• Drivers to hold discussion before Spanish Grand Prix
• Debate prompted by Nico Rosberg incident in Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton’s aggressive driving style will be discussed at what is expected to be a heated drivers’ meeting here on Friday night. Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were both forced wide by the Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in last month’s Bahrain Grand Prix – Alonso backed off but Hamilton did not slow down and succeeded in passing the equally aggressive Rosberg, even though he had to go beyond the edge of the track to do so, which is against the rules.

Rosberg and Hamilton were cleared by stewards afterwards but that will not stop them being asked to defend their actions in front of their peers on Friday night. The Red Bull driver Mark Webber said on Thursday: “I was surprised that Lewis was allowed to keep his position. It was a situation that Lewis didn’t want to find himself in, off the track, but he stayed with it and ultimately the move was kept. I’m sure we’ll talk about it in the drivers’ briefing.”

When Hamilton was told of this he said he was not surprised. “Mark is probably one of the most – if not the most – outspoken individual here so that is the least I expect from him,” he said.

Ironically, Hamilton’s driving has been at it’s most controlled this season as he has battled to preserve his difficult tyres, and he is second in the championship. He added: “I’m not really bothered, to be honest. It’s in the past for me. I’m a racer and I didn’t feel I was in the wrong. Everyone has a right to their own opinions but it doesn’t mean they are right.

“You can’t see from the camera angles whether I was alongside but I know I was. I had a good slingshot out of the corner and as he [Rosberg] kept going over I had nowhere to go. The wall was quite far away but if it’d been there I would have been in it. We do have to give each other room to a certain extent and not do as Michael’s experience with Rubens.”

He was referring to the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2010 when Michael Schumacher almost shoved Rubens Barrichello into a wall.

But Hamilton appeared to welcome the meeting when he said: “It’s good to have clarity. Whatever they decide, will affect all the drivers.”

Reflecting on the incident with Rosberg he added: “Fortunately neither of us got in trouble, neither of us were hurt, and hopefully we will try and rectify the rules to make them clearer so that we won’t be in that position again.

“Lots of people have commented on it, but the only two people who know exactly what happened are myself and Nico. The footage you have of what occurred is from the front, and it is very difficult to see clearly what happened, whether I was alongside him or not.

“But the stewards made the right decision, and hopefully this weekend we will clarify the rules. Would it have happened if there had been grass or a wall? Probably not. If there had, it would have been an interesting situation.”

That was echoed by Rosberg, who said: “Of course if there had been the barriers at Monaco it would have been a different story, but then again the guys behind would have backed off a lot earlier. In that situation, which I’d probably do again, it was harsh but within the rules, and I didn’t judge I was putting my competitors in danger.”

Hamilton and Rosberg appeared to come under fire from Alonso this week when the Spaniard wrote on his Twitter account: “I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!”

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• McLaren drivers wound down differently after F1 exertions
• Button wore flippers, Hamilton saw Back To The Future

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton spent their downtime rather differently after McLaren’s successful Australian Grand Prix.

Button, the winner, went swimming with penguins in Melbourne while the third-placed Hamilton watched films – including, perhaps symbolically for a man anxious to recapture his mojo, Back To The Future, parts one and two.

“I watched a few different movies, just whatever was on TV,” Hamilton said. “It was raining quite a lot. I just chilled, watched movies and did some training.”

A typically relaxed looking Button said: “I went swimming with penguins on Monday morning. The weekend really hit me about three o’clock on Monday.

“I spent two days in Melbourne, relaxing and looking back on the weekend. And it’s funny because every couple of minutes you think: ‘Oh, we won yesterday. That was nice.’ You go back to your business during the day and you just keep remembering little things about the race and the emotions you went through.

“My engineer, Dave Robson, was on very good form. He was chuffed to bits with the weekend and focusing on this weekend. But for me it’s the same. We look back at the last race and it was great but there’s still another of those 19 that we want to win.”

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• Nico Rosberg’s 2011 Mercedes fastest in Jerez testing
• Romain Grosjean’s Lotus best of teams’ 2012 models

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel produced almost identical times on the third day of testing in Jerez on Thursday but they were trumped by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, even though he was driving last year’s car.

Romain Grosjean’s Lotus was the fastest of the 2012-spec cars, just ahead of Hamilton’s McLaren and Vettel’s Red Bull. But it was a disappointing day for Fernando Alonso, whose Ferrari looked off the pace, and the team’s technical director, Pat Fry, said: “I am not happy with where we are at the moment.”

Hamilton, though, looked just as cheerful as Button had been the day before as McLaren continued to transform their miserable testing performances of a year ago.

The 2008 champion said: “I’m happy to be back and thankful to have a day without any troubles. We did quite a laps compared to last year, so it is all positive so far.

“We have not yet figured out the right setup of the car. There are still lots of test items that we have to go through. I would not say the car is more predictable than last year but I would generally say that it feels like an evolution of last year’s car, although we have lost the downforce through the corners, but I am sure we will get that back.”

At the end of last year McLaren were almost as quick as the Red Bulls of Vettel and Mark Webber but they had been playing catch-up all season and it was a particularly disappointing year for Hamilton, who finished fifth in the championship.

On Thursday he explained why he had decided to add Didier Coton, the double world champion Mika Hakkinen’s manager, to his own management team.

“I thought it was a good idea to have,” he said. “Me and Simon [Fuller, Hamilton's manager] were looking at ways to strengthen the team a little bit and we wanted to find someone who has more racing experience.

“Didier has been a good friend of mine for many years. He has great experience, not just with my team but also in the F1 paddock. It will be strong to have him at the grand prix when I need him. That’s what he is there for.”

But Hamilton did not make any comment about Adrian Sutil, even though he may be forced to go to court as a witness following the German driver’s decision to appeal against a conviction following a fight in a Shanghai nightclub last year.

Vettel was his usual methodical self, speaking for more than 11 minutes after his run. The double world champion said: “The target is to improve so you have to be open to learn. The idea is to get away in the winter time, take time to reflect and hopefully come back stronger, more prepared and more organised.

“We have sat down together and talked through last year and all the things we can improve. Looking from outside it looked almost perfect but there were quite a lot of things on the list, so we will see how we get on. It’s quite special this year, with six world champions.”

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• McLaren launch new car at Woking base
• Sutil’s comments are given the brush-off

McLaren launched their new Formula One car before a global audience on Wednesday. And the global audience dutifully gawped in wonder, even though the new creation, the MP4-27, motionless and driverless and tilting sharply to the right, looked as if it had just come off the track at Suzuka’s notorious 130R turn.

McLaren’s more significant relaunch at their glitzy Technology Centre in Woking came in the shape of the sport’s most vivid driver, Lewis Hamilton, who looked a revitalised figure after the most difficult season of his career last year, when he was beset by problems on and off the track.

Hamilton, who was beaten by his team-mate, Jenson Button, for the first time in his McLaren career in a season marked by clashes with stewards and other drivers, has spent much of the winter among the mountains of Colorado.

“I feel fresh,” he said. “I had a really good winter. The team gave me a good bit of time off after such a long season, and obviously we went through a lot. I had friends and family there and was able to find out what they thought and how I could improve. I knew where things were wrong and it’s not easy to clarify them in the mind but I was able to do that. There are still things I’m working on.”

Hamilton, 27 last month, added: “There have been lots of highs and lows but last year was definitely one of he toughest years, personally. And also with the racing. I had a low moment when I lost the championship in 2007 but that was just one moment.

“A lot of it is in the mind. And if you’re clogged up with a lot of things and operating at only 60% there’s a loss of time. But I feel as though I’m back to 100% right now. Last year was one of those years where I had a lot of less energy and less focus where it needed to be. But now the focus is where it needs to be.”

Meanwhile, the 2008 champion has put as much clean air as possible between himself and his former close friend Adrian Sutil after the German driver described him as “a coward”. Sutil was upset by Hamilton’s decision not to testify at the former Force India driver’s two-day trial in Munich this week and hit out after being convicted for causing grievous bodily harm to Eric Lux, chief executive of the Lotus team owners, Genii Capital. After being given an 18-month suspended sentence and fined €200,000 (£167,000) Sutil said: “Lewis is a coward. I do not want to be friends with someone like that. He is for me no man. Even his father sent me a text message and wished me luck for the process. Lewis came with nothing. He has changed his phone number. I could not reach him any more.”

But Hamilton, who did offer a statement for use at the trial, refused to get involved when the issue was raised at Woking on Wednesday. Before Hamilton could answer a question relating to Sutil’s remarks a McLaren spokesman said: “We’ve been told Lewis shouldn’t really go there because it might go under appeal, so can we move on to the next question?”

Hamilton nodded in the direction of the spokesman and said: “I’ll listen to him.”

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