2010 is make or break for Nico Rosberg

Feb.14 (Daniel Chalmers) A game of snakes and ladders could very accurately describe the F1 driver market, particularly at a time when we are witnessing one of the strongest grids F1 has ever seen

Before 2009 Rosberg told reporters:  “By 2010 at the latest I really want to be in a top car.”

He has now successfully fulfilled that wish. Out of all the drivers who have been playing snakes and ladders, there is no doubt Rosberg has climbed the longest ladder. He has gone from the midfield with Williams, to the current world champions. Now he has his golden opportunity to prove that he is one of F1’s top guns.

Is he capable of achieving that?  This is the million dollar question.

Over his stint with Williams it has been very difficult to gauge his level of ability. At times he has shown signs that he could be a top driver. At other times he has been underwhelming.

In 2009 we saw both sides of Rosberg. In the middle part of the season he demonstrated the same level of consistency that won his father Keke the world championship in 1982, despite only winning a single race.

He went on an eight race sequence where he scored each time, finishing fourth in two of those grand prixs. This was a fantastic run of form.

However at the start of the season he didn’t make the most of his car’s potential.

Initially the FW31 was one of the top three cars on the grid. This was mainly due to the fact they were the only team, along with Brawn GP and Toyota, who started with the double diffuser concept right from the word go.

In the four races, before the first major round of mega upgrades in Spain, Nico only scored four points. Compared to the lead points scorer at Toyota Jarno Trulli, who managed 15 points in that same period. This wasn’t good enough.

In Melbourne poor tyre management was his downfall. He struggled to warm-up his tyres after the safety car period. Then in the latter part of the race he pushed too hard on the soft tyre which resulted in him being passed by a string of cars. The fact that he recorded the fastest lap of the race shows that the car had the pace to finish higher than sixth.

In Sepang he was initially leading the race but lost a lot of time to Jenson Button through the pit stop phase, and then lost a further eight seconds as the first drops of rain fell. What was first place only became eighth by the time the red flag came out.

In China the opportunity another wet race presented was lost when he endured a recurring problem with his visor fogging up. In Bahrain his lap times were very inconsistent which prevented him from scoring any points there.

Then there was Singapore later on in the season, where he was one of the quickest drivers throughout the weekend. On another day a podium was possible Nico faltered again making a silly error in the dusty pit lane.

Back on the positive side he has comfortably beaten his team mates over the past three years. However Alexander Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima didn’t exactly set the world alight. Therefore it’s hard to draw any conclusions on Rosberg’s credentials as a top driver when comparing him to them.

To say that he will have a much sterner test when he faces Michael Schumacher at the other side of the garage is probably the understatement of the year. The important thing for Nico is not to start 2010 in the way he started 2009. He simply has to hit the ground running straight away. In the first few races Schumacher is likely to be a little bit rusty after three seasons out of the sport.

Rosberg has to make the most of that opportunity to have any chance of making an impact on the seven times world champion.

Having Schumacher as a team mate is certainly not what Rosberg would have expected when he signed the contract. There won’t be many putting money on Rosberg to beat Schumacher. That includes team boss Ross Brawn.

He told German newspaper Bild: “If I had to bet on any of them then it is clear that Michael will become world champion.”

However he would have faced the same enormous task at Mclaren against Hamilton, Red Bull against Vettel or Alonso at Ferrari. Not many would bet money on Rosberg beating these guys either if he was team mates with them.

The fact is that if he wants to become the second son of a world champion to claim the crown himself since Damon Hill, these are the calibre of drivers he has to match.

2010 could be the make or break season in Rosberg’s F1 career. On the positive side if he beats Schumacher his status as a driver will sky rocket, and he will cement a place within F1’s elite, for years to come.

On the negative side if he gets thrashed by Schumacher it will confirm that he only belongs to F1’s second tier of drivers, and his career will likely suffer as a consequence.

Rosberg won’t want to suffer a similar fate as Heikki Kovalainen, the man he beat to the GP2 title back in 2005. Heikki demonstrated that you can fall down the longest snake on the snakes and ladders board if you have a poor season with a top team. Going down from Mclaren to Lotus is a massive fall.

The main thing for Rosberg in 2010 is that he at least pushes Schumacher, and gives him something to think about. It is vital that he wins a couple of races too.

Nico told French magazine L’equipe that he has excited about the challenge: “In motor sport you need a reference and this is unbelievable – I’ve got the very best there is next to me – you couldn’t dream for more.”

He added:  ”I’ve got the weapons to fight against the best driver off all time.”

2010 will show us how good a driver Nico Rosberg really is, and which league of drivers he belongs in. However this writer thinks Nico will have to seriously up his game if he wants a place within F1′s elite.

Is he going to climb up another ladder? Or is he going to slide down the long snake back to where he started?