Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg shared a fierce F1 rivalry (Image: Getty)
reviewed his 2014 title fight with ahead of Sunday’s race in Las Vegas, digging up his frustrations with the German racer’s conduct at the that year.
Discussing the drama in an interview segment for Sky Sports F1, Hamilton explained: “He chose to go first in qualifying and then went down the escape road (after a mistake at Mirabeau Haute), which brought the yellow flag out. I think I was a tenth-and-a-half up at the time and I was really fighting for that pole. But anyways…”
With both drivers’ final Q3 runs ruined, Rosberg held onto his provisional pole and lined up P1 on the grid with his team-mate behind him. The order remained the same on race day, giving the German his second Grand Prix victory of the 2014 campaign.
“That’s just never a way that I would want to win,” Hamilton continued. “And I don’t think he felt any remorse for it.” After his Monaco triumph, Rosberg would win just three more races, while a five-race winning streak between Monza and Austin set the man from Stevenage on course for his second World Championship.
Hamilton’s frustrations could be relinquished at the end of the season. Despite the controversial double-points title-decider format giving Rosberg a fighting chance, the Brit stormed to victory in Abu Dhabi, while an ERS failure ended his rival’s hopes early on, and he ultimately crossed the line a lap down in P14.
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Nico Rosberg retired after beating Hamilton to the 2024 title (Image: Getty)
Despite being extremely close friends throughout their childhood karting careers, Hamilton and Rosberg were far from harmonious when they teamed up at .
“Nico and I were friends when we were 13, probably until we were 15 or 16, and then we both moved into different categories,” Hamilton continued. “And so we didn’t see each other for years, or we didn’t remain in touch either.
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“When we became team-mates, we had literally talked about it so many times throughout our karting days when we were together. And we would say ‘How cool would it be if we were team-mates in Formula One one day?’.
“It was really cool to dream… and [then] we didn’t really talk a lot. I think we were just such strong competitors. We definitely weren’t working in harmony.”