Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes will wait to decide on any action for ignoring team orders
- Published
Will Rosberg and Hamilton become best of friends, again?
Mercedes say there is "no rush" to decide whether to take further action against Lewis Hamilton following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton drove deliberately slowly in an attempt to back team-mate Nico Rosberg into rivals. The German finished second to win his first title.
"There's no time pressure," a spokesman said. "We'll let the whole thing settle and then figure out the way forward.
"For now, the focus is on savouring and celebrating the world championships."
Mercedes repeatedly ordered Hamilton to speed up during the race, telling him the win was under threat if he did not.
But he rejected their commands and told his team to "let us race".
Hamilton went into the race 12 points behind Rosberg and needed to win - with the German finishing lower than third - to take the title.
Hamilton insisted after the race he had only lost the championship because he had had more technical failures on his car than Rosberg during the season.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "We need to look at the overall situation and say 'what does it mean?'.
"Everything is possible - from 'let's change the rules next year because it doesn't work in those critical races and maybe we want to give them even more freedom in racing each other', to the more harsh side that we feel the team's values were not respected.
Nico Rosberg: Is Mercedes driver a worthy F1 world champion?
"This is 180 degrees and I am not sure yet where the needle is going to go."
Wolff said he could understand Hamilton's actions on a personal level, but also that, as a man responsible for the racing operation of a global corporation, he might have a different view.
"I was in two minds," he said, adding the team values of Mercedes are "pretty clear" and "it cannot make a difference whether it was the first or last race".
"Those principles and values have won us races and championships and so this is one side.
Nico Rosberg tweeted a picture of himself and friends, including Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, celebrating 2016 F1 title win
"And the other side, me the racer, says maybe I would have done the same.
"He had two choices - disappear into the distance and show he is the quickest guy on the planet irrespective of what's happening in the back or decide the other way and bunch them up behind him.
"So we have to calm down. There is so much more going on in the background that plays a role in how we are thinking and this is why I don't want to express an opinion before I have actually made up my mind for myself."
Rosberg said: "I wasn't expecting it, no. Maybe that was a bit naive, but I didn't expect it.
"But it's not something I need to discuss because it is really easy to understand the team's side because we have done the same thing all year and it doesn't change in the last race, but at the same time you can understand Lewis.
"It's the world championship and we are out there fighting and you have to understand he wants to try something. We don't need to discuss it any more."
The season's stats
How Rosberg and Hamilton matched up in 2016
Hamilton won ten races this season and Rosberg only won nine, yet still won the Championship
Rosberg may have had the better of the reliability this season, leading some to say he does not deserve his title, but it has not always been that way
Longest wait for an F1 title: Mr Rosberg slots nicely into second here: with a 10-year wait over 206 races. Source: Forix
- Published28 November 2016
- Published27 November 2016
- Published27 November 2016
