The 2016 F1 champion for the Mercedes team, Nico Rosberg, has recently gotten into a verbal fight with Red Bull and Max Verstappen. After the Dutchman failed to come first in the Saudia Arabian Grand Prix, he has been distraught with himself and the team. Apparently, there was a team meeting after the race that Verstappen left abruptly because he had a stomach illness. However, Nico Rosberg came forward to criticize Verstappen that he should not have left the meeting, no matter what.
Rosberg noted that a team that has worked so hard to build the best car on the grid at present should not get such treatment in that fashion, and even the drivers of the team should be careful about it. However, Max Verstappen’s team had explained that it was an emergency for Max as he was already feeling sick before the race in Jeddah began. Hence, the German 2016 champion’s comment did not sit well with the Dutchman’s team. Amid the jibber-jabber from both parties, Nico Rosberg has once again stated something that could unleash a big war between two big rivals.
Nico Rosberg Thinks Mercedes Boss Is Still The Best
Rosberg was part of the F1 coverage of Sky Sports in Jeddah. There, he talked about the difference between the Mercedes team and the Red Bull team. Apparently, Rosberg still hails Mercedes boss Toto Wolff as the best F1 team boss in the current season. Wolff started his journey as a team principal from the Williams Racing Team. Later in 2013, he joined Mercedes and also bought a healthy share of the Mercedes F1 team. What happened since the following year is a bit more than a great success story for any F1 team in history.
With Lewis Hamilton handling the steering wheel and Wolff as the boss, the German team was unbeatable. In 2016, Nico Rosberg became the first F1 driver to beat Hamilton in a season as his teammate. Apparently, after Toto Wolff came in Mercedes, there was a drastic change. In the turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes won eight consecutive constructor’s titles and seven driver’s world championships, with Nico winning one in 2016. But with the beginning of the cost-cap era, Mercedes began to lose control over the titles. Hamilton lost the driver’s championship narrowly, and Max Verstappen emerged as the new champion in 2021. In the same year, Mercedes had won their last constructor’s title, though.
Rosberg Might Need To Apologize To Verstappen
Nico Rosberg says it is a difficult phase for any team and any boss. After having such a humongous success, it will depend on the team’s character to see if they can bounce back after going through this challenging phase. Whatever happens, Rosberg believes that Toto Wolff is the best boss as he has got experience driving under him.
On the other hand, Rosberg also needs to deal with the angry members of Verstappen’s team. They already have a hard time adjusting to a defeat to Sergio Perez. And then these comments of Nico Rosberg are nothing but an insult to injury. Sergio Perez has proved to be a worthy threat to Verstappen’s third title hopes. After the first two races of the season, the Mexican is only a point away from the current double-time champion teammate.
