Lewis Hamilton remains at odds with his Mercedes team over his tactics at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The British driver’s efforts to retain his world championship at last month’s season finale saw him back Nico Rosberg into the chasing pack.
While ultimately fruitless, commercial chief Toto Wolff was very strong in his attack on Hamilton for his behaviour, which saw the three-time world champion ignore numerous team instructions to speed up, including a direct message from the defacto team boss in the Mercedes hierarchy, Paddy Lowe.
“Anarchy does not work in any team or in any company,” the Austrian said immediately after the race.
There was talk of a severe punishment in response to Lewis’ actions, however, that all changed following Rosberg’s decision to retire a few days after claiming his maiden title.
Suddenly the matter was deemed closed with no action taken, however, Hamilton told Channel 4, and was later reported by BT Sport, that he still hasn’t got over what was initially said.
“That was one of many uncomfortable moments of the year,” he claimed. “Ultimately seeing what had been said afterwards, I felt quite disrespected by the individuals who had spoken.
“You don’t expect that from those who are in charge of so many people.”
The 31-year-old would then reply “no, it hasn’t” when asked if he deemed the situation as resolved.
Also in the aftermath of the events at Yas Marina, Rosberg admitted he was probably “naive” to think his teammate would not try anything in a bid to cost him the title, however, Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes the whole situation would have been different if Mercedes knew of the German’s intention to retire.
“They would probably have supported Lewis a bit more in the last race if they’d known this was going to happen,” he told the BBC.
He even suggested Rosberg played Mercedes a little by not telling the team.
“He was probably concerned that if he told them before the event they would perhaps have not been as enthusiastic for him to win the championship.
“So you can understand it from a personal point of view.
“Of course that doesn’t serve the best interests of the team, it’s a very late call. He only signed a contract a couple of months ago. Then he was obviously happy to continue and then had a change of heart,” he concluded.
