Nico Rosberg

Nico Erik Rosberg, son of Keijo "Keke" Erik Rosberg, is about to have his 100th Grand Prix meeting this weekend in Hungary.

I was about to write my "best wishes" to him in 'his' thread...but I couldn't find one...so, I figured I might as well start it off.

What is very interesting is that his father, Keke, took part in 114 Grand Prix races in his entire Formula One career, winning 5 of them - all for Williams from 1982 to 1985 - as well as a World Championship.

It's interesting in that Nico is approaching that number quickly and he's already about to finish off his 6th season in a few months...but without a win to his name...and no win in sight given the current pecking order of the cars.

Some say Nico is a great talent...while others say he hasn't fared well against quality teammates in their prime, so it's hard to judge. Mark Webber is, seemingly, his only reasonable benchmark and that was way back in his rookie season in a car that was one of the worst ones ever constructed by Williams.

What are people's thoughts on Nico Rosberg?

Regardless, Godspeed to Nico on the occassion of his 100th Grand Prix this weekend!

 

[Hamberg]

I heard rumours about 2010 but not this, cheers. Having said that McLaren didn't exactly have a squeaky clean 2007 so that could have been a significant reason not to go there!

 

[F1ang-o]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...nd-Prix-Nico-Rosberg-feels-right-at-home.html
Nico & Lewis both live in Monaco now?

 

[RasputinLives]

I had read that. I think Jenson and Nico actually live in the same apartment block if what I heard was correct. Not the same apartment like......although that sounds like it would make a great reality TV show.

 

[downforce]

Anyone think it could be like 2010 in the points tables for Mercedes next year except with Rosberg on the bottom?

 

[Incubus]

sounds like it would make a great reality TV show.

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Yeah, fascinating.

 

[F1ang-o]

Come dine with me...2013
Mercedes/Brawn have a car like Brawn 2009....
McLaren have a car like 2009...
Nico could invite Jenson & Lewis over.....
Mark, Rubens or Heikki to make a foursome.....?

 

[Il_leone]

Rosberg was Mclaren's first choice to replace Alonso in 2008 but two sticking points were

i) He had a water tight contract with Williams as it was a 4 year contract which would have to be bought out I think in the region of $20m

ii) His dad Keke vetoed the idea knowing that Nico would enter the lion's den at Mclaren against Lewis and would hurt his career at that stage which was beginning to go up after a good 2007. Keke should know because he was the team manager when they both raced for him in karts as teammates and Lewis beat Nico

RasputinLives

The deal for 2010 was a late after all the confusion with Mercedes buying BRawn and Nico had offers apparently from BMW and Toyota - German link again

Obviously BMW offer fell through when they quit and subsequently the Toyota one as well when it was clear they were dithering about F1 future.

The BRawn deal was done already in anticipation that Mercedes would supply engines for the team initially

I agree with you I am not entirely convinced about Nico's potential given Schumacher has got the measure of him quali and has been only let down by poor reliability

It was very telling its only really Ross BRawn who praises Nico's abilities at the team

 

[Il_leone]

F1ang-o

Wishful thinking I see but that was due more to big rule changes which Mclaren did not adapt to as well because they were busy fighting for 2008 title and then there was a sudden restriction in the level of testing due to the global recession

I can't see Mclaren having a season like 2009 again until maybe 2014 depending on who their engine partner are ?

 

[F1ang-o]

@II_leone
Wishful thinking............

Nico & Lewis will be good together
Nico will up his game....

 

[Il_leone]

F1ang-o

Nico has to up his game because he has never had a top quality teammate and his contract ends so he will be on the driver's market again

I wonder if their friendship will be tested if one keeps beating the other ...for Nico its important for him to hold his own against Lewis as I've already stated I don't think people at Mercedes rate Nico as much as Ross BRawn does although with Niki Lauda on the board that might change

 

[F1ang-o]

@ll-leone
I hope it goes well..my smileys were to indicate I'm dreaming of great wins from the Merc team.
It has the makings of a great working enviroment, .... wonder if they need anyone to make the tea?
I see Nico & Lewis working well together in the garage...on track ..may the best man win.
There was talk of McLaren own engines...but don't see that happening.

 

[Il_leone]

F1ang-o

Well I am sure Nico needs to really prove himself now because he has been in LEwis' shadow throughout his career

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Mclaren will use Merc engines for 2013 and 2014 I feel unless they will let down to switch...why should not they since they are beating the works team and there is a further incentive now

I still see Mclaren still wanting to sort a deal with Honda in the long run

 

[Lewywo4]

It looks as though Nico is in serious training with how to deal with the......Bulls!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Interesting, Gary Anderson has just predicted on Radio 5 that Rosberg will win the Australian GP. Given the closeness of the contenders, I wonder what made him go for Nico? Gary Anderson is generally a very good pundit and someone who doesn't often make rash statements.

 

[Il_leone]

that is if the pace of Mercedes is true to form but remember last year Mercedes were very quick to destroy the tyres despite impressive 1 lap speed

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Mercedes have looked better than most on tyres in testing, certainly better than the other front-runners. I think Nico did a 26 lap run on the medium tyres at good pace with little drop-off which shocked a few people up and down the pitlane

 

[Slyboogy]

I've found Gary Anderson to be less relaible than Ted Kravitz and several others of late, but like it's always said..."we will see".

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Well, Nico appeared to very much have the measure of Lewis in the wet last night. I wonder if this is driver, car or a combination of both. Perhaps Nico is a lot more comfortable driving the Merc in the wet, perhaps he is running a setup more biased to the wet. Very interesting to see, anyhow.

 

[mnmracer]

It's a shame we didn't get to see more of Nico today, considering he was following Hamilton quite nicely. If he had been able to conserve his tires a bit more -which I think Nico has the ability to do- he might have finished ahead.

 

[sushifiesta]

The gap seemed pretty constant at about five seconds to me, I think it's more likely that he would have been under serious pressure from Webber than finish ahead of Hamilton. They were very closely matched this weekend though