Nico Rosberg says Michael Schumacher wouldn’t even utter his name when they were Mercedes teammates

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Mercedes looked to have a German dream team between 2010 and 2012 with Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, but the former says the latter paid very little attention to him as teammates.

Both drivers joined Mercedes in 2010 – Rosberg from Williams and Schumacher fresh out of retirement – after they took over from defending champions Brawn. There was huge excitement around the team and their potential.

At the time, Rosberg was still up-and-coming in F1 and had a lot to prove in a faster car. But almost all of the attention was on his teammate, and he recalls how Schumacher was a ‘God’ at Mercedes and took no notice of him.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Michael Schumacher, from F1 career to net worth

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Rosberg and Hamilton were fighting for pole at the time

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Nico Rosberg ‘did not exist’ to Michael Schumacher at Mercedes

Rosberg was the better driver of the two over their three years as teammates. He grabbed five podiums, including a win in China in 2012, while Schumacher managed only one, losing to his compatriot in all three seasons before retiring.

Rosberg does not think Schumacher would regret his comeback, but he did not have the measure of his younger teammate. That was despite all the mind games that the seven-time champion was playing.

Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Rosberg recalled how Schumacher was treated like a ‘God’ at Mercedes. He also did not want to show ‘respect’ to his fellow German, saying that he ‘did not exist’ to him.

“But remember this guy is like God,” he said. “Like, he walked into a room, and the engineers stopped working whenever he walked into a room. Everybody, their mouths went open, ‘Michael Schumacher.’ It’s like it’s literally this guy’s God. I mean, greatest race car driver we’ve ever seen.

“In three years of being teammates, he did not mention my name once, in three years of sitting across the table in engineering meetings. I did not exist.

“I did not exist. I did not exist because mentioning my name would be showing respect, but me not existing was pushing me, ‘The little guy there who, we don’t even know his name.’

“That was his mental warship. He never once asked, ‘What did Nico do there?’ Not once, not a single time.”

James Vowles thinks Rosberg learned a lot from Schumacher, including how to put in the hard work. It certainly put him in good standing when he faced Lewis Hamilton from 2013 to 2016, beating him for his maiden title in that final year.