“Crashing into each other and ruining two cars isn’t exactly cheap”- Nico Rosberg admits rivalry with Lewis Hamilton led to financial penalties being imposed

Nico Rosberg won his first and only World Championship in 2016 after defeating Mercedes teammate and former best friend Lewis Hamilton. 

Before 2021, the last proper F1 battle fans witnessed was back in 2016. Back then, it wasn’t a Red Bull vs Mercedes scenario. In fact, the latter’s dominance was such that no one else came close to them throughout the whole season.

The battle that year was between Mercedes teammates Rosberg and Hamilton. Formerly very close friends, the two had a lot of animosity develop between them since joining the Silver Arrows.

It lead to one of the most heated rivalries we’ve seen in recent years. Their off-field verbal scraps often resulted in infamous incidents on track. The most notable example is that of the 2016 Spanish GP, where both drivers crashed into each other, putting them both out of the race.

After a close scrap throughout the campaign, Rosberg clinched the Title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi by just five points. However, he admits that there were instances throughout the season which had to be monitored through a proper ‘code of conduct’ paper.

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Lewis Hamilton vs Nico Rosberg rivalry got out of hand

The tussle between Hamilton and Rosberg was also fueled by the personal rivalry between them. Hence, if incidents like Spain occurred often, it would lead to massive problems for Mercedes.

That is why the German team introduced a proper code of conduct. According to Rosberg, this was a piece of paper that set rules regarding them racing each other. There were also hefty fines introduced to penalize them in case they violated it.

“It got to the point that we had a code of conduct,” Rosberg said to Sky. “A paper, with what we were allowed to do in a wheel-to-wheel battle. Even with penalties with a lot of zeros attached because there was no other way.”

2016 turned out to be the last ever season for Rosberg in the sport. Ahead of the FIA prize giving ceremony later that year, he announced that he no longer wanted to deal with the pressure of competing in F1, and wanted to spend time with his family instead.

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