“Lewis wants to fight, he wants to win, he wants to overtake. Racing is his
life.
“For Nico, he wants to reach excellence, the perfect lap. Perhaps it [winning
GP2] was part of the motivation for Lewis because they had a long-term
relationship: ‘Nico did it, so I have to do it.’ ”
Even before the Frenchman managed Rosberg to the championship in 2005 and
Hamilton a year later, the pair have been lining up one and two on the grid
since their respective careers began. Nearly a decade ago, at the 2004 Macau
Grand Prix, a 19-year-old Hamilton took his place in pole position, with his
now familiar friend and foe, six months his junior, over his left shoulder
starting second.
Just west of Hong Kong across the Pearl River Delta, on one of the fiercest
street circuits in the world, Rosberg got the jump when the five red lights
went out. The German did his utmost to relegate Hamilton’s trademark yellow
helmet to a spec in his mirrors. Likewise, the Briton sought to bring the
“Team Rosberg” lettering on his adversary’s rear wing into ever closer view;
a constant reminder of the parental patronage which, based on his “hunger”
comments in Monte Carlo, continues to feature in his psyche.
On lap two, the inevitable happened, although not as myth would have it. As
Rosberg remembers and the footage – one of the first recorded chapters in
this absorbing rivalry – confirms, they collided, but it was all of their
own accord. “He crashed into me – I was already in the tyre barrier at the
time,” Rosberg recalled before this season began, the most acrimonious
episode in their story.
Contrary to the team’s suggestion that the extent of their relationship has
been a media fabrication, this history is real and relevant. It is in the
archives we find the source of stereotypes – Rosberg, the quiet engineer;
Hamilton, the famed racer – which persist to this day.
As Dino Chiesa, their manager as team-mates in karting in 2000 and 2001, puts
it: “Lewis’s fast lap was always a little bit faster than Nico. He knew it
then and he knows it today. [But] Rosberg has always worked harder and does
all the dirty work, the set-up, working with the mechanics and engineers.
Lewis has never worked as hard behind the scenes as Nico.
“One of them, Lewis, has the talent. The other is fast but rather the thinker
and the one who develops the car. In the end, Lewis and Nico are perfect for
a well-functioning marriage.”
On a more recent development, Chiesa adds: “Lewis shines like a diamond, but
it is difficult to get to him. These people [Hamilton’s management] give him
the feeling of being a superstar. But a motor race is not a show, it is hard
work. It was right that Niki Lauda brought him from the stars down to earth.”
Any resumption of bitterness is unlikely to be found here – Hamilton is a
dominant force round the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – and it is even less
probable that it will be provoked by Rosberg. It is something the “rational”
German, who has maintained a dignified silence while Hamilton has hurled
some psychological grenades in his direction, seems acutely aware of.
“I don’t want to go into that detail of what was said [with Hamilton],” he
politely replied to repeated questioning. “I want to try to avoid giving
things heat in the moment unnecessarily.”
For now, they have reached an accommodation. What will refuel the simmering
flames is only the slightest banging of wheels, which they did not manage to
avoid in Macau 10 years ago.