Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Nico Rosberg’s Shock Retirement Leaves Mercedes Looking For Lewis Hamilton’s New Rival/Teammate

Hey everybody. We're back with another guest post by Joshua Madisson.

The news had barely got around the world that Nico Rosberg had won the Formula 1 World Championship, before it was revealed he had also announced his retirement. This came just five days after lifting the trophy. He is leaving at the highest possible point in a career and said in his statement "I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right,". But this leaves not only F1 without one of its stars, but also Lewis Hamilton needing a new teammate.

Rosberg is only 31, but has been racing for 25 of those years. He is the second big name to retire after Jenson Button who also called it time. Button was honoured by the University of Bath this week for his services to the sport and contribution to British racing. Unlike when Button won his F1 Championship with Brawn, Rosberg is not going to try and add to his collection.

The German’s experience is quite extensive considering his young age. He has raced in 206 Grand Prix’s winning 23 times and making 57 podiums. His debut came in 2006 and his rise to become F1 Champion is second longest wait after Nigel Mansell’s 12 years. Racing ran in the blood for Rosberg. His father is an F1 Champ himself, Keke Rosberg from Finland. With this win, Nico matches what his father achieved.  Still despite these facts there is no denying his decision is still a shock. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the news took him "completely by surprise". “This is a brave decision by Nico and a testament to the strength of his character," he added. "The clarity of his judgement meant I accepted his decision straight away when he told me”.

This acceptance comes from an inside knowledge on how difficult it is to maintain the levels needed to be a top driver. Something even Lewis Hamilton admitted. The pressures of the last few races showed for Rosberg and the contemplation of having to do it all again and beat Hamilton makes Rosberg’s decision a lot easier. He has new family commitments too, something Hamilton does not, and having emulated his father he does not have much left to prove. Formula 1 Tips expert Luke Michaels, of Bookmakers TV says “As soon as driving becomes a job and not a passion, the harder it is to do the work necessary to be the best.”

Despite everyone’s calm acceptance Rosberg’s decision leaves the Mercedes team in a bind to find a new driver. Fernando Alonso is the current leader in the rumours, but it will likely be difficult to prize him away from McLaren. They can promote Pascal Wehlein, but he could be used as a makeweight with any other constructors in a driver swap deal. Valtteri Bottas is another who could be perfect as team boss Toto Wolff has had experience working with him before.

Whoever it is does not seem to bother our Lewis Hamilton "I've never needed a team-mate to be able to push me," he said. "The better the driver, the better it is for me when I finish ahead of them. You need someone with good values coming in and representing the team in a positive way, good work ethic and consistency, obviously, so we can those win constructors' championships. So, in terms of challenging for constructors' titles, which is obviously the team's first goal, we need to make sure we have someone equally as consistent as what we had before."

If you enjoyed this posting, please do share it with your network so more people can enjoy it as well. Also, check out my Formula 1 inspired designs at my online shops:

1. Lewis Hamilton Collection (fixed designs) is my fixed design shop on Redbubble where most of the phone cases are and many other products.
Link - http://www.redbubble.com/people/akhnsx/shop

2. Hamilton Tees (fixed designs) is my online shop where you can get my Lewis Hamilton inspired designs printed on many different types of t-shirts and hoodies.
Link - http://shop.spreadshirt.com/hamiltontees/

3. Lewis Hamilton T-Shirt (design your own) is a designer shop where you can get the same designs on many more products - not just t-shirts but trousers, baby bibs, mugs, phone cases, whatever is available. You can adjust the size and location of the designs, add text and customize it exactly as you see fit.
Link - http://lewishamiltontshirt.spreadshirt.com/

Support Lewis this season by owning this collection. Thank you for your support. May Lewis win his fourth world title in 2017. We win and lose together. Go Lewis!

Here is a sample.



Wednesday, December 7, 2016

FIA ISSUES 2017 F1 ENTRY LIST

The FIA has issued the 2017 F1 entry list... with just four seats still to be filled. No surprises that the most noticeable gap is that where everyone expected to see world champion Nico Rosberg’s name alongside Lewis Hamilton, the German having opted to retire just days after securing the title.

Sauber has one vacant seat alongside Marcus Ericsson, while Manor still has two vacancies. Though previously linked with both Sauber and Manor, Pascal Wehrlein is now looking a little further up the grid, hoping that Toto Wolff will give him the ultimate Christmas present.

Despite using Renault engines, Red Bull will continue as Red Bull-Tag Heuer, the deal having been extended through to 2018. Sister team Toro Rosso, which switches back to Renault from Ferrari next year, is also expected to re-badge its power units though there is currently no idea as to whose name might adorn the French engines.

Rookies Stoffel Vandoorne and Lance Stroll will race with the numbers 2 and 18, respectively, though the Belgian raced with the number 47 in Bahrain earlier this year.

No.DriverNatTeamCar
44HamiltonGBRMercedes AMG Petronas F1 TeamMercedes
TBCMercedes AMG Petronas F1 TeamMercedes
3RicciardoAUSRed Bull RacingRed Bull-Tag Heuer
33VerstappenNEDRed Bull RacingRed Bull-Tag Heuer
5VettelGERScuderia FerrariFerrari
7RaikkonenFINScuderia FerrariFerrari
11PerezMESahara Force India F1 TeamForce India-Mercedes
31OconFRASahara Force India F1 TeamForce India-Mercedes
77BottasFINWilliams Martini RacingWilliams-Mercedes
18StrollCANWilliams Martini RacingWilliams-Mercedes
14AlonsoESPMcLaren HondaMcLaren-Honda
2VandoorneBELMcLaren HondaMcLaren-Honda
55SainzESPScuderia Toro RossoToro Rosso-Renault
26KvyatRUSScuderia Toro RossoToro Rosso-Renault
8GrosjeanFRAHaas F1 TeamHaas-Ferrari
20MagnussenDENHaas F1 TeamHaas-Ferrari
27HulkenbergGERRenault Sport Formula One TeamRenault
30PalmerGBRRenault Sport Formula One TeamRenault
9EricssonSWESauber F1 TeamSauber-Ferrari
TBCSauber F1 TeamSauber-Ferrari
TBCManor Racing TeamMRT-Mercedes
TBCManor Racing TeamMRT-Mercedes
If you enjoyed this posting, please do share it with your network so more people can enjoy it as well. Also, check out my Formula 1 inspired designs at my online shops:

1. Hamilton Tees (fixed designs) is my online shop where you can get my Lewis Hamilton inspired designs printed on many different types of t-shirts and hoodies.
Link - http://shop.spreadshirt.com/hamiltontees/

2. Lewis Hamilton T-Shirt (design your own) is a designer shop where you can get the same designs on many more products - not just t-shirts but trousers, baby bibs, mugs, phone cases, whatever is available. You can adjust the size and location of the designs, add text and customize it exactly as you see fit.
Link - http://lewishamiltontshirt.spreadshirt.com/

3. Lewis Hamilton Collection (fixed designs) is my fixed design shop on Redbubble where most of the phone cases are and many other products.
Link - http://www.redbubble.com/people/akhnsx/shop

Support Lewis this season by owning this collection. Thank you for your support. May Lewis win his fourth world title in 2016. We win and lose together. Go Lewis!

Here is a sample.