Hamilton news snub widens Mercedes rift

Lewis Hamilton’s bizarre behaviour has left Mercedes red-faced again after he walked out of his press conference last night refusing to answer questions. The world champion suggested he would not be fulfilling his written media duties much longer.

Hamilton said he was upset with the coverage after he spent most of Thursday’s press conference on Snapchat. Bradley Lord, Mercedes’ head of communications, was visibly surprised when Hamilton began his speech before leaving without answering questions. It is an indication of how high tension is running in Mercedes, with Hamilton trailing team-mate Nico Rosberg by 23 points ahead of today’s Japanese Grand Prix, which he starts second. To guarantee winning a fourth world title, Hamilton needs to win all five remaining races.

“The smiles on your faces will probably be no longer,” Hamilton said. “I am not actually here to answer your questions. With the utmost respect, there are many of you here that are super supportive of me. And those of you hopefully know I know who they are. There are others, unfortunately, that often take advantage of certain things.

“The other day [Thursday’s press conference] was a super light-hearted thing and if I was disrespectful to any of you guys, or if you felt that I was disrespectful, it was honestly not the intention. It was just a little bit of fun.

“But what was more disrespectful was what was then written worldwide…I don’t really plan sitting here many more times for these kind of things, so my apologies and I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your weekend.”