Lewis Hamilton snubs TV reporter’s request for him to shake hands with Sebastian Vettel after Austrian Grand Prix qualifying
Video later emerged showing Hamilton walk up to the German and shake his hand over shunt feud in Azerbaijan
LEWIS HAMILTON snubbed the chance to publicly shake hands with his enemy Sebastian Vettel as their feud rumbled on.
The two are at war after Vettel rammed Hamilton with his F1 car at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with the Brit labelling his rival's behaviour as "disgusting".
After qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, Hamilton was urged by television presenter Davide Valsecchi to perform a handshake with Vettel in a public declaration of peace.
However, the 32-year-old said "we've already stood together" before walking away with his Mercedes team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, who took pole position.
A video has since emerged on social media showing that Hamilton DID walk up to Vettel to shake hands immediately after qualifying.
Yet it would seem he is not completely willing to let the matter be forgotten.
Former F1 world champion Damon Hill, who had his own championship battle with Michael Schumacher, said: "It was the story going into the weekend - was this resolved? Was it all water under the bridge?
"You'd expect Lewis to be able to say it's done and he's satisfied Sebastian has apologised.
"I understand him not wanting to be forced into a handshake in public like that. I think he wants to do it in his own way in his own time."
Meanwhile, Hamilton now faces a fight not to lose more ground on Vettel in the F1 title race after being forced to start today's race down in eighth place.
Hamilton, who qualified third, was slapped with a five-place grid drop for an unscheduled gearbox change.
It is a huge blow and means he now risks getting caught up in the melee going into the first corner.
Hamilton, who went from ninth on the grid here to finish second in 2014 said: "I'm pretty sure that back then there was a bigger difference in speed deltas between us and other cars.
"But I will give it everything I can and of course I would be happy if I could get up there.
"You still approach the race in exactly the same way. Nothing changes at all. It's just really trying to get yourself as high as possible and when it comes to the race it's about damage-limitation.
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"I found out on Tuesday about the gearbox penalty and when something like that hits you, it's difficult for us all to swallow.
"But we pull together as a team and we work as hard as we can. We've still got great performance and hopefully I can do a good job and get some good points."
The McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne qualified in 11th and 12th place respectively.
But there was more misery for Brit Jolyon Palmer after he qualified way down in 16th place in his Renault.
Palmer, who was particularly down-beat at the last race in Baku, is struggling for form and facing increased pressure as questions about his future in the team continue to grow.
He said: "I thought we were looking strong and today it got away from us."