How soon will Merc wrap up both championships?

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Lewis is driving supremely well, he is matured. Saving fuel, checking the engine, saving his tyres. The competition need to stop Mercedes in Spain. If they can't, the title battle is over imo (only ROS vs HAM). I think Merc will win both titles in Singapore/Japan.

[ringo]

AFAIR last year, Rosberg outqualified Hamilton in Bahrain, while Hamilton outqualifed Rosberg in Australia, Malaysia and China. Same has happened again this year.

Last year at Barcelona, Rosberg outqualified Hamilton fairly comfortably (which surprised me). I think he will need a repeat performance (and a good start) this year, otherwise, as others have said, he will be mentally finished.

This was due to the tyre behavior of the W04. The setup gamble was basically bouncing back and forth between the two of them.
I wouldn't use last year as forecast for this year. The car works well and it's tyre behavior is more predictable. Hamilton will continue to be faster than rosberg as long as the setup is right and he's in good health.

[ringo]

I would think the driver with better mental strength will win the championship this year. At the moment, both drivers are still pretty relax because there are still many races and points to fight for. Once the odds and stake of losing become higher, thats when you will see driver making silly mistakes.

LH is a driver who is quite prone to making mistake when put under pressure, so I do agree that Lewis will most like to suffer more DNF than Rosberg.

I wouldn't agree with that. I would say he is prone to lose at gambles.
Those are gambles he's made while chasing a redbull.
How many times have you seen "errors" when he's comfortably leading a race with a good car?

Rosberg has shown to be the driver that makes errors under pressure. And with a dominant car i don't see Hamilton gambling to wring that last tenth of a second out of the car. Or hurriedly trying to go round a back marker. He's in a car where he can keep calm at the front and not do anything too heroic.
I imagine a repeat of 2009. The typical season that happens when you have a domoninant car, one driver winning most of the races and the second guy maybe winning 1 or 2.
Look back on Button and Barichello in 2009 and there you have it. This will be the same this year. Hamilton wins maybe 80% of the races won by mercedes and Rosberg to have a false sense of redemption come the end of the season.
I see hamilton closing the deal before the last race. Other teams will compete by midseason.

[mikeerfol]

Lewis is driving supremely well, he is matured. Saving fuel, checking the engine, saving his tyres. The competition need to stop Mercedes in Spain. If they can't, the title battle is over imo (only ROS vs HAM). I think Merc will win both titles in Singapore/Japan.

Well indeed, but this is much easier when you have a lead of 2 seconds after lap 1.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Lewis is driving supremely well, he is matured. Saving fuel, checking the engine, saving his tyres. The competition need to stop Mercedes in Spain. If they can't, the title battle is over imo (only ROS vs HAM). I think Merc will win both titles in Singapore/Japan.

Well indeed, but this is much easier when you have a lead of 2 seconds after lap 1.

He is doing a better job than Nico in the same car, so that's not the whole story.

[Nowhereman]

Maybe by Japan but, the last 4 or 5 races will become very competitive for 2nd thru 5th.
Lewis is showing how good he is with a great car.
Nico is showing how good he is with a great car.
Lewis is a faster pilot than Nico.
Nico will have a few wins but will never dominate like Lewis is currently.
Alonso right now is a waisted talent at Ferrari but, he is making serious coin so he is happy.
IF Alonso gets a competitive car within the next season, he will show everyone how fast he really is.
The gap between Alonso and Kimi woke up a few naysayers as to how good Alonso is.
If you ask Lewis, he would tell you that in the same car he would be afraid of Alonso, not Nico.

[johnsonwax]

If you ask Lewis, he would tell you that in the same car he would be afraid of Alonso, not Nico.

Yeah, I think so. I think Alonso would say the same in return. They were pretty evenly matched in 2007, much to Alonso's displeasure. Either one would have won the drivers championship that year if not for the other being in the same car.

Telling that nobody is mentioning Seb. I still stunned that Daniel has outdriven him this dramatically. Lewis and Alonso might consider being a little bit afraid of him too.

[F1NAC]

imagine that, Lewis has 45 point lead in front of rosberg comming into the last race, LH DNF, and Ros wins the race.

[ringo]

Telling that nobody is mentioning Seb. I still stunned that Daniel has outdriven him this dramatically. Lewis and Alonso might consider being a little bit afraid of him too.

Naaa..

I doubt it, judging where riciardo was to verne in qualifying and race (verne being a little better race wise) I don't think Hamilton or Alonso would be worried about him. It should be the other way round.. they would be less worried if Vettel was their teammate.
Di-Resta alluded to Vettel not being all that great as well. So it makes sense that ricciardo can compete with him.

[johnsonwax]

judging where riciardo was to verne in qualifying and race (verne being a little better race wise)

Good point.