As they juggle attempting to make 100kg of gasoline - a third less than last year - last almost 200 miles, they will need to discover strategies to drive rapidly yet efficiently. And Rosberg is a really clever racer. He was well educated and proficient in five languages and was on the point of enrolling at a university to study engineering when his driving career took off.
Throughout practice and the first two phases of qualifying, the duo were equally matched. In Q1, Rosberg edged Hamilton by a tenth of a second before the order was reversed in Q2. Rosberg took provisional pole position with his first run in Q3, clocking a 1m15.989s lap to edge Hamilton by barely five hundredths of a second. However, with a new set of ultra-soft tyres and the track improving lap by lap, the closing runs would almost certainly deliver enough time advantages to shift the momentum back to Hamilton.
Hamilton and Verstappen's championship battle is going for an extraordinary conclusion, with five races in six weeks deciding whether F1 will have an eight-time champion or a first-time champion, with the Dutchman now leading by 12 points.
Rosberg is the last guy to have defeated Hamilton to the title, and in an interview with Sky News and Sky Sports News at COP26 in Glasgow, he supported his former team-mate and bitter rival to maintain his crown.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had a contentious relationship as Mercedes teammates. Getty Images/Mark Thompson In his post-F1 existence, Rosberg has used YouTube to showcase bits of his life and interact with his fans, and during a recent Q&A, one of his Twitter followers inquired if Hamilton was "as irritating behind the cameras as he is in front of them." Rosberg said in defense of his former teammate's attitude that he still hopes the duo may renew their connection in the future.
