Nico Rosberg: It’s hard to admit that a partner is better than you

Nico Rosberg retired from motorsport shortly after winning the world title in 2016, but continues to keep a close eye on everything that happens in the world of Formula 1, and his Rosberg X Racing team has been successful in the Extreme E off-road electric series.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca, the former driver spoke about this championship, plans for the future and also shared his thoughts on the situation in Formula 1.

Q: Your team’s riders compete with Carlos Sainz Sr.’s team. in Extreme E, took two victories in the last stage and are serious about winning this championship for the second time in three years…
Nico Rosberg: Absolutely, this year Spain Acciona | Sainz XE Team is the strongest. Everyone on the team is doing a great job and very fast riders – Laia Sans and Mattias Ekström – are performing for it.

Laia has made incredible progress because in the beginning she was quite behind, she made a lot of mistakes and everything, but over time she became one of the fastest racers. Now she is almost not inferior to men, she fights well on the track, and it is not easy to beat this team.

Question: In the first season in Extreme E your Rosberg X Racing dominated and became champion, in the second season Lewis Hamilton’s team was ahead – maybe you apply something that Formula 1 taught you in your work, but the rest don’t such an experience?
Nico Rosberg: Such an advantage, which we achieved in the first season, is now unattainable. To win the championship, you now have to show consistently high results. But we in our team are really applying some of the approaches taken from Formula 1, and it helps us.

The core of the team consists of specialists who previously worked successfully in the DTM, but I also try to contribute, give my vision and share the experience gained in Formula 1, especially in terms of working with settings. I think our team has no equal.

Q: The progress the riders are showing in Extreme E is really great, don’t you think?
Nico Rosberg: Yes, absolutely right. They are closer to males in speed and compete with each other on an equal footing. Just look at Leah Block, she is still very young, for example in the last stage of one of the interviews she kept eating chocolate ice cream! In my opinion she was an excellent addition to our championship.

Q: Perhaps one of your daughters would like to follow her example? Would you personally like it?
Nico Rosberg: Absolutely not! I would be terribly afraid for them if they drove these cars over rough terrain, because the risk of problems is very high. If they want to get into motor racing I won’t get involved, but if you ask if I want this I’ll answer no.

Q: Once, when you were in Formula 1, the Mercedes team dominated the championship and it was said that you and Lewis could win all the races of the season. Do you think this is possible?
Nico Rosberg: In theory, it’s probably possible. But if we talk about the current season, the complexity of the situation for Red Bull Racing is that now only one of its drivers can win races, while the second is behind due to various problems. But Max Verstappen is really capable of a lot of victories.

He is a phenomenal racer. I believe he will rise to the same high level that were the best racers in Formula 1 history – Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton … Max will definitely be in the top five. He himself is incredibly fast and the team has provided him with a great car.

But look at his teammates: they are all good pros, but they fail to get close to Max in terms of results. Recording this is beyond the power of Sergio Perez, although he is a good racer I know him very well. But admitting that a partner is better than you is always very difficult psychologically.

I know this from my own experience, I was in a similar situation with Hamilton – it’s always difficult when you have a very fast partner. Someone might say that if the same driver always wins, it’s not good for Formula 1. But sometimes it happens.

However, against this background, there are many other interesting events. For example, both McLaren drivers have improved noticeably, and that is very good. Now we don’t know who will finish second.

Q: What can you say about Fernando Alonso? How do you rate his season?
Nico Rosberg: I am a big fan of Fernando because at 42 he is performing at an incredibly high level. He’s a real gladiator and it’s a pleasure to watch him fight against Hamilton and Verstappen. In every corner he gives 100% and I have always treated him with great respect.

When he retires from Formula 1, we would like to see him in Extreme E as he has experience in the Dakar rally raid. It will be great to see him on our series someday.

Q: You have gained a lot of experience in Formula 1, now you manage a team in Extreme E – would you like to manage one of the top teams in F1 in the future?
Nico Rosberg: I don’t see myself in such a position either in F1 or Formula E, because this job has to be given completely, to do it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I worked in such a mode while racing, it required complete self-denial and I no longer want to work with such intensity.

In my current schedule I like being able to work on the races with my team during the day, fly to Ibiza in the evening and sunbathe on the beach the next morning. Becoming the leader of a large team is therefore not in my plans.

Q: Will you continue to work in Extreme E when this series switches to hydrogen-powered engines?
Nico Rosberg: There is serious interest from our partners, because Extreme E could become the first championship in which cars will run on hydrogen. This is a very young series and it’s always interesting when a championship has its own characteristic feature.

Last year we negotiated with one of the car manufacturers and got assurances that we were ready to become our partner if we switched to hydrogen power plants. In general, wait.

Q: Are you attracted to new interesting projects? Maybe you want to switch to Formula E?
Nico Rosberg: This is due to serious financial problems, as finding sponsors is the most difficult task even for Extreme E. But I became a shareholder of Volcopter and in the fall of 2024 we plan to launch an air taxi in Paris.