Rosberg on Mercedes: 'They are so used to being successful'

The Mercedes team was also not where it wants to be in Saudi Arabia: off the podium. For a while, it looked like George Russell, with some luck, had secured third place. However, around midnight local time, he had to hand the trophy back to Fernando Alonso. Former driver Nico Rosberg sees his old team struggling, he indicated in conversation with Motorsportweek.com.

According to the one-time world champion, it is hard to say whether the Mercedes era has finally come to an end. "I’m not sure, because one of Toto’s [Wolff] strengths was always to do succession planning." Mercedes is also in the process of rejuvenation. For example, Mike Elliott is the new technical boss at the German racing stable. Rosberg thinks highly of him. "He was the guy doing our aerodynamics when I was driving there. He’s absolutely brilliant. So the talent that is there is still like second-to-none," the former rival of Hamilton still sounds hopeful.

Successful Mercedes will take some time

Yet, Rosberg too knows that his former team is in the doldrums. "They are so used to having great success, winning eight championships in a row, and now to be in such a long period of difficulty and also not making progress, on the contrary, struggling more actually," the German sighs. "Big changes require a step backwards first and then hopefully, and you are not even sure, hopefully, have much more potential and do a bigger step forward to be able to able to fight for wins and championships at some point in the future. But that’s not going to be tomorrow," Rosberg concludes honestly.