Curious how only Hamilton was told to save fuel (and then again to do some extra super saving mode) if they were both on the edge
(This is based on the extra radio commentary track, not just the main broadcast which has only small fraction of them)
Even using the extra radio commentary track, I wouldn't be sure that all team radio is actually in the public domain. We can't know for certain if not more had been said and what the pre-race agreement within the team was.
My view on the Hamilton/Rosberg situation is that Rosberg had extremely good pace - at times clearly quicker than Hamilton. Hamilton had a different race though - he was pushing differently due to being closer to the Redbulls, so had other issues to deal with. He also lost a bit of time in the pits when he turned into the wrong box.
Rosberg caught up to Hamilton after Vettel passed and attempted to pass Hamilton several times (I think it was about 3 times, though not all of them were shown by the TV coverage). Why Rosberg didn't attempt to pass Hamilton on the 2nd DRS zone, who knows. There's an indication that Hamilton drove clever and used this to pass him in the second DRS zone. Rosberg then after failing to get ahead, radioed the team and made a point that he could go quicker, to which Ross Brawn responded "Hamilton is driving to delta". Rosberg didn't give up and started to engage in team radio that perhaps didn't reflect too positive on the team which is why they told him to back off.
Was it right? Perhaps not, though it's hard to quantify what kind of fuel loads and internal team agreements were at play here. I think the team were equally nervous about their drivers continuing the passing games and then run into further problems with tyres and possibly fuel, so they made a decision to hold position. If Rosberg had been able to pass Hamilton prior to any radio chatter (by passing him on the 2nd DRS, instead of the first), perhaps this hadn't become an issue in the first place. Rosberg had his go, more than once, he tried, and failed (which is why IMO he radioed the team).
Not much more to say really.
. That's driver error in any event, like locking up the brakes.
