“I locked myself in a hotel room”– Nico Rosberg reveals those tense days when Lewis Hamilton defeated him in his first three years together.
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s time together in Mercedes is often classified as one of the most intense rivalries in Formula 1, but for the first three years, Hamilton always had an edge over the German race driver.
In that while, Hamilton even won two championships, frustrating Rosberg to deliver more, and he recalls that at that time he even locked himself inside the dressing room.
“At the time it was like, ‘he’s probably too nice to be World Champion against the ruthless Lewis,” said Rosberg in an interview with The Times Magazine.
“I lost to Lewis three years in a row. And it was so painful, the last time. I locked myself in a hotel room, and I reminded myself to push, push, push like hell. It just enhanced my motivation, my focus.”
In 2016, Rosberg managed to clinch his maiden world title, with a marginal difference against Hamilton, and soon calling it a day by retiring from the sport.
“[2016] went to the wire, to the last corner,” he recalled. “It couldn’t have been more intense, and winning against Lewis, in the same car, after having struggled against him for decades? It was just so perfect.”
Now vying in different motorsport
The former teammates have finished their rivalry in F1 but have extended the competition between the two in the Extreme E series, where both of them have their own teams in the competition, and in the current season, Rosberg’s Rosberg X Racing leads the Teams’ Championship, followed by Hamilton’s Team X44 14 points behind.
“I’m happy that he’s also joined this path. It’s so cool because we have, by coincidence, the two best teams and we’re [against] each other,” said Rosberg.
“At the moment, I’m leading. We won both of the first races, but it’s so early in the championship. You [can] measure at the end of the year.”
