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…

Do you think Kimi will fourpeat in Belgium this Sunday?

Kimi Raikkonen owns Spa-Francorchamps. He has won the last three Belgian Grands Prix at the circuit: in 2004, 2005 (both with McLaren) and in 2007 (there was no event in 2006), his world championship-winning season with Ferrari. If he is to maintain any hope of catching Lewis Hamilton this season, you feel the Finn has to make it four in a row.

Although the Kimster is in a slump, without a win since April (Spanish GP), he has still managed to pick up solid points in most races. And bearing in mind how last season panned out, it’s obviously dumb to write off Kimi with six races still to go.

Nando: you either love him or hate him

Fernando Alonso’s dad has come out in the Spanish press to defend his maligned son. Jose Luis Alonso told Spanish daily El Pais that Fernando has not changed at all since he became F1 world champ in 2006.

“He is just the same as always,” Alonso said of his famous son. “It is not so obvious in his attitude with me as how he behaves when he is with the whole family; he has everything but he is still the same. He is a happy and affectionate person.”

It’s natural for a parent to defend his kid, but it’s difficult argue that Alonso is the same man as he was a couple of years ago, during his first stint at Renault. Along with Lewis Hamilton (ah, the irony), Nando probably has the most detractors among F1 fans and insiders. You either love him or hate him. It wasn’t always the case…