Hamilton won't change approach despite Mercedes warning

40

Lewis Hamilton says he will not change the way he races team-mate Nico Rosberg despite a warning from Mercedes.

Following a collision between the two drivers on the final lap of the Austrian Grand Prix, Mercedes bosses Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe held meetings with Hamilton and Rosberg on Thursday morning. Mercedes then released a statement saying its drivers are free to race but have been warned of "much greater deterrents to contact" in future.

Asked if the new deterrents mean he would still be able to race as he did in Suzuka and Austin last year, Hamilton replied: "Unfortunately everything that’s been said is private and confidential so I’m not allowed to say.

"It’s a good question. But we’re still able to race… In all those races the stewards deemed me racing so I will still race like that."

And Hamilton believes the outcome of the meeting actually changes very little where the two drivers are concerned.

"In all honesty I think our destiny has always been in our hands, so it doesn’t really change anything. We’re still able to race which is a positive, no team orders, which is great for the fans, so everybody should be excited.

Asked if the deterrents are scary, Hamilton replied: "I guess I should say yes!"

And Hamilton says he would let his drivers continue to race if he was Mercedes team principal overseeing a similar situation.

"Me personally I think I’d probably be in a better position because I’m a racing driver, so I know what you would do and what I would do on a race track and what I would not. Our great engineers and individuals who don’t race, it’s difficult for them to understand the decisions we take when we’re racing at 200mph.

"So I think I’m in a better position but I’m not going to tell you what I would and would not do. I would want them to race, that’s for sure, and I wouldn’t bring in team orders because racing is why I’m here and why I would be there – to watch them race.

"I’d probably understand that when you have two cars that are racing first and second there are going to be times, out of 60 races together, there’s going to be five collisions … I don’t know how many we’ve had … but it’s a small amount compared to the amount of successful races and one-twos we’ve had. So that’s me."

Chris Medland's 2016 British Grand Prix preview

From the cockpit: Felipe Nasr on back-to-back races

Technical analysis Austria

Scene at the Austrian Grand Prix

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.