"I didn't care, I just won the WDC": When Lewis Hamilton commented on the 'hat-throwing' incident with Nico Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton once claimed that he did not care for his former teammate Nico Rosberg throwing a cap at him after the end of the 2015 US Grand Prix in Texas. He said it wasn't anything new with the German driver.

The 2015 season saw a close battle between Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Both were strong contenders and shared many incidents on the track. As the battle came to a close end in Texas, Hamilton finished in the victory lane and clinched his third F1 Drivers' Championship.

Right after the race in the cooldown room, Hamilton tossed the P2 cap towards Rosberg. Reacting to this, he picked it up and threw it on Hamilton, missing by a small margin. The latter, seemingly unaffected by the cap flying across his face, later said in a BBC interview the same year that he did not care about it as he had just won the World Championship.

"I've known Nico since I was 13 and when he did that I was like 'it's nothing new.' I didn't care, I just won the World Championship."

The two drivers shared another battle in the 2016 season, however, it was Nico Rosberg who won his first Drivers' Championship. He then retired from the sport and is currently a presenter with Sky Sports.

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Mercedes team principal reveals Lewis Hamilton did not talk to him for a while after Nico Rosberg won in 2016

Although they were childhood friends, their intense competition for the World Championship whilst being teammates turned them into rivals. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's rivalry is sometimes compared to that of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost when both of them were title contenders and rivals in McLaren.

After Hamilton failed to clinch his fourth title in the 2016 season, there were seemingly rising tensions amongst the team members. Team principal Toto Wolff recently revealed in an episode of the High Performance podcast that Hamilton had stopped talking to him after the title showdown in Abu Dhabi.

"The constant self-development, not only in professional function... but also how he embraced this personal change. There was a moment when we had a really difficult time in 2016, after Nico won the race and the championship, and we didn't talk to each other for a few weeks."

However, he then appreciated Hamilton for his self-development, as they finally ended the cold phase of their relationship.

"Then he came to my home because I said, 'we have to talk,' and we spent many hours and we came out of this discussion, it was before the Christmas party, so strong. That was the foundation of our friendship and relationship in the years to come."

Lewis Hamilton would then go on to win the title four years in a row from 2017 to 2020, tying himself with Michael Schumacher for the most championships.

He is set to depart from Mercedes at the end of this season. Hamilton will move to Ferrari, replacing Carlos Sainz. Andra Kimi Antonelli, currently competing in Formula 2, will fill in for Hamilton.