Lewis Hamilton finished second at the Canadian GP, his best Grand Prix result since his move to Ferrari. Various media spoke of the Hamilton of old, but according to Nico Rosberg, a record-breaking eighth world title is still out of reach for now. The former teammate and title rival of Hamilton sees progress in the Brit, but doubts whether both the driver and Ferrari currently have the level to win a championship.
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Rosberg does think Hamilton can still win a race this season, but considers a title fight too ambitious for now. During an appearance on the High Performance podcast, the German was asked if he hopes his former teammate will become world champion one more time. “Yes, of course, and he would deserve it,” Rosberg responded immediately. “It would be great to see him continue to develop like this. And I think he will win at least one race this year,” he added. “But to win the championship, the car is not good enough yet and his level is not quite up to par. Hopefully, he can improve further throughout the season.”
The 2016 world champion pointed to the enormous pressure on Hamilton’s shoulders. “The best F1 drivers may earn 50 million dollars a year, but that doesn’t make their problems any less real. Hamilton earns buckets of money at Ferrari, but if you asked him how terrible his debut season was on a scale from one to ten, he would always answer ten,” Rosberg referred to 2025. It was the first season in Hamilton’s long career in which he did not achieve a single podium finish.
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Former teammates
“Joining a new team, all of Italy slowly but surely turning against him because he’s not performing, a younger teammate beating him…” the German listed. “That’s a terrible situation to be in.” Rosberg himself faced Hamilton head-on for years at Mercedes. Several heated title battles cooled their relationship and the wounds are still not fully healed. “We are now neutral towards each other,” said an honest Rosberg. “Bad things happened and you can’t just fix those. Who will apologize first? I don’t know.”
Still, Rosberg speaks with admiration about the long career of his former rival. “But I’m amazed that he’s still racing. I’ve been retired for ten years and even then we weren’t the youngest anymore. He’s simply a genius. It’s incredible how he has managed to build his life so stably, perform for so long, without scandals and at a high level. And now he faces a new, huge challenge at Ferrari. Things are moving in the right direction, because under the new regulations he is already performing better than last year. But he is up against Charles Leclerc, who is at the peak of his abilities and one of the best drivers of his generation. That remains a tough task.”
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