Abu Dhabi: Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has said McLaren boss Ron Dennis “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” when it comes to commenting on Lewis Hamilton’s party-hard lifestyle.
After wrapping up his third F1 drivers’ championship with four races to spare in America last month, Hamilton crashed his 200mph Pagani Zonda supercar into three parked cars in Monaco and blamed the incident on “heavy partying and not much rest”.
Dennis, who spotted Hamilton at the age of 13 and helped guide the Briton to his first world title in 2008, before his prodigy moved to Mercedes in 2013, said of the incident: “If he was [still] at McLaren he wouldn’t be behaving the way he is because he wouldn’t be allowed to — he’s shaking off some chains he didn’t want to have. I look at him with mixed emotions.”
But speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lauda, who now oversees Hamilton at Mercedes, said Dennis’ comments on the issue were unnecessary.
“He [Dennis] doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said the F1 legend who won three world titles in 1975, 1977 and 1984. “Lewis Hamilton can do what he wants as long as he is performing, and he is performing so there’s nothing wrong with him.”
Asked if Hamilton partied as hard as he and the late James Hunt did, the 66-year-old Austrian, laughed and replied: “No they party much less, I can tell you this 100 per cent.”
Both Lauda and Hunt endured a fierce rivalry in the 1970s, which was immortalised in the 2013 film ‘Rush’. The Ron Howard directed movie details the 1976 season when Lauda lost out on the title to Hunt by a point after he suffered horrific burns in a crash at the Nurburgring, which left him permanently disfigured. Despite his injuries Lauda returned after a gap of just two races to continue his pursuit of the playboy Englishman.
But asked if — with his experience — Lauda now felt he had to help manage the current rivalry at Mercedes between Hamilton and Rosberg, he replied: “There is nothing to manage. Rivalry is completely normal. They both have the same desire to be winning races, so it’s not even worth discussing from my point of view, I’m an ex racing driver and I know all this.
“I’d only step in if they would hit each other, but they don’t so everything is fine
Rivalries have to be there because we go quicker when we fight each other.”
And as to whether the Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry is on a par with his and Hunt’s duel, Lauda added: “James Hunt and I were on different teams with different cars, here with Hamilton and Rosberg they have the same cars and are teammates, and when you are in the same team it becomes harder.”
So, where would Hamilton and Rosberg stand in the list of all-time great rivalries? “I have no idea and maybe there are some more coming. It’s normal though, there’s nothing wrong, they are friendly in the way they want to be friendly, there’s nothing in this and from my point of view it’s normal. Racing drivers are like this, they are not friends, they are fighting each other.”
