Crushing Defeat at the Hands of Lewis Hamilton Compels Arch Rival to Turn Down Coveted F1 Role: “My Answer is Clearly No”

Another F1 season with retirements and farewells galore this time around. The 2022 Abu Dhabi finale had plenty of drivers racing for the last time, some temporarily with a hope to come back, while some may be permanent. However, at least we knew that 3-4 drivers are racing in the final race. While this wasn’t the case about 6 years back.

Just 2 days after becoming a world champion, Nico Rosberg announced his retirement from F1 and shocked everyone in the F1 community. Rosberg said that he wanted to achieve his dream of becoming an F1 champion. And since he had done it, he wished to bow out of the sport after the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP.

6 years later, Rosberg is the team principal of his team Rosberg X Racing (RXR) in the Extreme E series. When asked in an interview about his plans to return to F1 in a team principal’s capacity, Rosberg denied any such possibilities.

As per AS.com, the 37-year-old said, “My answer is clearly no.” Rosberg cited how the F1 calendar has 24 races now relative to just 5 in the Extreme E series.

He added, “It’s [F1’s] a full-time dedication of life.” [translated via Google]

Nico stated how F1 does not allow giving time to family and friends and he has experienced that as a driver.

He continued, “The racing driver that I was and the current me, we never want to do that again. That intensity, that dedication, that inflexibility in life… I love my life now and that means I could never have a full-time job in Formula 1.”

Recently, Rosberg’s Extreme E team RXR lost to Lewis Hamilton-owned X44 Vida Carbon racing in the 2022 Extreme E season. Rosberg’s team was the defending champion, losing out in the final race due to a disqualification.

Read More: “Bro Still Crying”: F1 World Rubs Salt in Old Wounds as Nico Rosberg Takes Sly Dig At Lewis Hamilton

All in all, it’s best to believe that the F1 calendar crunch might be the primary reason for Nico’s denial of a return to Formula 1.

Is F1 becoming too Inflexible and difficult for Work-life balance?

The 2023 F1 calendar has got 24 scheduled races, at least as things stand. While there are rumors that the Chinese GP in Shanghai might be canceled, 23 races in a single season are quite grueling for personnel.

The 2023 calendar was revealed earlier this year and there were lots of questions from fans. Many were not pleased with the back-to-back scheduling of races in different parts of the world.

There is a short turnaround time between the doubleheader of Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. Imagine the fatigue the mechanics and drivers will have on this travel.

Besides this, people are concerned about the mental health of drivers and team members. Having doubleheaders and triple headers is not very simple from a logistics perspective too.

While the authorities are doing their best to handle these issues, the need to grow the sport becomes an obstacle. If the number of races keeps increasing, all personnel traveling over the globe will feel a physical and mental toll.

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Coming back to Rosberg’s point, we need to admire how much drivers and all personnel sacrifice for keeping F1 going. What do you think should be the ideal number of races in a season?