Rosberg phoned Hamilton to tell him of decision

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Nico Rosberg phoned Lewis Hamilton to inform him of his decision to retire from Formula One before announcing the news.

The two have battled for the drivers' championship over the past three seasons at Mercedes, with Hamilton winning in 2014 and 2015. This year Rosberg secured the title at the final race in Abu Dhabi, before making the surprise announcement that he would retire from the sport on Friday in Vienna.

Referencing a picture of the two as young team-mates early in their careers, Rosberg said he felt the need to let Hamilton know the news before it was made public.

"I phoned Lewis myself before this here because I wanted to let him know myself," Rosberg said. "Especially after his post [on social media] yesterday I wanted to let him know."

Rosberg says the decision was an easy one to take having been reminded he had achieved his childhood dream by a family video of him karting at a young age.

"It's very simple, because I've achieved what I set out for. It's unbelievable how clear it was for me. Even when I was six years old - I don't know if you've seen the video on my Facebook - starting out in go karts I remember that was my dream already, starting out, to win the world championship. Probably inspired by my Dad. All the way through.

"Of course then it was a childhood thing and then with later years it became more and more serious as a proper target and a proper aim, going for that, and I've done it. It was a very, very tough year and I don't want to do that again."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.