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Nico Rosberg announces shock F1 retirement

Nico Rosberg is behind Lewis Hamilton, and is unlikely to come back. (Source: GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool)
Roar Guru
2nd December, 2016
24

After at last securing the 2016 Formula One world championship, Nico Rosberg has announced his retirement from the sport – and no, this is not an early April Fool’s joke.

Just prior to the annual FIA Prize Giving Gala, which took place in Vienna, the 31-year-old German ‘called it a day,’ on his racing career.

“Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become Formula One World Champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I’ve made it. I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen.

“This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough. 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 before. And of course 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 full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting our championship first.

“When I won the race in Suzuka, from the moment when the destiny of the title was in my own hands, the big pressure started and I began to think about ending my racing career if I became World Champion. On Sunday morning in Abu Dhabi, I knew that it could be my last race and that feeling cleared my head before the start. I wanted to enjoy every part of the experience, knowing it might be the last time… and then the lights went out and I had the most intense 55 laps of my life. I took my decision on Monday evening. After reflecting for a day, the first people I told were Vivian and Georg (Nolte, from Nico’s management team), followed by Toto.

“The only thing that makes this decision in any way difficult for me is because I am putting my racing family into a tough situation. But Toto understood. He knew straight away that I was completely convinced and that reassured me. My proudest achievement in racing will always be to have won the world championship with this incredible team of people, the Silver Arrows.

“Now, I’m just here to enjoy the moment. There is time to savour the next weeks, to reflect on the season and to enjoy every experience that comes my way. After that, I will turn the next corner in my life and see what it has in store for me…”

It took eleven seasons in Formula One for Rosberg to realise his childhood dream, having clinched the 2016 title by a mere five points over his childhood friend and perennial rival in Lewis Hamilton.

Having toiled the early part of his career at the struggling Williams F1 Team until 2010, taking on Australia’s Mark Webber in that time, the German displayed a character of resilience until the very end of his career.

2010 saw Rosberg chosen, along with a certain seven-time world champion coming out of retirement named ‘Schumacher’, to spearhead the newly formed Mercedes AMG works team, assimilated from the reigning world champions in Brawn GP.

The formative years saw the young German eagerly wait for any success until 2012, when he secured his maiden grand prix victory at the Chinese round of the season, from pole position.

From there, it’d be a further year before he’d stand on the top step of the podium again, having been triumphant on the streets of Monaco and further on at the prestigious British Grand Prix.

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It wasn’t until 2014 when Rosberg would at last see himself in contention for the world championship.

The Silver Arrows’ forward thinking with the change in regulation regarding engine formula, put both Rosberg and Hamilton into their own bubble to contest the ultimate glory in the sport for the next three years.

Rosberg narrowly conceded the title in 2014 at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, due to a catastrophic reliability issue.

While the artificial double points scheme of that initial year of hybrid ‘power-unit’ era (as engines have become to be known now), had accentuated Hamilton’s ultimate victory in that race for the crown, Rosberg’s perseverance in not giving up until the chequered flag dropped was something that won a few people over.

He was roundly trounced in 2015 by the reigning world champion in Hamilton, almost resulting in him being confined into that dreaded ‘number two’ driver shell – however the German returned in 2016 with a vengeance.

Rosberg laid down the gauntlet with four consecutive race wins from the season opening Australian Grand Prix, to have led the championship for 16 out of 21 races.

Strong criticism has befallen the German for the fact his teammate has succumbed to reliability problems throughout 2016, but people forget that it is consistency and being atop the points tally at the end of the year that wins championships.

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Just ask Nico’s father Keke, who won his sole Formula One crown in 1982 with only one win to his name during that campaign.

Consistency and resilience has allowed Rosberg to convert his 23 grand prix victories into a world championship.

The unwanted statistic of ‘most grand prix wins without a championship’ is once again returned to the great Sir Stirling Moss, who claimed 16 wins during his Formula One career, which included a stint at the previous works Mercedes-Benz team in 1955.

As unfortunate as it is to lose the new world champion off the grid for 2017, it must be celebrated the eleven year career that Rosberg has had at the pinnacle of motorsport.

While he may not have been the greatest driver on the current grid as far as pace is concerned, it’ll be difficult to come by a fellow who simply refuses to give up.

Thus maybe one world title was all Nico needed to define his career, which has been too long overshadowed by the achievements of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

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