Nico Rosberg recalled Toto Wolff swapping his and Lewis Hamilton’s mechanics overnight at Mercedes as the “toxic” atmosphere spiralled in 2016.

Revealing that it got to the point where each set of mechanics were hiding information from the other, Rosberg said he and Hamilton suddenly found their “friends” swapped for “enemies” as Mercedes team principal Wolff took action, though it was a measure which worked a treat.

Instant ‘shock therapy’ in Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg mechanics switch

Hamilton and Rosberg joined forces as Mercedes drivers in 2013, but as the Silver Arrows rose to become Formula 1’s dominant force the following year, their friendship descended into a bitter rivalry, coming to a head when Rosberg beat Hamilton to win his sole World Championship in 2016, and quickly afterwards announced his retirement.

That was after a season which saw the tensions peak between Hamilton and Mercedes, a rivalry which stretched far beyond just the two drivers, and while speaking on Sky F1, Rosberg recalled how Wolff put a plan into motion which would work “amazingly” well.

Asked how competitive it got between the two sides of the Mercedes garage in 2016, Rosberg replied: “It goes between the drivers first, then it goes to the mechanics, the engineers, and that’s when it really gets problematic in the team.

“So in our time, at the beginning of 2016, it was so toxic that even when something failed on my car, my mechanics would sometimes, like, not really tell the other side.

“So what Toto did was overnight, swap the mechanics over, and the mechanics are my friends, my family, and suddenly they were on Lewis’s car, and Lewis’s mechanics on my side were kind of my enemies. And that was like a shock therapy, and it worked amazingly, it did.”

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Rosberg would reveal that adding to the in-fighting with Hamilton was the fact that they never had an “open conversation” about the situation they found themselves in.

“The relationship with Lewis started to be difficult on a really step by step basis,” said Rosberg. “It was small steps which just spiralled it worse and worse and worse until it was very much out of control.

“The most difficult moments were the crashes and coming together. Who was at fault, 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.”

After Rosberg’s retirement, Hamilton won a further four World titles in consecutive years, taking his overall tally to a record-equalling seven, his pursuit of that elusive eighth later taking him to Ferrari as he signed a multi-year deal in time for F1 2025.

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