Mercedes, Lauda returns to Rosberg's farewell: "Decision that caught us off guard"

In an interview given to the German newspaper The World, Niki Lauda is once again talking about Nico Rosberg's sudden farewell. The non-executive president of Mercedes underlined how this choice of the new world champion has completely shocked the Stella team, which is now looking for a new driver to join Lewis Hamilton.

"Nico recently said he would continue if he didn't win the title – Lauda's thoughts – He should have expressed this thought when he signed the renewal with us in the summer. So he would have given us the opportunity to prepare a backup plan to deal with such a situation. His decision left a huge void in the team, taking us completely by surprise".

From an exclusively personal point of view, Lauda does not fully understand Rosberg's decision to hang up his helmet: "He won the World Cup only once and didn't want to continue because he was too stressed at the end of a tight season. When I became world champion in 1984, the following year I took to the track to defend the title I had won. Even if it represented a difficult challenge for me". 

Piero Ladisa