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the beginning

nico and lewis have been friends since they were kids. they started karting together and were a team.

they always had always a strong bond animated by competition, but it was always a fun rivalry between two best friends

(lewis comes from a working class background while nico’s father is formula 1 wdc keke rosberg so he was raised in a rich environment - lewis used to convince nico to buy him sweets all the time lmao)

nico and his dad always had lewis’s back back then helping him when his kart was broken and adjusting settings on his kart for him when lewis broke his wrist (and still went to win the race starting from 8th wearing a cast) - and they even went on holiday together in greece one summer

what happened in greece? we may never know (unless that 6 hour brocedes podcast happens sometime in the future - who knows)

but just the fact they went on summer holidays together at 14 tells you just how close they were

“Fifteen year ago Lewis and I were on holiday in Greece, saying 'imagine if one day we fought for the F1 championship in the best team against each other' - and now we are doing it. That's incredible!”

nico always likes to mention it for some reason

karting years

people who knew them from back then always point out how close they were

they’d have a competition even when eating pizza at the restaurant

"As a kid, I didn't like pizza, but I remember often going out for dinner with Lewis and Nico, they would even have races to eat pizza, always eating two at a time” - from robert kubica who used to race against them - “There was always competition. They always wanted to win, to beat each other. But they didn't fight. It was friendly competition. There was always laughing afterwards.”

from dino chiesa, their karting boss "Many times I was called by reception about some problem in the room. It might be noise or they might have broken something. They would never sleep, so they were always tired the next morning.”

"Both liked ice cream so much, particularly vanilla. During the night, they wanted to eat ice cream always, so I had to go out everywhere and find some to keep them happy. They were just kids”

according to nico they shared rooms and had wrestling matches

the unicyle™

"Probably the first bit of real competition we had was when Nico used to ride a unicycle everywhere, So I thought I've got to learn to ride this unicycle. I've got to be better than him'. I spent all my time outside the go-kart learning to ride this unicycle."

according to nico, it took lewis 2 hours to learn

formula 1

nico started in f1 in 2006, lewis in 2007

toto on them: "What is the past between the two? There was a lot of historical context that none of us knew, and will never know."

they had their first shared podium at the australian gp in 2008

look at them! they were so excited about it! (the gif is mine)

lewis even called dino to tell him about it

in 2013 lewis took a gamble and joined mercedes and became once again nico’s teammate

at the malaysian gp - after the team ordered nico not to overtake lewis - this is what lewis said

“If I'm honest I feel Nico should be standing here. He had better pace through the race. Nico deserved to be where I am. Would I let him past in the future? I probably would."

2013 went really good, they had fun, filmed a lot of cringey commercials and helped develop the car. it was mostly fun and games

they are still to this day neighbors in monaco, but back then they used to hang out all the time and eat burgers together

in 2014 is when shit started happening

monaco quali

during quali at the monaco gp 2014, nico missed a breaking point and went to the run off area. but because he had the provisional pole and lewis was on a faster lap just at the end of the session, people accused him of pulling a shumi™ and doing it on purpose

when asked about it nico obviously said that it was not on purpose. he was investigated, but the stewards cleared him

“Of course I’m sorry for Lewis, I didn’t know where he was. Yeah, it’s not great.”

while lewis when asked if he believed it was on purpose he said “Potentially”

spain but the s is silent part one - spa 2014

trying to overtake lewis from p2, nico caused a punture and caused lewis to dnf (he finished p2) it was the first real accident between them. both of them admitted to being wrong, and toto said disciplinary measures were taken towards nico

lewis: “The fans want to see a clean fight until the end of the season and that's what we want to give them […] we have both made mistakes.”

“We had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose. He said he could have avoided it, but he didn't want to. He basically said, 'I did it to prove a point'."

and then in 2016 everything went completely wrong

the atmosphere was horrible according to people working with them

niki lauda: "In the beginning everything was fine but as it got more competitive, they both got against each other. The competition was only between Nico and Lewis who was going to be world champion.”

“They had no relation, which is always bad. They were so bad that they didn't even say hello in the morning to each other. I don't expect them to have breakfast together if they don't like each other, I don't expect them to sit down and have breakfast, but the relationship was really bad.”

"It affected Lewis mainly and Nico, so it was fine but not easy. Lewis got so upset about it that sometimes on the performance they lost because they played tricks on each other. One didn't show the other what set-up they were using, which is bad for the team again because we both want to go forwards.”

"They played all the tricks in the book. But for the team it was pretty tiring."

lewis too said nico and him were not friends

"Nico and I can count our friends on one hand, Nico does not come into those five friends I have, and I don't come in the five friends he has."

mercedes even threatened to sack them both at a point in 2016, right after barcelona

spain but the s is silent pt 2 - spain gp 2016

nico had started the race in a wrong engine mode, causing him to be way slower than lewis so he decides to overtake, but as he did, nico pushed him off the track where he spun and they both ended up in the gravel.

neither were penalized by the fia as it was a racing incident tho niki lauda and most of the media blamed lewis for this one

N: “I made it very clear I wasn't going to leave any space on the inside and I was very surprised he went for the gap".

lewis apologized to the team but never accepted the blame

abu dhabi gp 2016

season finale of the 2016 championship, lewis is leading the race, nico is second. in order not to lose the championship, lewis slows down, trying to get nico overtaken by other cars

it was a controversial move, and it divided public opinion

L: “I did nothing dangerous so I don’t feel I did anything unfair. We were fighting for the world championship. I was leading. I control the pace. That’s the rules.”

N: “You can understand the team’s perspective and you can enjoy Lewis’s perspective, There were many moments that were not enjoyable.”

the team got upset but someone else defended him

someone named christian horner (yes - that horner)

“Winning the race wasn’t going to be enough for him today, he needed cars between him and, if he’d charged off into the distance, he wouldn’t have created that possibility. So he won the race as slowly as he could. It’s like in a football game where the team might protect from the opposition by kicking the ball around and not enabling the opposition to get hold of the it. I didn’t see that he did anything wrong today.”

he even asked lewis to race for redbull

in the end, lewis won the race but nico won the championship. the celebrations were dry and everything - with nico straight up ignoring lewis on the podium

post season 2016

nico retired just after winning his first championship

L:“I’m probably one of the only people that it was not a surprise to. This is the first time he’s won a title in 18 years, hence why it was not a surprise that he decided to stop. He’s also got a family to focus on, and wants more children, and Formula One takes so much of your time. Will I miss the rivalry? Of course.”

2016 - now

nico immediately said after retiring that he wanted to make amends. he admitted to having played mind games and said it was the only way

he said: "I'm open to finding our way, y'know, and even having a good relationship again in the future. why not?"

i can’t cite this whole interview cause it’s long, but you should watch it. they way he talks about lewis is fascinating

nico follows lewis on ig, made multiple posts to congratulate him on all his major achievements - and there’s been many - and is basically his number one fan and cheerleader - watch this video by yours truly if you want to see for yourself the heart eyes this motherfucker has - the dude is obsessed but aren’t we all

lewis on the other hand kinda pretends nico doesn’t exist really, doesn’t follow him back and doesn’t acknowledge nico’s posts about him and nico has said they don’t have each other’s number

this is why we kinda lost our minds when lewis mentioned nico and called him his best friend back then in drive to survive season 3

“There was a period of time the guy that has been my teammate has been my best friend. but when you work your life to win, and only one of you can win, it brings a lot of friction.”

this happened last year too but we shall never know what they talked about

now for the plot twist! lewis was photographed hanging out on a yacht with nico (and susie and toto) in the year 2021

i lost my mind over this tbh - hopefully this is a sign of reconciliation, i truly hope so for them both <3

here is the sunshine and britney tag, which i made to talk about our favorite ex-besties - you can find a few of us crying whenever nico says anything about lewis (he even went “can we go back to lewis hamilton” when the cameras changed from lewis’s lap he was commenting - poetic cinema), finding way too specific lyrics that hurt so good, and lose our minds over old pics of them cause they’re stellar