Rosberg ditches smartphone to avoid coronavirus frenzy

Nico Rosberg has his own strategy for surmounting the current coronavirus crisis which includes shutting out all distressing the noise from the outside world.

The 2016 F1 world champion and his family have taken shelter in their home in Ibiza, where the 34-year-old spends part of his day meditating and playing sports.

But to protect himself from the persistent inflow of communication and messages into his daily life, Rosberg swapped his regular smartphone for an old cell phone which performs just the essential functions.

• Video: Rosberg father and son squabble over who drives

"I removed my smartphone from my life. Otherwise you will go crazy at the moment," he said on Sunday during a video conference broadcasted from the Bits & Pretzels 2020 start-up conference in Munich.

Rosberg said he checked his email only twice a day but otherwise preferred to remain secluded from the incessant current stream of depressing news.

The ex-F1 driver, who has taken a keen interest in emerging technologies and electric mobility, was reporting from the basement of his home in Ibiza.

"It is the safest place to be if you have two children in the house," he admitted.

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