Hamilton can easily go for Schumacher’s record – Rosberg

Nico Rosberg feels Lewis Hamilton can ‘easily’ target Michael Schumacher’s all-time Formula 1 world titles and wins records to become the best driver statistically in the history of the sport.

The 2016 F1 world champion paid tribute to his former Mercedes teammate following his fifth F1 crown which was sealed at the Mexican Grand Prix by finishing in fourth place coupled with Sebastian Vettel failing to win.

With Hamilton matching Juan Manuel Fangio’s titles haul to go joint-second on the all-time list, Rosberg believes the British driver can now target Schumacher’s wins and titles record.

The German driver, who Hamilton replaced at Mercedes in 2013, amassed seven F1 world championships across his career with 91 wins with Hamilton moving on to five and 71 wins with two races to go this year before he begins a new two-year contract at Mercedes.

“For Lewis to have five titles is unbelievable, it is crazy to think, equalling Fangio is crazy,” Rosberg said on his personal YouTube channel. “He can easily go for Schumacher’s record as he has a two-year contract and Schumi is only two titles away, 20-something race wins away and even that is possible in two years.

“So he could statistically become the greatest of all time which is unreal but there is a possibility and I’m sure he is going to be motivated by that.”

Rosberg also shared his thoughts on Vettel’s failed F1 title hopes and put it down to his and Ferrari’s poor form over the middle third of the season.

“Ferrari on average maybe had the better car and for Mercedes to go with such pressure and to come so strongly through the middle part of the season, developing the car so strongly, it is an amazing effort and I am super impressed,” he said.

congrats to the 5th title, Lewis!! your fangio style is very impressive @LewisHamilton @MercedesAMGF1
https://t.co/WkVK3ZDrGY

— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) October 28, 2018

“For Sebastian, after the midway part of the season it really went two ways. Sebastian really struggling, making mistakes, his team making mistakes as well while Mercedes and Lewis got it perfect. So, it went completely apart in a big way and that is why there is such a big difference in the championship and why it finished so early.

“Nevertheless, Sebastian did a great job coming back strong so maybe this is the first race to come back, build-up and get some confidence to finish the season on a high and start next year strongly.”