Nico Rosberg retired as a world-champion racer at 31, coming as a surprise to Formula One.
Rosberg, who had just won the Formula One world title last weekend, announced his retirement from the sport on Friday, according to CNN.
Rosberg won his first Formula One title Sunday in the final race of the 2016 season in Abu Dhabi.
“I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right,” Rosberg wrote on his Facebook page.
Rosberg’s first race with Formula One came in 2006. Since then he’s been able to clinch 23 career wins and “finished on the podium 57 times in 206 races,” cementing his legacy as 12th on the all-time list of drivers, CNN said.
The Mercedes driver said he made the decision to retire late Monday after spending the night prior partying and then flying to Kuala Lumpur for a PR event, Fox Sports noted.
“Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become Formula One World Champion,” Rosberg said in his full official statement, according to Fox Sports. “Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I’ve made it.”
“My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen,” the statement continued. “This season, I tell you, it was so d*** tough. I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years; they fueled my motivation to levels I had never experienced before. And of course that had an impact on the ones I love, too – it was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target.”
He also thanked his wife in his open letter, saying “she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting our championship first.”
Despite the stunning news, Rosberg received a lot of support from fellow Formula One drivers, according to USA Today’s For The Win.
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