Nico Rosberg: Rivalry, Sacrifice & Walking Away on Top

0:00Whether you're watching your favorite NBA team at the arena, the bar, or hanging at home, grab an ice-cold Michelob Ultra and enjoy every moment of the NBA season. Stock up today and watch your team drop buckets with a bucket full of ice-cold Ultra. Michelob Ultra, Superior Light Beer. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch, Michelob Ultra. Registered Light Beer, St. Louis, Missouri. Must be 21 plus to order alcohol. Alcohol available only in select markets. As the Formula One season shifts into gear, this week we're revisiting my chat with 2016 champ Nico Rosberg. We traveled to Monaco in 2017 to sit down with Rosberg for his first extensive interview after retirement.

0:45He explains his shocking decision to call it quits at only 31 years old and at the height of his career. Just came to me. Wow, that would feel right. That would feel awesome. Opens up about teammate Lewis Hamilton's controversial move during their final race together. Could you see yourself even handling it similarly? Well, it was not right what he did. And offers his hopes for the future of their friendship. I'm open to finding our way, you know, and even having a good relationship again in the future. Why not? Without further ado, here's Nico. I wanted to start by talking about just the Mercedes team and its recent dominance.

1:24What do you think most accounts for that? It's very comparable to the business world. Take an Apple, for example. It just has the biggest group of competent people who have been managed by great leaders in the best way possible, who work together well, with, of course, a big budget and all that. And it just makes the Mercedes team the best team in F1. And it's really, really impressive also to see it from the inside, you know, how it all works and everything. It's extremely high-level stuff. What was that like for you and the changes you noticed in teams going from Williams to Mercedes? Yeah, it's a big change because Williams, especially the resources, you know, it just didn't have the resources necessary to really be the best at the time, which was a long time ago.

2:14And you always had to make compromises. You know, we can't do everything. We need to choose which development is the most important. And at Mercedes, it's just really, you know, everything can be done. There's never a no for every little hundredth, every little. Really? Yeah, there's no limits. And then that's the big difference, just a massive drive. But also, well, the amount of competent people, as I said, it's just a massive push. It's unbelievable. How dependent is a driver on his team's technology and equipment? Yeah, so our sport is quite unique in that sense. I mean, the tennis player, he just depends on his daily form.

2:53Whereas with us, we really depend on our machine as well. Without a good machine, we're seeing it with Alonso, for example, who's one of the best drivers out there. And for the last 10 years, he's struggled to be in the top 10 because his car is just not good. So we really depend on our car. And then the driver is important as well, but it's really both things come together. How tough is it to be in a situation years ago where every time you leave the garage, you know your car is just not strong enough to win? Yeah, it's difficult because coming through, everybody always has the same car when you're young.

3:33Right. And I won all those different categories except one of them, but most of them I won all those. And that got me to F1. And then you get to F1 and suddenly you just can't win because you don't have the good car to win. Well, for most people, when you start off. And that's difficult to come to grips with, yeah, to accept, okay, I'm not going to be able to win. I just need to do the best I can with the car that I have and then be patient. And one day I will get the best car and I will be able to win. Take some adjusting. How do you stay motivated in a situation like that? Well, because you can still do an awesome job with what you have.

4:06And that will be acknowledged by people as well. When you finish fifth with a car that actually should be 15th. but is that acknowledged by people especially the people close around not the people watching on TV but the people you're working with in the team, in your friends definitely when you're racing in the car in a Grand Prix what are you seeing? what do I see? well one of our strengths is that we're very very quick at taking stuff in because we need to react so quickly. You know, we're going at 200 miles an hour in America, right? 200 mile an hour through the street of Monaco. And there's just so much coming at you and you need to process really quickly.

4:53So I think that's one of our skills. Yeah. And you can't really, you don't have one single split second to think about something else because then you'll crash. So it's absolute focus. You said that you have to be laser focused and concentrating all the time. What are you thinking about? Well, I have so much input coming that I'm just thinking about all these things that are going on. The breaking point, the this, the that. But I also have to have capacity left to remember what happened in each corner on the previous lap, to be able to do each and every corner better on the following lap. Always going through that process.

5:30Because it's never the same. Every lap is different. And how does the ability to process that improve over time? That's a big difference for me. When I was young, I didn't have much capacity left because I used all my capacity for driving the car fast. But then with experience, now especially in my last year, the driving the car fast used much less capacity. And then I had much more left to think of other stuff, how I can best set up my car, remember what went wrong on the previous lap and do that better the next lap. And also, if you look at our steering wheel, it's like a spaceship control pad.

6:10It's just unbelievable. So many switches. And you can use all of those switches to your benefit on the track because you can really transform the car with them. And you can even do settings for individual corners. And again, that's where the experience really comes in to nail that. In 2003, you had a reasonably big crash in Formula 3. To what extent are you ever afraid when driving? Yeah, fear plays a part sometimes. It doesn't slow me down, but it's definitely there because there are some, especially on some tracks, there's just some corners where you really think, you know, if something goes wrong now and you go off, it's really going to be painful.

6:54So there's a bit of fear. And you'll think about that while driving? That'll go through your mind? You could get flashes of those thoughts, yeah, but very rarely. It's more before you get in the car. You said before you're risk-averse. How so? Yeah, I'm not the guy who needs to put his life on the line all the time, different things. So for me, that's not where the passion is for me. For me, the passion really comes from the fighting, the battles, driving this high-tech machine on the edge, and trying to be the best out there. That's really where my passion is. What made you want to become a race car driver in the first place?

7:39Watching my dad. So my dad was Formula One world champion himself in 1982. And that's really something that I'm very, very proud of, and it's very special, that we've been able to achieve the same thing, both of us, and in a second I'll bring in the trophy from the world championship when we both have our name on there and there's only 30-something other people on there. Two of those are us. So that's just an amazing story to share, really. I think you were sitting around the Christmas table this past Christmas and what does your mom say? Yeah, well, it's my mom, my dad and I. And my mom suddenly stops eating and she's like, I'm actually sitting here with two Formula One world champions.

8:24And it's just a funny moment then. That's pretty cool, though. Yeah, definitely. I think it was to mark your dad's final competition. You're on the roof with him. I think you're 10 years old, taking an honorary lap around. And you were quoted somewhere saying it was that moment that you knew one day you were going to be a professional and successful race car driver. What about that made you have that realization then? So it was the farewell race for my dad and 100 ,000 people on the grandstands, everybody cheering for him and we were both doing an honorary lap to wave goodbye. And then the whole race weekend as such, just the emotions that are involved in racing and the fans, the battles with the cars, the machinery, and this man against man.

9:16You've got to be warriors out there in a race car to win. and it's just fascinating. And so that's where I really started to think, wow, this is what I would like to do myself one day when I'm older. Can't believe that I'm now sitting here as a world champion. But what about that moment then at 10 years old makes you still today realize that that was kind of a key moment for you and recognizing this is what you wanted to do when you get older? No, it's just, yeah, the moment itself there sitting there with my dad doing that farewell lap and 100 ,000 people going nuts and cheering at him. It was just very special.

10:04You know, you grew up obviously fortunate, and you made the comment before that I thought was really interesting. You said the challenge with that is, quote, everything after that is a step backwards in your life, So it's a huge ambition to get yourself back to this lifestyle on your own terms. How so? Well, if you look around where we are now, it's really an awesome place. And I've been very lucky to grow up here in Monaco. And, well, I grew up in a wealthy environment. and it's very difficult to find your way as a young guy to make that sort of money to be able to afford that sort of lifestyle yourself once you get out of the house.

10:51Incredibly difficult. And of course I'm so used to that, you know, and it's not easy then to take a big step back and suddenly live in this tiny studio or something and it's just different and not go on a great holiday and things like that. And so, yeah, definitely that was a big ambition for me to try and get there soon, that I'll be able to afford that lifestyle myself and then continue living in those sort of standards. And yeah, I'm very, very happy that that worked out, of course. And your mom grew up in Germany after the war. Yeah. What do you think your parents taught you about work ethic?

11:30My mom was picking up the cigarettes from the US soldiers where they'd left a little bit and that was her, she was smoking those because she couldn't afford to buy new cigarettes. Right. And both my parents, yeah, they really, I think, brought across those values of being very mindful about money and definitely not throwing it left or right. In your early school years, you were apparently treated somewhat badly by classmates. Yeah. In what ways? Just as it is for a lot of people in school. I was bullied and it was sometimes a difficult time. Like, what would they do? Well, in class, for example, shoot chewing gum through the straws into my hair and things like that.

12:23Which might be funny now, but wasn't then. And then spitting and pinning me down and stuff like that. So, yeah, sometimes difficult times at school, yeah. How did you handle it then? I just have to stick with it, you know, because in the end, every time you try and get help from grown-ups or something like that, it doesn't work. You just need to find your way yourself and stand up for it and figure it out. But, of course, you know, do speak about it. Because if you just hold everything inside, which I made that mistake as well, then it's difficult. Unfortunately, I wasn't as wise to really open up about it, so I really kept it inside, and that made it more difficult for sure.

13:06But then it was just time. Time got through it, and actually then, nowadays, those guys that were bullying are some of my best friends. Oh, are they? Yeah. So what changed things? Just growing up. and it's through those teenager years where some people go a bit nuts I think and then with time realize that's not right and I'm not someone who I won't harbor how do you call it when you harbor ill will for a long time I'm someone I'm really able to forgive that's not a problem and then so yeah we're good friends I think at one point were considering going to college. If you went to college, you would have likely studied aerodynamics, but instead you continue racing.

14:02Obviously, if it worked out well for you, but how difficult for you was it at the time when you make the decision to continue racing, yet all your friends who you grew up with are leaving to go elsewhere to school? I did school very normally with them, even though I missed half a week from every week because of racing. You missed half a week every week. I think if you ask them, they will say, yeah, definitely he was never at school. Yeah. But I did do it normally and I had to do the homework and the exams that they did. And you still did. I always had to catch up. And no, I did really well. It was another challenge for me where I wanted to succeed.

14:39And then suddenly they all go to university and I'm going a completely different direction. It felt very strange at first. So I did feel that I would like to do both, university and racing. but then I realized no that's not gonna work. I took a gap year and in that gap year I won everything in racing so I knew okay this racing is gonna be a success so just stick with that. Tell about the legendary tennis matches you used to have with your dad that inevitably would end with you crying regardless of if you won or lost. Yeah I was very very young and I played a lot of tennis so I was pretty good at it and we had these epic battles with my dad always on the tennis court and yeah so there was always a bad ending it didn't matter if I lost then I was unhappy because I lost and if I won I was unhappy because I thought he let me win so it's just a disaster there was always a tough always a bad ending how competitive were the two of you with each other it was the same of course both both massively competitive yeah I mean that's where I I have it from my dad, definitely, because my mom, when we're playing golf, she doesn't actually care if the ball goes in or out or doesn't.

15:48So I definitely have the competitiveness from my dad. And still to this day that way? Yeah. But now I see it more, and so I can control it a bit better. How would you describe the differences in each of your personalities? My dad and I? Uh-huh. Very different. Very different in many ways and then similar in other ways. My dad is much more emotional and Latin in a way. And I'm more calm and more rational and more thinking about things and taking more time to react. You said somewhere that your father, who was managing you at the time, there was kind of a blurred line between being a parent and being a professional partner.

16:33How difficult initially was it to navigate that? Yeah, that's such a big topic and so difficult for everybody watching this as well. How much do you support your child and do you completely just let him get on with it? And if he goes through phases of being totally lazy and therefore losing great opportunities for the future, do you just stand back and accept that or do you give him support to get through that so that he can have the opportunity to achieve great things afterwards? it's a very difficult subject. I think I'm very thankful because feeling-wise my dad nailed it perfectly. So especially through the teenage years he was really supportive and even in a way expecting me to do really well.

17:21And I could feel that expectation from him that he expected his son to push and achieve something in life. And that really was a driving force in a way. And then once I got beyond my teenage years and I got to F1, he completely stepped back and let me get on with it, not coming to the races anymore after we discussed that and agreed that that was the best way to do it. And what was the hardest part for you of making that decision where here's this guy who's not only your parent but your manager and just navigating that decision-making process of realizing, hey, I just want you to be my father and not the manager anymore?

18:01The biggest issue is that he is the best manager in the world, in my eyes. And he also managed Formula One world champion Mika Hakim. Right. So he knows everything, and he's the most competent guy. And suddenly I decided then that the best was for me not to use that competence and just go it alone and manage myself and make my own deals and my own contracts and my own decisions which way to go. So, yeah, I mean, not that easy, obviously, because I don't have his experience. But I was confident that I could do a really good job, and here I am today, so it worked out well. And what made you decide to go in that direction at the time?

18:38I like to challenge myself also. And I really believe that we need to put ourselves into difficult situations over and over, because that's where we grow as a human being. And I always do that in life, that I really push myself, even if it's very uncomfortable. And this was the same thing. So I really challenged myself and decided, okay, I'm going to do it myself and make my own contracts, my own deals, and it worked out well. I mentioned to you before the taping that we taped in an episode with Lewis Hamilton, and he, like you, was managed by his father for a while. He told me during the taping how difficult it was for him to recognize that it was time to move on and then make that decision.

19:21To what extent did each of you ever talk about with each other kind of the similar similarities you went through on that front? No, we didn't talk about that so much. Just that, no, not at all. But of course, there are probably surely some similarities. But I think we both found our way on that. And it's not comparable at all to completely different situations. But we both found our way. But with Lewis also, it's a very unique story that when we're 14 years old, we're both racing for the same go-kart team for Mercedes-Benz McLaren at the time. And we're best friends. And we went on holiday to Greece, sat at dinner and said, imagine if in 15 years time we're going to be in the best Formula One team together, racing against each other for the championships.

20:16And then 15 years later, it happens. And that's quite insane. How much do you think you both believed at that time that it would happen? I don't think you can believe that as a 14-year-old. Because you're in go-karting. Formula One is so far away and so huge. You have the Michael Schumachers at the time dominating that world. Of course, it can be a dream. But to really believe that you're going to be there, I think difficult. And speaking of Michael Schumacher, you've obviously been teammates with a couple of the most talented, most successful drivers that have a couple of the strongest personalities as well.

21:00But you mentioned being 14 and talking to Lewis about it. I think he was 15 years old. You, in go-karting, competed against a 32-year-old Michael Schumacher. the best part of that was what? It was a great experience. Great experience because especially with Michael also, he's the most successful F1 driver of all time. And by some margin, I mean, what he achieved is insane. To have him as my teammate for three years was a great period. Important period in my career. First of all, I was able to learn a lot because the guy, it's obvious why he's seven-time world champion. the dedication, the passion, the attention to detail and everything is phenomenal.

21:43I mean, did you notice a difference between him versus other drivers? Just everything he does. Like what specifically? His whole life revolves around going fast on a racetrack, you know, and optimizing every area even because the team, so it's driving the race car, it's the setting up of the race car, so working well with your engineers and putting massive effort into that. It's team building, getting the whole team around you and being a driving force to help the team progress so that they're going to be able to build the best car for you. The work with the media, the mind games, trying to get your opponent, push him down with the mind, all these things, and he just did everything to perfection.

22:27Well, speaking of the mind games, tell about him once feeding you to the toilet and then also on another occasion you parking behind him. There's a lot of stuff going on, yeah. I mean, one example is here at the Monaco Grand Prix, there's just one toilet in the garage. There's no other way. You can't go anywhere else. And we always have to. We go to the toilet just before getting in the car because we're in the car for such a long time and you can't go in the car. Right. And so he got there first. So I was waiting outside. And he knew it was me outside, you know. And so he just took his time forever, you know.

23:13He was probably standing there just looking at the mirror, watching his watch, leaving it to the last minute to get out so that he can just about get to the car. But he knows that I'm not going to be able to go to the bathroom anymore. And of course, I'm getting more and more stressed outside because I'm like, jeez, I'm going to miss this side of the session. Right. And then I had to eventually use a bucket for help.

23:41Yeah, so that's just small examples, you know, of stuff that he would do. But I really learned to figure out my way so it wouldn't get to me, in a sense. So that was also one of the learning things. And then you're in Abu Dhabi, and I think that you each have parking spaces next to each other. I got him back on that day. He's a little bit in your spot, but you aren't 100 % sure that he was doing it intentionally. Then I put the car behind his, so he was completely locked in, and I lost the keys by coincidence. So how did he handle that then? It was a bit of a tense moment, but it was okay. So, I mean, are they like at the time or those moments where you guys are joking with each other or like you guys are consciously trying to get under?

24:31Well, depends. It's more you can It's joking but in an intense level because you are as well trying to beat the other guy So the intent the intent of it is to kind of get the guy a little bit off his game Yeah, but then for me, it's not in my nature so for me it's something I have to work out and then figure my way out What do you think you learned from him? Yeah, all these things, exactly in all those different areas and really the discipline determination, determination to just keep going over and over again and find every little tenth of a second that you can improve in every area and putting it all together What was your reaction when you learned he's retiring and then your childhood friend Lewis Hamilton's going to become your teammate?

25:27I mean, for sure, both were difficult situations for me because they were both world champions. And naturally, the team will give more focus to the world champion than to someone who has not achieved so much at the time yet. you know and so each time it was it was a challenge to stand my ground within the team and and to get the necessary respect as well which i need to achieve something and but both times it worked out well and i found my way and worked harder and and really had the support also from the team you know i'm very very thankful that they they always gave me the necessary support and and we could grow together and and then end up with winning the championship right and it's so cool to talk about because obviously it ends with you winning the championship and having a lot of success but how at that time do you stand your ground uh you know to get what you want with another world champion coming in it's just effort it takes effort to to really um gel with the team you know and uh and grow your position within the team to get their respect and example is you know we had a strategy meeting then just before the race where both drivers need to be addressed because it's equally important for both of them to nail their races to get to know what's going on with the strategy and I would not be addressed at all it would just be Michael even though we're sitting next to each other right in front because the guy for Michael was a god for the guy so he completely forgot that I was sitting there and just spoke to Michael and then I would tell him that, that it's really, you know, it's difficult for me and I would expect from you to give us both the same amount of attention.

27:11And that worked out then, perfect. So then next time around that stuck in his mind and then he did give us both the attention and that's just one example of how you really try and progress there. So in comes your childhood friend who you mentioned you vacationed together, share hotel rooms together, but things are a lot different once you become teammates. Lewis told me in our taping that friendship with the teammates is almost impossible. What do you think led to the friendship starting to fall apart? It's so much at stake. It's the World Championship in Formula One, which is our childhood dream.

27:54And so it's nearly impossible. as long as one doesn't accept to be second and the other guy first, or, you know, accept that one is better and the other is worse. So as long as you're both wanting to beat the other guy and thinking that you're better than the other guy, you can't really be friends because it's so intense. And especially if you're within the same team. It's such a complicated situation because the team, we're driving both for the team, you know, to achieve great, have great success for Mercedes. But at the same time, we have to think about ourselves. and try and beat the other guy.

28:27And it's completely unusual for a team to have two number one drivers. Very unusual in our sport, yeah. It's happened a handful of times in the history of the sport, in the 75 years, that the two guys within the same team are battling each other so intensely for the world championship year in, year out, especially on a three-year run. That's never happened in the sport before. When the relationship was at its worst or at its lowest point, what did the interaction between the two of you entail? There wasn't much. There wasn't? No, because at times it was really difficult. I mean, in Spain, we took each other out from the lead, both first and second, and had a massive crash.

29:14Both went flying off the track. And that's some intense times, and also internally discussing that. Very difficult. So, like, away from the cameras behind closed doors, when you guys see each other after something like that, what happens? It's one guy against the other guy, trying to stand his ground within the team, and especially important is to try and keep the support from the team, because if you lose that, you won't be able to succeed. So it's really important to keep the team's support. When the two of you are sitting down together with the team, trying to resolve the issues. What's transpiring in the room in a situation like that?

30:01Well, they try and remind us that we're here for the good of the team. And so we must put aside our ego thinking and remember that in everything we say, especially to the outside, to the media, we're here for the good of the team. So that's really important. But the team really did a good job in the end with managing us because the most important thing is to remain neutral and whenever possible not to take sides. And they managed to do that quite well. So in the end, we always came through such difficult moments and more or less it worked out. And the relationship was okay until the very end. If you had not retired, what do you think the likelihood is you and Lewis could have coexisted long-term together as teammates?