The good news for Nico Rosberg, as he reflects on trailing Lewis Hamilton by 28 points in the drivers’ standings after being beaten by his Mercedes-GP teammate at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, is the gap is not insurmountable.
He should know. Twelve months ago he had left Spa-Francorchamps leading by 29 points, yet come season’s end at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix it was Hamilton celebrating the championship thanks to a run of six victories from the remaining seven races.
There are still eight races of the 2015 campaign left before the year ends in Abu Dhabi on November 29, so there is time yet for the German, but he has to find a way to match Hamilton, and it needs to happen fast.
Sunday was the seventh Mercedes one-two of the season and, tellingly, it was the fifth time that it was Hamilton who stood on the top step of the podium.
Over the 18 months of Mercedes dominance, the double world champion has consistently found a little bit extra whenever he needed it.
Hamilton got everything right when it mattered this weekend, unlike Rosberg. He took pole position, and started well.
It was by no means a perfect getaway in the first race with drivers having to judge their own clutch settings without the aid of their engineers on the pit radio, but it was good enough, unlike Rosberg’s.
Rosberg bogged down and dropped to sixth place from second, and with that his chances of victory were realistically gone.
Of his tardy opening to the race, Rosberg said: “I completely messed up the start, which was very annoying.”
He in part blamed the extra warm-up lap, after Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India had stopped on the grid during the first attempt to line up, for causing issues with his clutch.
“We did another formation, which puts more temperature in and things change, that also caught me out,” he added. “But it’s my job to do it well and I didn’t do it well.”
While Hamilton was able to pace himself at the front, Rosberg had to sit behind slower traffic, unable to do anything about Sergio Perez’s Force India and Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing car, after he had moved up to fourth.
Rosberg took second place at the first round of pit stops by staying out longer than Perez and Ricciardo, and although he was able to close the gap to less than two seconds during a virtual-safety-car period, when Ricciardo’s car had stopped on the start-finish straight, Hamilton in the closing laps never looked under threat from the second Mercedes.
Hamilton confirmed this, saying: “It was really just about utilising the tyres and not having to push on the out-laps.
“I took it quite easy on three or four laps in areas when Nico could be closing, then I started pushing. I was never in a position when I was nervous.”
Rosberg, who like his teammate is 30, has shown he can beat Hamilton on his day; the problem is those days do not come around often enough.
In Austria in June, the German put Hamilton in the shade, but he has not looked close to replicating that form.
Rosberg’s efforts are beginning to feel similar to those of Mark Webber, back when he was teammate with Sebastian Vettel during the German’s four successive world titles.
Webber was capable of beating Vettel in a straight fight, and often did, but he could never do it consistently and that was why Vettel won 38 races to Webber’s nine in their five years together.
The score in victories between Hamilton and Rosberg since they became teammates in 2013 is 18-10 to the Briton.
Ultimately, yesterday’s race was about damage limitation. With such a poor start it could have been a lot worse for Rosberg, but another seven points has been lost to his championship rival.
Rosberg has other things to think about between now and the next round in Italy, on September 6, with his wife Vivian due to give birth to their first child.
He is not out of the title hunt yet, far from it, but the German must cut out the mistakes.
Otherwise, he is going to need a lot of bad luck to befall his teammate if he is to keep Hamilton from standing tall at Yas Marina Circuit in November.
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