Nico Rosberg Focused Too Heavily on Lewis Hamilton in 2014 Italian Grand Prix
For the second Formula One race in succession, Nico Rosberg has ruined our fun.
You may, over the last two weeks, have heard about that business in the Belgian Grand Prix, in which the German tried a little too hard to pass Lewis Hamilton on the second lap and ended up puncturing his Mercedes teammate's tyre.
The result?
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Hamilton's race was finished before it had even begun—although he did continue to circulate the Spa-Francorchamps circuit for another 36 laps before calling it a day—and Rosberg's, too, was compromised for a time, although he recovered to finish a close second to Daniel Ricciardo.
This weekend's Italian Grand Prix, then, was set to mark the resumption of battle between the Mercedes drivers.
With both Hamilton and Rosberg starting from the front row of the grid at Monza, the romantics and optimists among us were hoping for an even, hard and fair scrap between the title protagonists, similar to that wonderful contest between the pair in the Bahrain Grand Prix back in April.
Let's face it—the only reason why the 2014 campaign continues to carry such intrigue is the lasting inter-team fight between the Silver Arrows' duo.
When the sport's onlookers sit in front of their televisions on a Sunday afternoon, they want twists. They want turns.
They want drama.
And it seemed as if drama was on its way at the beginning of the second stint as Hamilton, recovering from a poor start, found himself gaining on Rosberg, the race leader.
Rosberg, however, out-braked himself for the second time in the race at the first chicane on Lap 29 and was forced to take a detour down the escape road, effectively giving Hamilton a free pass.
Yet it wasn't just the limp fashion in which he relinquished the lead to his teammate which marked the Italian Grand Prix down as a bad day at the office for the German.
Even in the early stages of the race—when he was pulling away from Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Massa and Hamilton—and even though he led over half of the grand prix, Rosberg never looked comfortable at the front of the field.
The Nico Rosberg who controlled races with great assurance and expertise to win in Australia, Monaco, Austria and Germany was, for Monza, replaced with the Nico Rosberg who struggled, huffed and puffed his way to second-place finishes in Malaysia, China and Spain.
On his mistake, the 29-year-old told Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer of Autosport:
"Lewis was just quick coming from behind so I needed to up my pace as a result and I just went into a mistake—it was very bad.
And that lost me the lead in the end, so it's definitely very disappointing from that point of view.
Monza is one of the most difficult tracks for braking because of the low downforce and the highest speed of the year.
It isn't an excuse, it is what it is.
It is one of the challenges here and unfortunately I got it wrong two times in the race.
"
Although Hamilton enjoyed one of those rare weekends which see him completely focused, allowing him to blow the opposition away—he finished top of all but one of the five timed sessions at Monza and set the fastest lap of the race, according to the official Formula One website—Rosberg's failure to contain his teammate will surely be concerning ahead of the six-race run to the end of the season.
The German's admission that he made an error in the knowledge that Hamilton was rapidly gaining is at odds with Rosberg's image as a shrewd, calm and collected operator, suggesting that the tension of the title battle—despite his relatively comfortable 29-point lead going into the Italian Grand Prix—is beginning to take its toll.
Both of his off-track excursions, on Lap 9 and the decisive moment of the race on Lap 29, carried the air of a man who was just waiting to be overtaken.
The dominance of the Mercedes cars over the rest of the field this season means that whenever either driver finds himself held up traffic, it is generally a matter of time until he returns to a promising position and begins to exert pressure on his teammate.
We saw it when Hamilton, despite starting from ninth, found himself challenging Rosberg for victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. And we saw it in the following race at Silverstone, where the British driver triumphed after qualifying sixth.
Rosberg, if anything, was guilty of paying too much attention to the progress of Hamilton at Monza.
It is a common trap that title protagonists—first-time title protagonists, in particular—fall into.
They can develop an obsession with the numbers game, become torn between defence and attack and start to drive unnaturally.
After a draining couple of weekends in Belgium and Italy, Rosberg would be well advised to spend the buildup to the Singapore Grand Prix rediscovering both his groove behind the wheel and some perspective in the title race.
The ability to think was always regarded as the main thing that could see Rosberg deny Hamilton the crown—but it could also lead to him damaging his own chances between now and the season finale.
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