A Mercedes spokesperson refused to comment on the incident and did not say whether Hamilton would be disciplined for his actions. Hamilton’s walkout is only likely to create more tension. It drew disrespect in return, with “Snap Prat” among the more lurid tabloid headlines. Hamilton’s decision to play with his smartphone on Thursday, making a mockery of the official launch to the race weekend as he used the messaging service’s filters to put rabbit ears on the Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz, and almost crying with laughter as he did so, was widely interpreted as disrespectful.

The Saturday session is a regular feature arranged by Mercedes before the following day’s race. Before him, Mercedes’ head of motorsport, Toto Wolff, had likewise fulfilled his media duties without incident. So my apologies and I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the weekend.” He placed his mic on the table and left the room.īefore Hamilton’s appearance his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, who beat him to pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix by 0.013sec, had answered questions for 10 minutes. As we've written in these pages before, some of the very best F1 seasons are those where two drivers on the same team, in identical cars, are so far ahead of the pack the battle boils down to a tense, nervy grudge match of mind games and mind blowing.

“But I don’t really plan on sitting here many more times for these kind of things. The 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship TM has been dominated by the battle between Mercedes team mates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton plays on Snapchat at F1 press conference Guardian

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