'He was on a mission': If Lewis Hamilton won the 2016 F1 title, would Nico Rosberg have retired?

F1 pundit Mark Hughes reckons that Nico Rosberg would have stayed in F1 with Mercedes if he had lost his sole world championship to Lewis Hamilton. Back in 2016, when Rosberg won his first world championship, he immediately retired from the sport.

Speaking on The Race F1 podcast, Hughes explained why Rosberg would not have retired if Lewis Hamilton had won the 2016 F1 world championship. He mentioned that Rosberg was on a mission to reach the pinnacle of his career by winning his one and only world title. Hence, he would have chased his dream for a few more years after 2016. The F1 pundit said:

"How would it have played out if Nico had not won the title? For sure, he would have stayed on. He was on a mission to try and win the world title. It was the pinnacle of his, that is what he was chasing, which is why he was able to retire instantly as soon as he achieved it."

Furthermore, Mark Hughes feels that Mercedes would not have changed their driver lineup after 2016 if Rosberg had stayed. Though the atmosphere in the Silver Arrows camp was mostly intense due to the fierce rivalry between the two drivers, Hughes does not feel that it was intense enough for Mercedes to change drivers. He concluded:

"I don't think there would have been any changes. I think the team would have just had to manage them as best they could. They were getting performance from them, [and] they understood that it comes with a certain amount of disruption when you got two drivers in the same team fighting for the world title. Of course there is going to be stress."

Before the 2016 F1 Abu Dhabi GP, Nico Rosberg discussed retiring with his wife Vivian. Eventually, he decided to commit to retiring after 2016 before the race commenced. We can only speculate on whether he would have changed his mind and stayed on had he lost the championship to Lewis Hamilton.

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Lewis Hamilton knows Mercedes could take a long time to beat Red Bull

Lewis Hamilton is well aware of how powerful Red Bull currently are and how long it could take for him and Mercedes to beat them. However, the seven-time world champion is hopeful that the RB19's development curve could plateau compared to other teams. He said:

"I'm aware that it could take a long time to catch a car. If you look at the Red Bull is just going to continue to evolve most likely. Although some cars do plateau in terms of performance, when you get to some point, it can't just keep going. But maybe it can. They've got a great team around them, so I'm sure they'll continue to add downforce."

Currently, Lewis Hamilton sits in fourth place in the drivers' championship table with 38 points.