Jun.1 (GMM) Two F1 pundits disagree over whether Nico Rosberg did the right thing by obeying team orders during the Monaco grand prix.
While struggling notably with his pace in the wet-dry street race, championship leader Rosberg let his teammate past and was later thanked by the winning Briton for being a “gentleman”.
But former F1 driver Christian Danner wonders if it was the right thing to do.
“The team said Nico was classy but in the end he wants to be world champion,” he told Bild newspaper.
“If at the end Nico is missing two, three, four points, he will remember letting Lewis past. I am also quite sure that Hamilton would not have done the same thing,” Danner added.
But another former F1 driver and pundit, Marc Surer, says Rosberg was right to let Hamilton past because not doing so would have handed a win to Mercedes’ rivals.
“If you’re half a second slower than your teammate and world championship rival, then you hold him up. But Rosberg was three seconds slower and so it was right to let Hamilton go — you can’t give points to the competition like that,” he said.
Hamilton’s win was also a major boost for morale on that side of the garage, after a seven month winning drought for his side of the garage, including many mechanics who used to work for Rosberg.
“I think this is a boost for my mechanics, who have been nervous all year,” said Hamilton. “It’s not easy coming from one side of the garage to the world champion’s car.”
Team boss Toto Wolff was also happy with Sunday’s outcome, declaring: “The last weeks and months have been hard for Lewis.
“But if you can survive difficult times like that together, the relationship is lifted to a whole new level,” he added.