03/12/2016
NEWS STORY
The winners of this year's FIA Championships have been honoured in a glittering 2016 FIA Prize Giving ceremony at the stunning Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
Naturally, the highlight of the annual gala show was the presentation of the FIA Formula One World Drivers' Championship Trophy to Nico Rosberg.
An already emotional moment resonated even more in light of the German's earlier announcement that, having achieved his boyhood dream of winning the title, he is steeping back from F1 with immediate effect.
Rosberg's first title win came at the end of a titanic season-long battle with Mercedes team-mate and defending champion Lewis Hamilton. It also arrived 34 years after Rosberg's father, Keke, sealed his own world championship win.
After 20 races and with nine wins each for Rosberg and Hamilton the fight went down to the final round in Abu Dhabi last weekend. And at the end of a nail-biting duel, Rosberg's second place behind his great rival was enough for him to take the crown by just five points.
The duo's 19 wins and 20 poles set new benchmarks in the sport for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, which took its third Constructors crown in a row.
"This year was extremely tough because I put absolutely everything into it. I pushed like crazy in all directions," said Rosberg. "I've achieved this childhood dream now and I'm not willing to do that sort of commitment again," he added. "I've decided to follow my heart and my heart has told me to stop and go on to other things. It's been wonderful but it just feels right."
For the second year in a row Max Verstappen won both the FIA Personality of the Year and the FIA Action of the Year Awards, the latter being presented for the teenager's stunning overtake of Nico Rosberg in the wet at this year's Brazilian Grand Prix.
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