Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were paired for the first time as Mercedes teammates some thirteen years ago. The German driver had been alongside an unretired Michael Schumacher for the past three seasons, since Mercedes bought the Brackley-based F1 team from Ross Brawn.
It seemed to many in the paddock that Schumacher was over the hill as Rosberg continually beat him in qualifying and finished higher in the Grand Prix on Sundays. Across their three seasons together, Nico outqualified Michael by a whopping 43–15, and although Schumacher was closer in the head-to-head on finishes, it was still Rosberg’s by 36–22.
It was Rosberg who claimed the first modern-era pole position and race win for Mercedes at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix.Meanwhile, Schumacher’s success on his return was limited to a single podium at the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
There are numerous reports which reveal Schumacher deployed a variety of psychological tricks to unsettle his teammate,such as refusing to use Nico’s name in engineering briefings along with claiming his parking space. Rosberg has recently noted that his battles with Schumacher both on and off the track toughened him up and offered him the crucial experience he would need to fight with his next teammate, Lewis Hamilton.
Early Mercedes Friction and the 2014 Flashpoints
When Hamilton arrived at Mercedes, there was a brief honeymoon period during the 2013 season when their car was not of championship-winning quality. Yet even that season in Malaysia there was early friction between the pair when Mercedes instructed Rosberg to hold position behind his teammate, although later Lewis admitted Nico in fact deserved his P3 podium spot.
Armed with the eye-wateringly expensive and all-dominant V6 turbo-hybrid power unit, the Mercedes duo started 2014 as favourites for the championship. Across the first ten Grands Prix of the season, a Mercedes driver won them all with the exception of Daniel Ricciardo claiming victory in Canada.
Yet the early indications were that despite the all-conquering dominance of Mercedes, the battle between their drivers would prove all-compelling. In Bahrain, during a wheel-to-wheel battle at the start, Rosberg engaged a Mercedes banned engine mode, “Strat 6,” to challenge Hamilton for the lead. Lewis held off the onslaught, going on to claim his second victory in the first three rounds.
Always on the lookout for how to get one up on his teammate, at their very next race in Barcelona, Hamilton reversed the roles, deploying the same forbidden engine mode to defend from his teammate.
Next time up in Monaco, there was the qualifying controversy which saw Rosberg during the final Q3 runs lock up and slide down the escape road into Mirabeau. With Nico on pole, Lewis questioned whether his teammate had done this deliberately and declared to the public their friendship since karting was now over.
In Hungary that year, safety cars saw Hamilton ahead of Rosberg but on older tyres. Given the differing strategies,Mercedes instructed Lewis to let Rosberg by. He refused, stating on team radio: “I’m not slowing down for Nico.” Mercedes now had their own Multi-21-style public spat.
Yet the real clincher in 2014 was at the Belgian Grand Prix. Lap 2, and Rosberg attempted a move around the outside at Les Combes; he clipped Hamilton’s rear tyre, which created a puncture, forcing Lewis to retire. Team boss Toto Wolff was incensed, stating after the race: “It cannot – and will not – happen again.” Rosberg was booed on the podium, and Mercedes fined him €200,000 for the damage.
Escalation in 2015–16 and the Abu Dhabi Showdown
The 2015 season was fought with relatively few incidents between the Mercedes drivers. Rosberg accused Hamilton of backing the pack up in China to expose him to Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton insisted it was not his job to manage Nico’s race.
A poor strategy call in Monaco cost Hamilton a likely win and handed it to his teammate. Lewis went public, declaring he believed the team favoured his teammate. Whilst 2015 saw few incidents, come 2016 Rosberg and Hamilton were back at each other’s throats.
There was the infamous double crash between the pair at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, where Hamilton made an overoptimistic move on Nico going into Turn 4. The pair ended up stranded in the gravel. Hamilton described a “pattern” of behaviour, whilst Rosberg insisted, “I’m not backing down anymore.”
In Austria, the pair were battling for the win and made contact on the final lap. Rosberg left the circuit, but retained the lead to the chequered flag. The stewards eventually penalised Nico for exceeding track limits and gaining an advantage.Hamilton was awarded the win.
In Malaysia, Lewis Hamilton’s engine blew up while he was leading; he questioned why his reliability kept failing while Rosberg’s held together, saying, “Something doesn’t feel right.” He was once again questioning the team with his oblique conspiracy theory suggestions.
Then in the showdown for the title in Abu Dhabi, whilst leading the race on the final lap, Hamilton deliberately backed Rosberg up into Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen in a desperate bid to cost Rosberg the championship. Mercedes pleaded with Hamilton over the radio to speed up, while Rosberg held on to second to win the title by five points before retiring days later.
Rosberg’s Reflection on Garage Divisions and Conspiracy Suspicions
The three intense years of Mercedes driver rivalry had gripped the world of F1 with conspiracy theories and accusations.And then it was over. Now some ten years on, Nico Rosberg reflects on this time whilst speaking to the Beyond the Gridpodcast.
“It’s not a single event, it’s a continuation of a negative spiral of becoming enemies internally. It’s really a step-by-step process. Of course, there’s spikes on the way, but it just linearly gets worse and worse and worse with these big spikes in between.”
The 2016 F1 champion goes on to reveal how the rivalry spread throughout the Mercedes-AMG F1 organisation, creating divisions which were damaging to the team. “It’s not healthy for a team when you start to not share information properly,you’re not a real team anymore, then things can go bad very quickly.”
Behind the scenes during the off-season of 2015–16, Toto Wolff decided to reassign a number of the mechanics and engineers inside the race team. This caught Rosberg out completely when he arrived for the season opener in Melbourne.Now some of the once-friendly faces were on the other side of the garage.
When asked about the intra-garage divisions, Rosberg explains: “Toto was aware of this, so he did such an extreme chop that came in so hard without any warning to anybody and then switched our mechanics over – and my mechanics are my family.”
Whilst the change was initially uncomfortable for Rosberg, he adapted to his new environment quickly. Lewis on the other side found the transition considerably more difficult.
“Lewis struggled more. Every time something would not go his way, he would think straight away a little bit ‘conspiracy’ or things like that,” Rosberg suggests. “He struggled a little bit more with that initially and kind of shot himself a little bit in the foot with that in the first part of the season, because obviously everybody was always treated equally to the extent possible.”
The inference is there that Lewis’s paranoia may well have cost him the championship that season, which Rosberg claimed by finishing second in the season finale in Abu Dhabi. These revelations about Hamilton from Rosberg go in part to explain his behaviour at Ferrari.
What It Means for Hamilton’s Future at Ferrari
So roundly was he beaten by Charles Leclerc last season, Lewis advised the team late in the season to “find another driver” in one of his downbeat press conferences. This year he was claiming the team should back him as their number one challenger after Round 8 in Austria, when the lead over Leclerc was standing at 46 points.
Recent on-track battles between them there saw Hamilton off the road in Monza, losing several places on the opening lap.Then on the opening lap in Mexico, Leclerc attempted a move on Hamilton which saw them both leave the track. Charles gained the lead whilst Lewis slipped to P3. Hamilton laid into Charles after the race, questioning his mentality when racing his teammate.
Unless Ferrari build a title-winning car and Lewis Hamilton claims his famed eighth drivers’ title, the reality is next season may be the last for the seven-time champion. The guarantees Ferrari gave him when he signed were for three seasons, and if tensions continue to develop between the Scuderia teammates, the easy way out is not to renew Lewis at the end of next year. Charles Leclerc signed a long-term extension to his contract this season, which will see him race for the Maranello-based team into the 2030s.
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A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
Andrew’s work focuses particularly on the intersection of Formula 1 politics, regulation, and team strategy. Andrew closely follows developments involving the FIA, team leadership, and driver market dynamics, helping to provide context behind the sport’s biggest stories.
With experience covering multiple seasons of Formula 1’s modern hybrid era, Andrew has developed a detailed understanding of how regulatory changes and competitive shifts influence the grid. Andrew’s editorial approach prioritises clarity and context, aiming to help readers navigate complex developments within the sport.
In addition to editorial duties, Andrew is particularly interested in how media narratives shape fan perception of Formula 1, and how reporting can balance speed with accuracy in an increasingly digital news environment.
