Nico Rosberg retires from F1

Nico Rosberg retires from F1

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Discussion

37chevy

3,280 posts

155 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
ex1 said:
I suspect its this sort of st from "fans" that he has had enough of.

Have you seen the drivers interviews after the race? Only one spoilt tt and it wasn't Rosberg.
Umm pot kettle black here?! Can we just agree they're both spoilt little sts and move on?

sanf

673 posts

171 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
A good move from Rosberg today - during this season he's been the more affable personality in the team, gaining plenty of fans and now calling time on his career on his terms is a decent move. I think it's a shame but fully understandable. There must be so many reasons behind it.

He will know in his heart of hearts that this year he has taken his opportunity to win when it presented itself - without 1 key engine failure for his team-mate it would have been different (I'll come back to that). What is great is that Rosberg took the opportunity when it presented itself and is now an F1 world champ, he is in a similar vain to Button, Hill, Mansell, and even his dad Keke. An F1 champion, a great, but not a legend. Being in the right car at the right time and grasping the opportunity superbly. His consistency this year has been just brilliant, speed when needed (and able to exploit it) otherwise great consistency. Unlike Webber, Coulthard, Berger who all won races and had great careers, but just never quite made the championship - Rosberg did it.

However he knows this year he won despite - Hamilton taking his eye off the ball last winter (looking at a life outside F1), having multiple terrible starts, forgetting to turn-up to at least 3 weekends, starting at the back once due to reliability, having various qualifying reliability issues, losing a certain win when his engine failed - despite all of that he still won by only 5 points.

Rosberg struck beautifully in Japan. Hamilton showed the heart on his sleeve personality that some people love him for that weekend, having lost the win the previous weekend he was just off his game and Rosberg struck superbly. However since then, once Hammy got his head together again he has been formidable - driven superbly. Perhaps Rosberg saw a refocusing by Hamilton, and steely determination that he felt Hamilton would carry into next year, more focused and driven - at the top of his game again. The final race also showed tactically what Hamilton is capable of when he really puts his mind to it, again that could have been a something he felt would be carried into 2017. And with no guarantee that Merc would be so far ahead of the field they would be in a might tighter fight (which is what I was hoping for biggrin) and if he was heavily beaten again it would taint this years title.

On top of all of that - Merc must have been a tough place to work, with a horrible atmosphere over the past 18 months. The two of them have spoken of their conversations as kids imagining being in the same team and fighting for the championship. I bet they didn't imagine they would hardly be talking. Hamilton really does come across as a prize tool sometimes in the past race cool down room - the whole, stay focused, win at all costs, hardly acknowledge Rosberg act must have got wearing after a while. Plus they had 2 coming togethers this year, what risk in 2017/2018??

Finally the great piece is he has a life outside F1, wife, child - totally financially secure, why risk it? It's a great message and almost sticking 2 fingers up to Hamilton showing him what else he has outside F1, there is more to life than racing.

It is a shame we won't see a potential multi team, multi driver head to head in F1 with Rosberg, but like the rest of us he can sit back and watch it now, or even become a Sky F1 pundit!! Kick back enjoy his retirement knowing full well he is an exclusive club as an F1 champ, admire his trophies and know no-one can ever take this away. Good luck to him, smart move after a smart season.

Hungrymc

6,642 posts

136 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
ELUSIVEJIM said:
And Lewis then stabbed the man who got him into F1 in the back.

Funny how Ron appeared back after Lewis left.
Ron came back for the same reason Lewis left.... Whitmarsh was making the team a laughing stock (and Button was frantically managing the PR and Whitmarsh so he could keep his position).

Z3MCJez

531 posts

171 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
ClockworkCupcake said:
Let's not forget that James Hunt also retired after his first and only WDC

Some people just have clear goals that they want to achieve, and when they have achieved them they are done and move on.
Cough. He didn't. He drove for McLaren in 1977 and 1978 and then moved to Wolf for 1979.

Mattygooner

5,301 posts

203 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
Z3MCJez said:
Cough. He didn't. He drove for McLaren in 1977 and 1978 and then moved to Wolf for 1979.
He has retracted that statement at least 8 times now.

LDN

8,905 posts

202 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
sanf said:
A good move from Rosberg today - during this season he's been the more affable personality in the team, gaining plenty of fans and now calling time on his career on his terms is a decent move. I think it's a shame but fully understandable. There must be so many reasons behind it.

He will know in his heart of hearts that this year he has taken his opportunity to win when it presented itself - without 1 key engine failure for his team-mate it would have been different (I'll come back to that). What is great is that Rosberg took the opportunity when it presented itself and is now an F1 world champ, he is in a similar vain to Button, Hill, Mansell, and even his dad Keke. An F1 champion, a great, but not a legend. Being in the right car at the right time and grasping the opportunity superbly. His consistency this year has been just brilliant, speed when needed (and able to exploit it) otherwise great consistency. Unlike Webber, Coulthard, Berger who all won races and had great careers, but just never quite made the championship - Rosberg did it.

However he knows this year he won despite - Hamilton taking his eye off the ball last winter (looking at a life outside F1), having multiple terrible starts, forgetting to turn-up to at least 3 weekends, starting at the back once due to reliability, having various qualifying reliability issues, losing a certain win when his engine failed - despite all of that he still won by only 5 points.

Rosberg struck beautifully in Japan. Hamilton showed the heart on his sleeve personality that some people love him for that weekend, having lost the win the previous weekend he was just off his game and Rosberg struck superbly. However since then, once Hammy got his head together again he has been formidable - driven superbly. Perhaps Rosberg saw a refocusing by Hamilton, and steely determination that he felt Hamilton would carry into next year, more focused and driven - at the top of his game again. The final race also showed tactically what Hamilton is capable of when he really puts his mind to it, again that could have been a something he felt would be carried into 2017. And with no guarantee that Merc would be so far ahead of the field they would be in a might tighter fight (which is what I was hoping for biggrin) and if he was heavily beaten again it would taint this years title.

On top of all of that - Merc must have been a tough place to work, with a horrible atmosphere over the past 18 months. The two of them have spoken of their conversations as kids imagining being in the same team and fighting for the championship. I bet they didn't imagine they would hardly be talking. Hamilton really does come across as a prize tool sometimes in the past race cool down room - the whole, stay focused, win at all costs, hardly acknowledge Rosberg act must have got wearing after a while. Plus they had 2 coming togethers this year, what risk in 2017/2018??

Finally the great piece is he has a life outside F1, wife, child - totally financially secure, why risk it? It's a great message and almost sticking 2 fingers up to Hamilton showing him what else he has outside F1, there is more to life than racing.

It is a shame we won't see a potential multi team, multi driver head to head in F1 with Rosberg, but like the rest of us he can sit back and watch it now, or even become a Sky F1 pundit!! Kick back enjoy his retirement knowing full well he is an exclusive club as an F1 champ, admire his trophies and know no-one can ever take this away. Good luck to him, smart move after a smart season.
Nice balanced post I reckon.

Z3MCJez

531 posts

171 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
Debaser said:
I thought James Hunt raced the year after his WDC?
He won the title in 1977, he did a year with McLaren as champion in 1978 then moved to Wolf for the 1979 season and quit the uncompetitive car after the Monaco GP, nearly came back again in 1980 with McLaren for the USGP but was asking $1m for the race.
Come on. Lauda won it in 1977. Hunt won in 1976. In the rain. In Fuji. It's one of the most memorable moments in F1 history, when Lauda pulled in and said it wasn't worth his life to race.

big_rob_sydney

3,394 posts

193 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
Some interesting comments I see.

I'm a Schumacher fan for one thing, so let me start by saying, I think Nico is pretty handy. Schu may have been beyond his prime, but I think it may have only been a fraction. Nico still wiped the floor with him.

And along came Lewis.

Lewis has really impressed me with his raw speed. I think he's faster than Nico, and basically just had bad luck this season. If not for that, I think Lewis would have won the WDC again.

I don't actually rate JB at all though. To me, he was just in the right place at the right time with the double diffuser, and was lucky to hang on while other teams caught up. Since he cashed in his golden ticket, he's been riding the coat tails of that, saying the right things, and being the corporate drone he was expected to be, along with help from various commentators who did their best to keep him in the circus for so long. A capable driver, sure. But then he's supposed to be; all of them in F1 are supposed to be. JB - the luckiest guy around to be getting paid huge money off the back of one season.

Vettel, I feel the same about. Right place at the right time, but when Danny R came along, we all saw through Seb. Another capable driver, sure, but not in the class of others.

I actually think the best drivers around these days are probably Lewis, Danny R, Max V, and Alonso, although I have my doubts about Alonso, as I think he has harmed a few teams as he was passing through.

I don't begrudge Lewis leaving McLaren, so I don't see that as harming the team. It's just a part of growing up, and people move on. But Alonso seems to leave a broken wake.

No, for me, if I had a dream team, it would be Lewis and Danny R.

Z3MCJez

531 posts

171 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
Mattygooner said:
Z3MCJez said:
Cough. He didn't. He drove for McLaren in 1977 and 1978 and then moved to Wolf for 1979.
He has retracted that statement at least 8 times now.
I'm working through the thread. I hate to see statements made as fact that are just wrong. I have to deal with that enough!

_Leg_

2,798 posts

210 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
cb1965 said:
Hungrymc said:
You know the kind of thing. Revving his engine past the red line, getting the wrong gear on a down change, resting his foot on the clutch pedal, not pushing the choke in when the engine is warm.
Is this sarcasm or are you just thick?
He's being sarcastic, you're being thick.

I would love to see you rest your foot on the clutch whilst sitting in an F1 car. Do a lot of Yoga do you?


ex1

2,727 posts

235 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
37chevy said:
ex1 said:
I suspect its this sort of st from "fans" that he has had enough of.

Have you seen the drivers interviews after the race? Only one spoilt tt and it wasn't Rosberg.
Umm pot kettle black here?! Can we just agree they're both spoilt little sts and move on?
Racist

308mate

13,757 posts

221 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
monamimate said:
308mate said:
The impression I got from Rosberg's announcement was that winning this year was a Herculean effort that required inordinate amounts of preparation and recovery and left no time for anything, even spending time with his kid. Meanwhile Lewis was jetting off after every race to hangout with Beiber and attend the opening of every envelope going.

Did Rosberg just reveal the real size of the gap in ability between the two, taking into account DNF's as well?
Well, if your suggestion is right (I don't ascribe to it personally), that makes Rosberg's WDC all the more worthy and impressive, as he had to work so hard to achieve it. Good on him.
Valid point.

BlimeyCharlie

901 posts

141 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
Rosberg has done the job, he is retiring to spend time with his family.
Not many people have been F1 World Champion, so good on him for doing it.

r11co

6,244 posts

229 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
37chevy said:
And rosberg can do no wrong in your eyes....he certainly wasn't innocent on the mind games front.....
What, eh?

Hamilton fanboi assumption - any criticism of your hero means the critic loves the opposition. Either for us or against us, eh!

rolleyes

r11co

6,244 posts

229 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
_Leg_ said:
cb1965 said:
Hungrymc said:
You know the kind of thing. Revving his engine past the red line, getting the wrong gear on a down change, resting his foot on the clutch pedal, not pushing the choke in when the engine is warm.
Is this sarcasm or are you just thick?
He's being sarcastic, you're being thick.
hehe

consul

924 posts

159 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
Class move from Neco, got the Job done with a bit off luck.
Can you imagine Lewis without zero mechanical issues how strong he is going to be next year and then for Neco to have to again collect himself and mentally think I have to step up again ! Family in place, Money in the Bank, All round good weather in Monaco, Cheque please Im out !

Sensible !

37chevy

3,280 posts

155 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
r11co said:
What, eh?

Hamilton fanboi assumption - any criticism of your hero means the critic loves the opposition. Either for us or against us, eh!

rolleyes
A) he's not my hero
B) I'm factually correct, nico played mind games too...

ps off back to your cave Troll

The Leaper

4,937 posts

205 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
Maybe there's a conspiracy.....Mercedes want Verstappen so they arrange for Rosberg to get the world title if he agrees to leave. Explains why the mechanic teams were 100% switched between the two drivers, and why only Lewis had the mechanical failures

R.

Norfolkit

2,394 posts

189 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
speedysoprano said:
See, I wondered whether Wehrlein wasn't confirmed anywhere cause this was possible...
Didn't Force India have the choice of Ocon or Wehrlein and were more impressed with Ocon, if he's not good enough for FI why would Merc promote him?

r11co

6,244 posts

229 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
quotequote all
37chevy said:
I'm factually correct, nico played mind games too
That wasn't the bit I was taking you to task over....

37chevy said:
And rosberg can do no wrong in your eyes
How do you work that out? Oh, yeah, anyone criticising your idol must love the evil opposition. rolleyes

37chevy said:
ps off back to your cave Troll
You serve your master well. If you are the calibre of fan Hamilton attracts I now get his appeal. rolleyes

Edited by r11co on Friday 2nd December 19:29