Sitting on a sofa in his little preparation room on the upper floor of
Mercedes’ paddock home in Korea, the 27 year-old insists he is not bothered
about “proving” himself to anyone, simply about winning.
The first clue that Rosberg might care more than he lets on is his defensive
response to a query as to whether Hamilton will provide him with his first
real benchmark. “Is Michael Schumacher not a real benchmark?” he asks. It is
a valid question, of course. Schumacher is a seven-time world champion; a
man Rosberg was also given little hope of beating when Schumacher chose to
end his self-imposed three-year exile from the sport in 2010.
Ironically, the beating Rosberg has administered to his team-mate over the
past three seasons – out-qualifying his elder compatriot 37 times to 16
prior to Sunday’s Korean Grand Prix and outscoring him 324pts to 201 – did
not so much cement Rosberg’s reputation as damage Schumacher’s legacy.
“Personally, I feel that Michael is still driving very well,” Rosberg says of
his outgoing team-mate. “He is one of the best of all time. Full stop. But
no, no, I understand where you’re coming from and I’m excited by the
challenge Lewis will provide. If that’s exciting for other people to see
then that’s fantastic. That’s why we’re here. We’re here to put on a show.”
What kind of show will it be? If Rosberg can even push Hamilton it will be
fascinating to see the latter’s response. It is difficult to know to what
extent Jenson Button’s form during the second half of last year contributed
to Hamilton’s erratic state of mind, but the pressure he was under must have
contributed. Is Rosberg capable of applying similar pressure?
And how friendly are they really? They were certainly good friends at one
stage of their lives. Despite totally different upbringings – Rosberg the
privileged upbringing in Monaco, Hamilton the council estate in Stevenage –
Hamilton used to be invited to play on the yacht of Rosberg’s father, 1982
world champion Keke.
Did Hamilton consult him before taking the decision to move to Mercedes?
“Yeah, of course. We had a few chats but he never made it clear to me in which
direction he was going. We’ve been laughing a lot about it since because we
used to joke, when we were around 14 – it must have been Michael and Mika
[Hakkinen] at the time – that it would be us up there one day in the top F1
car, racing each other, fighting each other for wins. And now it’s actually
happening. It’s quite crazy.”
For all that, Rosberg admits he and Hamilton “haven’t been that close” in
recent years. Perhaps he, too, has been alienated by Hamilton’s behaviour in
recent years; the constant drama which seems to attend the McLaren star.
“That’s just the perception in the media. I’m not worried,” Rosberg shrugs,
adding that he has just had Michael Schumacher, the most successful and
controversial driver of all time, as a team mate. “You couldn’t get a much
bigger spotlight,” he points out.
Rosberg certainly appears calm. You hope for his sake there is fire in that
belly because he will need it to beat Hamilton. Their rivalry will only
really spark, though, if they are competing for wins and championships, and
there is some doubt that will happen any time soon. Hamilton said in Japan
last week that he did not expect to win any races next year but Rosberg
believes he was just trying to lower expectations.
“I expect to win next year,” he says. “I don’t know how many races but I
expect to win next year. I have won once so far this year and we need to
move forward. I wouldn’t talk about the championship, that is not realistic
at the moment, but I expect us to be winning races.”
And if they are? Who will be following who home? Rosberg pauses. “Lewis was my
karting team-mate. We had massive battles at the time. That is what I am
looking forward to: battling Lewis again. I don’t have it in the back of my
mind that if I beat him it will be the ultimate recognition.
“I’m confident I will do a good job. Then it is difficult to anticipate how it
is going to be. Lewis is massively quick. I know that from when we competed
in go-karts. He won and I finished second in that championship.
“But Formula One is different. Let’s see.”