Red Bull Motorsports
Karting
Watch a Rosberg vs Hamilton kart battle from 2000
Think the rivalry between Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is a recent thing? Think again.
The battle between Mercedes team-mates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton over the past few seasons will go down as one of the great rivalries in F1 history. But as a recently-unveiled video shows, the duel between the two has actually been going on for nearly two decades.
Back in 2000, Rosberg and Hamilton were paired at the same karting squad, Team MBM.com – MBM standing for Mercedes-Benz-McLaren, who were keeping a watching brief on the two promising youngsters. Hamilton claimed the European crown that year, winning five out of the eight races.
The team also flew out to Japan so that Hamilton and Rosberg could compete in the Formula A Karting World Cup at Suzuka – and it’s here that we pick up the action. Against a field that includes soon-to-be-famous names like Robert Kubica, 2012 DTM champion Bruno Spengler, plus Mike Conway and Loïc Duval, current World Endurance Championship drivers with Toyota and Audi respectively, the 15-year-old Hamilton puts in a typically ‘Hamilton-esque’ performance to claim the World Cup, as Rosberg fades from his second place on the grid.
Watch the pair battling in the video below – and enjoy the pre-race interviews with the two nerdy teenagers.
