“Michael Schumacher was always trying to get into my head”- Nico Rosberg talks about the ‘mind games’ played by seven-time World Champion during their time as teammates

Nico Rosberg spent three seasons as a teammate of seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher at Mercedes from 2010 to 2012. 

Schumacher announced that he would leave F1 after the 2006 season, when he was driving for Ferrari. Four years later however, he came out retirement to join Mercedes, a team that had been recently launched and was trying to find it’s feet in F1.

He teamed up with Rosberg at the Brackley based outfit, who came over from Williams. The duo didn’t exactly go off to the best start as teammates, with Rosberg often complaining the Schumacher tried to assert dominance every time they had a meeting.

In spite of that, Rosberg finished the season 70 points ahead of Schumacher and also had three podiums results to his name. The mind games played by the former Ferrari driver however, were constant.

During a podcast session with Daniel Ricciardo, Rosberg and the Aussie were talking about mind games and psychology in sport. Ricciardo highlighted incidents from his young racing days when he used these tricks to gain an upper hand on rivals on track. It was then that the 2016 World Champion recalled his stint with Schumacher at Mercedes.

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Michael Schumacher trying to ruin Nico Rosberg’s self confidence

Schumacher is arguably one of the greatest drivers of all time. He has the most number of World Championship Title wins (seven) alongside current Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Hence, it’s evident that a competitor of his caliber will always do what’s necessary to win. That’s what Rosberg revealed.

When Ricciardo asked Rosberg if he had encountered mind games from rivals during his racing days, the 36-year old replied with, “Oh my Goodness! I had Michael Schumacher as my teammate.”

“This guy, three years, Mr. Mind Games. He’s the absolute master and he does not have to think about it. It just comes naturally to him. So, that was a big big learning curve for me.”

“The warrior mentality that Michael had was just phenomenal,” he continued. “Just living and breathing it every single day. Sometimes it was too extreme, but he was always trying to get in my head, from the morning till the evening. Just trying to ruin my self confidence.”

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