F1 TITLE FIGHT 2015
NICO ROSBERG
Merc PR machine
pushes ‘one-love’
message to world
WorldMags.net
MARCH 5 2015 AUTOSPORT.COM 23
23
PREVIEW
MASON/GETTY
“I KNOW
HOW GREAT
IT FEELS TO
BEAT LEWIS.
IT’S EXTRA
MOTIVATION”
SEASON
German outdid Hamilton 12-7 in their intra-team
qualifying battle (including 11 pole positions), but
it was Hamilton who usually had the upper hand
when it came to the complex mixture of driving
style and set-up that allows a driver to save fuel
and maintain better pace over a race distance.
Hamilton was undoubtedly the cannier racer in
2014, and was almost unstoppable when on the
sort of roll with which he finished the year.
The challenge for Rosberg is to build on his
phenomenal qualifying efforts of 2014, and
convert more of his hard-earned poles into
victories by cutting out the small errors that
make all the difference when two quality drivers
compete against one another in equal machinery.
Poor reliability afflicted both at crucial times,
but it was errors when presented with a golden
opportunity to beat Hamilton in a straight fight
don’t last very long. And then it’s straight back
to pushing for the next one.
“I’m here for the challenge, so I’m always
motivated, but I have an extra… it’s just a natural,
extra little bit of something to have this memory
from last year with me. I know how awesome it
feels to win races, and I know how great it is
when I beat Lewis, and all these little things are
a little bit of extra motivation.
“I want to become an even better driver again
this year. That’s my
aim, my personal
challenge, and it’s a
great challenge to push
and try to get better and
better all of the time. It
started from the first
moment after the race
in Abu Dhabi last year.
That’s why I did the
test right after the race
– to try to learn some
things, and I did.
“I learned some
things from my training
in the winter too. For
example, that my
breathing is something
I could work on in the
racecar. When we go
through fast corners
we hold our breath,
because we have so
many g-forces that we can’t really breathe
properly, so I’ve tried to work on that in the
winter. I think it could help to be that little bit
fitter at the end of races, and be a little more
on it, that one per cent, two per cent, which
makes a difference in the end.”
Rosberg won’t reveal exactly how he will
achieve this, but the breathing technique he refers
to is believed to derive from the sort of practice
fighter pilots employ to control their breathing
XPB IMAGES
XPB/LAT
W orldMags.net
that sapped vital life out of Rosberg’s challenge.
Usually – and critically – these errors came
during moments when Hamilton would turn up
the wick to put his team-mate under pressure.
At Monza, Hamilton was told to sit back and
save his tyres for a late-race attack, but decided
instead to begin a charge that ultimately led to
Rosberg outbraking himself (twice) at the first
chicane, running down the escape road and
conceding a race-winning advantage. In the
United States GP, Rosberg
converted pole into an early
lead, but – once again –
made a crucial mistake as
Hamilton attacked, pressing
the wrong button on his
steering wheel while
attempting to use some
recovered energy from his
hybrid systems to defend
position. Another small
error, but yet another
race lost as Rosberg’s
early points lead was
eroded and overturned.
Rosberg was clearly gutted
to miss out on last year’s
championship. He completed
the slowing-down lap after
the Abu Dhabi finale with
tears in his eyes as he
brought his hobbled
Mercedes back to the pits.
But he is not vanquished. As any top sportsman
should, he is determined to come back harder,
better and stronger in 2015.
“Fortunately for me, in sport the success, the
emotion, is always shortlived,” he says. “In this
case it was very fortunate for me, because that
means life went back to normal very quickly,
within one or two days. It was rather quick. And
that’s natural, that’s the way it is with sports.
It gives you these extreme highs, but they