So far Michael looked to be faster in race simulation...

its not just schumacher he beat
NICO ROSBERG IS NOW OFFICIALLY THE FASTEST DRIVER IN FORMULA ONE.

ALSONSO , HAMILTON ,MASS , VETTEL , BUTTON , SCHUMACHER , WEBBER AND EVERYONE ELSE WILL NOT SLEEP TONIGHT.

@FlashMaster and Sisplatin: Agreed. If it happens in qualy or the race then we can say for sure Rosberg was quicker here. For what it's worth I still genuinely expect MS to be quicker and if that isn't the case, it will be an upset to the form book.

There was almost the need to put that all in caps.

I think they will sleep just fine. Will you?

So is peanut gallery. I read something early this morning which leaves my mind boggling how much BS there is in ranks of media, and that of course feeds into various sites like this one.

Not really. Lewis > Nico based on their past when they raced against eachother in the same team

Just wait untill Q and the race. It's only testing/practise!!!!!!

i will sleep like a baby as i expect everyone else will.

practice sessions mean nothing maybe rosberg wanted the fast laps to lift his spirits a bit , schumacher was probably more concerned with carrying on testing as normal which just about everyteam apeared to do.

anything could happen during qualifying and i expect both drivers will be very close regardless of who is the faster of the two.

PEOPLE ARE ACTING AS IF ROSBERG JUST WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP OVER A PRACTICE SESSION

Compared with the times not really. Check it: http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_me...sion2-times.pdf

Again, there's just really no need to use caps. It makes you look aggressive. I agree on your point.

Rosberg seems faster than MS. This cant be.
I'm concerned for MS.

I'm not, if Rosberg manages to keep that up through quali and race it'll make my weekend !!

The same poster previously wrote, and I quote:

Some call it rusty, others "dead slow"

Can we please keep it civil and stop the trolling.

Thanks

Yup, and for this precise reasons you should be afraid. Mind you, that dead slow guy was faster than one of your guys and only 0.05s dead slower than the other one. Be very afraid

Ultimately we still dont knowthe full picture here. I expect we will this time tomorrow...

And we must remember, Michael has not raced this generation of F1 cars before so will have a steep learning curve during the first few races. I expect him to be beating Nico by mid season. By then he should still be close enough in points to usurp him come the end of the season.

Unless we end up with a Barrichello/Button situation like last year.

Again possible, but I doubt Nico will be that far away. Especially when there is so much strength in the top 4 teams.

Michael has won championships, knows how to play the long game, and will always have a better relationship with Brawn no matter how fairly Ross appears to be playing things to date. I feel he needs to get his head around the set-ups in teh current generation cars and then all will be fine.

And we must forget his technical input will make the car better over time, but also ultimately more to his liking.

I don't get your laughing. Simply pointing out that the use of full caps seems useless to me and that I found that certain member to come over as aggressive. Do you have a problem with that? If not, keep it quiet.

I am hoping that he will be back in the groove by second race. Then in third we should see how high in pecking order he stands for this year.

I think he will get back into it. It's normal he had to get a bit used to it again. But he better to it quickly before people start to think he's actually slow.

This isn't Beckham! I doubt Schumacher gives a damn what people say/think!

I guess many forummers here didn't watch 1996. Irvine was ahead of Schumacher in first race of 1996 but just see back what happened after that.

team orders

Johnny Herbert beat Schumacher in their first test session together. Schumacher pulled some strings, and from that point onward, Herbert wasn't allowed to see any of Schumacher's data, but Schumacher could see all of his!

Who is your source for this kind of insight, please?

Yeah, Ferrari spent million dollars just to make MS look good.

It wasn't Schumacher who pulled the strings. The klingons from Area 51 did it else they threatened to use their new Death Star. Who in his right minds would dare to say no?

So rosberg claims himself that he was running a different program compared to michael, so there is no room for comparison

It's in Perry McCarthy's autobiography.

Someone print a huge banner and take it to GPs: "How's that neck Michael?!"


Seriously though, he'll be okay. Even if he cannot outperform Nico this season, he will make a decent #2 which is rather important for WCC reasons.

johnny herbert just wasnt as fast and he knows it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk2p2nRK-p4

telemetry comparrison and herberts comments speak for itself tbh

If he can't outperform Rosberg, they should put Heidfeld in the car.

So,we have 2 practice sessions..and Rosberg in his interview has said they didnt the run the same program in the shorter runs. And to see so much non-sense on here based on this,it's like back to the old times..

... and if he outperforms Nico R., then Nick H. should replace Nico R. too?

And what will Nico say if he might stays in front of Michael tomorrow? He was on a different program?

Yes, that's the solution

visibly michael appeared to be fighting the car far more and seemed very twitchy. visibly the ferrari for instance looks very calm and I think bodes well for them come race.

is he struggling with understeer perhaps?

nico is no slouch and to be close even when struggling says something. but he needs t he car to be handling way better if he is going to have any chance of preserving his tyres.

red bull seemed in even more trouble

I predict mclaren red bull and maybe a red herring to fight for pole but ferrari and maybe mercedes to come on strong race day.

I accept that Ross was testing a car in two different configurations, especially with all limitations on testing that are imposed. Based on that assumption I find rather bizarre why anyone would insinuate that Nico was covering for Michael. Now, having said that, based on Michael's comments, I would expect Nico to be in Q1 tomorrow, and Michael conceivably in Q2 only. I have no problem with it (for now).

Hopefully results like these will bring the raving Schumi fans a hard dose of reality. Rosberg must think he has gone to heaven. The Mercedes is looking very competitive.

i sense your hate for schumacher is strong. everyone here is just racing fan no need to go overboard.

Schumi will always be number 1 in my books with Senna, Clark and Prost - but me thinks Nico has the upper hand at the moment.

the reality that an old man can still compete with the young ones? the season hasnt even got started yet unless you count a practice session. if nico finishes higher in the race then props to him hes a very good driver but if schumacher beats him it doesnt stop rosberg beeing one of the better drivers on the grid and schumacher doesnt really gain anything from it.

im sure in schumachers mind he has nothing to proove and he doesnt need any heroics, he will settle in at his own pace and not the medias

Schumi, what on earth happened?

So much slower than a two-bit driver that has virtually no achievements in F1 so far.. Indeed - If Barbie can keep this up, some myths will be thankfully crushed this season...

Little harsh on Nico R. I thought that he has shown an interesting potential in the past. Actually I rate him above Kubica.

I wouldn't rate either that highly, but you'd have to say Kubica's win (gifted, nevertheless) and podiums might just give him the edge.

A driver of MS' caliber HAS to be quicker than Rosberg..

so barbie can't even make it into Q2?