Nico Rosberg Labels Max Verstappen’s Battle Against McLaren ‘One of the Best’ in F1 History

Nico Rosberg reckons that Max Verstappen's challenge to McLaren this year despite Red Bull's struggles proves why he's one of the best in F1 history.

Nico Rosberg Labels Max Verstappen’s Battle Against McLaren ‘One of the Best’ in F1 History

Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (via Planetf1), Nico Rosberg (via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen has remained a headache to McLaren this year in terms of performance despite the team seemingly being the fastest on the grid. Verstappen has achieved a couple of wins even though Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris seem untouched in pace on the track. Now, as the Dutchman aims to further bridge the gap to the championship leaders, ex-F1 champion Nico Rosberg has talked highly of the former.

Red Bull’s incessant performance struggles of the ground-effect era have continued even for the 2025 season, as they cannot make winning a habit like in the previous years. Still, Max Verstappen has refused to give up on performing well and is giving it his all to atleast contend for the victory if not actually win the race.

Nico Rosberg is astonished by Max Verstappen’s racing mettle that is helping him remain a contender for the drivers’ title. The 2016 F1 champion pointed out that he holds massive respect for Verstappen for his achievements this year. The reason for this newfound respect is that the Dutchman’s challenger has remained mediocre in pace, except for maybe in Imola, where he had a better outing, as he still manages to fight for the wins.

I have such respect for Max for what he’s achieved this year, because that car really is not a very good car so far, except for maybe Imola, and thats with a question mark.

Nico Rosberg told Sky Sports

Max Verstappen’s attitude to never give up despite the challenges thrown at him has caused Rosberg to gain more respect for the former. The one-time champion reckons that the 27-year-old continues to snatch wins from the McLaren even though they are clearly the superior team in pace. The German labels the reigning world champion as one of the best drivers ever witnessed in the pinnacle of motorsports.

And he’s still right there— taking wins away from the McLarens and in the hunt for the championship. Incredible driving at the top of his game, certainly one of the best we’ve ever seen in the sport.

Nico Rosberg added

Nico Rosberg expects McLaren to ‘slow down’ against Red Bull with new TD

The teams have been issued a new Technical Directive (TD) that mandates the legally allowable flexing of the rear wings to just 10mm from the previous 15mm. This means that McLaren, amongst the others, enjoying such a dominance might suffer from a massive fall in performance. As such, Nico Rosberg believes this to be true and issues a warning to Woking against Red Bull.

Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri (via XPB images)
Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri (via XPB images)

Nico Rosberg reckons that all the teams will have a new front wing over the Spanish GP weekend, as anything could happen in terms of results. Still, the German highlighted the general consensus that points out that McLaren will lose the most. This means that Woking could suffer from a fall from grace as Red Bull aims to fortify their position in the standings with this change.

I mean, everybody has new front wings, and the consensus is just, in the pit lane, looking at the on-boards, that McLaren have been on the far end of maximising this wing flex. It seems that’s the consensus in the pit lane, that’s what you hear the technical people saying, so perhaps it will slow McLaren down most.

Nico Rosberg noted

The 2025 season has peaked in excitement and competition at the forefront despite the massive back-and-forth on the controversial flexi-wing rules. Now, Max Verstappen aims to capitalize on McLaren’s anticipated downfall with the new TD as Red Bull will want to emerge as the front-runners for the championship. Time will tell if this change causes a serious change in pace or is just yet another failed attempt at toppling the Papaya Squad from the top.

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