Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on the final round of Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday.
Abu Dhabi - The Mercedes team had more than one reason to be miffed with their driver Hamilton
Published: Mon 28 Nov 2016, 6:55 PM
Last updated: Mon 28 Nov 2016, 9:14 PM
The Mercedes team had more than one reason to be miffed with their driver Lewis Hamilton after the Briton's tricks in the title-deciding Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday.
And while a defiant Hamilton defended the tactics aimed at his teammate Nico Rosberg, the latter didn't bite the bait.
The German, who, by finishing second in the 55-lap race, became the World Champion for the first time, said he could see Hamilton's perspective of slowing down the race.
"That's a pretty simple discussion. You can understand the team's perspective and you can understand Lewis's perspective so there's no. that's it," said Rosberg.
Rosberg did find himself battling Red Bull's Max Verstappen and later Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and the 31-year-old said it was unreal, the battle with Verstappen and then with Vettel.
"The feelings out there in that battle with Max. unreal, really unreal. I hope I don't experience that again anytime soon. And the same again at the end, you know, pressure on from behind, Lewis driving slow at the front. It was a tough one," he said.
With the tactics in play, Rosberg did acknowledge that trying to overtake Hamilton, did pass his mind but he then took a rain check on it.
"Lewis was using all his skill to do it perfectly, so there was absolutely no way for me to manage to get by, so of course I thought about it but it was just pointless so there was no way. He did it in a very good way, in a perfect way," Rosberg said.
Moving away from that topic, Rosberg said he liked the sound of two Rosbergs as World Champion after he followed in the footsteps of his father Keke, who won the Championship in 1982 with Williams.
"If I can give you a new statistic: two Rosbergs are World Champions now! That's just a statistic for you - if I got my statistics right, so that's quite a nice new one," a smiling Rosberg said.
Looking at the bigger picture, it was a big weight off Rosberg's shoulders as he was always compared to his father ever since he made it into the big world of Formula One.
Keke has stayed in the background so as to not put his son under any unwanted pressure. And Rosberg revealed he always used to receive a message from his father, ever Saturday night of a Grand Prix weekend.
"Every Saturday night I get a message from him and most of the time it's like 'pedal to the metal tomorrow, full stop, exclamation mark.' So that's his words of advice every weekend," he said.
"But my dad and my mum both have such a big part in this. My mum is on the private side, of course, and my dad for the career steps and all the support all the way. It was massive. I think it's been good how's he's let me get on with it and taken a step back. I think it's been very, very good and it's worked well for us and for me. So, I'm very, very thankful for that," added Rosberg, who was joined by his Finnish father Keke, his German mother Sina and the rest of the family after the race, as they danced to 'campione del mondo.'
Rosberg drives with the No.6 on his car, the same number Keke used when winning the World Championship, and Rosberg said he would contemplate whether to use the No.1 since he is now the freshly minted champion.
"I have no idea," Rosberg said of the number change. "I love number six of course, my dad won the World Championship with number six as well, so it's a very lucky number for us," he added.
james@khaleejtimes.com
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