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."
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Here is a sample.
