Nico Rosberg regarded Max Verstappen as ‘Mad Max’ when he was racing, but he showed respect to the Mercedes driver when it counted.

Rosberg beat teammate Lewis Hamilton to win the world championship in 2016, the same year Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull.

Mercedes were virtually untouchable, winning 19 out of 21 races, but the likes of Verstappen and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel were still a factor in the title race.

Nico Rosberg thanks Max Verstappen for giving him space in Abu Dhabi overtake

Appearing on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast to mark the 10-year anniversary of his title win, Rosberg once again reflected on overtaking Verstappen at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Race engineer Tony Ross informed him that passing Verstappen for second place was critical in the championship picture. P3 would have seen him finish level on points with Hamilton, but the British driver would have held the tiebreaker (more race wins).

Race leader Hamilton deliberately slowed down in an attempt to back Rosberg into the pack.

“He put me behind Max Verstappen with that strategy,” Rosberg said. “I should never have been behind Max Verstappen, and suddenly I’m behind Max Verstappen, the worst guy to be behind.

“It was Mad Max at the time. It was a 50/50 chance of a crash if you ever tried to try and pass him.

“Lewis’ strategy was working. Understandably, he had to do something, so he tries something.

“Probably the most extreme moment is my whole career is Tony Ross, he comes on the radio and says, ‘Nico, your championship is at risk, you need to now pass Max Verstappen in the next two laps.’

“What? You don’t pass Max Verstappen. It’s not something you do. Where does that come from? This is nuts.

“He had to make it clear that it’s rather important, so there was no other way to make it clear that it’s rather important, ‘you are going to lose the championship’.”

He added: “Amazing move, and I’m forever thankful to Max because he played it fairly, left the space. Forever grateful, amazing. Thank you so much. Forever.”

Rosberg’s leg was shaking in the cockpit because he was so anxious in the lead-up to the move.

While Hamilton’s tactics put him under pressure from cars behind, Rosberg held on to second place ahead of Vettel, which was all he needed.

The Ferrari driver said afterwards that he didn’t want to legitimise Hamilton’s ‘dirty tricks’.

Hamilton had defied Mercedes’ team orders, with executive director Paddy Lowe telling him to speed up over the radio. The relationship had to be repaired over the winter so he could continue in 2017, though Rosberg’s sudden retirement no doubt helped matters.