{"id":174905,"date":"2025-06-11T06:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T06:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/174905\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T06:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T06:06:10","slug":"nico-rosberg-admission-on-lewis-hamilton-rivalry-in-mclaren-f1-2025-comparison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/174905\/","title":{"rendered":"Nico Rosberg admission on Lewis Hamilton rivalry in McLaren F1 2025 comparison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nico Rosberg has compared the brewing Oscar Piastri vs. Lando Norris title fight to how he and Lewis Hamilton competed as Mercedes teammates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last decade, there were four straight years in which Rosberg and Hamilton were the only two drivers with a realistic chance of fighting for the Drivers\u2019 Championship all the way through the season.<\/p>\n

Nico Rosberg: Your teammate is the first one you need to beat<\/p>\n

Mercedes\u2019 nailing of the new hybrid power unit regulations in 2014, combined with a very competitive car design, meant the Brackley-based squad was in a league of its own at the start of that regulations cycle.<\/p>\n

While the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull were occasionally able to get in the mix for race wins, the championship battles came down to Hamilton and Rosberg in the two Mercedes cars \u2013 a battle which was won in 2014 by Hamilton and repeated in \u201915, much to Rosberg\u2019s frustration.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Rosberg\u2019s renewed determination saw the two friends become embroiled in an increasingly tense and borderline hostile title fight, which the German driver eventually came out on top of in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, days before he abruptly retired from the sport.<\/p>\n

Given their competition against each other at the front, it almost seemed inevitable that the intra-team battle would turn sour. Multiple collisions, including a devastating clash that resulted in both retiring from the 2016 Spanish GP on the opening lap, only added to the vitriol which brewed over in the final year of the Hamilton\/Rosberg fight.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s against this dynamic that the current Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris title fight will be compared, as the two McLaren<\/a> drivers slowly but surely are stamping their authority on this year\u2019s championship as Max Verstappen\u2019s title bid took a major dent at last weekend\u2019s Spanish GP.<\/p>\n

The Dutch driver is now 49 points behind Piastri, with Norris just 10 points behind his teammate.<\/p>\n

All has remained cordial and friendly between Norris and Piastri up to this point, and McLaren is particularly eager to maintain fairness in the title fight. While, last year, McLaren introduced \u2018papaya rules\u2019 to bolster Norris\u2019 title chances against Verstappen in the closing stages of the season, there\u2019s no indication that any team orders will be used to ensure a Woking title win this year.<\/p>\n

Indeed, McLaren CEO Zak Brown recently indicated to PlanetF1.com that he would even be prepared to see McLaren lose the Drivers\u2019 Championship rather than offer less than a fair and equal chance to both of its drivers.<\/p>\n

Looking back from the perspective of almost a decade after his bitter title fights with Hamilton, Rosberg commented on the difficult position both McLaren drivers are finding themselves in as their championship aspirations take shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour teammate is both an ally, but also an adversary,\u201d he said on Sky F1\u00a0<\/strong>over the Spanish GP weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn ally in the sense that, together, you want to lift the whole team up and the performance of the team so that you have a car that you can win races with and fight for championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the point McLaren has reached this season, having won the Constructors\u2019 Championship last year for the first time since 1998. Both Norris and Piastri are gunning for their maiden titles, meaning it\u2019s the opposite side of the garage that is preventing them from realising that dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you get there, the teammate becomes the greatest rival. He\u2019s the first one that you need to beat,\u201d Rosberg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my career, I was teammates for multiple seasons with perhaps the two greatest of all time, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Michael\u2019s case, it was amazingly inspirational to watch him try and get as close as possible to perfection in everything that he was doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first met Lewis when I was 13 years old. For some time already, he was considered the rising star out of the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cStraight away, he was just unbelievably fast. We were friends all our lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is, once you get to F1, and even more so once you suddenly start fighting for race wins every single time out there, and you fight for every single Championship, the intensity just boils over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship with Lewis started to be difficult on a really step-by-step basis. It was small steps that just spiraled \u2013 it got worse and worse and worse until it was very much out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most difficult moments were the crashes, coming together. Who was at fault, and who took the blame? It was incredibly intense at the time, in the heat of the moment, coming out of the car. So, so tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cLewis and I never really took the time to have an open conversation about it. My lowest emotional moment was probably losing the World Championship the second year in a row in 2015.\u00a0 That was really a big low point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nico Rosberg: To keep things fair is very, very difficult<\/p>\n

Certainly, in the first nine rounds of the championship, there has been little cause for complaint for either Norris or Piastri.<\/p>\n

There have been no obvious strategy decisions that have hamstrung either driver or favoured one or the other, with any advantageous pitstop timings being down to earned track position.<\/p>\n

But, as the intensity ramps up, Rosberg suspects it could become more difficult for the two drivers not to start feeling the pressure of having that maiden title edging closer and closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe similarity between what Lando and Oscar are now comparing with what Lewis and I had back in the day is just the speed of the car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery race out there, they\u2019re fighting for pole positions and race wins, but it\u2019s still very harmonious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question is, can it stay harmonious like that, or is it also going to run into big trouble?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so difficult to treat drivers fairly because there\u2019s always one strategy that\u2019s better than the other, or only one new part that arrives at the track \u2013 who gets that?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo always keep it fair is very, very difficult. Unfortunately, these internal politics become a very, very important game to play if you want to be a World Champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Brown\u2019s interview with PlanetF1.com, he suggested that he\u2019s prepared to accept a \u201c2007\u201d scenario. That year, McLaren\u2019s Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton lost the title to the trailing Kimi Raikkonen as the two silver cars took points from each other, while Raikkonen benefitted from having Felipe Massa fall into a supporting role towards year-end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to win the Constructors\u2019 is to finish first and second in the Drivers\u2019, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Brown told PlanetF1.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, the way to let the drivers decide who\u2019s first and second is by treating them fully, fairly, transparently.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019ll notice last race [Imola], Oscar went out first in Q3. The race before, Lando went out first in Q3.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen upgrades come, if one gets it one weekend \u2013 because we can\u2019t deliver both \u2013 then the other gets it the other weekend, and\u00a0vice\u00a0versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a similar dynamic to what Verstappen has at Red Bull, with no chance whatsoever of current teammate Yuki Tsunoda taking points off him in normal racing circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to have two number one drivers like McLaren has. So far, it\u2019s going great,\u201d Rosberg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it has so many benefits, because if you have two number-one drivers, they\u2019re pushing each other to higher and higher levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcLaren is in a fantastic position to fight for the Drivers\u2019 Championship as well this year, but it\u2019s also theirs to lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressure rises significantly, and the driver situation is also one to watch. For now, very harmonious, but might it go out of control soon?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Next: Why Arvid Lindblad secured the FIA Super Licence exemption that Colton Herta didn\u2019t<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nico Rosberg has compared the brewing Oscar Piastri vs. Lando Norris title fight to how he and Lewis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,225,1711,12,47791,1712,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-174905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-lando-norris","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-nico-rosberg","15":"tag-oscar-piastri","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114663233483369362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}