The Hamilton vs Rosberg war is already on!
We haven’t even seen the first corner of the first lap yet, the war of words appears to be back on with Nico Rosberg stating that the 2009 and 2014 World Champion ‘has everything to lose’. The psychological warfare appears to have already began.
If this season is to be anything like the last, we could be in for a huge level of drama, incredible racing and surprises. Rosberg will be desperate to have another shot at the FIA Formula One World Title whilst Hamilton will be looking to emulate his hero Ayrton Senna, by winning a third title and in the same breath, writing his name into the history books as one of the greats.
If pre-season testing and practice laps are anything to go by, Mercedes appear to still have the edge with a new season set up and car described by Hamilton as ‘better than last year’s’ and given the fact that the 2014 car was streets ahead of the rest, it could be another dominant year for the silver arrows.
Hamilton’s recent rhetoric seems incredibly single-minded and whilst this teammate Rosberg is doing the talking in an attempt to try to disrupt Hamilton’s preparations, the British racing driver insists he feels ‘focused, and that focus is solely on winning’.
Rosberg fastest in practice at Melbourne, Australia
Talk is one thing but actual racing is what counts. Like last season, Rosberg appears to be the faster of the two when it comes to qualifying.
Although they are merely pace setting right now, the early signals suggest that Rosberg is up for the challenge and sending a message to Hamilton. In today’s practice he was a full tenth of a second quicker than Lewis, and 0.715 seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel in third, now driving for Ferrari. Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, ahead of Williams’s Valtteri Bottas and Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull.
Not a great deal can be read into a single practice day but what it clear, is that last seasons rivalry hasn’t gone away and if Vettell and Ferrari can get their set up improved, they could enter the fray in the coming weeks and make things very interesting.
Want to watch the race this Sunday on Sky Sports F1?
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Sky Sports F1 is the only channel that can boast uninterrupted coverage of each and every race live, all season right from the beginning in Melbourne to the final lap later this year in Abu Dhabi.
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It’s going to be one hell of a season!
