Nico Rosberg reveals huge Mercedes salary left on table after shock F1 retirement

Nico Rosberg has revealed that he left an eye-watering €100million Mercedes salary on the table with his decision to retire from F1 at the end of his title-winning 2016 season.

Rosberg was crowned World Champion in 2016, overcoming a tense season finale in Abu Dhabi to beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the title by five points.

Nico Rosberg missed out on €100m Mercedes salary with F1 retirement

Five days later, the German stunned the F1 world by announcing that he had retired with immediate effect ahead of the FIA’s prize-giving ceremony in Vienna.

Rosberg’s decision to retire came a matter of months after he signed a new two-year contract to remain with Mercedes until the end of the 2018 season, with Valtteri Bottas promoted from Williams as Hamilton’s new team-mate from 2017.

Appearing on the Business of Sport podcast, Rosberg – who has since carved out successful careers in media and business – has explained that he would have “easily” netted €100million if he had seen out the duration of his new Mercedes deal.

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But the 38-year-old has insisted that he has no regrets about his decision to walk away from F1.

He said: “I had an existing contract for two more years and if I had simply continued driving for a few more years, that would easily have been 100 million.

‘I am so lucky that I have earned so much money with my sport that this money no longer played a role in my considerations.

“Because I knew that I could fulfil everything with what I earned anyway, including my children and grandchildren.”

Rosberg’s latest comments come after he revealed that he and Hamilton were forced by Mercedes to pay for accident damage after a series of collisions between the drivers as they duelled for the title in 2014 and 2016.

After Rosberg gave Hamilton a puncture at the start of the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, for instance, the former had to fork out a six-figure sum with the funds reportedly going to charity.

Rosberg said: “Because Lewis and I crashed, the team ended up making us pay for the damage.

“We had to sign a contract that from now on, if we crash, no matter whose fault it is, we will pay for the damage.

“I remember how much I had to pay that was £360,000 that I shelled out for one of these accidents. That was very painful.

“After that, we definitely made sure that we didn’t collide again.”

Read next: Nico Rosberg’s ‘too early’ warning over possible Lewis Hamilton Mercedes replacement