The inquiry and subsequent decision that Nico Rosberg did not deliberately wreck Lewis Hamilton’s chances of taking pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix has, nevertheless, lit the fuse for what could now explode into the kind of rivalry between team-mates not seen since the days of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in the eighties.
Although he didn’t actually say so, it was obvious that Hamilton thought Rosberg knew exactly what he was doing when, on the final lap of qualifying, he locked up at Mirabeau, slid off into an escape road and attempted to reverse back onto the circuit which brought out the yellow flags, forcing the Brit to abort what was, at that stage, a lap which would have taken pole.
It was a tactic that had been used before by Michael Schumacher in 2006 when he deliberately crashed his Ferrari at Rascasse, bringing out the yellows and denying Fernando Alonso, then with Renault, completing what was a faster lap.
Unlike Rosberg, Schumacher was stripped of pole. The fact that Saturday’s inquiry was launched at all added fuel to the suspicion that Rosberg had sabotaged his team-mate’s chances and there was mixed reaction from around the world.
Some claimed Hamilton, who refused to even acknowledge Rosberg immediately after the qualifying session had ended, had been unsporting and childish in his reaction to being beaten to pole.
Others, and I include myself here, thought it might have been a deliberate tactic by the German and understood Hamilton’s frustration, although he would have done himself no harm to be seen to congratulate his team-mate, even if he didn’t mean it.
His behaviour in the post-qualifying press conference was also a little churlish when he refused to comment after Rosberg apologised for the incident.
Hamilton later admitted that his relationship with his team-mate was essentially the same as that between his hero Senna and Prost, although so far it is nowhere near as extreme.
Asked if he would sit down with Rosberg and discuss what had happened, Hamilton said he couldn’t remember Senna and Prost talking things through and said he liked the way Senna handled his rivalry with the French driver and would take a page out of his book.
He didn’t explain his comment but clearly had revenge on his mind. Any friendship between these two guys appears to be at breaking point and it is the inevitable result of two highly-competitive drivers being allowed by Mercedes to race each other in a car that looks certain to win the world title.
Finishing second is not on their agenda. Allowing them to race is a brave, but high-risk strategy and what happens could decide whether that continues.
I hope Hamilton doesn’t lose his head and take out Rosberg on the first corner because that would only result in demolishing his own reputation.
The possibility of a hostile act of revenge by Hamilton certainly makes the race a must-watch, but let’s hope both men see sense and opt for a fair but thrilling battle on the streets of Monaco.
This rivalry is good for F1 but nobody wants to see it run out of control.
