Nico Rosberg reveals he did things that didn’t come naturally to beat ‘genius’ Lewis Hamilton

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Nico Rosberg has revealed the lengths he had to go to in order to get the better of Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

Back in 2016, Rosberg and Hamilton were involved in one of the most dramatic and hostile title fights in Formula 1 history.

The pair, who went from childhood friends to teammates, were looking to outdo each other with the world title on the line.

As a result, their relationship turned sour, with Rosberg eventually coming out on top as he won his maiden world championship by finishing five points ahead of Hamilton.

Following the battle, Rosberg retired with immediate effect, while Hamilton went on to win four more world titles.

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Rosberg and Hamilton were fighting for pole at the time

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Nico Rosberg reveals how he managed to beat ‘genius’ Lewis Hamilton

Speaking recently on the High Performance podcast, Rosberg revealed how he had to push himself to do things that didn’t come ‘naturally’ to him to beat Hamilton, whom he labelled as a ‘genius’. 

The German stated that he felt his actions eventually sent Hamilton a message that he was no longer ‘Mr Nice Guy’.

When asked if he had to stop being the ‘real’ Rosberg, he replied: “Oh, totally. Yeah, because the real Nico Rosberg is way too nice. I had to push and be tougher sometimes, even though it didn’t come naturally to me.

“That’s just me consciously saying I have to be more firm; I have to not yield like I would naturally; I would yield, as I did so often before that.

“I had to push myself hard, and it was part of my visualisation, repetition that I was doing in meditation. I was working very hard on that.

“Visualising myself not yielding, being firm in my position, was a strong part of my visualisation, and I was meditating with posture. You meditate with a posture of strength.” 

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Rosberg continued: “In the heat of the moment, that preparation helps to hold your ground and not yield, and unfortunately, then of course it led to quite a few crashes.

“Unfortunately, because Lewis is such a genius, most of the time it was more my fault than his fault!

“In hindsight, for me, I had to do that. I had to do that because it sent a message to him. I think it took him back a little bit- oh, something’s changing here with Nico; he’s not the Mr Nice Guy anymore.

“That was a very important ingredient to having a chance to actually beat him one day.”

Rosberg has previously admitted that the battle with Hamilton in 2016 took a lot out of him, which contributed to his decision to walk away from the sport.

Following his retirement, Rosberg has dived into the media world as he has often been part of the Sky Sports F1 broadcast line-up.

The 2016 title fight between Rosberg and Hamilton will forever be etched into the history of F1 as one of the most toxic and tense battles of all time.