New world champion Rosberg stuns F1 with retirement at 31

Nico Rosberg, Formula One’s newly-crowned world champion, stunned the sporting world by announcing his retirement with immediate effect.

Rosberg, who only signed a two-year extension to his Mercedes contract in July, made the shock revelation in Vienna as he prepared to receive his champion’s trophy at the FIA prize-giving ceremony five days after winning the title.

The 31-year-old German’s jaw-dropping move leaves Mercedes, Formula One’s allconquering team with 51 wins in the last 59 races, with a vacancy for 2017.

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and McLaren’s double world champion Fernando Alonso have been mooted as mouth-watering candidates to become team-mates of Lewis Hamilton, but both drivers are under contract next season.

For Rosberg, the first reigning F1 champion to retire since Alain Prost in 1993, says he is now looking forward to the next chapter of his life with wife Vivian and one-year-old daughter Alaia.