Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg barely exchanged a word in the first-class cabin of their flight to Dubai en route to the next race in Bahrain - but both Mercedes drivers had a further say in public about the dispute that broke out after the Chinese Grand Prix.
Hamilton was particularly strident, saying that he is a “racer” and Rosberg is not.
The bones of the argument are that Rosberg, beaten into second place by Hamilton, said his team-mate had been “selfish” by slowing down while leading the race, causing Rosberg to be bunched closer to the attacking Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, whom he feared could overhaul him.
It can now be revealed that after the race they were brought in one by one to meet senior Mercedes management including Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe, team principal and technical director respectively.
Then, more than two hours after the race, Wolff was happy the team had got their story straight enough to speak to journalists. He declared the talks “positive” and cleared both drivers of wrongdoing, but Hamilton then spoke under an embargo that means his words have not appeared until now.
HAPPY WITH SECOND?
“Nico didn’t try,” he said with passion. “Nico didn’t try. They said maybe he was just comfortable in second, and I said, ‘Well that’s the difference between us. I want to win, always.’
“I would have done everything to get past, or at least pushed for three laps. He wasn’t quick enough.
“This is motor racing, man. Racing. Don’t take away the fun of the racing. I wouldn’t have sat back two seconds to make it to the end of the stint.
“I don’t even know what Nico’s point is. I just won the race. I did the best job I could possibly have done and the team got a one-two.”
Hamilton’s explanation for slowing is that he was running his own race and conserving his tyres.
He added: “I want the guy to be up my a*** if he’s got the pace to be up my a***, and putting pressure on me. If I can’t defend it, I lose, like in Bahrain last year (where he held off the faster Rosberg to win).
“I wasn’t quick enough and did everything I could to stay ahead. And that was the greatest race ever.”
ROSBERG SPEAKS OUT
Without knowing what Hamilton had said, Rosberg offered his version through his post-race video on which he answered questions from fans. One asked if he was “crying” - by which the questioner meant being a poor loser. Rosberg said: “I respect your opinion and I’ll keep it in mind and I’ll try to show respect when it’s due.”
But why did he not push to pass Hamilton?
“It might not be easy to understand from the outside,” said the German. “But I did try to attack Lewis in the first stint and it didn’t work. All I did was destroy my tyres. So in the second stint there was no point trying to do that again. I would have destroyed my tyres and Vettel could have had a good shot at overtaking me.
“My only chance of winning, or to fight Lewis, or try to overtake him, would have come at the end of the race, so that’s what I was building up to.
“The worst part of the weekend was losing out to Lewis in qualifying. That compromised me most. And it was by just four-hundredths. That’s down to me to be those five-hundredths quicker next time.”
Daily Mail