Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were team mates at Mercedes and fierce title rivals for four seasons, but the 2016 champion admits that the news that Hamilton is to switch to Ferrari in 2025 had nonetheless come as a big shock to him.
Hamilton announced before the start of the current season that he would be leaving Mercedes and heading to Maranello at the end of the year, sending a seismic shock through the F1 driver market.
“Of course it came as a huge surprise," Rosberg told Sky Sports F1 this week. "No one expected it, I didn’t expect it either.
“But if you look at the grand scheme of things, then why not? It’s towards the end of the career," he said, pointing out that it made sense for Hamilton to cap his time in F1 with this move.
“I know Lewis has always been a big fan of Ferrari road cars, so why not make that switch and have a different experience driving in red?" he said. "Then he can really tick off both boxes
"There’s two legendary teams, it’s Mercedes and Ferrari," he explained. "He will have driven for [them both]." And given Mercedes' current slump in form compared to a Ferrari renaissance, there's other good reasons for the decision.
"At the moment it also seems in performance terms to be the right decision for him," Rosberg argued. "Maybe he makes an amazing move like at the time, 12 years ago, when he moved from McLaren to Mercedes.
“McLaren were winning races, Mercedes were nowhere, and the moment he moved McLaren went backwards and Mercedes started winning races. Maybe he can [achieve] the same timing done again.”
While Hamilton and Rosberg were close friends as youngsters, they fell out badly during their rivalry at Brackley and the 2016 season was particularly rancorous, with contact between them in the Spanish GP forcing both cars out of the race.
Rosberg revealed this week that Mercedes had made the drivers share the cost of repairs from that and any future clashes between the pair. Even though he won the title, Rosberg promptly retired from F1 nine days after the season finale.
With that unique perspective, Rosberg said that having Charles Leclerc as his team mate next year could work to Hamilton's advantage. "We’re all looking forward to that dynamic,” he said.
“Charles doesn’t seem like someone who goes into conflict too much with his team mate, so that will make it easier. From that point of view maybe it won’t be too extremely spicy.
“Nevertheless Charles is probably the second-best qualifier out there after Max Verstappen," he noted. "It’s going to be a tough battle for both, really. I think the level could be pretty similar. It will be great to watch.”
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