YAS MARINA, Abu Dhabi -- Lewis Hamilton says he is proud of how his teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg has driven this year.The two Mercedes drivers will go head to head for the championship in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, with the odds stacked in Rosbergs favour. The pair have been friends since they raced against each other in go-karts during their junior careers, but the relationship has been strained in recent years as they have battled for world championship.Asked how the relationship has changed since the 2014 season when they first went up against each other for the title, Hamilton said: Its been an interesting one. We had a very good relationship when we started out as kids. Back then obviously a race weekend was generally for kids karting, so you are out having fun, you go out and drive and come in and you fool around.You give a bit of information to your mechanic and you go and play PlayStation, you go uni-cycling.... We had a lot in common, we both love pizza, we both loved eating boxes of Kelloggs Frosties and doing all crazy things and we used to go on big motorbike tours, we did all of those things. I still do every one of those but Nico has shifted in the sense, hes obviously very, very solely focused in terms of looking after himself.Obviously we parted ways when we were younger, he went Formula BMW, I went Formula Renault but then we got to Formula One and this was something that we had talked about as kids and weve obviously had ups and downs but ultimately I think weve managed to, particularly in the last year being the age we are, which is pretty old considering when we first met, I think weve been able to manage it pretty well.Im really happy for him and his family, proud of stepping away from being our competitive selves, proud of him, of how hes driven particularly this year and generally its been a pleasure to have him as a teammate. Im sure that will continue.Hamilton believes he fully deserves the title this year after a series of mechanical issues earlier in the season put him on the back foot.I fully believe me and my side of the garage has worked the hardest yet and we are not in the position [in the championship] that we have worked for. But we are still in a position of power, still pushing hard, still inspired, still motivated, still very focused on winning. Im very proud of my engineers and we have grown a lot closer this season, our work ethic is closer than it ever has been this season.With my new mechanics that have come on board, it started out really tough with us at the beginning of the year, particularly, I would say, on their side because they just didnt understand whats going on and then we had all those problems following, so then they felt on their social media, they felt a lot of heat, fans thinking... people were blaming them which was nothing to do with them.And then we had a lot of success so I built a really great relationship with them, so really really proud of the unit that I have now and of course I feel that we have worked to the point of deserving to have been champions this year as our group but we have this one last race which, all we can do is focus on being great this weekend as we have the last races before. Weve really grown into a solid unit and continue that way. Cheap Jerseys . 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Daniel Ricciardo admits the arrival of Max Verstappen at Red Bull ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix was a big thing for him and his 2016 season.Verstappen was promoted from Toro Rosso ahead of the fifth race of the year in Spain, which he duly won to become F1s youngest-ever victor. Ricciardo lost out on that victory due to a strategy error, before a pit-stop blunder in Monaco cost him a win around the streets of Monte Carlo after claiming his first career pole position.Ricciardo finally won his first race since 2014 at the Malaysian Grand Prix and he believes the arrival of Verstappen helped spur him on to better things.It was a big thing, Ricciardo told the official Red Bull website. Especially that first weekend in Spain which was pretty crazy, and not just because he won. I suspect the team didnt know how good Max was and where he was going to fit.His win really gave us good energy and pushed us on to get stronger. IIn Spain everybody was watching, wondering if wed made a mistake swapping Dany and Max around.dddddddddddd I think his win was a relief more than anything, and it definitely pushed us on. Certainly it pushed me on.Ricciardo believes the way he started the year -- out-qualifying Kvyat at the first four races -- helped Red Bull make the decision to drop the Russian driver back to the junior outfit.I think Id been at the right level from the start of the season - which may have caused some of the commotion in the first place because I had a better start than Dany. With Max, I felt we were pushing each other from the off. He was closer to me in qualifying and so naturally that provides a spur because youre looking at each others data and finding an extra bit here and there. It makes you better. ' ' '
