Formula 1

Champion Rosberg has 'great respect' for teammate Hamilton

Published Dec. 9, 2016 1:27 p.m. ET

Adam Cooper

Nico Rosberg has paid tribute to Lewis Hamilton by explaining what it meant to beat the man who was once his teammate in karting, and who is a three-time World Champion.

Rosberg was speaking at an event in Kuala Lumpur after flying from Abu Dhabi to begin a busy PR tour.

“He's one of the best in the world, one of the best ever, surely,” he said of Hamilton. “So it's incredibly intense to race him. It feels like we've been doing it forever and he's always edged me out ever so slightly, so to finally get one back was awesome.

“I've got great respect for him because he does an incredible job, he's done so well over the years and he fought to the very last meter on Sunday. That made it extremely tough on Sunday but all the more beautiful afterwards."

Rosberg also described his celebrations since winning the title: “It's been a pretty intense few days: I'm pretty tired after some hard partying in Abu Dhabi and I've got a few bruises, too, from how hard we celebrated with my friends - but it's just an amazing feeling to think I have achieved that childhood dream and I am World Champion.

"I have been working towards it since 25 years, my whole life, and it was extremely intense out there on Sunday, touch-and-go at times and it could have been really hairy to lose the championship. But afterward, it was amazing to share it with everybody, especially with the team.

“My best friends came out to Abu Dhabi to surprise me and then, of course, my parents too. It's one of the most emotional parts of it to achieve what my Dad did 34 years ago. My parents had prepared a video of me during my very first couple of days in a go-kart which I had never seen before; when I saw it on Sunday night on social media, I cried my eyes out, thinking of the support from both my parents across all those years.”

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