Rosberg wins Monaco GP
Nico Rosberg was one proud young Finnish/German/ Monegasque when he took the chequered flag to win this year’s Monaco Grand Prix for Mercedes, leading every lap. It was mentioned that not even Fangio had been able to win for Mercedes at Monaco when he spearheaded the German team’s comeback with the W196s in the 1955 season.
Nico’s father, Keke, was a proud spectator watching his son dominating the classic race, but not being the bumptious lookat-my-lad Dad who sometimes parades in the pit and makes it embarrassing for a son making progress in an important world. Keke had won the Monaco GP three decades before so he knows what it’s all about, but he wants Nico to find his own way. Both father and son had led every lap on the way to their Monaco win.
Half a dozen GP drivers live in Monaco mainly for tax reasons. Son of a Finnish father, Nico was born in Wiesbaden to his German Mum, Sina, and has dual nationality. Nico lives in Monaco because it’s where he grew up, where he went to school from a little lad.
I remember taking a photo of Keke introducing his little son Nico to Jackie Stewart at an early Hungarian GP and when I gave the photo to Keke at the next race, I mentioned how proud Nico looked. “That’s because he’s shaking hands with a World Champion,” said Keke. I made the obvious point that Keke was a world champ too, but he laughed and said “Nah… your Daddy’s just your Daddy, isn’t he!”
I was amused at reader’s questions to Nico in a recent copy of F1 Racing. One asked how many different languages he could order a beer in? “Five: Spanish, Italian, French, English and German. And no, not in Finnish – I don’t even know what the word is for ‘beer’ in Finnish!”
Asked which languages he enjoyed swearing in, he said “Italian. Vaffanculo! It’s the language I grew up with, speaking it with friends – and English too. But there are some really cool swear words in Italian… and some great gestures to go with them!”