EXCUSES, EXCUSES - NICO ROSBERG AND HIS EXCUSES, POST RACE!

Rosberg (l) needs to overcome the mental scars inflicted by his teammate Lewis Hamilton(r)
Courtesy - Reuters 

Midway during the recently concluded Chinese Grand Prix, the race leader and the eventual winner Lewis Hamilton started to drive slowly, not at his usual breezing pace which he did until that point. His teammate, Mercedes second driver Nico Rosberg immediately spoke on the team radio, "Lewis is slowing down, can I go faster?". After watching F1 races for close to twenty years, I knew there was no problem with Hamilton's car and in my view it was a deliberate tactic - a kind of mind game if you may call it on Rosberg (my opinion). Not surprisingly, Rosberg, as usual fell into this trap as Sebastian Vettel came close to tail him and was within 1.5s as a result of all this. If Ferrari would have been competitive on the option tyres after the second pit-stop, I am pretty sure Vettel, and even Raikkonen would have been all over Rosberg! And what does that do to your confidence if you happen to be Rosberg?

Mercedes was miles ahead of Ferrari in terms of performance and it was good to see Vettel taking up the challenge to the Mercedes second driver. I re-iterate the fact, that Nico Rosberg is the second driver in the Mercedes set-up, and simply because he has not had an answer or a plan to get past his teammate on the race track. What does Nico Rosberg want? He wants to be a world champion and how does he plan to do that? By coming in second, race after race while his teammate takes the glory? or by making a statement on the track by getting past Lewis Hamilton? At this point, Lewis is clearly having an advantage and that is mainly due to the mental scars within Nico Rosberg. Instead of stating Lewis is slowing down on the team radio, try being a champion and overtake him and let's see what happens! Mercedes as a team can play it safe and they don't care who takes the top step as long as they bring 43 points from each race.

And then after the race, Nico Rosberg speaks out stating, wait, complaining - that Lewis Hamilton held him back by deliberately going slow. Lewis, quick to respond in his usual 'cool' and 'hip' fashion - "That was not deliberate (yeah right, Lewis!) and if Nico had been able to overtake him, he should have done that".

Personally, I would never pay money to watch Nico Rosberg's style of driving. I always get the feeling, he wants to live in the ideal world and everything has to go as per the plan. What kind of a racer you want to be, Nico? Opportunities do not come your way, you gotta make it happen. In this case, whether Lewis deliberately slowed down or not, you were more concerned about your tyres rather than looking for that 'opening' to break the shackles and race...challenge... and possibly go past him. Instead, your endless speeches, one after the other, does not make an iota of sense. In your quest of becoming a world champion, those words are sheer excuses!

Action speaks louder than words - in your case, both are being ineffective, while Hamilton has the last laugh at the conclusion each race, having got better of you on the track and in etching few of the mental scars.

Well, it's a long season ahead and if you (Rosberg) are serious about winning the championship this year, then start conquering your mental fears and overcome them. The problem is not the car, not the strategy, definitely not the team or don't even look at your teammate as an excuse - the problem which is holding you back is within you and I hope you realise it sooner or else you gotta be bidding your title hopes yet again this year.