Rosberg retires with immediate effect

Asked when he knew about the news, Lauda said: “A few hours before the public announcement. He told us by phone. I took it badly, I didn’t expect it, nobody in Mercedes imagined that he had had enough.

“At first I didn’t believe it. ‘Nico, what you told us, are you kidding by any chance? It’s a joke?’ But he said it was all true. Quite incredible.

"When I won the first title I immediately thought about how I would win a second. Not the case with Nico.

“Rosberg’s decision has left us disorientated and unprepared, and all those who contributed to Nico winning the world title took it very badly."
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Shame all the engineers and techs feel like they've been kicked in the teeth. I know Rosberg had to do what he had to do, but it's not nice for the people who worked for him. It was strongly implied in his statement that he was going to leave this year, win or lose, so I wonder why he kept it under wraps until after the last race? It turned into a big shock for the team, and left Mercedes out on a limb without a driver.
 
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Steampunk said:
I wonder why he kept it under wraps until after the last race? It turned into a big shock for the team, and left Mercedes out on a limb without a driver.
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He couldn't announce before the last race ended because his goal was to become WDC. If he'd had a DNF and Lewis had won and become WDC then Rosberg wouldn't have quit.
 
Sliver said:
Well reading between the lines:



I would say that they will end up with a driver who is NOT currently under contract. But you never know. I should imagine there will be harsh financial penalties for any current driver who defaults on his contract in order to join Mercedes, not to mention the bad blood that would ensue.
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They have enough money to pay for most drivers. A young new driver could be worth a punt. Hamilton can do the rest.
 
MoBo said:
I admire him for going out on top. I think he done it for the right reasons.
The end of last season, when he knew he could beat Hamilton he had to up his game and that meant totally focusing on his job, it must have taken a lot out of him to achive his ambition.

You dont become world champion by luck.

I'd like to see button go there!
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Having by far the fastest car helps and no reliability issues.
 
As much as we would like seeing a top driver next to LH there is no reason for this to happen. There is still a performance gap to allow slower drivers being no2 and secure a championship for LH.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Hamilton had championship winning drives in 2008, like Silverstone where he outclassed the entire field by a mile in the wet, showing up seasons professionals for how to cope in wet weather.

Rosberg hasn't had a single 'epic' drive this year, he hasn't had a single epic move. He's had 4 or 5 gifted victories in the fastest car where the other Merc started 10th or below with zero chance to win, and another few wins mostly in tracks where either Hamilton was hit in the first corner or had a bad start.

I don't think he ever 'won' a race by being less than 1st into the first corner(s) and passing someone to take a victory.


People like to make out that Hamilton was gifted the win at the end by Glock in 2008 but the reality is until Glock decided to stay out on dry tires when almost every other driver decided to pit for inters, Hamilton had it won. When people make the entirely wrong call on tires it often bumps them up for a lap or two them causes them to look like idiots, it doesn't matter it was the last lap or not. Hamilton actively won multiple races that year with some brilliant drives, Rosberg can't be said to do the same.

Despite multiple failures, despite having to start at the back for Spa, despite Rosberg hitting him twice he was still leading by was it Germany, then Malaysia happened again giving Rosberg an unassailable lead.

It's got nothing to do with being a Hamilton fan or not. If you take out the races Hamilton had a failure in qualifying, the race or Spa starting from the back to make up for said engine problems, Rosberg got thrashed in race wins and thrashed in qualifying while not putting in a single genuine championship winning drive at any stage of the season. Even considering Hamilton's reliability problems Rosberg still lost on race wins and qualifying.... despite an effect 4/5 race head start.
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Which epic drive has Hamilton had this year then, if epic drives are so important? If anything, Rosberg Singapore, Austria & Malaysia performance were better than anything Hamilton (bar Brazil) has put together this season.

Hamilton is just as much to blame for losing the title as is his team. Every time he screwed up his start, he essentially gave Rosberg 14 points per race.

As for 2008, Massa had far worse car reliability, unlucky with the fixed race in Singapore and a WDC team mate which took multiple wins away from Massa, while Hamilton had a lapdog as team-mate, that jumped out of the way everytime Hamilton was behind him.

So if Rosberg title was undeserving, then same can be said for Hamilton 2008, especially in Brazil where he was struggling to beat a rookie in a Toro Rosso that race. It was probably one of Hamilton worst, uninspiring drive to date in F1.
 
As much as I would love to see Button in the car and win races I respect his decision to sabbatical-now-retired and don't want to see him under that pressure again as long as he is happy. He changed from Brawn to McLaren for a challenge, short term it was the right choice but long term not so much. He would be a stable #2 for Lewis but I think the seat should go to Bottas or one of the previous Merc supported Manor drivers to be given a chance, much like Hamilton was a rookie in a top class car against Alonso.
 
The one thing everybody is forgetting here is were will Mercedes be next year competitively? The regulation changes are pretty big and I think the Brawn forward thinking three year advantage will come to an end. What happens if Lewis jumps into the car in pre season testing and discovers the car is at a disadvantage to lets say the Red Bull. Can you see Lewis fighting for 3rd or 4th place? Also it would be in Mercedes interest to hire a more experienced driver to replace Nico to help oversee and develop the car with such big reg changes. Nico will be missed a lot especially in testing.
 
Mark365 said:
The one thing everybody is forgetting here is were will Mercedes be next year competitively? The regulation changes are pretty big and I think the Brawn forward thinking three year advantage will come to an end. What happens if Lewis jumps into the car in pre season testing and discovers the car is at a disadvantage to lets say the Red Bull. Can you see Lewis fighting for 3rd or 4th place? Also it would be in Mercedes interest to hire a more experienced driver to replace Nico to help oversee and develop the car with such big reg changes. Nico will be missed a lot especially in testing.
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Even if they appear with the 2nd/3rd quickest car they have some serious wedge to out develop their rivals.
 
To be fair a classy and sincere way to bow out.

I personally read that Rosberg is effectively saying that this year took its toll and there is more to life - absolutely good luck to Rosberg for his future endeavours.

I am a Hamilton fan, and have my views on how this season panned out (Hamilton was stiffed ;) ) I think Hamilton is now more bothered about getting his mechanic's back rather than who will fill the number 2 seat.

Bernie could well be applying pressure for Mercedes to sign Alonso or Vettel. Verstappen/Riccardo is never going to happen.

Interesting to read that Hamilton has never requested number 1 status, and with Rosberg's recent retirement - has effectively thrown down the gauntlet...

I would like to see Sainz with Hamilton, Sainz was overlooked with the euphoria of Verstappen. Bottas is probably the most likely. Wehrlein is a outside possibility. However, it would be disappointing, Wehrlein in my view has not clearly punched above his weight when compared to team mates.
 
f a putz like Rosberg can run him close for 2 of 3 years even with reliability on their side a better driver will really have Lewis upset.
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I would never call Rosberg a "putz"?

Rosberg is undeniably a quick driver and both Lewis and Michael likely (under estimated) only to learn first hand. Rosberg 'failing's' so to speak, if you want to call it that, is gifted/natural race craft.
 
I repeat - Wehrlein will get it.

The top drivers are all under contract now - it's too late in the season. Mercedes will sign Wehrlein on a one year deal to tide themselves over but leave themselves with options to replace him if he seriously underperforms and jeopardises a constructors title next year.

It's the obvious option. He's already part of the Merc family and it'll put them in a superb position for 2018 as, providing they stay at the front, all the drivers will be falling over themselves to make themselves available for the seat.
 
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