Formula 1: The real reason Lewis Hamilton fans still call Nico Rosberg a coward

Since Nico Rosberg retired after the 2016 Formula 1 season, many Lewis Hamilton fans have called him a coward, and they continue to do so. What is the real reason for this?

Nico Rosberg held off then three-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton to win the 2016 championship, which was the first Formula 1 championship of the then 31-year-old German’s career. He scored 385 points throughout the 21-race season while Hamilton scored 380. Five days later, he announced his retirement from the sport.

Because of the fact that Rosberg retired only after finally beating Hamilton, as Hamilton beat him by 67 points (384 to 317) in the 2014 season and 59 points (381 to 322) in the 2015 season, many Hamilton fans called him a coward when he made the decision to retire. To this day, they continue to do so.

But what is the real reason why this is the case?

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The answer to this question would seem to be fairly obvious: these Hamilton fans believe that Rosberg simply didn’t want to risk losing to Hamilton again after narrowly beating him to win the 2016 championship.

After all, Hamilton accounted for 10 of the 15 victories that the two drivers combined to earn over the course of the season’s final 16 races, and he nearly rallied to win the championship after Rosberg opened up the season with four consecutive victories and boasted a 43-point lead (100 to 57) in the driver standings following both the season’s fourth and fifth races, as the drivers were involved in a first-lap wreck with one another in the season’s fifth race, the Spanish Grand Prix.

However, the reasoning as to why Hamilton fans continue to call Rosberg a coward is really lot deeper than this. This is also obvious when you consider the fact that Hamilton has won both of the championships that have been decided since then, yet his fans still call Rosberg a coward. Even more telling is the fact that this likely won’t stop, perhaps not even after Hamilton retires.

Here’s why these fans feel the need to do so.

Hamilton is the greatest Formula 1 driver of this generation, and he is working his way to becoming the greatest driver of all-time. There is already a case to be made for him as the sport’s “GOAT”.

The 34-year-old Briton continues to set new records every season. He has recorded an all-time record 83 pole positions, and with 73 career victories, a total that ranks second on the all-time Formula 1 wins list, 134 podium finishes, a total that ranks second on the all-time Formula 1 podium finishes list, and five career championships, a total that is tied for second on the all-time Formula 1 titles list, he is working his way toward the all-time win, podium finish and championship records, which are currently 91, 155 and seven, respectively. All three of these records are held by Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton fans want to believe that he is the greatest Formula 1 driver of all-time. They will want it more and more with every win he adds to his already impressive resume, and that desire will increase astronomically if he can continue to add more championships to this resume.

But no matter how much they want it, they know that there is one thing that prevents them from truly justifying it, even in their minds, and that one thing will never change.

When Rosberg retired, he retired on top of the sport. After finishing behind Hamilton for three consecutive seasons as his teammate and finishing in second place to him in the championship in the second and third of those three seasons, he finally beat him.

From an all-time perspective, Hamilton’s statistics blow Rosberg’s away. That is not debatable. Even in their four seasons driving for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport as teammates, Hamilton outdueled Rosberg on a regular basis, earning 32 victories while Rosberg earned 22.

But in the final moments of Rosberg’s career and when he retired, he left Hamilton in his shadow. Hamilton never had a chance to get out of Rosberg’s shadow, and he never will. Rosberg left Formula 1 on top of the sport, and he did so after relegating Hamilton to a second place finish in what was effectively a two-car championship.

This will forever haunt Hamilton’s fans whether they want to admit it or not. It will haunt them whether he makes a shock retirement announcement five minutes from now or if he ends up winning more than 100 races and 10 championships throughout his Formula 1 career, especially considering the relationship that he and Rosberg had as teammates at Mercedes.

While Hamilton’s fan may claim that he is the greatest Formula 1 driver of all-time, which could undoubtedly be accurate with all things considered, the fact that this haunts them shows every time that the words “Rosberg” and “coward” appear in the same sentence in their social media posts and every time that the words are used together in the same sentences coming out of their mouths.

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If it doesn’t haunt them, why do they continue to bring it up? It is far, far deeper than “Nico Rosberg was scared to return”. Why continue to focus on one particular season of the seven seasons of Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 career that have not resulted in him winning the championship, especially since that season was three seasons ago now and Hamilton has won both of the championships that have been decided since? With all things considered, it’s fairly obvious.

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