SUMMARY
- Nico Rosberg bid goodbye to the sport after winning the 2016 championship with Mercedes.
- The German-Finnish driver recently revealed that he rejected an offer worth $100 million to continue racing.
Mercedes’ dominance has come to an end in the last few years, thanks to Red Bull and Max Verstappen. But before that, the team won eight Constructor’s Championships during the 2010s. Lewis Hamilton was the lead driver throughout, and he won six Driver’s Championships with the team during this successful period. The Englishman would have won seven consecutive Merc titles if it wasn’t for one man; Nico Rosberg.
F1 fans often claim that Rosberg was the only driver to beat Hamilton in equal machinery. The German-Finnish racing driver won the championship with 385 points that year, just five points more than his Mercedes counterpart. One of the most famous incidents that remains fresh in all of our memories would be when the two drivers crashed at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
Rosberg’s W07 went into an incorrect engine mode and even this didn’t stop the driver from competing with his teammate, who was faster in that race. The two drivers took each other out when Hamilton was forced onto the grass by Rosberg when he attempted to pass. This was only one of the incidents when the pair crashed. Fast forward to the finale at Abu Dhabi, Rosberg managed to finish second and win the title despite Hamilton’s best efforts.
Why did Nico Rosberg retire from Formula 1?
Rosberg made a shock decision to call it quits right after winning the title. He mentioned that he was already at the peak of his career and it would be the perfect way to bid goodbye to the sport. For many years, fans have been wondering why Rosberg decided to quick right away. Recently, he revealed that even a lucrative contract offer couldn’t convince him to stay.
The driver mentioned, “I had an existing contract for two more years and if I had simply continued driving for a few more years, that would easily have been 100 million. I am so lucky that I have earned so much money with my sport that this money no longer played a role in my considerations. Because I knew that I could fulfil everything with what I earned anyway, including my children and grandchildren.”
It is not every day that we see an athlete reject such a deal to retire from the sport he loves. But it looks like Rosberg felt whatever he had earned with Williams and Mercedes was more than enough to build a beautiful life with his family and friends.
Rosberg followed in Alain Prost’s footsteps after retiring from Formula 1
By retiring right after winning a championship, Rosberg was the second driver to do so after Alain Prost. The McLaren icon decided to quit from Formula 1 right after winning the 1991 championship with the team. Both Rosberg and Prost decided to retire from the spot while they were at the peak of their careers.
As for the Mercedes icon, he was replaced by Valtteri Bottas, who never reached his predecessor’s height. Hamilton went on to establish more authority in the Mercedes team, winning four more titles.