"It’s perfect": Nico Rosberg on why he retired in 2016 after beating Lewis Hamilton and winning the title

Nico Rosberg revealed that the major reason for his retiring in 2016 after beating Lewis Hamilton to the title was that it was the perfect moment. The German fought Hamilton for three long years from 2014 to 2016. After losing the title to his teammate in 2014 and 2015, Rosberg triumphed in 2016 and won the title himself.

However, to the shock of everyone involved, the driver decided to retire from the sport with immediate effect. Speaking about his impromptu retirement from F1 that left everyone shocked, Rosberg said that the timing felt perfect. He felt that at some stage in his career, he would not be good enough and no team would want him.

He wanted to take that decision out of their hands and decide for himself. To add to that, he had achieved his lifelong dream of becoming an F1 world champion and emulating his father.

Once that was done, he felt it was time to do something different. Talking to Men's Health, he said,

“[I was] afraid that at some point I wouldn’t be good enough and that no team would want me anymore. I wanted to decide for myself. That’s all we can do, it’s perfect. The end.”

Rosberg added,

“In a way, I gave up my identity. Everything in my life was racing: my mechanics, my engineers, my teammates, even my social environment. To put all that to zero in one fell swoop was a shock to my system. Then there was the addiction to recognition and success. I had never asked myself what other passions I had. There was always just the next race.”

---

Lewis Hamilton welcomes different race weekend formats

Lewis Hamilton at F1 Grand Prix of Australia - Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton feels trying different things and making changes to improve F1 as a product is arguably the best thing for the sport. When questioned on his views on the new proposed weekend format for Baku, Hamilton said,

“I don’t know what the rule is exactly, but I do think we constantly need to be evolving and assessing what we’re doing. And I think the changes with the sprint races has been positive in some places."

He added:

"Baku, we couldn’t do a one-lap qualifying because these tyres don’t work after one lap, and especially if we’ve got no blankets, then we’ll be doing more laps. So I don’t know. But I’m open to changes, to continue to make it more inclusive and more engaging for the fans.”

Lewis Hamilton will be coming off a P2 finish in Australia and will be hoping for a better weekend in Baku as well.