Nico Rosberg has explained how being more aggressive helped him to finally beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to the F1 drivers' title last season.

Rosberg, previously beaten out by Hamilton in the 2014 and 2015 championships, retired in December after following in the footsteps of his father, Keke, and join the exalted company of Formula One world champions.

The German was not widely fancied before the 2016 season, but made concerted efforts to refine his physical training, mental preparation, and wheel-to-wheel racecraft.

Rosberg told the Daily Mail: "Lewis is very good at going to the edge without going outside the grey area, thanks to his skills in the car. He is smart, very, very smart. I found it harder to go wheel-to-wheel. For him, it comes naturally.