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Maybe Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg should have used their car insurance.
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At the dawn of Mercedes’ dominant era in Formula 1 racing, there was a heated rivalry between the manufacturer’s two drivers. And it was a rivalry that saw Hamilton and Rosberg have to dig into their own wallets on a few occasions.
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“Because Lewis and I crashed, eventually the team made us pay for the damage,” Rosberg told the Business of Sport podcast. “We had to sign a contract that, from now on, if we crash, no matter whose fault it is, we will pay for the damage. I remember how much I had to pay that was £360,000 that I shelled out for one of these accidents.
“That was very painful. So we definitely made sure not to crash after that.”
With Mercedes having the two best cars on the track, the fight for F1 supremacy was becoming an internal one between Hamilton and Rosberg.
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The manufacturer would begin a streak of seven consecutive constructor’s and driver’s titles beginning in 2014, but the rivalry within the team began a year earlier when the two drivers first became teammates.
“Equal opportunity was how the team framed it. The problem is that it’s so hard because it’s never equal,” Rosberg said.
Rosberg explained how every race there are decisions to make between the two cars, from parts to race strategy, and it’s up the driver to push for himself.
“Every weekend it’s a topic,” Rosberg said. “Because if you don’t voice it makes it too easy for the team to walk over you and always nudge a little bit of the preferential treatment the other way.”
Rosberg also talked about the reasons and importance of following team orders, which is one aspect of F1 racing that fans — and sometimes drivers — have a hard time with.
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“We need to work together and allow the faster driver of us to have a chance to go for that win. That was a team internal rule,” Rosberg said,
Rosberg described a situation when he was leading the world championship while racing in the rain in Monaco and was in second place, but not gaining on leader Daniel Ricciardo. He was asked to let Hamilton pass him even though it would hurt Rosberg’s championship chances.
“So I had to move out to the side although I’m fighting for the championship with him and wave him past,” Rosberg said. “And that’s horrible, That’s really, really tough.”
Later in the year, according to Rosberg, Hamilton was asked to follow team rules and the British driver refused.
“Fast forward to the last race of the year and Lewis was putting our team result in jeopardy at the last race by backing everybody up, including myself, to give himself a chance for the championship. It went against that exact rule that we had,” Rosberg said. “The team was using this rule and saying, ‘Lewis, you have to go faster now or let Nico pass,’ and he did not respect that.”
Hamilton won the 2014 and 2015 driver championships, before Rosberg won the 2016 world title and retired from F1 at 31 years old with two years remaining on his Mercedes contract. Hamilton would go on to win world titles from 2017-2020.
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