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Play fair, lads: David Coulthard verdict on Nico Rosberg’s war with Lewis Hamilton
Rosberg needs to show he can beat Hamilton on skill and speed if he wants to be remembered as a worthy champion
NICO ROSBERG needs to take down Lewis Hamilton fairly if he wants to silence his critics for good.
The warning comes from former F1 star David Coulthard, who also fears there is more pain ahead for the Mercedes duo as their relationship boils over.
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The two have come to blows in three of the last five races, with Rosberg coming off the worse in all three collisions in Spain, Canada and Austria.
The German, who is still leading the championship with an 11-point lead over Hamilton, appears desperate in his attempts to keep at the top of the table -- most noticeably by his final lap collision with Hamilton last weekend.
And Coulthard says Rosberg needs to show he can beat Hamilton on skill and speed if he wants to be remembered as a worthy champion.
Coulthard said: "If Nico does win the championship then I will be lining up with the rest of them to say congratulations.
"But if he were to do it, then I would like to see him go wheel to wheel with Lewis.
"We have not really seen that this year. He has either won because Lewis has been out of position or Lewis has won it.
"His pass in Spain around the outside was inspired but then came to an abrupt halt, and then in Canada he got stuck in and then had to back out of it.
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"The signs are there that there will be more wheel to wheel action and it is going to get uncomfortable for one or both or Mercedes later in the year.
"We all have our point of view on which championship have been harder-fought and therefore which drivers are more deserving of that championship.
"Nico is there alongside Lewis and if he wins the championship without going wheel to wheel with Lewis, then that question mark will remain."
Meanwhile Coulthard, who spent nine seasons with McLaren, says the Woking-based team made a mistake in switching to using Honda engines so early.
Instead, he claims there was a breakdown in communication between McLaren and the Japanese engine maker in terms of the power of their new engine.
And Coulthard also thinks MacLaren chief Ron Dennis has taken his eye off the ball when it comes to Formula One.
Coulthard, who is now a Channel 4 presenter, added: "Right now it is anyone's guess when Honda will be able to unleash the power potential.
"I expect they will do it because they will continue to work at it, but they didn't really deliver at the end of the V8 formula, so it has been some time since Honda gave a big performance in Formula One.
"I heard that Ron had the chance to sell part of the business to Mercedes yet chose not to.
"However, it worked fantastically for Brawn in their one season in the sport and it is working well for Mercedes now.
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"But McLaren have become much more than a GP racing team. It appears to me that since they have gone into road car production, their formula one results have dropped off.
"That would suggest that Ron and the senior management cannot give 100 per cent to two things.
"Honda have not delivered and you wonder whether it would have been better spending a few more years with Mercedes and not let Honda near McLaren until their engine produced better figures.
"It was a breakdown in communication that Honda did not tell McLaren how much power they didn't have, and McLaren never asked them how much power they didn't have.
"It is important to know that information and without it, it is detrimental to your business to put something in the back of your car that is not delivering."
* Watch the British Grand Prix on 10th July live on Channel 4, the new home of free-to-air Formula 1 in the UK with live coverage of ten Grand Prix this season and comprehensive highlights of every race weekend. Visit for more information.
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