Not Calling Lewis Hamilton ‘Exactly His Best Friend’ a Year Ago, Nico Rosberg Makes Heartfelt U-Turn

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had one of the fiercest rivalries in modern Formula 1 history. It even continued after Rosberg left F1 after winning the title in 2016. Last year, Rosberg revealed that he wasn’t really best friends with Hamilton during their time together at Mercedes. However, the German took back his words during the Hungarian GP qualifying session when he made a shocking revelation about the current friendship status.

Last year, Rosberg spoke to Sky Sports F1 about friend-turned-foes  Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly teaming up together for Alpine. According to the German, teammate rivalries aren’t really as  a problem as people make it out to be. He used his own example to back his comments up.

Rosberg said, “I think maybe you remember Lewis and I weren’t exactly best friends and yet we were dominating.” The former Mercedes World Champion continued to take subtle digs towards his friendship with Hamilton till the Hungarian GP this year when he made a heartfelt U-Turn.

Nico Rosberg reveals a deep secret from his heart

During the qualifying session of the Hungarian GP on Saturday, on seeing Rosberg being happy about Hamilton’s performance, commentator Carlo Vanzini pointed out that maybe the friendship that Rosberg and Hamilton shared as kids has still remained deep down in their hearts.

Rosberg immediately replied, “He’s still my best friend at heart.” The comment was absolutely opposite to what the German had claimed last year in September.

Rosberg immediately tried to lighten things up and commented that he was just kidding. He explained that he is an avid F1 fan and therefore it is quite natural for him to get excited if there is a close fight for the top spot.

Rosberg was full of praise for Lewis Hamilton

Despite Rosberg claiming that he was kidding about his relationship with his ‘ex-best friend’, the 23-time-Grands Prix winner could not stop praising Hamilton after his brilliant lap put him on pole position by a mere margin of 0.003 seconds.

Rosberg said, “Only Lewis Hamilton could do that on such days; no one could have gone, not even a hundredth quicker.” He also went on to slam Christian Horner when the Red Bull team boss tried to make excuses to justify why Verstappen failed to claim pole position.

Even though there has been a lot of bad blood between the two, Rosberg has always maintained that Hamilton is one of the greatest to have ever driven in the sport. Therefore, it is not quite surprising that even after all that went wrong between them, Rosberg still has a soft spot for Hamilton.