While Rosberg, whose championship lead was narrowed to four points after his
retirement at Silverstone, was relaxed about Fifa’s interference, he did
seem bewildered.
“All the things you have to think about?” he joked, sitting next to the
modified design. “It’s amazing that even a trophy has its trademark, just
sticking it on a helmet.” He went on: “That was a surprise, but of course I
fully understand. It was a pity as it looked really cool with the trophy on
top. Anyway, replaced it now with a big star and no one can take that away.
The star is ours.”
Rosberg has regularly posted messages of support for the German team on
Twitter. After watching the final last Sunday with his family in Monaco –
his mother is German and his father is Finnish – he decided to celebrate at
his home race.
Rosberg’s management did not contact Fifa before they designed the helmet. The
29-year-old published a picture on Twitter on Tuesday, evidently alerting
Fifa. They emailed the driver’s agent on Wednesday night and the image of
the trophy was quickly removed on Thursday morning.
A Fifa spokesman said: “We appreciate Nico Rosberg’s desire to congratulate
the German team and have therefore been in discussions to attempt to find a
solution, whereby he is still able to show his support for Germany without
using Fifa intellectual property in a commercial context.”
Surely Rosberg’s helmet design was just a piece of harmless fun? Apparently
not. It added that Fifa is “obliged” to take action as a failure to do so
could potentially damage its “commercial affiliates”.
Clearly Mercedes were not cowed by the intervention, with the crest of the
German national team along with the four stars – albeit it with the fourth
replaced by their three-pointed company emblem – showing proudly on their
motorhome.
They are not the only ones in F1 who have a change of scenery this weekend.
Jenson Button’s former race engineer, Dave Robson, will now work from the
factory in Woking, with former Olympic rowing silver medallist Tom Stallard
filling the breach.
For more than 40 staff at Caterham however, it was a more drastic change of
setting, as the team announced a series of high-level redundancies. The team
are under new ownership after Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes pulled
out this month.