Defiant Hamilton says he didn't cross the line

Abu Dhabi - Hamilton, who started on pole, quite literally 'dictated the pace' of the 55-lap race

The Formula One World Drivers' Championship was on the line and fittingly enough, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix produced a thriller of a show at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton trying every trick in the playbook to thwart teammate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton, who started on pole, quite literally 'dictated the pace' of the 55-lap race and the outgoing World Champion employed shrewd tactics against the German.
The Briton slowed the pace down during the closing stages of the race to present Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel a window to have a go at Rosberg. Vettel, who was on fresher rubber, was closing in on Rosberg, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen was also lurking in the shadows.
There can be no clear answer given as to if it was fair ploy by Hamilton, but it was more of 'everything is fair in love and war.'
The Mercedes team's instructions on the team radio asking him to up the pace, didn't get any response from Hamilton.
And after the race, Team Principal Toto Wolff said that there could be repercussions, hinting that Hamilton could be reprimanded for the action.
But Hamilton felt that he didn't cross any line on Sunday night.
"I don't think I did anything dangerous today (Sunday)," Hamilton said after the race.
"So, I don't feel I did anything unfair. We're fighting for a championship, I was in the lead, I control the pace. That's the rules," added the Briton.
Hamilton said he wasn't annoyed by the team's instructions but he wondered why didn't they let them race.
"I don't know why they didn't just let us just race. There was never a moment where I felt I was going to lose the race. It's a shame that they wouldn't but it's quite clear their through process and yeah I mean I don't really have much to say," he said.
"I'm out there fighting and I generally never try to do anything to harm the team or the brand or anything like that. But we've won the Constructors' Championship so it was down to me and Nico today (Sunday). And however, they still felt they needed to make comments and so. well, you know, we'll discuss it afterwards as we always do as a team and pull back in. But we can't let that overshadow the fact that Nico's just won a Championship and the team has dominated all year long, we'd had more wins than any other team I think in the past maybe. So, we cannot ignore that fact that it's been an incredibly successful year," he added.
james@khaleejtimes.com

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