The journey of Nico and Lewis from friends to enemies to lovers or The art of finding their way back to each other

They say rivals bring out the best in each other. For Lewis and Nico, it always brought out the worst—until it didn’t.

The story begins in karting, when they were boys. Friends. Dreamers. Two kids with wild eyes and even wilder dreams, bound together by ambition and that heady sense of invincibility only childhood allows. But time—and Formula 1—twisted that innocence.

When they became teammates at Mercedes, all that camaraderie rotted into bitterness. Nico hated that Lewis was the golden boy, the star, the chosen one. Lewis hated that Nico always wore a mask of perfection—polite, polished, always pretending like he wasn’t just as ruthless.

And when Nico finally beat Lewis in 2016 and retired immediately, Lewis felt betrayed. Not just because he lost. But because Nico ran. Like a coward. Like a thief who stole a championship and vanished.

They didn’t speak for years.