It’s time we gave the retiring Nico Rosberg more credit. He’s a worthy F1 world champion

Nico Rosberg shocked the Formula 1 world by announcing his retirement just five days after winning his maiden driver’s world title. Hardly anyone expected this, despite the very intense season the Mercedes racer had endured. There was a mixture of opinions that poured out in the aftermath of his announcement. Many praised Rosberg’s decision and congratulated him on winning the Formula 1 title, but many felt he was not a worthy champion and that he did not want to compete against teammate Lewis Hamilton again.

The latter of the two opinions is uncalled for not warranted. Rosberg won the 2016 Formula 1 world championship because he accumulated the most points at the end of the season. It is as simple as that. And it has always been like that. It really does not matter how one achieves the wins and gets those points as long as they get them. But therein lies the reason for Rosberg’s perceived inferiority to Hamilton.

Less talented compared to Hamilton?

On sheer talent, Hamilton is the better racer compared to Rosberg. This is widely accepted. But this is not a situation like when Michael Schumacher was partnered by Eddie Irvine and then by Rubens Barrichello at Ferrari. The difference in class between Schumacher and his teammates was monumentally huge. Rosberg is not that far off Hamilton in talent and speed.

Hamilton can be almost unbeatable on most days and he can excite fans with great racing moves. Off the track, the Briton leads a very interesting lifestyle. He parties with Hollywood A-Listers, dates famous singers and seemingly does not care of what people think of him. Rosberg, on the other hand, does not do any of that. He has a small family and leads a quieter life.

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has said in the past that Rosberg would not make a good world champion and that Hamilton is very good for the sport. Such comments from the main man behind F1 do not help Rosberg’s public image. He is therefore considered boring. But are drivers supposed to win titles or are they supposed to entertain? If they can do both, then great. But if not, every single driver will choose the former option.

Many detractors claim that Rosberg’s nine race wins to Hamilton’s 10 proves that the latter was the better of the two during the season. But the rules do not state that the driver with more wins should win the title. Such a move was almost implemented for the 2009 season, but was scrapped before the season started. If it had been approved, then Jenson Button would have virtually won the title after only seven races. He won six of the first seven in a season with only 17 races. He eventually won the title in the penultimate race despite not adding to his race victories.

Lucky champion

If that were the criteria, then Hamilton should not have won his maiden title in 2008. The then McLaren driver won five races to Felipe Massa’s six, but piped the Brazilian by one point. People also say that Hamilton was hampered by multiple engine failures this season. And without those, he would have certainly won the title. But similar explanations can be made for Massa back in 2008.

Massa, then with Ferrari, had to digest two clear incidents which cost him the title and they were not his faults at all. First, in the Singapore Grand Prix, Massa was leading the race early on and during his first pit stop, Ferrari released Massa a fraction of a second early which led to the fuel hose to still be attached to his car. Massa went the length of the pit-lane before stopping to allow his mechanics to remove the hose. This eventually led the Brazilian to finish outside the points scoring positions.

The second incident happened at the very last Grand Prix in Brazil. Massa stormed to victory and seemingly had won the title as Hamilton was in sixth position. This would have made both drivers to finish on 97 points. Massa would have won the title as he had more wins than Hamilton. But as Hamilton was heading for the final straight of the race, Toyota’s Timo Glock was struggling for grip and was overtaken with only a few metres still left before the finish line.

Hamilton was extremely lucky and did not win the most races in 2008. Yet he was considered a worthy world champion. So why two rules for Hamilton and Rosberg?

Longest F1 season

One should also note that the 2016 season was the longest Formula 1 season in history with 21 races. In five of the previous six seasons, there were 19 races and the other had 20. All of them were longer than the 2009 season, but shorter than the one which has just finished. Formula 1 is a taxing sport for the drivers – mentally and physically.

They lose between two to five kilograms in weight during the length of one Grand Prix. To do this for 21 races is incredibly tough. If the season had ended after the usual 19 races, Rosberg would have won the title by 19 points. In the end, he won by five points.

Worthy world champion

One of Rosberg’s best qualities is said to be his attention to detail. He discusses at length with his mechanics to work out the best possible solutions for his car. He is very keen on knowing the inner workings of his machine. He makes far lesser errors than some of his more talented competitors, which allows him to get the maximum out of himself and the car he drives. This aspect should not be overlooked in a Formula 1 world champion.

But his true worth as a world champion comes in the fact that he beat teammate Hamilton during the Briton’s peak years. Hamilton has won three world championships so far and began the 2016 season as the two-time defending champion. He deserved his victories in 2014 and 2015. Rosberg was not happy being the sidekick back then and he showed his disappointment many times.

But this season, Rosberg was a lot calmer and hardly put a foot wrong throughout the season. Despite Hamilton’s mechanical issues, he has to accept blame for his poor starts from pole position in Australia, Bahrain and Italy. He also made a mess of qualification in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. All these were his own errors. In all these four races, Rosberg emerged as the winner. A champion grabs any opportunity that comes his way. And Rosberg certainly did so.

Luck plays its part during the course of a Formula 1 season. But that can be applied to almost every single F1 world champion. Active drivers like Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel all have won world titles with lady luck favouring them at some point. Rosberg is no different. Rosberg may not be as talented as compared to the above mentioned racers, but his calculation and focus have got him a world title.

Not many drivers get to say that they were Formula 1 world champions. But Rosberg is one and he certainly is a worthy champion.