Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton shared one of the fiercest rivalries in F1 histories. The former best friends damaged their relationship beyond repair during their time together as teammates at Mercedes between 2013 and 2016.
Hamilton and Rosberg were going toe-to-toe for the world title in 2016, and every single point they scored was immensely valuable. Hamilton had gotten the better of the German in the previous three seasons, so the latter decided to try something different during the summer break to gain some advantage.
In the Beyond the Grid podcast, Rosberg talked about the importance of their weight in 2016. The Mercedes cars were already over the weight limit, so he figured that losing some weight would give him a slight advantage for the remainder of the season. As a result, he decided to give up on cycling to lose muscle mass.
According to Rosberg, the unfolding events ‘messed up’ Hamilton’s head.
Did Nico Rosberg giving up on cycling work?
The first race after the 2016 summer break was the Japanese GP in Suzuka, and Rosberg put his car on pole, two-hundredths of a second ahead of Hamilton. Rosberg revealed that the one kilo of leg muscle that he lost, gave him a huge advantage over Hamilton that weekend.
Rosberg started the race in Suzuka on pole and ended up winning it. When Hamilton got to know about the advantage Rosberg had, it messed up with his head. Considering the fact that their title battle went down to the wire at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Rosberg’s win over Hamilton in Japan was key to him securing his first and only world championship come the end of the season.
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Rosberg removed extra fabric from gloves to start races better
Rosberg went on to say that he removed any extra seam or patches that were present in his glove to make them thinner and lighter. He wanted to get the best possible feel when his hands were on the steering and clutch pedal.
The 37-year-old said that he customized the way the fabric felt on his clutch finger, which gave him a good feel when he touched the pedal. He recalls that he was able to start races a lot better because of this, and it baffled Hamilton to see him get the better launch.
