Nico Rosberg revealed the hostile relationship he shared with Lewis Hamilton – courtesy of their years at Mercedes fighting for the Formula 1 Championship – has now become a neutral one.
Rosberg and Hamilton grew up racing each other and were friends when the the latter joined Mercedes in 2013, but once Mercedes began their dominant streak of the sport in 2014, things turned sour between the two.
Rosberg revealed the turning point in his relationship with Hamilton in an interview with Eurosport, and said: “It happened immediately when we were fighting for the World Championship. Not before.
“But that’s always the case: when you’re fighting for success in every race and for titles, it doesn’t work anymore,” he added.
Asked if something in particular triggered the acrimony, the 23-time grand prix winner said: “No, it’s been a build-up from one race to the next.
“If you want to decide the World Championship for yourself, you can’t play ‘peace, joy, pancake’. You have to test limits and go into grey areas to win,” he explained. “Especially when two drivers are at such a high level, and then it often gets tight.”
Rosberg retired from F1 days after claiming his one and only F1 Title at the end of the 2016 season, but insists he does not regret anything he did from his years of sharing the Mercedes garage with Hamilton.
“I don’t regret anything,” he insisted. “It was a sensational time and a mega fight. I’m very proud of that. In the meantime, we’ve returned to [a] neutral [relationship], which is okay.”
After F1, Rosberg became an F1 pundit, and has also started a team called RXR in Extreme E, the electric off-road series aimed at promoting climate awareness.
His team won the title in the series’ inaugural 2021 campaign, after fighting team X44, owned by non other than his former F1 rival Hamilton.
“We didn’t know about each other’s plans beforehand; we built up our racing teams in parallel,” Rosberg commented on starting another rivalry with Hamilton.
“We also announced our teams within a couple of weeks [of each other], which was totally cool, [and] it’s great that we’re reviving this duel,” he added.