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!

 

[OnTheLimit]

The jury is still out on that one. I think we'll know better when Rosberg stops under performing. At the moment there is nothing to suggest that another driver wouldn't do a better job in his seat.

Is Rosberg really under performing? In quali yes but he's just doing what he does best in the race..go backwards

 

[ExtremeNinja]

So is Schumacher. Are you sure it's not the car that is going backwards in the race, as all pundits and analysts are suggesting? They are crap on thier tyres and the advantage thier F-Duct gives them in qualifying is much lesser in the race.

We are not agreeing on much today, are we?

 

[Il_leone]

I remember JB stating at the time the car was designed to suit his driving style. One of the main reasons he was so far behind in my view

http://www.worldcarfans.com/110072827638/schumachers-car-designed-for-me---button

It's a tough ask to expect a driver who's 40, even a driver of Schumacher's calibre to comeback after 4 years out and perform anywhere near to his best out of the box.

it would have made sense for the car to be designed for Button being the world champion and the lead driver at Brawn then before Mercedes decided to stall the contract offer in 2010 and it did feel more understeer then which suited Rosberg better than Schumacher who prefers oversteer

 

[Il_leone]

So is Schumacher. Are you sure it's not the car that is going backwards in the race, as all pundits and analysts are suggesting? They are crap on thier tyres and the advantage thier F-Duct gives them in qualifying is much lesser in the race.

We are not agreeing on much today, are we?

the F Duct device in the Mercedes somehow has been able the car to maintain speed without causing understeer as Gary Anderson pointed out and Schumacher does not like understeer and has already said he is working less behind the wheel

Having said that the Mercedes yesterday wasted fresh sets in Q2 so were only able to do 1 run

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Hmm. I had to trace this back to remember where we had started.

I accept that the change in regulations this year may have brought the car towards Schumacher. However, until thier race weekends stop falling apart I will reserve judgement as to wether this is the case.

 

[Il_leone]

also it has been reminiscent of Rosberg 2009 where he shows flashes of speed then when it comes to the crunch q3 he does not deliver

I know Nico was denying being the new Nick Heidfeld and defending himself saying no one will win in the Mercedes last year

Well he better step up if he is thinking about alternative options say Mclaren and Ferrari quickly or he could make way for Di Resta and Mercedes keep Schumacher ... its just a possibility a bit early to start silly season

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Well he better step up if he is thinking about alternative options say Mclaren and Ferrari quickly or he could make way for Di Resta and Mercedes keep Schumacher ... its just a possibility a bit early to start silly season

Fair. Apart from that I can't see what more Schumacher has achieved for the team.

 

[Il_leone]

Fair. Apart from that I can't see what more Schumacher has achieved for the team.

there was talk he was offered a contract extension plus he is more happy with the car and those bigwigs in Stuttgart need some justification for Schumacher to come back paying £20m a year when they sacked a lot of factory workers blaming recession and cutting costs

So schumacher winning races if he does not deliver the title is a good enough reason with all the PR that goes with it for the SIlver arrows

 

[ExtremeNinja]

But he's not winning races. Now I'm really confused.

 

[Il_leone]

But he's not winning races. Now I'm really confused.

No Schumacher is not winning races but someone in Stuttgart has to justify paying Schumacher that amount of money and does not want to be embarassed and the potential PR of the greatest German driver winning in a Silver Arrows is something they want to fulfill a promise from 20 years ago

They will not drop Schumacher by sacking him they will leave it for Schumacher to decide to quit or not. Therefore Rosberg is under more pressure especially as Di Resta is contracted to Mercedes and is expected to graduate to the team,

Hulkenberg is managed by Weber formerly Schumacher;s manager and got good contacts with Mercedes still

lastly Vettel is considered as an option at the moment despite playing down rumours

 

[ExtremeNinja]

That is some very strange logic. Isn't it every drivers job to justify thier own seat through results. Nobody can do that for them. As things stand, Mercedes don't have a single point.

Your arguments are extremely loose and I'm not quite sure of what your point is.

Are you saying that Rosberg's seat is currently under threat?

 

[EvilWhippet]

People keep saying "new Heidfeld" like it's a bad thing.

How many times did Heidfeld lock up in an unforced error?
What it China 2009 or 2010? Rosberg lead than dropped it. Nick nearly never did that.

Truth is Rosberg's achieved nothing more, beaten nobody of his stature and made some clangers along the way. I'm becoming more and more of a skeptic as time goes by with Nico. I realy thought he'd be beating Schumacher on both days but Michael's got the advantage so far and clearly.

 

[Il_leone]

That is some very strange logic. Isn't it every drivers job to justify thier own seat through results. Nobody can do that for them. As things stand, Mercedes don't have a single point.

Your arguments are extremely loose and I'm not quite sure of what your point is.

Are you saying that Rosberg's seat is currently under threat?

Its early days but anything is possible because as I said Mercedes will not sack Schumacher... it will be far more embarrassing for them

I've said there are a list of candidates Mercedes have in mind and you add Hamilton to the mix as well possibly but I feel he is an outsider to the other 3 mentioned

For Rosberg to lose to Schumacher will not be good for his reputation going forward

Last year you could Rosberg had the edge over Schumi in quali but in the race it was close in a car in no man's land because Renault, FOrce India and Toro Rosso were not quite fast enough to mix it

Now Nico has lost the qualifying edge and had two poor races ..okay its not like Ferrari with the knives out but it must be concerning Nico now Schumi is faster than him

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I don't know why you are talking about either Mercedes driver getting the sack or the possibility of them getting the sack.

Schumi has outqualified Rosberg twice and neither has achieved a race result. All this talk is really quite sensationalist. It's so far out that it seems really quite odd to be discussing it.

 

[Tacitus]

As things stand, Mercedes don't have a single point.

I thought they had one.

 

[FB]

I think they should sack Ross Brawn personally...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I thought they had one.

Doh! Still, despite my error all this talk of drivers getting sacked is nonsense. FB is closest to the mark given that thier real problem is building a car which is competitive over a race weekend.

 

[The Pits]

Personally, I think that 2 races into a season is too early to make judgements on any driver really, especially taking the conditions into account. It is not really wise to ignore the last 2 seasons as an indicator of form either.

I am not Nicos biggest fan, but he is doing a solid job in a car which to be honest has never really looked like troubling the front teams too much, despite trips to the sharp end occasionally. Old Man schumi is coming back now, but, as I have said, so far this year it is impossible to say how things will pan out.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Now that seems a lot more rational.

 

[OnTheLimit]

So is Schumacher. Are you sure it's not the car that is going backwards in the race, as all pundits and analysts are suggesting? They are crap on thier tyres and the advantage thier F-Duct gives them in qualifying is much lesser in the race.

We are not agreeing on much today, are we?

i personally hold the view its driver. Schumacher fell back to 16th after his unfortunate collision with Grosjean and he fought his way back up to 10th to nick a point. Rosberg on the other hand started 8th, had no major problems in the race but for some reason finished 13th. Its not just these last two races..same thing happened nearly every single season last season. The guy just isnt good enough but i hope he proves me wrong

And yes, were not agreeing on much but the world would be a boring place if we all agreed on everything