Niki Lauda slams slow Hamilton

Three-time World Champion and Mercedes F1 non-executive chairman Niki Lauda was confused as to why Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton so slow towards the end, so much so that Mercedes team had to order the Briton to 'pick up pace'.
He pointed out such tricks were played in the past too but then drivers 'had respect for one another'. The slackness towards the end saw Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel end with a gap of just 0.404.
Why did Hamilton play such dirty tricks and under perform?
"I didn't understand it. This is for the first time in the season that his car slowed like this. I don't know the reason and will have to ask him if there was an issue with the tyres. I am not going to blame him for anything. Let me first talk to him."
Niki Lauda revealed the team did told Hamilton about the danger Vettel posed.
"Vettel had the fastest car. There was a significant speed difference per lap. If we were on different set of tyres then we might have lost the whole race."
With World Championship at stake, would Lauda ever play tricks like Hamilton?
"No, I wouldn't have done something like that. I wouldn't have done that to annoy my team. Honestly, what Hamilton could have achieved was a third for Rosberg as Max Verstappen was too far back. We have done all such tricks in the past but we had simple respect for the other one."
Lauda was all praise for the new champion. "Rosberg did a great job the whole season.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com