The day Rosberg and Hamilton’s F1 relationship exploded

The explosive nature of their rivalry created great tension within Mercedes as they battled for wins and titles in a team competition for three seasons over most weekends.

It occasionally overflowed on the track, especially in three on-track collisions – Belgium 2014, Spain 2016 and Austria 2016 – but there was constant fighting beneath the surface, which made it a challenge for the team to manage.

After Mercedes had the dominant car under the V6 hybrid regulations in 2014, the games between Hamilton and Rosberg started quickly. In their epic battle in Bahrain, both used engine modes against the team’s desire to add extra power. Hamilton then drew the same ploy in Spain to hold up Rosberg for the win, adding inflammation to the fire that was starting to burn between the two.

But things really got down to business two weeks later in Monaco when a qualifying incident served as the first public demonstration of how sour the relationship between Hamilton and Rosberg had become.

After his victory in 2013, Rosberg wanted to book two consecutive victories in Monaco with Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Graham Hill, Michael Schumacher and Niki Lauda. He also had to break Hamilton’s momentum after four straight wins put the Brits three points at the top of the drivers’ standings.

The pair were evenly matched through training and the first two qualification phases. Rosberg beat Hamilton by a tenth of a second in the first quarter before reversing in the second quarter.

Rosberg was able to reach provisional pole position with his first run in the third quarter and covered a lap of 1: 15.989 minutes to surprise Hamilton in just five hundredths of a second. But with a new set of super-soft tires and an improvement in the track from lap to lap, the final runs would certainly buy enough time to turn the momentum back into Hamilton.

And so it turned out that they had started their final rounds. Rosberg lost a tenth of a second through the opening sector while Hamilton gained two tenths and got him on course to snatch the pole away.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W05

Photo by: Sutton Images

Rosberg exited Casino Square before thundering down the hill to Mirabeau and turning his car right to avoid the bumps in the road before retreating to the wall on the left.

As he lined up to brake into the corner, Rosberg began to look at his steering wheel. Correct first right, then left, then right and left again. He raised the lock a third time to the right as he tried to turn, only to find his front right wheel locked. One final attempt was made to make the turn, sawing left and right again, before finally exiting the lap and swinging the car left and into the driveway.

There were a total of nine attempts to change the car’s direction, all of which were in vain to keep Rosberg on his pole lap. But they managed to highlight yellow flags and force all cars to slow down – including Hamilton.

“Yellow Yellow, Turn 5, Yellow Yellow, Turn 5,” reported Hamilton’s engineer Pete Bonnington.

“Ahhh, very good of him,” replied Hamilton. “Very good.”

Rosberg pulled his car back from the driveway before returning to Parc Ferme to celebrate pole position.

“I tried to make it, but it turned out that I would hit the wall of the tire,” said Rosberg. “It was close, but I managed to get onto the escape route. I know I had a really good banker there, so I tried to push a little more and went over the edge.

“I thought it was over. Of course I’m sorry for what happened to Lewis. I didn’t know exactly where he was until I turned and saw him emerge. That’s not great, of course, but that’s the way it is. “

Refusing to answer questions about whether Rosberg’s move was deliberate, Hamilton simply said, “I should have known this was going to happen.”

He added, “I don’t know if Senna and Prost talked about it, but I really liked the way Senna handled it, so I’m going to take a page out of his book.”

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid, leads Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W05

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Williams driver Felipe Massa said Rosberg’s steering was “strange” while the stewards agreed it was worth investigating. It took them three hours to look at the footage.

“When [Rosberg] begins to move the steering wheel, which unsettles the car, which you would normally not do, “said ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert after the incident at Sky Sports. “Then he starts to go ahead and close locks. It looks very half-hearted.

“It’s always on the move. Maybe it blocked when braking, I don’t know, but it looked very strange. Then it is very easy to go straight. “

1996 World Champion Damon Hill added, “If it was a deliberate thing, it was a very good deliberate thing.”

Three hours after confirming their investigation, the stewards cleared Rosberg of any wrongdoing and said they could “find no evidence of any crime related to the Turn 5 incident” after viewing the footage and telemetry.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff jumped to defend Rosberg, but understood Hamilton’s suspicions.

“If you want to win a world championship, you have to be suspicious,” said Wolff to Autosport. “It won’t be the last time that it gets emotionally intense between the drivers.” If you have a shot at the World Cup, that’s for sure.

“Everything is discussed and it was a very tough, close fight between the two of them. We have analyzed the data and there is nothing else to say. “

On the coming race day, Rosberg would return to his second win in a row in Monaco. Hamilton hoped his teammate would be undercut if he pitted under the safety car on the same lap. Dirt in Hamilton’s left eye made him struggle through the closing stages of the race, but he managed to fend off Daniel Ricciardo to keep second place.

Race winner Nico Rosberg, Mercedes F1, second place Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W05

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

The question that remained, however, was how the relationship between Hamilton and Rosberg had hit a new low. At the ceremonies after the race there was no handshake or Congratulations between the couple. They no longer spoke to each other.

When asked if the problems with Rosberg could be resolved, Hamilton said, “I have no answer for you.” Rosberg was more excited about trying to fix things, saying the couple “always sit down and discuss it and move on, and that’s what we will.”

Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda had his usual clear view of things.

“What I didn’t like and I have to say and I will tell [Hamilton] This is Monday when you are up there [on the podium] and you don’t say hello to your team-mate, which Nico always did – that’s not good, ”said Lauda after the race.

“It’s not because I’m well trained, it’s because of the Mercedes brand. That’s something I’m worried about now, but it’s easy to fix.”

Five days later, Hamilton appeared to be making peace with Rosberg and posted a picture on social media of them riding unicycles together when they were teammates in go-karting.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, and as friends we have our ups and downs,” wrote Hamilton. “Today we talked and we’re cool, still friends.”

But neither Lauda nor Hamilton would prove correct. It wouldn’t be easy to fix. Hamilton and Rosberg would not remain friends. Instead, their struggle resulted in some of the most explosive moments in recent F1 history. The rivalry was only defused when Rosberg quit after winning the title in 2016.

Whether it was a real mistake or a clever trick by Rosberg, his Mirabeau mishap left a rift in their relationship that would never be fixed. Only he will know exactly what the truth was.

Press conference: Race winner Nico Rosberg, Mercedes F1, second Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W05

Photo by: Emily Davenport / Motorsport Images