Last year Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton's friendship was put to the test as they battled for the title. Unsurprisingly that same tension and volatility seems to have carried over to this year's battle.
Brake Problems?
Recently, Rosberg was asked if this year's car was difficult to set up. His answer - as per Sky Sports - was: "It's never easy, it's always a big challenge but there are no particular big problems with the car at the moment except my usual issues with the brakes which is a long term thing and not easy to solve."
Rosberg stated that replacing your brakes is a long process, as it takes six months to make a new pair of discs and a further six months to get a whole set to a race.
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He claims to have been suffering from these brake issues since the beginning of last season and says it is something that he has learned to live with. Interestingly, Hamilton believes otherwise.
Hamilton's Views
Hamilton changed from Brembo discs to Carbon Industrie discs ahead of the German GP last year after a break failure had taken him out of qualifying, and Rosberg has admitted that he also has been experimenting with different components.
"I've tried a lot of things and this is the best we've found so far. It's been such a long time that I just have to get on with it and learn to drive with it," Rosberg said.
Hamilton though, doesn't believe a word of it. When asked if he was suffering from the same brake issues, he replied: "He was definitely fine with the brakes at Silverstone. He was perfectly fine. I don't have any problems with the brakes."
What should we take away from this?
We have known for quite a while now that Mercedes' brakes aren't fantastic, as both drivers suffered with issues all of last year. Most notable was Hamilton crashing out of qualifying at the German GP and Rosberg locking up into Turn One in Italy.
It's true that Hamilton doesn't seem to be suffering from these problems as much anymore. We do often hear Tony Ross (Rosberg's race engineer) on the radio telling his driver to cool his brakes as they are starting to overheat.
This could be down to driver error, but seeing as Hamilton was suffering from the same problems last season and is now fine after changing disks, it may be the brakes at fault.
Overall, I think that Rosberg's brakes are an issue, although it is something that he has learned to deal with when he is racing. Hopefully it won't take anything away from what he is able to risk when he is battling with another driver.
Formula 1 fans, who's side are you taking? Is Rosberg being hindered by the brakes? Is Hamilton right? Let us know in the comments box below.
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