Rosberg would have preferred to see Alonso replace him

While Nico Rosberg enjoys his new retirement from the F1, the world champion spoke to the Spanish newspaper Trademarks on the identity of the driver he would have liked to see replace him at Mercedes. The German admitted that he would have liked to see a duel between Lewis Hamilton et Fernando Alonso, which had wreaked so much havoc on McLaren in 2007.

“It's very easy to answer, now that I'm a spectator on the other side of the fence. Everyone would have liked to see Alonso and that is also the case for me because there would have been sparks with Hamilton,” explained Nico Rosberg.

“It would have been good for the show, but it wouldn't have worked for the crew, he said. Bottas is fast and, even though Hamilton has a very high level and is very hard to beat, I proved that it is possible. I also see Bottas on pole for the first race in Australia (March 26). »

Nico Rosberg took the opportunity to assure that there was no tension between him and Niki Lauda, ​​the non-executive vice-president of Mercedes F1.

“Mercedes has a lot of respect for me and I appreciate that. It was a little more complicated with Lauda. He seemed angry in the press but he wasn't angry with me. He congratulated me in person and was very supportive after these three years of working together”, he added.