You have to admire the resilience and tenacity Rosberg has shown this season. He has gone up against one of the fastest there is, in Lewis Hamilton, and been defeated twice in succession. Perhaps most would have called it quits after that. But not Rosberg. No way. He kept going, kept fighting, worked harder than ever in 2016. And it paid off. He refused to go quietly, never once backed down, and gave Hamilton plenty of headaches. It was a great way to bow out of a wonderful career.
He joined Formula 1 in 2006 with Williams, and instantly made an impression. He scored two points on his debut in Bahrain, and set fastest lap. Against more experienced teammate Mark Webber, he fared well. However, things were tough for Williams that year. He scored just once through the rest of the season. This characterised the Williams spell of his career. The car was just not competitive enough to fight with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren, so that made any podium appearances Rosberg made even more remarkable.
His first two podiums did indeed come with Williams, the first being in Australia in 2008. He was third on that day, as future teammate Hamilton took the victory. The hugs and smiles then have not been seen often recently! The second of the two was arguably one of his best ever drives, with second place in Singapore. He achieved this thanks to the safety car brought out by 'that' crash from Piquet Jr. Had the rather ridiculous 'pitlane closed after SC deployment' rule not been in place back then, he potentially could have won the race as well. He was after all infront of Alonso when the SC went in...
2009 was a season that could have given so much more. The FW31 was a decent car, but it never really lived up to its potential. A race win potentially went begging in Malaysia, and second place certainly went away in Singapore after a mistake at the pit exit. Ultimately, 2009 was to be Rosbergs final season in blue and white. A deal almost came off with BMW Sauber, before BMW left the sport. That paved the way for him to join Brawn, which was about to become Mercedes. And he joined one of the greatest of all time...Michael Schumacher.
Mercedes hoped for big things in their comeback year, but it took a while for things to really get going. Rosberg comprehensively beat Schumacher in 2010, with 142 points to Schumacher's 72. He also took three podiums and almost won the Chiniese Grand Prix as well. 2011 was even tougher for the team, with neither driver taking to the podium, although they did come close again in China. That same place would be the scene of their first win next year.
It was Rosberg who took his and the teams first win since the Silver Arrows returned, and it was a hugely emotional occasion, coupled with Rosberg's first pole position the previous day. It had taken 111 starts, but he finally achieved it. Second place in Monaco was also to follow, but the Mercedes massively fell off the pace as the season went on. At the end of it, Schumacher retired, and Hamilton joined Rosberg. And we all know what happened next...
Rosberg added to his victory tally over the next three years, with three Monaco victories surely being the highlights. He showed his one lap pace as well, adding 29 further pole positions to the one he took in 2012, and outclassed Hamilton in qualifying in 2014. However, he came up short in his world title quest during the first two years of the hybrid era. He bravely took it to the wire in Abu Dhabi 2014, only to be let down by his car that race. 2015 saw him outclassed by Hamilton, but three successive wins at the end of the year, after a bitter defeat in Austin, raised hope of a 'new' Rosberg in 2016.
Four successive wins gave Rosberg a massive headstart in 2016. However, midseason saw Hamilton claw it back to take a 19 point advantage going into the summer break. But, a resurgent Rosberg took control of the championship again, with wins in Spa, Monza and Singapore, the last probably the greatest drive of his career. He extended that lead to 33 points after Suzuka, and only needed to be second in the last four races of the season to be champion. With the pressure on, he did just that, and his drive in Abu Dhabi, with pressure infront and behind, was a drive worthy of a world champion.
With the title now his, Rosberg made the biggest decision of his career. On the 2nd of December, he announced he was to retire from Formula 1. His statement read as follows;
"Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become Formula One World Champion. 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. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen.
“This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough. I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years; they fueled my motivation to levels I had never experienced before. And of course that had an impact on the ones I love, too – it was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target. I cannot find enough words to thank my wife Vivian; she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting our championship first.
“The only thing that makes this decision in any way difficult for me is because I am putting my racing family into a tough situation. But Toto understood. He knew straight away that I was completely convinced and that reassured me. My proudest achievement in racing will always be to have won the world championship with this incredible team of people,the Silver Arrows.
“Now, I’m just here to enjoy the moment. There is time to savour the next weeks, to reflect on the season and to enjoy every experience that comes my way. After that, I will turn the next corner in my life and see what it has in store for me…”
And thus, an 11 year career, has come to an end. Nico Rosberg's childhood dream was to become Formula 1 World Champion. It took him a longtime to achieve it, but he did it. He leaves as the number one, and at the absolute peak of his career. A gentlemen, a racer, a husband, a father...a champion. As he has said so many times after winning a race, "that's it". Danke schon Nico. Wir werden Sie vermissen Weltmeister!
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