‘Flying Finn’ blown away by whizzkid

WITH his raffish flamboyance, flowing grey hair and large Cuban cigar, Keke “the Flying Finn” Rosberg could scarcely be more distinct from his son.

Where Nico cleaves to a ferocious fitness regime and an efficient, risk-averse driving style, his father, who became world champion in 1982 by virtue of his overtaking bravado, is an incorrigible swashbuckler.

Together, though, they have become only the second father-son partnership to hold a Formula One world title apiece.

And Keke, given Graham Hill’s death in a plane crash long before son Damon’s 1996 triumph, is the first to live to see his progeny prevail.

Now 67, he has refused to give an interview about Nico’s career for six years.

It was not so much superstition as a stubborn avowal not to meddle unduly with Rosberg Jnr’s tense advance to a maiden championship.

Come the final Grand Prix in Yas Marina, he decided to follow the drama 145km away in Dubai before appearing in the paddock for delirious celebrations.

He was quick, having arrived, to scotch any idea that his boy was an unworthy champion, even while trailing Lewis Hamilton in race wins this year by 10 to nine. Drawing a comparison between Nico’s work ethic and Hamilton’s penchant for flying to California for showbusiness opportunities, he says: “Not many people on the outside appreciate the effort that went into this.

“There is one guy in Los Angeles, here, there and everywhere, and then another guy concentrating on only one thing: nutrition, time differences, training, emptying the brain at the right time. “It was all about performance.” Had he found it a tough watch, as Hamilton backed his boy into the chasing pack? “Of course. Wouldn’t you, as a father? I thought I would see something I didn’t want to see in those last two laps,” Keke says.

“Luckily, I didn’t. I think it was the hardest world championship ever, right down to the line of the last race.”

This is no faint praise from a man who competed in perhaps the most dangerous era in motorsport.

In the nine years that the elder Rosberg was involved in F1, five drivers were killed. But he will not hear of any suggestions that his son rode his luck these past 21 races.

“Lewis was lucky twice already, so why shouldn’t Nico be once?

“If you want to win the championship, you can’t have a lot of bad luck.”

There was no fortune involved in Nico Rosberg’s ability to construct a psychological cocoon around himself.

In any analysis of how he secured the title in spite of Hamilton’s brilliance, much emphasis must be given to the German’s prodigious mental strength, screening out all his Mercedes teammate’s attempts to provoke him.

It is an ability that Keke, naturally a far more expressive soul, struggles to comprehend.

“The commitment of Nico is remarkable. It has nothing to do with how I went about being a Formula One driver.”

Still, this has not deterred him from sending Nico the odd text message of advice.

“You try to keep spirits up,” he says. “It’s a sport. The pressure should always be less than the enjoyment.”

He could be assured that Nico certainly enjoyed himself his first night as a champion, repairing to the bars of Abu Dhabi with his wife Vivian, agent Georg Nolte and friends who had arrived from Germany.

While Nico reputedly has an exceptional capacity for vodka, his indulgence is unlikely to rival the exploits of Keke, who according to Jackie Stewart “enjoyed a very good drink, and also a good cigarette” in his prime.

For all the temptation to paint Rosberg’s glory over Hamilton as an aberration, the beaming Keke believes his son can have the beating of him again in 2017. “All I know is that a happy man performs better than an unhappy man,” he says. “He is going to raise his game next year, like everybody does after a first championship. I did it – and it can happen again.” — The Daily Telegraph