- 17 Oct 14, 20:35#421714
He was somehow able to make the harder compound tire essentially just as fast as the soft but still last more than 50 laps.
You will remember when Massa on new softs was running behind Rosberg on his new hards that Rosberg was able to run at a pace faster than Massa when Massa should have been past and scampering off. In fact he was as fast or faster than all the cars on softs except for his teammate who he did match on the laps just before Hamilton pitted. And when the rest had switched to the new hards Rosberg was still faster than them all again with only Bottas providing comparable lap times. But Rosberg had 27+ lap older tires!
Looking at the lap times it shows that Rosberg indeed had a perfect setup/driving style and was able to run those hards as fast as softs and still do without a pitstop for the whole race. Quite a feat when you think about it.
Any way that is what I saw when comparing lap times of the top drivers. Here is the link, maybe I am missing something.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/10/12/2 ... test-laps/
ps. The most consistent driver on the track was Button, his graph is straight as an arrow and fast lap after lap. Good job by Button.
ps2. Perhaps running with Hamilton's setup for the rest of the races will give Rosberg the edge he needs.
ps3. Rosberg must be kicking himself for his bonehead mistake messing up his pass for the lead. Just think of how fast he would have been on the softs! He could have had a relatively easy win.
Quick question OB, why didnt Nico qualify on pole with the faster setup? I take it you have heard of park ferme? Or do you think Lewis is just so much faster and smarter that is able to beat Nico even in a slower car.
Rosberg likely had his car tuned more for the race while Hamilton went for a fast qually lap. And as racechick astutely points out below both drivers were on Hamilton's setup after Rosberg's dismal Friday experiments, Rosberg just seemed to make it his own and got an amazing drive out of it.
Before quali it was reported that Nico would be reverting to Lewis' set up as the experimental one he tried didn't work. So if he had a winning set up, it was down to Lewis. That's said, Nico has given Lewis a run for his money in quali, there aren't many that can live with Lewis' one lap speed but Nico has shown that sometimes he can, credit there. ( but the quali scores are somewhat skewed by Minavo, Hokenheim and Hungary...is it Hungary? The engine fire one? ) . It's in race conditions and direct combat that Nico can't live with Lewis. Lewis was cruising on Sunday, it was a stroll in the park.
And I agree Austin, barring unforeseen circumstances will be Lewis'.
Again, the only thing I've heard re set up for quali v race is Lewis saying he's got things wrong before by setting the car too much for quali and not enough for the race, this was in regards to Japan, but evidence suggests he tends to favour setting up for the race rather than quali.
Rosberg did well to get second, the best recovery of his mistake he could have done. But he didn't overtake 18 cars as you said, it was ten cars. He wasn't a pitstop down on everyone else, he wasjust out of synch on tyres that could have done a whole race , and you haven't addressed the issue that Hamilton was cruising. Or the issue that even if Rosberg had got past Lewis and made the move stick( something he's been unable to do all season) Lewis would have taken him back ( something he has done this season)
I had likened the race in Sochi to that of Monaco this year where Rosberg was ahead on a track where overtaking is difficult. Hamilton trailed Rosberg by about a second the whole race (until the whole dirt in the eye thing) and he couldn't find a way past. Rosberg certainly had the pace do this in Sochi as well as also the ability to make the tires last 52 laps without deg which no one else on track was able to do, just look a Bottas who was on much fresher tires yet had troubles with degradation. Rosberg was able to save a pit stop and gained himself a good race result.
He didn't save himself a pitstop, he was on the harder tyre, the ones that did extra stops were on the softer ones. And I forgot to add that of the ten cars Rosberg overtook on track ( ie not by regaining position when they took their pitstop) all except two of them finished outside the points. Put another way, of the point scoring cars , Rosberg overtook only two, Kimi and Bottas.
He was somehow able to make the harder compound tire essentially just as fast as the soft but still last more than 50 laps.
You will remember when Massa on new softs was running behind Rosberg on his new hards that Rosberg was able to run at a pace faster than Massa when Massa should have been past and scampering off. In fact he was as fast or faster than all the cars on softs except for his teammate who he did match on the laps just before Hamilton pitted. And when the rest had switched to the new hards Rosberg was still faster than them all again with only Bottas providing comparable lap times. But Rosberg had 27+ lap older tires!
Looking at the lap times it shows that Rosberg indeed had a perfect setup/driving style and was able to run those hards as fast as softs and still do without a pitstop for the whole race. Quite a feat when you think about it.
Any way that is what I saw when comparing lap times of the top drivers. Here is the link, maybe I am missing something.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/10/12/2 ... test-laps/
ps. The most consistent driver on the track was Button, his graph is straight as an arrow and fast lap after lap. Good job by Button.
ps2. Perhaps running with Hamilton's setup for the rest of the races will give Rosberg the edge he needs.
ps3. Rosberg must be kicking himself for his bonehead mistake messing up his pass for the lead. Just think of how fast he would have been on the softs! He could have had a relatively easy win.
Last edited by overboost on 17 Oct 14, 21:48, edited 1 time in total.
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