Data Analysis: Was Nico Rosberg Really Quicker Than Lewis Hamilton in Spain?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: May 14, 2014

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Lewis Hamilton won last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix by 0.636 seconds over his Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg. A tight margin after 66 laps to be sure, but Rosberg never really challenged him the way he did in Bahrain.

In the post-race podium interview, though, Hamilton said, "I wasn't fast enough really today; Nico was quicker. I struggled a lot with the balance and really had to rely on my engineers a lot more to give me the gaps and to try to find where I could find time. ... But Nico was just generally quicker this weekend but fortunately I was able to keep him behind."



Was that comment just a humblebrag from Hamilton—you know, guys, Nico is faster than me...it's been tough to beat him in four straight races—or was Rosberg actually quicker? What does the data (that we have access to) say?

And, perhaps more importantly, if Rosberg was quicker than Hamilton, why did the Brit take pole position and the race victory?

In qualifying, Rosberg was indeed faster than Hamilton through Q1 and Q2. On the team radio, according to F1 Fanatic, Hamilton told his race engineer Peter Bonnington, "Not quite sure how but we've made the car worse. It's a nightmare to drive at the moment."

Still, Hamilton improved by nearly one second over his previous best time when it counted, in Q3. Rosberg, meanwhile, improved his time as well, but not by enough. Hamilton took the pole by 0.168 seconds.



Hamilton held on to his lead into the first corner of the race, but he could not shake Rosberg. During the first stint, according to the FIA's timing data, the gap between the two Mercs grew to a maximum of 3.050 seconds on Lap 12, but Rosberg had reduced it to 1.635 seconds just before Hamilton's first stop, on Lap 18.

For most of the second stint, the Hamilton-Rosberg gap hovered in the three- to four-second range. By Lap 46, after both drivers' second stops, there was ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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