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Written by Charlie Turner
The Goodwood Festival of Speed delivers a concentration of past F1 drivers and racing legends that boggles the mind. As you wander around Lord March"s motoring garden party it"s impossible to avoid bumping into racing heroes from all disciplines.What"s rarer is to meet with a current F1 world champion who, after reaching the pinnacle of the sport, stunned the world by announcing retirement.Nico Rosberg claimed the 2016 Formula One world championship after a season-long toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton. Then, on 2nd December 2016, he performed the mic-drop of the decade, announcing his retirement from the sport with "immediate effect".Since then his social media feed has portrayed a fascinating insight into the world of a man freed from the pressure cooker atmosphere of the F1 circus, and content in the knowledge that he"s been there, done that.We caught up with Nico just before he headed off to the paddock to drive the 2014 Mercedes AMG W05 up the hill - the first time he"d been in an F1 car since last season. (You can watch his sheer disregard for lawn maintenance in the videos above)Top Gear: How is life after F1, and do you miss it?Nico Rosberg: I can still get the thrill of driving a racing car. I go go-karting regularly, so that"s still there. Of course, there"s going to be some things that I miss, that"s inevitable, isn"t it? For me it"s more about the excitement of looking forward now.TG: Given how big a shock your retirement announcement was, was it something you"d thought about during the season?NR: No, I never thought about it in the lead up, because I signed a new contract in the summer, which cost me a lot of money to do also. It just came about when the realisation was there that the championship was now in my control and my hands. This is real, I"m going to win this", and then I thought sh**, it would be perfect".The feeling just came about in me that I"ve been fighting with intensity for 20 years, driving in Formula One for 11 years getting better, better, better.It just felt perfect, I love a book with a great ending. This is the perfect possible ending for my Formula One book, for my career, and just feels beautiful. That"s what it"s about in the end, it"s a personal feeling and I"m sitting here now and it"s just awesome.TG: How do you replace the buzz of F1?NR: Well of course, I"m still competitive and I"m still the guy who wants to win, that"s always going to be there, that"s not changed. But that"s going to be in different directions.I"m more in the business world now. It"s early days of course, but I"m already very busy. I"m not in anything where millions of people can join into my journey, and that adds an extra power really. It"s an amazing experience to have so many people join in your journey, and I would like to try do something in that direction but that"s going to take more time.You can"t just say okay, here"s the new thing I"m doing and it"s going to be just as exciting for millions of people as it was for me driving my race car, you know.TG: You"re clearly still watching the races, so how are you enjoying the season from your new perspective?NR: I"m sitting in front of the TV excited because the racing is great. It"s great for the fans I think, it"s awesome, and they"re going in the right direction.TG: And the recent incident in Baku what"s your take on that? Are you glad not to be involved in that side of things any more?NR: I don"t know, I"d be happy to be involved in some battles like that and competing in that sense. Have they spoken? Anyway I am the guy who knows Lewis best, I think, in the whole of the racing world, so I think I"m probably in the best position to judge it, and he didn"t do it on purpose.
Date written: 9 Jul 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8422
The Goodwood Festival of Speed delivers a concentration of past F1 drivers and racing legends that boggles the mind. As you wander around Lord March"s motoring garden party it"s impossible to avoid bumping into racing heroes from all disciplines.What"s rarer is to meet with a current F1 world champion who, after reaching the pinnacle of the sport, stunned the world by announcing retirement.Nico Rosberg claimed the 2016 Formula One world championship after a season-long toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton. Then, on 2nd December 2016, he performed the mic-drop of the decade, announcing his retirement from the sport with "immediate effect".Since then his social media feed has portrayed a fascinating insight into the world of a man freed from the pressure cooker atmosphere of the F1 circus, and content in the knowledge that he"s been there, done that.We caught up with Nico just before he headed off to the paddock to drive the 2014 Mercedes AMG W05 up the hill - the first time he"d been in an F1 car since last season. (You can watch his sheer disregard for lawn maintenance in the videos above)Top Gear: How is life after F1, and do you miss it?Nico Rosberg: I can still get the thrill of driving a racing car. I go go-karting regularly, so that"s still there. Of course, there"s going to be some things that I miss, that"s inevitable, isn"t it? For me it"s more about the excitement of looking forward now.TG: Given how big a shock your retirement announcement was, was it something you"d thought about during the season?NR: No, I never thought about it in the lead up, because I signed a new contract in the summer, which cost me a lot of money to do also. It just came about when the realisation was there that the championship was now in my control and my hands. This is real, I"m going to win this", and then I thought sh**, it would be perfect".The feeling just came about in me that I"ve been fighting with intensity for 20 years, driving in Formula One for 11 years getting better, better, better.It just felt perfect, I love a book with a great ending. This is the perfect possible ending for my Formula One book, for my career, and just feels beautiful. That"s what it"s about in the end, it"s a personal feeling and I"m sitting here now and it"s just awesome.TG: How do you replace the buzz of F1?NR: Well of course, I"m still competitive and I"m still the guy who wants to win, that"s always going to be there, that"s not changed. But that"s going to be in different directions.I"m more in the business world now. It"s early days of course, but I"m already very busy. I"m not in anything where millions of people can join into my journey, and that adds an extra power really. It"s an amazing experience to have so many people join in your journey, and I would like to try do something in that direction but that"s going to take more time.You can"t just say okay, here"s the new thing I"m doing and it"s going to be just as exciting for millions of people as it was for me driving my race car, you know.TG: You"re clearly still watching the races, so how are you enjoying the season from your new perspective?NR: I"m sitting in front of the TV excited because the racing is great. It"s great for the fans I think, it"s awesome, and they"re going in the right direction.TG: And the recent incident in Baku what"s your take on that? Are you glad not to be involved in that side of things any more?NR: I don"t know, I"d be happy to be involved in some battles like that and competing in that sense. Have they spoken? Anyway I am the guy who knows Lewis best, I think, in the whole of the racing world, so I think I"m probably in the best position to judge it, and he didn"t do it on purpose.
Date written: 9 Jul 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8422
