22/05/2014
NEWS STORY
The in-team rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is turned up a few notches as the Briton claims he is hungrier than the German.
Having raced against one another since their early teens, Lewis and Nico have become good friends over the years, and in recent times each has appeared genuinely delighted with the other's success. However, the fact is they are racing drivers and at the end of the day they are rivals.
Now armed with a package capable of winning the ultimate prize, the Formula One World Championship, behind the smiles both men are focussed on just one thing, beating the other. Whilst first blood (in Australia) went to the German, his teammate has taken four successive wins, finally taking the championship lead in China.
Whilst Bahrain kept us on the edge of our seats, Mercedes knows that despite all the talk of refusing to introduce team orders sooner or later things are going to spill over, either as Hamilton enforces his superiority or Rosberg grows frustrated. The tetchy radio interaction in Spain was proof that Hamilton is watching the situation very closely, determined not to give an inch away.
Today however, things took a twist, as the Briton came right out and claimed to be more hungry for success than his teammate, a claim that will either bury Rosberg or fully fire him up.
"Let me tell you this," he told reporters, "I come from a not-great place in Stevenage and lived on a couch in my dad's apartment... Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels and boats and all these kind of things. So the hunger is different.
"I want to be the hungriest guy in the cockpit from all twenty-two of us," he continued, "even if every driver has to believe that he's the hungriest, because if I were to come here believing that Nico is hungrier than me then I might as well go home. So I've got to be the hungriest. To win the world championship you need to be the hungriest."
"When you're so competitive it is impossible to be best friends, but it stays respectful," said Hamilton. "We will always have the years in karting, that kind of foundation of a long time ago."
There was a final twist of the knife as the championship leader admitted that, for him, the best result on Sunday would be "finishing first, Fernando finishing second and Sebastian finishing third."
It would appear that the gauntlet has been fully laid at the feet of the likeable German, who won here a year ago.
Check out our Thursday gallery, here.
Chris Balfe