Rosberg explains when and why he chose to quit Formula One

Nico Rosberg has spoken up about his decision to retire from Formula One, including the moment when he made the choice…

Nico Rosberg has spoken out about the significant sacrifices he made during the 2016 World Championship, which contributed to his decision to retire from the sport only days after winning it.

After a year-long struggle with his Mercedes teammate, Rosberg won the championship and announced his surprise retirement five days after the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Many of his colleagues and rivals thought it was a rash decision at the time because he was only 31 years old, but Rosberg has stated that he made a clear decision to retire the moment he crossed the finish line in Abu Dhabi.

“Two metres after the line in Abu Dhabi. If you ask me, ‘When did you decide to retire?’ That was the moment,” Rosberg said.

“I had given it everything. It was a question of do I want to continue to deliver and live in that intensity, and with my dream having come true – I’d fulfilled my goal of being world champion – it just felt like a great moment to step away and have a new life, with different benefits.”

Rosberg was throwing away a potential pay-out after being crowned World Champion, as he had a valid contract with Mercedes for 2017.

“There was about £100m going down the drain… but shit happens,” he laughed.

Rosberg has always claimed that the pressure of trying to beat Hamilton to the title was the main driver for his retirement from the sport, and he has revealed some of the sacrifices he had to make in order to defeat his legendary rival.

Rosberg attributed his tiny victory in the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix, where he narrowly beat Hamilton to pole position, to him letting his muscular legs atrophy…

“The pivotal moment was in Suzuka where I got pole position by two hundredths of a second,” he explained.

“Lewis was on provisional pole, and then I came round and I beat him by the smallest of margins. Two hundredths, for me, was my leg muscles that I dropped in the summer break by stopping cycling.

“One kilo is three hundredths of a second per lap, so I was looking for an extra bit of performance, anything that could give me the slightest edge. I was already super thin, so I couldn’t lose weight, but I still had these leg muscles to get rid of, so I got rid of those across a two-month period, and that proved enough to get me pole position in Suzuka.

“I think Lewis was really put off by that pole position and then he lost his way a bit that weekend – he messed up the start on Sunday and went back to eighth place, and only finished third – while I had quite an easy win. That really gave me the championship lead, and ultimately that proved decisive.”

Rosberg revealed the tiniest details he had to pay attention to in order to defeat Hamilton, right down to his socks…

“My helmet was black because I got rid of the paint, which was 80g,” he revealed.

“My socks stopped at the ankle rather than going up to the knee, because that was another 5g saved on each side; on my racing gloves there was a stitching in not an ideal place because it took away a bit of feel on the clutch, so I got that removed; I worked extremely intensely with a sports psychologist, I spent two hours every two days on psychology and even learning philosophy with this teacher.

“It was all these little details that ultimately made the difference. But that’s what you need to win. That’s the sacrifice.”

The uniforms of Formula One racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price: