Rosberg and Schumacher were team-mates at Mercedes from 2010 to 2012, handpicked to spearhead the Silver Arrows’ return to Formula 1.

That partnership, however, did not coincide with a particularly successful period for the team. During those three seasons, Rosberg was the only one of the two to secure a race victory, doing so in 2012 — the final year of the seven-time world champion’s Formula 1 career before his definitive retirement.

On a separate occasion, Rosberg spoke about Schumacher’s mastery of mind games, recalling a Monaco qualifying anecdote in which — according to him — Michael timed his exit from the bathroom to perfection, stepping out just moments before heading to the car in order to deliberately unsettle his team-mate.

When quizzed specifically about Rosberg’s anecdote in an interview with SPORT1, Ralf Schumacher replied: “Everyone ticks differently. The fact that Nico says this so openly today does him credit. It’s not how I see things, but then again, I never became a world champion.

Once Schumacher exited the scene, Rosberg found himself up against another exceptional driver, sparking a fierce rivalry that ran from 2013 to 2016 and ultimately ended with the German claiming the world title before stepping away from the sport.

The pair had been close friends since their karting days, but their relationship gradually deteriorated as the intensity of their on-track battle — and the stakes of a Formula 1 championship — took their toll.