F1 champion Nico Rosberg admits mistake that nearly killed him in '300km/h' crash

One-time F1 champion Nico Rosberg has opened up on the time he 'nearly died' in a high-speed crash.

The German driver posted the story on LinkedIn last week as the preamble to a very High Performance Podcast-type parable about guarding against overconfidence, and ensuring preparedness.

Rosberg wrote that the '300km/h' crash early in his career led to him being knocked unconscious and waking up in a hospital bed, warning that 'confidence and overconfidence can feel the same'.

The crash in question appears to be a scary looking 2004 incident at Zandvoort, when an apparent brake failure sent him bouncing across the gravel at Turn 1 and hard into the barriers, later being stretchered away from the wreckage.

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Rosberg takes 'lessons' from high-speed 2004 crash

He was indeed hospitalised overnight after the crash (although he's seen on video trying to climb out of the car within seconds of hitting the wall, it's not outrageous to suggest that the impact was violent enough to scramble his eggs enough for the next thing he remembers to be him waking up in hospital), and released the next day with a stiff neck and bruised knees.

The post began - we'll spare you the High Performance Mentalitybabble that follows the meat of the story, because we respect your brains - "The day I felt most untouchable was the day I nearly died!"

He continued: "Years ago, early in my racing career, I had a stretch where everything was clicking. I was winning. People were telling me I was talented. And somewhere in that noise, I let my ego get ahead of me. It was almost like I thought I was invincible or I couldn’t get hurt.

"That overconfidence was a mistake that could have cost me my life- and it almost did when it led to me crashing at 300km/h!! I was knocked unconscious and woke up in a hospital bed.

'Confidence and overconfidence might feel the same'

"That crash taught me something I still lean on every day: confidence and overconfidence might FEEL exactly the same in the moment. But they aren’t. And unfortunately for a lot of us… you almost never catch it before you've crashed.

"I see the same pattern taking down founders every single week. It just moves slower."

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