According to some, Lewis Hamilton has now established himself as clearly the de-facto number one within the dominant Mercedes team and looks set to wrap up his third world title next time out in Texas, but teammate Nico Rosberg is not throwing in the towel just yet.
Meanwhile, as that pecking-order appears ever-clearer within the Silver Arrows camp, all of the fuel of the earlier bitter rivalry between the Briton and Nico Rosberg has now apparently burned out.
When the team celebrated their second consecutive F1 constructors' world title recently in Russia, Hamilton said, "I just want to mention what a great teammate Nico is."
But the German, who fell behind even Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' championship after a DNF in Sochi, is adamant that the 2015 title race in his mind is far from over, "I am fighting only for the title and thinking about nothing else."
But when asked if Hamilton might eventually help him displace Vettel, he insisted: "The best thing I can do at the moment is win."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sport Bild, "Nico is incredibly important for the team. He was here from the beginning and was an essential building block of our success and a real team player."
"Maybe Lewis is right now the strongest guy out there, but I would never write Nico off. The differences between them are still only marginal," he added.
Indeed, Wolff said that even if Hamilton does wrap up his third drivers' title this year - and potentially even this weekend in Austin - he will not be granted number one status by the team.
"Both will continue to have the same conditions, both will be consulted in the development of the car and we will take into account both of their wishes," said Wolff.
Not only that, Rosberg is firmly under contract as Wolff pointed out, "We have a long-term contract. If some day we are unhappy we would say it, but that is not the situation we are in."
Latest News
Loading
