Upbeat Rosberg ready to emulate dad
Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell hosts a double- header this weekend with the CAMS Australian GT championship and CAMS Australian Endurance championships both set to go down to the wire. The two championships will be decided around the 4.1km circuit and drift star Mike Whiddett will again partner Klark Quinn. The estate of the late Robin Curtis, a journalist who passed away last year after a battle with cancer, has left a bequest to the SpeedSport Scholarship. Curtis, who wrote and photographed motorsport for more than 50 years, had a long association with the scholarship programme. Places for the 2017 New Zealand Elite Motorsport Academy are now open and don’t close until March 2017. It is suggested applicants submit their application early so their racing exploits over the summer months can be monitored and assessed. Past graduates have been Shane Van Gisbergen, Hayden Paddon, Brendon Hartley, Mitch Evans and Richie Stanaway. The fallout from the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States has prompted a number of comments from the motorsport world.
One came from Kiwi IndyCar driver Scott Dixon, who was watching the election on television when South Carolina popped up. The two runners for a Senate seat were Scott and Dixon so the NZ driver reckoned he won 99 per cent of the votes.
Most Nascar drivers, of course, are pretty chuffed Trump is their new commander in chief. With a third straight Brazilian Grand Prix title at Sao Paulo this weekend, Nico Rosberg can match the feat of his famous father by winning the Formula One championship.
Standing in his way is Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, the twotime defending champion.
If Hamilton wins on the hilly course in Sao Paulo on Monday, the season title will be decided in the final race in two weeks in Abu Dhabi.
“I love the track,” said Rosberg yesterday, 34 years after his father Keke Rosberg won his only F1 season title. “It feels good and I’ve always gone well here.”
Then, the German driver offered a caution.
“At the same time, this year we all start from zero,” Rosberg said. “Those past wins are not going to help me get a win this weekend. We all start from the same place.”
Beyond the victory, there are several scenarios under which Rosberg could claim the season title, even if he doesn’t win the race. That depends on
I love the track. It feels good and I’ve always gone well here. Nico Rosberg
how far behind him Hamilton finishes.
Hamilton, who trails Rosberg by 19 points, can keep the title chase alive in Brazil but he can only claim the championship — it would be his fourth — in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s a real challenge to come here and try to win for the first time,” Hamilton said. “So that’s my goal, and there’s nothing really to lose.”
The two can expect little quarter. They should also expect a wet track with weekend rain in the forecast.
Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, third in the season standings but without a chance for the big prize, said he would “not stay out of the fight.”
“I think the championship will work out how it should work out,” Ricciardo said. “I don’t think we should assist in the outcome. Just because they [ Rosberg and Hamilton] are fighting doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to overtake if ’s there’s a door open.”
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who won four straight season titles between 2010- 13, said others needed to “respect the fact” that the t wo Mercedes drivers have had the best seasons. He, however, did not say he would back off.
Rosberg said he was expecting everyone to give their best.
“Of course, you’re not going to take it easy just because one guy is fighting for the championship,” Rosberg said.
Monday also marks the last race in Brazil for Felipe Massa, who is leaving F1 after this season. Massa never won a season title, but he got painfully close.
In Brazil in the final race of the 2008 season, Massa won the race but lost the season title by one point to Hamilton when the Englishman overtook on the final lap to finish fifth — getting the point he needed to edge Massa.
“I think it will be a very special weekend for me, for my last home race — a place where I grew up,” Massa said. “This is a place where I remember I was in the grandstand watching and supporting Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet.”
Senna and Piquet each won three F1 season titles.
“There’s no doubt he’s one of the most talented drivers on the grid,” Vettel said of Massa, who raced for 15 seasons. “But apart from that, he’s a great person. He’s the kind of guy you look at and you smile — because he’s just smiling from the inside. It’s his weekend.”
It will be, except for Rosberg and Hamilton.