2016 Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg Announces Retirement

In a shocker to the motorsport world and fans alike, the newest Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg has announced his retirement from the sport with immediate effect. Speaking at the Friday's FIA prize giving gala, Rosberg said, "I want to take the opportunity to announce that I have decided to end my Formula 1 career in this moment here."

The German driver was crowned the 2016 World Champion at Abu Dhabi last weekend as he beat teammate Lewis Hamilton to the title this season. His father, Keke Rosberg was a former F1 driver as well, having won the F1 Championship title in 1982. The Keke Rosberg-Nico Rosberg are the only father-son duo to have won the F1 Championship title after Graham Hill and Damon Hill.

(Mercedes Silver Arrows' Nico Rosberg announced retirement from F1).Photo Credit: AFP

Speaking further on his decision to retire, Nico said, "It's hard to explain, it has been ever since I started when I was six years old, I had a very clear dream and that was to become Formula 1 world champion. "Now I've achieved that, I've put everything into it for 25 years of racing and with the help of everybody around me, with the help of fans and the help of my team and my family and friends I have managed to achieve that this year.

It has been an incredible hulk experience that he will remember forever, Rosberg added and also said, "At the same time, it has been very very tough also because the last two years losing to Lewis were extremely difficult moments for me, which fueled my motivation in a way that I didn't even know was possible to fight back and to achieve my dream finally."

Nico Rosberg started his F1 career with Williams F1 team in 2006 before moving to Mercedes GP in 2010. He got his first pole position at the 2012 Chinese GP, wherein he also won his maiden F1 race, beating Jenson Button by over 20 seconds. In 2014 and 2015, he finished second in the F1 Championship behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton before going on to edge him out in 2016 for his maiden F1 title. He has 23 Formula 1 Career wins and 30 pole positions.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas is yet to officially announce on Rosberg's retirement. Keep watching this space for more details.