Nico Rosberg did not initially tell his World Champion father Keke that he was retiring from Formula 1 after beating Lewis Hamilton to the title.

That is the reveal made by Keke himself, who said that Nico only text his mother about the bombshell decision with the request to “tell his father later”, Keke admitting that it was a tough one to take.

Nico Rosberg shielded F1 retirement from father

Keke Rosberg made 114 grand prix starts across his F1 career and reached the pinnacle of the sport by becoming 1982 World Champion with Williams, doing so in a season where he took just one of his five career wins.

And Nico would later ensure that two generations of the Rosberg family became World Champion, as his epic rivalry with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton came to a head with Nico winning the 2016 crown, and announcing his retirement from the sport shortly afterwards.

It was a decision which sent shockwaves through Formula 1 at the time, and they certainly reached Keke too, as he revealed in an interview with Apu that Nico had not initially told him about his retirement choice.

“He didn’t say anything,” Keke revealed.

“Nico sent a text to his mother and said to tell his father later. It felt like a big fist to the diaphragm.

“Nico knew that if he started discussing it with me, then of course his father’s opinion might be quite weighty, which he didn’t want to listen to. That decision was difficult enough anyway.”

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That 2016 World Championship came for Nico in his fourth season as Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate, a driver pairing which degraded from friendly to outright warfare as the Silver Arrows became Formula 1’s dominant force.

And Keke regards Nico’s World Championship as the more significant achievement in the family compared to his title win.

“The biggest thing was definitely Nico’s championship,” he said.

“For me, that championship was just one milestone. For Nico, it wasn’t like that. It was an important event. It was already a pretty big event in terms of family history. My championship in the family was mostly of interest to my father and mother.”

With three World titles on his CV at the point of Nico’s retirement, Hamilton went on to win a further four with Mercedes, equalling the record of Michael Schumacher as a seven-time World Champion, while Rosberg remains connected with the Formula 1 paddock as a commentator and pundit.

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