Nico Rosberg, in his prime, was a phenomenal driver. The only Mercedes teammate who could look eye-to-eye with Lewis Hamilton. Though George Russell is expected to do so once Mercedes are a championship contender.
But Rosberg at Mercedes was a beast himself. And when two lions are in a cage, it usually ends up in havoc. That’s what happened in 2016. The rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg peaked.
After losing to his teammate in the first two title challenges, the German race driver finally managed to win the championship. He retired as a hero. A guy who defeated Hamilton for the championship in the same car. The feat was never done before and never have been repeated.
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Nyck de Vries is like Nico Rosberg, claims an ex-karting coach
Nyck de Vries, after his impressive cameo for Williams at Monza, impressed the Red Bull bosses. So much so that they willingly brought a Mercedes product into their camp to replace Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri.
The 2019 F2 champion got a late break into F1, but it’s been worth it for de Vries. Now, ahead of his full-fledged F1 season, his former karting coach compares the Dutch race driver to Rosberg.
“Nyck’s driving style is very similar to Nico Rosberg’s. They are calculating and weigh their chances in the car,” Dino Chiesa told Formule1.nl. De Vries has been heavily hyped by F1 fans for his continued success everywhere.
After winning the F2 championship, he won the Formula E title in 2021. But it was never enough to get him a breakthrough in F1, but one rare surgery of Alex Albon skyrocketed de Vries’ career.
He defeated his predecessor
De Vries, like any other F1 driver, started his journey in the karting competition. Chiesa tells Formule1 that when the aspiring race driver started his rookie year in karting, Alpine driver Gasly was in his sophomore year.
looking forward to seeing more of @nyckdevries getting his elbows out this year 😤
🎥 x @Formula2 pic.twitter.com/qUdhM6nI2c
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) January 20, 2023
Yet he managed to defeat his Alphatauri predecessor. For him, this is a great endorsement of his racing skill set. But will he be able to replicate that in an F1 car? That remains to be seen.
In 2023, de Vries will be teaming up with a much younger Yuki Tsunoda, but ironically it’s the former’s rookie year. So, who will lead the team is still unknown.
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