Nico Rosberg retires: For right or wrong, only the reigning Formula 1 champion can weigh his decision

This past Sunday, Nico Rosberg realised his childhood dream. He won his maiden Formula One drivers’ title. In doing so, he managed to follow in the footsteps of the one man who instilled this desire in him – his father, Keke Rosberg, who had won his championship in 1982. Five days later, he joined a few more illustrious names – Alain Prost, Sir Jackie Stewart and Nigel Mansell – in leaving the sport as a champion. To say that Rosberg quitting F1 less than a week after winning his drivers’ title is a bombshell, would be an understatement. “Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become Formula One World Champion,” the 31-year-old said in his retirement statement. “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.” [caption id=“attachment_3137562” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Formula One World Champion Nico Rosberg announces his retirement . Reuters[/caption] At first glance, once the shock and awe subsides, this sudden decision seems a poignant choice. Rosberg has raced for a long time, since the age of six. That is a 25-year-long career that had one goal – to become F1 champion. When you are able to walk away with all the adulation, the champagne sprays, the fireworks in Abu Dhabi’ night-sky, and the FIA trophy in hand as your lasting images, there cannot be a finer moment to do so. However, there is a difference herein, with those other names. Prost retired with four titles to his name, while Stewart had three. Mansell won in 1992, his only title, and then ‘retired’. But his exit from the sport was orchestrated owing to a fall-out with his team, Williams. Later, he returned to race in F1 again, in 1994 and 1995. As such, the big question springing to mind about this particular announcement is not ‘why did he do it’. Instead, it is what Rosberg has thrown away? Today, there can be no denying the stature of the team he drives for. If you drive for Mercedes, you are sitting in the cockpit of a car that is the quickest in its field. It is a sure-short bet for pole on every Saturday. It is a front-runner for winning the race every Sunday. There is no circuit on the current calendar that brings out a weakness in the Mercedes cars. It is a guarantee for race wins and championships. Consequently, it is safe to assume that every driver in that pit-lane possibly dreams of driving one. Rosberg was one of the two drivers who had this shot. And, he gave it away, despite two years remaining on his current contract. For those two years, he could have been in a possible battle with only Lewis Hamilton (again), just like in 2014 and 2015. That is the scope of advantage Mercedes enjoyed over the rest of the grid. And despite the rule changes coming in 2017, there is no reason to anticipate anything different. Why wouldn’t Rosberg want to be a reigning champion driving a championship-winning car, and fighting again for the championship? How could he not want to be a two-time champion, or even a triple-champion, or more? “I gave it everything I had, didn’t leave a stone unturned and I am not willing to do that again next year. Just following my heart. You only live once and this feels completely right,” said Rosberg in his statement. It reflects on the differentiation between personalities we see in Formula One, or any sport for that matter. There are some who cannot do without that urge of winning – there is always the next race weekend, the next championship season. Michael Schumacher is a prime example. Not satisfied with his seven titles, he came back to F1 in 2010 when Mercedes were a fledgling team. During 2010-2012 (even in 2013, when Hamilton replaced Schumacher), the Silver Arrows weren’t challenging for race wins or titles. Is it too presumptuous to wonder though that Schumacher wasn’t pushing himself for another shot at glory? That he had returned not just for the pursuit of his racing passion at the highest level? That ‘pursuit’ is perhaps what forms the core of a pure racer. Someone who seeks the thrill of that next overtake, the next race, the next win, the next title, et al. Hamilton is one, just like Schumacher and like Ayrton Senna. There are distractions and pulls of the outer world aplenty, but that core lights up only when on track. In the years to come, maybe Max Verstappen will be added to this list, for he has shown streaks of similar genius already. It takes a lot to compete with such drivers. And the field today is rich in ability elsewhere too. Sebastian Vettel is a four-time champion. Fernando Alonso is a two-time champion. Both are fiercely passionate drivers. Then there are Daniel Ricciardo, a champion-in-waiting given the right car surely, and Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion. Imagine the mental pull if all of them had a go at the championship in one particular season. 2010 was the last time when multiple drivers had the chance to win the title going into the last race. Rosberg has had it easier. And yet it was quite a task, given the mental fortitude of Hamilton – someone who doesn’t give up. At all. In both 2014 and 2015, he got the better of the German after a hectic fight, and it left Rosberg drained. By his own admission, he had to elevate his mental toughness to be able to compete at the same level with the British driver. Throughout 2016, he did that. And before the season-finale, Rosberg’s face told a story of his immense struggle and determination to consistently rise up to that challenge. Even so, his final F1 race – and those last few laps when Hamilton backed him up into traffic – encapsulates the intensity of this intra-team battle. Some want to do this again and again, after a winter-break breather thrown in of course. Others can segregate this passion for racing from calculation of life otherwise. Rosberg did just that, and timed it to perfection. ‘Going out at the top’ is a phrase that fits well, herein. And these words often get abused for not many know how to do it. When you have spent your life in the pursuit of excellence, following the same drill of discipline and routine, riding that wave of passion day after day, it gets tough to call everything off – to just quit, and walk away. Sport – irrespective of its form – is all about timing, though. Having won the trophy he so desired, Rosberg felt that other strings in his heart – of being a husband and a father to his baby daughter – pulled at him more strongly than ever before. He decided to be drawn onto them. Seems like, in his head, it was time to do so. “When I won the race in Suzuka (Japanese GP), 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,” Rosberg said, further in his statement. It speaks volumes of the pressure sportsmen all across face everyday. As concerns the fans paying for tickets or watching from comforts of their living rooms, the media covering from beyond playing limits, the spectacle ends at a particular time – when the final lap is done in this case. We can go back to debating who slowed down, and whether it was ethical, who deserved to win more, or even at all. Their hard work over the years, blood and toil, time spent away from loved ones – all of it is a price for the fame and adulation, yes. Still, in our convenient judgments, it mostly remains a quantity we do not understand. On his own terms then, at a time of his choosing, Rosberg decided he didn’t want to be part of this realm any longer. And now, for right or wrong, only he can weigh his decision.