Early season star Nico Rosberg remains lucid
Nico Rosberg reflects on his victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir. Despite his invincibility on Sunday, the World Championship leader is keeping his feet on the ground. Ferrari's rivals are drawing ever closer...
Dominated in Qualifying by Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg repeated his Melbourne success by winning the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. The German driver expressed clear joy as he got out of the car.
This delight was evident in his post-race reactions: « Wow, what a weekend! I am very happy with how things are going right now. »
BOOM!! 🏆🏆 #BahrainGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Oh8ucadEm5
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) April 3, 2016
The majority of his victory was built at the start. Even from the dirty side of the track, Rosberg perfectly mastered his clutch to take off at the start, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. This moment was decisive.
« My good start was definitely the key to the success of my race – it was really a great moment, especially since we made the necessary efforts to work on the procedure. »
From there, Nico Rosberg was able to perfectly control the pace to secure victory. Kimi Räikkönen never got within four seconds of him. However, the strategy could have been up for debate, especially at the time of the third pit stop when the team hesitated to bring in their driver (only on the 40th lap, two laps after Räikkönen). Rosberg explains: “We opted for a cautious strategy; we made sure to cover the risk of a safety car.”
Gourmand, Rosberg gives an overall positive assessment that could have been even more flattering: « It’s an almost perfect weekend for me, only the qualification could have been better. What a start to the season, I must warmly thank the guys at the factory for this magnificent car. »
His performance was obviously praised by Toto Wolff, the executive director of the team: « Congratulations to Nico for this victory, he is on cloud nine at the moment. He made no mistakes – a flawless start and a race under control. He was fast when it was necessary, without taking any reckless risks. He deserves this new victory. »
The second victory for Robserg this season is the fifth consecutive since the Mexican Grand Prix at the end of October 2015. However, the German refuses to get carried away: “The situation is interesting for me but I am not specifically focusing on it, I take things race by race. It’s great to take the victory today, the second for me this season, but now I’m focusing on the next race in China.”
With these five wins in a row, Rosberg joins the exclusive club of 7 drivers with five consecutive victories or more. A club that includes six World Champions, such as Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and even his own teammate Lewis Hamilton. But the German doesn’t care: *Whether I’m on a streak of five wins, three, or any other number, it makes no difference.*
His measured remarks are also justified by the convincing form of Scuderia Ferrari. Kimi Räikkönen finished only 10 seconds behind the driver marked with the number 6: “We now know that Ferrari is close. We must continue our efforts because they have not yet shown what they are capable of. We must be very vigilant as they will come back even stronger in the upcoming races.”
In any case, Nico Rosberg seized all the opportunities that presented themselves in these first two races. The season is still very long, but his current strong streak gives him the legitimate right to hope for great things to come.
