How Nico Rosberg has put the brakes on Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2013 - so far

Getting the front tyres up to temperature was the key struggle for almost everyone in Monaco qualifying, but it's not a problem normally associated with the Mercedes and indeed Rosberg did not suffer it. So how come Hamilton's more aggressive braking did not generate more heat, not less, at Monaco? Because, by his own admission, his braking was not more aggressive. "I lacked confidence to brake late enough. It's nothing really to do with the engineers, it's just to do with a feeling with me. It's difficult really to explain but I've just not been on it all weekend. It's not through not being focussed or centred, but just being comfortable in the car. Here you need 100% confidence and I always had that in the past. But not this weekend." It's a complex chicken-and-egg situation: don't get the brake heat and the tyre doesn't get hot enough, then it has no grip so you can't brake late enough. Conversely, get the tyre temps and the braking is better, the brakes get hotter etc. The trick is to get that process to a state of equilibrium where the braking heat is helping the tyre to remain at the optimum temperature. But that was a specific Monaco problem for Lewis, and simply the way his wider problem with the brake feel played out around the specific circumstances of that track on that weekend. At other places that problem has played out in different ways. But the ultimate outcome is the same: he isn't as quick as he would be if he was comfortable with the brake feel. It all emphasises that the complex driving demands of racing on the delicate Pirelli rubber is something at which Rosberg is more adept. Whenever the challenge becomes about improvisation - as in qualifying at Melbourne and Malaysia - Lewis is quicker. But in more stable conditions, Rosberg is currently getting more from the car. There's a hint of Rosberg's more cerebral approach when he explains what his problem was in China, where Hamilton set pole. "My car broke down end of P3, so I didn't have a practice qualifying run which for me is always very important." His use of the words 'for me' suggests the meticulous way he puts together his weekend, building the pieces of the jigsaw to produce the perfect lap at the crucial time. Hamilton's approach is more visceral, in that he attacks and then tries to interpret what he's just felt to the engineers, trying to get the car to the point where his improvisational skills automatically produce the lap time. With the Mercedes, he has not got there yet. But he almost certainly will, in time. The competition between the two is fascinating, but even Rosberg is not expecting things to always be going his way. "To beat Lewis you have to have everything perfect. If it's not, you won't beat him." MH