He is Formula 1 world champion for just a few more days, but Nico Rosberg's new life is already underway

Exclusive interview: 'I don’t feel like the Formula 1 world champion anymore. I’m already well on my way with this new life'

Nico Rosberg has left F1 behind, but what is next for the 32-year-old champ? (Getty)

On Sunday in Mexico, Lewis Hamilton is almost certain to reclaim the Formula 1 world championship, and the four-time world champion-in-waiting will have Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven titles in his sights.

And yet the man who he is succeeding atop F1’s Mount Olympus will not even be there, not in another car nor even watching on from the paddock. Instead, he will be thousands of miles away with his sights on finding a new aim in life.

11 months ago, Nico Rosberg achieved the impossible by defeating Hamilton - in the very same car - to win the world championship. Five days later, he did the unthinkable and retired from the sport, bowing out at the top aged just 31.

The German, now 32, is one of just five drivers to retire after winning the world championship, an accolade he shares with esteemed company in Mike Hawthorn, Sir Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. Questions immediately arose from Rosberg’s decision: why had he retired, what will he do next? But despite numerous theories, the simplicity of the matter is that Rosberg achieved his life goal.

Now he needs a new one.

Rosberg is enjoying a life without racing for the first time (Getty Images)

“I absolutely dedicated my life to racing so there wasn’t much else going on,” Rosberg tells The Independent. “It was family-racing, racing-family, that’s it.”

Committing yourself to more than 20 grand prix across the globe in different countries each year is certainly time consuming, and meant that when combined with seeing his wife, Vivian Sibold, and their daughter Alaia, having any hobbies other than racing was nigh-on impossible.

Now though, he has all the time in the world on his hands to tackle his new aim in life – and it’s a big one. He wants to change the world.

“Recently it’s been exploring in general, it’s been doing different things,” he adds. “I’ve been going all over the place, start-Up World, tech World, because I’m passionate about cars and cars are going to revolutionise our planet so it’s a very exciting time with autonomous cars coming in and everything that will revolutionise our lives on this planet.

“This is something now that I’m exploring that’s come about now and I’ve always admired people who join very young companies and grow together with them and change the world, I’ve always admired that, so that is what I’m looking to do myself.”

Saying you want to change the world carries with it a huge responsibility and expectation. Few human beings can say they’ve revolutionised the way people live every day, but then even fewer have what it takes to win the Formula 1 world championship.

Nico Rosberg has no regrets over leaving the sport (Getty)

Rosberg has proven that when setting aims in life, he will work as hard as humanly possible to achieve it, and he speaks clearly enough about his new ambition that you wouldn’t doubt him on this venture.

He says: “You can go out there and build a network and see the exciting stuff that’s coming through. Of course you need be lucky too, but with a bit of luck and some common sense you choose the right people to work with. For example at the end of next month I’m going to Slush which is the biggest startup event in Europe – or most popular or coolest – in Helsink,i in the homeland of my father so that’s going to be very, very exciting. That’s one thing I’m looking forward to.

“Then just recently now I’ve been doing YouTube episodes - it’s really fun to upload videos and share that with people. Other things like managing for example with another driver in Robert Kubica and trying to get him back to F1 and other things like that.”

Over the next few months, the Wiesbaden native – who has lived in Monaco since he was a child – will look to settle into a new routine and find a start-up campaign that catches his eye and, he hopes, can grow into something special. But there is another new line on his CV that he mentions which could prove to be one of the most remarkable stories in racing history, and that’s the potential return of Robert Kubica.

The Pole rose through the ranks with Rosberg to enjoy a burgoening reputation when, in 2011, his F1 career was abruptly ended due to a rallying crash in Italy that left him with serious injuries to his right arm. The damage was so bad that doctors considered amputating the limb, but after six years of rehabilitation and rebuilding his career behind the wheel, he is in contention for a drive next year.

But what drew Rosberg to enter the world of driver management? “It’s very simple, when I first started when I was 12, there was two guys who were really phenomenal and so damn hard to beat. They were Robert Kubica and Lewis Hamilton, and I’ve raced – unluckily for me – since I was 12 for all those years,” he explains. “It was not always easy against those guys so I know just how good he is. It was a very easy decision as I know what he can do.”

And Kubica is unlikely to be the last he takes under his wing. “I really have enjoyed working with Robert, so why not in the future, let’s see.”

Comeback hero Robert Kubica is managed by Rosberg (Getty)

This, combined with his debut media appearance in Japan earlier this month, keeps Rosberg fresh in the mind of F1 fans. But there is also a degree of separation between him and the sport that he conquered. On Monday, Rosberg could wake up for the first time this year as no longer the reigning world champion. But in truth, that feeling wore off a long, long time ago.

“Not really, no. Things move on quickly in life, so I don’t feel like the Formula 1 world champion anymore. I’m already well on my way with this new life,” Rosberg says. “It goes pretty quickly. Of course I get reminded of it in different scenarios every day, but things move on pretty quickly.”

But while he is no longer in the sport, he exudes a certain persona that only F1 drivers can pull off. Rosberg, smartly dressed in a blazer despite an unusually warm October’s afternoon, has just flown into London for the day, having recently been to Japan to join Sky Sports F1 for their weekend coverage. He will return home to Monaco on the same day, before going to Edinburgh for stag do at the weekend. A trip to Finland is also in the schedule to continue his hunt for the right startup project, and his competitive streak lives on through this.

“Everywhere in life, everywhere you can compete. Getting the right start-ups on board, getting the right deals going, supporting the right companies, everywhere,” he says of his desire to win at all costs.

“It’s a characteristic you have to have, it’s part of the fighting instinct and always wanting to fight back when you’re down. That’s something that I reckon I can be pretty proud of because I did that very well. When I was down and down hard, I would always come back strong. For example, after the championship loss in 2015, from that moment I won the next seven races, one of the longest streaks in Formula 1, so that I can be pretty proud of. But what does it take? Just be a fighter I guess.”

But Rosberg is also searching for purpose in his life, for an aim and a bit of direction. “That’s something I need to sort out right now because it’s a bit all over the place and that’s not good. I do need my routine in my life for wellbeing so that’s something I need to work on. It’s part of my new life, everything was so structured before whereas now it’s all open and I need to put my own structure in place, which I am progressing on.”

He has no appetite to return to racing, whether it be F1 or another category that he compares to relegation from the Premier League, and while Fernando Alonso is busy structuring his latest venture out of F1 to follow his Indy 500 appearance this year, Rosberg has the sense to admit that racing around the Brickyard at 240mph is “too crazy” to consider. But fans should expect to see him more and more over the next few years.

His venture into punditry was a hugely enjoyable one, he says, and stems from something that many motorsport enthusiasts will relate to – the belief that he can explain it better. It might be this that gives him that structure in life, because right now he does not know where this path will take him.

“Where do I see myself in five years’ time? That’s very difficult. I don’t know at the moment, I don’t know,” he says. “It’s really a period of exploring. Recently I enjoyed doing some TV work in Suzuka because I have a strong opinion and I’m really frustrated sometimes when watching it on the TV. Whatever language I’m watching it in, the analysis is a bit below-par and I get really frustrated and think ‘jeez I can really add something easily to this’, some insight and that’s why I quite enjoyed it. Maybe a bit of that in the future, I don’t know yet.”

All of this makes Rosberg’s post-F1 life much busier than expected. Life in the fast lane may come with its relentless schedule, but it is a schedule nonetheless. Right now, Rosberg harbours desires to change the world for the better, make up for lost time with his family, create something from nothing in the technology world and up the standard of motorsport analysis. Luckily, he has the ambition to match it, and if past success if anything to go by, the next chapter could be even more successful than last year’s life-changing success.