Rosberg cites family ties as reason to quit
Newly crowned champion’s shock announcement catches Formula One motor racing world off guard, reports Kevin Eason.
THE intense pressure of beating Lewis Hamilton to the world championship forced Nico Rosberg into his shock decision to quit Formula One and walk away from a £55 million (NZ$98 million) deal with his Mercedes team.
Rosberg announced that he was retiring hours before he collected the world championship trophy at a ceremony yesterday in Vienna. The sport was stunned, from fellow drivers who had no inkling to the 1500 workers at the two Mercedes factories in Northamptonshire, who spent the previous day celebrating with him.
Rosberg signed a huge, threeyear contract with Mercedes in July, worth on average £18.3m a year. But it emerged yesterday that the immense mental strain of overcoming Hamilton and achieving a lifetime’s ambition of emulating Keke, his father and the 1982 champion, had become an intolerable burden. It had meant the exclusion of Vivian, his wife, and baby daughter Alaia from his life to focus on nothing else but the championship.
There have been two key figures in Rosberg’s racing life: Keke, who bankrolled his early career but who has been kept at arm’s length in recent times while his son tried to find his way in F1, and Hamilton, a one-time friend who became his nemesis.
Friends say that Keke, a swaggering figure in his era, loomed over his son’s career. Being the son of a multimillionaire, even with all of its advantages, became a hindrance because of the expectation it brought. Then there was Hamilton: in six seasons racing together – including two as karters, as well as four seasons at Mercedes – this year was the only time that Rosberg had the upper hand.
Rosberg had been studying Zen philosophy to control his emotions and focus on the world championship. Right up to the final grand prix in Abu Dhabi, Rosberg had been a volcano waiting to erupt, repeating his mantra that he was just worrying about the race, while Hamilton took every opportunity to needle his team-mate.
Hamilton waged a psychological battle up to the end when he attempted to slow down the race, hoping that Rosberg would be backed into a confrontation with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Rosberg held firm through an experience that he described as ‘‘horrible, the worst race of my life’’.
Afterwards, Keke predicted that his son would be even stronger next season; he clearly had no idea of what was to come. The emotions had poured out this week. When presented with a replica of the world championship trophy in front of Mercedes workers at the Brackley headquarters, Rosberg quickly ran his finger down the names of the winners until he stopped at 1982 and the name of his father.
Rosberg’s statement on Facebook showed that this was no quick decision, but one that dates back to the US Grand Prix in October, 2015, when Hamilton won his third world title, his second with Mercedes. Rosberg went into isolation for two days, devastated that he had lost again. The Zen started and Rosberg thought of nothing but the championship.
‘‘This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough,’’ Rosberg said. ‘‘I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years. They fuelled my motivation to levels I had never experienced. That had an impact on the ones I love, too. It was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target. I cannot find enough words to thank my wife Vivian; she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get recovery between every race, looking after our daughter, putting our title first.
‘‘Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become world champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target – and now I have made it. I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right.’’
When questioned yesterday, there were no doubts that Rosberg had quit.
‘‘Finished. Done. End of story,’’ he said. ‘‘My next step is being a dad and a husband for a while. That I amvery much looking forward to.’’ TIMES