Nico Rosberg has revealed the paranoid state he was left in following the announcement that Michael Schumacher was to be his teammate at Mercedes in 2010.
The German star quit F1 at the end of 2006 but came out of retirement in 2010 with Mercedes, leaving Rosberg with the "craziest thoughts".
His return to the sport came as a shock to most with Schumacher teaming up again with team principal Ross Brawn, with his comeback compared to Niki Lauda's in 1982 at age 33 and Nigel Mansell's return in 1994 at age 41.
Schumacher turned 41 in January 2010 and signed a three-year deal worth $40 million with his comeback a very much win now type of agreement.
Schumacher's deal was finalised when he was passed fit and the neck injury that had prevented him driving for Ferrari the year before had fully healed.
While Mercedes were overjoyed by the world champion's acquisition, Rosberg revealed the news had hit him like a haymaker.
Rosberg also joined Mercedes in 2010 following the team's takeover of Brawn GP, which won with Jenson Button the previous year.
He was under the impression that he was going to be partnered with Nick Heidfeld but was blindsided when Schumacher announced his return.
"The name Schumacher was not even on the horizon, no-one was even talking about that," Rosberg told F1 Unscripted. "And then suddenly Ross [Brawn] calls me and says, 'By the way, your teammate is not going to be Jenson Button or Nick Heidfeld, it's going to be Michael Schumacher'.
"I was like oh my God, craziest thoughts, that I would have no chance, that the whole team would go against me, that Michael would manipulate his way through.
"And also I don't even know, 'Can I keep up with him? He's the greatest of all-time, do I even have a chance?' That was pretty crazy moment."
Rosberg's fears materialised at team headquarters and the German was treated "like god" during strategy meetings. Things changed when he became more assertive.
"So I then addressed that to the strategist that was holding those meetings, and we reflected on that together, and it really had a big impact, and from then on, strategy meetings were much better then for me," Rosberg said.
"I felt much more comfortable, and I did get that attention from him just by showing my invulnerability in the end, and expressing my feelings."
As WWOS reported last year, Schumacher's mind games knew no bounds with Rosberg even competing with the elder statesman for the toilet.
"There are so many examples, the Monaco bathroom for example," Rosberg said.
"Five minutes before qualifying, there's only one bathroom in the garage. He knows that I'm standing outside.
"I'm knocking like crazy, telling whoever is in there to please get out because I'm panicking, I need to pee before qualifying.
"He's in there, just looking at his watch, chilling, knowing he's going to create more and more stress in my mind, and then with one minute to go, he walks out all chilled out, and is like, 'Oh sorry, I didn't know you were there!'
Schumacher was also known to walk around topless in the engineering room, flaunting his six-pack.
"It was another statement of strength to impress everybody who is there," Rosberg said. "His body was pretty sculptured. It just went on and on. There were infinite examples like that."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/news/nico-rosberg-reveals-craziest-thoughts-after-michael-schumacher-signed-mercedes/df65200e-f4de-4bbd-ad21-e4fc78c9b196
0 Comments