Editor's Picks
F1 Champ Nico Rosberg on Rolex and On-Track Rivalry
Editor's Picks
F1 Champ Nico Rosberg on Rolex and On-Track Rivalry
The ultimate cool move from Rosberg came at the end of the 2016 season. After finishing second to Hamilton two years in a row, Rosberg won the championship in the final race of the season. Then, five days later, he turned and announced that, at the age of 31, he was done with it all, walking away as champion, never to return.
The Family Way
When he was competing, Rosberg’s watch choices were made for him, as team members were automatically made ambassadors for Mercedes sponsor IWC. Now that he is his own man, Rosberg has become the latest high-profile sports star to be named as a Rolex Testimonee. As a long-time Rolex-wearer this is a great fit, and once we have dealt with pesky questions about coming out of retirement, Rosberg is eager to show off the green-dial Submariner on his wrist, explaining how he bought it for himself five years ago when he first won the Grand Prix in Monaco – the German-born driver’s home since he was a baby.
The Competition Act
An ability to forge such strong, lasting relationships is something that appeals to Rosberg. This strikes a contrast to the constantly tense relationship with Lewis Hamilton. Much was made of the bad blood between the two, but they mostly managed to keep a lid on their emotions – at least in public. I ask Rosberg to imagine writing a list of all his favourite people in the world, starting with family and closest friends and working gradually downwards. How long would that list have to be before it included Lewis Hamilton?
“Oh, he doesn’t appear on the list,” Rosberg says flatly, before changing tack. “But if you told me to write a list of the people that I respect most, he would appear on that one. Because I have a lot of respect for him and his incredible achievements. What he does is phenomenal.”
Does he think there is any way they might one day sit down for a beer together? “Yeah sure, why not? It’s all just been because neither of us could accept losing. We both think we are better than the other and neither accepts coming second.”
When Nico won the title, the flamboyant Keke, himself known as more of a risk-taking driver, praised his son for the cerebral, scientific approach. “Not many people on the outside appreciate the effort that went into this,” he said, adding: “Nutrition, time differences, training, emptying the brain at the right time – it was all about performance.”
A great example of Rosberg Jr’s attention to the minutest detail is how, in the summer of 2016, he calculated that if he stopped cycling he could lose a kilo of muscle in his legs. “One kilo of bodyweight equals 4/100ths of a second per lap,” he said. “That is huge, sometimes the difference between first and second place. I stopped cycling and, after the summer, in Japan, I was on pole by 3/100ths of a second and I went on to win the championship.”
The Future’s Bright
He is still a massive fan of F1, watching every race with great interest. He says there is still work to be done to increase its appeal as a spectator sport, but he is hopeful that aerodynamic rule changes in 2020 should mean there is more overtaking, and that more needs to be done to level the playing field so that the middle-ranked teams have more of a chance to compete with the biggest teams.
If he doesn’t want to return as a driver, what about using his calculating mind to run an F1 team? “Yeah, I would love to, it’s a really cool job. The problem is the time commitment. It’s just as much as being a driver, and that is one of the reasons I stopped. It’s really intense and I’m not willing to work at that level of intensity again at the moment. Running a team is just as full-on, maybe even more so. Because they are all working at the weekend then, on Monday they are straight back in the office. At least as a driver you can go home and relax.”
Rosberg has two young daughters, aged one and three, and when he is not at home in Monaco, or travelling, he likes to relax at his family villa in Ibiza. He is a shareholder in Formula E, and is also involved with a number of start-ups, including the London-based What3Words, which aims to revolutionise mapping by dividing the entire world into individual squares 3m across and giving each one a unique three-word combination. That means no more looking at Google Maps and saying: “Well, it’s got to be around here somewhere…” It is one of many things that Rosberg is doing, and in all of them he hopes to make a difference. “What I do is all about impact, whatever I do I want to have an impact. A positive impact on our futures. Hopefully make returns as well, but most fundamentally impact. “
Maybe we could see a second career in tennis? “At one stage I thought I’m going for the Melbourne Grand Slam 2020, but I’ve given up on that. But no, honestly, I’m not that good. I am surprised how hard I’m finding it – maybe it’s my age.” Having just turned 33, Rosberg may have left it a little bit late to make it as a top-class tennis player. But as a young man with a family that he is clearly devoted to, he has a world of possibilities ahead of him. And for somebody so capable and focused, there are not many things that you would put past him.