Nico Rosberg was once convinced that his Mercedes mechanics wanted him to ‘lose’ to Lewis Hamilton

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Mercedes won the first seven world championships of F1’s turbo-hybrid era. But as Nico Rosberg explained in a recent interview, the toxic atmosphere in the garage threatened to derail the juggernaut.

Between 2014 and 2016, Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were the only two drivers with title-worthy machinery. They were friends at first, but the relationship deteriorated to the point that they became ‘enemies’.

This was the price of Mercedes’ dominance – they were so far clear that the drivers perhaps felt they could put the collective interest aside, prioritising their only title chances with the constructors’ a foregone conclusion.

But Toto Wolff was worried by the threat of Ferrari in 2015. Sebastian Vettel won three races that year, finishing within 50 points of Rosberg in the standings, and the team principal felt he had to take drastic action.

Nico Rosberg recalls Toto Wolff’s ‘magic’ mechanic swap at Mercedes

Ahead of the 2016 season, Wolff moved five of Rosberg’s mechanics over to Hamilton’s side of the garage, and vice versa. The divisions were so great by this point that the crews were concealing the reasons for car failures in the hope of jeopardising the other side’s chances.

Wolff recognised that Mercedes would be in ‘trouble’ if this continued. With no warning, he ordered the reshuffle, and both drivers were stunned.

Rosberg was rattled because he’d built the ultimate trust in his crew. He even suspected that Hamilton’s ex-colleagues wanted him to ‘lose’.

But looking back, he recognises that it was a ‘magic’ managerial move from Wolff.

“Hamilton and I became real enemies internally,” Rosberg told the Vooma YouTube channel. “It transcended all the way to the mechanics being enemies and the engineers being enemies.

“When that happens, when my car would break down, my mechanics would figure out what broke, and they wouldn’t report it anymore, because they want the other car to break down as well, because that’s the rival, that’s the enemy.

“Then you really get into trouble as a team when you don’t share learnings anymore. At one point, Ferrari was starting to catch us up and was getting really close to us because of this.

“Our leader, Toto Wolff – and my mechanics are my family and I trust them with my life – he decided overnight that he’s going to switch the mechanics over. [It was a] huge shock, because he didn’t even ask us or tell us. He just did it. The next morning we walked in, and we would never even have thought that would be possible to do.

“My enemies were now on my car, and they’re fixing the last bolt, and I’m about to go out and do 240mph through a city, and they’re fixing the last bolt. I know they want me to lose, because they’re my enemies.

“It really was so smart because it neutralised the whole atmosphere so quickly in the team. It was amazing. Everybody started collaborating again, and it worked magic, and we became unstoppable again after that. Ferrari just dropped away in the back.”

How did Lewis Hamilton feel about Toto Wolff swapping his mechanics?

Hamilton was comfortably the stronger Mercedes driver in 2015 but Rosberg found another level the following year. Capitalising on some reliability issues on car 44, he built a commanding early lead and held it for most of the season, eventually prevailing by five points.

Hamilton refused to comment on Wolff’s mechanic swap, telling the media they’ll have to ‘buy his book’ after he retires to discover his true thoughts. Had he been supportive, he surely would have said so.

Rosberg played extreme mind games with Hamilton that year, deliberately shedding muscle on his legs at one stage to save weight.

Knowing that he needed to outscore Rosberg by 12 points at the finale, Hamilton refused to follow Mercedes’ team orders and backed him into the pack. The overt ploy, which was unsuccessful, tested his relationship with Wolff, but talks over the winter ensured it could continue.

Rosberg retired after winning the title, and harmony returned to Mercedes when Valtteri Bottas arrived.