‘I defeated Lewis Hamilton in the same machinery’ is a phrase that very few drivers who have raced wheel to wheel against the F1 megastar can say. And Nico Rosberg holds this accolade under his belt. The 2016 world champion outscored Hamilton to overthrow him from the F1 title. And thus Rosberg became the bump in the Hamilton era.

Having both sides of the garage firing with all cylinders for the world title is a good problem to have. However, in 2016, the Silver Arrows war deteriorated a childhood friendship. At the time, the Brit had spent a decade in F1 and had only been outscored once in 2011, by Jenson Button. Thus, making it a rare occurrence in the life of a driver for whom winning is arguably second nature.

Subsequently, Rosberg caught the F1 paddock out of the blue as he hung up his racing helmet. At the 2016 prize-giving ceremony, Hamilton shared his thoughts on the German’s retirement.

The interviewer asked, “Lewis, you’ve had so many great battles with him over the years, just your thoughts on that?” 

Hamilton replied, “Ah yeah, I mean well the sport will miss him, but wish him all the best. I mean it’s uh, I’m sure it’s a surprise for many people.”

“Was it a surprise to you?” the interviewer followed up.

“I’m probably one of the only people that it was not a surprise, but that’s because I’ve known him for a long, long time, so. But, you know this is, this is motor racing.” concluded the Mercedes ace.

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The retirement decision robbed the fans of a great duel, but in the history books, Nico Rosberg will always be the one who got the better of the seven-time world champion.

The 2008 world champion jumped ship from McLaren in 2013, to race for the Brackley outfit. He found himself reunited with Rosberg, as he wore the Petronas-sponsored racing suit since 2010. Remarkably, the new driver lineup at Mercedes already knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, given that they were karting buddies.

Does Lewis Hamilton miss not having Nico Rosberg in F1?

Rosberg’s retirement meant that for the first time in his F1 career, Lewis Hamilton would race on a grid that didn’t feature his age-old rival. Thus, the Brit opined if he would feel incomplete without the German in F1.

The interviewer asked, “Will you miss that rivalry?”

“I mean this is the first time he’s won in 18 years, so um. Hence, I was not surprised that he decided to stop. But also, he’s got a family to focus on and you know probably wants to have more children and all those different things and Formula 1 takes so much from you, you know, of your time.” said Hamilton.

“So, in terms of missing the rivalry, of course, because we started out when we were 13 and we would always talk about being champions and you know. And, when I joined this team, Nico was there, which was again something we spoke about when we were kids,” Hamilton continued.

“So, it’s definitely going to be very, very strange, and, will be, for sure be sad to not have him in the team next year,” he concluded.

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Do you think Nico Rosberg would have been able to defend his crown from Lewis Hamilton in 2017? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.