F1: Nico Rosberg Turned Down $100 Million To Stay At Mercedes

Nico Rosberg has opened up on his time at Mercedes sharing how he decided to call it quits shockingly after he won the 2016 F1 world title. Rosberg went head to head against Hamilton who defeated him in 2014 and 2015 to the world title but when he won his maiden and only title he decided to retire from the sport to the shock of the Mercedes team which led to the last-minute hiring of Valtteri Bottas. Rosberg these days operates his own YouTube channel and is a F1 commentator.

Nico Rosberg was the 2016 world champion

"I wanted to avoid being a driver from the past or a driver that nobody wants in his team anymore. There was a hundred million dollars on the table, which I turned down. I wanted a different life, you don't have a flexible life when you race. It was the best decision for my family, I didn't think about the money for a second," revealed the German-Finnish driver who is the son of former world champion Keke Rosberg.

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Rosberg broke into F1 in 2006, one year before Lewis Hamilton and was at Mercedes alongside Michael Schumacher. However, when Hamilton joined the team, he started winning races and it was a pressure cooker situation as both the teammates were predominantly competing against each other because Mercedes had the jump on the field with its engine at the advent of the V6 turbo hybrid era of the sport.

"There were two sides: one was Nico's side and one was Lewis' side. All Lewis fans were against me, that's for sure. One time I saw two four-year-old girls with their parents and they booed me and gave me the thumbs down. The parents told them I was the bad guy and they should boo me," he revealed stating the pressure was getting too much for him.

Nico Rosberg edged Lewis Hamilton now runs a YouTube channel and is an F1 pundit
Photo Credit: AFP

Rosberg and Hamilton had raced with each other since their carting days and had been childhood friends but that friendship deteriorated when the two were paired together at Mercedes. In the 2016 season when an aggressive Rosberg took the fight to Hamilton there were also a number of controversial crashes between the two and after Rosberg won his title, he decided to move on from the sport and the toxic environment in the team.