[ElcinBoris]

He's done it very quietly under the radar, but I couldn't help noticing that Nico sits just 4 points off the Championship lead with 3 very solid finishes in a car that everyone says isn't "quite fast enough" yet - which makes me think that, IF Mercedes DO manage to find that last ounce of pace, he could be a real sleeper in the Championship.

I personally always thought Rosberg is the real deal, and while he's probably getting the LEAST attention of the top-8 "contenders" (even Webbo is generally being talked about more as a contender than Nico), Rosberg's talent for finishing races in the points with cars not fast enough (which is what he did with Williams) makes me think that he could string together plenty of podiums and wins to challenge for the title if the Merc finds the speed. So far, he is certainly leaving Schumacher in the dust, and Michael might find himself in the unfamiliar position of supporting another driver's title run in the (admittedly right now fictional) future!

[stuck_in_WA]

hummm wake me up after a few more races and we shall know

[Immusaatmonna]

He's done it very quietly under the radar, but I couldn't help noticing that Nico sits just 4 points off the Championship lead with 3 very solid finishes in a car that everyone says isn't "quite fast enough" yet - which makes me think that, IF Mercedes DO manage to find that last ounce of pace, he could be a real sleeper in the Championship.

I personally always thought Rosberg is the real deal, and while he's probably getting the LEAST attention of the top-8 "contenders" (even Webbo is generally being talked about more as a contender than Nico), Rosberg's talent for finishing races in the points with cars not fast enough (which is what he did with Williams) makes me think that he could string together plenty of podiums and wins to challenge for the title if the Merc finds the speed. So far, he is certainly leaving Schumacher in the dust, and Michael might find himself in the unfamiliar position of supporting another driver's title run in the (admittedly right now fictional) future!

Rosberg doesn't currently have a fast enough car and he doesn't have experience of winning so logically this year is too early for Nico. He's doing a superb job though.

[boxcigsnick]

So far this has been the season that us Nico fans have dreamed of! He's proved his critics wrong by being not only quick in qualifying but also solid in the races and picking up big points at all the GP's so far. Add into the mix that he is (atm) defacto team leader at Mercedes GP comfortably beating the legend that is M Schumacher and I should be peeing my pants with glee.

However it is still very early days and the car isn't there at the moment so I'll be keeping my expectations in check for the time being.

[dexterljohnthefinanceguy]

The same can be said about Kubica, though.

[SimSlim]

The same can be said about Kubica, though.

Maybe not. I wouldnt rate Petrov at the same level than MSC. Not yet.

[bapimporb]

rosberg still has never prooved he can go wheel to wheel look at how hamilton overtook him with east in melbourne, hes been lucky and taken advantage of other peoples misfortune so far you cant expect ferrari and mclaren to have many more bad weekends and redbull arent going to be plagued with mechanical failures for the whole season

[boxcigsnick]

rosberg still has never prooved he can go wheel to wheel look at how hamilton overtook him with east in melbourne, hes been lucky and taken advantage of other peoples misfortune so far you cant expect ferrari and mclaren to have many more bad weekends and redbull arent going to be plagued with mechanical failures for the whole season

With regard to the Melbourne pass; what more could Nico do? Lewis (in a far faster and class of the field McLaren) came charging up behind with a 10-15kph advantage, Nico defended the line but was passed. There isn't a driver on the grid (save Lewis himself with his questionable weaving) who could have defended that move.

As for the season as a whole, Robert Kubica made a season long charge out of being in the right place at the right time and continuing to pick up points when others had off days.

Good luck for China Nico

[xanonlinexan]

i'd say thats pretty much spot on, if the Merc continues to improve relative to the Ferrari, Mclaren and Red Bull then Rosbergs early consistency could pay dividends. if they get it right and he strings together a couple of mid season wins he could be right in the mix.

think it might be a step too far for him and the car though, with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all seemingly capable of winning races i don't think the merc will reach the required level of competitiveness to sustain a title challenge

[dexterljohnthefinanceguy]

Maybe not. I wouldnt rate Petrov at the same level than MSC. Not yet.

We are talking about championship chances, not petty joy for the haters. Obviously the 7 titles hurt a lot, if the Finns are taking pleasure of a German kid beating an old man (for now).
The point of my comment was that if the Renault improves, Kubica might be the driver who challenges for the championship the top guns, although if Nico is anything like his Dad, he might try to win it with a single victory...
However, realistically Mercedes GP and Renault, although fast, benefited from the mistakes of Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Red Bull and if the top three fix their problems, very quickly Rosberg and Kubica will disappear from the picture. And from past seasons I think that RBR, McLaren and Ferrari all have better development rate than the teams in Brackley and Enstone.

[VIAGRA-]

Nico is doing a great job so far this year. If he can keep it up he may well be able to take advantage of the quicker teams making mistakes and taking points from each other as they battle.

I think with a little more development the Mercedes will be closer to the big teams. Having MS on board along with Ross Brawn should be a big factor in development, even if Nico retains the upper hand in pure speed.



This is shaping up to be quite a year. Only 9 points between Massa in first place in the WDC and Kubica in 7th.

[ElcinBoris]

Well, the premise of my post wasn't so much RedBull, Ferrari and McLaren getting their act together and avoiding mistakes in the races to come (which seems unlikely, given that Ferrari probably will continue to make poor strategy decisions, RedBull will probably continue to have problems with mechanical DNFs, and McLaren will sooner or later be slapped with their traditional controversial penalties [all 3 with tongue-in-cheek, mind you]), but rather Mercedes' announced upgrade package being a success, catapulting them on the same level as the other 3... in which case Rosberg would be able to win races, and challenge for the championship, NOT having lost much ground in the races where Mercedes really wasn't up to snuff yet ...

[SimSlim]

We are talking about championship chances, not petty joy for the haters. Obviously the 7 titles hurt a lot, if the Finns are taking pleasure of a German kid beating an old man (for now).
The point of my comment was that if the Renault improves, Kubica might be the driver who challenges for the championship the top guns, although if Nico is anything like his Dad, he might try to win it with a single victory...
However, realistically Mercedes GP and Renault, although fast, benefited from the mistakes of Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Red Bull and if the top three fix their problems, very quickly Rosberg and Kubica will disappear from the picture. And from past seasons I think that RBR, McLaren and Ferrari all have better development rate than the teams in Brackley and Enstone.

Well, you didnt specify, you just compared Nico with Kubica. I only pointed out that Nicos teammate is of a bigger quality than Kubicas. Feel free to disagree.

You seem to have some weird hate for Finns which I find difficult to understand, but then again Im no psychiatrist. This has never been about nationalities, but being Keke´s son I rate Nico Finnish. Again youre free to disgree. Lighten up.

[dexterljohnthefinanceguy]

You seem to have some weird hate for Finns which I find difficult to understand

Not true I like Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen, Miko Hirvonen, Tomi Makinen... They are all very good drivers and I have especially nice memories from Mika, who was a brilliant driver and a true gentleman. I will never ever forget his brilliant victories in Luxemburg 1998, Spa 2000...
However I have enormous respect for Michael and to be it is stupid to gloat over his defeat from Rosberg when he is obviously past his prime, a la that Tennis guy, Bjorg? And equally weird to praise Nico, who has not yet done anything spectacular. He is solid, but he always was. He is doing what Kubica is doing, gaining points from the mistakes of other people. But IMO to do it with a Renault is more impressive.

[SimSlim]

Not true I like Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen, Miko Hirvonen, Tomi Makinen... They are all very good drivers and I have especially nice memories from Mika, who was a brilliant driver and a true gentleman. I will never ever forget his brilliant victories in Luxemburg 1998, Spa 2000...
However I have enormous respect for Michael and to be it is stupid to gloat over his defeat from Rosberg when he is obviously past his prime, a la that Tennis guy, Bjorg? And equally weird to praise Nico, who has not yet done anything spectacular. He is solid, but he always was. He is doing what Kubica is doing, gaining points from the mistakes of other people. But IMO to do it with a Renault is more impressive.

Fair enough. Dunno who Bjorg is but it could also be argued that Renault is not that bad. A rookie fought very well with Lewis in a Renault, which for me speaks a lot for the car.

[Narkeere]

Rosberg certainly deserves credit here. If Schumacher or some other famous driver with a significant fanbase was in a similar situation (4 points behind the WDC-leader in an inferior car), we would hear no end to the hype, how this guy is a real miracle-maker. So in the light of this let's not understate - Rosberg has clearly been one of the best drivers so far this season. He also had quite impressive seasons in 2007 and 2009. Who knows, maybe he can follow the path of Häkkinen and after spending many years in average cars and without a win finally becomes a title contender one day.

A lot of doubts have been about Nico due to being paired with unproven team-mates. When Rosberg was paired with Schumacher, it was also suspected that this may not boost his reputation at all. And as we can see, expected excuses have started appearing again - Michael is too old or hasn't adapted to the car, rather than Rosberg doing a great job.

Fair enough. Dunno who Bjorg is but it could also be argued that Renault is not that bad. A rookie fought very well with Lewis in a Renault, which for me speaks a lot for the car.

Hamilton was faster than Petrov though and they were fighting for position only because Hamilton had started from behind - one brave counterattacking manouver doesn't make Renault a match to McLaren. I don't know, why are you keen on downplaying Kubica - he is doing a brilliant job.

[Soadiassy]

Rosberg for the first time in his career is driving for a team to be considered in the top band of teams, but although they have won one title in their recent past, their car isn't the quickest. He starts the season expected to be number two in this team but the early races see him gather more points than his team leader who narrowly missed out on the title in his previous season, and despite not winning a race so far Rosberg is in and around the title hunt.

I could be quite easily talking about Keke in 1982. Having said that I don't expect Schuey to do a Reutemann and jack it in imminently, and if I was a betting man (which I'm not) I wouldn't have Nico down as a championship favourite by any stretch, but he is in the mix which is pretty much the most a Mercedes driver could have expected at this early stage.

[TobaccoNUE]

Agree with Brundle's assessment.

Rosberg needs to show he can fight against his peers ie. wheel to wheel within the top-4 teams and Kubica

[ElcinBoris]

Nico moves up to 2nd in the Championship, and the dream continues! I am crossing my fingers that the much-talked about "upgrades" for Mercedes coming next race will turn out to be a hit. Keep going quietly about your business, Nico.

[Narkeere]

Funny is that Rosberg seems to be on course trying to replicate his father's season from 1982. This comparison is valid for one more reason - Keke was also paired with an old fox. But 40-y-o Reutemann retired quite quickly after the season had begun.