Nico Rosberg Rules Out His Mercedes Return as Lewis Hamilton Replacement While Citing ”Respect for the Danger” as the Reason

2025 is still a year away but the driver market has already gone into turmoil. Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for 2025 means that this season could be an extended cut of the silly season! With speculation mounting about Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes, many names have been thrown into the hat. Some also speculated that 2016 world champion, and Hamilton’s ex-teammate at the Silver Arrows, Nico Rosberg could be a potential candidate. Having won with them, he brings crucial experience into the team to mentor George Russell. However, the 38-year-old has firmly shut down that door.

Rumors have been running rampant that Toto Wolff has been ringing the German up to line up a blockbuster return to the team in 2025. That being said while speaking to the German publication Suddeutsche Zeitung, the ex-F1 champion has refused to even entertain the idea. According to Rosberg, he is nowhere ready, mentally or physically, to face the perils of modern Grand Prix racing again.

Rosberg said, “That’s over, I’m not planning a comeback at all. I couldn’t just do it. I would have to prepare myself intensively for a full year just to simply train the synapses in my brain.”

The 2016 champion also added how after so many years of break, he won’t be able to handle the G-forces and be as reactive as he used to be. He concluded, “Also: I have a lot of respect for the danger!”

Jumping into a Formula 1 car and banging in lap times isn’t as easy as it looks on our television sets. Drivers follow a rigorous regime to keep themselves in shape. Moreover, the physical toll of racing an F1 car means your body needs to adjust to the demands. This is not something that can happen overnight.

Rosberg last raced in F1 eight years ago. Since announcing his shock departure in 2016, days after he beat Hamilton to the title, the #6 driver has not raced competitively. Naturally, he is not a genuine candidate to replace the #44 driver. And just like that, we will miss out on an iconic move that traces all the way back to Hamilton and Rosberg’s epic rivalry.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s torrid Mercedes rivalry

It would have been poetic to see Rosberg replace Hamilton at the team. Many view their rivalry as teammates at Mercedes as one of modern F1’s greatest teammate feuds. Ever since Mercedes started churning out championship-winning cars in 2014, the relationship between the duo started to strain.

Once best friends, Hamilton and Rosberg never saw eye-to-eye after that. It all boiled over when the two took each other out whilst battling for the lead into turn 1 during the first lap of the 2016 Spanish GP.

A double DNF, because of the drivers, was the tipping point for Mercedes boss, Wolff. He even threatened the duo with race suspensions in the aftermath of the crash as per Formula1.com. Even to this day, both Rosberg and Hamilton do not consider a rekindling of their younger friendship as an option.

Regardless, as a pundit, Rosberg has often backed Hamilton on several aspects. Even the Briton has remained as cordial as ever whenever his ex-teammate has interviewed him

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• Lewis Hamilton
• Mercedes
• Nico Rosberg