Lewis Hamilton has stressed that his relationship with Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas will not deteriorate, in the wake of their respective strong starts to 2019.
Hamilton and Bottas have both led two Mercedes 1-2s this season respectively, with Bottas one point clear courtesy of setting the fastest lap in Australia.
Hamilton’s relationship with ex-team-mate Nico Rosberg soured as the hybrid era developed – the pair coming to blows on-track – with Rosberg departing as champion at the end of 2016.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff suggested post-race in Azerbaijan that he saw glimpses of the Hamilton/Rosberg battle in the Hamilton/Bottas scrap, and when that was put to Hamilton, he said: “There are things that happen in the background that you won’t know about.
“I don’t really feel this is the place to talk about it, but there are things that happen that you just don’t know.
“So when he mentions glimpses of that it’s because he has seen a glimpse of it, but what’s really important is that will pull together as a team, we have discussed it and hopefully rectified it so that won’t spring up again.
“What happened before was an individual continued to go down that route and that’s not what we have here.
“We have a really great energy in the team and we have an agreed set of rules so that we do finish the races 1-2 and we play supporting roles either way.
“I truly believe it is the best pairing in terms of that respect and how we deliver each weekend than any other team has ever had or currently has.
“So to be honest, yes it’s going to be close and tight between us and tension will be there because tension is always there when you want to beat someone else, but the fundamental key is that we have to be a team player.
“We are not here for ourselves, although of course we want to win the championship individually, but what we are paid to do is win for the team and deliver for the team.
“As long as we remember that, we shouldn’t have problems.”
