Nico Rosberg open to fixing Hamilton friendship

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Nico Rosberg open to fixing Hamilton friendship

Published on 15 Nov 2017 13:26
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By: Rob Veenstra

Outgoing world champion Nico Rosberg says he is open to rekindling his old friendship with Lewis Hamilton. As teammates at Mercedes until last year, the pair shared a particularly acrimonious relationship, even though they had been childhood best friends.

"Hamilton and Bottas are not friends," F1 legend Niki Lauda told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "But there is no hate, as there was between Lewis and Nico. It was bad for the team but not for them, because it pushed them to go faster," the Mercedes team chairman added.

Now, with Rosberg at the end of his first year of retirement, the German said he would be happy to be friends with Hamilton again. "We were very good friends in the past, but it can happen again in the future," he told the German broadcaster ZDF. "We're not rivals anymore, I'm completely out of it, so I don't see why we could not get along well after some time," Rosberg added.

However, Rosberg admits that he hasn't even had a phone call with Hamilton in 2017, even though they are apartment neighbours in Monaco. "We're not at that point yet," the 32-year-old admitted.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't hail the new quadruple world champion Hamilton's driving in 2017, and accept his unique personality and controversial lifestyle choices. "He does it his way and I have a lot of respect for that, it's a great quality," Rosberg said. "Lots of people don't like what he does and how he is, which is a matter of opinion, but I think it's cool that he goes his own way." (GMM)

F1 News Nico Rosberg Mercedes

Replies (4)

f1dave

Posts: 782
Rosberg, just walk away and leave it alone, nobody cares about this but you.
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- Nov 15 2017 - 15:41
ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
As much as I disliked the douchy things Rosberg did while driving alongside Hamilton, it has really been Hamilton the one throwing shade as Rosberg all year for no reason. Every chance he's gotten he has rubbished Rosberg's ability, his retirement, his championship.
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- Nov 15 2017 - 18:57
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Thats nice, but its not likely to happen. Hamilton is far too busy playing the victim card to try to mend their relationship, despite him being at least as much to blame for it going down the drain. I mean how many times did Ham push Rosie off the track again?

'sides, their relationship was sour to say the least, and it doesnt look much sweeter now, does it?
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- Nov 16 2017 - 09:05
Barron

Posts: 625
Neighbours who don’t speak to each other? Who’d a thunk?
- + 0
- Nov 16 2017 - 12:07