I woke up late today and I haven’t seen much about F1 racing on television. So I decided to browse the pages of motorsport.com to educate myself with the latest happenings at the Formula One racing events. Aside from finishing research about the Volkswagen brake master cylinder, I also ended up reading an interview at Williams with Nico Rosberg.
Question: What’s your view of the season as a whole?
Nico Rosberg: The balance of the year has been positive. In many ways, it’s been a good year for me. As is normal during a long season, we had some ups and downs. Races seemed to start off well in the opening rounds of the season, but the results just weren’t there. As the season progressed, though, we were able to capitalise on strong starting positions, get some good results and consistently collect championship points. So yes, it was a good year.
Question: The FW29 seemed a stronger proposition from its predecessor, why was that?
Rosberg: We’ve definitely made progress since last year and achieved that in a number of different ways. A lot of improvement came following some careful restructuring of the existing team and then by bringing a few very skilled and experienced new people onboard. From the very first tests, the FW29 was working pretty well which allowed us to further develop it throughout the season, both at the factory and on the track.
Question: You seemed a lot more comfortable in the car this year, was that the case?
Rosberg: One of the key things I really noticed this year was that, while the car was improving both mechanically and aerodynamically, we were also managing to set it up in the most advantageous way for most of the circuits. I was able to get the speed more consistently and, together with my engineers, we were able to set up the car to a balance that really suited my driving style which meant I could really push for it. This led to many fantastic moments, particularly in qualifying where I managed to make it into Q3 11 times. Some of the race results even proved quite surprising this year!
Question: Do you feel you’ve made some personal progress since your rookie season?
Rosberg: For sure. I learnt a lot in my first year and that allowed me to prepare myself differently for my second year in Formula One. I knew exactly which areas to concentrate on. I am very critical of myself, so I am good at seeing where to develop, which helped me to improve things quicker. The routines involved in race preparation also slotted into place, so this season was relatively normal. It naturally takes some time to adapt to new things when you go into a different world, but this year there weren’t any surprises. My development, combined with that of the team’s, meant we were able to get some good results. I think with an even stronger car, I could show what I can really do.
Question: What were the highlights of your season?
Rosberg: I think the best memory comes from Spa. After the pre-race test, we weren’t convinced we were going to be particularly competitive so I was expecting a poor weekend. However, a great lap in qualifying put me in sixth position on the grid. Going into the first corner at the start of the race, there were just two Ferraris and two McLarens ahead of me and that was good to see!
Do you want to know more about the news? Motorsport.com has the complete story.