Rosberg's rocky road to recognition - but not acceptance

That Nico Rosberg retired immediately after punching aside the demeaning burden of the 'son of...' mantle was surprising, yet certainly not shocking. Here was a driver who achieved the absolute pinnacle of his career, yet, even as he tearfully celebrated with wife Vivian and parents - 1982 Fomula 1 world champion Keke and Sine - "only the second son of a..." comments were whispered in Abu Dhabi's paddock.

Just what did Nico need to do to be accepted in the paddock as his own man, as just plain 'Nico', or as 'Nico the driver who beat arguably fastest man of his generation to the championship over the longest season in history in the same car'? Score a second title, only to become known as the 'first son to beat his own father's championship record'?

During last Sunday evening's Autosport Awards Damon Hill, forever known as 'the first son of' after emulating two-time champion father Graham in 1996, jokingly welcomed Nico to the 'son of' club, adding that he, Damon, was president and Nico vice-president.

However, Hill's jesting hid a serious message, for the duo had risen well above many 'son of' drivers, many of whom languished about in junior series before bombing out of the so-called family business. Damon has recently written movingly of the depression he suffered as he sought his own identity.

Did the likes of Nelson Piquet Jr, Toby and Tomas Scheckter, Phil Hill's son Derek, Michael Andretti, or various Lauda offspring grow up any less privileged than Hill and Rosberg? Yet only Damon and Nico did the business - and it is well known that the Hill family's fortune was decimated by the aircraft accident that claimed Graham, so much so that Damon initially raced his courier 'day bike' to quench his thirst for speed.

On Monday, during the BRDC Awards luncheon, where Nico was welcomed into the august British club on account of his 2013 British Grand Prix victory, Damon eloquently described how Nico had "absolutely turned his guts inside out" to win the title after "being put through the test against someone like Lewis Hamilton" before "asking himself 'do I want to go through that again?'".

By implication "that" clearly includes widespread sniping about how Nico had been born into privilege, grown up in Monaco; of how his family name had opened doors - yet a kid from a British council estate had trounced him to the title for two years in a row in the same car. Now consider 'son of' Damon's plight: beaten by a driver from a German backwater in 1995, only to turn the tables the following year...

Indeed, over the years, the number of F1 champions from modest backgrounds outnumbers the 'rich boys' by a factor of around 10: one that proves, certainly statistically, that wealth, privilege and parental connections are, if anything, impediments to success at motor racing's highest level.

To compound matters for Nico, while Damon was always accepted as being of British Bulldog stock - as is Hamilton - and there were never doubts about Michael Schumacher's place in German history, Nico has struggled to be accepted in either Finland or Germany.

Few Germans view him as the Deutsche Deal despite being born in Wiesbaden to a German mother, while Finns snigger that Nico speaks hardly a word of suomen kieli despite his father's nationality, though he has mastered German, English, Italian, Spanish and French.

So national adoration has been largely absent during Rosberg's career - surely the winner of 23 grands prix under a German licence deserves better? - and that surely played in his decision, for an inner need for hero worship forms the drive that feeds every sporting champion.

True, Germany has been strangely cold towards Sebastian Vettel - the root cause of which was analysed here - but in Vettel's case there is no doubting that the nation that invented the car and every type of internal combustion engine accepts him as one of their own. Point out that Nico is Germany's third world champion, and brows puzzle.

Indeed, when the question arises in German circles as to whether Seb could actually have spoiled Nico's party by overtaking him during those excruciatingly slow final laps in Abu Dhabi, some suggest that Vettel would rather a driver not totally accepted as German become champion, than Hamilton achieve a fourth title to pull equal with Vettel. Only a theory, but...

If Germany accepts Rosberg only at arm's length, within Mercedes it was seldom better - despite platitudes the team has trotted out over the years. The fact is, when Rosberg joined, all eyes were on the returning Michael Schumacher - Germany's first (and, to many, only authentic) homegrown F1 hero. Team insiders tell of a media day where 100 hacks thronged around Schumacher while Rosberg stood forlornly in the opposite corner.

When Rosberg solidly trounced Schumacher over three years, did he receive accolades? No, suddenly Schumacher had lost it, had got too old, did not understand Pirelli's tyres - name it, excuses were trotted out. Then, just when Mercedes came really good, thanks in no small part to Rosberg's engineering insight, non-executive chair Niki Lauda went shopping for Hamilton.

Yet Rosberg stuck it out, believing fervently Mercedes would deliver the one element he craved above all else in life - save, later, Vivian and daughter Alaia - namely to replace the handle 'Nico Rosberg, son of a world champion' with 'Nico Rosberg, world champion'.

In accepting BRDC honorary membership awards Rosberg spoke jokingly of it not being easy for "a German to be accepted in an English-speaking world". Meant in jest, yes, the words suggests that even within his Mercedes team - despite its German masters, the Brackley-based team remains as British as always - he viewed himself as an outsider in a team dominated by Britain's darling driver.

When things went wrong between them, as they did in 2014 in Belgium, then this season in Spain, Canada and Austria, it was invariably Rosberg who left team briefings under a cloud despite the incidents being what can be described as 'racing incidents' even if they were between team-mates.

Consider Hamilton's refusal to do media briefings, failure to turn up at functions, sudden ailments when tests beckoned; then recall that a smiling Rosberg was always there, best face forward, every word a sponsor's delight. Forget that he dearly wished to be home with his family while Hamiltn partied on all sides of the globe: Rosberg was there for Mercedes. Yet, when chips were down, such contributions were conveniently overlooked.

That is, of course, an internal Mercedes matter, but even Bernie Ecclestone hoped for a fourth Hamilton title, rather than Rosberg's first. "If Nico won the title it would be good for him and good for Mercedes, but it wouldn't necessarily help the sport because there is nothing to write about him," the 86-year old said after Rosberg consolidated his points lead after Japan.

"Even in Germany it wouldn't help," he said in reference to the country's refusal to host a grand prix despite Rosberg's successes in a Mercedes, before twisting the knife with a reference to Finland's monosyllabic Kimi Raikkonen: "[Even] Kimi's doing a better job than Nico!"

If not even F1's tsar, the man whose job it is to monetise Formula 1, talks encouragingly, would you really - deep down - want to "turn your guts inside out" all over again? It is telling that Rosberg decided after Japan that he would retire should the battle go his way - and Ecclestone's attitude in this regard will surely have preyed on Nico's mind at the time.

Ecclestone's comment when Rosberg retired unexpectedly? "He needs more time to spend his money, that's all." That from a billionaire...

So Nico Rosberg, world champion, has retired. In the wake of his walkaway, Germany does not have an active champion to hail, nor does Finland, nor Mercedes, nor Ecclestone. They are deserving losers, for Rosberg surely deserved better during his 11-year career. Hamilton, too, loses: he is denied the chance of lifting the title from Rosberg in 2017 - who retires as unbeaten champion, having beaten him in the same car.

The biggest loser, though, is F1, for Rosberg added to its rich history, and could surely have added so much more had he been treated differently. He deserves every ounce of happiness he has radiated since Abu Dhabi, for he knows he is a worthy champion in his own right.