Rosberg says Ferrari’s unclear instructions are fuelling Hamilton-Leclerc arguments

Nico Rosberg says Ferrari’s instructions for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are not clear enough, and argues that the uncertainty feeds disputes between the team-mates.

The 2016 world champion contrasted Ferrari’s approach with Mercedes, where he and Hamilton were team-mates for four years. On the Beyond The Grid podcast, Rosberg said Mercedes had made clear when its drivers should work together: if the team risked losing a race win, they had to stop treating each other as championship rivals.

He pointed to the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix. A fogged visor left Rosberg struggling to see, he said, while Daniel Ricciardo was pulling away; Rosberg waved Hamilton past so he could chase Ricciardo. Rosberg said letting Hamilton through was “super painful”, but easier to accept when the instructions were clear beforehand.

The tension also surfaced on track. Hamilton ended up in the gravel at the start in Monza; on lap one in Mexico, he and Leclerc both went off while fighting for the lead, paving the way for Max Verstappen to win.

Rosberg also acknowledged that Mercedes was not a perfect model. He said its rules for wheel-to-wheel racing were not detailed enough to remove ambiguity over fault; sometimes, he said, Hamilton was not wholly to blame, and at other times he himself was entirely at fault.

He credited Niki Lauda with mediating after incidents, saying Lauda helped each driver acknowledge at least some responsibility and move on.