Rosberg - 'There's more to life than driving in circles'

Nico Rosberg has explained some more of the reasoning behind his shock retirement from Formula 1 at the end of last year.

Having become F1 drivers' champion for the first time with second place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Rosberg duly announced his retirement from the sport with immediate effect five days later at the FIA Prize Giving in Vienna. The decision threw Mercedes' plans for 2017 into disarray, with the team only able to name Rosberg's replacement – former Williams driver Valtteri Bottas – last week.

At the same time as the Bottas announcement, Rosberg was named as a Mercedes ambassador and made a number of public appearances in the week that followed, taking the opportunity to give further context to his decision to retire.

"To do sport at the highest level it's really 110% focus that is required, and there's no room for any compromise whatsoever, at least that's the way that I went about it," Rosberg said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "So everything else is secondary, and far behind. That's even family – I have a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter now – it's friends, it's any other fun, exciting projects or whatever. Everything is way, way behind.

"So there's a time for everything. I find life has more to offer than driving 'round in circles and it just felt like the right moment. I want to go for new challenges, that's it. Of course there's the side of having more time now for my family, which is going to be wonderful, having more time for friends and being in control of my own life as well now.

"For the last 21 years of racing – even starting as a 10-year-old – the whole season is planned by other people, telling you where you need to be all the time. Especially then in F1, it's just really, really intense. The traveling, the working days, this and that, is just planned all the way through. Now, all of a sudden, it's freedom. I can decide, 'Do I want to be on this stage with you?' Yeah, I want to be here. And where do I want to be tomorrow? With my family. OK, good. It's just complete freedom."

Rosberg says the appeal of being able to end his F1 career with his biggest achievement was appealing, and admits he has still to decide which opportunities he wants to pursue next in life.

"There's no right or wrong, everybody must find their way and figure out what's best for them. For me, the feeling started to come up that it would be perfect from my point of view to stop if I achieved my mission in racing and my dream of winning the championship, to end it there.

"To walk out at the absolute peak, at the best I can do in this life – in racing – I think that was it. To say, 'OK, it has been awesome, fantastic years' and close that chapter, take the memory of my last race being the best race and my last championship being my best championship and take that into the next chapter in life.

"I feel very much fulfilled in terms of my career, I can look back and say, 'OK, I've ticked all of the boxes of what I wanted to achieve' and now I'm very excited about the next steps. There are so many opportunities. I will keep pushing, of course – I need my adrenaline rush and I still want to make a difference in different areas. Let's see what the future holds and which directions I will be taking."