ST MARTIN, Italy: Formula One leader Nico Rosberg expects his rocky relationship with Mercedes’ team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton (pictured) to improve despite the rift between them after last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Rosberg won the showcase race on Sunday to retake the championship lead from Hamilton, who suggested the German had used underhand tactics to secure pole position in Saturday qualifying.
Visiting the German soccer team at their World Cup preparations in Italy yesterday, Rosberg said such disputes between drivers of the same team were nothing new.
“In our sport we can only have success as a team,” Rosberg told a news conference. “Nothing can happen alone. I make an effort for teamwork and for the atmosphere in the team.
“It is a bit more difficult internally at the moment. But it has happened in the past as well in our sport.”
Mercedes bosses have warned both drivers that they must not overstep the mark in an increasingly intense fight for the Formula One title between the pair, with the team having won every race so far this year.
“We discuss the issues and we have already discussed them and it will again be better and it will be forgotten,” said Rosberg, who has known Hamilton since they were teenage team mates in go-karts.
Before the German’s second victory of the season, which put him four points clear of 2008 world champion Hamilton after six of the 19 races, his British rival had won four in a row.
Meanwhile, Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso will wave the official starting flag for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race next month.
The Spaniard, who was invited by the organisers as a leading representative of Ferrari, said he looked forward to catching up with old friend Mark Webber, the Australian who now competes for Porsche after leaving F1 champions Red Bull last year.
“We miss him in Formula One and I want to know how he’s getting on in Endurance racing,” the double world champion told the Ferrari website.
Alonso said he was also hoping to get some insights into the technology used in the hybrid sportscars compared to Formula One, which has entered a new era this year with a V6 turbo hybrid.
The 82nd edition of Le Mans runs at the Sarthe circuit in western France over the weekend of June 14 and 15.Agencies
