The ongoing battle for the 2021 F1 title is undeniably one of the fiercest rivalries the sport has witnessed in years. The last time such an intense encounter took place was during the mid-2010s between the then Mercedes teammates, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

What’s interesting is that there are similar traits showing up in the ongoing battle between Hamilton and the flying Dutchman, Max Verstappen.

While the battles started off cleanly this season, the British Grand Prix potentially triggered a huge level of controversy. And this led to the F1 fandom comparing the Rosberg-Hamilton rivalry to the present Verstappen-Hamilton rivalry.

However, Rosberg is not ready to acknowledge that both the rivalries are similar.

What did the former Lewis Hamilton teammate say?

As reported by Express, Rosberg revealed that the incident at Silverstone last weekend drove the German down the memory lane to the incident at Circuit de Catalunya in 2016. However, he believes his rivalry with Hamilton was much more complicated.

“Absolutely yes because I’ve been there in such a championship battle,” he said. “Wheel-to-wheel racing, and especially also with Lewis. So yes, it did, it did remind me a little bit. But, I think in my time it was even more complicated because it’s within the same team.

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“So at least here you have the whole team behind Verstappen, the whole team behind Lewis. And then it’s the team against team and that does make it a little bit different,” Rosberg added.

The intense Hamilton-Rosberg battle in 2016

The duo indulged in several unwanted collisions and radio exchanges over the course of their partnership, provoking more heat into the already intense battle. Of course, who could ever forget the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, where the Mercedes drivers collided with each other on lap 1, causing a double DNF for the team.

Three race weekends later arrived another incident between the two. Only this time, it was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, and on the final lap of the race.

Hamilton and Rosberg raced each other over the main straight to turn 3, with the former being much faster than the German. However, the duo crashed again at turn 3, leaving Rosberg with significant damage to his front wing.

Since the wing got stuck under the floor, Rosberg lost substantial pace, letting both Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen gain from it. Ultimately, even as Hamilton won the race, his teammate, who was leading the race until corners away from the chequered flag, ended in P4.

Now, the focus shifts onto the present rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen. The fire has been kindled, but will the duo end up aggravating it in the coming weekends? Are we in for a much more intense battle between the two? We’ll know soon enough.

Watch Story: Lewis Hamilton’s Biggest F1 Crashes