FORMULA 1: ROSBERG’S RETIREMENT – COURAGE OR COWARDICE? PART 1

As a child I would yearn in an unrelenting fashion for a bicycle. I did not desire the ‘hype plus tax’, fashionably astute bicycle – the ‘ten speed’. Blinded by testosterone, but humbled by my disheartening financial reality, any well-mannered bicycle which would reliably honor its basic function would suffice.

My trips from point A to B within my rural community were facilitated by my god-given ‘ten-toe turbo’ and I was as happy as a lark. But, my heart would launch into hurt-mode when I would walk pass a house and see a bicycle carelessly discarded in the yard.

Did it have an owner? Was he/she  aware that the bicycle would be happier if it was being ridden? Wanton neglect on display! I was heartbroken.

If I had it (the bicycle) it would be trapped in glee’s embrace. I would trade messages, via telepathy, with the bicycle but the inanimate element within its metal frame blocked the transmission so I would continue, a broken child, but with an even more heightened desire for a pedal rocket.

Essentially we all have different desires and introspection would confirm that as we race along life’s broken path our needs and wants change as quickly as seconds on a watch!

LEWIS HAMILTON

Nico Rosberg, like a super tornado has flung the F1 world, especially his team Mercedes Petronas AMG, into a rapidly spiraling whirlwind. Nico Rosberg, the newly crowned 2016 F1 World Champion resigned a mere handful of days after winning the championship at the final round in Abu Dhabi.

Very few individuals were in a position to state that they expected such a move from Nico. Lewis Hamilton suggested that he was not surprised. But, the fact that Lewis does not be operate from a neutral table I am willing to overlook Lewis’ statements when Nico is the subject.

If you understood my introductory piece, this is even easier. When we have conversations with individuals re an issue which is of concern to them and at some point we say – I understand. Ask yourself – Do I really understand? Really? Honesty, after delivering a reprimand will confirm no.

The only person who truly understands their plight, feelings or experience, is the individual who is on the receiving end – the person wearing the shoes. We can always look from a distance and pine for the plate from which someone else eats.

We, without recognizing, choose the portions we want – the glamorous, exciting, highly profitable, jet setter aspects which we feel are laced with abundant bliss. Are we willing to accept and honor all of the  fine print of the F1 driver’s life? How many of us would remain committed to the repetition after 10 or more years?

If I was Nico Rosberg’s friend I am certain I would be privy to the dark side of his racing experiences. But you do not need to be in his inner circle to understand the trailer-load that he was carrying! Nico Rosberg is not the average bloke. He is the son of a F1 World Champion.

As such his path in life whether directly or indirectly, was paved by CHEC and it was ordained that he would check all the boxes until he sat at the top of the heap and was declared a World Champion.

Did Nico Rosberg truly want that for himself or was he reading from a prepared speech as he competed at each round. I am of the view that Rosberg’s F1 experience entered a new, different and I possibly destructive stage, at some time after Lewis Hamilton, already a World Champion, became his team-mate. In Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg found an opponent who was more formidable than the highly lauded US Airforce.

His pursuit of what was possibly his childhood dream, becoming a F1 World Champion, became a flammable, volatile and an utterly tiring exercise. There must have been times when he questioned his ability to persist.

And the fact that he was being forced to play runner up because of Lewis’ ability, aided by his (Rosberg) concentration lapses at critical points during the championship tussle must have left a dartboard’s tally of darts in his ego’s heart.

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer