蜜芽传媒

Mercedes' team principal Toto Wolff reveals the circumstances surrounding Nico Rosberg's retirement announcement.

Speaking to Afternoon Edition's Sarah Brett, Wollf said: "When we boarded the plane in Kula Lumpur to Frankfurt and he said 鈥楥an we have a bite together?' and I said 'yes' and during the conversation he got very personal and very emotional but there was a bit missing
- I didn鈥檛 know what it was.

"We landed in Frankfurt. It was 6 o鈥檆lock in the morning I had a little breakfast and then I continued my journey to Stuttgart. The minute I left the building my phone rang and it said 鈥楴ico鈥� I picked it up and he was very emotional. I said 鈥榃hat鈥檚 going on? I鈥檓 coming back鈥�

He said: 鈥楴o no 鈥� don鈥檛 come back鈥� and 鈥� I鈥檓 not sure I can say on the radio, actually 鈥� 鈥業 didn鈥檛 dare to tell you face-to-face, but I鈥檝e decided to retire.鈥�

"He said he鈥檇 thought about it for quite a while but he鈥檇 had to wait to see if he won the championship
and it feels absolutely right," Wolff revealed.

Rosberg, 31, won his first world title in 2016, beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by finishing second in the final race in Abu Dhabi.

This clip is from Afternoon Edition on Wednesday, 22 February 2017.

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