Nico Rosberg must pray for a mistake from Lewis Hamilton if he’s to beat him, that’s the claim of Mercedes non-executive chairman and former three-time champion Niki Lauda.
Hamilton has claimed six wins to Rosberg’s three, giving him a 28-point lead in the championship. However the German has had to rely on the Briton’s errors to get the upperhand.
In the three races Rosberg has outscored Hamilton, only one of those was down to pure performance – Spain. Austria saw Hamilton get a poor start, whilst his team cost him an almost guaranteed victory in Monaco.
Lauda highlighted this fact, claiming the two-time champion is “unbeatable” unless he slips up.
“At the moment it doesn’t look like it [is possible to beat Hamilton] because it was an incredible performance in practice, outstanding performance in the race and at the moment Lewis is unbeatable,” he told the BBC.
“This race proved it again and if Lewis does not do a mistake in the next couple of races it will be hard for Nico [to catch up].
“These things happen in racing lives, some guy is going forward and the other is still struggling – we have this situation. Nico will still try to fight him and it could be that at the next couple of races Lewis will make a small mistake with the set-up of the car and Nico will be there again.”
Hamilton’s dominance is all the more obvious when you compare his and Rosberg’s qualifying performance. The former has claimed ten pole positions to Rosberg’s one.
When asked if Hamilton had improved or if Rosberg had lost his edge, Lauda replied: “Lewis raised his game, there is no question about it. Nico is fighting like crazy, but Lewis raised his game, especially here [in Spa]. I think he was unbeatable here.”
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