Where does Nico Rosberg go from here?

[The Black Knight]

I suppose he's got a lot more vain and conscious of his image because he is thinking long term about his brand. He was on the radio yesterday talking about going through an experimental stage and about being a style icon. It's stuff like that that makes me cringe. This is him today on social media:
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A great driver, my favourite, but apart from being an F1 driver, I can't relate to the coolness he is trying to push out. He is a similar age to me too so it's not generational. He does wear cool IWC watches though

He's certainly a lot different from the Lewis Hamilton that came into the sport in 2007. I agree he can be a bit of a knob. I remember one picture of him on twitter a couple of months back with a big pink hat on him. It was the ultimate in cringe.

But I couldn't really care less about what the drivers do outside of the sport. Like it or not, he's bringing a lot of attention to F1 and it is people like him that reach those that might not be reached under normal circumstances. He might be cringe but he's a great for the sport in that regard. Most drivers up until now have simply been coming to the GP's, doing their weekends work. spending some time with Engineers along with the required sponsorship and that's it. He's living his life how he wants to live it and, while it may be cringe in certain regards, I admire that he is doing it his way. I don't regard him as living a rock star lifestyle, we'll reserve that for the likes of the Rolling Stones whereas Hamilton is more boyz in da hood!

There's no doubting his talents behind the wheel. He is fantastic to watch but I do feel he can be better and is not exactly reaching the peak of his talents yet. If he spent more time with his Engineers, I don't think Nico would get a sideways look in but as it stands now, with him partying so much, I can't see how he is extracting the maximum from himself or his package. You simply can't live the lifestyle he has lead over the past month in particular and be at your ultimate level of fitness or preparedness. I'm fully convinced this is why Nico has suddenly gotten on top of him. I've been watching his qualifying laps on board throughout the entire year. I've seen all his pole laps as they happened from on board camera and there is a significant difference in the last couple of races with how well he is driving compared to earlier on in the year. His laps earlier in the year were just ballistic, perfect with every ounce extracted from the car. They haven't been that way in the last 5-6 grand prix and to me that's been pretty clear. In a race he still seems to have the upper hand on Nico, in that if he got out front I'd would expect he'd pull away, but he needs to pop it on pole to get that chance.