To the new audience, it may seem like Lewis Hamilton who has gone winless for 17 months may be an easy guy to beat. But it wasn’t too long ago that for years on end, the 7x champion beat everyone around. However, there were two teammates who had beaten the mighty Lewis Hamilton before George Russell arrived. But how could they manage to do it?

Jenson Button, who partnered with Hamilton after becoming a world champion, though couldn’t become one again, had the honor of beating the naturally talented Briton. And when Hamilton left McLaren, he partnered with his childhood best friend Nico Rosberg, who outperformed him to clinch the championship in 2016. What quality set these two apart?

Talking on Beyond the Grid Podcast, Sam Michael answers this. He said, “What defines a great driver, Nico Rosberg, and I’d say also Jenson Button. Smartest drivers I have worked with. Technically smart but also ability to —- I saw them do things to their teammate and get advantage out of the situation that they shouldn’t have got.”

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While Jenson Button beat Lewis, it was never for the championship fight but the son of an ex-world champion, Nico beat Lewis to stand at the highest step of the podium.

How did Nico Rosberg defeat Lewis Hamilton in 2026?

Sam Michael admits that though Nico was a good, talented driver, Lewis was just naturally faster and statistically better than Nico. But the smartness employed by Nico dethroned Lewis in 2016 putting the final nail in the coffin of their years-long rivalry.

He said, “But a huge advantage Nico had over everybody was that he was technically very smart, so he was really good at understanding the car and understanding how the engineering worked. He used it to his advantage to win the championship in 2016.”

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Do you think Lewis Hamilton can go back to race-winning days again?