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f1junkie
PRE-SEASON INTERVIEW WITH NICO ROSBERG
You’re entering your third year as a race driver with the team
this season,
what are your objectives?
First of all, the goal is for the team to progress as a whole
and take a step
forward from 2007. Because we’ve worked together for a while
now, we all
know each other better so we need to take that and use it to our
advantage.
From a Championship perspective, to move up in the overall
Constructors’
standings is one of our main priorities.
You’ve covered considerable mileage in the FW30 over winter
testing.
What improvements have been made over the FW29?
The aero department has done a really fantastic job with the
FW30. That’s not
to disregard everyone else within the team that has been working
hard on it, but
the aero on the car is a real step forward. We also already have
a lot of
developments which are scheduled for deployment over the year.
People think
that we can’t be as good as the manufacturer teams, but that’s
not the case and
we can compete with them.
With the team seemingly making progress year on year, is there a
possibility you’ll be fighting for a Championship in the next
two to three
years?
It’s difficult to answer that categorically, but we’re
definitely on the right track.
The team has recruited some strong people over the past few
years to
consolidate the existing structure and that has helped us to
make some good
progress. The new rules which will come in next year will also
wipe the slate
clean which should give us a big chance to enter that realm.
You have a new team mate in Kazuki Nakajima this year, how are
you two
getting on?
I get on really well with him. He’s a really nice guy, and he’s
also quick which is
good for the team.
2008 is an important year for Williams as it celebrates 500 GPs,
30 years
and 50,000 raced laps. Is being part of a team with such a
strong heritage
important to you?
It’s amazing for the team to be celebrating all these
milestones in one year! The
team has moved on so much over the years though so I don’t
really think about
it too much, but it’s still cool to be a part of it.
Aside from testing, what preparations have you made over the
winter to
prepare yourself for the season ahead?
I’ve been training really hard, perhaps several hours a day. I
think people
underestimate how much work you have to do to prepare for a
season.
Alongside my training regime, I’ve also spent lots of time
with family and friends
over the winter which is important.
There are two new races on the calendar this season in Valencia
and
Singapore. How do you prepare for new tracks and, in particular,
for a
night race?
It’s always hard, and particularly with these two because they’re
street tracks as
well, but we’ll be doing a lot of preparation work on the
simulator in the next few
months. It probably takes only twenty laps to get into a new
track and then it’s
all about learning where you can make up more time.
Finally, your predictions for the year ahead in terms of the
rest of the
field?
It’ll be Ferrari and McLaren at the front again, then probably
BMW behind them.
We should be closer to the BMWs this year, but it will be really
close with us
and the rest of the midfielders.
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