Sure you can run an organization any way you want and treat people any way you want. But there is a degree of transparency with which you handle someone that is considered respectful. Particularly when you purchased the team from them, and they are as accomplished and conduct themselves as honorably as RB does. He never said he was sacked.
Have you changed your view on Lewis thinking about himself first and trying to back Nico into the pack in the last GP then, or is that still a massive betrayal of poor Mercedes?
+1, I think Ross deserved better treatment. I have huge respect for what he has accomplished throughout his career. I also have high respect for Lauda as well, more as a driver than a team leader. I do find it rich that he is upset with Nico leaving the team in a tough situation, something he did very similarly in 1977 at Ferrari and 1979 at Brabham. Ironically those probably cost him 2 championships with Ferrari being strong in 1979 and Brabham doing well in 1980-81. Formula 1 is tough, and no one should trust anyone and they should look out for themselves, it is not called the "Piranha Club" without reason.
I think you are drawing the wrong conclusion. I see it as he was willing to try 2 more years to accomplish his goal, but he reached it sooner, and was willing to retire. Is it putting your family first? Yes, I think it still is because being a good father and husband is about being content in your own life as well. Accomplishing his life goal allows him to transition to family man without any regrets. If he doesn't win this year, then he tries again next year, and maybe the year after; potentially retiring having failed, but knowing he gave it is all and didn't miss his daughter's whole life. Selfish timing? Would you have him tell Lauda and Wolff his plans to retire if he wins so that they can ensure Hamilton wins instead? Do you think Lauda and Wolff are actually transparent with him? I don't believe either driver feels that way. What timing would have been appropriate and not destroyed his season? How can you announce a retirement contingent on something that hasn't happened yet?
Agreed, had not read Road &Track in years, now I know I was not missing anything. Nothing like when Rob Walker wrote the Formula 1 race reports...
That's a completely different matter. I am speaking here about someone who wants to retire at short notice for personal reasons. What you are talking about is dubious race tactics that put the interest of a team at risk.
Ha! He can be hit or miss. There are some articles of his I have referenced for Indycar honestly. He usually writes for Racer. Some parts of that article are accurate, but overall it's all over the place to me, and fails to support the bold title. Seems like R&T called him up and said - "write something that will get us hits on Nico's retirement".
More double standards. So it's ok for Ros to think about himself first but not Hamilton? By backing Ros into the pack at Abu D, Ham clearly put himself first before the interests of the team. The outcome of his actions made precisely no difference to MB's season as they had both the Wdc and wdc tied up by that time. By contrast, through his actions Ros has put himself first but has also put MBs entire 2017 season outcome at risk by ripping up what MB thought was a solid and contractually committed driver line up. His timing was so bad that they are now forced to fish for scraps in the driver market and hope for the best. That, in my book, is far worse than what Ham did. He should have raced in 2017 and declared early that he was retiring at the end of that season. That would have been professional and honourable.
Nico beat the dumbass this year fair and square, and won the championship, his dream for so long. He has had terrible luck himself over the last few years, engine problems at the last race included, and he has had to fight for respect from Toto Wolff and niki Lauda all the way. Having given elton a bloody nose, and proven he can beat the guy consistently, he retired happy that he has achieved his goals in the formula. Good for him If Mercedes don't like it, maybe they need to remember how they had him apologise on more than one occasion for racing incidents with his dumb teammate, and had to put up with their favouritism of their little boy almost every moment of their tenure..... he barely had their blessing despite winning the championship, particularly Wolff, who shows a disgusting lack of respect for a WORLD CHAMPION member of his team.
Here's something to wonder about. If Nico had LOST in the last race and Hamilton won the WDC, would he still have quit? I bet NOT. So, the stuff about this family would be pretty much BS then. The risks were the same before and after he was WDC. Nico got his prize and went home. He's not a quitter. He's just had enough.
He already said he wouldn't quit if he didn't win. He set out to be World Champion, that's what he wanted. Mission accomplished.
Only a thought...would it be better to sit out the contract with Mercedes although lacking a motivation to continue? What I read what he said sounds to me like the beginning of a burnout that might have occurred if he continued at the same intense level he did this year. This might have not left Mercedes in a better position in that case... As he had no idea whether he would leave or not at the time he was nenewing his contract, what should he have said to them? As mentioned above, if he had told Toto and Niki that he would quit after a WDC (although back then he might not even have thought about that) they might have acted accordingly preventing to have a WDC in the leave. And if he told Mercedes a few weeks ago (even with the danger of being downgraded in the team hirearchy), what would have changed? Vettel and Alonso, Max and Ricciardo still would have had a contract...Now they are talking about Bottas who has a contract as well so this is now as likely as it was weeks ago.
Your point about burnout is a valid one. If he was that close to a mental breakdown, then it would be completely understandable to stand down on medical grounds, but that is not what he said So one can only presume that he did it because he can't be bothered to race. This is very strange to me. He could easily have declared his intention to retire at the end of the 2017 season (like Massa for instance) and enjoyed a year of driving for fun and getting respect and adoration from his fans, plus it would have made the Merc job of finding a replacement easier.
I honestly think when he had Max driving around the outside of him at Silverstone and Interlagos,he might have thought 'Jesus am i losing it or what ?' Plus all this Zen chanting stuff ...it kind of adds up.
Road & Track is not even close to the mag it was years ago. I don't even bother looking at it on the news stand. Rob Walker's reporting on F1 was some of the best. On Nico retiring, and sticking Merc, I don't think Wolf and Lauda would have had second thoughts if the rolls were reversed.
Yah but he wouldn't have been any good without that fire to win. It's obvious he killed himself in the offseason trying everything to improve. Without that desire, I doubt Nico is competitive with the top drivers. Look at the tail end of Button's career as an example. Married. Lives separately from wife because F1 demands all your time. Divorced. Announces retirement toward end of season. Performance drops and gap to Alonso widens. Questions his decision openly. Breaks car on curb, then blames car. Now contrast that with how Nico has gone out.
+1 its not like Nico waited until the middle of January. He told them in less than 7 days of achieving his goal and for the most part the entire F1 community has no issues with it and certainly does not find his action less than 'honourable'. He won and he announced a retirement rather quickly. I just looked outside and the world is turning...whew!!
A "once in a lifetime career decision" is completely different from repeated bully tactics on the track.
Completely different matter. Hamilton tried to ruin Rosberg chances at the risk of allowing a Ferrari to win. That's unsporting at least, and disloyal at best. Rosberg just left after a job well done, leaving Mercedes at least 3 months to find a replacement among many candidates to his seat. I cannot see what he has done wrong.
Exactly! Rosberg could have gone quiet and just gone through the motions without motivation 'til the end of his contract. Without much effort, and without challenging Hamilton, he would still have finished in the points most of the time. That would have been dishonest of him of just pocketing his retainer and not making the effort. In fact, it would have been sabotage of the team by one of the drivers. Instead, he went public about his intentions and let plenty of time for Mercedes to regroup. That was very elegant of him, I think.
Back in the 60s Past Indy winner Roger Ward lost interest in the middle of his last 500 race. He just pulled in and parked it. You think he would of decided before starting the race!!
Toto said something along the lines; I will have to sleep on this and decide something tomorrow. Nico says it was Monday evening that he fully decided to retire. I think what Toto did/said on Monday indicated fully that Nico should not be there next year. Nico won't drag his team through the trash by saying more, and its also in the team's best interest to keep this as quiet as possible. Mercedes chose Lewis, and you can't have two #'s. This just saves them a lot of bent up cars when Ramrod tries to punt Brittney around.
I don't think it quite happened like that. After missing qualification in 1965, Roger Ward came back in 1966 for a last attempt. He qualified on the 5th row, which wasn't bad. During the race, he complained of increasing handling problems and stopped his car after 74 laps because of it. He was classified 15th. The suspension on his car may have been damaged by the huge pile-up at the start that eliminated several cars and cost the lives of Sachs and McDonald.
