Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton aren’t even neighbours anymore — and the 2016 World Champion says he’s “really sad” about it.
The pair’s story is one of those very F1 arcs that’s hard to replicate: karting kids turned best mates, reunited as Mercedes teammates, then pulled apart by the kind of title fight that leaves marks. They were once inseparable — holidays together, the same junior paddocks, even silly contests over who could eat pizza faster (Robert Kubica swears that one’s true). And then came 2016.
Rosberg and Hamilton were teammates for four seasons at Mercedes from 2013, the year Hamilton left McLaren to replace Michael Schumacher. What followed was a dynasty built on relentless winning — and a partnership that slowly frayed. By 2016, chasing the title on equal machinery, it snapped. Rosberg won the World Championship that year and promptly walked away from F1. The friendship, by his own telling, had already done the same.
“We stopped talking when we were fighting for the World Championship,” Rosberg has admitted before. “That’s what happens when you’re going for wins every weekend and the title on the line. It just doesn’t work anymore.”
They still lived in the same Monaco building, though. In the years after their split, Rosberg would deadpan that things were “neutral.” Hamilton, for his part, reportedly kept a tradition of dropping off Christmas presents for Rosberg’s daughters — delivered to the door, with no need to cross the threshold. Civility, just about, with a wink.
But even that accidental proximity is over. Appearing on Sky’s F1 Show, Rosberg revealed he’s moved apartments and is no longer sharing an address with his old rival.
“I’m really sad,” he said, tongue half in cheek. “I’m not neighbours with Lewis anymore. It’s very sad.” As for who’s next door now? “I don’t actually know. Not met them yet.”
It’s a small update in the grand scheme, but telling in its own way. The line from “best friends” to “neutral” to “different buildings” mirrors how their paths have diverged since that title-deciding season in Abu Dhabi. Rosberg has stayed retired, a 23-time podium finisher who left on the ultimate mic drop. Hamilton, meanwhile, has reset his career again in 2025 with Ferrari, chasing fresh history in red after a record-equaling seven World Championships with Mercedes.
That context matters because these two defined an era. The intra-team drama at Mercedes between 2014 and 2016 set the template for modern teammate rivalries: razor-thin margins, stewards’ rooms, glances that said more than press conferences ever could. Whenever they brushed wheels — Spa, Bahrain, Barcelona — it wasn’t just a racing incident, it was a referendum on their entire relationship.
And yet, the human detail always gave it texture. A decade earlier, they were kids in identical overalls, scrapping in karts and dreaming about Formula 1. Even as they rose through Formula 3 and GP2 in different years, the bond held. When Hamilton joined Rosberg at Mercedes, the nostalgia was real. The reality, once the wins started stacking up, was different.
So, no, this isn’t a grand reconciliation update or a fresh feud. It’s simply the latest beat in a story that’s never stopped being fascinating. They’re not neighbours anymore. No awkward elevator rides, no quiet nods in the lobby, no festive drop-offs at the door. Just two careers that rocketed together and then shot off on new trajectories.
And for those keeping score in 2025: Hamilton is now in Ferrari colours, part of a Scuderia lineup tasked with restoring the most famous team in the sport to the top. Rosberg? Still the last man to take a title off Hamilton when they shared a garage — a fact he doesn’t need to say out loud because everyone in the paddock remembers.
Sometimes, in Formula 1, distance is the only way to keep the peace. In Monaco, it’s now literal.
