It was no secret the relationship between Mercedes pair Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton has been fractious in recent years, but throughout the season 2016 season, it had taken many turns.
Towards the end of the of the 2015 season, Rosberg must have felt something stir inside of him when he lost the world championship to Hamilton at the US Grand Prix, throwing his podium cap at his teammate was the manifestation of his frustrations.
He would use that frustration positively, however, and went on to win the final three races of 2015 to finish the year on a high.
At the start of this season, Rosberg carried on that winning streak for four races while Hamilton suffered some unreliability issues, the 100% success rate early on allowed the German to take an almighty 43-point lead into the Spanish Grand Prix in early May.
The events of the first lap at the Barcelona circuit will reverb around the Formula One world for a long time. Teammates colliding is the absolute cardinal sin in motorsport, yet both Mercedes drivers took each other out at Turn 4, allowing Max Verstappen to clinch his first win.
In the days since the final race in Abu Dhabi, revelations of what was discussed that day in Spain seem to be coming to light. At the time Hamilton announced in private to the team that he was going to quit racing right there and then.
We all know that it did not eventually happen, but it gave Mercedes a massive headache. It appears this is why Pascal Wehrlein was rushed into the car for the two-day test after the Spanish Grand Prix instead of Esteban Ocon who was due to be in the car.
It is safe to say that relations between Rosberg and Hamilton will have been at an all time low at that period too.
After the fallout of Spain, the Monaco Grand Prix came and Hamilton took his first win of 2016, almost lapping Rosberg in the damp conditions that played a part in the proceedings. As the European leg of the championship continued, the Briton was finding his feet and continued on his winning ways.
However, the Austrian Grand Prix didn’t help the already strained relationship in the Mercedes team as, on the final lap, both Hamilton and Rosberg once again collided while fighting for the lead. While it wasn’t a race ending crash between the two, it did leave Rosberg with a broken front wing and meant he finished fourth dropping behind Verstappen and Raikkonen.
It was almost as if the once feisty yet friendly dynamic between the pair when they first started together in 2013 was all but gone and it was now all out war.
Hamilton continued to win races until the August summer break and it felt as if Rosberg’s will was starting to crack under the pressure. This theory was put to bed as the German stormed to three victories on the bounce from the Belgian Grand Prix, proving that he was not going to give up in the fighting for the world championship.
After Hamilton’s power unit failed in Malaysia and a poor start in Japan, it was almost as if the three-time champion was starting to come to terms with the fact he could very well lose the title fight while Rosberg kept picking up the points.
After the Japanese Grand Prix, Hamilton was not in a position where he was in control of the destiny of the world championship trailing Rosberg by 33 points heading to the US Grand Prix.
Taking four more victories to the end of the season in the hope that Rosberg may have a failure or a bad day didn’t count for too much.
In some of the comments made after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton may have come across rather harshly in comments about the situation, but his humility in parc ferme and on the podium was very fitting.
In 2016, they have experienced more ups and downs between them than perhaps ever before but, from now on, as they both hold the title of F1 world champions, they have realised their dreams and could well find a new dynamic in their relationship.
In a great way to bookend the season, Rosberg responded to Hamilton’s congratulatory tweet, looking back at the time they spoke of their dreams. Let’s hope it highlights that 2016 can be buried in the past and a new future dawns for the two world champions in the future, especially in light of Rosberg’s announcement to retire.
Twitter: thanks for your words. it is unbelievable that what we were talking about on that night at our holiday in Greece ha… https://t.co/ubtx93dj0K (@nico_rosberg)
