LONDON, December 2 (Reuters) - Nico Rosberg stunned Formula One on Friday with the shock announcement that he was retiring only days after achieving his lifetime ambition by winning his first world championship with Mercedes.
"From the moment when the destiny of the title was in my own hands, the big pressure started and I began to think about ending my racing career if I became world champion," the German said on Facebook.
"On Sunday morning in Abu Dhabi, I knew that it could be my last race and that feeling cleared my head before the start. I wanted to enjoy every part of the experience, knowing it might be the last time," the 31-year-old added.
"I took my decision on Monday evening," added the driver, who had given no previous indication of his intentions and had been at the team factory in Brackley on Thursday after a trip to his German birthplace of Wiesbaden.
Rosberg, who was due to attend the governing FIA's gala prize-giving in Vienna later on Friday along with team mate and triple world champion Lewis Hamilton, did not say what he planned to do next.
He will leave with a record of 23 wins in 206 races and as only the second son of a champion to take the title, following in the footsteps of 1982 winner and father Keke.
Rosberg was also the first German driver to win the Formula One championship in a German car.
"Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become Formula One World Champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target. And now I’ve made it," he said.
"I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen."
His sudden departure leaves a vacancy that any driver on the grid would fight for, Mercedes being the most dominant team in the sport with 19 wins in 21 races this season.
They have won the drivers' and constructors' titles for the past three years in a row and will start next season, despite significant rule changes, as favourites again.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff hailed a "brave move" and said it was "testament to the strength of his character".
"The clarity of his judgement meant I accepted his decision straight away when he told me," he added.
Wolff said Mercedes would take time to evaluate their options.
Factbox: Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg
LONDON (Reuters) - Factbox on Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg who retired on Friday, less than a week after winning the title.
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Born: Wiesbaden, Germany on June 27, 1985 (31 years old)
*Rosberg is the son of Finland's 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg, who won his title with Williams, and German mother Sina. He was born four days after Keke won the 1985 USA-East Grand Prix in Detroit.
*Rosberg grew up in Monaco and still lives there with his wife Vivian and daughter Alaia. He speaks five languages but not Finnish.
*He and Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton, a triple world champion, were team mates in go-karts in 2000. Rosberg tested for Williams in 2004, aged 17 and before he had his driving licence. He declined a place to study aeronautical engineering at London University's Imperial College.
*Rosberg made his Formula One race debut with Williams in Bahrain in 2006, scoring points with seventh place and setting the fastest lap, after becoming the first GP2 champion the previous season. He ended 2006 in 17th place overall.
*In 2007 he was ninth overall. The following year he stood on the podium for the first time, a third place in Australia, but ended up 13th at the end of the season. In 2009, his last year with Williams, he finished seventh overall.
*Rosberg joined Mercedes - who had bought champions Brawn GP - for the 2010 season and partnered seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher. The younger German scored 142 points to Schumacher's 72.
*Rosberg also outscored Schumacher in the following two seasons, taking his first pole and grand prix victory in China in 2012. In 2013, Lewis Hamilton replaced Schumacher and finished the season fourth overall to Rosberg's sixth.
*In 2013, Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix exactly 20 years after his father had triumphed there. In 2014, he had five wins - the same number that Keke had in his entire career -- from 11 pole positions and finished overall runner-up to Hamilton.
*Rosberg was again championship runner-up to Hamilton in 2015 but ended the year strongly with three straight wins. He picked up where he left off in 2016 by taking the first four races, the first driver since Schumacher in 2004 to do that, while Hamilton suffered various problems.
*He is only the second son of a Formula One champion to win the title, after Damon Hill. Hill took his 1996 title 34 years after father Graham first became champion in 1962. Rosberg's came 34 years after Keke's success.
*Stunned the sport on Dec. 2 by announcing his retirement.
"I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen," he said in a statement.
