text: Nico Rosberg is too polite to say what precisely he finds irritating about the team-mate with whom he is locked in the battle of his career. Sitting in an air-conditioned room away from the dry heat of the Bahrain paddock, he goes so far as to say this of Lewis Hamilton: ‘I know exactly how he is functioning. I understand him really, really well. All his attitudes. I can tell why he is doing whatever he is doing. Sometimes he annoys me. Some character traits.’ Go on, then, tell us what it is that gets under your skin. Lewis Hamilton waves after qualifying on pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday . Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg was third six-tenths of a second behind Hamilton . Hamilton has dominated Roberg this season and has got pole in every race during the current campaign . ‘I don’t want to give details,’ says Rosberg, diplomatic to the core. At this point the door of the Mercedes hospitality area, in which Rosberg and I are sitting alone, opens fast and loudly. It is Hamilton invading the quiet of the interview. He turns to face the door he has just walked through and slammed shut, his head down, and shouts in an almost childlike way: ‘Phew, phew, man, it’s hot,’ deporting himself as if he is about to pass out from heat stroke. ‘You see...?’ says Rosberg, his eyebrows arched. The daunting task he faces against his extraordinary team-mate was made vividly clear under the lights in qualifying for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Not only will he start behind Hamilton for the fourth consecutive race but behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, who is emerging as a putative title contender. ROSBERG'S CORNER . Keke Rosberg . The 1982 world champion attended pre-season testing with friends but rarely goes to races and does not give interviews. Nico said he got his father’s advice before the last race in Abu Dhabi but he generally gives his son space. Vivian Rosberg . Nico’s long-term girlfriend turned wife. She attends a few races, sometimes with a clutch of their long-standing friends, but is happy in the background. She works as an interior designer. Georg Nolte . A popular, mild-mannered former Bild sports journalist, who is Nico’s PR and Man Friday. Tony Ross . Rosberg’s race engineer. His attachment to Rosberg is such that he moved from Williams to Mercedes at the driver’s request. HAMILTON'S CORNER . Anthony Hamilton . Father is rarely seen at races since being dropped as Lewis’s manager but he is still the family patriarch. He established the business side of his son’s career and still controls elements of it. Niki Lauda . The Mercedes chairman is strictly neutral but has a vested interest in Hamilton being successful, having brought him to the team after telling the board he was the driver who could win them the title. Daniel ‘Spinz’ Forrest . Hamilton’s new travelling companion. A music producer, he looks after Hamilton’s social media output. Peter Bonnington . Hamilton’s race engineer. He did the same job for Michael Schumacher. Rosberg’s deficit to Hamilton was six-tenths of a second on Saturday. He is also separated from the Briton by 17 points. But even more separates them as people. Rosberg grew up the son of privilege. His father, Keke, was 1982 world champion. He was brought up in Monaco. He attended a smart international school there. He speaks five languages. But his life is the quiet life. Not for him the Hamilton whirl of red carpets and celebrity acquaintances in Los Angeles. He is not tattooed from chest to leg. While Hamilton courts fame, Rosberg’s dream evening finishes with him and wife, Vivian, staying in to watch an ‘educational documentary’, their yellow Labrador, Bailey, at their side. Family is important. He has known Vivian, an interior designer, since his teenage years. They make smoothies or ‘healthy’ pancakes when they home in Monaco or Ibiza. They gather fresh vegetables from their bio-garden. He relishes a bike ride to the beach for lunch. He loves his classic car — a light blue Mercedes 280SL Pagoda, as perfect as the day it was made in 1970. He bought it without Vivian knowing, but they both enjoy it now. He drives them through the sweeping mountain roads of southern France. Rosberg has a trait rare among modern Formula One drivers: a hinterland. He turned down a place at Imperial College to become a full-time racing driver. If he wins the World Championship this year he will do so with a book under his arm. He is the driver who never stops learning. Having married last year, he and Vivian are expecting their first child in August, during the sport’s summer break. ‘Typical German precision,’ he jokes. ‘I’m very excited and very lucky,’ he says. ‘I just hope it all goes well. There is a link between your personal life and your racing life, naturally.’ But we know he is a nice, intelligent chap, more settled in life than his rival. The point when it comes to winning the most prestigious title in motor racing is whether he has the capacity — the skill and cutting edge — to beat such an extravagant talent as Hamilton, who eclipsed him last year. Rosberg has failed to match Hamilton this season, raising the question whether he will go the way of Mark Webber, who fell away after making his Red Bull team-mate Vettel fight him for his first title. Rosberg’s deficit to Hamilton was six-tenths of a second in qualifying on Saturday . Jenson Button will start his 100th race for McLaren from last on the grid after his ailing machine again gave up on him during qualifying. It was the third time this weekend he had suffered a failure, the latest coming just four corners into his first lap. ‘It was a power cut,’ said Button. ‘I don’t know where it came from.' It is Rosberg who begins work with his engineers earlier and finishes later — and always turns up on time, unlike Hamilton — but genius sometimes makes its own rules. Raw talent is outstripping endeavour. As a barbecue was staged in a paddock here on Friday, he toiled in engineering meetings while the rest of us tucked in. He arrived after a brief stop in Dubai, relaxing and training, before heading to the track to face an inquisition. Why had he criticised Hamilton for slowing down seven days ago in China and thus imperilling Mercedes’ one-two finish? Rosberg answered in a relaxed and courteous manner. ‘Only today have there been millions of questions,’ he tells me once the wider interrogation was over. ‘Other than that I’ve had some distance from it all. I don’t think about it in terms of me getting under his skin or him getting under mine. For both of us it has been annoying to spend so much time on the topic. Hamilton and Rosberg pose together during their unveiling as Mercedes' new team in February 2013 . ‘Lewis and I are going through a difficult period. We cannot totally be friends. We go through ups and downs. We are only speaking when we need to but sometimes we have a laugh together. We have so much to do with each other. We karted together. We are here together. I am not an ice man, either. Things can get to me but I do not get angry. I am rational. You won’t catch me getting very emotional.’ The feud between the two has been running for a year, each upsetting the other in turn, a situation magnified because there has been nobody else with whom to scrap. If Ferrari seriously push their way into the championship contest, that might change somewhat. ‘There are so many experiences that I can build on,’ says Rosberg. ‘Even now when he has taken quite a few points off me and been on a winning streak, I think back to last year when I had my best run after he had won four in a row. Nico's father Keke (left) was also a famous racing driver and won the 1982 Formula One World Championship . ‘I like to push myself. I am not at my peak as a driver, though I am probably close to it. But I have the experience of how to set up the car and deal with the whole world of Formula One. The intra-team stuff, personal relations are helped by last year. It was so valuable.’ Rosberg was born 29 years ago in Wiesbaden, Germany to a German mother, Sina, and his famous Finnish father. He soon moved to Monaco and developed as European polyglot. His solid family background is the bedrock of his life. Hamilton said last year that Rosberg was not as hungry as him because of their different backgrounds, the former being from a council estate in Stevenage and the latter from a plutocrat’s playground. Fair? ‘I had it easy if you think of people who have money struggles in their lives. People reading this may think I had it easy. But I had my personal battles. Even making it to Formula One was not easy; it was a constant challenge and commitment. My whole life has taken a lot of sacrifice. ‘Some people say I am not strong enough to beat Lewis but I have as much belief as ever. I only wouldn’t believe I could beat him if I got to the end of the championship and I had lost. That is not what I want to happen and I am constantly learning to make sure it’s not what happens.’ Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel pipped Rosberg to second in qualifying on Saturday .
target: Lewis Hamilton qualified in pole position for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix .
  Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel pipped Mercedes' Nico Rosberg to second .
  Rosberg's father Keke was 1982 world champion .
  Rosberg and his wife Vivian are expecting their first child in August .
  While Hamilton courts fame and has a lavish lifestyle, Rosberg's focus is on his family while his life is more settled .