As the new Formula One champion’s shock decision to retire shows, once the hunger for success goes, the dangers in sports like F1 become apparentProfessional athletes lead a crazily short and often lucrative working life, over within a decade or so of its beginning, wreathed in success or disappointment. Memories of glory, often embellished, are revived in middle age for nostalgia or for reheating in ill-advised comebacks.It is unlikely the 31-year-old Nico Rosberg will be returning to his dangerous sport. Nor will the 26-year-old Nick Blackwell – but for wholly different reasons. Blackwell, the middleweight boxer who nearly died eight months ago, was still recovering in hospital on Friday from injuries sustained in a recent sparring session his father, John,...
The German never earned acclaim in his homeland like Michael Schumacher but the Mercedes driver was diligent and intelligent and was rewarded with a world championship title after a 10-year battleFor a driver who strove with such fierce diligence to win the world championship Nico Rosberg has given up its fruits very quickly; champion on Sunday, retired on Friday, he was not even a six-day wonder.For many years he has been one of the more anonymous of Formula One’s leading drivers. Now, finally thrust into the spotlight of glory, it is almost as if he could not stand the glare. Related: Nico Rosberg has called quits on his F1 career at the right time | Richard Williams Related: Nico Rosberg...
World champion faced defending title under critical scrutiny from those who believed his success came due to a couple of Lewis Hamilton’s engine failuresNico Rosberg’s decision to walk away from Formula One with the taste of the podium champagne still in his mouth is a conspicuously brilliant one, not least because the newly crowned world champion took everybody with an interest in the sport – except, presumably, his nearest and dearest – by complete surprise.Perhaps the most graceful consequence of his decision is that it allows him to retire on equal terms with his father, Keke, who won his sole world championship in 1982. It was Keke who put Nico in a go-kart at the age of six, and who...
Mercedes dominated the season with 19 wins from 21 races, while Max Verstappen and Jolyon Palmer enjoyed breakthrough years. Rio Haryanto, less soIn terms of extracting the most from himself, Nico Rosberg. No driver worked harder than the champion in 2016, both with his team and with himself – changing his diet, his sleeping patterns, his gloves, turning his mobile phone off for two weeks and emptying his mind of all distractions. Daniel Ricciardo was also superb and consistent. Everyone knows that Lewis Hamilton is the best driver out there, but apart from those technical setbacks he failed to always get the best from himself, was way off form in Singapore and took a long time to get over his...
Fallen champion could have been more gracious to Nico Rosberg but should not be censured for his tactics on the track in F1’s absorbing climaxThere was only one instance when Lewis Hamilton disappointed in Abu Dhabi as he lost his Formula One world championship to his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.It was not when he slowed down to back Rosberg into the jaws of the Ferrari and the Red Bull that followed them. It was not even when he twice ignored rather optimistic team orders to pick up his pace. Related: Nico Rosberg says Abu Dhabi GP was ‘definitely not the most enjoyable’ Continue reading...