The Briton – visibly relaxed after spending time with his family and in the
Colorado mountains over the summer break – said last night: “As far as I’m
aware it is [all sorted]. Maybe there is one party that is not 100 per cent
with that.
“It was an awkward position. It was not a very clear situation from the team
orders and I like to think I handled it quite well.
“I don’t feel I owe him to say anything. I wasn’t really involved much in his
race and he did not get close enough to overtake. They said don’t hold him
up but he was never on my tail. I made it hard for him to pass. That’s my
job.”
The 29-year-old joked: “There are not a lot of things I do or say that he is
happy with. I didn’t come away thinking I have learnt something here. I
stood my ground.”
The team strongly suggested after the Hungary race that Hamilton’s failure to
allow his team-mate past had cost Rosberg the win. Despite this, Hamilton
seemed to suggest the conversations between the pair last night were
unnecessary.
“I don’t know what Nico has said but we haven’t all sat down together as yet,”
he said. “I’m not particularly sure it needs to happen.”
The German spoke of learning lessons from the affair, as he sought to avoid
adding fuel to the fire.
“I gather it was a bit of a mess [in the media] after Hungary so it’s best I
don’t add too much and not give too many details,” he said. “In general, we
discussed it after the race because it’s important to review a situation
like that. But I’ve learnt various things from that race which I will try to
adapt to in the future.”
Pressed to elaborate on the situation, the 29-year-old added: “I don’t want to
go into much detail but we sat down and discussed it all, reviewed if we
needed to change something for the future and that’s what we’ve done.”
Two days after the race at the Hungaroring, on July 27, Hamilton emailed
Mercedes executives Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe to ask for clarification on
when team orders would be used, having been eschewed for most of the year so
far. Soon after the three shared a long conference call in which Wolff and
Lowe made clear that they supported Hamilton’s actions in Hungary, adding
that there would be no consequences or punishment.
It appears Rosberg had his own discussions with the team bosses, but did not
speak to Hamilton about the subject in the 25 days that have elapsed since
Hungary. On Thursday night the four had a meeting in Mercedes motorhome,
with Hamilton assuring reporters that it would all be resolved by Sunday’s
race.
“The four of us will sit down,” he said. “I think it’s done and dusted.
They understood the situation. There was no wrong or right. I’m not upset with
them and they are not upset with me.
“It’s very clear for me. I’m not sure it’s the same the other side. Today, if
there is any unclear air, it will be cleared.”
The relationship between these long-time rivals, who have been racing each
other since they were team-mates in karting, has been fractious at the best
of times this year. It broke down in spectacular fashion in Monaco when Hamilton suggested Rosberg had deliberately scuppered his final qualifying
lap by intentionally running wide and bringing out yellow flags.
After the race Hamilton said the pair were “not friends”, but in the days
after posted a conciliatory tweet along with a picture of the two from their
youth. Despite winning four races in a row in the early part of the season,
the Briton has been behind for much of the campaign, through a combination
of mechanical failures and mistakes in Saturday qualifying.