Nico Rosberg retires from F1

Nico Rosberg has taken the F1 world by surprise as he announced his retirement today with immediate effect.

Rosberg, who won his maiden F1 world championship on Sunday has described the moment as the epitome of his career.

The German waited for 10 years to win his first ever title. He defeated three time Champion and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The 31-year old claimed the title last Sunday in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he finished 2nd behind Hamilton.

"I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right," Rosberg said in a Facebook post.

Rosberg won nine of this season's 21 grands prix, beating three-time champion Hamilton by five points.

"For 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my 'one thing' to become Formula 1 world champion," he added.

"Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I've made it."

The son of Finland's 1982 world champion Keke, Rosberg made his F1 debut for Williams at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2006, finishing seventh.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the news took him "completely by surprise."

"We now have to consider options and we will start to look at it on Monday" he added.

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Nico Rosberg wins his maiden Formula 1 World title

German driver won his maiden Formula 1 world title despite coming 2nd in the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Lewis Hamilton did all he could to stop Rosberg from winning, but only came 2nd in the world championship despite winning the race.

Nico Rosberg only had to finish in top 3 to claim the title and he did just that. Despite not being at the pole position, the German was determined to finish in top three. As he was 12 points ahead of Hamilton when they began the race, he knew a podium finish will make him the champion regardless of whatever Hamilton does.

Lewis Hamilton commanded the race from start to finish but Rosberg stayed just behind him to take the title. Hamilton had to throw out Rosberg out of the top three finish in order to win the title and for this he even drove slowly in order to bring other drivers into the battle. 

Hamilton was consistently asked from his team to speed up. But he told the team, "Let us race." 

There was close competition in the last few laps when Hamilton was driving slow to bring Ferrari's Vettel and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen to defy the top 3 finish for Rosberg.

But Rosberg kept his cool in the dying laps and didn't allow Vettel to overtake him on the crucial turns. 

Hamilton defied his team orders and also didn't respond to the team radio in the last few slaps. But kudos to Rosberg, who didn't lose his concentration. 

"It's a childhood dream come true," Rosberg, 31, said over the radio. "Thank you for everything."

After the drama of the race, Hamilton congratulated Rosberg on his world championship and the two men embraced and shook hands on the podium.

Rosberg said he had not decided whether to take the number one on his car as is his right next year or whether to stick with the number six, which he chose as his race number because his father Keke won the 1982 world title with it.

The Rosbergs are only the second family in which a father and son have won the F1 world title, after Graham and Damon Hill.

All in all it was a very tense race and a treat for the F1 fans to witness a rivalry like this. 

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Formula 1 Title Race heats up

Master show by Hamilton

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton produced a splendid performance in drenched conditions to win the Brazilian Grand Prix and took the title fight to the final race. With one race to go he trails fellow teammate Nico Rosberg by just 12 points. There are certain permutations which says Lewis Hamilton can still win the title.

The conditions were treacherous but Hamilton led the race from start to finish, completing every lap faster than anyone. There was chaos, crashes on a wet day at Interlagos, Sao Paulo. Kimi Raikkonen suffered a crash in lap 19 which looked so scary and other drivers just managed to avoid his Ferrari en-route. 

Catch me if you can

Hamilton was ahead of Rosberg and after each restart he managed to get away easily leading by 18 seconds at one stage with 14 laps to go.


Brazilian GP victory was Hamilton's 52nd of his career making him the second most successful driver of all time ahead of Alain Prost (51). Michael Schumacher leads the tally way ahead with 91 wins.

The race proved how good a driver Hamilton is, he was determined to win.
After the race Lewis said : "Not too bad, huh. I was chilling up front. When it rains it's usually a good day for me. It was tricky for everyone. There were definitely opportunities for aquaplaning, which everyone did.

He continued : "No mistakes, no issues, no spins. It was kind of interesting to hear how many people were spinning, but I didn't have that problem.

"I have always wanted to win since I watched Ayrton[Senna] win here in 1991. It has taken me a long time to get here and it is a historic day for me. To stand on the podium in Brazil where Ayrton was so loved was really special."

Nico Rosberg said : "Lewis just did a great job. It was very difficult conditions and I can live with the second for sure.

Celebrations

Future's Bright 

Max Verstappen stuns his dad with his third place finish

Red Bull's Dutch driver Max Verstappen was closest rival of Hamilton for a long time in the race. One gamble by Red Bull of fitting intermediate tyres on lap 43 backfired. The rain intensified and after local hero Felipe Massa crash he decided to switch to full wets.
In the process he found himself trailing at 13th place. But he drove without fear, surviving spins and overtook in closing laps to finish third and joined Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on the podium. It was an outstanding show by Verstappen. He even stunned his dad.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finished 5th behind Force India's Sergio Perez.

Final race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be on 25-27 Nov.


Source : BBC Sport.



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