The varied excitement of F1's launch season

A 4am alarm call last Sunday meant only one thing. Time to head to the airport. As far as air miles are concerned, January is Formula 1's quietest month. The holidays are over, but testing has yet to commence. Occasionally, there is the odd new car launch that takes you overseas in January - but not always by plane.

One year Toyota delivered a brand new Lexus to my front door with instructions to follow the sat nav to the pre-programmed destination. The route went via the Channel Tunnel to the quiet French commune of Valenciennes, where the assembly line for the Toyota Yaris is based. We politely applauded when Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli removed a dust sheet to unveil a car that looked exactly like the car from the year before.

I still have a copy of a book they handed out called The Toyota Way. It sets out the principles of management for its car production system and it continues to collect dust, having not been touched in the 12 years since it was slotted into the bookshelf the night I drove back from France.

Other car launches have been further afield. In 2015 we descended on Mexico City for the unveiling of Force India's new livery. These were the days when Vijay Mallya had access to a passport and as he gave his speech in front of Rodin's 'The Thinker', the invited guests feigned interest.

I remember chatting to team manager Andy Stevenson there. He was saying how happy he'd been because another long season had come to an end. But after only a few weeks back in the factory, by mid-January he was itching to get on the road again...

So it was last Monday morning that I peered out of the cold, dark gloom and saw Gatwick's north terminal quickly disappear from under me; the first flight of 2018.

The destination was Nice and a trip to F1's most famous Principality: Monaco.

On the floor by Rosberg's office window is an official Champions League match ball. It was used to perform a challenge set by Cristiano Ronaldo, whereby Nico broke a neighbour's plant pot...

Many of the drivers: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo and former drivers Felipe Massa, David Coulthard and Allan McNish live the other side of Prince Albert's palace, atop the Rock of Monaco, in a little harbour-side district called Fontvieille.

With a couple of hours to kill before our rendezvous with the 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, we had a mooch around this part of town. There are some locations you visit in the world where you would not know a grand prix is held in the nearby vicinity, new modern venues like Sochi and Shanghai. Whereas other towns, which haven't held a Formula 1 race for decades, still have museums or shops with motor racing memorabilia, such as Watkins Glen or Zandvoort.

Here in Fontvieille, there is a thriving link to the grand prix and there are a couple of places you must visit if you've never been to Monaco before. The first is H.S.S. The Prince of Monaco's Car Collection. Just in the foyer is Fernando Alonso's R28 Renault F1 car (from 2008) and inside are nearly a dozen other F1 machines, including a 1989 Ferrari 640 and a couple of McLarens. It's only a couple of euros entry fee and it's more interesting than the museum for stamps and coins situated opposite.

Wander down to the quayside and there's another treat for F1 fans. The Mona Lisa motorsport gallery is a shop of memorabilia, but on a grand scale. There are race overalls, models, posters and as you delve deeper into the shop, a wall of genuine drivers' helmets (not replicas) - each one complete with price tag. This is the place for the real collector of F1 obscurity. Gerhard Berger's genuine 1996 Benetton lid is yours for €5000 or Jacques Villeneuve's 2002 helmet is a cool €9000.

But if you're looking for something a little more unusual, you can own Giorgio Pantano's 'Benson & Hedges' sponsored helmet from 2004, when he drove for Jordan, but it also features, a 'Target' strip across the visor, from when he tested a Ganassi IndyCar the following year. Yours for €3800. Bargain.

After we'd completed our sightseeing, it was time to catch up with Rosberg. His small but airy office overlooks the Med and has a few pieces of memorabilia dotted around it too. The largest picture in the room is an artistic shot of him sitting in his Mercedes during a night time pitstop in either Abu Dhabi or Singapore and on the floor next to it - there hasn't been time to put it up yet - is the certificate from the FIA's recently inaugurated 'Hall of Fame', signed by FIA president Jean Todt.

On the floor by his office window is an official Champions League match ball and I'm reminded of the keepie-uppies that you'd see Rosberg regularly perform with his trainer in the paddock prior to a practice session. But it's not there for regular usage, it was to perform a challenge set by Cristiano Ronaldo, whereby Rosberg broke a neighbour's plant pot...

The dad of two is looking relaxed and happy as we talk about the impending new Formula 1 season and he was relishing giving his forthright views on his former fellow drivers. The whole interview will feature in April's season preview issue of F1 Racing, out on March 15.

"This is a first for me," he says. "To be grilled like this on my sport and I love the ease with which I can comment on everyone."

We wondered whether he was always biting his tongue at press conferences when he was racing, always being super careful about what he said?

"No, I did interviews to win the next race," he says. "The media is part of the game. So, what could I say that helped me win the next race... Now I don't have that anymore."

Despite not flying around the world in a bid to win races, Rosberg is still just as busy as ever. After he returned from his holiday he went straight to the World Economic Forum in Davos to do road safety work with the FIA. The day after we met, he flew to Berlin as he's an ambassador for a number of sponsors and he's also investing in start-up companies, in particular those related to future mobility.

And there'll be more chances to hear his thoughts on contemporary F1 as he'll crop up at selected F1 races this year, working with German TV station RTL.

We chat about life post-F1 and whether he is ever tempted, Fernando Alonso-style, to race in other categories and the answer is a resounding 'no'.

"It would be awesome to do Indy, but it's the risk for me is too high. I would never do it - ever. They all say it's nuts. Look at Sebastien Bourdais, on his own, destroys everything. Even Le Mans wouldn't be for me."

So, he remains a very happy - retired - 32-year-old living and working in a small motor racing-themed corner of the world. We bid farewell for now, until we meet again next month, in Melbourne. That's when the flying season really begins...