It is difficult to judge Rosberg’s ultimate ability because his teammate Nakajima does seem to lack any genuine pace, and it was a similar situation when Wurz was his teammate. They are both drivers Rosberg would be expected to beat. The only time when he had a very fast teammate in Mark Webber, Rosberg was put comprehensively in the shade, although you could argue Rosberg was only in his first season of F1.

It would be good to see Rosberg either get an opportunity in a top car, or have a teammate who could really push him, as then we would know just how good he really is. As Button is proving this year getting a top car can really sharpen your focus, and perhaps the lack of results at Williams is frustrating Rosberg, and he is perhaps overdriving the car.

Overrated or not, Rosberg and Williams are not realising their potential this season.

What really matters is the big picture. And that appears to be–at this stage of the season–that Williams once again underperform through a good if not great car and poor pitwork and strategy. As a Williams fan since the early 80′s it pains me to say this, but quite clearly they are no longer a top team. Sam Michael has been around for a long time and he clearly has not delivered. They do not have anybody who appears to be able to develop race-winning (or at least place-gaining) strategies on a regular basis. Similarly, they don’t appear to have anybody on the pit wall who can think on their feet and adapt to changing circumstances like Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds appear to be able to. Through poor strategic planning and other reasons, they keep having to change engines. They seemingly cannot stop themselves from getting rid of perfectly good drivers (e.g., Mansell, Prost, Hill). I’ve been waiting for a tough investigative piece that sheds more light on what’s going on at Williams. Peter Windsor used to have such pieces in F1 Racing – I remember one on Jaguar Racing. Unfortunately, the realities of modern F1 appear to require most (all?) journalists not to fall out of favor with their anonymous sources…

Perhaps the budget cap is their only hope to get back up to where they used to be?

What i can’t understand is Williams very conservative approach to qualifying.

The practice times show that they have a very quick car on soft tyres and low fuel, so why do Williams insist in fueling Nico 4 – 5 laps more fuel than the leading Brawns, Toyotas and RBs?

Fuel him short, let him take pole (great for marketting & team morale), let him do some flying first 10 laps and bring him in for a good long middle stint

Sure, this stategy has risks, but if Nico keeps the car on the grey stuff, then he’ll always get 2 or more points, but if luck favours him, a podium could beckon

Both Williams and Nico have their faults this year, but its not past repair – they’ll need to gel and stop whining about each other and get on top of their car and championship and bring Williams back to where they should be – the winning circle!