Agence France Presse
Mexico City, Oct 30: Nico Rosberg stated here Thursday that he would like to ‘clear the air’ regarding the crash he suffered with F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton at the US Grand Prix while, the latter stated that there is ‘no love lost’ between the two and he would not help the German in at least finishing second best in the driver’s championship.
Four days after the spectacular and tumultuous United States Grand Prix in Texas, where the pair clashed on lap one before Hamilton secured a bold, title-clinching triumph, the 30-year-old German said that he wanted an explanation of their wheel-banging duel. He accused the 30-year-old Briton of going a ‘step too far’ with his aggression.
Hamilton rejected Rosberg’s claims and said that he had won the inside line for the corner with a superior start off the grid, but the German disagreed. “I think it’s pretty clear,” said Rosberg. “I’m ahead mid-corner and I have a right to a piece of track and he’s driving me off the road and banging into me. It was one big step too far, which was not good. It needs to be discussed. And I’m not sure about anything going forward.”
However, Rosberg was the first to admit that the crash was not the ‘key factor’ in Hamilton winning the race and admitted that a mistake had cost him the win. “It wasn’t the key to the race because the main thing was my mistake. I got it wrong,” he said, of his late unforced error that gifted victory and the title to Hamilton.
Meanwhile, Hamilton stated that he saw little reason to try and help teammate Nico Rosberg beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and finish runner-up in the F1 standings.
“The team has not asked me to support him…as I’m here to win the race,” said Hamilton. “We have won the constructors’ championship so I think from here on there’s not really a huge benefit to the team for me to start helping. We’ll see what (motorsport director) Toto (Wolff) wants me to do.”