[Mercedes say that] "They say Rosberg is unchanged; he has always been this good."
"Rewind back 12 months, and the qualifying pattern between Schumacher and Rosberg was just as tight as it has been this year between Hamilton and Rosberg."
"If you dig deeper into the qualifying gap, then it shows that on average Rosberg was both times marginally behind his team-mate."
"It's not too hard to extrapolate from this data that Schumacher was every bit as quick as Rosberg over a single lap; and that Rosberg is proving just as quick as Hamilton, who we know is very quick."
The above are words from Jonathan Noble. Now below is the data of Schumacher vs Rosberg that I have posted before. Please have a look.
2012.
Schumacher was quicker than Rosberg in 2012. Qualifying 10/10 equal, but fastest laps in race Schumacher had more of them. Rosberg scored more points because Schumacher had more retirements. Schumacher made 2 unforced errors in races (Spain, Singapore), Rosberg made 3 unforced errors in qualifying. However, Schumacher had more fastest laps in the race, but didn't finish them mostly due to circumstances out of his control (besides ESP and SIN). Therefore .......
Overall faster driver: Schumacher
AUS. MSC +0.3 ROS (Q)
MAL. MSC +0.3 ROS (Q)
CHN. ROS +0.5 MSC (Q)
BHR. ROS +0.1 MSC (RACE)
ESP. ROS +0.1 MSC (Q)
MON. MSC +0.2 ROS (Q)
CAN. ROS +0.1 MSC (Q)
EUR. ROS +0.2 MSC (Q)
GBR. MSC +3.0 ROS (Q) (WET) MSC +0.6 ROS (RACE)
GER. MSC +2.5 ROS (Q) (WET) MSC +0.4 ROS (RACE)
HUN. ROS +0.9 MSC (Q)
BEL. MSC +1.1 ROS (Q)
ITA. MSC +0.3 ROS (Q)
SIN. MSC +0.1 ROS (Q)
JAP. MSC +0.2 ROS (Q)
KOR. ROS +0.2 MSC (Q)
IND. ROS +0.5 MSC (Q)
ABU. ROS +0.6 MSC (Q)
USA. MSC +1.5 ROS (Q)
BRA. ROS +0.5 MSC (Q)
2011.
This was the year when BOTH Mercedes did terrible. They struggled to get into Q3, they struggled to get into points. They had severe rear tire wear. However, Rosberg was able to extract more RAW pace from the car. However, despite being out-qualified by Rosberg, Schumacher often fared better in races, often outsmarting Rosberg on pitstops, strategy, etc. Highlight was in Belgium, where Schumacher drove from last place to 5th, overtaking Rosberg as well. And of course Canada in the wet, where Schumacher was leading until he was overtook by DRS by faster cars.
Overall faster driver: Rosberg
AUS. ROS +0.3 MSC (Q) (GEARBOX)
MAL. ROS +0.5 MSC (Q) MSC 9TH ROS 12TH
CHN. ROS +1.0 MSC (Q)
TUR. ROS +1.5 MSC (Q)
ESP. ROS +0.5 MSC (Q) MSC 7TH ROS 8TH
MON. MSC +0.1 ROS (Q) (FIRE)
CAN. ROS +0.02 MSC (Q) MSC 4TH ROS 11TH
EUR. ROS +0.01 MSC (Q) (PENALTY)
GBR. ROS +0.4 MSC (Q)
GER. ROS +0.9 MSC (Q)
HUN. ROS +0.9 MSC (Q) (GEARBOX)
BEL. ROS +NOTIME MSC (Q) MSC 5TH ROS 6TH
ITA. MSC +0.5 ROS (Q)
SIN. ROS +0.03 MSC (Q) (CRASH)
JAP. MSC +NOTIME ROS (Q)
KOR. ROS +0.4 MSC (Q) (CRASH)
IND. ROS +0.8 MSC (Q) MSC 5TH ROS 6TH
ABD. ROS +0.9 MSC (Q)
BRA. ROS +1.0 MSC (Q)
2010.
If you look at the stats alone, you won't get the whole picture for this year. I have been watching all practice sessions, all test sessions, every year, and always kept a very close look at the times of each drivers, comparing the stints they were on, fuel loads, etc. Apart from China, Bahrain, Europe and Hungary where Rosberg was faster than Schumacher in all sessions, the rest of the year, both of them were VERY, VERY, VERY close, often in 0.0XXs. This was the trend in practice sessions, qualifying, race. Wherever in qualifying that Rosberg might beat Schumacher by a couple of tenths, it was mostly due to some circumstances or the other, for instance traffic, mistake, etc. But raw speed, both were very evenly matched. In the races, Schumacher made a lot, lot more unforced errors, for instance in Turkey, Canada. but one could say it was due to race craft rustiness. But Schumacher also had highlights, such as his move on Alonso at Monaco on final lap.
Overall faster driver: Equal
As I said, even though below some of the qualifying shows Rosberg beat Schumacher by couple of tenths, but in the practice sessions of those races (apart from China, Bahrain and Hungary), Schumacher/Rosberg were inseparable. Therefore in terms of raw pace, I must say they were about equal.
BHR. ROS +0.3 MSC (Q)
AUS. ROS +0.01 MSC (Q)
MAL. ROS +1.0 MSC (Q) (WET)
CHN. ROS +0.6 MSC (Q)
ESP. MSC +0.2 ROS (Q)
MON. ROS +0.05 MSC (Q)
TUR. MSC +0.1 ROS (Q)
CAN. ROS +0.5 MSC (Q)
EUR. ROS +0.7 MSC (Q)
GBR. ROS +0.6 MSC (Q)
GER. ROS +0.01 MSC
HUN. ROS +0.6 MSC (Q)
BEL. MSC +0.01 ROS
ITA. ROS +0.3 MSC (Q)
SIN. ROS +0.3 MSC (Q)
JAP. ROS +0.3 MSC (Q)
KOR. ROS +0.4 MSC (Q)
BRA. MSC +0.5 ROS (Q) (WET)
ABU. MSC +0.07 ROS (Q)
Hereby,
If you go on stats alone 2010-2013 and Button had better stats than Hamilton, but that does not tell the whole story. Remember, Hamilton spent so many races crashing with Massa? He might have had better stats than Button if not of that. Another humble example I give you of Prost VS Senna in 1989. Senna was much faster than Prost (in qualifying 14-2), and really a faster driver. Nonetheless, Prost won the World Championship that year, therefore sometimes the raw stats alone don't tell the whole story of who was the faster driver / better driver, etc. So, lets trust Ross Brawn and the engineers at Merc. They must have had access to raw data, telemetry, etc., and known Schumacher's real pace. Ross Brawn said, Nico Rosberg was mostly faster at the slow, 2nd gear, twisting, technical tilke corners, whereas Schumacher was faster on the fast, very fast corners, old-fashioned tracks, street circuits. Also, Schumacher scores BONUS points for being much nicer and down-to-earth, likable guy in this 2nd career.
So, I rest my case. It's Schumacher not Rosberg we need to reappraise. Are we still allowed to take his age (42 years old) into account? And the fact that he was not in his prime? So for him to have matched Rosberg's pace on many occasions during his comeback, can we then say that Schumacher in this prime years would have been -- out of this world?
PS* The above times are from F1 official website. I would have posted detailed practice session times too, maybe as follow-up some later time.
Edited by aliasj, 30 May 2013 - 08:23.