Lewis Hamilton has said that the rivalry between himself and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg has been “overblown”, and that the two remain friends despite their differences in Monaco.
The Monaco Grand Prix weekend was a frosty one in the Mercedes garage, with Hamilton and Rosberg going head-to-head on and off track. Hamilton was left fuming when Rosberg managed to secure pole position ahead of him under controversial circumstances, and was quoted as saying that they were no longer friends, merely “colleagues”.
However, the two have now cooled things down, and Hamilton wrote in his blog for the BBC that he believes that the story has been hyped up by the media.
“I’ve got to say that the whole rivalry thing with Nico has been overblown,” he said. “I tweeted last week to say that we’re friends and that’s the way it is , and the way it always has been.
“In this sport you do what you need to do to win the race. Nico was on pole and I had mission impossible in trying to get round him but everyone of those millions of people watching around the world knew that I was up for the fight. And I gave it a good shot.
“Of course, all the best F1 drivers don’t like losing. That’s a fact. We’re all here to win and people know I can’t lie and pretend to be happy when I’ve come up short. I want to win, pure and simple.”
Hamilton admitted that he had let his emotions get the better of him, but he is now feeling good heading into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, a race which he has won three times.
“In these moments, in the heat and noise of the battle, you can forget the bigger picture and with me I always feel better after I’ve slept on it,” he explained. “The next morning I get up and everything is still there outside my window.
“The immediate emotions start to subside, a sense of rationality taps on my shoulder and I realise that it wasn’t the end of the world as I thought it had been. I still had Canada and the rest of the season to look forward to!
“I’ve had the most positive week since the last race. I’ve just got on with doing what I thought was right. I looked back and studied what had happened and then I took the initiative and called Nico and we buried it. Now bring on the next race.”
The Briton will know that with victory in Montreal this weekend, he can re-claim the lead of the drivers’ championship from Rosberg. However, it remains to be seen just whether this rivalry does flare up again in 2014, and what the consequences for the team and the drivers would be.
