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Written by Ollie Kew
Nico Rosberg has retired from Formula One with immediate effect. The German Mercedes-AMG F1 driver made the shock announcement at the 2016 FIA prizegiving in Vienna less than a week after clinching his first world championship title at the 2016 Abu Dhabi grand prix. The 31-year old son of former F1 champion Keke Rosberg said: "I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right." We"ve added his full statement below, but this follows his comments after his second-place finish at last Sunday"s race, when he admitted, "It was horrendousI"m so glad it"s over." The Abu Dhabi race result had been mired in controversy within the Mercedes team after Lewis Hamilton deliberately slowed the pace in order to leave Rosberg vulnerable to an overtake from Ferrari"s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull"s Max Verstappen. The Brit ignored team orders from his race engineer and team boss Paddy Lowe to speed up to take the heat off his teammate, though plenty of F1 fans supported Hamilton"s actions for trying to preserve his world champion status. Rosberg totted up 206 F1 GP starts in his career, winning 23 races, 30 pole positions, 20 fastest laps and one world title.How are you viewing Nico"s legacy? The floor"s open for your thoughts belowRobserg"s full statement from his official Facebook page reads:"Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my one thing" to become Formula One World Champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I"ve made it. I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen."This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough. I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years; they fuelled my motivation to levels I had never experienced before. And of course that had an impact on the ones I love, too it was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target. I cannot find enough words to thank my wife Vivian; she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting our championship first."When I won the race in Suzuka, from the moment when the destiny of the title was in my own hands, the big pressure started and I began to think about ending my racing career if I became World Champion. On Sunday morning in Abu Dhabi, I knew that it could be my last race and that feeling cleared my head before the start. I wanted to enjoy every part of the experience, knowing it might be the last time and then the lights went out and I had the most intense 55 laps of my life. I took my decision on Monday evening. After reflecting for a day, the first people I told were Vivian and Georg (Nolte, from Nico"s management team), followed by Toto.
Date written: 2 Dec 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 5980
Nico Rosberg has retired from Formula One with immediate effect. The German Mercedes-AMG F1 driver made the shock announcement at the 2016 FIA prizegiving in Vienna less than a week after clinching his first world championship title at the 2016 Abu Dhabi grand prix. The 31-year old son of former F1 champion Keke Rosberg said: "I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right." We"ve added his full statement below, but this follows his comments after his second-place finish at last Sunday"s race, when he admitted, "It was horrendousI"m so glad it"s over." The Abu Dhabi race result had been mired in controversy within the Mercedes team after Lewis Hamilton deliberately slowed the pace in order to leave Rosberg vulnerable to an overtake from Ferrari"s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull"s Max Verstappen. The Brit ignored team orders from his race engineer and team boss Paddy Lowe to speed up to take the heat off his teammate, though plenty of F1 fans supported Hamilton"s actions for trying to preserve his world champion status. Rosberg totted up 206 F1 GP starts in his career, winning 23 races, 30 pole positions, 20 fastest laps and one world title.How are you viewing Nico"s legacy? The floor"s open for your thoughts belowRobserg"s full statement from his official Facebook page reads:"Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my one thing" to become Formula One World Champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I"ve made it. I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen."This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough. I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years; they fuelled my motivation to levels I had never experienced before. And of course that had an impact on the ones I love, too it was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target. I cannot find enough words to thank my wife Vivian; she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting our championship first."When I won the race in Suzuka, from the moment when the destiny of the title was in my own hands, the big pressure started and I began to think about ending my racing career if I became World Champion. On Sunday morning in Abu Dhabi, I knew that it could be my last race and that feeling cleared my head before the start. I wanted to enjoy every part of the experience, knowing it might be the last time and then the lights went out and I had the most intense 55 laps of my life. I took my decision on Monday evening. After reflecting for a day, the first people I told were Vivian and Georg (Nolte, from Nico"s management team), followed by Toto.
Date written: 2 Dec 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 5980
