Hamilton says his relationship with Rosberg has never been this good

Image Courtesy: Mercedes

Regardless of all they have been through, Lewis Hamilton declared that his relationship with team-mate Nico Rosberg is now better than ever. Tensions and  clashes have evolved over the last few months to a more mature relation, based on intense and constructive communication.

Instead of comparing their current relationship to their joyful and carefree exchange of congratulations in Bahrain 2014, it is more appropriate to visualise it as a serious and conscious mode.

“It’s actually really good with Nico at the moment,’ said Hamilton in an interview with the Mail on Sunday. ‘Really, really good. Surprisingly. I would definitely not have expected it to be where it is. I guess it is probably with age.”

"He’s a family man. He’s got a kid. He has probably grown in that process and I have grown and come of age. The respect that we have always talked about is bigger than it has ever been.

“So now we generally just discuss things. Whether we’re unhappy about something or not, we discuss it face to face. If I have a problem, I knock on his door and ask if I can speak to him privately. We never address it publicly or in front of the team. So far, at least.

“We say straight up, “Hey man, I wasn’t cool with that”. And he does that to me as often as I do to him."

Additionally, Hamilton brought up an example to corroborate this statement, referring to a chat he had with Nico in Monaco.

"The other day, I was swimming in my pool — the building we live in in Monaco, there is a shared communal pool — and I guess he saw me from his apartment and came down and sat on the diving board and when I finished a few laps, we sat and talked for 20 minutes or half an hour. In a relaxed state.

“We are going to have our ups and downs and there are going to be times where we hate each other and when we like each other, but ultimately, when we have all retired and got kids and stuff, the respect will always be there."

Certainly Hamilton has clarified they are on the same page, but was it just spontaneous or the result of a firm wake-up call coming from their bosses?

In fact after their incident at the Spanish Grand Prix, they surely are not allowed to blow opportunities anymore, and this fix needed by their unstable relationship would be one more aspect of sheer teamwork forced from above. Lewis and Nico, with Ferrari and Red Bull slowly recovering, must be united and keep themselves allied against their competition.

by Beatrice Zamuner