Former F1 driver Nico Rosberg revealed how tense he was en route to capturing the World Championship in 2016. Rosberg’s duel with Lewis Hamilton went down to the wire and the German had to produce some gutsy overtakes to clinch the title. Rosberg pulled off a stunning move on Max Verstappen in the final race, which he recently admitted – made him nervous.
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Nico Rosberg’s epic battle with Max Verstappen
The last time a Championship went down to the final race was in 2016. At the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg finally clinched a World Championship in F1, but it didn’t come easy. The German driver had to put up with mind games from Hamilton and a tense few laps during the end of the race.
However, even before the nail-biting finish, Nico Rosberg had to pass
Max Verstappen to keep his championship hopes alive. Back in 2016, Max had developed a reputation for being a bit too aggressive in his defending. The Dutchman is still not an easy driver to pass but back then – the pressure was on Rosberg to make the move or suffer heartbreak.Amazingly, Nico kept his nerve and swooped past the Dutchman in an epic duel. Everything was on the line for Rosberg but he didn’t crack under pressure. As it turns out, Rosberg was very close to losing it that day.
Speaking to Der Standard, Rosberg said:
“That had the potential to mentally harm me for the rest of my life. The dream is so strong, it has so much power over you and I was just very afraid of losing.”
“When I [had] overtaken Verstappen in the race, my foot trembled so much on the accelerator that I was afraid that I couldn’t accelerate properly anymore and would lose the race. I’ve never experienced that before. It wasn’t until I was ten seconds ahead of Hamilton that I thought about the party that night
Fans often write off Rosberg’s 2016 Championship as a fluke but that couldn’t be any further from the truth. The German driver showcased immense grit and determination to finally beat his biggest rival in F1. Even with a World Championship on the line, Rosberg didn’t run away from a duel with Max Verstappen.
