Lewis Hamilton was not happy with Mercedes' radio message asking him to back off in the final stint of the Spanish Grand Prix, saying he ignored the call and will make sure it is not made again.
Hamilton's race was compromised by a slow start from second on the grid and a slow first pit stop, which meant he had to adopt a three-stop strategy to get second place back from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. After his final stop he was comfortably ahead of Vettel and had fresh tyres on which to attack an 18-second gap to race-leader Rosberg.
When he asked the pit wall about the possibility of catching Rosberg, his engineer, Peter Bonnington, said it was "impossible" and told him to back off. Bonnington proved to be correct, but it was not what Hamilton wanted to hear.
"It's not nice for a driver to hear that," Hamilton said. "I'm here to race, not to finish second so actually I ignored that. Then I was really putting the car on the edge and when I realised that I had seven laps to go and there was still 13 seconds and I was only 0.7s per lap faster, I had to take the smart approach and bring the car home. Still, it's not something you want to hear so I will definitely be making sure that is not said again."
Asked whether he could see Mercedes' point that he should look after the engine, he added: "I think the engine is fine. Naturally, by me pushing he [Rosberg] has to push and that puts both cars at risk I guess."
Hamilton is in no doubt he will fight back at the next round in Monaco.
"I know that I can rectify things at the next race and that's what I plan to do. I've not won that race for a long, long time and this is going to be my third chance with this great team and with a great car. Hopefully third time lucky."