Nico Rosberg says his seating position in Mercedes’ new W06 is to blame for the back problems he has experienced in the car.
Rosberg completed the equivalent of a race distance in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya this morning but sat out the rest of the day’s running as a precaution to ensure he can complete a full day’s work in the car on Sunday.
“My back has been a bit of an issue but I know what it was,” said Rosberg after team mate Lewis Hamilton completed today’s test for Mercedes.
“My position in the car was not quite right but I’ve been lucky with it really and it should be fine for a full day on Sunday. I’m just being a bit cautious and decided to get out of the car at lunch today.”
Although last year’s champions have not headed the times on any of the first six test days, Rosberg says they have not explored the ultimate performance of the W06 yet.
“At the moment we’re just focusing on getting the miles done and working on set-up,” he said.
“Of course, I want to go out and do qualifying laps all the time – but there’s a right time for everything. We don’t know where we are yet but things are going to plan. The development curve is still very steep.”
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Eric (@fletch)
20th February 2015, 19:00
Well things like this happen when the rest of the field is on your back. Except Lewis of course…
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
20th February 2015, 19:12
Sounds weird that the seat position is wrong, perhaps hinting that there’s a lot going on under the skin.
lockup (@)
20th February 2015, 20:00
@williamstuart Teams can be surprisingly primitive about things like this. They put the driver in a bent-back, terrible posture and then mould that in. So many F1 divers have back problems.
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
20th February 2015, 20:02
Perhaps, but it’s odd that it would come up now then, not during last season if it was not related to the layout of the car as much. I thought it was interesting that Mercedes were quick to point out that the main differences were below the skin, and then Rosberg suffers from back issues…
Breno (@austus)
20th February 2015, 21:02
This came up now and not last season because this is a new car?
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
20th February 2015, 22:08
Yeah? I’m not sure why you’re confused, I was just wondering that perhaps the reason the seat is different and causing the back pain is due to the different packaging inside the car, I don’t know why else he would suffer from back pain otherwise.
lockup (@)
20th February 2015, 22:51
@williamstuart It’s that they don’t control it with a good process, so they’re always at risk. Look at Jenson’s first year at McLaren for example: they’d designed a car that couldn’t take a 6ft driver properly, when they already knew they weren’t thrilled with Kovy and several drivers were that tall. There’s a lot of trial and error. It’s curious, among all the data-driven processes in the rest of the car.
D Winn
20th February 2015, 20:57
Perhaps if he didn’t try to hold his breathe for 2 hours he wouldn’t get a sore nerve !
(Nico using new breathing method to improve driving)
Philip (@philipgb)
20th February 2015, 21:37
First conspiracy theory if the year:
Lewis has steered the car design this way to make it undrivable for anyone else.
Seems he’s learning from Alonso.
(#irony in case it’s not obvious)
Rambler
21st February 2015, 8:06
I think you’re confusing irony with sarcasm.
Philip (@philipgb)
21st February 2015, 8:50
Nope I’m using it just fine.
Maurice
21st February 2015, 9:25
Dude I ain’t English, and even I know you screwed the pooch with your ‘ironic’ use.
Philip (@philipgb)
21st February 2015, 10:11
‘a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.’
I obviously don’t think Lewis is in fact engineering the car to be unsuitable for Nico so what I said was a scenario contrary to the truth and thus, irony.
Debating a rule interpretation on an F1 site. How ironic.
dkpioe
21st February 2015, 12:53
that is sarcasm
Philip (@philipgb)
21st February 2015, 20:53
You’re right mate. My use of ironic language would constitute sarcasm. Kudos.
#sarcasm #howironic
Ciaran (@walsh-f1)
20th February 2015, 21:38
Considering the news he revealed today, his seating position maybe just a cover for the real reason he put out his back ;)
CountryGent (@countrygent)
20th February 2015, 22:01
If that’s true its by no means a quick fix. Hamilton’s 2013 and Button’s 2010 season was markedly compromised by seating difficulties; it’s common when a driver moves team. It also suggests Mercedes have made substancial changes under the skin, possibly with weight distribution in mind.
How then, did Nico manage to clock the most laps at Jerez? Could Mercedes be diverting attention away from a real physical issue for Rosberg?
reg (@reg)
20th February 2015, 23:23
Perhaps more than anything, Nico is just feeling some after affects of being back in the car for the first time in 90 days, coupled with completing 4 race distances over two days in Jerez. I’d also submit that sometimes a simple event in your sleep or in everyday tasks can get you spine out of alignment and it takes a while to get things back to normal. Lots of people experience this in regular life, never mind the F1 drivers subjecting themselves to these Gumby-shaped seats in which they experience multiple G-loads in all directions.
I just hope it is easily fixed for Nico, we are going to need to see him at 100% to compete with Lewis if the Mercedes is still well in front of the field come Melbourne.
woogle
21st February 2015, 0:24
heres me thinking his back was put out when Lewis put him over a barrel last season