Formula 1's Latest News: Nico Rosberg on Lewis Hamilton, Massa In-Form and More
Nico Rosberg's unhappiness with Lewis Hamilton's pace was by far the biggest talking point of the Chinese Grand Prix.
The German's criticism of his Mercedes team-mate after the race seemed set to reignite a rivalry that lasted throughout the 2014 Formula One campaign, but ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, Rosberg has revealed he is ready to move on from the controversy of the Shanghai race.
Without a win since last November, Rosberg will be hoping his career doesn't head in the same direction as that of Felipe Massa, who hasn't stood on the top step of a podium since losing the world championship to Hamilton in 2008.
Now in his mid-30s, you would be forgiven for assuming Massa's career is just winding to a close at Williams, but one of the Brazilian's greatest allies has claimed the 11-time grand prix winner is currently driving better than ever before.
Massa's former Ferrari team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, is also enjoying something of a late-career resurgence after recording two fourth-placed finishes in the last two races. And with civil war still a lingering threat at Mercedes, the 2007 world champion believes the Prancing Horse can upset the odds and win the title this year.
With a look at McLaren-Honda's revised targets and the Lotus team's satisfaction with their current level of performance, here's this week's roundup.
Nico Rosberg Ready to Move on After Lewis Hamilton Disagreement
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Nico Rosberg has insisted he will no longer be affected by Lewis Hamilton's driving after complaining about his Mercedes team-mate's conduct in the Chinese Grand Prix.
The German felt Hamilton deliberately eased his pace during the second stint at the Shanghai International Circuit in an attempt to back his team-mate into the clutches of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, leaving Rosberg vulnerable to an attack from behind.
Although the Mercedes drivers secured a one-two finish, with Hamilton taking his second victory of the season, Rosberg was unimpressed with the reigning world champion's management of the situation, telling Sky Sports' Pete Gill and Mike Wise how his race was "compromised."
On the eve of the Bahrain Grand Prix, however, the German has indicated he is now willing to move on from the incident, telling Bild (h/t Motorsport.com): "We start from scratch again. Lewis can drive as he wants—it's up to him. It is completely irrelevant to me. Between us, sometimes it's better and sometimes it's less good. But I see no reason to talk to him about it again."
Rosberg claimed the main source of his anger was the fact that Mercedes had discussed the situation in a pre-race meeting, adding: "I admit when I sat next to him in the press conference, I was p----d (off). In the morning we had talked about that exact scenario."
Felipe Massa Performing Better Than Ever, Says Williams' Rob Smedley
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It's been seven years since Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa went head-to-head for the 2008 title, and their careers have headed in opposite directions over that time.
While Hamilton is now a two-time world champion and regarded as one of the finest drivers of his era, Massa, almost 34, is without a grand prix victory since his win at Interlagos at the final race of '08.
But the cold, hard facts distort the true picture according to Rob Smedley, who believes Massa is currently performing as well as, if not better than, he did when the Brazilian missed out on the title by a single point to Hamilton.
Smedley is in the perfect position to judge Massa's capabilities, having acted as the Brazilian's race engineer at Ferrari between 2006 and 2013 and followed his friend to Williams in 2014. In that season, Massa recorded three podium finishes and became the only driver other than Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to secure a pole position.
Massa has generally had the edge over his highly rated team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, this season and ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the scene of two of the Brazilian's greatest wins in '07 and '08. Smedley, as per Autosport's Lawrence Barretto, said of his colleague:
"I have worked with him for many years and I am still seeing him develop and it's good to see.
That's a lad with 10 years-plus experience of driving Formula 1 cars, who is still able to develop and get better and better.
I think one of the biggest changes that I have seen in Felipe over the last year-and-a-half is not only where he has got his head to—so he's very comfortable with himself and with his surroundings now—but I think technically how he is managing the tyres is really, really impressive. ...
What we are seeing at the minute is definitely the best Felipe Massa that we have seen, definitely as good as 2008.
"
Kimi Raikkonen Confident Ferrari Can Beat Mercedes
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Kimi Raikkonen believes Ferrari can topple the might of Mercedes to win the 2015 world championship.
Since the V6 turbo regulations were introduced at the beginning of 2014, Mercedes have won 18 of a possible 22 races, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg battling exclusively for last year's drivers' title.
Despite the Silver Arrows' almost unprecedented levels of dominance, Mercedes have been exposed as vulnerable on occasion, with Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo winning three races in 2014 and Sebastian Vettel already registering a victory for Ferrari at this season's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Vettel's win at Sepang represented a substantial leap in performance for Ferrari, a team that registered just two podium finishes last season.
And with Vettel currently splitting Hamilton and Rosberg in the drivers' standings after three races, Raikkonen believes Mercedes can be beaten to the title in 2015, but accepts fortune will have to favour Ferrari to some extent.
The 2007 world champion was quoted by Sky Sports' William Esler as stating:
"We have made big gains and we will continue to make big gains during this year.
Obviously everybody will improve, so it depends what the rest are doing, but we are definitely going the right way and doing the right things. ...
We just need to be up there when something happens to them, or the conditions change, but I really feel on speed we will get there to regularly beat them.
"
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McLaren-Honda Ready to Prioritise Performance After China Finish
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McLaren-Honda remain without a point after the opening three races of 2015, but racing director Eric Boullier claims the team took great confidence from their showing in last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
Despite the team failing to make it out of Q1 for the third consecutive weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit, and Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso only managing to finish 14th and 12th, respectively, in the race, McLaren believe they have now seen enough to begin prioritising performance over reliability.
After limited running in pre-season with their troublesome new Honda power unit, McLaren were forced to limit the output of their engine at the start of the season to guard against reliability problems, with each car restricted to just four power trains for this season.
Having seen both cars finish a race for the first time in 2015, however, Boullier says the team can now afford to be more aggressive from this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix as McLaren look to improve their position in the pecking order.
The Frenchman was quoted by Autosport's Ben Anderson and Lawrence Barretto as stating:
"We've made some progress and it's actually a good achievement because we had a reliable package here and it's good to see the race was absolutely trouble free.
Now we can power up a little bit and we know the potential. There's a lot of potential coming from this point. ...
Now we are just behind the midfield pack so hopefully in a few races we will be in front.
"
Lotus Content with Current Position in Pecking Order
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It took a little longer than expected, but Lotus finally scored their first points of the 2015 season at last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
Romain Grosjean's run to seventh at the Shanghai International Circuit was widely welcomed as Lotus made up for a spell of underachievement in the opening two races of the year in which the team missed out on points due to reliability issues and on-track collisions.
And ahead of the Bahrain GP, engineering boss Alan Permane believes, after finally realising the potential of the Mercedes-powered E23, Lotus have the fourth-fastest car behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams, with a relatively comfortable gap to Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sauber behind.
Permane was quoted by Autosport's Lawrence Barretto and Ben Anderson as stating:
"It looks like in the race, we are the fourth quickest car.
I think we were in a little bit of a race on our own, which at the moment, I am very happy with.
If we can just keep doing that, get some points on and really have a good stab at getting fourth in the championship, I think everyone here will be very, very happy.
"
Although Grosjean managed to secure his first points of the season last time out, the Frenchman's team-mate, Pastor Maldonado, remains one of five drivers yet to score a point this season after retiring from a third race in succession in China.
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