[deetjohn]

Nico punched above his weight this season to land the title. Kudos to him for that! And it looks like that took a lot out of him.

A repeat next season will be far tougher. And then there is the added pressure of having car #1. And being a smart fellow, he knows this more than anyone else.

Let's see who Mercedes is bringing next. Will we get to see a car #0?

[Hatari]

So Bernie was right. Nico is the most unmarketable Champion!

[shibujp]

Well he has his reasons. But I was kind of hoping that he would continue the fight into 2017 and be in the reckoning for another world title. Like it or not, he was the only guy pushing Lewis Hamilton in 2016. The rest either did not have the talent or the car to do so.

We can expect a quieter Mercedes pit wall in 2017 without the drama of 2016. Would be a big loss. I hope Mercedes gets another strong character to replace Nico.

Will he make a comeback? I don't think so. Formula 1 is a huge commitment physically and mentally and building all that back up is a huge ask which has rarely been done. I can only think of Kimi Raikkonen to have done that with some kind of success in the recent past.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by searchingheaven

You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

"For Nico, one world title was enough. He had proved what he needed to prove. To himself and anyone who doubted him. And two days later, he retired."

I got flashbacks of this scene from Rush when I heard the news. Massive respect to Rosberg for doing this.

I agree with you. Also, Schumi would have been considered greater if he had not made 'comebacks'. All i will say that Nico has been a Gentleman racer and we all have fond memories of him.

The best time to go is when people are asking why and NOT why not!

[Monolithic]

Originally Posted by Surprise

It would be fantastic to have Alonso alongside Hamilton

Totally, and it is 2017.

So Alonso and Hamilton fighting intently for championship. Brazilian GP would be title decider and Kimi wins by 1 point! I really want this scenario to play out.

[shoaib3030]

It's pretty evident from the sudden decision that Nico knows that the heat is going to be turned to a much higher degree next year. Hamilton is going to make sure that the technical issues that he faced this year, won't happen next season. Hamilton will come back must stronger and since Hamilton missed the championship by a mere few points, Nico knows the pressure he will be facing. And Max, Seb, Danny are all getting charged up as well.

He made the smart move of retiring with a WDC title and I respect that. Kudos to you Nico !

But what I do respect more is drivers coming back again for more. It's the pure thrill of chasing a championship title that motivates championship title holders like Hamilton, Seb, etc to come back stronger and faster. And for that, I have reverence for drivers of this breed.

[Cyborg]

Nico Rosberg has won his first world title after some 206 race starts. He is a mediocre racing driver at best when the chips are down. It is the superiority of the Mercedes and Lewis's horrendous luck this year which has netted him the title. Let be honest guys, if Lewis did not have his last failure at Malaysia when he was cruising to victory, Nico could never have been WC.

If anything at all, I would say he is extremely intelligent/smart having recognized his incredible luck in becoming WC this year and knowing he could never win it again with his skill level, the best thing to do was retire.

He knew what was coming next year when he would be outclassed by Lewis, Max, Vettel and the others. The media would have been ruthless and definitely would have called out his WC as a fluke. He took the the easy and intelligent way out by retiring.

Cheers

[SchumiFan]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

If anything at all, I would say he is extremely intelligent/smart having recognized his incredible luck in becoming WC this year and knowing he could never win it again with his skill level, the best thing to do was retire.
Cheers

You make your own luck. If Lewis worked his starts, he could have gone into the distance in the title race. By your logic, Lewis was lucky he was in a spaceship of a car. That he could afford to be slacking at the start and still end up on the podium. Not to mention, he had stocked up on new engines in Spa.

Mechanical failures are just that. One can't predict when it will happen.

For me, Hamilton did all he could in Abu Dhabhi to trick Rosberg into a mistake. But Rosberg held on and got the job done.

If anyone knows what it is to win a title doing the absolutely least possible effort on the D-Day, then it should be Hamilton. 2008, says hello.

[Hatari]

He would rather quit (forgoing race wins and atleast $100 million in earnings over the next 5 years) than get beaten by Lewis again! Lewis really got into his mind.

But it is his life, and I can say from personal experience that raising a baby girl is just out of this world.

[mijnoirhammer67]

As everyone, I too was shocked when Nico retired. Now, we all know the car Nico and Lewis drove were without doubt top of the line. But not any Tom, Dick and Harry can sit in it and ride their way into a championship. Winning a race can be luck, safe exit after a collision can be luck but winning a championship spanning 20 races? Even by one point can not be considered luck. Yes I think on any given day Lewis is a better driver but don't forget, Nico had been playing second fiddle for a while now to Lewis and he finally stood up. Y'all remember last season? the 2015 season Nico won 6 in 19 races. Thats nearly 1 in 3 races. Thats not a joke guys. Plus he ended 2015 season with 3 consecutive wins, and at that last race he said he was wishing they'd start next season straight away whereas Lewis was well and happy with an extended break. He was feeling the heat.

Nico has grown up quite well. He may not be the best Mercedes driver, he may not be the best German driver and he may not be the most loved underdog but Nico Rosberg deserved this F1 championship more than anyone and history shall reflect that. His name will be etched throughout eternity and it will be said, it was Nico and Nico alone who was able to stop Lewis at the peak of his powers. For all we know Lewis could be heading on a downward trajectory, or he may just be getting started. I personally think its the latter, I think Lewis has the ability to be top dog for a better part of the foreseeable decade. But lets see.

I for one was happy Nico won, i quite enjoy seeing the underdog win and it will be interesting to see how Lewis responds. Ideally, i wished Nico stayed. But he's the first son to have won a championship as his father did. Imagine the pressure on Nico's back his whole life. How he dealt with that enormous cloud over his head, all he wanted was to write his name down in the books and achieve what his father Keke achieved. Write down he did, and nobody more than his father would be proud. So Congratulations to Nico and to one of my favourite motor-sporting phenomenon, Father and Son Championship. This is truly special and for those of you who watched Keke win it back 34 years ago, you do have witnessed a miracle in the making.

And for those of you who know what its like to be on top, you'll know its better to quit while you are ahead than fall and suffer. As what someone before me said, and as what Niki Lauda had once said, One championship was enough for Nico. He proved to himself, his father and the whole world that doubted him. Nico Rosberg, F1 Champion 2016

So once again, the Rosberg's feel on top of the World

[Octane_Power]

It would be great to see (IMO currently the most talented driver on the grid) Alonso take that vacant seat and give Lewis a hard time (in racing obviously). I think Alonso still has atleast two WDCs worth of talent and stamina in him, I would really like to see him triumph.

Mods: Can you please add a poll to the thread for who T-BHP'ians would like to see in that empty seat?

-Bhargav

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Nico Rosberg has won his first world title after some 206 race starts. He is a mediocre racing driver at best when the chips are down. It is the superiority of the Mercedes and Lewis's horrendous luck this year which has netted him the title. Let be honest guys, if Lewis did not have his last failure at Malaysia when he was cruising to victory, Nico could never have been WC.

If anything at all, I would say he is extremely intelligent/smart having recognized his incredible luck in becoming WC this year and knowing he could never win it again with his skill level, the best thing to do was retire.

He knew what was coming next year when he would be outclassed by Lewis, Max, Vettel and the others. The media would have been ruthless and definitely would have called out his WC as a fluke. He took the the easy and intelligent way out by retiring.

Cheers

We need to hand it to Lewis. He has played up the failure and reliability angle in the media so much that in the minds of fans it seems that he has been beaten through no fault of his. Since when has mechanical reliability been a given in F1? Remember the season when Kimi had a fast but totally unreliable McLaren? I never remember him running a media circus and playing up the reliability angle. In Abu Dhabi Jenson's race ended when his front suspension broke - a part that till date had been extremely reliable.

A WDC is a sum of the total number of races. It is about managing your resources, mental, physical, people and mechanical. Towards then end Lewis has more mechanical resources at his disposal than Nico. Just picking out one factor and sacrificing it to the Gods of luck is unfair. Hey, Lewis was McLaren's blue eyed boy. They mentored him and brought him up in the sport. Is that not considered to be his luck? What about that championship that he just snatched away from Massa?

To me Rosberg summed it up when he said that he is not prepared to give it that kind of commitment for the next year and is not interested in coming fourth, so in those circumstances chooses to walk away. He also mentioned that he would still be in the sport had he not won the championship. A man who knows his mind. What I really like about him is his refusal to bad mouth Lewis and take him down publicly in the way Lewis does. He refuses to blame his team or others for failures. Perhaps that is why it took it so long for him to get to this point. Now-a-days talent seems to excuse boorish behavior.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[phamilyman]

Atleast to me, he's channelizing his internal Bobby Fischer by retiring while at the top! Clearly a decision made emotionally than by calculating sponsorship value.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...mpionship_1975

[Monolithic]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Nico Rosberg has won his first world title after some 206 race starts. He is a mediocre racing driver at best when the chips are down. It is the superiority of the Mercedes and Lewis's horrendous luck this year which has netted him the title. Let be honest guys, if Lewis did not have his last failure at Malaysia when he was cruising to victory, Nico could never have been WC.

He is a mediocre driver who had a solid races in a mediocre car of Williams. Very few can put up such a strong show like Rosberg did on his debut. He didn't have a championship winning car until 2014 and that doesn't mean he was a mediocre. Same could be said for Jenson Button if it wasn't for Brawn GP. He literally got luck back then.

Rosberg performance has been consistent to warrant a WDC. Even he had to suffer reliability problems in the last race of 2014. That's pure bad luck too. If Massa didn't have the DNFs in 2008, he could've been a champion too. But that's just how it goes on.

Rosberg came to P3 from all the way back when he spun in the lap 1 because of Vettel. Same way Rosberg was pushed off the track in Canada and in Spain.

Rosberg won because he deserves to have won.

[vb-saan]

Overall a good decision from Rosberg. His comments on the family angle, not willing to put through the grind for another year, leaving while on top is all so valid. The focus and commitment to achieve his childhood dream need to be lauded. And more importantly, I believe it’s the self-awareness that brought in the decision – not to be a Jenson Button and hang around for another few years.