Brawn GP… I Mean Mercedes Does the Obvious
Mercedes Grand Prix has announced Nico Rosberg as its new driver in its first signing since taking over the Brawn GP team.
The 24-year-old German ended his four-year association with Williams to team up with the newly-branded team which last week saw world champion Jenson Button move to McLaren.
Rosberg said: “I am really happy to be a part of the Silver Arrows relaunch in 2010 as a driver for Mercedes.”
“No other brand in Formula One can look back on such a long and successful tradition in motor racing. I am very proud that I will now drive for the new Mercedes team and work with Ross Brawn.”
“I am more motivated than ever and can hardly wait to start testing with the new Silver Arrow and for the first race of the new season at Bahrain in March.”
Rosberg has been singled out as the perfect signing for the team by principal Ross Brawn, who guided the team named after him to the drivers’ and constructors’ titles in its debut season before selling a controlling interest to Mercedes.
Brawn said: “We are delighted to welcome Nico to our Mercedes team and are very much looking forward to working with him.”
“Nico is a great talent and, with four years of experience in Formula 1, is a driver who will be able to make a valuable contribution to our team right from the outset.”
“I had the pleasure of working with his father Keke during his Formula One career and it is great to see Nico following in his footsteps.”
“2009 was Nico’s best season in Formula One to date and we look forward to seeing his development continue with us at Mercedes next year.”
Overall, this has to be a good choice, but one wonders how much Niko’s performance at this year’s German GP tipped the scales in his favor.
He put in arguably the best drive of his career, when he overcame fuel problems to climb from 15th on the grid and finish 4th ahead of championship leader Jenson Button.
The next question is, where’s Schumi?
The rumors cover a range from Willi Weber claiming “talks” are ongoing, to Mercedes ducking the question and Ross Brown nixing the entire idea, saying “Michael would have come back temporarily for Ferrari, but he doesn’t want to start a new career.”
Which probably means it will happen as these things go.
Nobody knows except the seven time champ, until he speaks it’s all guesswork and wishful thinking.
Nico has been around for so long it’s easy to overlook the fact he’s only 24. With a good car he should be hitting the prime of his career potential in full stride. I hope he does well.
Schumy and “will he or won’t he” talk is just a publicity ploy to steal McLaren’s media coverage of signing Jenson. The bigger the sport the more petty the principal’s seem to become. I believe Ross when he says Michael will not come back.
It was obvious that Nico was leaving Williams & going to Brawn prior to the announcemement of the Merc buy-in. I wonder how much he knew from behind the scenes. Had Fry & Brawn told him of the potential that he would end up at the Merc factory team?
When you (Brawn) win both titles you don’t need the rumor of a factory buyout to seal the deal with a driver like Nico. Williams is going no where, it was time for Rosberg to find a competitive drive.