Nico Rosberg shocked racing fans around the world when he announced his retirement so soon after winning the world championship. But he also earned our respect.

After all, the 31-year-old German pilot is going out on a high note – as high a note as a racing driver ever possibly could – leaving nothing left to prove. He’s simply dropped the mic and walked off stage. But is Nico’s departure from the F1 grid unprecedented?

Hardly. There have been (at least) five legends before him who have earned the Formula One World Championship, but didn’t return the following season to defend their titles.

In fact two of them earned multiple championships, and will forever be remembered among the top racing drivers the world has ever known. More than following, then, in the footsteps of his father Keke (who stuck around another four years after winning the title), Nico Rosberg follows in theirs as well.

Mike Hawthorn


Britain’s first Formula One champ was also a central figure in one of the most notorious events in motorsport history. Like Rosberg, Hawthorn retired immediately after winning the championship in 1958 – and took far fewer years to do so. But the pivotal moment of his career came in 1955 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Swerving to avoid Hawthorn’s Jaguar, Lance Macklin collided with Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes. The two collided, sending wreckage and debris into the stands and claiming the lives of 84 spectators. Hawthorn was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the tragedy marred what would otherwise have been celebrated as an inspired victory. Less than four years later, with both the F1 title and a Le Mans win in the bag, Hawthorn died in a road accident six months after retiring.

Jochen Rindt


Sadder still is the story of Jochen Rindt, the Austrian driver who won the F1 championship in 1970 with Lotus. But Rindt didn’t survive to be crowned champion. He was killed in a crash at Monza while practicing for the Italian Grand Prix. But with five wins already racked up, Rindt had already locked up the title, and went down in history as the only driver ever to be awarded the championship posthumously. Like Hawthorn, Rindt had also won at Le Mans, taking top honors in 1965 behind the wheel of a Ferrari 250 LM. He even tried his hand at the Indianapolis 500. Had he won that as well, he’d have earned the elusive (but unofficial) Triple Crown. (Photo by Joost Evers/Anefo/CC BY-SA 3.0 nl.)

Jackie Stewart


Rindt’s championship and final season in 1970 was flanked before and after by Sir Jackie Stewart’s first and second world titles. Emerson Fittipaldi beat Sir Jackie to the punch in ’72, but the Scotsman scored his third championship in ’73 – and then called it quits. He spent much of his career campaigning for increased safety in motorsports, efforts for which he was made an officer in the Order of the British Empire in 1971, and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II three decades later in 2001.

Nigel Mansell


Nearly two decades after Stewart, Nigel Mansell won the world championship in 1992 – then left with his trophy in hand and his head held high. Mansell didn’t retire from racing altogether, though. He left for the United States, where he became the first person ever to win the CART title (as IndyCar racing was then known) in his debut season – and, since the F1 season had yet to finish, the only individual ever to hold both championships simultaneously. Nigel returned for a couple more grands prix in ’94 and ’95, adding one last race win to his list of accomplishments at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.

Alain Prost


The only driver on this list with more titles to his name than Stewart is Alain Prost, who won four world championships: in 1985, ’86, and ’89 with McLaren, and in 1993 with Williams. That was enough for “the professor,” so he called it quits at the end of that year with his fourth championship in hand. Prost didn’t disappear entirely though, taking over the Ligier team and running it as Prost Grand Prix for several seasons before going on to ice racing to win the Andros Trophy three times. He currently runs the Renault-e.dams team in Formula E, with his son Nicolas behind the wheel.