Ten years after his 2016 Formula 1 World Championship title with Mercedes, Nico Rosberg is observing a landscape that feels strikingly familiar. The German team is once again dominant at the start of a new regulatory cycle, with young Italian talent Andrea Kimi Antonelli now at the centre of attention. Rosberg, present in the paddock as a Barilla ambassador, shares his reflections on teams, drivers, and internal dynamics within modern Formula 1.
For Rosberg, the starting point is clear: a team must become a real family. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “You start from a simple equation: the team must be your family. There are a thousand people working for you and at the same time cheering for what you do, even putting their lives on the line to make sure you can drive the best car. You work day and night in a team, you travel a lot, you make sacrifices and you become strongly connected to each other, arguing, forgiving… just like in a family.”
Without this deep bond, he believes it is impossible to build a winning project, because in Formula 1 you achieve nothing alone, and champions must be able to create the right atmosphere within the group.
Ten years after his 2016 Formula 1 World Championship title with Mercedes, Nico Rosberg is observing a landscape that feels strikingly familiar. The German team is once again dominant at the start of a new regulatory cycle, with young Italian talent Andrea Kimi Antonelli now at the centre of attention. Rosberg, present in the paddock as a Barilla ambassador, shares his reflections on teams, drivers, and internal dynamics within modern Formula 1.
For Rosberg, the starting point is clear: a team must become a real family. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “You start from a simple equation: the team must be your family. There are a thousand people working for you and at the same time cheering for what you do, even putting their lives on the line to make sure you can drive the best car. You work day and night in a team, you travel a lot, you make sacrifices and you become strongly connected to each other, arguing, forgiving… just like in a family.”
Without this deep bond, he believes it is impossible to build a winning project, because in Formula 1 you achieve nothing alone, and champions must be able to create the right atmosphere within the group.
Antonelli, an exceptional talent
Rosberg has known Antonelli since his karting days in his junior team and has no doubts about his potential. “A phenomenon, one of the greatest talents I have ever seen in karting alongside Max Verstappen.” He also recalls defending the young driver during difficult moments last year: “Last year, when he had some difficult moments and people were questioning his abilities, I kept repeating: ‘Calm down, you need to give him time, this kid will make it.’ And that is exactly what happened.”
Antonelli currently leads the World Championship with three wins in the first four races, a record-breaking start for such a young driver. However, Rosberg urges caution: “It is definitely early days, Kimi is only 19 years old and nobody has ever led the championship at such a young age. There is so much attention on him: in Italy everyone has fallen in love with him, in F1 he has already become a star, and that will be difficult to manage, as will the mistakes and tough moments that will inevitably come. But he has a huge opportunity in his hands and he knows it, because the car is fast and he can fight for big results.”
His main advice to the young Italian is simple: “Keep driving like this. And then he must be able to switch everything off, not listen to or watch what is being said about him, focus on the season race by race and see how it goes, also depending on the rivals he faces, because it is not guaranteed that it will be only a Mercedes battle for the entire championship.” Antonelli, Rosberg insists, must ignore outside noise and focus purely on driving.
Ferrari’s prospects, Hamilton, and Verstappen’s future
Rosberg is positive about Ferrari’s progress: “Good, they started strongly and the car is good. Something is still missing to fight consistently for wins, but they have done a great job compared to last year and I think they will return to winning Grands Prix soon.”
He is also pleased with Lewis Hamilton’s return to form: “I am also happy for Lewis, who finally seems to be back at his level and racing with joy after a really tough 2025 season for him. The integration with the new team was not easy, but now he finally seems to have adapted.”
Finally, Rosberg comments on rumours about a potential early retirement for Max Verstappen. He believes Verstappen’s many motorsport passions could make retirement less abrupt, especially after four world titles at just 28 years old. However, he still sees the Dutch driver as highly motivated: “I see Verstappen as very hungry for victories, so I think in the end he will choose to continue. But he will also have to think about with whom: stay with Red Bull or try to move to another team to have more chances of winning the title again?”
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