2016 Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg announced his retirement today with a post stating that “I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right.” The 31-year old German abruptly ended his Formula 1 racing career only a few days after becoming the new world champion following his second-place finish to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
Rosberg continued, “For 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing,’ to become a Formula 1 world champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I’ve made it.”
The decision to retire took Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolf by surprise. “This is a brave decision by Nico and a testament to the strength of his character,” he said. “The clarity of his judgment meant I accepted his decision straight away when he told me.”
Four-time world champion Hamilton added, “It is definitely going to be strange and it will be sad to not have him in the team next year.” Indeed, Hamilton and Rosberg rose through the international motorsport ranks together, though the recently completed 2016 season tested both drivers’ temperament as the two clashed both on the circuit and off.
Because of Rosberg’s announcement’s suddenness, the Mercedes AMG Petronas team is now without another driver for the 2017 season. This has led already to wild speculation on who it will tap to become Hamilton’s teammate next year.
Most of the top tier drivers—Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg, and Valtteri Bottas—already have deals with their respective teams for next year and, in some cases, beyond. This may lead Mercedes to promote the team’s reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein, although that’s uncertain due to his somewhat nebulous commitments with Manor Racing.
Regardless, Rosberg is gone. “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,” he said. “On Sunday morning in Abu Dhabi, I knew that it could be my last race and that feeling cleared my head before the start.”
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