The team orders saga at Mercedes was reignited during the Hungarian Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton was told to move over for team-mate Nico Rosberg.
The question of whether Hamilton was right to refuse to move over or not is down to personal preference. He has the backing of Niki Lauda who said he’d do the same and even referred to an earlier claim that Mercedes wouldn’t employ team orders this year.
“Lewis ignored it because he remembered before the season that we said they could fight freely against each other,” noted the Austrian.
“That’s why he did the right thing.”
– Mercedes insist they won’t ever use team orders
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff and Rosberg – for obvious reasons – don’t agree, with both claiming Hamilton cost the team a victory, but the Briton refuses to see it that way.
“I am hired to be me, and race my heart out,” he said.
“I did not cost Nico a win,” he insisted. “I was racing against him! Why would I be concerned for him?
“I don’t think I was being ruthless. I was not even being bloody minded. I was doing my job. I tried my hardest to be ahead and I don’t feel as though I was obligated to help.”
