Nico Rosberg has compared the brewing Oscar Piastri vs. Lando Norris title fight to how he and Lewis Hamilton competed as Mercedes teammates.

Last decade, there were four straight years in which Rosberg and Hamilton were the only two drivers with a realistic chance of fighting for the Drivers’ Championship all the way through the season.

Nico Rosberg: Your teammate is the first one you need to beat

Mercedes’ nailing of the new hybrid power unit regulations in 2014, combined with a very competitive car design, meant the Brackley-based squad was in a league of its own at the start of that regulations cycle.

While the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull were occasionally able to get in the mix for race wins, the championship battles came down to Hamilton and Rosberg in the two Mercedes cars – a battle which was won in 2014 by Hamilton and repeated in ’15, much to Rosberg’s frustration.

In 2016, Rosberg’s renewed determination saw the two friends become embroiled in an increasingly tense and borderline hostile title fight, which the German driver eventually came out on top of in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, days before he abruptly retired from the sport.

Given their competition against each other at the front, it almost seemed inevitable that the intra-team battle would turn sour. Multiple collisions, including a devastating clash that resulted in both retiring from the 2016 Spanish GP on the opening lap, only added to the vitriol which brewed over in the final year of the Hamilton/Rosberg fight.

It’s against this dynamic that the current Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris title fight will be compared, as the two McLaren drivers slowly but surely are stamping their authority on this year’s championship as Max Verstappen’s title bid took a major dent at last weekend’s Spanish GP.

The Dutch driver is now 49 points behind Piastri, with Norris just 10 points behind his teammate.

All has remained cordial and friendly between Norris and Piastri up to this point, and McLaren is particularly eager to maintain fairness in the title fight. While, last year, McLaren introduced ‘papaya rules’ to bolster Norris’ title chances against Verstappen in the closing stages of the season, there’s no indication that any team orders will be used to ensure a Woking title win this year.

Indeed, McLaren CEO Zak Brown recently indicated to PlanetF1.com that he would even be prepared to see McLaren lose the Drivers’ Championship rather than offer less than a fair and equal chance to both of its drivers.

Looking back from the perspective of almost a decade after his bitter title fights with Hamilton, Rosberg commented on the difficult position both McLaren drivers are finding themselves in as their championship aspirations take shape.

“Your teammate is both an ally, but also an adversary,” he said on Sky F1 over the Spanish GP weekend.

“An ally in the sense that, together, you want to lift the whole team up and the performance of the team so that you have a car that you can win races with and fight for championships.”

This is the point McLaren has reached this season, having won the Constructors’ Championship last year for the first time since 1998. Both Norris and Piastri are gunning for their maiden titles, meaning it’s the opposite side of the garage that is preventing them from realising that dream.

“Once you get there, the teammate becomes the greatest rival. He’s the first one that you need to beat,” Rosberg said.

“During my career, I was teammates for multiple seasons with perhaps the two greatest of all time, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.

“In Michael’s case, it was amazingly inspirational to watch him try and get as close as possible to perfection in everything that he was doing.

“I first met Lewis when I was 13 years old. For some time already, he was considered the rising star out of the UK.

“Straight away, he was just unbelievably fast. We were friends all our lives.

“The problem is, once you get to F1, and even more so once you suddenly start fighting for race wins every single time out there, and you fight for every single Championship, the intensity just boils over.

“The relationship with Lewis started to be difficult on a really step-by-step basis. It was small steps that just spiraled – it got worse and worse and worse until it was very much out of control.

“The most difficult moments were the crashes, coming together. Who was at fault, and who took the blame? It was incredibly intense at the time, in the heat of the moment, coming out of the car. So, so tough.

“Lewis and I never really took the time to have an open conversation about it. My lowest emotional moment was probably losing the World Championship the second year in a row in 2015.  That was really a big low point.”

Nico Rosberg: To keep things fair is very, very difficult

Certainly, in the first nine rounds of the championship, there has been little cause for complaint for either Norris or Piastri.

There have been no obvious strategy decisions that have hamstrung either driver or favoured one or the other, with any advantageous pitstop timings being down to earned track position.

But, as the intensity ramps up, Rosberg suspects it could become more difficult for the two drivers not to start feeling the pressure of having that maiden title edging closer and closer.

“The similarity between what Lando and Oscar are now comparing with what Lewis and I had back in the day is just the speed of the car,” he said.

“Every race out there, they’re fighting for pole positions and race wins, but it’s still very harmonious.

“The question is, can it stay harmonious like that, or is it also going to run into big trouble?

“It’s so difficult to treat drivers fairly because there’s always one strategy that’s better than the other, or only one new part that arrives at the track – who gets that?

“To always keep it fair is very, very difficult. Unfortunately, these internal politics become a very, very important game to play if you want to be a World Champion.”

In Brown’s interview with PlanetF1.com, he suggested that he’s prepared to accept a “2007” scenario. That year, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton lost the title to the trailing Kimi Raikkonen as the two silver cars took points from each other, while Raikkonen benefitted from having Felipe Massa fall into a supporting role towards year-end.

“The best way to win the Constructors’ is to finish first and second in the Drivers’, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Brown told PlanetF1.com.

“And then, the way to let the drivers decide who’s first and second is by treating them fully, fairly, transparently.

“So you’ll notice last race [Imola], Oscar went out first in Q3. The race before, Lando went out first in Q3.

“When upgrades come, if one gets it one weekend – because we can’t deliver both – then the other gets it the other weekend, and vice versa.”

It’s a similar dynamic to what Verstappen has at Red Bull, with no chance whatsoever of current teammate Yuki Tsunoda taking points off him in normal racing circumstances.

“It’s hard to have two number one drivers like McLaren has. So far, it’s going great,” Rosberg said.

“Of course, it has so many benefits, because if you have two number-one drivers, they’re pushing each other to higher and higher levels.

“McLaren is in a fantastic position to fight for the Drivers’ Championship as well this year, but it’s also theirs to lose.

“The pressure rises significantly, and the driver situation is also one to watch. For now, very harmonious, but might it go out of control soon?”

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