Edax wrote:Who says he is driving conservatively? I think for the past races (perhaps to with the exception of Hungary) Rosberg has been driving exceptionally well. He has not made mistakes, he has become quite efficient in passing opponents. Passing two Williams cars in an outlap, does show dedication. The pass on Perez was excellent, no frills, no drama.
I suppose he is driving strong, certainly very consistent. But in my opinion, he just doesn't have that same ruthlessness or fighting spirit that Lewis has. Lets compare Hungary; Lewis found himself in the midfield and he fought to get back to the front, even if Hungary is notoriously difficult to pass. That allowed him, also thanks to the safety car, to get right back behind his team-mate in the 2nd half of the race (before he collided with Ric).
Rosberg on the other hand, when he finds himself behind other cars, or slightly out of position, to me, just seems as if he is a bit asleep mentally. You won't see him drive aggressively, just calculated, perhaps sitting back, waiting for opportunities to come his way. At least that's how it seems to me. Lewis definitely seems to be more 'pro active' when things don't go according to plan. It might not always work out - Brazil 2014 - when taking too much risk results in an off-track moment that might have made the difference between gaining that position over his team-mate or not, but at least he seems to try. In other instances, it worked out brilliantly - Suzuka 2014, Monza 2014, he successfully put his team-mate under so much pressure that he folded, made a mistake and that made him gain the position that ultimately led to him becoming WDC. Had he not pulled off those passes at Monza and Suzuka, Rosberg might have been WDC (not going to argue just or not, but the points gap going into Abu Dhabi was *only* 17 points with double points awarded).
My opinion is that Rosberg just is too passive, a bit too opportunistic. If he finds himself out of position, it's either a strategy that gets him back behind Lewis or an opportunity arose that allowed him to take advantage (i.e. Silverstone; the rain that came). Compare that to Lewis who too was behind the Williams, but made more effort to pass those than Rosberg behind him who just settled back. Sure, Rosberg could be applauded for being brilliant, playing the long game, trying to use the tires in a calculated way in order to gain an advantage etc. Lewis is definitely more short-sighted or so it seems when out of position. But Rosberg is behind by 53 points and he needs to realize that continuing like this will not make things better.
He needs to start driving more aggressive and apply pressure on his team-mate in the race. Force him into errors. He likely won't get a DRS pass because the cars are too evenly matched on most tracks, but he needs to apply pressure. Then we might see a repeat of last year where Lewis did make mistakes.
