Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg already detest each other and always take shots when possible. So, when Rosberg took a sly jab at Hamilton’s age and suggested that he retire, Hamilton obviously hit back. However, while he stopped short of naming Rosberg, it was implied that he was referring to the German.

Rosberg cited the fact that Valtteri Bottas outqualified Lewis Hamilton in half the races, as his ‘proof’. He said, “The best age for racing drivers is 30, 31, 32 – and that’s because your ability as you’re getting older slightly decreases, but experience counts so much in this sport. So experience will outdo the small decrease in your natural ability as a human as you get a bit older.”

“[Hamilton] is almost certainly a little bit on the decline in his natural human abilities. Possibly we’re seeing that a little bit in his qualifying results this year where Bottas is at least as good as Lewis in qualifying, possibly even on average slightly ahead of Lewis in qualifying this year. So that could be this human body performance decreasing a little bit. But Lewis just has bucketloads of experience so that makes him an unbelievable weapon still.”

However, Lewis Hamilton was having none of it and took to Instagram to fire back. He wrote, “There will always be people who, in order to try and keep their failing careers alive, try to use and tarnish the names of others who are successful. Those people are truly sad and lost, you can feel pity for them but don’t let it bother you. I for one choose not to care, just wanted you to know you should always surround yourself with people who inspire you and lift you up. Ignore the negativity in others and focus on you being great.”

In all honesty, one has to laud Hamilton for not getting rattled by the comments of his former rival. For now though, he is focused on relaxing and recharging his batteries when the second half of the season commences.