Lewis Hamilton isn’t ‘number one’ at Mercedes claims team principal Ross Brawn, despite the team employing team orders against team-mate Nico Rosberg.
The German was asked to hold station behind Hamilton in Malaysia despite being faster, a call which came from Brawn, but he insists Hamilton hasn’t demanded any priority status at Mercedes.
“Of course Lewis wants to race – in the contractual negotiations we had with Lewis, never was the issue of who was number one or number two ever mentioned from his side,” Brawn told The F1 Show.
“He just wants parity and I think that is why Lewis felt a little bit awkward about the situation,” he added in relation to the Briton’s somber mood on the podium in which he said Rosberg should have been standing there instead.
Brawn admits he doesn’t like interrupting the racing, but he needs to make tough decisions to ensure the team scores the maximum amount of points.
“I don’t like having to take those decisions, but from a technical perspective we would have looked very foolish if we had run both cars out of fuel.
“I didn’t like having to give the orders I gave in Malaysia, it is not in my sporting nature and the team have demonstrated many times in the past that we are very happy to let our drivers race each other – over the past few years we have often done that,” he added.
“But somebody has to make those decisions – you can’t have those decisions made by a group or a committee, there is no time. I won’t get it right all the time – if I can get it right 70% or 80% of the time then I am doing well.”
