Role reversal for Rosberg
abu dhabi — How things change. Two years ago, both these men arrived at the press room of the Yas Marina Circuit, with one looking quite confident and relaxed, while the other edgy and nervy.
Back then, Lewis Hamilton was in the box seat, so to say, entering the season finale, while his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg had it all to do.
Cut to the here and now, it is a case of a role reversal. Rosberg goes into the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend, with a valuable 12-point lead over the Briton.
It is not the first time though that Rosberg and Hamilton have been in this situation. This is the third time the pair are crossing swords for the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship but the rivalry does extend a long way back to younger days in karting.
That has meant that they have always enjoyed a good relationship, but at times, it has gone a bit frosty, especially when such situations have come up.
So, with a world championship on the line, it came as no surprise that there was a bit of underlying tension between the two, on the surface.
The same two arrived at the press room of the Circuit on Thursday, but this time though, it was Rosberg, who looked calm and relaxed, while Hamilton looked like he had too many things swirling in his mind.
And their pose for the flashbulbs looked more like a boxing weighin. But Rosberg insisted that despite some awkward moments, they do have a decent relationship.
For sure, I have a lot of respect for Lewis outside of the car and also inside the car. Nico Rosberg
“The thing is that we still have from back in those days is the base respect and that will never go and that has definitely helped us through these years,” Rosberg said at the Yas Marina Circuit on Thursday.
“For sure, I have a lot of respect for Lewis outside of the car and also inside the car. As I’ve said, we’ve had some difficult moments but also some good ones over the past years and this year, generally, I think we’ve made progress and so yeah, it’s generally neutral but of course it is a difficult environment,” he added.
The tension in the championship battle has also spilled onto their respective race engineers and their team of mechanics with them indulging in their own competition.
And knowing that it would harm their chances for the Constructors’ Championship, the Mercedes team unearthed a sound idea to keep the flock together and the team spirit at a high. The team swapped five mechanics each from both the drivers.
Rosberg said that it was a good decision to rotate and mix up things a little bit.
“If we look at the recent team spirit within the team because you know we’ve been fighting now for three years and within the team they’ve been fighting for the race wins and for the championship so it’s quite natural that a little separation can happen between the two sides of the garage,” said the German.
“And for the overall team performance that’s not a good thing because for the overall team performance you’d want to have great team spirit, everybody fighting for one direction, everybody holding together and that’s why the decision was taken to rotate a little bit and I think it’s shown this year that it’s been a very, very good thing to do because our team spirit has been as good as ever, we’ve seen that recently and we’ve had some great parties together and whatever.
“Everybody’s just sticking together and it’s an awesome feeling within the team so it looks like that it was the right thing to do, even though initially it’s not something that’s super comfortable because my mechanics are close to me and it feels good and everything,” he added.