Nico Rosberg rarely made it through a press conference without referring to his manual of stock phrases.
We, in the media, would often guess as to how many times he might say: "I am in full-on attack mode," or that he was "taking one race at a time". "I am not thinking about the title," he would add. Rosberg also had a tendency to end every other sentence with "and that's it".
Well, after 11 seasons, 206 races, 23 victories, and crucially one Formula One world title, now, it really is.
Nobody saw Rosberg's announcement coming. Why would a 31-year-old athlete, who is still at the pinnacle of his career, and indeed one which had just reached its peak, decide to quit?
The decision for Rosberg, however, was easy.
In winning the title and emulating his father Keke, the 1982 world champion, Rosberg, nicknamed "Britney" - as in Spears for his golden locks of hair - had achieved his childhood dream.
And he did it by beating his long-term rival, and possibly the finest driver the sport has ever produced in Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg had several sides to his personality. He could be surly. I remember he once took umbrage to me after I informed him, rightfully may I add, that Hamilton had beaten him to pole position by six tenths of a second on several occasions throughout their rivalry. Disbelieving, he demanded proof for our next encounter.
But he could be jovial, too. After arriving early for a drivers' briefing in Baku this year, he sought out his "friends in the British media" for an informal chat. Tellingly, Hamilton, who also arrived early, opted to wait outside.
And he also could be kind. He instructed that his fee for a newspaper column I ghosted for him back in 2014 to be donated to charity (the Grand Prix Mechanics' Trust) in its entirety.
Rosberg cut a calm and collected figure during what proved to be his world championship-winning campaign this year. He refused to be drawn into the psychological warfare that comes with having Hamilton as a team-mate, and he used his book of cliches to deal with that.
But the mask finally slipped on Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi, and we saw a side to Rosberg which we had not seen before. The tears flowed, his phrasebook was dispatched, and relief was etched all over his face.
Rosberg admitted he "left no stone unturned" in his bid to finally beat Hamilton, and that he was simply not prepared to put his wife and childhood sweetheart Vivian, and their one-year-old daughter Alaia, through the same strain again.
Rosberg leaves the sport as a world champion. And he can leave with his head held high.
Source: PA
