Lewis Hamilton: Nico Rosberg 'huge respect' for former Mercedes team-mate's career after final move

Nico Rosberg praised “Lewis Hamilton's final drive for Mercedes in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and paid tribute to his Silver Arrows team-mate's unprecedented success.”

Hamilton charged from 16th to fourth on his 246th and final appearance for Mercedes last Sunday in a performance that saw him pass team-mate George Russell on the final lap.

And Sky Sports F1 pundit Rosberg, who drove with Hamilton for Mercedes from 2013 to 2016 before retiring after beating the Briton to the final world title, was shocked by what he saw.

“The way he drove was the driving of a seven-time world champion, the greatest ever because of the speed of that race again,” said Rosberg.

“He passed George at the end and George started straight to the front and Lewis started at the back. It was an amazing ride with Lewis.”

On Russell's final pass at Turn Nine itself, Rosberg said: “That was crazy!

“The way he put it up, it was perfection. Through that whole section around the back, going over the outside. Amazing.

“Seven-time world driving champion. Respect.”

'Perhaps the greatest natural talent the sport has ever seen'

Rosberg's relationship with Hamilton goes back to their teenage years when they were first partners in karting.

Hamilton has been signed to Mercedes since the age of 13 in 1998, when he was first part of their young driver program at the time working partners McLaren.

After spending the first six years of his F1 career at McLaren, where he won his first world title in his second campaign in 2008, Hamilton joined Rosberg at Mercedes' own works team for almost 12 years back.

And after looking special Sky Sports F1 feature aired during the Abu Dhabi GP broadcast which saw Hamilton and Martin Brundle drive some of the seven-time champion's vintage cars on the way to Silverstone earlier this year, said Rosberg: “Even for me, it's emotional to watch this, because of course, I've seen it from so close, and it's the biggest partnership in the history of Formula 1.

“It's crazy that it's coming to an end, and for him too, he's been with the Mercedes family for almost 30 years.

“And again, I was there. We started racing together when we were 12 years old, so I was there from the very beginning, which even gives me goosebumps now just thinking about the whole thing.”

Rosberg paid tribute to his previous achievements as a team-mate at Mercedes, and in F1 as a whole over the past 18 seasons, ahead of the 39-year-old's big move to Ferrari this winter.

“Definitely one of, or maybe the greatest natural talent the sport has ever seen. It's just unbelievable,” said Rosberg.

“And there are so many times where we have the same car, we go out, we come in and you look at the data of what he did with that car, and it's just like 'no that's not even human. What is that?'

“And I was a good driver too, so there were so many times where I was just like, 'this is crazy'.

“It's also good how he managed to build his life around the success, because we've seen so many times someone very talented win one championship, but to do seven, you have to to have full life control, your personal life, everything must. to focus on racing – and he managed to do that too.

“Through all the difficulties, there have been ups and downs but that also gives him a lot of respect. Because it's not easy, with his background, everything, it's not easy. It's a crazy world and he's managed to do that wonderfully.”

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