Mercedes duo have ‘tricky’ relationship, admits Lauda

Niki Lauda claims Lewis Hamilton has now accepted his Monaco Grand Prix defeat to Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, but has warned the situation remains "tricky".

Bad blood between the pair was stirred up on the streets of the principality, with neither man acknowledging the other on the podium following a race won by Rosberg, with Hamilton runner-up.

That followed an incident in race qualifying where an apparent mistake by Rosberg led to yellow flags that thwarted Hamilton’s bid to claim pole position.

Hamilton then tweeted on Friday that he and Rosberg had spoken, claiming they were now “cool” and “still friends”.

Mercedes non-executive chairman Lauda maintains the matter has been laid to rest, but knows it could easily flare up again given the head-to-head battle between the duo for this year’s Formula One world championship crown.

“Lewis has now accepted Nico won in Monaco and he was second, which is really no shame,” said three-times former champion Lauda, speaking to Osterreich newspaper.

“In Montreal (for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix) we will get together again and discuss everything. After that, the fight will go on for the world championship, with both in equal cars.

“But with two alphas currently sitting in the best car, it is tricky, although given our superiority, that in turn makes the races interesting.

“But we will let our drivers race against each other without restriction because whilst tension is quite normal, it can also escalate. Then I get involved as a mentor.”

Lauda is now expecting Hamilton to counter in Montreal, adding: “Nico was clearly faster in Monte Carlo, but now Lewis will do everything he can to fight back.

“It is a strain on our nerves, but for the fans and the sport, there is nothing better.”

Meanwhile Lotus deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi has expressed fears there may only be four teams on the Formula One grid in future if the sport fails to find cost-cutting solutions.

Gastaldi, still relatively new to the role after taking up the post on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix in mid-March, has quickly had to immerse himself in F1’s complex politics.

Top of the agenda this season has been discussions on how to reduce overall spending and prevent some of the smaller teams from going to the wall.

Oxfordshire-based team Lotus themselves operate on a tight budget and may yet face further hardship if F1 continues to stall on implementing ideas designed to save money. At present there is clear division between the haves and have nots as to how to move forward, which is having a detrimental impact on talks and progression.

Gastaldi said: “There are a lot of discussions. The problem is while we seem to be in the same boat, we are not yet on the same page.

“We all have different agendas and different things to worry about,” he added.