Nico Rosberg says he would have preferred Fernando Alonso to supplant him as Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate. The German resigned last November, five days in the wake of winning the title, and Mercedes have picked previous Williams driver Valtteri Bottas to supplant him.
“Angry?” he said. “No, they have a lot of respect for me and I appreciate it.
However he admitted his relationship with non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, who has been critical of his decision in the media, was ” more complicated”.
“Though he seems angry in the press, with me he isn’t,” Rosberg said. “He told me in person that he took off his hat to me. He’s been very supportive after three very good years working together.”
Rosberg said: “Everyone says Alonso and I say it too because there would be fireworks with Hamilton. He rejected proposals Mercedes may have been irate with him for declaring his choice so late and constraining them to need to induce another team to discharge a contracted driver.
“As a fan, it would be nice, but for the team it wouldn’t work.” He further added and said: “They’ve found a great solution. Bottas is fast and though Hamilton will be at a very, very high level and it will be difficult to beat him, I have proved that he can.” This will be the main season F1 has not had the prevailing champion contending on track since 1994, when Alain Prost resigned in the wake of winning the title with Williams. Rosberg said he was “more joyful” now he no longer needs to fight against Hamilton and he said he would keep on attending a few races this year. He said: “It’s true, it’s a little weird. It is not the first time it’s happened, but without the two yeah, well… I’m going to be at some races. I want to go and be close to the sport, I love it and I’ll be a fan from now on.”
