Johannesburg [South Africa]: Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, who recently won the Formula One title, has insisted that there is “no point discussing” his team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s race tactics during the final Grand Prix of the season held at Abu Dhabi.
The German finished second in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend which was enough to hand him his first world Formula 1 title.
Rosberg needed at least a third-place finish to secure the crown, but Hamilton slowed down deliberately to allow Verstappen and Vettel catch Rosberg. The British ace twice ignored an order to speed up in his duel in the desert with Rosberg in a bid to snatch a fourth drivers’ crown.
The Briton’s tactics caused an unwelcome headache for the Mercedes hierarchy in the pit lane, and even led executive director Paddy Lowe to radio Hamilton in an effort to speed him up.
However, the 31-year-old Mercedes driver wants the matter to be dropped, besides denying to whether he would have used the same plan had a similar situation arose before him.
“That’s too hypothetical, so there’s no point in going into that.We can just drop the whole discussion. There’s no point discussing this topic any more. It’s done and it’s in the past,” Rosberg was quoted as saying by Sport24.
Hamilton, the three-time world champion, won the 2014 and 2015 championships and the German teammate thinks there is extra satisfaction from beating one of the best drivers of all-time.
“He’s one of the best in the world, one of the best ever surely, so it’s incredibly intense to race him,” Rosberg said. “It feels like we’ve been doing it forever and he’s always edged me out ever so slightly, so to finally get one back was awesome.”
“I’ve got great respect for him because he does an incredible job, he’s done so well over the years and he fought to the very last metre on Sunday. That made it extremely tough on Sunday but all the more beautiful afterwards,” he added.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has, however, confirmed that they are considering taking legal action against Hamilton.
“Undermining a structure in public means you are putting yourself before the team,” Wolff was quoted as saying by the Independent. “It is very simple. Anarchy does not work in any team and in any company.”
The Briton’s contract runs out in 2018 but that would not stop Mercedes ending it early or suspending him from races next season as a punishment. (ANI)