90s F1 backmarkers highlighted how bad a team can be if they tried their hardest to be slow, most got to the point where they could of just got a Formula 3000 car and put an f1 spec engine and they would of been seconds quicker.
Senna and Prost collided with each other in the Mclarens before i was born, Yet I know Prost turned in early and pretty much instigated that incident(allthough a different type of corner its pretty much identical to what Schumacher did to JV).
How I know this according to Blueflame must mean I use witchcraft.
My theory is back in those days the difference between the elite and the average drivers was much bigger, now that there is soo much more development series out there now the talent that comes through is much more refined, so the difference between all the drivers isn;t that much anymore.
Before having a 1 second gap to your team mate in qualifying was normal, now that would almost get you sacked.
Back in those days there was much more field spread, what Vettel is doing now is basically identical to what Schumi was doing back then, only he isn't in a Ferrari so you can't stand it.
Vettel isn't Dirty, he does have a ruthless attitude to winning, but it doesn't make him a bad driver, just makes him look self centred look at any elite driver back in the 80s and they where exactly the same.
Also Schumi was similar but there is no denying his ability, even in his 40s with several years off he gave Rosberg a run for his money, just because he tapped wheels with a British driver doesn't make him untalented.
Well for starters Barrichello actually outperformed him in qualiying and in points(I would say Maldonado looked more impressive against Barrichello then Hulkenburg in his rookie year as he actually outqualified him reguarly).
One pole position doesn't change that fact.
The rest of what you said is pure speculation, and sounds like James allen talking About Hamilton when he was at ITV
Rosberg can beat Hamilton on his day and thats the point im trying to raise, most pundits would of said Hamilton would wipe the floor with Rosberg because they thought Schumacher had passed it and thought he wasn't a good comparison.
I think Hamilton is probably better overall then Rosberg still but there is no doubting Rosbergs ability to beat Hamilton on certain rounds convincingly.
Like its always been, Average driver beating a below average driver in Supreme equipment in F1 terms means they are a elite Driver(Perfect example of this would be Damon Hill).
Where as a High end Driver beating an Average driver in Sub Par equipment in F1 terms means they are Average(Button in Honda era would be good example).
But im sorry for saying something against your favorite driver forgive me.
Sponsorship money is usually used for the season spending as it guaranteed where as the constructors money tends to be the profit they will make for the year.
How can we tell Hulkenburg is as good as anybody he hasn't been team mates with, i mean we know he would beat Chilton and van de garde but apart from that we don't know too much.
People want to make comparisons but when drivers like Hamilton get wacked by Rosberg anything can happen.
From what I have seen in the last two years:
Ricciardo is very good in Qualifying and in the races he is equal with Vergne from what I can see, but his problem is he is terrible in Wet conditions where Vergne is really fast in tricky weather.
From what I can remmember most of Marks problems have been things that have hampered his race but not terminal where Vettel tends to just get terminal issues if they come.
Don't have any statistics to back this up but thats how I can remember it being like for the last couple of years.