Lauda: Hamilton didn't trash room or lie about Rosberg

Niki Lauda has released a statement clarifying comments he made about Lewis Hamilton's behaviour in Baku and relationship with team-mate Nico Rosberg.

In an interview on Servus TV, Lauda said Hamilton had destroyed his driver room in Baku after crashing during qualifying, handing pole position to Rosberg. Lauda also claimed Hamilton's comments that his relationship with Rosberg was now "surprisingly good" were false, with the Mercedes non-executive chairman saying: "Lewis lied about this."

However, Lauda has now issued a statement denying those claims. The full statement distributed by Mercedes reads:

"Following his appearance on a television discussion show on Servus TV recorded prior to last weekend's Austrian GP, Niki Lauda would like to set the record straight and state the following:

Lewis Hamilton did not in any way damage a hotel room or his private driver room at the circuit during the race weekend in Baku; and
Lewis Hamilton did not lie about his relationship with team-mate Nico Rosberg.

"Niki regrets any misunderstanding caused by comments that have been blown wildly out of proportion compared with the casual context in which they were made."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.