IF anybody doubted the virtues of perseverance, they should have watched Nico Rosberg's splendid performance while taking his first checkered flag in Formula One in China yesterday.

Ever since 2006, this brainy fellow, who speaks half-a-dozen languages, was offered a place to study aerodynamics at Imperial College in London, and holds dual nationality in Germany and Finland, has been touted as a future world champion – not least because his father, Keke, was king of the globe in 1982 – and yet he has struggled to transform his potential into tangible achievement.

This was Rosberg's 111th grand prix and other individuals might have started to question their ability, but the 26-year-old dominated the event, sped to his goal, and left his opponents trailing far behind, as if to herald the arrival of another challenger to Sebastian Vettel. Suddenly, and even before the caravan has moved back to Europe, the latter looks vulnerable.

The manner of Rosberg's victory also re-ignited the issue of how much longer Michael Schumacher, his Mercedes team-mate, will linger in the sport, considering the anti-climactic nature in which he exited. At his first pit stop, when his crew forgot to tighten the nut on his right front wheel, it quickly hastened the retirement of the seven-time world title-winner and surely made him ask: "Why am I doing this?"

There is striving for new challenges and then there is screaming into the void and Schumacher has long since passed the point where anybody expects him to gain fresh titles.

When one examines the fashion in which the 2012 campaign is unfolding, there are at least half-a-dozen drivers with the belief that they can grapple for the main prize. This includes the McLaren duo, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, the Red Bulls' Vettel and Mark Webber – despite their early travails – Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, and we can now add Rosberg's name to the roster.

Rosberg demonstrated the extent of the talent which saw him post the fastest lap time at the Bahrain Grand Prix back in 2006. Don't bet against him repeating that exploit when he returns there next weekend.