Nico Rosberg said he felt isolated as tension with Lewis Hamilton created an internal clash within Mercedes.
Hamilton and Rosberg had been teammates with Mercedes since the start of the 2013 campaign, but it was in 2014 when Mercedes became the dominant force in Formula 1 that tensions erupted.
While the duo, who in the past considered each other as friends, fought each other for the next 3 drivers’ titles on offer, relations were completely broken, and the final bankruptcy of this rivalry was written in Abu Dhabi. GP in 2016.
After Rosberg took the drivers’ title, following Hamilton’s successes in 2014 and 2015, Rosberg would announce his retirement from Formula 1.
Mercedes has hired Valtteri Bottas to update him, with the Finn generating a much more harmonious relationship with Hamilton and particularly with the atmosphere of the team.
But when Rosberg and Hamilton faced off at Mercedes, Rosberg said he created a “strange” environment in the team, leaving him feeling isolated due to the difficulty of bonding within the fractured Silver Arrows field.
“The whole team had an unbiased attitude between me and Lewis,” Rosberg told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“There was an atmosphere within the team because it was transparent, there was a rivalry inside our own garage.
“As a result, there was an unbalanced spirit within the team, and that made it difficult to get closer. I walked away at the most vital moment of my career. “
From what we saw in the 2022 campaign, it would be no. However, there is a serious “but”.
With Mercedes confirming Valtteri Bottas’ departure, its junior driving force Russell has been promoted to the Mercedes line-up for 2022 after three seasons with Williams.
This left many other people wondering which path this new partnership would take. After all, Russell showed a fiery side, think of Imola 2021 after his high-speed crash with Bottas, it also proved that Russell has no challenge to apologize either.
The Hamilton-Russell pair’s first season has been harmonious, however, with Hamilton predicting that this appointment will not be a factor for Mercedes in the future, even if the team starts fighting for the name again, a scenario from which it was absent for the first time since 2013.
So just as the name was risked to create this Hamilton-Rosberg clash, we’re waiting to see how Hamilton and Russell would face that same litmus test. This may be as early as 2023.
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