By Scott Mitchell | |
Features Editor |
If Formula 1 drivers of the modern era are not allowed to be rockstars, then someone forgot to tell Nico Rosberg. His 'win the world title one week, retire at the official prizegiving ceremony the next' strategy was as badass as it gets. Well, in motorsport circles anyway. Rosberg has bowed out of F1 in perfect fashion. He's the world champion, and leaves on top. He's beaten Lewis Hamilton, an adversary who has had the upper hand in their personal rivalry since they were in karting. He's given Hamilton no opportunity to come back at him, so has landed the ultimate final punch. And he's earned plaudit after plaudit in the wake of his title triumph by going on something of a farewell tour, hitting awards ceremonies across Europe and adopting a much more relaxed and popular character. The reaction to Rosberg's decision was broadly split into two camps: those who understood it and those who couldn't fathom why anyone would stop at the top of their game and with potentially the best car for the coming seasons. Those in the second group have a valid point, and even those who back Rosberg's decision will be disappointed to some extent. The big story of the last three years is now over. That personal rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg has lit up F1 in an era of one-team dominance. Mercedes has enjoyed the sort of Ferrari/Red Bull car advantage that rendered several seasons a total washout - think 2002, '04, '11 and '13. But that has been offset to a large degree by the ever-increasing acrimony between its two drivers as they duelled for the title. That rivalry had only just gained a new, fascinating dynamic. Rosberg had finally got the better of Hamilton - but was he just a lucky world champion? Had he taken that final step as a racing driver? Would winning that title lift pressure in a way that would allow him to go properly toe-to-toe with Hamilton for the 2017 crown? How would Hamilton respond to what he would see to be a shock defeat that his own efforts this season did not deserve? We will never have definitive answers to those questions, and fans of F1 can rightly feel aggrieved. Not least because Mercedes now has the opportunity to patch over its weak link: controlling two top-tier drivers. If Mercedes replaces Rosberg with a younger driver, or one of its own – Pascal Wehrlein, for example – the chances of a Hamilton-New Guy rivalry to match the one with Rosberg are slim. Maybe the next-generation Silver Arrows contender will be as potent as the ones over the last three seasons. If Mercedes retains anything like the edge it has enjoyed in the turbo-hybrid era to this point, and Hamilton has a clean number two alongside him, then F1 could be about to go through Vettel/Schumacher-esque levels of dominance again. And while that might only be for one or two seasons, it's not good for the health of grand prix racing. F1 doesn't need another reason for people not to bother tuning in. There's also the loss F1 as a whole has suffered in losing its champion – that's not good from an ambassadorial standpoint, particularly at the end of a year in which model poster boy Jenson Button and the popular, venerable Felipe Massa have also called time on their careers. It's lost a German world champion, and while some might think Rosberg's never really been acknowledged as a 'proper' German, it's again a blow to F1 to lose him given the German Grand Prix has fallen off the calendar again for 2017. But those are not Rosberg's problems. Ultimately, he does not owe anything to Formula 1 – and if he does, he's already done his part by throwing himself into a hat-trick of title fights, and finally emerging on top. In an era dominated by one team, Rosberg has stopped a Hamilton whitewash – critics should be grateful for that alone. First of all, Rosberg is replaceable. F1 hasn't lost a superstar – Rosberg has played a key part in the Mercedes rise, but it was not built around him – and as a one-time champion he doesn't leave with legendary status or anything like that. More importantly, every driver on the grid who cannot realistically get the second Mercedes seat for 2017 will be clawing at it for '18 – and that makes the prospect of the next driver merry-go-round a fascinating one. Of course, Rosberg's not made this decision to make things spicier in F1. He's made it for himself, and for his young family. And that takes serious courage. Only a few months ago, in July, Rosberg extended his Mercedes contract to the end of 2018. So he has turned his back on what would have been a lucrative pay packet over the next two years – one that would almost certainly have increased further in the wake of his title triumph, through his personal sponsors if not through his base Mercedes salary. More significantly, from a competitor's point of view, Rosberg will not be able to fight for the F1 title again. That will hurt a driver who has worked extremely, extremely hard to get to where he is – and that's not just a reference to the last 15 months or so, when he appears to have exhausted every avenue in his quest to defeat Hamilton over a season. This is something Rosberg has been aiming towards since he was a child – more than 20 years of his life have been dedicated to racing and succeeding in F1. Before Rosberg, only four drivers had made the call to immediately exit F1 as champion – Mike Hawthorn, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost. Hawthorn suffered ill health and did not get to enjoy retirement for long, dying in a road accident in January 1959. Stewart withdrew from what would have been his final grand prix after his team-mate Francois Cevert died in a practice crash. Mansell left for Indycars (but returned to grand prix racing with Williams in 1994 and then McLaren the following year), while Prost stopped racing in F1 after clinching his fourth title in '93, following a one-year sabbatical. They're a mixed bag in terms of finding that they still had an itch to scratch. Rosberg may find himself bored – you're a long time retired, after all. Given it is all he has known, it's easy to think he will be lost without grand prix racing. But consider that, having finally achieved his life-long goal – made it to the top of the mountain, as he put it – where does he go from here? Some might view his lack of desire to add to his tally as... well, a lack of desire. But that is hardly deplorable. When everything needs to be put on the line in the way Rosberg experienced over the last year, the reward needs to reflect the effort. Before, he was not a world champion, not part of the elite club. Changing that was one hell of a carrot. If he wins again, nothing really changes. He'll have another title, but to Rosberg that's not worth leaving his wife Vivian to raise their daughter Alaia, who is not even two years old. "I pushed like crazy in all directions and along with everybody who was involved, which was also my family, a lot of sacrifices," Rosberg said when he made his announcement. "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, I never did any difficult things. "She was always there to support to make it as easy as possible and that's just one example of the commitment we all put into it." If you compare 31-year-old Rosberg to 36-year-old Button, the difference is clear. Button's career has continued to its natural conclusion – but in the extra five years of his life that he's spent in F1, what has Button missed out on? He hasn't got a daughter, and, if he wants to, it's not too late for him to see a child grow up. Rosberg, on the other hand, is a noted family man, and has had two passions: chasing the F1 title and his wife and daughter. Given he's finally conquered the former, the choice is perfectly understandable. "I've achieved this childhood dream and I'm not willing to do that sort of commitment again for another year and I'm not interested in coming fourth or whatever," he said. "I'm a fighter and I want to win. I'm not interested to do that again, I don't want to do it again." Rosberg didn't think he could balance the two. But he could have. He could have pocketed £10million-plus for the next two years, ridden the crest of the wave as the world champion and massively ramped down his off-track efforts to enjoy more family time. That would not have been good enough – it would have been the worst thing Rosberg could do for himself, for Mercedes and for F1 as its active champion. Half-arsing his title defence would have been a middle finger to his employer and F1, and would have been demoralising for himself and diminished his reputation. If Rosberg finds himself missing racing in a year's time, or further down the line, he'll not be short of options. But he's sacrificed a lot up to this point for the sake of the F1 dream and clearly thinks it's the perfect time to get some pay back. F1 is a business, a sport, an entertainment industry... but that's all it is. It's not the be-all and end-all, yet Rosberg has spent his life being defined by it. He's always been the son of Keke or the team-mate of Hamilton, yet after his greatest triumph he was probably never going to be given total credit for becoming a world champion in his own right. Escaping the F1 bubble is not easy, leaving it on your own terms is even harder. All credit to Rosberg for doing exactly that. |
By Scott Mitchell | |
Features Editor |
If Formula 1 drivers of the modern era are not allowed to be rockstars, then someone forgot to tell Nico Rosberg. His 'win the world title one week, retire at the official prizegiving ceremony the next' strategy was as badass as it gets. Well, in motorsport circles anyway. Rosberg has bowed out of F1 in perfect fashion. He's the world champion, and leaves on top. He's beaten Lewis Hamilton, an adversary who has had the upper hand in their personal rivalry since they were in karting. He's given Hamilton no opportunity to come back at him, so has landed the ultimate final punch. And he's earned plaudit after plaudit in the wake of his title triumph by going on something of a farewell tour, hitting awards ceremonies across Europe and adopting a much more relaxed and popular character. The reaction to Rosberg's decision was broadly split into two camps: those who understood it and those who couldn't fathom why anyone would stop at the top of their game and with potentially the best car for the coming seasons. Those in the second group have a valid point, and even those who back Rosberg's decision will be disappointed to some extent. The big story of the last three years is now over. That personal rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg has lit up F1 in an era of one-team dominance. Mercedes has enjoyed the sort of Ferrari/Red Bull car advantage that rendered several seasons a total washout - think 2002, '04, '11 and '13. But that has been offset to a large degree by the ever-increasing acrimony between its two drivers as they duelled for the title. That rivalry had only just gained a new, fascinating dynamic. Rosberg had finally got the better of Hamilton - but was he just a lucky world champion? Had he taken that final step as a racing driver? Would winning that title lift pressure in a way that would allow him to go properly toe-to-toe with Hamilton for the 2017 crown? How would Hamilton respond to what he would see to be a shock defeat that his own efforts this season did not deserve? We will never have definitive answers to those questions, and fans of F1 can rightly feel aggrieved. Not least because Mercedes now has the opportunity to patch over its weak link: controlling two top-tier drivers. If Mercedes replaces Rosberg with a younger driver, or one of its own – Pascal Wehrlein, for example – the chances of a Hamilton-New Guy rivalry to match the one with Rosberg are slim. Maybe the next-generation Silver Arrows contender will be as potent as the ones over the last three seasons. If Mercedes retains anything like the edge it has enjoyed in the turbo-hybrid era to this point, and Hamilton has a clean number two alongside him, then F1 could be about to go through Vettel/Schumacher-esque levels of dominance again. And while that might only be for one or two seasons, it's not good for the health of grand prix racing. F1 doesn't need another reason for people not to bother tuning in. There's also the loss F1 as a whole has suffered in losing its champion – that's not good from an ambassadorial standpoint, particularly at the end of a year in which model poster boy Jenson Button and the popular, venerable Felipe Massa have also called time on their careers. It's lost a German world champion, and while some might think Rosberg's never really been acknowledged as a 'proper' German, it's again a blow to F1 to lose him given the German Grand Prix has fallen off the calendar again for 2017. But those are not Rosberg's problems. Ultimately, he does not owe anything to Formula 1 – and if he does, he's already done his part by throwing himself into a hat-trick of title fights, and finally emerging on top. In an era dominated by one team, Rosberg has stopped a Hamilton whitewash – critics should be grateful for that alone. First of all, Rosberg is replaceable. F1 hasn't lost a superstar – Rosberg has played a key part in the Mercedes rise, but it was not built around him – and as a one-time champion he doesn't leave with legendary status or anything like that. More importantly, every driver on the grid who cannot realistically get the second Mercedes seat for 2017 will be clawing at it for '18 – and that makes the prospect of the next driver merry-go-round a fascinating one. Of course, Rosberg's not made this decision to make things spicier in F1. He's made it for himself, and for his young family. And that takes serious courage. Only a few months ago, in July, Rosberg extended his Mercedes contract to the end of 2018. So he has turned his back on what would have been a lucrative pay packet over the next two years – one that would almost certainly have increased further in the wake of his title triumph, through his personal sponsors if not through his base Mercedes salary. More significantly, from a competitor's point of view, Rosberg will not be able to fight for the F1 title again. That will hurt a driver who has worked extremely, extremely hard to get to where he is – and that's not just a reference to the last 15 months or so, when he appears to have exhausted every avenue in his quest to defeat Hamilton over a season. This is something Rosberg has been aiming towards since he was a child – more than 20 years of his life have been dedicated to racing and succeeding in F1. Before Rosberg, only four drivers had made the call to immediately exit F1 as champion – Mike Hawthorn, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost. Hawthorn suffered ill health and did not get to enjoy retirement for long, dying in a road accident in January 1959. Stewart withdrew from what would have been his final grand prix after his team-mate Francois Cevert died in a practice crash. Mansell left for Indycars (but returned to grand prix racing with Williams in 1994 and then McLaren the following year), while Prost stopped racing in F1 after clinching his fourth title in '93, following a one-year sabbatical. They're a mixed bag in terms of finding that they still had an itch to scratch. Rosberg may find himself bored – you're a long time retired, after all. Given it is all he has known, it's easy to think he will be lost without grand prix racing. But consider that, having finally achieved his life-long goal – made it to the top of the mountain, as he put it – where does he go from here? Some might view his lack of desire to add to his tally as... well, a lack of desire. But that is hardly deplorable. When everything needs to be put on the line in the way Rosberg experienced over the last year, the reward needs to reflect the effort. Before, he was not a world champion, not part of the elite club. Changing that was one hell of a carrot. If he wins again, nothing really changes. He'll have another title, but to Rosberg that's not worth leaving his wife Vivian to raise their daughter Alaia, who is not even two years old. "I pushed like crazy in all directions and along with everybody who was involved, which was also my family, a lot of sacrifices," Rosberg said when he made his announcement. "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, I never did any difficult things. "She was always there to support to make it as easy as possible and that's just one example of the commitment we all put into it." If you compare 31-year-old Rosberg to 36-year-old Button, the difference is clear. Button's career has continued to its natural conclusion – but in the extra five years of his life that he's spent in F1, what has Button missed out on? He hasn't got a daughter, and, if he wants to, it's not too late for him to see a child grow up. Rosberg, on the other hand, is a noted family man, and has had two passions: chasing the F1 title and his wife and daughter. Given he's finally conquered the former, the choice is perfectly understandable. "I've achieved this childhood dream and I'm not willing to do that sort of commitment again for another year and I'm not interested in coming fourth or whatever," he said. "I'm a fighter and I want to win. I'm not interested to do that again, I don't want to do it again." Rosberg didn't think he could balance the two. But he could have. He could have pocketed £10million-plus for the next two years, ridden the crest of the wave as the world champion and massively ramped down his off-track efforts to enjoy more family time. That would not have been good enough – it would have been the worst thing Rosberg could do for himself, for Mercedes and for F1 as its active champion. Half-arsing his title defence would have been a middle finger to his employer and F1, and would have been demoralising for himself and diminished his reputation. If Rosberg finds himself missing racing in a year's time, or further down the line, he'll not be short of options. But he's sacrificed a lot up to this point for the sake of the F1 dream and clearly thinks it's the perfect time to get some pay back. F1 is a business, a sport, an entertainment industry... but that's all it is. It's not the be-all and end-all, yet Rosberg has spent his life being defined by it. He's always been the son of Keke or the team-mate of Hamilton, yet after his greatest triumph he was probably never going to be given total credit for becoming a world champion in his own right. Escaping the F1 bubble is not easy, leaving it on your own terms is even harder. All credit to Rosberg for doing exactly that. |