job done I guess.

Hamilton will earn more than twice as much as Rosberg and it's clear indication Rosberg will be N2 driver in the team. Unless you believe in the trash Brawn is spewing out, but that's the same as believing Domenicali there wasn't any team order at Hockenheim back in 2010.

Money talks and words are cheap, that never changes.

I don't think Brawn's comments were meant to sideline Rosberg, who has been with team for a while and knows the ins & outs. Brawn might simply have been trying to give Hamilton some encouragement considering Mercedes' relatively poor showing in 2012.

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Vettel / Raikkonen / Button