Nico Rosberg has responded to Bernie Ecclestone’s comment that he isn’t good for business because he’s too reserved, unlike his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who the 84-year-old branded “the best champion that we have had in a long, long time”.
Ecclestone made the comments during a joint interview with Rosberg ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, citing the lack of a German GP this year and a declining audience in the country as a knock-on effect of Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel’s lack of self promotion.
“From a pure business aspect – sorry Nico if I have to say this – you are not so good for my business,” he declared.
“That is not your fault. You two are just very different characters. When it comes to F1, I am a huge Lewis fan because he is a super promoter of the sport.”
Rosberg has defended himself against Ecclestone’s remark, believing he goes about promoting the sport in a different manner to Hamilton.
“None of that surprises me,” he told Autosport. “He has been very open about that all the time, criticising anybody who is not as out there in the world like Lewis, in his manner, because the more you are out there the better it is as you create more attention and all the rest of it.
“That’s obvious because he is commercial rights holder, and what does he want? He wants some movement out there, and Lewis does a lot of that in his own way.
“I’m a bit more reserved in that sense, so it is not something that surprised me.”
When asked if he could do more for the sport, he replied: “I care for the sport, I do think about it, and I try and give a lot back to it in my own way.
“You can never do enough for what the fans give us, none of us can do enough, to give back, to thank them.
“So at the back of my mind…even at the weekend it was awesome for that because all the fans have the opportunity to get really close to us, not only the fans, but the marshals. Let’s not forget them.”
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