{"id":154227,"date":"2025-06-03T07:31:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T07:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/154227\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T07:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T07:31:09","slug":"nico-rosbergs-blunt-commentary-is-welcome-in-world-of-f1-punditrys-fence-sitters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/154227\/","title":{"rendered":"Nico Rosberg\u2019s blunt commentary is welcome in world of F1 punditry\u2019s fence-sitters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Sensational\u2019 was how Christian Horner described Nico Rosberg when hearing the German\u2019s thoughts on the biggest moment of the Spanish Grand Prix and not because he was praising him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sky has had former drivers on before and even former World Champions but none so fresh as Rosberg. <\/p>\n

Sensational or just brutally honest?<\/p>\n

It was at this venue in 2016 where he had the most memorable of team-mate clashes as he and Lewis Hamilton went spinning into the grass. <\/p>\n

He is still the third most recent World Champion. Six of the drivers on the grid that year are still in the sport, meaning Rosberg has first-hand experience of racing against them. The cars have changed, of course, but not so much that Rosberg would be lost at sea were he placed in the cockpit of one.<\/p>\n

It is this closeness to the sport that made him a valuable addition in the race on Sunday. Insights such as drivers being able to get a moment\u2019s breath by readjusting their seat belts during the safety car period or explaining how the humidity of a track like Barcelona makes holding your head straight a near impossibility for even the fittest of athletes allowed the viewers to have a brief feel of what life in the cockpit is like.<\/p>\n

But Rosberg\u2019s best strength was his willingness to give his opinion, regardless of who it might upset.<\/p>\n

With Martin Brundle at home celebrating his 66th birthday, Rosberg was in the Sky commentary booth for the Barcelona race and as the sport\u2019s biggest broadcaster, the person behind that mic is often the one who shapes the discourse.<\/p>\n

Brundle is an expert at it, having been in the media since 1997, but while the veteran is able to walk the political tightrope of saying how he sees it but not pissing off those in the sport, Nico Rosberg had none of those concerns.<\/p>\n

The final five laps saw Rosberg at his best as he dissected in real time the action before him and it is clear he is a student of the game. He described exactly why George Russell did not make a legal move on Max Verstappen into Turn 1, something Red Bull got wrong, and how the rulebook should have meant Verstappen was given a black flag \u2013 referencing a similar incident that occurred in MotoGP.<\/p>\n

He stated: \u201cThe first one was George\u2019s fault because he went in too hot, oversteered out and tapped Max who then had to use the escape road. That\u2019s not the way to do the pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cRed Bull messed up by saying let George pass. That really annoyed Max because he knows George rammed him off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Max\u2019s eyes he\u2019s like 100 per cent in the right. \u2018Why are you telling me to do this, watch this I will show you what he did\u2019, slowed down and rammed into him which is even worse. To slow down and ram into another driver is pretty bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat [the penalty] is a very lenient one from my point of view. Remember Sebastian Vettel against Lewis Hamilton in Baku 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like a very intentional retaliation. Wait for the opponent, go ramming into him, just like you felt the other guy rammed into you at Turn One.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something which is extremely unacceptable and I think the rules would be a black flag yes. If you wait for your opponent to bang into him, that\u2019s a black flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

This approach is unlikely to win him many friends. Horner described Rosberg as \u201csensational\u201d<\/a> after hearing the German\u2019s black-flag verdict but Rosberg has been paid by Sky to serve the viewers, not appease those in the sport.<\/p>\n

More from the Spanish Grand Prix weekend<\/p>\n

Spanish GP conclusions: Verstappen ban threat, McLaren secret, wildcard Tsunoda solution<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Spanish GP driver ratings: Verstappen\u2019s head loss sends him tumbling down<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The F1 paddock can often feel like a gated community and those within it have long memories. Just look at the reaction to Verstappen\u2019s hit on Russell and, if it is understandable why the drivers themselves do not want to weigh in, a pundit sitting on the fence is a disservice to those at home watching.<\/p>\n

Rosberg himself is no rookie. He has been part of Sky\u2019s punditry team off and on since 2018, also appearing on RTL in Germany and Sky Italia and knows what he is doing behind the microphone but what makes him a refreshing listen is his ability to mix recent knowledge of having been in the car with a bluntness that is unusual in the F1 commentary world.<\/p>\n

The 2016 World Champion is of course not perfect (did you know he beat Lewis Hamilton in equal machinery?) but in a race full of talking points, Rosberg\u2019s willingness to say exactly how he felt and back it up with knowledge of the rules and experience made him a welcome presence in the commentary box.<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0Max Verstappen issues fresh \u2018not right\u2019 statement after George Russell clash<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Sensational\u2019 was how Christian Horner described Nico Rosberg when hearing the German\u2019s thoughts on the biggest moment of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,2894,707,4200,225,47791,12591,27196,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-154227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-f1-features","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-nico-rosberg","14":"tag-sky-f1","15":"tag-spanish-grand-prix","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114618270401630506","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}