Lewis Hamilton, the 7-time world champion, once had a dear friend and talented teammate in the form of Nico Rosberg. Their pairing in Mercedes was once a hearty and warm relationship full of endearing moments. However, with the Silver Arrows gaining dominance in the field, Lewis and Nico found themselves lost in a rivalry they could never recover from.
The 2016 Formula 1 season featured the most intense and dark team rivalry anyone had seen after Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber returned to Red Bull. The drivers were two, but only one title could be awarded and the teammates fought tooth and nail to get back at each other until the last moment, when Nico Rosberg emerged victorious.
Tim Mayer reveals Hamilton action after Nico Rosberg collision
The most heated moment of 2016 was arguably the crash during the Spanish GP at turn 4 between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, with the two of them colliding in a fight for the lead. Tim Mayer was one of the stewards during that race and after this incident, he collectively decided with the stewards that none of the drivers would be penalized because it wasn’t their fault.
But Tim also included a verbal tussle with Lewis Hamilton that happened in this discussion which he considers his biggest mistake, “My biggest mistake ever as a steward was in 2016 Hamilton and Rosberg started the race in Barcelona and they crashed,” he explained.
“Both drivers were out. We bring them in afterward. And we decide no further action in the end. But Lewis says to me, ‘Well, what was I supposed to do?’ As a steward, somebody who’s never driven an F1 car, I started to tell him what I thought he ought to have done. That wasn’t respectful of me, he got up, he was a bit mad and he slammed the door and walked out. Poor Ron Meadows, his team manager, went absolutely white in the face and said, ‘Oh, I’ll get him back to apologize’.”
“I said ‘Actually, Ron, I need you to go and apologise on my behalf because it was a stupid thing for me to do’. It’s maybe not my stupidest thing as a steward but I’m not going to tell you the other ones!”
This showed that the calm and composed Lewis Hamilton we see today could also lose his cool during a heated rivalry battle with one of his best friends.
Rosberg addresses Hamilton collision with George Russell
The biggest highlight of the day (rather night) during the Qatar GP was the clash between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton right at the start of the race, which ended up taking Lewis out. On one hand the stewards considered it a typical ‘lap 1, turn 1’ incident but on the other hand fans were going haywire comparing it to 2016.
In a class act however Lewis Hamilton apologized taking the blame upon himself and reconciled with George Russell before any drama could unfold. It seemed to have struck a chord in Nico Rosberg who has had his fair share of collisions in his time with Lewis Hamilton as a teammate.
“It was good for George in Qatar because Lewis admitted it was his mistake. That was a big victory for George, also internally, and that is very exceptional because in my time it was never 100 percent Lewis’s fault, he never really had to admit anything.”
Nico applauding George reminded many fans of how things could go wrong with a single crash between teammates.
What do you think about this new reveal by Tim Mayor and whom did you support in the 2016 season? Tell us your opinions in the comments section.
