Nico Rosberg’s F1 breakthrough proves he is ready to fight even for the world championship.

That is the view of former grand prix winner, team boss and co-owner Gerhard Berger, following Rosberg’s first pole and win in China last weekend.

“It surprised not me, but all the others who had doubted him,” the Austrian told Auto Bild Motorsport.

“It was about time. I was worried,” Berger smiled, “because I have always said I thought Nico was faster than Michael (Schumacher).

“Now he is finally where he has belonged for a long time — in the same league as Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Button,” he insisted.

“And when the (Mercedes) car is good enough, he is already ready for the world title.”

Berger, then as BMW motor sport director, said he was instrumental in 2002 in convincing Sir Frank Williams to give the then 17-year-old Rosberg his first F1 test.

Also welcoming Sunday’s breakthrough is Nelson Piquet junior, another son of a world champion who actually went to kindergarten with Rosberg in Monaco.

“It’s funny how in F1 things can take so long to happen,” the Brazilian told Globo.

“It took him more than six years to get his first victory, which for me is a long time considering how good a driver he is,” added Piquet, now in Nascar.

 Gerhard Berger’s nephew is speeding down the road to follow his famous uncle into formula one.
Two decades ago, ten-time winner Berger shared the McLaren garage with Ayrton Senna, whose own nephew Bruno went on to race in F1 with HRT and Lotus/Renault.

Now, 17-year-old Lucas Auer – the son of former BMW motor sport director and Toro Rosso co-owner Berger’s sister Claudia – is getting serious about his single seater racing.

This year, he raced in the JK Racing Asia Series and was recently crowned champion.

“It’s really important for my future,” he said of the title. “I had to win this season and now I can see what I will do in the future.”

Last week, according to motorline.cc, the young Austrian tested a F3 Euroseries car at Valencia, with 52-year-old Berger watching on.

Gerhard Berger has played down reports he is a contender to return to formula one with a role at the Lotus team in 2012.
International reports had predicted the former grand prix winner, BMW motor sport director and Toro Rosso co-owner will return from retirement amid rumours team boss Eric Boullier is leaving his role.

“My perpetual holiday is continuing,” the 52-year-old former Ferrari and McLaren driver is quoted as saying by Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.

Gerhard Berger has emerged as a contender to work with the Lotus Renault team.
Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport and Finland’s Turun Sanomat report that the former grand prix winner, BMW motor sport director and Toro Rosso co-owner has been sounded out by Lotus’ owner Genii Capital.

“Team boss Eric Boullier is rumoured to be leaving his duties,” wrote journalist Heikki Kulta.

Additionally, former McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan was in the Renault garage last weekend at Interlagos, with team figures coy about his possible full-time involvement for 2012.

Genii’s Gerard Lopez said this week: “Kimi (Raikkonen’s) decision to come back to formula one with us is the first step of several announcements which should turn us into an even more serious contender in the future.”

Lewis Hamilton has tipped Nico Rosberg to retain his edge over Michael Schumacher at Mercedes.
Rosberg, a former karting teammate of 2008 world champion Hamilton and now a F1 rival, has signed on for the next few years with the German team, where in 2010 and 2011 he was the standout performer alongside the great Schumacher.

“I know Nico very well,” Briton Hamilton is quoted by the Cologne newspaper Express, “and I knew he would do everything to beat Michael. And he did it.

“I think he’s going to keep that gap now. Nico is hungry, there is no doubt about that. He has not won the championship or even any races but he is still young.

“When Michael was in the same phase in his career, maybe he had the same hunger and he won seven world championships and 91 races.

“I don’t think it’s possible for him to be as hungry as he was before,” added Hamilton.

But while there is no doubt Schumacher has upped his game in the second half of 2011, some commentators still believe he should return to retirement at the age of 42 and open his cockpit for a new charger.

Gerhard Berger, an early contemporary of Schumacher’s ultra-successful initial career, does not agree.

“He has won seven world championships and earned the right to do what he wants,” the former Ferrari and McLaren driver told Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

“The market regulates itself and if he was not good enough still, he would not still be there.”

Force India’s drivers might have to wait a little longer to learn their fate.
Despite earlier scheduling a mid December announcement, boss Vijay Mallya has been pushed by Adrian Sutil to make an earlier call about the team’s 2012 driver lineup amid reports the German will be left out in the cold.

Reportedly in the hot seats for next season are Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, but the pair insisted in India recently that they are not sure if they will be on the 2012 grid with Force India.

“All the drivers have asked me to make an early decision, and I respect that,” Mallya said on Monday.

But the Indian billionaire also said he does not want to rush, and denied rumours he has already made the decision and is keeping it quiet.

“I have a big decision to make! But it’s not made yet — I’m not the type of guy who’s going to make a decision and string people along,” said Mallya.

“When I decide I will just tell them the way it is and that’s it.”

The holdup could tie in with the similarly unconfirmed seats at Williams and Renault, with Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica regarded as the keys to unlocking the last pieces of the 2012 grid.

“There are many different options and of course a lot of speculation,” Raikkonen, in talks with Williams, told the latest edition of F1 Racing magazine.

“Until something is certain, there is no point in speculating because it could go any way. To be honest, I don’t know myself yet.”

Alongside the Finn, Sutil – who has been with Force India’s Silverstone based team since its Spyker days – is also linked with the Williams seat.

“It is time for him (Sutil) to take the next step in his career,” Gerhard Berger is quoted by Auto Bild. “He was always quick but he now races consistently without mistakes,” the former grand prix winner said.

Paul di Resta’s formula one career almost got off to a flying start a few years ago.
Actually, the 25-year-old Scot is only a rookie in 2011, and hoping to be given the green light to stay with Force India next season.

His career however seemed on a fast track at the end of 2006, when he beat his teammate Sebastian Vettel to the coveted F3 Euroseries title.

It was then that di Resta caught the attention of former Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger.

“Franz Tost and I considered signing him years ago,” the Austrian great revealed to Sportmagazin. “He has great potential.”

That is not Berger’s only regret from his days with Toro Rosso — another is signing the multiple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais.

“I was wrong about him,” said the former Ferrari and McLaren driver. “He came from America where he had won everything, but formula one was just too fast for him.

“The late braking was too much for him,” added Berger.

Gerhard Berger has criticised the latest high-profile appointments by Mercedes’ formula one team.

With Renault’s former chief Bob Bell already on board, the Brackley based team announced last Friday that Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa will start their new roles in November and December respectively.

Willis was leading HRT’s technical team until very recently, while Italian Costa was ousted by Ferrari earlier this season.

Former F1 winner, joint BMW motor sport director and Toro Rosso co-owner Berger questioned the appointments, which are the latest in a recruitment push by the works Mercedes team.

“It looks to me as though Mercedes are shooting with a shotgun in the hope of landing a hit,” the Austrian told Auto Bild Motorsport.

Italy’s Autosprint magazine, meanwhile, wondered if it is “credible that, to strengthen his technical staff, Ross Brawn turns to someone considered a loser by Ferrari?

“Frankly, it’s not,” the report concluded.

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull could be set to reign over a new era of dominance in formula one.
That is the view of former grand prix winner and paddock personality Gerhard Berger, a countryman and close friend of Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz.

He is also the former team co-owner at German Vettel’s first team Toro Rosso.

“If he keeps it up like this and Adrian Newey keeps on building such brilliant cars, then it pushes slowly into dimensions that have only been seen with Schumacher and Ferrari,” Berger told Die Welt newspaper.

But another Austrian, triple world champion Niki Lauda, is not so sure Schumacher’s seven world titles will be troubled. “What happened with Michael will probably remain out of reach for Sebastian,” he insisted.

Lauda referred to Schumacher’s era of success that featured a Ferrari budget approaching EUR 400 million a season, unrestricted testing and a works-style relationship with tyre supplier Bridgestone.

“For them it was the perfect system,” he said.

According to Pirelli’s Paul Hembery, however, it is the little things making the difference for Vettel, who he said was the only F1 racer in 2011 to make a surprise visit to the new tyre supplier’s factory.

Hembery told Spain’s Marca newspaper that the visit was in the dead of the Christmas period.

“He wanted to know what was going on, to see the labs, meet the staff, think about the sporting side and strategies, compounds, everything.

“I can’t say what advantage that gives you but if that’s what you do with each aspect of the car then you can understand the results,” he said.

Michael Schumacher is not as good as Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg, but he’s still up to speed with Mark Webber.
That is the view of former ten time race winner Gerhard Berger, who until 1997 shared the circuits with F1′s only seven time world champion.

Der Spiegel quotes the Austrian as saying Schumacher, while once the fastest driver in the sport, no longer holds that mantle.

The case in point is qualifying, where Rosberg has utterly dominated Schumacher this year at Mercedes.

“In my opinion Rosberg is on the same level as Vettel; in the right car he could win races and titles,” said Berger.

“Schumacher can no longer beat them, but he is still as good as – for example – Mark Webber.”

Berger is therefore highly critical of the apparent place-swapping between Rosberg and Schumacher at Spa recently, with the younger German dropping behind to save fuel while Schumacher drove ahead on the 20th anniversary of his debut.

Norbert Haug denies Mercedes imposed team orders, also insisting that Schumacher “would not accept such gifts”.

But given the safety car period in Belgium, the German team’s claim about Rosberg running out of fuel has been ridiculed.

Former Sauber driver Karl Wendlinger told Servus TV: “Without the safety car you would have to believe that Rosberg would have run out of gas with ten laps to go.”

Added Ferrari engineer Dieter Gundel: “It is possible to make an error in calculating the fuel level before a race, but you then have to wonder why Mercedes made the error only with one car.”

Yet more drivers, experts and pundits are crowning Sebastian Vettel the likely 2011 champion after his latest victory in Belgium.
At the German’s rival team McLaren, team boss Martin Whitmarsh insists giving up on the championship would not be right despite Vettel’s huge points lead.

Veteran test driver Pedro de la Rosa however acknowledges that realism could be about to set in.

“Perhaps this is the moment to forget Spa,” said the Spaniard after the Red Bull one-two, “perhaps it is even the moment to forget the drivers’ world championship”, he wrote in a column for formulasantander.com.

“Forgetting the calculator now, and accepting that there is already virtually a winner of this world championship, we can begin to think of 2012 and how to avoid at all costs the domination of Red Bull being prolonged for another season,” added de la Rosa.

Another former McLaren racer David Coulthard, now a British television commentator and Red Bull advisor, agrees that Vettel’s chasers have left their run too late.

“Ferrari and McLaren have the resources and personnel to catch Red Bull, and in fact they have done so,” he wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.

“McLaren probably had the quickest car in Belgium at the weekend. They just didn’t get the job done.

“Seb’s lead … has almost certainly assured him of a second successive world title,” agreed the Scot.

Also succumbing to the eventual mathematics of the current points standings is ten time grand prix winner Gerhard Berger, who thinks Red Bull is right to keep its optimism under wraps for the moment.

“As long as it (defeat) is still theoretically possible, it is bad luck in sports to celebrate in advance,” he told Red Bull-linked Austrian television Servus TV.

“But for me there is no question; barring a disaster for him, this year’s world champion is Sebastian Vettel,” said Berger.

Gerhard Berger has scolded Mercedes for apparently imposing team orders during last weekend’s Belgian grand prix.

Shortly before Michael Schumacher passed his teammate Nico Rosberg at Spa-Francorchamps, the younger German was told by the pitwall to conserve fuel.

Former grand prix winner Berger told Servus TV that the position switch was conceived deliberately to give Schumacher a grandstand finish on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his debut.

“It should have been a race and not a commercial shoot,” the Austrian groaned.

Team orders are legal in 2011 but Berger believes that “in the circumstances it is totally wrong for Mercedes to do such strategies”.

“They should be putting more thought into making a winning car,” he said.

Berger also commented on McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who was involved in two crashes last weekend at Spa.

“He is extremely aggressive and the best overtaker in the field, but at times he overdoes it.

“If he was sitting in the Red Bull, he would not have to take so many risks and so he would get into a lot less mischief,” he said.

Jenson Button intends to celebrate his 200th grand prix next month in Hungary, the scene of his first formula one race win in 2006.
F1′s official website lists the 2009 world champion as having “entered” 198 grands prix, meaning his double centenary could technically be marked at his home event at Silverstone.

But the typical practice is for the sport to only count grands prix that drivers actually start.

Button, 31, did not start in Monaco in 2003 after a practice crash, while in 2005 at Indianapolis all the Michelin runners pulled into the pits after the formation lap.

“I only count my race starts,” the Briton confirmed to Roger Benoit, the veteran correspondent for the Swiss newspaper Blick.

“So my 200th will be on the 31st of July in Hungary,” confirmed Button.

On August 6, 2006, then contesting his 113th grand prix at the wheel of a Honda, Button recorded his first formula one win at the Hungaroring.

Only Jarno Trulli (118) and Rubens Barrichello (123) took longer than Button to become grand prix winners, while with 179 races under his belt Nick Heidfeld is still trying to join them.

Only 11 F1 drivers have contested more grands prix than Button, with current rivals Rubens Barrichello (310) and Michael Schumacher (274) topping the list.

The Briton will climb to eighth on the all-time list by the end of the 2011 season, by surpassing the records of Alain Prost (198), Jean Alesi (201) and Nelson Piquet (203), and equalling Andrea de Cesaris’ 208.

Fellow ten-time grand prix winner Gerhard Berger retired after his 210th grand prix.

Gerhard Berger on Wednesday dismissed rumours he is set to return to formula one as a boss.
The great Austrian, who after retiring from formula one spent time as BMW’s joint motor sport director before co-owning the Toro Rosso team, has been linked with Ferrari as well as his friend Dietrich Mateschitz’s Red Bull outfit.

“I have no plans to move back to Austria — on the contrary,” he told the
Austrian newsmagazine NEWS, addressing the Red Bull rumours.

“I love Monaco, where I have my office,” he added.

It is believed the rumours were triggered by his separation with his long-term wife Ana.

“The truth is I have lived away from my wife for one and a half years,” he insisted.

He told the Kurier newspaper earlier this month that he does not particularly miss formula one, and – despite visiting the Barcelona paddock last weekend – he intended to leave town to avoid the chaos in Monaco.

“Although I have many friends who call me and we talk about formula one, I’ve not hungry any more,” he said.

“There are days I want to be back in the middle of it, and others where I just want to sit on a motorcycle or a kart and have fun.”

Sebastian Vettel is a brilliant driver and his countryman Nico Rosberg is in the same league.
That is the view of Gerhard Berger, who watched Vettel’s first grand prix win in 2008 as the team co-owner on the Toro Rosso pitwall.

“He is a killer,” the great Austrian told Bild newspaper, “and his great advantage is he doesn’t look like it. He looks like a nice young man from your neighbourhood.”

Two years older than 23-year-old Vettel is fellow German Rosberg, who has not yet won a single race despite having almost two seasons more experience.

But the son of 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg has consistently beaten Michael Schumacher at Mercedes, prompting Berger to observe: “I see him on a par with Vettel.

“All he lacks is a fast car.”