Lauda: 'Hamilton and Rosberg had no relationship'

Almost a year after the end of the fratricidal duel between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg (the latter's catchy title his retirement from sports at the end of 2016), Niki Lauda revealed the deleterious atmosphere that reigned within the team Mercedes these last years. In an interview with American journalist Graham Bensinger, the non-executive president of the star team explained that “Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg didn’t say hello to each other.” arriving in the morning on the circuits.

“They had no relationship, no contact. It’s never a good sign.”, recalls the three-time world champion Formula 1. “I wasn’t expecting them to spend breakfast together, but it was turning out badly. This deeply affected Lewis and Nico, it was not easy to deal with. » And human management was needed when the two team partners clashed in the first round of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix contested in Barcelona. “It was obvious to me that Lewis had made a mistake. He was too aggressive by moving to Nico's right, he went into the grass and couldn't catch up with his car.", believes the Austrian.

This double abandonment was the culmination of the quarrel between the two colleagues. “Lewis did not appreciate our internal meeting at all after the incident. He said to me, “Why are you criticizing me? » He was really pissed. » Following this accident, Niki Lauda and the executive director of Mercedes Toto wolff threatened their pilots in the event of a repeat offense. “We told them this attitude was unacceptable for the brand. We then established rules: if anyone repeated this same type of error, they would have been penalized or released from any contract with us. » A radical solution but which did not prevent the two pilots to damage each other’s cars at the Austrian Grand Prix following…