Abu Dhabi: The battle had been on between him and Lewis Hamilton since their teenage days. And every time Nico Rosberg would finish second best. Sunday also he finished second in the last race of the Formula One (F1) 2016 season. The German lost the race though, but won the F1 World Championship and a weight of history slipped from his shoulders as the tears flowed and a night of partying happened.
From their days together as teenage karting teammates to mature Mercedes rivals, Britain’s Hamilton has been the implacable rival against whom the German has measured himself and always come short.
For two years running he had fought the champion for the F1 drivers’ title and failed, with some suggesting 2016 could be a last throw of the dice.
“It feels like I’ve been racing him forever and always he’s just managed to edge me out and get the title even when we were small in go-karts,” Rosberg told reporters in a news conference punctuated by emotional pauses.
“He’s just an amazing driver and of course one of the best in history so it’s unbelievably special to beat him because the level is so high and that makes this even more…so much more satisfying for me. And I took the World Championship away from him which is a phenomenal feeling.”
Rosberg has been at Mercedes since 2010, first as teammate to compatriot and seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher and then, from 2013, Hamilton.
Since joining, Hamilton always scored more points than Rosberg including taking the 2014 and 2015 titles.
The turning point, as Rosberg explained in a floodlit Abu Dhabi paddock, came in Texas last October on the day Hamilton clinched his third title and tossed a cap in his teammate’s direction post-race.
Rosberg, who had gifted Hamilton victory with a late error, petulantly flung it back. “Austin was a horrible experience for me and I really spent two days just on my own thinking and I said I didn’t ever want to experience that again,” he confessed.
“And then I went and won the next seven races on the trot, so for sure it was a big moment for me and one of the key moments for being here today (Sunday),” added the German.
Rosberg ended the season with nine wins to Hamilton’s 10, and with the Briton also ahead on pole positions, but it is the points that matter. In the end, after 21 races, he scored five more.
Reuters
