Alright, raise your hand if you predicted Nico Rosberg would
retire from Formula 1 today. Anyone?
I think that broadside was shared by everyone in the sport
today as this year’s World Drivers’ Champion collected his trophy and announced
his ride off into the sunset, but you can hardly blame him.
Well, most people can hardly blame him. There are undoubtedly some out there who will
attack him for what some claim is a cowardly retreat, in their eyes proving his
title a fluke that even Rosberg knows would never happen again. There really isn’t a way to prove either side
objectively right or wrong, but to simplify the German’s legacy into such
binary viewpoints is doing a disservice to a supremely talented driver.
How does one quantify or qualify such a career, though? It would be all too easy to let this season
(or even the last three) define Nico Rosberg merely for his battle with Lewis
Hamilton. Careers aren’t just made of
the rivalry, or at least the rivalry’s most recent incarnation.
Remember, Lewis and Nico go back to their karting days as
young children, both banking on a dream of a racing world that they could
barely comprehend---Nico knew some of it because of his father’s involvement,
but there were undoubtedly aspects of international Grand Prix racing that a
father best leaves unsaid to a child whose aim is the stars.
The rivalry had always been relatively friendly between
them, but the walls they would build between each other grew with every ascent up
the racing ladder. The divergence came
to a head over the last three seasons in equal machinery, but don’t overlook
their individual merits before they shared a constructor, either.
Rosberg’s GP2 championship, the first for the new series,
solidified his talent to the naysayers who saw his ascendance aided by a steady
hand from a former World Champion who happened to be his father. He stood on the podium in nearly 50% of the
races that year, winning five of them.
His fortunes seemed to flip when he retired from 50% of the
races in his inaugural F1 season. He would
add a few more DNFs the next year, but then things seemed to look up. Since 2008, he never finished outside of the
top ten in the drivers’ standings. His
bold switch to the new-again Mercedes team netted him an emotional win in the
2012 Chinese Grand Prix, all while being paired with the un-retired Michael
Schumacher. This fact shouldn’t be
forgotten either, but let’s not take it out of context.
His battles with Schumacher were noteworthy, especially
since he bettered the legend in career wins at Mercedes while they were
together (albeit 1–0), but look beyond the head-to-head. Schumacher was undeniably more experienced
and still very quick, but the two drivers’ feedback ultimately did more for the
team in the long-run than who beat whom.
Rosberg proved his mettle against the seven-time champ, no doubt, but these
were drivers on the opposite ends of their career to one another.
His time with the team would be used against him when
Hamilton joined the squad and immediately set out beating the German. Lewis, a World Champion in just his second
season in F1, had already gone toe-to-toe with Schumacher’s last rival,
Fernando Alonso, when they were together at McLaren.
Despite being with the team for a few years, Rosberg’s lack
of speed in comparison to the Briton had to be frustrating. That had to add to his annoyance as Hamilton
shot to his second and third world titles---both of which were won over Rosberg
in a car that he helped develop ever since the team returned to Formula 1.
So if you couldn’t already tell, this season’s triumph had a
great deal of history behind it, and that’s saying nothing of the past collisions,
verbal sparring, cap throwing and talk of conspiracies.
And that’s exactly why Rosberg chose today to announce his
retirement. In his message to the media
at the FIA Prize Giving Gala, he spoke of the Formula 1 World Drivers’
Championship as his ultimate goal throughout his 25 years of racing. That was the top echelon for him, and he
achieved it.
What made this decision right, though, is the timing. If Rosberg had won the championship in his
first year against Hamilton, I have no doubt we still would have seen the
German racing in F1 the next year. He
would have been a different driver than what he ultimately became, but he would
have been hungry for a second title.
What the last three years did to him, instead, was put him
through an emotional ringer while destroying a friendly rivalry that existed
since childhood. It brought out the best
and worst in him at a time when he started a family, and that took its toll.
Because of the struggle, because of its nastiness, because
of his growth as a person and a driver, this championship was the perfect
storm, an experience to fuel a lifetime of stories and perhaps nightmares. The cumulative saga only sweetened a pot that
already seemed pretty tantalizing.
And so, with his peers and the world’s media surrounding
him, Rosberg knew that the perfect time to announce his retirement was when he
held the championship trophy at long last.
His trophy. His
championship. No worry of title defense,
no questions of ongoing rivalries, no uncertainties about next year’s
regulations, no endless cycle of globetrotting flights. The journey was complete, and there could be
no greater end than this, leaving as the champion of the world.
