Nico Rosberg retires!!

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Didn't hunt have a few bad seasons with McLaren and Wolf before retiring?

Yep, only one podium in 78 with McLaren and only looked like his old self in Zolder during his half season with Wolf in 79

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Yep, only one podium in 78 with McLaren and only looked like his old self in Zolder during his half season with Wolf in 79

Hunt said he retired, "for reasons of self-preservation."

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

At least we can see some humor in all of this. Particularly this thread.

Richard

It is indeed as hilarious as it is...... balanced......

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by djinvicta

Sounds like Lauda has got "the hump" over Rosberg.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns35431.html

Too bad Mr Lauda, Nico Rosberg does not have to justify his reasons for putting a halt to his racing career to you or anyone one else ..

[VIVA GT]

Now. this comment honestly isn't aimed at anyone in particular but if it had been Lewis who made the shock decision to retire in the same way as Nico has just done, I'm sure he would have been pulled to pieces on here for his (typical) selfish attitude.
(I'm just sayin...)

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Now. this comment honestly isn't aimed at anyone in particular but if it had been Lewis who made the shock decision to retire in the same way as Nico has just done, I'm sure he would have been pulled to pieces on here for his (typical) selfish attitude.
(I'm just sayin...)

And quite rightly so!

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

And quite rightly so!

Mike, has Bauble handed you his stirring spoon?

[Mekola]

Also we had to announce that today Esteban Tuero retires from motorsport. This season he raced in Turismo Nacional with Ford Focus. He was in Minardi in 1998.

[alfettafan]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I'd like to see James as a more 'balanced' F1 fan than some who have posted here and elsewhere in the last week or more.

Where does it say anyone has to be balanced - the pro-Hamilton folk are no more balanced than the anti-Hamilton ones...

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by alfettafan

Where does it say anyone has to be balanced - the pro-Hamilton folk are no more balanced than the anti-Hamilton ones...

of course nobody has to be balanced; but people that speak in a balanced way attract far more credibility.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by MGDavid

of course nobody has to be balanced; but people that speak in a balanced way attract far more credibility.

The problem being that any balanced normal human looking at Lewis' behavior would conclude he behaves like a "little snot with a god complex"

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by wnut

The problem being that any balanced normal human looking at Lewis' behavior would conclude he behaves like a "little snot with a god complex"

There's nothing like a good balanced viewpoint.
(And that's nothing like a good balanced viewpoint! )

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

There's nothing like a good balanced viewpoint.
(And that's nothing like a good balanced viewpoint! )

You are, of course quite right, Viv.

Hamilton is just a big girl's blouse, with God knows what complexes.

[Aysedasi]

And I guess my response is - 'So what?!'

We seem to worry more about a driver's out of car behaviour and psychological traits than how good a racing driver he is.

[old man]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

And I guess my response is - 'So what?!'

We seem to worry more about a driver's out of car behaviour and psychological traits than how good a racing driver he is.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

And I guess my response is - 'So what?!'

We seem to worry more about a driver's out of car behaviour and psychological traits than how good a racing driver he is.

There's a lot to be said about how a driver conducts themselves out of the car as well as being a good driver, so I don't see conduct and driver ability necessarily being mutually exclusive. I don't have a favourite driver but I liked how Jenson Button conducted himself.

[BSchneiderFan]

They're not mutually exclusive; conduct and behaviour out of the car can make a lot of difference to sponsors, for example (which is why JB is so beloved by Honda). But we should, as Aysedasi says, be focusing on driving ability.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

We seem to worry more about a driver's out of car behaviour and psychological traits than how good a racing driver he is.

As others have pointed out... It clearly is much more than "how good a racing driver". As objective as the WDC is, it doesn't even measure that (luck, equipment, etc. factors in too much). As far I can tell nothing measures pure skill, racecraft or whatever you want to call it (which is why we argue about that as well even if we extract personality out and why comparisons across racing eras is so hard).

It is a holistic thing.

Clearly driver skill is a HUGE factor for those who fit into the category of "the best". But you could conceivably have someone who is outstanding in every way from a "driving" or "racing" perspective but may also be a complete failure when it comes to results. Imagine someone who has such poor work ethics that they just didn't show up for races, or maybe emotions during a race results in highly erratic results. The point is that it ALL matters. Skill, personality, work ethics, etc. What is difficult is that much of the rest (interaction with the team, sponsors, fans, etc.) is very much subjective. Especially from a fan's perspective. One person's hero is another person's zero. It just depends upon how each person's defines "excellence" when it comes to an F1 driver.

Richard

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I don't have a favourite driver but I liked how Jenson Button conducted himself.

Just admit it. He is your favorite!

Richard

(PS: JB is my favorite )

[chillibowl]

he has certainly become a lot of people's favorite but 10-15 years ago he was regarded very differently....he used to be Hamilton.

i could say its about perspective but really (much as it is with Hamilton) none of the stuff JB did back in the day was particularly bad.

actually, having been on this forum for a number of years now, i think its kind of a British thing...based on manufactured tabloid stories you guys love tearing down your heroes and then forgive them once they have been sufficiently humbled....a la Button during the end of the Honda years.

not that that it is any better or worse then what we do over here...we just elevate our sporting heroes in our papers to a point that they are pretty much allowed to act any way they want to and all will be forgiven as long as they stay good at sports.... a la tiger woods. the guy could do no wrong no one cared about all the wrong things he was doing until he started losing.

so going back to Nico....now that he is done competing my opinion of him, which used to be very high, has tumbled basically because he will no longer be competing so he's never going to be a good guy at sports again.

[Mike Harte]

Chilli, admittedly, JB did go off the rails, but that was for one or two seasons when he was driving a dog of a car for Benetton/Renault. He had had a huge amount of mental pressure piled on him by both the media and by some of those high up in the management of F1. He also, in the aerly years had some pretty awful guidance from his personal management people, hence his contract disputes with Williams on two occasions.

By the time that he went to BAR, he had left behind all of that, and he started his huge fitness regime. It was also at around that time that he purchased his first Winnebago type vehicle, and used to spend all his time at the circuits from Thursday through to Sunday; I believe that he just hired a similar vehicle when possible for the fly-aways.

The press did build him up to be a play-boy, and for a short while, he lived up to that reputation. But I don't think that it really affected his abilities; he just was unable to get the best out of some cars that really weren't that spectacular.

[chillibowl]

and thats my point...we are only now able to see his better qualities because he spent those middle years out in the wilderness because you do find out about a person's true colours when they find themselves in these humbling situations. people grow.

so i would like to think that much of the animosity towards Lewis stems from the fact that we havent really seen him struggle yet because that at least makes sense to me. rather he hasent been tested yet so the 'attitude' that he has is not yet completely earned yet.

i would disagree with that because despite his relatively easy path into a top seat i do feel like he came by it honestly and has justified his position every step of the way.

but without a doubt he rubs some people the wrong way and thats fair enough.

however it does feel like some of the criticism he gets goes much further then that and to be honest, why a lot of it doesnt make much sense to me and why i take issue with what is being said..not because im a fan boy but because the criticism just doesnt feel justified to me.

anyways this is a thread about Nico retiring...and a week later i still find myself very disappointing that this happened?

if he had struggled more in his life would he be more beholden to F1 and the need to defend his title? or did he struggle enough in those Williams and early merc days so he has now done enough?

cant decide.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

Just admit it. He is your favorite!

Richard

(PS: JB is my favorite )

Back in the day I had a favourite driver and that was Sir Jackie Stewart. He had the right combination of driving skill, race craft and professionalism, which is why he was three times WDC. Many drivers today could learn from that.

[chillibowl]

and if social media existed back then would you still feel the same way?

or would he be that guy on instagram/twitter everyday sharing his opinions about life in F1, what new hat he has just bought, promoting his own brand image, etc?

to some extent there is always a romanticization about the past...but just maybe these guys are the same as the guys now.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

and if social media existed back then would you still feel the same way?

or would he be that guy on instagram/twitter everyday sharing his opinions about life in F1, what new hat he has just bought, promoting his own brand image, etc?

to some extent there is always a romanticization about the past...but just maybe these guys are the same as the guys now.

I don't think this is romancticising about the past. He was as much in the public eye as the media in those days could accommodate. If he had chosen to, I'm sure he could have featured regularly in glossy magazines, and TV commercials, which were the media equivalent of instagram/twitter back then but he didn't. So unless he had a character transplant, I think he would approach instagram/twitter in the same way. However, what he did promote and champion was safety and I'm sure he would certainly use instagram/twitter to great effect.