Lewis Hamilton refuses to say "exactly what happened" with Mercedes crew swap

Lewis Hamilton has refused to open up about Mercedes' controversial crew swap earlier this year.

At the beginning of the 2016 season, mechanics and engineers from Hamilton's side of the garage were swapped with personnel who worked with Nico Rosberg in previous years.

While Mercedes insisted it was a routine change, Hamilton has now hinted that there could be more to the story.

"You’ll have to buy my book down the line in ten years when I tell you exactly what happened," Hamilton said. "It’ll be an interesting read."

Rosberg meanwhile said that the change was made to bring the team together.

"We’ve been fighting now for three years within the team for race wins and for the championship so it’s quite natural that a little separation can happen between the two sides of the garage," he said. "And for the overall team performance that’s not a good thing because you want to have great team spirit, everyone fighting for one direction."

"That’s why the decision was taken to rotate a little bit and I think it’s shown this year that it’s been a very good thing to do because our team spirit has been as good as ever. And we’ve seen that recently we’ve had some great parties together, everybody just sticking together, and it’s an awesome feeling within the team."

Both drivers admitted that the change was difficult at first, but has since grown to be successful.

"My new mechanics that have come on board, it started out really tough with us on the beginning of the year," explained Hamilton. "Particularly I would say on their say because they just didn’t understand what was going on."

"And then we have all those problems. On social media they felt a lot of heat from fans thinking people were blaming them when it was nothing to do with them."

"And then we had a lot of success so I’ve got a really great relationship with them. So I’m very proud of the unit I have now. Of course I feel we have worked to the points of deserving the championship this year."

Rosberg agreed, but insisted the team made the right decision.

"Of course, initially, it’s not something that’s super-comfortable," he admitted. "My mechanics are close to me and it feels good, to then change takes a bit of time to gel. But I understand that from the team’s perspective that was the right thing to do."