Nico Rosberg does not think his former employer Mercedes can easily win the titles this year. The former Formula 1 driver was especially impressed by Lando Norris during the recent Dutch GP, who according to Rosberg delivered a ‘world championship level performance’. The current analyst now sees McLaren as the team to beat: “Mercedes will now be worried about this pace from McLaren.”
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Lando Norris took his second win of the season at Zandvoort. The reigning world champion did so in a dominant manner, with a lead of over eleven seconds on Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli. A big contrast to earlier in the season, when the Silver Arrows still took six wins in a row. The success follows McLaren’s extensive upgrade package in Hungary.
Nico Rosberg – who won his world title with Mercedes in 2016 – was impressed by Norris. “Lando’s pace on those hard tires: he was seven or eight tenths per lap faster than George (Russell, ed.) in a similar situation,” the German said, impressed, to Sky Sports F1. “Lando really flew around the circuit there. That speed was incredible. Mercedes will now be worried about this pace from McLaren, because they are now the team to beat, and they have developed that car faster than anyone else.”
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‘Season could be very tough for Mercedes’
Rosberg therefore does not predict an easy next title for his former employer. “This could very well be a very tough end of the season for Mercedes. That really could happen,” thinks the current analyst. “Zandvoort was really an exciting race and a world championship level performance from Lando. Who would have thought: in Melbourne McLaren was still nine tenths behind Mercedes and now Lando is the one who has to be beaten. What an exciting rest of the season awaits us now.”
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