4 Spanish Grand Prix
Now, protecting his ever-diminishing lead in Barcelona, it is Hamilton’s turn
to use all the toys at his disposal, without the permission of the team. The
Briton apologised, but Rosberg was hurt. “Nico had felt aggrieved by what
had happened in the race and I guess this is really normal,” Toto Wolf, team
boss, said. “It’s never going to happen again.”
5 Silver spoons
The pair had remained deferential and polite in the media, but ahead of the
Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton added some spice. Signposted with the phrase,
“let me be clear”, Hamilton went on to say that his comparatively humble
upbringing in Stevenage gave him a different kind of hunger to Rosberg. Or,
more bluntly, you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth and you don’t
know what it is to fight.
6 Monaco qualifying controversy
The moment when trust between the two was severely damaged. Was it
irreparable? Rosberg locks up on his final run in qualifying, and the
resulting yellow flags prevent Hamilton from challenging for pole position.
The Briton was ahead so far on his lap, and on course to take an absolutely
crucial pole position. Rosberg is later cleared by the stewards of any
wrongdoing or foul play.
7 Taking a page out of Senna’s book
In the immediate aftermath of qualifying, Hamilton did little to hide his
frustration, quite the opposite in fact. He said that Rosberg had
“potentially” tried to “screw him over”, and flatly refused to accept the
German’s apologies. References to dealing with the situation like Ayrton
Senna had done left many fearing a first corner collision on Sunday.
8 Rosberg victorious in Monaco
Whatever Niki Lauda told the drivers before the race worked. They steered well
clear of one another at the first corner, but Hamilton’s keep up the chase
for most of the race. Only some dirt in his left eye curtailed his
challenge. Rosberg won comfortably in the end, proving just how vital the
events of qualifying were to the race result. The German recaptures the
championship lead.
9 ‘We are not friends’
After the race Hamilton is clearly still smarting over the whole affair. The
pair do not share a glance or a handshake on the podium, and travel back to
the paddock in separate minibuses. Hamilton says that the two are “not
friends”. Then he continues his not-so-subtle argument about Rosberg’s
qualifying mistake as he refers to some “data” he has seen which he believes
substantiates his argument.
10 An uneasy truce?
Five days after the race in Monaco, Hamilton speaks to Rosberg and now tweets
that they are still friends and that they have “no problem”. The timing of
the tweet, minutes after a Sky Sports debate on the subject, arouses
suspicion in some quarters. Even if the tweet came about through Hamilton’s
own volition, it is hard to imagine it not going through his or Mercedes
management. Whether the two will ever agree on what happened in Monaco
remains unlikely, but for now at least they have done a (publicly) passable
job of smoothing things over.