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Why Nico Rosberg is a world class driver who was criminally underrated: A thread
Firstly we’ll look at the statistics. In his 11 seasons as formula 1, Rosberg finished ahead of his teammate in 7 of those 11 seasons. 2015 is the only season he was comprehensively beaten by a teammate.
Lewis Hamilton was only beaten by a teammate in 2 of his 13 full f1 seasons. 2011, by Jenson button, and 2016, by Nico Rosberg. Not even Alonso, in Hamilton’s rookie year, managed to beat him in the same machinery. So that’s a serious feat, even considering nico’s 2016 luck.
Now for his performances at Williams. In 2009, nico scored 34.5 points for Williams. His teammate scored zero. 2009 is famous for having a ridiculously close grid. The Williams was not one of the faster cars on this grid, yet Nico achieved these consistent results.
Now for his performances relative to schumacher. In 2010, Nico didn’t just marginally beat him. He trounced him, nearly doubling his points. Schumacher was only out of the sport for 3 seasons and certainly wasn’t a bad driver between 2010 and 2012. But Nico beat him every season
In 2011 and 2012 the gap between the two of them decreased, and considering Schumacher was competitive in 2010, still finishing 9th (albeit miles behind nico) this is more of a sign of Schumacher returning to his old level rather than being ‘less bad’ than he was in 2010
Despite this, Nico beat him in each of these seasons. Am I saying he is a better driver than Schumacher? Absolutely not. It’s still impressive nonetheless.
Finally, comparing nico’s results against Lewis to valterri’s.
2013: Lewis 189 points. 1 win. 1 retirement. Nico 171 points. 2 wins. 2 retirements
2014:Lewis 384 points. 11 wins. 3 retirements. Nico 317 points. 6 wins. 3 retirements. (Last race was double points)
2013: Lewis 189 points. 1 win. 1 retirement. Nico 171 points. 2 wins. 2 retirements
2014:Lewis 384 points. 11 wins. 3 retirements. Nico 317 points. 6 wins. 3 retirements. (Last race was double points)
2015: Lewis 381 points, 1 retirement. 10 wins. Nico 322 points. 2 retirements. 6 wins
2016: lewis 380 points. 2 retirements. 10 wins. Nico 385 points. 1 retirement. 9 wins
2017: Lewis 363 points. 0 retirements. 9 wins. Valtteri 305 points. 1 retirement. 3 wins.
2016: lewis 380 points. 2 retirements. 10 wins. Nico 385 points. 1 retirement. 9 wins
2017: Lewis 363 points. 0 retirements. 9 wins. Valtteri 305 points. 1 retirement. 3 wins.
2018: Lewis 408 points. 1 retirement. 11 wins. Valterri 247 points. 2 retirements. Zero wins
2019: Lewis 413 points. 0 retirements. 11 wins. Valterri 326 points. 2 retirements. 4 wins
2019: Lewis 413 points. 0 retirements. 11 wins. Valterri 326 points. 2 retirements. 4 wins
Even in his weaker seasons, Nico was closer to lewis than Valtteri has ever been. Nico was on another level to Valtteri. Appreciate Nico Rosberg. He is the man who pushed Lewis Hamilton, one of the best ever drivers in f1, so hard that he cracked.
