03/12/2015
NEWS STORY
Just twenty-four hours after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff warned that the deteriorating relationship between his drivers is impacting the team and that consideration must now be given to letting one of them go, Lewis Hamilton has fired another broadside, accusing teammate, Nico Rosberg, of being a complainer.
"You've seen he complains about a lot of things," says the Briton in an interview for the BBC's F1 Review, which will be shown later this month.
"But you kind of let it go over your head because that's just the way he is," he continues. "It's kind of the different background we come from, I guess."
The Briton, who this year emulated his racing hero, Ayrton Senna, in claiming his third world championship, reinforces the argument that nice guys don't win titles.
"You can't be nice out there, and go: 'Hey, here's some space'. I mean business. I'm not here to make friends, to finish the race and say: 'Hey, that was a lovely race, chap, you were so friendly with me, you let me win.'
"This is the one opportunity and you take it," he insists. "That doesn't mean wiping someone out or cheating but you have to be fierce, strong and hard to as much of the limit as you can be."
In a clear reference to the incidents in Japan and Austin, both of which clearly angered Rosberg, Hamilton said: "You can ask every world champion, if you're on the outside, you have to back off."
That said, Hamilton admits that he had second-thoughts about his move at Austin.
"I'm definitely a believer in karma, and while I didn't intentionally do anything, I felt afterwards: 'Ah, jeez.' The guys were on me, and then he got back in the lead and I thought: 'Well, that's karma, he's back in the lead so he should have nothing to complain about.' And then eventually I got him back later on but still he had to find something to complain about."