Nico Rosberg is putting his money on the experience of Lewis Hamilton being the decisive factor in his feud with Max Verstappen for the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship title.
The Red Bull driver leads the Mercedes man by 12 points with five races to go, Round 17 happening this weekend in Mexico. Up until now, the season has been something of a rollercoaster ride in terms of performance swings, both drivers leading the standings during the championship adventure.
Thrown into it all is controversy in the form of the two crashes (Monza and Silverstone) and several wheel-to-wheel moments that have F1 fans on edge. Hence camps are divided as things get super serious. The needle in this match is between two teams rather than two drivers, within the same team, as it has been for far too long.
This is a real deal of a championship and unique rivalry, which had Rosberg fired up during an interview with Sky F1: “It’s exciting as ever, it’s unbelievable. You have the two best of their generations going head to head and Verstappen is really in unbelievable form at the moment.
“But somehow I just think that Lewis, with his experience, is still going to pull it his way at the very end” adding he believed “Verstappen is under more pressure because it’s the first time he’s in this situation.
“Lewis has done this before, he’s already won seven titles, he’s been in a title fight towards the end of the season nine or 10 times. For Max, it’s the first time ever and that is such an extreme situation to be in.
“It’s your dream that’s at stake, to be Formula 1 world champion, you don’t really know if you’ll ever have another chance, with the regulations changing next year you don’t know if the Red Bull is still going to be a fast car.
“So there’s a lot at stake and really the pressure is on Max to deal with this, being new to this kind of situation.”
But at the same time, Verstappen has been mighty all season, showing a maturity that belies his age. But he is still only 24-years-old, Hamilton is more than ten years older.
Rosberg said of Verstappen: “So far he’s been doing amazingly. One doesn’t even see that he’s under pressure, it’s incredible how he’s dealing with it. That’s why he’s also so strong at this point in time. Let’s see how it continues.”