Nico Rosberg: I needed therapy in order to beat Hamilton

Nico Rosberg has admitted that he visited a sports psychologist multiple times a week in order to overcome Lewis Hamilton and win the F1 world championship.

Rosberg is the only man to have interrupted the era of Hamilton dominance, winning the title in 2016 and promptly retiring from racing afterwards.

He feels that he had to provide an unprecedented level of dedication to the task of becoming world champion to defeat the five-time winner in that thrilling season.

Discussing the challenge of overcoming Hamilton that year, he told Reuters: "“Two hours, every second day of mental training. It was a huge process and just gave me so much and that’s one of the big reasons why I ended up being world champion.

“I just dedicated my whole every single breathing second of my life to winning that next race and becoming world champion. Lewis drove me to go searching for ways to be better than I ever thought I could be because he’s the best of all time, or going towards the best of all time.

“So of course to beat him you need to rise above everything you have. It’s the only way to win.”

The German added that the battle with the Brit in that season took a massive toll on him and his family, and that he was relieved to finally put that chapter of his life behind him.

He said: “That is the tough thing about F1. It affects your wife, your mum and dad. It is not like you go home and it is all done.

“It affects everybody. That is why it is so intense. The suffering and the joy goes all the way to your home. That never stops.”

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