[Driver] The GOAT - Round One - Rosberg.N vs Watson

[crmalcolm]

The nineteenth match-up in Round One sees Rosberg.N vs Watson.

So who do you vote for as the greater driver?

Nico Rosberg
A clear picture of Nico Rosberg’s abilities was painted by his performance alongside Lewis Hamilton across four seasons at Mercedes, with both drivers near to their peak. Rosberg’s overall record against Hamilton stood at 29-37 in counting races, 24-30 in qualifying, and 1195-1334 in points. Any driver that can keep pace with an all-time great over a single lap and fight him for championships (even if assisted by good fortune) is obviously very talented. Where Rosberg fell down against Hamilton was clearly in race craft, tyre management, and wet-weather abilities.

Wet races were a particular Achilles’ heel for Rosberg. Among all drivers in F1 history, he holds the record for most race wins without a win in wet conditions, scoring 23 dry wins and 0 wet wins. In dry races, Rosberg’s head-to-head tally was 29-29 versus Hamilton. In wet races, it was 0-8 to Hamilton. This was enough to clearly tip the balance.

John Watson
John Watson’s statistical may be seen as surprisingly high at #15, ahead of Alain Prost.

In 1997, a panel of experts assembled by F1 Racing magazine rated Watson 61st. There are good reasons to think that the statistical model has overrated Watson and that experts have underrated Watson — the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle.

Watson's profile seems to be a beneficiary of facing Niki Lauda on return from a two-year career break, as well as Alain Prost in his rookie season.

Nevertheless, Watson is rated among the best drivers on the grid at his peak. He is placed among the top 5 drivers for four of the five years from 1979-1983. Watson’s career ended abruptly at the end of 1983, aged 37, when contract negotiations broke down with McLaren and Brabham.

[VIVA GT]

Wattie for me here.

[Aysedasi]

Not for me, Rosberg by a decent margin.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Not for me, Rosberg by a decent margin.

OK

[Aysedasi]

It is interesting though how thoughts are coloured by age and experience. I'm tending to 'prefer' drivers that I know more about (although not always). Watson was never really on my radar as his exploits came just before I started getting interested in F1 again.

[chillibowl]

i went for Nico as well but now i think i did just because i know more about him.

but i think his title over Lewis in equal machinery plus his time against Schumi makes him a sleeper. depending on how the brackets play out, Nico could go real far!

[FIRE]

Rosberg gets my vote.

Not really impressed by both.
Surprised Watson doesn't have a long sports car history.