Nico Stays at Mercedes through 2018

[cosworth151]

Nico Rosberg has signed on for another two years at Mercedes. I hope Dr. Z & Co. don't come to regret that decision before the end of the season.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160722/sport/rosberg-signs-deal-to-stay-at-mercedes-until-2018.619627

[F1fanaticBD]

I think they both realized its better to fight and stay other than leave, because leaving a winning team has never given any driver any championship.

[Scott]

Wow...surprise  .  I guess the talks with Alonso went nowhere.  My only guess is that Lewis has given his notice so he can move to Ferrari for '18, so they want continuity.

[Jericoke]

I think they both realized its better to fight and stay other than leave, because leaving a winning team has never given any driver any championship.

I know!  Schumacher was a FOOL to leave Bennetton!

And you remember when some guy named Hamilton left McLaren?  Whatever became of him?

 

[F1fanaticBD]

Two things you have to consider Jeri, first when these two gentleman left their teams, they did it because they knew they were switching to a better team, second thing was they did not switch because they were having problems with their team-mates.
Prost had the infamous fall-out with McLaren over Senna and that cost him atleast two championships, or he could have more chance of going at it had he stayed on McLaren. Also Fernando Alonso made the same mistake, had he stayed in McLaren he might have added more to his two. Schumacher left because he knew the traction control technology that made Benetton so invincible would be gone from 1996 onwards, so he have better chance of being in Ferrari than in Benetton then. And from 1997-1999, he fought till the end, to win in 2000,while Benetton was never in the contention of being a championship holder.
I would say one of the all time great Sterling Moss suffered because of this team-changing decision, for which he didn't have a championship in the end. Nobody had any doubt about this ingenious driver, but circumstances meant he never got what he deserved.

[Jericoke]

Two things you have to consider Jeri, first when these two gentleman left their teams, they did it because they knew they were switching to a better team, second thing was they did not switch because they were having problems with their team-mates.
Prost had the infamous fall-out with McLaren over Senna and that cost him atleast two championships, or he could have more chance of going at it had he stayed on McLaren. Also Fernando Alonso made the same mistake, had he stayed in McLaren he might have added more to his two. Schumacher left because he knew the traction control technology that made Benetton so invincible would be gone from 1996 onwards, so he have better chance of being in Ferrari than in Benetton then. And from 1997-1999, he fought till the end, to win in 2000,while Benetton was never in the contention of being a championship holder.
I would say one of the all time great Sterling Moss suffered because of this team-changing decision, for which he didn't have a championship in the end. Nobody had any doubt about this ingenious driver, but circumstances meant he never got what he deserved.

I wasn't following F1 when Schumacher swapped teams, but he did take 5 years between championships.  The ones with Ferrari were NEVER guaranteed.

I was following F1 when Hamilton swapped (I was just kidding, I do know what happened to him  ) to Mercedes.  That was regarded as a foolish move, even though in retrospect it's the wisest move in F1 history.

You used the word 'never', and I think deserved a mention of two drivers who proved that 'never' was the wrong word to use.

But just because I'm in a mood:
Fangio won a championship with Ferrari, quit and then won with Maserati
Plenty of WDC have won with multiple teams.  Certainly some teams didn't survive, but drivers that won with multiple teams include:

• Fangio
• Brabham
• Graham Hill
• Stewart
• Fittipaldi
• Piquet
• Prost
• Schumacher
• Hamilton

In fact, very few multiple champions accomplished the feat exclusively with one team.

Certainly one (such as myself) would argue that part of being a champion is being with the right team at the right time.  However, it should be pretty clear to Rosberg that if he's going to win a championship, it's not going to be as Hamilton's teammate at Mercedes.  It may be that there is no possibility for him to win it anywhere, but his best bet is going elsewhere and hoping for Mercedes to fall apart.

That's almost the exact strategy that Kimi used to win his championship.

[F1fanaticBD]

You missed Niki Lauda Jeri 

Yeah I knew Fangio would make me eat my words for it, I was hoping I could get away with it, but I am glad I did not.

The reason I used the word never is because I said leaving a winning team. Yes there could be an argument about how do one know whether the team will be winning or not before the start of the season.

Schumacher took 5 years I agree, but he was agonisingly close in 97(banned if I am not wrong), lost it in the last race in 98, broke a leg in 99, before winning it in 2000. Kimi won the championship because two kids in McLaren got cocky and handed over to Ferrari.
Lewis made the switch with knowledge of McLaren will be loosing Paddy Lowe and Mercedes engines. The core of the success of McLaren was based on these two, so he took the big jump. I agree when he decided I was surprised and thought as a bad move (on my defence even Sir Jackie got it wrong), but he knew he was moving to a better team and not leaving a championship winning team.

[John S]

It's probably nit picking Jeri but JYS really won his 3 titles in the same team, Tyrell Racing.

Technically the name above the door was Matra for his first WDC in 69, but it was still Ken Tyrell's team - he had joint ownership with the French company Matra.

However it's true JYS won multiple WDCs in chassis from different constructors so inclusion in your list is probably fair Jeri.   

[Jericoke]

It's probably nit picking Jeri but JYS really won his 3 titles in the same team, Tyrell Racing.

Technically the name above the door was Matra for his first WDC in 69, but it was still Ken Tyrell's team - he had joint ownership with the French company Matra.

However it's true JYS won multiple WDCs in chassis from different constructors so inclusion in your list is probably fair Jeri.

I was thinking it might be easier to create a list of drivers who stuck with one team for many years before winning a WDC...

Hakkinen for sure.

I'll concede Button (much like Stewart, one can argue it was the same team, or a different team, that he won with)

Who else has stuck with one team as long as Rosberg will with Mercedes and eventually won a WDC? 

[lkjohnson1950]

Clark (2 WDC) never drove for anyone but Lotus.