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F1, Nico Rosberg — SUZUKA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 09: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 and Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari F1-75 battle for track position on lap one during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210090195 // Usage for editorial use only //

Rosberg reckons rule change worked in making overtaking easier

06/01/2023

Nico Rosberg reckons overtaking did become a tad easier due to the F1 2022 rule changes as he lists his six best drivers of the year.

While the pecking order didn’t shuffle up hugely or the gap to the front didn’t shrink as much, the purpose of the 2022 regulation changes did work to an extent as following became easier and so did overtaking which people saw in abundance.

In fact, the 2022 F1 season saw 785 moves made against the 599 passes made last year as per the data provided by Pirelli. He conceded that Max Verstappen dominated the year, but noted that it didn’t make racing hugely boring.

“For me, the year of F1 was so awesome,” said Rosberg on his Youtube channel. “It was such a great season. Even though one guy dominated so much, it didn’t really make it boring. It was just so interesting all the time, so exciting, so many things changing – it was great.

“I think the rule changes really worked very well, to make overtaking easier – we can confirm that. They’ve done a great job with that, led by Ross Brawn, so thank you Ross and team for the effort on that. The amount of overtakes in 2022 compared to 2021, there were so many more, and that’s really just proof of how the new rules are working,” summed up Rosberg.

Ranking his best of 2022, while it was originally termed as Top 5 but Rosberg included Fernando Alonso for his exceptional run despite the reliability issues. The German did not pick Sebastian Vettel, though, who also had a good run.

His Top 5 saw Verstappen end up on the top but interestingly, George Russell was second on the list ahead of Charles Leclerc and even Lewis Hamilton. With Lando Norris in fifth, Rosberg’s list unintentionally had all the three British drivers in the Top 5.

Here’s the full video: