Breaking news

Formula 1

Rosberg feared 'God'-like Schumacher would manipulate Mercedes

Nico Rosberg feared Michael Schumacher would manipulate the Mercedes team against him when they became Formula 1 teammates, saying the seven-time world champion acted “like God”.

Luke Smith

Published: May 17, 2020, 9:38 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher

Rosberg was handed the chance to join the new Mercedes works F1 team for the 2010 season following its takeover of the championship-winning Brawn squad.

The German driver looked set to be partnered by Nick Heidfeld, only for Schumacher to announce his shock return to F1 with Mercedes after three years away.

“The name Schumacher was not even on the horizon, no-one was even talking about that,” 2016 world champion Rosberg said in an interview on F1’s YouTube channel. “And then suddenly Ross [Brawn] calls me and says: ‘By the way, your teammate is not going to be Jenson Button or Nick Heidfeld, it’s going to be Michael Schumacher’.

“I was like oh my God, [having the] craziest thoughts, that I would have no chance, that the whole team would go against me, that Michael would manipulate his way through.

“And also I don’t even know, can I keep up with him? He’s the greatest of all-time, do I even have a chance? That was pretty crazy moment.”

Read Also:

Gallery: All of Nico Rosberg's F1 race wins

Rosberg would go on to beat Schumacher in each of their three seasons together as teammates, as well as scoring Mercedes’ first F1 victory in over 50 years at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix.

But it took time for Rosberg - who, upon joining Mercedes, had only two podium finishes to his name - to have his voice heard within the team due to Schumacher’s presence.

“When Michael came along, he was like God in the team,” Rosberg said. “When we had some strategy meetings, even my strategy was only being discussed with Michael and not with me, even though I was sitting there.

“So I then addressed that to the strategist that was holding those meetings, and we reflected on that together, and it really had a big impact, and from then on, strategy meetings were much better then for me.

“I felt much more comfortable, and I did get that attention from him just by showing my invulnerability in the end, and expressing my feelings.”

Rosberg said Schumacher was a “psychological warrior”, saying small tactics to get into his opponents’ heads came naturally to the ex-Ferrari and Benetton title-winner.

“There are so many examples, the Monaco bathroom for example,” Rosberg said.

“Five minutes before qualifying, there’s only one bathroom in the garage. He knows that I’m standing outside. I’m knocking like crazy, telling whoever is in there to please get out because I’m panicking, I need to pee before qualifying.

“He’s in there, just looking at his watch, chilling, knowing he’s going to create more and more stress in my mind, and then with one minute to go, he walks out all chilled out, and is like: ‘Oh sorry, I didn’t know you were there!’ By this time I’m in full panic mode.

“It just went on. There was another example where he would love to walk around topless in the engineering room, show his six-pack because it was another statement of strength to impress everybody who is there. His body was pretty sculptured.

“It just went on and on. There were infinite examples like that.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article When Ecclestone realised where the real money in F1 is

Next article Pirelli plans to scrap F1 tyre choices once season starts

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

28 min

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

51 min

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

2 h

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Feature

Discover prime content

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts