May 10 (GMM) Nico Rosberg’s “humiliation” is finally over.
That is the claim of Mercedes’ always-blunt team chairman Niki Lauda, who had urged the German to urgently find a way to stop Lewis Hamilton’s “extra-terrestrial”-like run of form.
“The humiliation of the first races is over,” the F1 legend told RTL television after Saturday in Barcelona, where Rosberg finally broke Hamilton’s series of poles.
“That Nico is back is the best thing that can happen to the team now,” Lauda added. “The more the two push each other on, the better we can develop, even if it gives us more grey hairs on the pitwall.
“You see Ferrari with a problem now and racing with two different cars,” he quipped.
He is referring to Ferrari’s major new upgrade package for Barcelona, which was discarded by struggling Kimi Raikkonen’s side of the garage after Friday practice.
Lauda continued: “The gap to Ferrari has remained the same or even become greater.”
Indeed, Sebastian Vettel’s gap to pole on Saturday was almost eight tenths, up from four tenths in Bahrain.
“The gap is probably a little bit bigger than it was the last couple of races,” the four time world champion and Ferrari driver admitted.
