ROSBERG RETIRES!

Yes, and well after Rosberg announced he left. So snubbed twice. I agree with DF1. Sauber seat is a compensation from Mercedes' end.

Not sure I follow. Bottas/Massa had the same car.

 

Yes, so their overall performances should be pretty similar due to the importance of the car in the overall results,as in 2016.Bottas marginally better results.

Likewise Stroll could be very close to Massa,mostly due to the car,which would still be a good performance from a rookie.

If it was 10% car and 90% driver importance then you could realistically expect a much better driver to be a lot further ahead than his 'weaker' team mate.without team orders.

As a result we have the kind of Noah's Ark syndrome ,going to the grid 2x2 etc.been going on for a few years now already.

 

I doubt Stroll will come even close to Massa in this first year. Massa has the experience to quickly setup the new car as they try the circuits.

 

Stroll has done a LOT of private testing. Last week he was testing solidly in Malaysia. 2014 car with 2016 engine. I'd be shocked if he's not close to massa.

Programme so far has cost papa stroll 150m.

 

Cool. I'm rooting for baby stroller

 

A case of more money than sense perhaps ?

Think what you can get outside F1 in motor racing for that amount.

Baby stroller has better deliver the goods ....

 

That level of testing will absolutely make an impact.

I still question his decision making though, but do genuinely wish him luck

 

I don't know man, his dad seems like he's enjoying the ride. Many people have 150m and nothing that will make them happy to spend it on. Plus if Stroll does well then he will actually get paid at some point. If he does poorly, his career could be over in one year. In other words, once you decide this is the approach, you better be fully committed.

 

JANUARY 18, 2017

Rosberg curious to watch successor



World champion Nico Rosberg says he is looking forward to seeing a "great battle" between Mercedes' new driving duo in 2017.

After an eleventh hour scrabble to replace Rosberg after the German sensationally quit Mercedes and F1, the team announced this week that Lewis Hamilton's new teammate will be Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.

"I was hoping the team would quickly find a perfect successor for me," DPA news agency quotes Rosberg as saying at a sponsor event.

"Valtteri is fast and reliable," he is also quoted as saying by Bild newspaper, "and now he has the best cockpit in formula one, so I hope he'll have fun.

"I'm glad the team has found a great replacement in such a short time," Rosberg added.

Finn Bottas, 27, said this week that he is ready to take on triple world champion Hamilton in 2017, but the Briton and Rosberg clashed at times over the past few years.

"Good luck for the fight with Lewis," Rosberg smiled. "It will surely be an interesting battle.

"I'm curious to see what he will achieve, and how he will do with Lewis."

 

A Finn replaces another Finn. ;-)

 

Dual nationality - German and Finnish, but ironically he does not speak Finnish.

 

I have dual nationality as well and I don't speak Finnish either

 

Dunno. So many of course made it to F1 by being a pay driver, but many of them (that lasted, I should notE) have ''earned'' the way they got the pay drive i.e. by being talented.

Something just irks me about Stroll. Entire career funded by dad. His own F3 entourage was larger than most TEAMS in F3. Papa bought baby Stroll into the most expensive team, bought them the best engines and had them all dyno'd to make sure the toddler got the very best performing engine, the very best of everything...

And now with his ridiculous, secret, testing programme. Other rookies have to make do with the sim but because of his dads funds, he's racking up huge mileage learning the car. The car is a 2014 car so that makes it legal, but it has many 2016 (+) upgrades on it. He'll be insanely well prepared.

I just don't know. It's a lot like a kid not making it to the college basketball team but gets in anyways because his dad buys the entire team new outfits and shoes to replace the worn out stuff, whilst the truly talented kid who really deserved to get in, gets booted to the side, losing his scholarship. Etc.

 

I would have thought Nico Rosberg more German than Finn.

 

He won't be the first one to get to the top echelon in motorsport because of his father's wealth. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
We will soon know if he is any good.

 

I hear you. If he fails it will be epic and funny. Same is true if he succeeds

 

See a poll coming "Will he beat grandpa Felipe?"

 

Actually probably Massa's duty this year is just to drive Stroll's reserve car round and round hoping he crashes just once per GP. Hope for their sanity his mechanics aren't the same as Maldonado's

 

Rosberg adopts nearly every country as his own to suit himself and try to gain publicity and support.

 

Rosberg didn't strike me as someone being after publicity. He rather appeared to be longing to return to his safe shell of his home and family (which, as far as I understand is and has been Monaco).

 

+1

 

I also have dual nationality and speak both languages badly! :-D

Keke is Finn but is of Swedish ancestry. According to wikipedia he chose not to speak/teach Finn to Nico, who in turn was raised and lived his entire life in Monaco.

Nico on the other hand speaks fluently English, French, Italian and even grasps some Spanish. RAI and Sky Sport Italia love him because his Italian is virtually perfect. They even mentioned some rumors that he and his wife live hidden in/near Milan but for tax purposes say they live in Monaco. His wife also speaks a bit of Italian.

 

The elton fans can't stand that Nico has more intelligence in his little finger than Elton has in his entire body. Anyone who can speak fluently two languages, let alone four, impresses me. I'm Sicilian, live in the U.K., and can barely hold the most basic Italian conversations despite my mammas best efforts. My daughter, on the other hand, I will make sure is dual linguistic as a minimum

 

N.Rosberg is fluent in German, not English. He speaks English very well, but his accent in English is quite German.

 

Off topic: I will forever avoid Milan in the future. Got lost too many times, and racked up too many tickets!!! LOL>