Pretty ridiculous really. Lewis is going too slow? Pass him then. Or an even better idea is to get pole position and dictate the race yourself.Also, poor Nico is complaining once again about how Hamilton messed up his race... by not going faster(???). Of course, Hamilton responded by saying that it wasn't his job to do anything to make Nico's race better. Hamilton was probably happy to see Nico in 2nd, as nothing more than a buffer between himself and Vettel. IMO, with Hamilton now 3-0 vs Rosberg in poles and 3-0 in results, Rosberg will soon find himself as the designated #2 driver if the battle with Ferrari heats up much more. My guess is, Mercedes will (if they haven't already) at some point say that whoever is ahead of the other, at a certain point in a race, will maintain their position, short of a pass in the pits. And if Hamilton is fighting for WDC points vs Vettel or Raikkonen more than Nico, at some point Nico may get a familiar call "Nico, Lewis is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?"And with that, Nico will look even more crushed than he did yesterday.
I'm a Hamilton fan, though I've always liked Nico too. But their relationship (on track) reminds me very much of Senna and Berger. I liked both of them too (though Senna was THE man). But unlike Berger eventually did, Nico hasn't yet faced the reality of who and what he is (or is becoming) at Mercedes AMG: #2 driver. I'm thinking that if Hamilton gets a win from pole this weekend, Nico should just face that reality. I don't want it to break him (cause then they'll fire him). But Merc won't let him race Hamilton for wins if the Constructor's chase is tight. Just my 2 cents.
I think Nico is poised for a royal whipping this season. We've never seen him overtake Lewis on track and his previous wins came when he was on pole ahead of Lewis or benefited from failures to his car. If he doesn't start ahead of Lewis then he doesn't have a prayer.
It wasn't until much later into the season that Nico started getting his pole positions last year so it remains to be seen if he can repeat the feat but somehow I doubt it. If this keeps up he's going to be crushed mentally. I think this weekend show's he's getting a bit desperate already.
It seems as if he is going through a list of ideas to try and unsettle Lewis. The first couple of races he was complimentary of Lewis saying that "he drove like a World Champion" and that he himself wasn't good enough. For China, he's gone for the "launch verbal ****** on Lewis" option. He will find that neither method will work - although he will find that the first of those two statements is resoundingly true come the end of the season.