Hamilton fears he cannot trust German teammate

Lewis Hamilton revealed on Monday he may not be able to trust his Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, in their future on-track duels for the drivers' world title.

The 29-year-old Briton, who was forced to retire from Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after suffering a puncture when Rosberg drove into him on the second lap, said he was uncertain how to approach the next race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sept 7.

He claimed Rosberg said he had deliberately hit him 'to make a point' but the German, who now leads the title race by 29 points, said it was only a racing incident.

"Well, when you're out there you have to trust the people to think with their heads and don't do things deliberately," said Hamilton.

"I don't really know how to approach the next race ... all I know is that I've got to push, I've got a long way to come back from it.

"What was great this weekend is the support I've had from the fans.

"On the parade lap, when we went round, so many British flags were here, caps and team tops.

"I'm gutted that I wasn't able to get a result for them this weekend."

Hamilton and Rosberg have been involved in a series of incidents this season but none raised the stakes as high, or so dramatically, as Rosberg's decision to hold his line and allow his front wing to clip Hamilton's left rear tire.

Hamilton said: "I can't imagine what the team would do now. We came in to this weekend with a really positive mind-set - I really was excited.

"We had eight races (to go) and we're close - there's only 11 points in it - and I thought it was going to be good for all of us. Good racing ... I thought this was going to be a track that was going to be exciting.

"It's interesting because we had that meeting on Thursday and Nico expressed how angry he was (about the Hungarian Grand Prix where Hamilton ignored a team request to allow him to pass).

"I was thinking 'It's been three weeks and you've been lingering!"

(China Daily 08/27/2014 page23)