With the F1 paddock focused on the 20th anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s Grand Prix debut, his current teammate Nico Rosberg has revealed he has different early memories of the sport.
German Rosberg, whose father is Finland’s 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg, instead looks back to 1991 and Mika Hakkinen’s debut.
“My first memories of F1 are Mika Hakkinen at Lotus and Nigel Mansell at Williams,” said Rosberg, who turned 6 in mid 1991.
“Mika was actually in F1 earlier than Michael and I remember Mika better.”
In 2000, Rosberg – then 15 – remembers the Belgian grand prix, famous for Hakkinen’s awesome overtaking move on Schumacher.
“I was watching with my father at home. When Mika made the move I went outside and cried with joy and remember that my knees were shaking with excitement.”
As for 2011, Rosberg admits he has been surprised by his performance alongside Schumacher, who had been expected to considerably speed up on Pirelli tyres this season.
“Of course,” he said. “I was expecting it to be much tighter both in qualifying and in the points tables.”
Source:GMM
