Nico Rosberg has sensationally quit Formula One - just days after beating Lewis Hamilton to his first-ever world championship.
The Mercedes driver, 31, clinched the championship despite losing to Hamilton in Abu Dhabi.
Rosberg, who began his grand prix career with Williams in 2006 and competed in more than 200 races, announced his shock decision at a press conference before releasing a statement via his Facebook page.
He said: “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. 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.
“This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough. I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years; they fuelled my motivation to levels I had never experienced before.
"And of course that had an impact on the ones I love, too – it was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target.
"I cannot find enough words to thank my wife Vivian; she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting our championship first."
Speaking at a press conference, the German driver added: "I have decided to end my Formula One career here. It was a process on Monday. I didn't know if I had the balls, and I took a bit of time.
"But I am done. End of story, and the next step is being a dad and a husband and I am very much looking forward to that."
Hamilton tipped his hat to Rosberg after his teammate snatched his world title.
"We said we'd be champions back then, now we both are!" Hamilton posted on Twitter along with an image of the pair as youngsters before Rosberg announced his decision.
"Congratulations Nico, you did everything a champion needed to do. Well deserved."
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