F1 News
Date: 15/April/2012
Nico Rosberg - son of 1982 F1 world champion Keke Rosberg - made history when he drove to his first ever F1 victory in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai.
The 26-year-old, who holds dual Finnish-German nationality, made a perfect start from his first F1 pole and only lost the lead briefly during tyre changes.
Team-mate and nearest rival Michael Schumacher retired after a botched pit-stop and Rosberg kept comfortably clear of his remaining pursuers to record a resounding 20-second victory over McLaren’s Jenson Button.
It was the first F1 victory for Mercedes since 1955, while Rosberg - racing in his seventh season - joins only world champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve as the son of a grand prix winner to also stand on the top step of the podium.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling: very, very cool,” smiled Rosberg. “It’s been a long time coming for me, and for the team as well over the past two years and a bit. Now, it’s finally here.
“It’s been the perfect weekend. Everything’s gone [well]. It couldn’t be better. It was a great race. It was impressive to see really how we’ve managed to progress so quickly. We’ve really had some difficult times in the races, the first two, but we’ve made a lot of changes, worked hard at it and all of a sudden it’s come good.”
Rosberg had finished just 12th and 13th in the previous rounds.
“We’ve seen good qualifying performances all along this year and we’ve had more difficulties on high fuel in the race, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect – but fantastic outcome!”
Although focussed on his own driving, Rosberg got a hint of the thrilling battle for the remaining podium places. “Every lap the name of the person behind me changed - I thought ‘what’s going on back there?’”
Button, who dropped to fifth after his final pit stop, snatched the runner-up spot from reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel with six laps remaining.
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton then demoted the Red Bull driver from the podium with three to go, while Vettel’s own team-mate Mark Webber also moved ahead before the chequered flag was waved.
“What an incredible race with so many World Champions and so many of the great drivers all in a train, just fighting each other,” said Hamilton. “It’s great to see racing like that and to see cars so close in pace.”
Mercedes withdrew from motorsport at the end of 1955 following a disastrous accident at the Le Mans 24 Hours, when Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh and over 80 spectators were killed.
Having since won the F1 title as an engine supplier for McLaren and then Brawn, Mercedes purchased the Brawn team for a full ‘Silver Arrows’ return in 2010.
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