Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he was not taken by surprise by former teammate Nico Rosberg's announcement that he was retiring from Formula 1. Rosberg decided to leave F1 at the end of the 2016 season after winning his one and only world championship. This brought to an end the tense battle between himself and Hamilton that had been playing out at Mercedes for the preceding years. Ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton was questioned about Rosberg's announcement and quashed any sort of idea that he was unhappy about the way the news was revealed, or that he was disappointed not to have the chance to battle again in 2017. "I think I was told way ahead of [when] perhaps you would have found out," the seven-times world champion told RacingNews365.com and select media. "I've been racing Nico since I was 13, there's been plenty of wins, so I never ever felt that. I didn't feel any negativity to it. "He has to make his own decisions. To be honest, for me, it was expected, and so moved on." Both Hamilton and Rosberg experienced success in Monaco but, when asked about his favourite memory from the track, Hamilton admits he finds it hard to remember past events. "I honestly don't remember. I don't remember much past last year. I guess the last one I do remember, 2019 was really tough, obviously with the loss of Niki [Lauda]. "I think that was a really distressed weekend, and I think probably the pressure on all of us wanting to excel for Niki, to put that win to his memory was really special." Hamilton has won at Monaco three times in the past and will be hoping for continued success at the 2021 race. The Briton currently leads the drivers' standings by 14 points from Max Verstappen.
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