Look out Lewis: The underrated talent of Nico Rosberg

Showing potential in pre-F1 days

Rosberg was barely 11 when he began his professional karting career. He would show his mettle early in his career back in Germany when, aged 17, he won the German Formula BMW, grabbing 9 victories, many of those in succession. His next impressive showing would come in 2002, when he beat the reticent Finn Heikki Kovalainen by a margin of 15 points to grab the GP2 title.

This impressive showing by a youngster who held dual German and Finnish nationalities impressed Williams so much that they arranged for a test drive for young Nico. It would be an opportunity that Rosberg would have missed at his own peril and those in his inner circle consider it the major turning point of his career.

Williams' would open its gates for this mercurial talent who was slated to debut in 2006 for the eminent F1 team, racing alongside none other than "Aussie Grit" Mark Webber. While the sheer thought of competing in Formula One, the stage where his father shone brilliantly excited Rosberg no ends, it also gave him a touch of sadness.

Not many knew that the young German had also secured a seat in the prestigious Imperial College at London for a degree in Aeronautics around the same time as his F1 debut. But Rosberg would take to the concrete turf for F1's racing car's blitzkrieg speed giving up a long cherished dream of taking to the skies.

Breaking into F1

Born to a German mother and a Finnish father, Nico who races under the German flag has kept his loyalties with Britain based racing teams. While Williams nourished the talented driver in him, with Mercedes, Rosberg seems to have truly matured into a competitive and very quick racing driver.

His first 4 years with Williams enabled the less experienced rookie to transform himself into an adaptable performer, going on to compete and team with established stars such as Mark Webber and Rubens Baricchello, another undermined racing star.

While his Williams years were less productive statistically, he did manage to break into the top 10 overall drivers, not once but twice, finishing 9th in 2007 F1 season where he drove with a Toyota powered engine in a season that belonged to Iceman Kimi Raikkonen, who claimed the world championship.

With an impressive 7th place finish in 2009, his final year with Williams AT&T, Rosberg earned respect from critics for a sterling drive at his home GP at Germany.

Starting 15th, he went on to finish at 4th, overcoming a scathing attack from Jenson Button. His impressive showings at China also did much to improve his credibility in the sport. In most part of his Williams outing, Nico leaped ahead of ex-teammate Alex Wurz and at times his own speed would seem to better his William's fallibility.

From 2010, ever since Rosberg switched to Mercedes Racing, his string of impressive performances have helped Mercedes dominate racing charts over its arch rivals Ferrari. First partnering with Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP Petronas for 2010, 2011 and 2012), easily the most successful name in F1 and also not the easiest driver to race with, Rosberg honed his craft under the threatening pace of 7 time winner.

In the process of lifting his game and learning the tricks of the trade under the auspices of the great German ace, he often outpaced Schumacher at testing circuits such as Monaco (where Rosberg resides), China, Malaysia and Bahrain.

2012 Chinese Grand Prix

Like with many racing drivers, the first ever podium finish is as interesting and eagerly awaited as the maiden race victory. Rosberg, who started as a back-marker in those early Williams F1 days and is now consistently featuring in the top 3 drivers in the fast-paced competition, has come a long way.

His first ever podium finish was at the Singapore Grand Prix, back in 2008. His hard-fought second place finish was his personal best career finish in the same year where current teammate Lewis Hamilton conquered supreme glory.

His first victory, though, eluded the bright German for 6 long years, ever since he sat in the cockpit of an F1 car in 2006. The Chinese Grand Prix of 2012 was special and unforgettable for many reasons. The first ever race where a legion of young drivers such as Sergio Perez (Mexico), Jean-Eric Vergne (France) and Nico Rosberg (Germany) competed with each other displaying flying speed in an intense competition left fans delighted.

The epic contest where the blonde haired Rosberg displayed true grit and competence over that of adversaries such as Vodafone McLaren's Jenson Button and teammate Michael Schumacher and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel became the focal point of his career.

In a stellar two pit strategy which leapfrogged Button's three pit strategy, Rosberg combined excellent speed and commitment to race to his maiden victory at Shanghai. Suffering from tyre degradation in the last final laps did little to thwart his foolproof plans to dominate.

He made the most of Button's third and final stop at lap 38, and he held on to P1 the moment he seized it – for 18 more laps in an intense fight to the checkered flag to win the 56-lap contest in 2012.

The podium saw the ever charming race winner erupt into a feverish spell of joy, having triumphed over adversaries like Button, Alonso, Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton and Raikkonen – which meant emerging on top of 18 world championships in all.

This was to be Mercedes’ first victory since the 1955 Italian grand Prix and winner Rosberg became the first ever German winner to win in a German race car.

Seasons 2014 and 2015

In the process of teaming up with Lewis Hamilton since start of 2014 season, the hybrid engines and superbly designed Mercedes cars have added penetrating power and immense speed to Rosberg's game, paving the way for great success.

For the duration of 2014 and a good part of 2015, especially in the season opener at Australia and the Red Bull Ring in Austria, Rosberg and teammate Hamilton have steamrolled their underpowered competitors at Red Bull Racing and Williams Martini F1. With superb straight line speed and better aerodynamic handling in slow corners, the Mercedes have been fortunate to be driving a car that whistles past the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel and Massa and Bottas' Williams.

The most significant year of his career thus so far was 2014, the last F1 season that saw Nico fighting with Hamilton, literally on the track and off it in an intense rivalry that spurred immense action on the circuits and pumped up the adrenaline of the F1 season where the world championship stood on the knife's edge.

Rosberg saw it all in a season where he was often given the cold shoulder by team Principal Toto Wolff and Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, who seemed to be wanting to see Hamilton triumph over Rosberg at all costs. Following their racing accident at Spa-Francorchamps at the Belgian Grand Prix, which saw Hamilton retire after sustaining a rear wheel puncture, saw 2^nd placed Rosberg booed on the podium.

How often do we come across a racer who drives to collect points for the team being booed on the podium in front of millions for an accident that clearly was the result of his competitors’ ineptitude as his own?

To further incite the German racing driver, Rosberg was even made to apologize to Hamilton in a private meeting arranged by Mercedes to keep up with its PR and fan following, the team dreading to lose out on either or both following the controversial incident at Spa.

The 2014 world championship decider at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit, made famous by Kimi's "leave me alone" in 2012, signaled a triumph for Hamilton who made the most of it following Nico's Mercedes' serious power failure.

The German has played a significant part in Mercedes sealing the constructors’ championship after the recently-concluded Russian Grand Prix. Rosberg had started that race on pole, with a sticky throttle leading to his retirement from a race he had looked primed to win, holding on to the lead