michael@boxofneutrals.com
Hamilton won the Shanghai race from pole when the Ferrari threat, despite its potency in Malaysia two weeks earlier, failed to materialise. He was similarly unchallenged by the floundering Rosberg, who remains winless three rounds into the season.
Rosberg, who lost the title to Hamilton in 2014 after the Briton beat him to victory in six of the season’s last seven races, has shown none of the pace that forced the championship to the final round last November.
Moreover, his previously unbreakable mental composure has been shattered, so much so that he complained after the race that his teammate’s win was selfish.
“It’s just now interesting to hear from you, Lewis, that you were just thinking about yourself with the pace in front,” said the infuriated Rosberg. “Necessarily that was compromising my race.”
Rosberg was adamant that Hamilton drove deliberately slowly, contrary to team orders, in order to push him into the clutches of Sebastian Vettel in third.
Hamilton, grinning as Rosberg vented his frustrations beside him, laughed before responding to the accusations.
“It’s not my job to look after Nico’s race,” he replied, before adding for good measure, “If Nico wanted to get by, he could have tried. But he didn’t.”
The warring drivers took their stories to team management, who sided with Hamilton — the final blow to Rosberg after a damaging weekend and similarly bruising opening three grands prix.
The unravelling of Nico Rosberg is becoming ugly. So magnanimous in defeat in last year’s title decider, after which he vowed to improve every facet of himself ahead of 2015, Rosberg has been thoroughly outclassed by the imperious Hamilton.
There is an air about Lewis this year. Though he was incredibly reserved, even introverted, prior to the first race of the season, the double world champion has since come alive with a vivacity that has gotten under Nico’s skin, where it has caused maximum damage.
The public post-race complaining was more than foolish; it was self-destructive. Worse than coming off as a whiner, Rosberg’s words only served as confirmation for Hamilton that he has his teammate rattled. Nico’s attempt at publicly admonishing his victorious teammate backfired dramatically.
It is fitting that Mercedes’ first intra-team flashpoint should have happened ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, just a few days after tensions boiled over.
Last year’s race in Bahrain gave the first major clue as to the tumultuous rivalry sublimated just beneath the surface, and was characterised by the wheel-to-wheel battling of the pair for victory in one of the most exciting races of the season.
But even in Bahrain Rosberg found himself on the back foot. “Someone needs to tell Lewis that that move was not on!” he shouted after one of Hamilton’s more aggressive, though legal, moves against him.
It was a dynamic that permeated the rest of the season: Hamilton set down the gauntlet for Rosberg to beat, but too often the German lacked the edge or killer instinct to respond. Second place was the result.
One year on and the unequal power relations have become only more exaggerated, and time is fast running out for Rosberg to correct the balance.
This weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix is a critical juncture for Rosberg to reassert himself as a title contender, because if Ferrari continues to breathe down Mercedes’ neck, the only sensible course of action for the Silver Arrows to back one driver’s title chance, and Rosberg’s championship challenge could be over before it even had a chance to begin.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is this Sunday, April 19, at 10PM (Thai time).