German media fights to free “imprisoned” Rosberg

Promise not to tell anyone, but Nico Rosberg (the most brattish driver on the grid?) really, really doesn’t want to drive for Williams in 2009, even though he has just signed up to do exactly that. The reason? It’s quite simple: Rosberg, a young man blessed with a freakish surfeit of self-confidence, sees himself as a future world champion who should be driving for Ferrari or McLaren. Instead, he’s destined to spend 2009 stuck at the back of the grid in a crappy Williams.

Rosberg isn’t the only one who’s thoroughly pissed off with the situation. The German media, who would quite like another German F1 world champ (especially one who is photogenic and outpsoken), is doing its bit to free Nico from the tyranny of a seat in a Williams…

German broadcaster RTL claimed that Rosberg’s Williams contract is akin to “imprisonment”. They stopped short of casting Frank Williams in the role of some wheelchair-bound super villain, but the message is clear: our man doesn’t deserve to be stuck in a lame-ass team.

Of course, F1 contracts are worth, ultimately, as much as any other pro sport contract (i.e. nothing). The notion that Rosberg is “imprisoned” is laughable. If Ferrari or McLaren badly wanted Rosberg to drive for them in 2009, they would buy out his Williams contract. But they don’t, because he’s not (yet) good enough.

Cologne’s Express newspaper, meanwhile, claims that Rosberg’s father Keke is in talks with both McLaren and BMW-Sauber, in a late bid to save his son from a fate that is almost as bad as being a Force India driver. But since McLaren and BMW have both announced their driver line-ups for 2009, Rosberg is going nowhere fast - although not as fast as he would like.