The Mercedes war is just beginning, but Rosberg won this battle - MotorSportsTalk

It’s been a funny few days in Formula 1. On the grandest of stages – the Monaco Grand Prix – Mercedes appeared to be on the brink of civil war as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg locked horns around the streets of the principality.

After spending much of the weekend sending warning shots to Rosberg in the media, Hamilton came out of the race weekend as the loser. Second place is by no means bad, but the British driver was on the cusp of five straight wins, which – according to history – would have made him a certainty for the title.

Instead, for all of the comments and digs at Rosberg, the German driver had the last laugh on the track on Sunday by winning the Monaco Grand Prix and re-gaining the lead of the drivers’ championship. Frankly, it seemed like Hamilton just had a bee in his bonnet.

Traditionally, Rosberg always plays a bit of soccer before each session; it’s his way to relax. The likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel listen to music. Kimi Raikkonen likes to have a sleep! You can often find Nico doing keepy-uppies with the ball at the back of the garage just minutes before jumping in the car. However, Hamilton complained to the team about this on Saturday before qualifying, claiming that the noise of him kicking the ball against the wall was disturbing him.

They’ve been teammates for 25 races – yet only now is Nico’s pre-race ritual annoying Lewis? Very strange.

After the race, both drivers were asked whether they’re still friends. Speaking to Sky, Rosberg remained cheerful about their partnership at Mercedes.

“We’ve always been friends, we always will be friends,” he said. “But friends is a big word. What exactly is friends? We have a good relationship and work well together.”

However, Lewis made himself very clear: “We are not friends. We are colleagues.”

Just as Fernando Alonso grew restless at McLaren when Hamilton started to challenge him, are the same cracks appearing in Lewis Hamilton?

Across the course of the week, Rosberg has remained a class act, saying the right things and doing his talking on track. Hamilton, on the other hand, has behaved a spoiled child who didn’t get his way. From Thursday to Sunday, there were nothing but digs at Nico. He had a problem with his upbringing, his innocent mistake in qualifying, and the strategic call on Sunday made by the team.

Lewis said earlier this week that his tough upbringing has made him hungrier than Nico. However, he’s now a multi-millionaire global superstar with a private jet, a dream lifestyle and even two dogs he brings to the races. Can we not argue that he is in up in the clouds, believing that everyone is conspiring against him and he can do no wrong?

Final word on this goes to former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley, who worked with Lewis at the team for three years:

“Lewis Hamilton left McLaren without many fans in the garage because of his attitude & arrogance. It won’t take long for the same to happen at Mercedes I’m afraid.”

Let’s see if they can patch things up before we arrive in Canada. Either way, this civil war at Mercedes is only just beginning.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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