ROSBERG BOWS OUT ON TOP
World champion makes shock choice to retire from Formula 1
Rosberg’s statement in full: “Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘onething’ to become 1 World Champion. Through the hardwork, the pain, Formula my target. And now I’ve thesacrifices, this has made it. I have climbed been the mountain, I am on the this feels right. My strongest peak, so who emotion right now is deep supported me to make gratitude to everybody the dreamhappen. “This season, I tell you, itwas so damn tough. I pushed the disappointments of like crazyin every area the last two years; they after never experienced before. fuelled my motivationto levels I had And ofcourse that had an – it was a whole family impacton the ones I love, effortof sacrifice, putting too cannot find enough words everything behind ourtarget. I to thank my wifevivian; she understood that this year hasbeen incredible. She wasthe big one, our opportunity space for me toget full to do it, and created recovery between every the race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and puttingour championship “When I won therace in Suzuka, fromthe moment first. was in my own hands, when the destiny of the the big pressure started title my racing careerif andi began to think about I became world champion. ending knew that it could On Sunday morning in be my last race and that Abu Dhabi, I I wantedto enjoy feeling clearedmy head before every part ofthe experience, the start. and then the lights knowing it might be the last time… went out andhadi the most decision on Monday intense evening. 55 laps of my life,tooki my Afterreflecting for a day, Vivian and Georg (Noite, thefirst people I told from Nico’s management were “The only thing that makes team), followed by Toto. this decision in any way I am putting my racing difficult for me is because family into tougha situation. knew straight away that Buttoto understood. He I wascompletely convinced My proudestachievement and that reassured me. in racing will always be to have won the world championship in this incredible team of people, the Silver “Now, I’m just here to enjoy Arrows. to themoment. There is time reflecton the season and to savour the nextweeks, that, to enjoy every experience I will turn the next cornerin thatcomes my way. After my life and seewhat it has in store forme…” Mercedes will begin its search for Lewis Hamilton’s new team-mate this week, after new world champion Nico Rosberg’s shock decision to retire from the sport.
Rosberg, 31, announced at last Friday’s FIA awards gala that he had taken the decision to end his Formula 1 driving career, just days after landing his first world title.
The decision brings an end to the German’s 11-year F1 career, which began with Williams in 2006. Rosberg has contested 206 grands prix, winning 23 times.
Rosberg released a lengthy statement ( see sidebar) explaining that he had taken the decision in order to spend more time with his family and young daughter, and conceded that the pressure of this year’s battle was something he didn’t feel he could face again.
“This year was extremely tough because I put absolutely everything into it,” said Rosberg. “I pushed like crazy in all directions and along with everybody who was involved, which was also my family, we made a lot of sacrifices.
“My wife, for example, every time I was home she understood that I needed to rest so I never did any nights, I never took care of my little daughter. She was always there to support and that’s just one example of the commitment we all put into it.
“I’ve achieved this childhood dream now [of being world champion] and I’m not willing to do that sort of commitment again for another year, and I’m not interested in coming fourth. I’m a fighter, and I want to win. But I’m not interested in doing it again. I don’t want to do it again.
“So I’ve decided to follow my heart and my heart has told me to stop there and call it a day and go on to other things.”
Rosberg added that he first told his wife and management team of his decision to retire, followed by Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff and Hamilton himself, before publicly announcing it.
“I informed Lewis myself as it was the right way to do it,” he added. “We’ve had such a battle and so many moments fighting each other. I sent him a message as everything has been really short notice. The priority was to let the team know so I wasn’t able to do a perfect job in taking enough time to notify everybody that was close to me.”
Lewis unsurprised
Hamilton told reporters that he wasn’t surprised by Rosberg’s decision, and added that he would have no influence on Mercedes’ search for a replacement.
The three-time world champion said: “I’m probably one of the only people that it wasn’t a surprise to, but that’s because I’ve known him for a very long time.
“This is the first time he’s won [in their rivalry since karting] in 18 years, hence why it was not a surprise that he decided to stop. He has a family to focus on, and F1 takes up so much of your life.
“We started out together when we were 13 and we’d always talked about being champions. When I joined Mercedes and Nico was already there, which is something we talked about too when we were kids. It’s going to be strange, and it’s sad to not have him in the team next year. The sport will miss him.”
When pressed on whether he would have any say on who takes Rosberg’s seat alongside him, Hamilton insisted he had no
demands or vetoes to take.
“I’ve never been a driver to request – I know a lot of other drivers, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, make sure they have things like this written into their contracts, but I’ve just always asked for equal rights [with a teammate],” said Hamilton. “So long as we are treated fairly it doesn’t matter who’s in the car beside you.
“When you’re in the Mercedes family it’s a beautiful place to be. You are part of it for life, unless you burn your bridges. I would say for a driver that’s coming, there’s nothing to be afraid of in respect to being part of this great team. I’m interested to see who would want to be my team-mate and I’d respect anyone who would want to.”
He then joked: “If you can’t stand the heat, don’t come here.”
Wolff added that Rosberg leaves the sport as the best driver on the grid currently: “The results show he won the world championship, so he is the best driver in F1 today.
“He leaves a huge legacy. First of all the way he has decided to leave F1 is something unheard of. It is something for us to admire in a certain way, calling it a day when you are at the top.
“He has been a part of our team since the early days and such a strong team member.”
So, who next?
Team boss Wolff confirmed this week would mark the start of Mercedes’ process to fill Rosberg’s seat, but stressed that luring star names from rival teams wasn’t top of his agenda.
Speculation has been rife that both Vettel and Alonso could move for the seat alongside Hamilton, having both sought deals with Mercedes before their respective moves to Ferrari and MclarenHonda. William’s Valtteri Bottas, who has just signed a contract extension with the Grove team, is another candidate.
However, Wolff said a big money and big-name signing wasn’t strictly necessary, due to Mercedes’ pool of young drivers, which includes DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein and F3 and GP3 champion Esteban Ocon.
When asked about the chances of Vettel moving to Mercedes, Wolff told Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport: “It is not my intention to interfere with Ferrari’s internal issues, and I don’t even know if Sebastian really has the intention to come to us. It’s the same thing [with Alonso]: what would Ferrari and Mclaren do without Vettel and Alonso in December? Or even Williams without Bottas – that option is the one I like the least.
“I’ve been bombarded with calls [since Friday’s announcement] and 80 per cent of the F1 drivers have spoken to me. Who hasn’t done so, [Kimi] Raikkonen and [Daniil] Kvyat didn’t, just because they don’t have my number!”
Ocon has already signed a deal to join Force India for 2017, and is the lesser experienced of the two Mercedes juniors. Wehrlein scored a point for Manor during his first full season in F1 this year.
Wolff said Mercedes has options of how to decide its second driver.
“The first path is to have a number one and a number two driver,” he said, “a bit like during the [Michael] Schumacher and [Felipe] Massa days at Ferrari. To hire a driver that guarantees Constructors’ Championship points. The second is to promote our young drivers – Ocon or Wehrlein. After all other teams have given chances to youngsters like [Max] Verstappen and [Stoffel] Vandoorne. The third path is to get back on the market in order to find another top driver.
“We have many meetings this week to discuss our strategy, and it’s a new and exciting challenge. After all, even if we have won 19 races this year, this has still been a really complicated season.”
5 When: May 1, 2016 Where: Sochi, Russia What: The grand slam While Hamilton struggled with technical problems early season, Rosberg put the knife in with four wins over the first four races of the season.
Perhaps the most impressive of these came in Sochi. The German grabbed pole by more than 0.6s (over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, as Hamilton had a turbo issue).
No one would see Rosberg all afternoon. Vettel was scuppered at the start after contact with Kvyat, but there would have been little chance of him having any major impact on the result anyway.
Tactics helped, but Rosberg performed the grand slam with fastest lap in the race and he led every lap around the autodrome. Hamilton limited the damage by climbing to second place, but the event was only about one driver.
It marked the end of Rosberg’s string of victories at the start of the season. He had pushed his advantage to Hamilton out to 57 points in the drivers’ standings and that gave him plenty of breathing space.
7 When: November 27, 2016 Where: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates What: Realising a career, and life, ambition This was what it was all about. Nico Rosberg was within touching distance of the crown, but he had to make sure that he had a clean race and made it to the podium.
That sounds like a relatively simple task in the best car on the grid. But he was up against the one rival who had been up against him at every stage of his career so far: Lewis Hamilton.
“I was very relaxed before the start of the race,” said Rosberg. “The thing that gave me the most clarity before the race in Abu Dhabi was the thought ‘I am going to win here today, this is going to be my last race so let’s take it all in’. That took away some of the massive pressure.”
There was pressure in the race though, none more so than when he was instructed to pass Max Verstappen’s Red Bull at the midpoint to assure a Merc 1-2, even amid Hamilton’s tactics of backing up the frontrunners.
“That was one of the last things I wanted to hear,” said the world champion elect. “Of all the drivers to pass, it was Verstappen. But I did it. That was the most intense moment I have ever had in racing.”
It was the move that cemented the world championship and set in motion the event that led to the retirement announcement last week.