“I come from a not-great place in Stevenage and Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels": When Lewis Hamilton questioned his rival's hunger

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg went from being friends to rivals with Mercedes' sudden rise to the top of the sport in 2014. With the stakes involving a jibe at the world championship, the two began taking shots at each other. The Briton once questioned after the 2014 British GP about the difference in his hunger to win the drivers' title in comparison to his teammate.

Nico is the son of the 1982 F1 world champion, Keke Rosberg. With his father being Finnish and his mother being German, the young kid chose the German flag to represent at the racing stage, while living in Monaco.

On the other hand, Lewis was born in Stevenage, England, where he and his father battled various challenges to get the young Briton onto the racing scene. With the two having different back stories, one looking to prove that he can win the world title, much like his father, and the other trying to showcase his resilience and capabilities to the world, the two clashed at Mercedes between 2014 and 2016.

With the pair's entirely different motives to claim the F1 throne, Hamilton jibed at his teammate when the Silver War had just started and said, via the Guardian:

"I come from a not-great place in Stevenage and lived on a couch in my dad’s apartment and Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels and boats and all these kind of things, so the hunger is different."

Meanwhile, Hamilton went on to win the 2014 and 2015 drivers' championships, while Rosberg came back to the Briton in 2016 and retired from the sport after taking his sole world drivers' title.

---

Nico Rosberg shares how Lewis Hamilton and his relationship unraveled at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes W07s after crashing into each other at the 2016Spanish F1 Grand Prix - Source: Getty

At the peak of the Silver War, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were a tough lineup to manage. Multiple incidents, both on and off the track, had tarred their relationship.

Reflecting on how the friendship between the two deteriorated, Rosberg said on the Sky Sports broadcast, via GP Blog:

"The relationship with Lewis started to be difficult on a really step by step basis. It was small steps which just spiralled it worse and worse and worse until it was very much out of control."

"The most difficult moments were the crashes and coming together. Who was at fault, who took the blame? It was incredibly intense at the time, in the heat of the moment coming out of the car. So, so tough."

On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton continued in the sport after Rosberg's retirement and went on to claim four more drivers' titles. He has now moved to Ferrari with the hopes of clinching an eighth world title donning the Scuderia red.