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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 ‘Can 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’t know what it was.

"We landed in Frankfurt. It was 6 o’clock 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 ‘Nico’ I picked it up and he was very emotional. I said ‘What’s going on? I’m coming back’

He said: ‘No no – don’t come back’ and – I’m not sure I can say on the radio, actually – ‘I didn’t dare to tell you face-to-face, but I’ve decided to retire.’

"He said he’d thought about it for quite a while but he’d 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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