Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton wants repeat Rosberg battle

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Lewis Hamilton says he wants a repeat battle with team-mate Nico Rosberg at this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Rosberg was unhappy with Hamilton's driving in China, with the two trading verbal exchanges following the race before Mercedes had to defuse the situation. Last year saw the first cracks in the two drivers' relationship begin to appear after an epic fight in Bahrain, and Hamilton says he wants a similar race despite the current tension between the two.

"We didn't touch [last year] but he was unhappy about ... Listen man, ultimately it is Formula One," Hamilton said. "I grew up watching the sport, you want to see overtaking and want to see a battle and now I'm in the sport you don't want it to be controlled too, you don't want to be having to back off and save a tyre.

"I want the guy to be up my arse if he has got that pace to be up my arse and putting pressure on me and if I can't defend it, you lose it. Like in Bahrain, then I do everything I can to stay ahead and that was the greatest race ever.

"Whether we could have had that [in China] I don't think so because I would have tried to react in any way pace wise but I want to race man. I'm the ultimate race dude."

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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.