Rosberg’s sector times show he can take Hamilton on

2014 United States Grand Prix Friday practice analysis

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Nico Rosberg may been pipped to the day’s fastest time by three-thousandths of a second, but the sector data shows he has some time in hand.

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in second practice with a lap of 1’39.085 – but Rosberg’s best sector times would have put him under the 1’39 barrier.

“It looks very close with Nico out there and I’m expecting a very tough battle this weekend,” said Hamilton. He played down his hydraulic problem in the second session as a “small glitch”, adding: “it’s better that it happened today rather than later in the weekend”.

Ferrari took up their usual position as best of the rest on Friday, but fourth-fastest Jenson Button was one of few drivers who failed to improve his time on the soft tyres.

The McLaren driver believes the team can solve the problem. “For some drivers, the softer tyre immediately suits their car’s balance; for others, it doesn’t. It didn’t suit ours this afternoon – but we can work around that. We’ll get it working tomorrow.”

However he will still have to take a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, which he expects will make for “a difficult weekend”. According to Button, “this isn’t an easy place at which to overtake.”

However Fernando Alonso is expecting more variety in the race strategies due in part to the softer compounds Pirelli have supplied and improved grip levels compared to F1’s previous two visits to the Circuit of the Americas.

“It’s possible the races they had here a few weeks ago helped to clean the track and as far as grip levels were concerned, we didn’t have too many problems,” he said.

“The soft compound seems to last less than expected, but we are well aware how much tyre performance can change as the track evolves. Certainly the race looks like it will be different to past editions, because the likelihood of two stops opens up different strategic possibilities.”

Longest stint comparison – second practice

This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2014drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213
Sebastian Vettel104.787104.588104.487104.625104.915104.963104.844105.085105.392105.633106.082
Daniel Ricciardo104.808105.141105.149105.416104.98105.13110.206104.996105.402104.882104.244
Lewis Hamilton110.524100.993115.866100.615
Nico Rosberg104.473104.254104.328104.235104.08106.899104.064104.599108.224105.329
Fernando Alonso105.261104.57104.849104.589104.786105.871106.596106.233106.414106.397
Kimi Raikkonen104.839105.066105.419105.466106.609106.526106.95
Romain Grosjean106.063106.17110.113105.714105.718105.244106.449107.528
Pastor Maldonado106.641106.647106.852107.134110.301107.636
Jenson Button104.957104.578105.822107.617105.988105.881105.867113.299105.917106.198106.124
Kevin Magnussen104.73105.461104.722104.813105.283105.653105.603105.818106.569107.083106.856
Nico Hulkenberg103.721104.585104.419104.76105.347105.668106.56106.528106.452
Sergio Perez104.543105.068104.733105.018105.395105.438105.24105.398105.493105.689105.624108.979
Adrian Sutil106.02105.93106.204107.071106.95107.003106.701106.592106.909108.263
Esteban Gutierrez105.512105.714105.914106.36110.692106.272105.91106.582
Jean-Eric Vergne104.907104.477104.619104.834104.992105.03106.036105.855105.934108.879
Daniil Kvyat105.289104.512104.815104.995104.59104.906105.459106.16106.105105.981
Felipe Massa104.623104.366103.916103.717104.059105.55104.935104.952105.572105.789
Valtteri Bottas105.98104.997104.915105.185105.585105.865106.052105.912107.041106.518106.596108.965

Sector times and ultimate lap times – second practice

PosNo.DriverCarS1S2S3UltimateGapDeficit to best
16Nico RosbergMercedes26.494 (2)39.118 (1)33.361 (1)1’38.9730.115
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes26.194 (1)39.446 (2)33.415 (2)1’39.0550.0820.030
314Fernando AlonsoFerrari26.663 (5)39.517 (3)34.009 (9)1’40.1891.2160.000
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault26.881 (12)39.857 (11)33.473 (3)1’40.2111.2380.179
57Kimi RaikkonenFerrari26.804 (9)39.787 (7)33.749 (4)1’40.3401.3670.203
619Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes26.800 (8)39.595 (4)34.062 (12)1’40.4571.4840.000
720Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes26.615 (4)39.920 (13)33.948 (6)1’40.4831.5100.158
822Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes26.567 (3)40.031 (15)33.981 (7)1’40.5791.6060.119
926Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault26.864 (11)39.820 (8)33.926 (5)1’40.6101.6370.021
1027Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes26.742 (6)39.692 (6)34.347 (16)1’40.7811.8080.019
1177Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes26.778 (7)39.675 (5)34.375 (17)1’40.8281.8550.000
1211Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes27.011 (15)39.823 (10)34.176 (13)1’41.0102.0370.113
1325Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault26.934 (13)40.099 (16)33.983 (8)1’41.0162.0430.094
148Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault26.962 (14)40.005 (14)34.053 (10)1’41.0202.0470.034
1513Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault26.812 (10)40.187 (17)34.055 (11)1’41.0542.0810.104
1621Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari27.193 (16)39.879 (12)34.223 (14)1’41.2952.3220.125
1799Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari27.236 (17)39.820 (8)34.264 (15)1’41.3202.3470.012
181Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault27.783 (18)41.183 (18)34.862 (18)1’43.8284.8550.152

Speed trap – second practice

#DriverCarEngineMax speed (kph)Gap
119Felipe MassaWilliamsMercedes333.1
277Valtteri BottasWilliamsMercedes331.21.9
36Nico RosbergMercedesMercedes330.42.7
411Sergio PerezForce IndiaMercedes329.23.9
526Daniil KvyatToro RossoRenault328.74.4
627Nico HulkenbergForce IndiaMercedes328.64.5
722Jenson ButtonMcLarenMercedes327.95.2
844Lewis HamiltonMercedesMercedes327.85.3
921Esteban GutierrezSauberFerrari326.96.2
1025Jean-Eric VergneToro RossoRenault325.97.2
117Kimi RaikkonenFerrariFerrari325.97.2
1220Kevin MagnussenMcLarenMercedes325.37.8
1399Adrian SutilSauberFerrari324.98.2
1414Fernando AlonsoFerrariFerrari324.78.4
1513Pastor MaldonadoLotusRenault324.38.8
168Romain GrosjeanLotusRenault323.49.7
173Daniel RicciardoRed BullRenault321.211.9
181Sebastian VettelRed BullRenault303.130

Complete practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2Total laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’39.9411’39.08546
2Nico RosbergMercedes1’40.2331’39.08866
3Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’41.0651’40.18956
4Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’40.3191’40.69863
5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’42.5981’40.39035
6Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’41.9071’40.45757
7Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’41.9651’40.54355
8Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’40.8871’40.63167
9Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’40.9871’40.64167
10Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’41.7221’40.80049
11Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’40.82837
12Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’43.2291’41.05457
13Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’41.11036
14Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’42.3591’41.12358
15Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’42.3291’41.15865
16Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’42.3331’41.33256
17Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’42.5161’41.42058
18Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’41.4631’43.98039
19Felipe NasrWilliams-Mercedes1’41.54519
20Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’41.78532

2014 United States Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
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18 comments on “Rosberg’s sector times show he can take Hamilton on”

  1. Is Vettel’s lap done on Race pace??

    1. probably. I doubt he is putting much effort in one lap pace, given that he will probably only od a single lap in Q1 to satisfy the 107% rule @harsha

      1. Liam McShane (@)
        1st November 2014, 10:31

        He doesn’t need to go out in Q1 at all. He has set a representative time in practice and throughout the rest of the year.

  2. Yes because Hamilton’s lap was perfect lol… When are the Mercs 3 tenths sower than each other in a sector?. Rosberg has no excuse doing far more laps in practise he needs to win.

  3. Rosberg can do better, & Lewis’ best time was on tires one lap older, so I think he can find a bit more time too. Qualifying should be pretty close. I hope reliability isn’t a factor in the race. COTA is a good track for battling.

  4. From what it looks, Nico and Lewis are on different downforce levels. Nico is loosing in sector 1 and lewis is loosing in sector 2 consistently. I expect them to try and merge the downforce levels so that the times lost in 1 and 2 are very little.

    1. Yep, the speedtrap difference (330.4 ROS vs 327.8 HAM) confirms that Nico is running lower downforce (which is helping him in the long straight of S2 but hurting him in S1, and the opposite for HAM).

    2. Maybe Rosberg even changed his setup during practice. Adding up best sector times over a whole session can be very deceiving.

  5. I think it would be good for Rosberg to get poll here, as I still don’t trust he will act in a sporting manner at turn 1 from behind, if Hamilton is in second and takes a more inside line, even if Rosberg closes him off , he risks taking himself out. Then we may see a good race between the two after that.

    Looking forward to a good battle but fair one.

    1. Just to add, Rosberg cannot afford to see Hamilton, run off with this race, if he does that is 24 points difference (assuming Rosberg comes second) and even if Rosberg wins last 2 races and Hamilton comes second, Hamilton wins. So something has to happen to Hamilton in above scenario. Plus there is a reduced chance of safety car, less cars and a track that has many run off areas.

  6. Rosberg’s ability to sneak a pole position past the unilaterally agreed fastest racing driver in the world has been proven, but I would argue that Nico was superior in race trim at just two races this year, Spain and Bahrain; and who won those races? In order for Nico to win his first Grand Prix since Hockenheim, nearly half a season ago, he needs to refind his earlier season form on the prime tyre and stop himself being so phenomenally vulnerable to Lewis, as he was at Silverstone and Monza, early in the stint. Overtaking is very possible at Austin, and even if Rosberg leads the first stint, it is paramount to his title challenge that at least matches Lewis on prime, because if Lewis wins this races he can follow Nico home in the remaining races and still take the title.

    1. unilaterally agreed fastest driver in the world?? hardly. he is top 4 in F1, but he has made far too many mistakes in his career, and facts like button scoring more points then him at McLaren and Rosberg keeping up with him in a championship fight show that he is the fastest only in the minds of his fans.

      1. Button outscored him in only on of the three seasons they were together and let’s not forget HAM’s qualifying sessions in Germany and Hungary…your point about ROS keeping up is absurd considering ROS is a good driver

      2. That’s why we watch the races/ quali. Rosberg could easily outpoint Hamilton this season if Hamilton fails to finish in Abu Dhabi. That’s the problem with stats, you need to add context.

  7. I don’t think anyone doubts Rosberg is fast. However, we all know he can’t beat Hamilton on the track, assuming both cars are healthy, without being a bit dirty about it.

  8. what I notice throughout this season, is that Hamilton is quicker then rosberg straight out when the practise sessions start, but rosberg makes up more team in each session up to q3 then Hamilton does. that can be for 2 reasons – 1. Hamilton isn’t as good at setting up his car, but relies on his raw pace or 2. Hamilton is hitting the limit of the cars speed earlier in the weekend so can no build up as much as the weekend goes along.

  9. The McLarens are very fast through sector 1 (3,4) and then they are slower in sector 2 (13,15) and then back up in the 3rd sector (6,7)

  10. I’m not quite sure about those “ultimate lap times”. It is supposed that best of each sector can be combined in a “perfect lap”, but I think that there could be some problems in taking the perfect time of the following sector having made the previous one at “perfect or maximum speed”. We have seen in the past in many occasions drivers making terrific times up to the moment the made an error, and in some occasions that error was a consequence of the speed they were performing previously. So, at the end, I do not see this ultimate lap as a lost opportunity for the driver. Maybe there were no chance to concatenate the 3 sectors with this timing, maybe the perfect trajectory (or line) for S1 that gives you an optimum time, is not the perfect one for starting your second sectors loosing more time in the second than the gains you have obtained in the first. So, at the end, I have not seen the practice, but unless it is clear for everybody Rosberg has made a clear error in one of the sectors, is not possible to determine that he was able to beat Hamilton just having a look at his “ultimate” time.

Comments are closed.