Nico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton could win as many as nine Formula 1 titles, though believes targeting that number would be “wrong”.
2020 was set to be about watching the Mercedes driver try and match Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships, though the coronavirus has delayed that.
However, to even reach his current tally of six, Hamilton can thank a dominant Mercedes since 2014 and so Rosberg – the only other man to win a title since then – believes such an achievement shouldn’t be considered a goal for others.
“No, no, that’s wrong,” Rosberg told Austrian newspaper Der Standard. “You have to find a balance.
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“One goal is that you optimise yourself and that you get the best out of your options. Some people race and maybe don’t have the talent of a Lewis Hamilton, where I might be able to count myself.
“That’s why it’s not realistic for me to be a world champion nine times, just as he might be able to but that is not my ambition. My ambition is to get the best out of myself and that’s what I’ve set myself.
“In addition, there is a concrete goal as a result.”
Rosberg would explain another problem with setting such specific targets is the number of other factors that can make it unattainable.
“The problem with goals in a result form is that so much depends on yourself,” he said.
“If I then have engine damage and have my own optimisation as a goal, I can still be ecstatic when I know that I have achieved everything so brilliantly on the day and all year round.
“This is extremely important – but it wasn’t a strength of mine either. I was also far too focused on the result. Of course, this happens because your whole environment is just talking about it all the time. Everything else doesn’t matter.
“As an athlete, you have to try to find the balance and keep focusing on optimising your own abilities, that’s what I learned over time. I have made progress, but it is so difficult to make big strides.
“I think the most successful athletes have that balance and not just the focus on results.”